Writer-director Andrew Renzi, who impressed critics and audiences last year at KVIFF with Fishtail, his docu on the disappearing American west, has returned with another coup, Franny, starring Richard Gere in an unconventional role as man who has it all – except love.
You actually worked with Wes Anderson when you were 19, helping him prep for a feature film. Was that inspirational?
It was before he made The Darjeeling Limited and he’d just finished Hotel Chevalier, which is a short film that goes along with that film. So when he went off to India, I went back to college. It was amazing. I was literally making him breakfast so it wasn’t like writing scripts with him or anything, but it was inspiring. He had mango lassis every day because he was preparing and he was only having Indian food all the time.
But this was still in the US? So he wanted to be mentally in India?
Mentally in India. The whole house, everything, had to be mentally in India. It was very funny. The best part about it was I became very close with a lot of the people he works with, his crew members. So his peripheral collaborators became friends of mine and almost taught me how to make a movie.
Read the whole interview by Will Tizard and Klára Kolářová in today's Festival Daily.
