Tarik Saleh creates a dark and menacing world in his film Metropia, a computer-animated sci-fi feature depicting Europe in the year 2024. Roger (voiced by Vincent Gallo) works a boring job and lives in a filthy apartment in Sweden. In this world where oil has run out and the skies are permanently gray, an elaborate subway system links the European continent, controlled by the powerful Trexx Corp. To heighten his already paranoid personality, Roger begins hearing a voice in his head that feels foreign and not his own. Then, after meeting the beautiful and mysterious Nina (voiced by Juliette Lewis), Roger begins to question the accepted reality he lives in.
At the Tribeca Film Festival, Tarik Saleh, Juliette Lewis, and Alexander Skarsgård participated in a press conference. Here are a few selections from what was discussed:
What attracted you to “Metropia”? What did you think of the “Metropia” script when you got it?
Lewis: I’m just into radical, unique points of view and any fresh voice in any artist medium. And I’m also very pro anti-establishment works of art or things that question the status quo. I love the sentiment or statement of where these voices come from and how they get in your head and questioning that. Like that [there was] that poster [in “Metropia”] that says “reputation rental.” I thought that was so funny, especially in this day and age, some people need it.
Two things: The script drew me in because it was so interesting and then meeting Tarik [Saleh], of course, and this idea that it’s film noir. And then, when I saw the animation, it all hinges on the style, and that blew me away, because there was such a frailty and humanity to these characters. And then I visited their little elf workshop where all the animators were. They showed me the process in using real human eyes. I loved the kind of governmental figures. The weird cowboy, oh my God! He was hilarious. I think we knew a cowboy once who ran things.
That was really fun. I was the last to come on, so it all worked out there. We went in a small room, and I’d say, “OK, where am I?” The animation was not finished; it was just samples. And then [Tarik Saleh] would paint the picture for me: “This is in the great hall and you’re telling the guy this, that or the other, and you sort of talk and imagine.”
Skarsgård: It was just the two of us [Tarik Saleh and I], basically. It wasn’t animated yet, so I had nothing to watch. It was pretty good, in a way, because it gave us a lot of creative freedom to do whatever you wanted. It’s not about lip sync or hitting certain beats. You could just play around with it and be very creative. If we wanted to change something or just add something, we could do that …
It was quite surreal. I saw the movie in Austin in October [2009], something like that, over a year after we recorded it. It’s really weird, because you sit down and you watch it and suddenly, there’s a face and interaction with other characters. I record my stuff, I went away to Africa, where I was working on something else at the time, and you come back, and [the movie] comes to life. It’s pretty amazing. I’m still blown away by it.
Tarik Saleh, Juliette Lewis, and Alexander Skarsgård at the Tribeca Film Festival
Did you know what your character was going to look like before you did the voice work?
Skarsgård: Yeah. Tarik showed me the style of animation, what it looked like. I loved it. Roy Andersson, the Swedish filmmaker who did “Songs From the Second Floor,” I’m a huge fan of his work. And this [“Metropia”] kind of felt like an animated Roy Andersson movie, in a way.
What kind of dimension did “Metropia” have as an animated film that it wouldn’t have had as a live-action film?
Lewis: It’s a hyper-reality. It’s a universe that’s exaggerated with its color and sparseness and the sterile nature. You can do these things in animation: create an alternate reality, a hyper-reality, an aesthetic that heightens your feeling of eeriness, that paranoia, or alienation. That’s what this movie is, just in the color and the lead character. I fell in love with him when I first saw him. I was just drawn to this funny character. I’d never seen anything like it. In animation, there’s so much freedom to do this kind of storytelling.
What inspiration did you draw from in voicing your “Metropia” characters? How is that character development different from the character development you have to do for a live-action film?
Skarsgård: Just the amount of creative freedom was amazing. There were no boundaries at all. We could do whatever we wanted. We could play around with it and just have fun. Tarik is an old friend of mine. We had talked about it, even before I read the script, for years, about the story — this kind of dark, bleak, dystopian idea that he had that’s not so far from where we are right now in the [United] States. It’s run now more by corporations.
I live in the States now, and people trust now big corporations more than the government. With this new law that the Supreme Court just passed where there’s no cap on how much money corporations can [donate to political campaigns]. Corporations can basically just buy a candidate or sponsor a candidate for billions of dollars. It’s hard for the little guy to get his voice out there … So I was just fascinated by that.
Does the current political environment influence how you played your role in “Metropia”?
Skarsgård: Oh, absolutely. It’s not a fantasy. It’s fiction, but it to me, it wouldn’t be interesting if it wasn’t related to our society.
Lewis: Whatever my “process” is, it’s a very instinctual, imaginary place that I go to since I was a little kid. It’s my faraway place where things come alive. And I love complexity and subtext. So even in my [“Metropia”] character, you have all that, because she’s not really helping [Roger]. She has her own personal, vested interests. She’s an opportunist, in a way. She is benevolent, sort of, at the end. She doesn’t kill him. She’s self-serving …
Especially now, I really rely on the director to paint the picture, and it’s always a game of trust, where I go, “OK.” And I’m also a big believer in choices for the director. “Should she be more angry here or should she be less? Should she be subtle?” So I’d give [the director] choices, and then he’d put it together. I did a voice once for a Japanese anime project called “Armitage: [Dual Matrix],” and that was fun. But I haven’t done [animated movies] very much.
Which character in “Metropia” did you identify with the most?
Lewis: I relate to Roger. That’s the little man within me. Roger, his character, he doesn’t want to be doing the job he’s doing, in a way. That lead character, I relate to some small portion of myself.
Skarsgård: Stefan, but I think Ivan Bahn [voiced by Udo Kier] is an amazing character. I’m such a huge fan of Udo Kier’s work. [He says in Kier’s voice] “Will there be nudity?” is my favorite line, even before I saw the movie, Tarik played me that. I was like, “Can I hear it again?” The delivery is so cold. I think he’s f*cking amazing in the movie. He really is. [Ivan is] not a very sympathetic character, but very amusing.
Can you talk about how it is working with a director on an animated film compared to a live-action film?
Lewis: It’s the same. Storytelling and the director’s ability to tell that story, whether it’s the set designer — in this case, the animator — the actors, you have to keep telling the different departments [in] creating a vision. [A director] is a visionary. The difference is in this work, when it’s all voice, you do it in this finite, short period of time, several hours. And then they do the rest. So you’re almost compartmental. You’re using one aspect of your “instrument.” It’s fun and unique. I like it.
What do you think of this style of animation?