THR: What was it about renaissance fairs that interests you?
Arcand: The film presents life in our modern city in this day and age as more and more difficult to live. People have problems that are almost insurmountable -- pollution, problems with modern democracy, problems with marriage. My hero is almost submerged by all of this. Some people take refuge, they need to escape somehow. This is a very cinematographic form of escape. You escape to the Middle Ages, not knowing what the Middle Ages were in reality, because I don't think anyone would really want to be in the Middle Ages unless they were the king. Otherwise, it was very rough, very difficult. But so many people are looking for escape that they will try to live a sort of imaginary Middle Age, which is half real Middle Age, half Tolkien, half fantasy.
THR: The film sounds a bit like "The Secret Life of Water Mitty." Did you film actual fantasy sequences?
Arcand: Yes, there are a couple of scenes that are close to that.
THR: Because this is a comedy, did you test it before an audience?
Arcand: No, I didn't. I barely finished this film. We were terribly rushed to get something out for Cannes. I didn't have the time to test it. Also, to me testing is something that you do if you start from a really commercial point of view in a sense that you want to do something to bring in lot of customers and you want to please your customers. I've always done my films starting from a different point of view. I did some tests once for only one film, "Stardom," which was probably the least successful of all my films. I did modify the film myself, the editing, according to a screen test I did in New York City, and I hated myself for it and I still hate it to this day. I liked it, and to hell with the audience. I'm making a statement, trying to be as true as possible to my vision of the world, and I'm not going to be influenced by one audience on one night. Not only that, but audiences change over the years. Some of my earlier films that were not totally understood 10-15 years ago are now understood and appreciated, so how can you account for that? My films cost next to nothing, so as long as the film makes decent money, it pays for itself. I'm not in this to make money, otherwise I'd have another job, especially being a French Canadian.
THR: The movie stars Canadian Marc Lebreche and German star Diane Kruger. How did you go about putting together the cast?
Arcand: We needed a movie star, because the hero imagines himself having an affair with a movie star. Usually my films are devoid of movie stars, so we hired Diane because my producers in Paris knew her and liked her and she agreed to do it. The others are basically unknowns, but fairly good actors, theater actors that I picked in Montreal.
