story
Blessed with a special beauty that catches everyone's eye, 16-year-old Jessie (Elle Fanning) comes from a small town to Los Angeles to fulfill her dream of becoming a top model. Jessie quickly wins the hearts of top designers and photographers, and her rivals are intensely jealous. When Jessie loses her job, they begin to take revenge on her out of the ordinary. But the grand ambition that lies within Jesse is also tainted by the evil forces of the fashion industry, which will sell its soul to the devil for the sake of eternal beauty. Now, with light and dark, Jessie ventures further into the darkness of the fashion industry.

And then the man is gone.

The main character, Elle Fanning, was a difficult role to cast. She starts out as an innocent young girl, but as she becomes more and more aware of her own beauty, her demonic nature comes out. At the same time, in order to make the story compelling, you have to choose someone who is actually beautiful visually. What was it about her that attracted you to cast her this time?

Nicholas Winding Refn ("Refn")She was the only one. Of course I met many others during the audition, but she was the only one who had everything I needed for this role. In the extreme, I feel very lucky that she was born. Otherwise, this film might not have been made.

Did you intentionally cast male actors in roles where they seem to control women, such as Keanu Reeves' role as a motel owner who threatens women, or the role of a photographer who appears as an absolute authority on beauty?

lefn (musical instrument)One of the reasons why I intentionally assigned the roles to men is that I thought it would be more interesting to show them in parallel with the female characters. The other is that I wanted to make the film about beauty by and about women, with the men disappearing from the story as they fulfill their functions, even though the beginning of the film makes you think in a conventional way that the women in the film are controlled by the men. So to speak, it betrays the audience in a good way.

-How was Keanu Reeves?

lefn (musical instrument)Keanu was great, he's unique, and he's just too good to describe.

The uncomfortable nature of talking about beauty.

I can't tell you about the ending because it would be a spoiler, but I was very surprised. I thought the film was about the modeling industry, and I thought it was an ironic depiction of the longing for and fear of beauty. Is this film an expression of the director's view of women?

lefn (musical instrument)I don't intend for the characters to reflect any particular view of women, but rather to exaggerate the madness of human beings, not limited to women. Anyway, I see beauty as a very complex thing that is not straightforward.

Indeed, there were many aspects of beauty, such as fears and longings.

lefn (musical instrument)I think that talking about beauty can actually make people feel very uncomfortable. There is both a falsehood and a reality. By placing it in a fantasy or imaginary world, I do not assume that this is what beauty is, and I depict it without criticizing or satirizing it. I thought it would be more interesting to make a film that expresses the power of beauty in all directions.

In your work, I felt that beauty is the only absolute value in the world.

lefn (musical instrument)I don't think the term "cold truth" applies: beauty can be seductive, repulsive, sexy, alluring, and shallow. For me, beauty can be seductive, repulsive, sexy, alluring, or shallow. I don't think there is an absolute answer. Beauty is such a personal and subjective thing. Therefore, even if we talk about it, each of us has our own thoughts and ideas, and there will inevitably be times when we disagree. I think the only thing we can agree on is the idea that each person's subjectivity determines who is beautiful.

Certainly, when people say that someone is beautiful, there are voices that disagree and say that they are not so beautiful.

lefn (musical instrument): We all like to look at beautiful things, even though beauty is subjective. Everyone likes to see beauty, everyone has vanity, and everyone has absolutely thought about beauty before. Especially today, we live in an age where we judge people by what we see through social networking sites. That's why I think this film will have an even stronger impact.

There are many things related to beauty, and in general, you are not supposed to say those things out loud very often. For example, "It's ugly" or "It's not beautiful. On the other hand, people superficially say, "Inner beauty is important. People tend to avoid discussing beauty, but I didn't want to do so. However, I am not criticizing anything. Rather, I created this work because I wanted to delve into the mechanism of beauty.

Music, the other main character.

-The music in your films is also very attractive. What do you think of the relationship between music and images?

lefn (musical instrument)I think that music is the most directly connected to emotion. I am not interested in using sounds that directly enhance the essence of the images I am watching. Rather, I intentionally use music that goes against the images to create something evocative. I am a regular music listener, so I play music on set as well.

-What kind of music do you usually listen to?

lefn (musical instrument)I am an omnivore. In addition to directing, I also work as a curator for a record company, reissuing movie soundtracks and releasing them on vinyl. When I come to Japan, I also buy jackets because I cannot read Japanese.

I also like so-called pop music, but I find it more interesting when it is obscure, so I prefer non-major music. Music affects me in various ways. I'm a person who feels inspired by everything, so it's hard for me to say in one word, but for "The Neon Demon," the most important thing was the music, and it was important that the music express the operatic nature of the story well.

-and then it is also important to know who is going to do the music.

lefn (musical instrument)I think our relationship has reached a new level since this is my third collaboration with Cliff Martinez (ex-Recchilli member who worked on this film), following "Drive" and "Only Gods". This was the first time for both of us to work on a film where the music dominated everything so much, and it had to function as a kind of character in the film.

-In looking at your previous films, it seems that you often shoot in Los Angeles, what are the advantages of shooting in this location?

lefn (musical instrument)I simply love Los Angeles as a location. It's a magical place to set foot, and for me, it's an exotic place. Tokyo is similar to London, London is similar to Paris, and Paris reminds me of New York. In other words, there are cities all over the world that have similar identities, but the only one that is unique is Los Angeles, and strangely enough, not many films have been made set in Los Angeles, despite the fact that it is considered the center of the entertainment industry. Furthermore, all the actors and staff physically gather in the L.A. area, which is an advantage because it keeps production costs down and makes it easier to shoot (laughs).

-You have stated publicly that you love Alejandro Jodorowsky. Did you have any references for this film, regardless of Jodorowsky's works?

lefn (musical instrument): There's a movie called "Night Tide" by Curtis Harrington, and I've thought about that one from time to time. If I had to say something strong, it might be something like that.