As Pride Month comes to a close, filmmakerTodd Haynesis shaken.
But Haynes, 61, sounds invigorated and wants to chat.
Poisonlaunched Haynes' career.
Todd Haynes and Julianne Moore on the set of ‘Far from Heaven’.Focus Films/Everett
It also was met with ire from the religious right, and spurred a conversation about arts funding.
He still has a lot to say, and do.
But I understood it on a couple of levels.
Todd Haynes and Toni Collette, left, on the set of ‘Velvet Goldmine’.Miramax/Everett
There were always gay audiences probably part of art-house audiences, right?
How would you describe that new frame?
We felt an urgency.
Todd Haynes and Rooney Mara on the set of ‘Carol’.WILSON WEBB
That kind of timeliness and anger was different than what came before it.
How would you describe the gay cinema that first inspired you?
It’s a broad, rich, and complicated category of films.
Then there was Derek Jarman in the U.K. What was it about that work that moved you?
It was both reflecting and creating at the same time.
And then, there was also a lot of humor and camp irony.
They were funny and edgy, but could reach different kinds of audiences in midnight-movie contexts.
Do you still self-identify as the young man who madePoison?
Would you call yourself a political filmmaker?
I would, in the sense that I’m motivated by what’s going on in the world.
And that things aren’t so great all the time.
Would you call that element a part of the new wave?
Did you want to be thought of as someone identified with a movement?
Or as your own kind of filmmaker?
But I watch it now and it feels distinctly about outsiderness.
One could argue and I probably did at the time thatSafewas as queer a movie asPoison.
Is that film still coming from a place of new queer cinema?
It’s about three people whose challenges were deeply intertwined.
One of them is a closeted gay husband.
Is that intentional on your part?
Almost anything Gordon Willis touched with his lens.
I feel like it’s a tribute to Gordon Willis, that movie.
They called cinematographer Willis the “Prince of Darkness.”
SoDark Waterswas just as personal for you?
When you take no longer can take for granted what your freedoms are.
I think that’s when questions of identity often arise.
What’s the status?
I hope you don’t mind me checking in.
No, I love it.
Thank you for asking.
There have been some legal opinions written about the film that seem favorable to a way through.
But it has been remastered by UCLA and Sundance a couple years ago, and it looks so beautiful.
Yes, it’ll happen.
Given the hindsight of 30 years, do you feel the situation has gotten better for queer on-screen representation?
Yes, of course.
It would lead to things like gay marriage.
But I also think maybe we have retreated backward.
But there’s been a general acceptance of gayness that I think one can’t deny.
This interview has been edited and condensed for length and clarity.
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