by Jack de Aguilar - 03 Oct 2013
The much-maligned director has his say.
It’s pretty fair to say that Diana – the film – was an unmitigated disaster. It would actually be quite unfair to say anything else. But while the critics were bashing away at their keyboard, submitting their negative reviews and sitting back, watching the slew of other derogatory reviews hit the net, spare a thought for poor Oliver Hirschbiegel, who had to read them all.
Diana movieNaomi Watts might be regretting her decision to get on board as Diana
He said the negative press surrounding the film was "devastating, but when you make a film you don't think about the reactions" (BBC)
"In all the other places where it's opened - in Poland, the Czech Republic, Turkey and Slovakia - it's been very strong," he said. “I think for the British, Diana is still a trauma they haven't come to terms with." Okay, we get that you’re not delighted with how your film went down, Hirschbiegel, but we’re pretty sure the UK would have been ready for a good Diana film.
Take your pick from any of these reviews as the film scored a measly 3% on Rotten Tomatoes
He also described the reception to his film as "deja vu, because it has the same reactions in the UK as Downfall had in Germany on release". See, the German director has had this before: audiences despised his depiction of Hitler in Downfall.
Our review of Diana says the film isn't actually as bad as all the others
"I hope it is a matter of stepping back and looking at it afresh in a year or so, because it is a very British story and I am a very German director," he explained, adding that Diana "was the most complex character I have ever tried to depict - more complex than Hitler. The one thing they both had in common was they were born actors". We're no experts, but comparing Diana to Hitler isn’t likely to improve anyone’s reputation in the U.K, probably.
Earlier this week, at the Zurich Film Festival, Hirschbiegel described the film as "very un-British" and described the critical reaction as harking back "to what newspapers like the Daily Mail would write about her back then - really vile things. So I guess I succeeded."
The film has been sold to distributors in more than 40 countries and will be released in the US on 1 November, 2013.
3 comments:
I fully understand how he feels, the British are hopeless!
A German director will never understand the British, that's a fact.
It's no big deal, just ignore the British, they never like anything, but can accept flying the Queen into the Olympics, why? because it was done by an Oscar-winner British director.
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