Rian Johnson’s Last Con

The "Brick" director gets whimsical with the con man movie in "The Brothers Bloom."

One thing that I’ve noticed that “Bloom” has in common with “Brick,” they seem to be the type of film to either strike people pretty firmly or completely pass by three feet to the left of them. Not to say that it goes over their head, but it just doesn’t connect with them. If it doesn’t connect, then the degree of stylization in it tends to elicit a strong response on the other end of the spectrum and get some borderline angry, dismissive reactions.

The film’s set in this fantasy array of debonair locations — even when Bloom goes off to sulk, he does it in an amazingly Euro Montenegro. How you’d pick the cities?

Because I was trying to get “Brick” made throughout my 20s, I was pretty broke and didn’t really start traveling until I was nearly 30, so I had this very romanticized, armchair view of Europe. So it’s probably a reflection of that, in that if Stephen’s going to write these romanticized worlds for them to live in, then the versions you see would be the romanticized versions of each of these cities. And sweeping Penelope off her feet when they start conning her, they’re showing her glimpses of these worlds that [look like] someone who spent their life holed up in a house in New Jersey would imagine these would. Except for Prague, which actually does looks like that. It’s pretty insane.

And why New Jersey? A shut-in heiress from New Jersey?

I don’t know. I didn’t grow up in New Jersey at all. (laughs) I needed some place on the east coast so they could launch off to Europe on a steamer ship, and I was living in New York when I was writing this, so Jersey was just on my mind.

What’s the next film that you’re working on?

Tonally, it’s the exact opposite of “Bloom,” a dark little sci-fi movie. It’s got time travel in it — to a certain extent — it’s set in the near future and it’s called “Looper.” But I’m still working on writing it right now, so we’ll see.

Any films in particular that you’re watching to prep for that?

Not really, no. Lately, I’ve been hooked on that Eclipse box set of Lubitsch musicals. (laughs) So I guess I’m working against the grain. I should hunker down and watch “Blade Runner” again.

“The Brothers Bloom” opens in limited release on May 15th.

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