There are plenty of great filmmaking duos in Hollywood, pairs like Martin Scorsese and Thelma Schoonmaker or Pedro Almodóvar and Penélope Cruz. In his two decades working in film, some of Darren Aronofsky‘s best movies have been made in collaboration with cinematographer Matthew Libatique. But in a new interview, Libatique reveals at one point he and Aronofsky fought too much he refused to work on “The Wrestler.”
In an interview with the Team Deakins podcast, Libatique talks about his relationship with Aronofsky as that of squabbling brothers who love each other. The two have known each other since the AFI Conservatory, a time Libatique refers to as them being “boys,” noting now that they are trying to be “men,” and learn from life and experience.
“We used to fight constantly about framing. I didn’t do ‘The Wrestler,’ because we fought so incessantly on ‘The Fountain,’” Libatique explains. “It was a point in our lives where we were going through a lot of different things, but it was a very difficult movie to make [“The Fountain”] and beyond our current abilities to be honest with you. There was a lot of ask, a lot of ambition, there was a lot of pressure, because there was a lot more money than we’d ever had to make a movie. Even though it was only $39 million, it was nothing by today’s standards. It was a lot for us, it was a lot to take on and it was a lot of pressure for everyone to take on. We were always at odds about everything.”
While someone else went on to shoot “The Wrestler,” they patched up things quickly though. Libatique said that Aronofsky’s then-partner invited him to the filmmaker’s surprise 40th birthday party, he surprised Darren and they began patching up their friendship and working relationship.
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“I do regret not doing [“The Wrestler”], but I understand why it didn’t happen and to this day, I’m ok with it because when we did ‘Black Swan’ after that, we were so much better to each other, we treating each other much better,” Libatique adds.
“When the negativity comes in cause it’s when you’re dwelling on things and it’s hard to pinpoint exactly what it is, and it could be completely personal, but you’re taking it out on your friend because you have a relationship with them. And I think that’s what kinda happened to us and it goes back to our AFI days when we would argue [about director/cinematographer things]. As for “The Wrestler,” I’m convinced Darren started watching Dardenne movies “I felt really proud of him and I called him and told him so.”
You can listen to the rest of the episode below:
