For 27 years, one thing has held true: if you enjoy having a bad time at the movies, watch a Darren Aronofsky film.
From Requiem for a Dream to Black Swan to Mother!, the American director has carved out a place as the century’s most relentless provocateur in mainstream cinema. Although his films have each inspired fierce debate, they’ve also won Oscars, carving an indelible imprint on the cultural fabric.
But with Caught Stealing, his latest film, the maverick filmmaker, 56, charts a bold new course – one that’s unabashedly crowd-pleasing.
“I’m always trying to push myself, but this is a big shift for me,” Aronofsky tells The National. “For once, I’m actually playing by the rules.”
Why now? Put simply, the culture has changed. When Aronofsky built his reputation, he was among the defining voices of an era that craved mind-bending films full of twists that challenged their audiences. These were the kinds of movies that thrived on home video, because the typical reaction was: “What did I just watch?”. This was quickly followed by: “I need everyone I know to see this.”
But in the streaming era, sensibilities have changed. Films such as Aronofsky’s own Mother! – which some fans consider his masterpiece – have earned a much harsher reception than they may have two decades earlier. And so he has accepted that, to survive, he must change with the times.
“I think audiences used to love to go to the movies to be surprised, and I'm not sure that's what's going on any more,” Aronofsky explains. “I think people want to be surprised, but within the genre that they're watching.
“Like, they think: ‘I'm going to go see a horror film. I'm going to go see a comedy. I don't want it to be boring and the same thing – I want to be surprised – but I want my comedy. I want my horror,’” he continues.
In typical Aronofsky fashion, however, just because he’s ceded the battle doesn’t mean he’s stopped fighting the war. Caught Stealing – a street-level New York crime drama starring Austin Butler, Zoe Kravitz and Matt Smith – is a triumph particularly because it pushes boundaries without turning things on their head.
In a usual crime film, if someone gets hit in the head, they shrug it off. If someone is held at gunpoint, they make it out unscathed. Here, extreme actions have the same consequences they may have in real life – and the worst case is often the case.
“For this, I was like, let's do a crime caper, which is a genre people know, but let's fill it with as many unique characters as possible, and then actually add some really fun twists and turns,” says Aronofsky.
And yes, that’s another new word he’s added to his vocabulary: fun.
In other ways, Caught Stealing is a homecoming for the New York-born filmmaker, who sets the film in 1998, the same year he was making his feature film debut with the psychological thriller Pi – also filmed in the city.
“It was fun,” Aronofsky says, invoking the word again. “Really fun. It’s a beautiful thing to be connected to that year again, because it was so important for me.
“But I don’t think the job has changed that much. With Pi, I had a very tiny budget, it was black and white, and had a much smaller crew with much fewer toys. But you’re always just trying to tell the best story with a limited amount of time. The process is always the same.
“The only difference now is I’m surrounded by master filmmakers, and some of the same people who made Pi are working with me still and have become incredible craftsmen in their own right. I’m very happy with where I am,” he continues.
Some fans may still be diving into some of his past films trying to unlock hidden meaning and connections between them, but Aronofsky insists that he’s not doing it fully on purpose – but that doesn’t mean he’s not doing it.
“After I jump into new worlds, people make connections between the characters and stuff that might not be fully conscious from me, from The Fountain to The Wrestler to Noah, but for me, all I’m trying to do is keep pushing myself,” he says.
And while Caught Stealing did push him in new ways, it wasn’t as difficult a shift as he thought. In fact, one of the challenges he was most dreading – directing a cat as a key supporting character – ended up being a cakewalk.
“Every producer and assistant director on the movie was like, ‘well, we’ve got to add 80 per cent more time, because you have a cat, and the cat would get in one or two takes.”
“Tonic is such a remarkable creature,” he says of the cat, who stars as Hank. “The cat can sit on a mark for an hour and a half and not move. I can't find a human to do that. He was just an incredible creature to collaborate with.”
Caught Stealing is in cinemas across the Middle East from Thursday
