Discussing 'The Fountain'

Director Darren Aronofsky poses for the press while promoting "The Fountain" in Spain. (Albert Gea - Reuters)

Darren Aronofsky announced himself as a major filmmaker with his mind-bending 1998 debut, "Pi." After winning the Director's Award at the Sundance Film Festival and an Independent Spirit Award for the film's screenplay, he went on to make "Requiem for a Dream," which earned Academy Award and Golden Globe nominations for supporting actress Ellen Burstyn.

Now Aronofsky is bringing his third film to the big screen. "The Fountain," starring Hugh Jackman and Rachel Weisz, spans three centuries to tell the story of one man's quest for the fountain of youth and his love for his ailing wife. Aronofsky was online Wednesday, Oct. 18 at 11:30 a.m. ET to discuss the film, which opens in theaters Nov. 22.

A transcript follows.

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Darren Aronofsky: Hi. This is Darren Aronofsy, calling in from Capitol Hill. I'm looking forward to your questions.

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Zurich: I had the chance of watching your movie during the Zurich Film Festival and very much liked it. As with your other two movies, you seem to like presenting characters that are on the edge and pushing them over. What attracts you to these stories?

Darren Aronofsky: Well, I think it's good to watch people on the edge and that's when people are most emotional. I think it's very entertaining to watch human emotion.

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Denver, Colo.: Hello Darren!

I have been a fan and own both of your movies. The one common element in both of your prior films is the impact the film (sound plus images) has on the viewer.

I felt a little paranoid and over-sensitive to environmental elements like the main character when watching "Pi." I also felt little drug-induced delusional (high?), experienced the pain of addiction when watching Requiem for a Dream.

Will "The Fountain" include some of those same elements as one experiences the film?

Since this appears to be your first "big-budget" film, did you have other considerations in making it that didn't come up in your two prior films?

Thanks for having this chat and I'm really looking forward to "The Fountain."

Darren Aronofsky: Thank you for your question. Requiem and Pi were both highly subjective movies. As filmmakers we worked hard to put the audience in the minds of those characters. I'm happy you felt their soul.

The Fountain is a much more personal experience. It's very different from my ealier films but still related. Some people have said it's both highly emotional and thrilling at the same time and I hope you will feel that way.

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Arlington, Va.: Darren,

Just wanted to say that I'm a big fan of "Pi." As someone who enjoys asking big questions about life and existence, I was completely captivated by the numerological approach to deciphering existance.

My question is, the topic of "Pi" is quite a unique one -- that numbers make up our everyday world in ways that we can't even begin to understand, and that said comprehension may be far beyond our human understanding (as evidenced by Max Cohen burning the number in his bathroom sink). I was wondering if you have your own interest in numbers and how they relate to our existence, and what kind of research you had to do when writing the screenplay for "Pi."

Keep up the good work!

Darren Aronofsky: Well, I think if you like asking the big questions there are even bigger questions in The Fountain, so I'm sure you're really gonna dig this new movie.

As far as Pi, I was never a great mathematician but I always liked the idea that math could describe our universe. I also was intrigued with numbers and mystical numbers.

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Arlington, Va.: What influence did Alfred Bester's "The Pi Man" have on your film "Pi"?

Darren Aronofsky: Unfortunately I'm not familiar with that book but I will check it out. Thanks for the tip.

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Bethesda, Md.: Were you and Rachel Weisz already a couple when you began work on "The Fountain"? Was just wondering whether that presented any challenges while working together, or, conversely, whether it made things easier in some ways.

Thanks.

Darren Aronofsky: I actually wrote the script before I even met Rachel. Then when the film got cast with Hugh Jackman, Hugh and I started to talk about who we would like to see play Issi and Hugh suggested Rachel. I was not very comfortable with that because I was in a relationship with Rachel but he asked to meet with her anyway. So we had dinner and they just completely connected. They were simpatico. So I decided to roll the dice, throw caution to the wind and try it out.

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Washington, D.C.: This probably isn't your department specifically, but are there plans to push "The Fountain" for Oscar consideration? Having earned a nod for "Requiem," do you think about awards at all or do you purposely push that stuff out of your head? Best of luck with the movie.

Darren Aronofsky: That's very nice, thank you for those comments. Generally I don't think about awards because either way you get let down so I just try to focus on the work and hope that people like it. In general, I've kind of accepted the fact that my films are a bit different. They don't normally fit in the box of award-type movies. What I really care about is that the public appreciates them and that they continue to watch them in the years to come.

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Washington, D.C.: Can you try to give us a brief synopsis of the film? I've read some things about it myself, but would like to hear the movie explained direct from the horse's mouth.

Thank you.

Darren Aronofsky: I think The Fountain is a psychedelic love story. It's a story told over the course of a thousand years and it asks the questions, what does it mean to live forever and what does it mean to LOVE forever?

It stars Hugh Jackman and Rachel Weisz as they struggle to preserve their love. Hugh Jackman battles through 16th Century Spain as a conquistador in search of the fountain of youth to save his queen and he continues his battle in present day as scientist who searches to cure his dying wife. And then deep in the future in an unnamed time he travels to the edge of the universe to unlock the secrets of immortality.

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New York, N.Y.: A non-movie-related question that I really hope you can answer. There was some talk last season that you might direct an episode of "Lost," but it never came to pass. Is that something you might do in the future? Are you a big fan of the show?

Darren Aronofsky: I am a big fan of Lost. I just watched the Glass Ballerina on my laptop last night. I thought it was pretty good. Unfortunately it didn't work out last season and I hope my schedule permits me the chance to work with those guys at some point.

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Washington, D.C.: What filmmakers would you say have most influenced your work?

Darren Aronofsky: On this film, The Fountain, I'd say Sergio Leone was a big influence as was Alejandra Jodorowsky. They both sparked many of the early ideas.

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New York, N.Y.: With "The Fountain" finished, what are you working on next? Would you ever consider doing something more straight-forward and conventional, say, a comedy?

Darren Aronofsky: I would love to do a comedy. Chris Rock, who I know a little bit, has asked me to do comedies because he says that tragedy and comedy are very related. But I have some idea of what I'm going to do next but I'm not talking about it yet because it's still early days.

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Harrisburg, Pa.: Becoming a director is one of the hardest things to achieve. Obviously, you are very talented, so I can see how your career took off wwhen you began directing. How did you get to enter the field of directing?

Darren Aronofsky: No one was helping me so I eventually got a bunch of filmmakers together and together we made Pi. By doing something homemade it broke open the possibility of directing for me.

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Darren Aronofsky: I gotta go. I'm heading to Boston. I want to thank you all for tuning in and thanks to Rocci and The Washington Post. I can't wait for you all to see the movie. Don't forget, it's opening nationally Nov. 22. It's a great film to go see after eating some turkey. Bring your entire family. All my best, Darren.

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