Interview with Matthew McNulty

Digitalspy.co.uk has an interview with Matthew McNulty who plays Luis Buñuel in Little Ashes. I am posting the parts that are related to Dali and Rob, you can read the whole interview HERE at the source.

Matthew McNulty is no stranger to taking on the lives of real people. He starred as Debbie Curtis's boyfriend Nick Jackson in Anton Corbijn's Joy Division movie Control in 2007 before playing iconic director Luis Buñuel in the new Salvador Dalí biopic Little Ashes. DS caught up with Matthew to talk about surrealism, teen heartthrob co-star Robert Pattinson, and his hatred of all things Manchester United.(Gozde: Only a couple of hours till Man. United vs Arsenal and after a thorough research (HERE) I am all for ARSENAL :) Sorry Matt)

Do you think Dalí and surrealism in general needs rescuing from its "zany" student poster reputation?
"I think so, and this film will definitely do that. A lot of people who will see this film because of Rob Pattinson will be able to form their own opinions of surrealism. It'll be a fresh opinion and not one that's been developed through the elements that have been ridiculed in the surrealist movement. The course of surrealism did possibly last a bit too long and the central ideals were kind of watered down, so hopefully from this film people will research into it and know more about those ideals."

Do you think there's a risk that the merit of the film will be overshadowed by Pattinson's nude and love scenes?
"Possibly to people that haven't seen the film, but I'm not really bothered about that. If people want to judge it before they've actually seen it and judge it on the fact that there's a teen heartthrob playing the lead then that's more fool them. I think that the film has got merit of its own through its writing and the cinematography. Hopefully word of mouth will dispel any of that."

There's a pretty visceral scene in the film where your character assaults a gay man in a park. What was your reading into Buñuel's motivation for those actions?
"I think he lost control. He's quite an aggressive person anyway and he lost his friendship, the closeness he had - with [poet Federico] Lorca initially and then Lorca and Dalí. The only way he could react to that was through physical force. Just to lash out and react to a gay relationship in that way, rather than fight them and hurt them. To hurt someone that was completely unattached to it."

Do you think the relationship between those three characters is the key love triangle at the centre of the film?
"Possibly. I don't think Buñuel was homosexual. I think what he struggled with was the fact that he couldn't try it. Despite being somebody so liberal and so adventurous in his attitudes and politics, one part of his persona that he could never explore was sexuality. He wanted to be a world revolutionary and if he couldn't get past this homophobic problem then he wouldn't be that revolutionary."

Do you think that the relationship between Dalí and Lorca in the film is portrayed accurately?
"From what I've read, there's enough there just in what Buñuel said for there to be a relationship. There were also interviews with Dalí on his deathbed and some years before that where he would talk about Lorca and their relationship. There are letters and various accounts from people who knew them. Obviously the film has to have a certain level of artistic licence, but generally that love story and that relationship did happen."

Little Ashes receives a limited UK release from May 8.