Hugo (Martin Scorcese) USA 2011

An interview with Hugo Cabret by Rosanna Lapinski of SBCC Films. Mr. Cabret recently starred in the film, Hugo, directed by Martin Scorcese, based on the children’s book, The Invention of Hugo Cabret, by Brian Selznick. The film is set in 1931 Paris, France.

SBCC Films.org interviewed character Hugo Cabret for the upcoming DVD and Blue-Ray release of Hugo on May 1. Mr. Cabret talked about the Hugo special features, the deleted and extended scenes and his favorite scene.

SBCC Films:  What will fans get most excited about, in regard to the special features and extras that you’ve selected for this DVD?

Hugo:  We’re all big fans here of films, early films. That’s the message of Hugo, right? Georges’ (Méliès) film, A Trip to the Moon, was the world’s first science fiction film. We show scenes from it in the movie. It was really strange. Georges’ was into fantasy stuff. But our fans wanted more. So, we included Georges’ whole moon trip film on the DVD. We also included some deleted footage from the cameo with James Joyce. You remember when the station inspector is chasing me through the concourse? Filming that scene was a lot of fun, we were just flying through there! James was actually living in Paris at the time. Remember, James opened the Volta Cinema theater in Dublin in 1909, so he had an interest in our take on cinema history. The DVD includes an interview with James. He talks about dreams, fantasies, stuff like that in his book, Finnegan’s Wake. There’s a special feature on the DVD. We did a “look inside the clock” clip that shows what it takes to keep the whole big station clock ticking. It’s sort of like an episode from that reality show, “Dirty Jobs.”

SBCC Films: Looking back on the whole process of making Hugo, were there things you were most happy with, in making the film, and were there things you wish you could have tweaked?

Hugo:  Yeah, it’s always like that. As an artist, you have to go in with a really clear picture of what you want. It’s so difficult because you’re the harshest critic. You’re like, “If only there was more time, and more money.”  I would have liked to have developed my on screen relationship with Isabelle more, you know, show that we did more than just our detective work. We had fun together too, and I think my fans should see me having fun, not just working all the time.

SBCC Films: One of the really striking things in the “behind the scenes” features is the amount of time and attention to detail for every little thing in the film, from the sets and locations to the lighting to things like your journal of drawings and the interior of the bookstore. Do you think the extent of what goes into making a film will really surprise people when they see that?

Hugo: That’s just part of the process. We found a really great draftsman to re-create my dad’s journal. It’s a lost art, doing those drawings by hand. Everything’s done on computer today, it’s not the same feeling.

SBCC Films: What is the most memorable thing you’ll take away from having been a part of all of this? Was it fun, as an actor and storyteller, to get to show some of the characters’ backstories and bring that new aspect to the film?

Hugo: Yeah, I actually spent the most time, when I was reading the book, really researching and going back and re-reading the stuff about clockworks, how they built these robots with a clockwork mechanism inside. And I thought we did a good job with Georges’ story, showing how he wound up at a stall in the train station selling toys after making all those great movies. But, there was not enough of a backstory about me and my family. So, I talked this over with Martin and we’re going to do a prequel, focusing on my early life, and my parents, more early cinema stuff. [Spoiler alert: there will be more James Joyce too]. Then, a third film, where we can bring it all together.

SBCC Films:  You’ve been mentioned as being involved with so many different upcoming film projects, such as Heist Society by Ally Carter and The Hobbit, by J.R.R. Tolkein. What project are you working on now?

Hugo:  We are just about to wrap filming the on-location shots of The Hobbit. It’s summer time down there right now. We’ll move indoors and do interior shots for the next few months. The film is coming out at Christmas 2012. We are still casting The Heist. It’s the story of a family of thieves, so it will be real close to the role I had in Hugo. I was sort of hesitant to take this role, don’t want to be typecast, you know, but my agent convinced me to take it, and so far it’s been great.