How much has your Parkour style changed from the first movie you ever did to Brick Mansions?
David Belle: Well, the evolution of Parkour sort of happens with time and age as you change, and the body has a certain memory of Parkour. There is a sort of thing that remains intrinsic, but then the choreography will adapt to whatever the necessity of each particular film needs. The important thing is to stay in the energy that is required for whatever scene we are filming. I don’t really think of a certain style. I just try to be accurate to what is needed for that particular scene. The style is evolving, but it’s really just adapting to what the film requires.
Was it challenging for you to do an English language movie, or did you find it easier than you expected?
David Belle: It was a very big challenge (laughs). It showed me that I was able to do it and that I was capable of doing it, but I also have a lot to learn and to improve on. This film came at a time when it was either going to work or not work. If it didn’t work, then I felt like I would just stop. But luckily it did work and it just sort of opens me up to other opportunities that I want to explore in English.
Was there anything that you wanted to change or add with this remake?
David Belle: The change you’re asking about was in the method of working. When I was younger and working on the other films, I would tire myself out and I would push myself sometimes beyond where I should have gone. With this one, I felt like I could work more with an economy and sort of manage my energy better. The most important difference is really in bringing a cinematic quality to the choreography. We were really working on the idea of the action and finding the spectacle aspect of it and the cinematic, and Parkour in a sense has a musical quality. It has up and down and different rhythms, and so it’s something that if you want to give it a certain finesse to it, it has to go do, do, do, do and then you go back down. But there is a musical quality to it. It’s not just the uniform railroading of the action.
One thing to note also is that this is not a film about Parkour. Parkour is just one element; there are of fights, there are gunfights and there are various stunts and chases. Parkour sort of wove its way into this, but there are many other possibilities for Parkour in other movies as well.
I read that you had taken a break from this kind of work for a while. When you were asked to do Brick Mansions, was it hard to get back into the rhythm of doing it?
David Belle: There had been this break because Parkour is something that is sort of a lifelong pursuit, and what’s driving it is passion. Sometimes you have to stop something to really measure the passion that you have and either you feel like moving or you don’t, and then maybe it’s time to stop. But I had to stop to measure that and really reconnect with that passion. If you wake up in the middle of the night and you have that feeling, you can’t always control when it happens. It’s like asking Jackson Pollock, “Okay, paint now!” It’ll happen when that energy comes and wants to express itself. The Parkour is with me and it will continue to be with me. It is something that I love and it’s intrinsic to me.
That concludes the interview but we’d like to thank David very much for his time. Be sure to catch Brick Mansions when it runs into theatres this weekend.
