34-year-old Canadian filmmaker Xavier Dolan announced this week that he has decided to quit filmmaking and directing. What drove you to make these decisions?
In an interview with The countrythe acclaimed creative mind behind films like mummy (2014) and Tom on the farm (2013) argued that his early retirement was due to the constant disappointments of leading productions that ultimately no one sees.
«I renounce cinema and directing. “I no longer have the desire or the strength to get involved in a project for two years and then hardly anyone sees it,” he explained to the medium (above). “I put too much passion into it to endure so many disappointments. I wonder if my cinema is bad and I know it isn’t.
Before he was three decades old, Xavier Dolan could boast of being an award-winning director at the prestigious Cannes, Venice and Toronto film festivals. He also now has a long acting history, including as a voice actor, and is probably best remembered by Adele fans for directing the music videos for ‘Easy on Me’ and ‘Hello’. However, Dolan is not currently aiming for further collaboration with the singer, according to his statement The country.
The dissatisfaction with his job apparently increased through his first television experience. The Canadian is the writer and director of the miniseries The night Logan woke up (2022), a five-episode French-language dramatic thriller that, despite the popularity of its creator, has received little distribution.
“Why didn’t anyone else buy it? Because it was shot in French, because there were only five episodes? “I didn’t make anything from the show, I put my salary into the production and my dad had to lend me money,” Dolan admitted. «It’s a very thankless process, I’m tired and discouraged. The simplest solution is to advertise and build me a house in the country«.
On the other hand, the thirty-year-old has yet to film a series in English for HBO; Project to which he was committed before the COVID-19 pandemic and which, according to his recent statements, is still in an embryonic stage. But that’s as far as his performance as a director goes: “I’ll keep my word and then I’ll leave it.”
Already last year, Xavier Dolan revealed his desire to retire as he had lost the need to tell stories.
“I don’t want to do this job anymore. I am tired. The year is 2022 and the world has changed dramatically. “In this world, I don’t feel the need to tell stories anymore,” he commented at the time (via world of roles). “I want to spend time with my friends and family. I want to do commercials and build a house in the country someday when I have enough money saved. I don’t mean that sadly at all. I just want to experience something different, have different experiences».
