#neonnoir

Drive (2011) Dir: Nicolas Winding Refn | DP: Newton Thomas Sigel The elevator scene did not exist until one week before it was shot. Refn built it after another sequence stopped working, and he phoned Gaspar Noé to learn the head stomping technique from Irréversible, calling him "the king of head smashing." Newton Thomas Sigel cued a gel and a dimmer inside the scene so the light shifts from naturalistic to fantasy, which is what suspends the kiss. The violence happens in the same box, under the same light. Ryan Gosling contacted Refn personally to ask him to direct, after seeing Bronson and Valhalla Rising. Refn cut scenes to the eighties synth tracks before the rights were secured. Drive cost $15 million and took $78 million, and the neon noir look it pushed into the mainstream was copied for the rest of the decade. Refn's rule: "Stylish is a reaction to emotional thought. Stylization alienates." Follow @cinemaoccupy for more. #Drive #NicolasWindingRefn #RyanGosling #NeonNoir #OccupyCinema