Michael Cera and Sebastian Silva’s “Crystal Fairy”
Earlier this week, director Sebastian Silva (“The Maid”) and actor Michael Cera (“Arrested Development”, “Scott Pilgrim vs the World”, “Superbad”) stopped in to the SiriusXM studios earlier this week to talk with Ron Bennington about their new film, “Crystal Fairy.” The independent film, which is set in Chile, follows a group of friends who set out on a road trip, seeking a psychedelic experience, opens tonight. Excerpts from the interview appear below.
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Ron Bennington: Really dug the movie. Just an American going out to cop in Chile. That’s basically the whole movie, and I think everyone has done something similar, just maybe not in a foreign country.
Michael Cera: Or should.
Ron Bennington: Yeah. You’re a big fan of it?
Michael Cera: Yeah. I did that myself, more or less. I went down to Chile before we shot this movie, for three months, and I was just kind of like, just doing that for the first time. Being totally out of my element, speaking Spanish. I didn’t know anyone there. And it’s great. You tap into resources that you didn’t know you had.
Ron Bennington: Because you’re now awake because you’re somewhere totally different.
Michael Cera: Yeah, you’re awake in a very different way. You’re just so aware of all the differences, and the different language of the culture, and you just feel like a man. You’re just like, “OK, I got to survive here.”
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Sebastián Silva Experiences “San Pedro”
Ron Bennington: Whose idea was it to go out and get the San Pedro first? Is that something in your background, Sebastián?
Sebastián Silva: That is in my background, actually. I’ve taken the San Pedro before several times and… but, it’s based on a true story. So, it was not an element that I decided whimsically to add to the story, since it’s based on a story that me and my friend went with a woman from San Francisco that went by the name of Crystal Fairy. We went to the desert to take the San Pedro. So yeah, it’s based on that.
Ron Bennington: The thing I love about her is everybody has met that girl before, too, that everyone’s kind of looking at, but you’re like, “We should be cool,” but at the same time she is that little bit of a dream girl for you. Like, you want to heal her, have her heal you… And the San Pedro is really what that is about, about having that kind of experience.
Sebastián Silva: Yeah, it’s a healing experience. I agree.
Michael Cera: It breaks down some barriers between people.
Ron Bennington: How old were you when you did the San Pedro?
Sebastián Silva: The first time I did it I was 18 and I did it, it didn’t work. And then when the first time it worked, I was like 21, yeah, and I did it in Bolivia. Yeah, and then 24, and then…
Ron Bennington: Was it the same experience where you went out and found it yourself and cooked it?
Sebastián Silva: Yes, exactly the same experience. When I went with my buddy and Crystal Fairy to the desert, it was just like that. We went to this place called Tierra Amarilla (Yellow Land) and we – yeah, you just ring on people’s doors and then you ask them if you can buy or exchange their cactus for something.
Ron Bennington: Did they realize what you want it for, or they –
Sebastián Silva: Some people do realize that, and those are the ones that usually don’t give it to you, because they think that they might get in trouble with the police force.
Ron Bennington: It’s not an illegal plant though, right?
Sebastián Silva: It’s not, I don’t think so, no. No, it’s not an illegal plant, but yeah, cops don’t like people having fun, you know how it is.
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Michael and Sebastián Talk About the Character of Crystal Fairy
Sebastián Silva: In the movie Crystal Fairy comes out pretty wise when she proposed that everybody talks about their fears before they take the drugs. It is really recommended to do that. Or like, either to talk about your fears, or to just have a little bit of introspection with your loved ones before you go into a trip like that.
Ron Bennington: Well, I just loved her, man. Because, it’s that whole thing of, you find out that she’s in a certain amount of pain, but is not giving into it. She’s just finding a way to deal.
Michael Cera: Yeah, just running – running from it, which is this whole persona that she’s created is just like – at this point, she’s 30 and she’s still doing this stuff. It’s just like, “C’mon, what’s your real name?”
Ron Bennington: Yeah, at a certain point. Although, it’s fun to play that game. It is always fun, like, “I don’t know who anybody is, and we’re here.” You guys are going to keep collaborating on films?
Michael Cera: Yeah, we think so.
Sebastián Silva: Yeah, there’s already a project that is real interesting that we’re thinking is probably going to be for next year or something, yeah.
Michael Cera: It feels like a 2014 kind of project, yeah.
Ron Bennington: Because you guys shoot these pretty fast? It’s not an enormous amount of planning.
Michael Cera: We did another film together called “Magic Magic” which was a very different shooting experience from this, actually. It was more of an official kind of production. It took about a month, 30 days of shooting, which was sort of more typical. This one was very irregular. We just went in two weeks and shot it, but it’s not the usual way to make a movie, but it’s really liberating.
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Michael and Sebastián Talk About Sebastián’s Style of Filmmaking
Ron Bennington: Well, it does remind me of that kind of 1970s film, where people would go, “What exactly is film? Let’s go back and try to shoot something that’s closer to being a real experience.” That’s why I said, at certain times I’m watching it, and I keep waiting for this Hollywood weird plot – stolen diamonds, or whatever they do. But really, this was closer to being that age than most things that you’ll ever see on film.
Michael Cera: Well, I think that’s a trait of Sebastian’s movies. I remember I had the same feeling when I watched “The Maid,” which was – I was just like, “OK, now she’s just going to probably grab the knife, and it’s going to get crazy.” And it just – it doesn’t happen. It goes deeper into human authenticity.
Ron Bennington: What makes you work in that direction, Sebastián?
Sebastián Silva: I guess my education. And yeah, my karma. I don’t really know what it is. I personally just hate things that are predictable, so whenever I’m writing and I see myself being predictable or stepping into clichés, I just stop myself and think it again. Movies that are predictable are just so boring. That’s why superhero movies don’t work so good for me. I know they’re going to win from the very beginning.
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Michael Cera Talks About His Career Choices
Ron Bennington: Do you hear anything, Michael, for you doing these kind of things? Because I’m sure there’s agents in your life that are thinking, “Dude, while you’re off doing this, you could be making a lot more money.”
Michael Cera: Yeah. No, but I – no. I actually have a really good team of guys around me. I have a great manager and a great agent and they are totally with me.
Ron Bennington: They never get concerned of while you’re down in South America shooting some stuff, you could be getting some tent-pole movie?
Michael Cera: No, I mean – (laughs) Yeah, they like money. But they’re also like, “Yeah, but it wouldn’t make any sense for you to go and do this,” and I think they just – they know what I care about and they’re into going down that path.
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Michael and Sebastián Talk About How They Met
Ron Bennington: How did you guys first hook up together? Because it seems like it’s more than just working together, right?
Sebastián Silva: Yeah, we’re buddies.
Michael Cera: Yeah, well I sought Sebastián out after seeing “The Maid” actually, and then yeah – we became buddies really fast. And we just said, “Let’s work together.”
Sebastián Silva: Yeah, and he was learning Spanish. I think that also brought [him] so close to me, because he went down to Chile and stayed at the house that I grew up. I was in Brooklyn, and he was spending three months with my entire family, learning Spanish. And so, he Skypes with my mom by himself. So yeah, that makes us really close.
Ron Bennington: (laughs) He’s in an adult exchange program of some type going on. And when did you guys start to try to say, “Hey, we should go out and find some mescaline”? Did that happen? Was that part of the bonding experience?
Michael Cera: No, that was basically part of the story of the movie, and Sebastian sort of kind of half-jokingly said to me, “And maybe we’ll actually do it when we’re shooting,” just as a filmmaking experiment. And I kind of half agreed to it, because I didn’t want to get in over my head with it. And I didn’t want to be nervous about the experience of the whole movie and have that be a thing in my mind. But, I don’t know, after we started shooting it just seemed like the spirit of the movie was just so in the moment, we were all enjoying – and then I thought, “Yeah, why wouldn’t I?” and then I had a night where I was like, “What am I doing? I’ve locked myself into this. I’m going to be on camera drinking this.” And I was really scared. And then yeah, it just ended up being really fine. It just all felt right.
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Michael and Sebastián on the Experience
Ron Bennington: It is amazing that these experiences can take you into something that you think you know, you think you understand what reality is, and as soon as that kicks in, you’re like, “Wow, the beach and the ocean! And there’s so much of it!” And really, it is kind of a return to newness for people. It reminds us how much we sleepwalk. You’d think we would be flipping out all the time, just going, “This is amazing, all the things that are on Earth!”
Sebastián Silva: It’s good to remind yourself that you’re standing in a sphere floating in the middle of the universe from time to time. It humbles you up really quickly.
Ron Bennington: Yeah, and it so weird when you think about it, how often people will say, “Well, it’s so boring. There’s nothing to do.” Nothing to do? Take a look around, man.
Michael Cera: Yeah, like start watching “House of Cards.”
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Michael Cera On the Freedom of Independent Film
Ron Bennington: Yeah, you got “House of Cards” and, “Hey, how does gravity work?,” and you’re just sitting there dropping shit for awhile. I think it’s amazingly cool too that now you can get an idea like this and shoot it without being this giant financial concern like in the old days that – you guys didn’t have to go off and convince anyone –
Michael Cera: That was what was so amazing about it. No one cared about what we were making, and there was no one on set. I’ve worked on movies where you have someone on set who stands there with like a Blackberry at the monitor, and they’re like, “He’s tucking his shirt into his pants? He can’t, he can’t. Tell him not to – ” It’s like, “Who are you? What do you care?,” and people really impose their creative decisions in those moments. And on this, it really felt like Sebastián had real authorship of what we were making, and it was collaborative, and we weren’t being hindered by any of that stuff.
Ron Bennington: Well, particularly that kind of influence too that ruins things is because comedy is such a tiny, little thing. You have to hit just certain points. You’ve got to keep everybody’s head. And in this film, although it’s not a traditional comedy, there’s just plenty of moments where you’re just laughing and relating these dudes, and going, “Yeah, this is exactly what happens at a certain age.” And even though, if that’s a member of your family, you might be concerned about it, but that’s where growth comes in. That’s how you move ahead. Phenomenal stuff, and you can see this in select theatres, but also On Demand at the same time this comes out. So, if you’re sitting somewhere in the middle of the country, and you’re like, “Hey, what is it like to go to South America? What if I left Iowa, just got on a plane, went down and meet some people?” These are the types of adventures some people take, man.
Michael Cera: Yeah. These are the people you’ll find.
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Ron Bennington: Thanks so much for coming in Sebastián and Michael.
Sebastián Silva: Thank you so much, man.
Michael Cera: Thank you.
Ron Bennington: I’ll see you guys next time coming through.
Michael Cera: All right. Thanks a lot.
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[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E7nInvUzAI8]
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Sebastián and Michael, welcome. “Crystal Fairy” comes out in select theaters and On Demand Friday, July 12th
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You can hear this interview in its entirety exclusively on SiriusXM satellite radio. Not yet a subscriber? Click here for a free trial subscription.
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You can learn more about Ron Bennington’s two interview shows, Unmasked and Ron Bennington Interviews at RonBenningtonInterviews.com.
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