Danny DeVito: "The only reason for becoming a director is that the position of God was already taken"

SitgesA great comedy actor and enormous filmmaker, Danny DeVito (Neptune, New Jersey, 1944) has another brilliant but lesser-known facet: a producer with a keen eye. In the 90s, he produced titles such as Pulp Fiction, Get Shorty, Erin Brockovich (his only Oscar nomination), Out of Sight and Gattaca, which triumphed at the Sitges Festival in 1997. Nearly three decades later, DeVito visits the festival this Thursday to receive the Grand Honorary Award and present a new film as a producer, the horror comedy Drag. But this time it is a more personal project, as DeVito co-produces it with his son Jake and his daughter Lucy, who also plays one of the two sisters in the film who have the worst night of their lives when they break into the house of a famous artist.

Directed by Raviv Ullman and Greg Yagolnitzer, Drag is one of the most refreshing surprises of the Sitges competition, an in crescendo of violence and bad temper that exhibits the same pitch-black sense of humor that DeVito already used as a director. "I like black comedy because it gives you freedom –explains DeVito in Sitges–. But I like any kind of comedy. When I was young I liked Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis, The Three Stooges... But a banana peel and a guy falling on his ass still make me laugh". Ullman and Yagolnitzer acknowledge the influence of their producer: "We follow in Danny's footsteps in films like The War of the Roses or Throw Momma from the Train. He is a reference, as is the cinema of the Coen brothers, who are our North Star".

DeVito claims he is not a pain-in-the-neck producer, but that as an actor he always annoys directors and offers them ideas and opinions. As a producer, however, his vision is "for directors to make their vision of the film a reality". "Sometimes I make suggestions, but with the understanding that they don't necessarily have to be accepted –he says–. I try to be the type of producer I like to work with when I am a director. After all, the only reason to become a director is that the position of God was already filled".

Celebrating the anniversary of 'Matilda'

Besides Drag, DeVito will present at the festival a screening of one of his most beloved films –which turns 30 this year–, Matilda, which adapts the story by Roald Dahl. "I didn't know much about Dahl's work, but one day my daughters brought this book and my wife and I started reading it before going to sleep –recalls DeVito–. And when we were halfway through, my wife and I, who are actors, said to each other: «These characters are great, we have to make this movie»". Coinciding with the anniversary of Matilda, DeVito and the musician David Newman have held special screenings with narration and live music performed by an orchestra. "We've done it in New Jersey, San Francisco, Cleveland... And on October 30th at the Royal Albert Hall in London, which is where Roald Dahl was from". In Sitges, unfortunately, a conventional screening will be held.

DeVito has also spoken about his relationship with Michael Douglas, with whom he has worked many times, and who has just published an autobiography where he reveals, for example, the affair he had in the 80s with actress Kathleen Turner. "Michael explains many things in the book, he is a big mouth –says DeVito–. We have known each other since 1964, when we were hippies. We met in a seminar on Eugene O’Neill and have been friends ever since. I appear a lot in his autobiography, so much so that I should get a credit as a supporting actor". Another good friend and collaborator of DeVito is Arnold Schwarzenegger, with whom he made the comedies Twins and Junior. "He is a wonderful man, we spoke just a couple of days ago. He always says to me: "Where is the script?" We want to make another movie together and I am on the hunt for a project. I ask everyone if they have any ideas. We want it to be different from the others, but keeping our relationship".

DeVito looks happy to share the spotlight in Sitges with his children Jake and Lucy. Not only are they collaborating on Drag, but the three of them have also reactivated the production company Jersey Films. "We have a very good relationship, I've known them all my life –he says jokingly–. My wife and I always included them in our professional life. We took them to the sets and they absorbed everything. Once they came to the set of Batman Returns when I was being made up as the Penguin. I have a photo where they look scared..." DeVito also boasts about having actively educated them so they would have a good film culture. "Maybe even too much –notes Lucy DeVito–, he was showing us Hitchcock movies when we were just five years old!"