Bret Easton Ellis Podcast - Kanye Excerpt On “Runaway”

Bret Easton Ellis: Maybe it’s because movies seem more disposable now, and I’m just aching for that type of pleasure that you got with There Will Be Blood, but I find this year hard to get into. Has there been anything that you’ve recently seen that you’ve said “yes, that’s interesting, yes, that’s moving the dial over a little bit,” or? Kanye: I mean, I’m gonna sound cliché again to say “Twelve Years of Slave” – it’s not that I only like black movies about black people. Of course, I love… Steve McQueen's films are interesting. I think he is more about mood and story – even if he was more about story, it’s his mood and the way things look that really force a real opinion on how long he holds moments of emotion. Not just holding the shot – he holds moments of emotion. I’ve liked his growth from more of this art film approach to – not that that was even an attempt; that was just him doing what he was doing – now to something that’s finally grasped the ability to have commerciality. The word “commercial” has such a negative connotation, but Steve is such a fine artist too, as full exhibits at Basel show. To be able to tread those two worlds - I really admire that and think that is what the modern artist is about: having multiple talents and expressing those talents, especially in a world where you just get boxed into something. Even when I’ve done short films – every video I’ve done has basically been a short film, and “Flashing Lights” is my favorite because it has the best mood, feels the most like a film, has a storyline, bam it’s a surprise in there, it’s really like a short clip out of a film. It almost gives you a hint to what happened before and what happens after that. I did this film Runaway. There’s times where people see it and they’re moved by the emotion. They see the naiveté because I’m not trained at all. When I talk to Spike Jonez about it, he’ll be like “Oh, that completely sucks.” When I talk to an artist about it, he’ll say “Oh, that’s my favorite thing.” When I talked to Takashi Murakami about it, he said he cried when he saw it. Just explaining to people out there that are listening that maybe have some perception or have heard some brash comments that I have made like doing Disney or Steve Jobs comparisons… I have the right to do that, and I have the right to say that. And it’s fun for me, because like, to set your goals that high. Steve Jobs was never, you know, the best computer programmer, but he had an understanding and a feeling, and it’s exactly what you’re talking about – creating these moments that people connect with and maybe that are life changing. As we approach Hollywood or as I approach the clothing industry in the same way I approached the music industry with none of the boundaries of what this genre is supposed to be, what I’m supposed to be, what I’m supposed to be, what I'm supposed to represent, what you wanna… It’s literally like a 14 year old’s emotion expressed. And you’re limited only by the people that you get to collaborate with.