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Endless thanks to Bart Vanmaele!
This article in Dutch/Flemish (?), but I have a thing or two to say about its content anyway so if you don't understand the article you can read my description and know what it says globally.
I don't doubt for a second that Mr Dieter Moeyaert is telling what he actually saw and experienced. I don't mean to diminish his experience and observations at all. But I was on the same set as he was, and I knew quite a few of the crewmembers on a personal basis, and I have heard them then and since. Also I have been to Bruges since, and have learned a lot about the film industry since (believe it or not, I'm actually educated in it now). And I feel that the portrait he sketches here is not a complete representation of how the set of In Bruges was.
Basically what Mr Moeyaert says between the lines, is that the filmcrew was unhappy, people were dramatically getting fired, and Martin McDonagh wasn't doing his job well. Like I said; I don't doubt what he saw, I don't doubt his expertise, I just doubt the colour of the light he shines on it. In the end, he is a journalist, and he will write what is perceived as interesting. Smiles and laughs aren't as interesting as drama.
The film industry is a very high pressure and complicated industry, and millions of dollars circulate in it, the profit of those investments depending on wether everyone does his or her job perfectly or not. Directors are almost always college-trained in directing - Martin McDonagh never was, and still Focus Features gave him a very free reign and a relatively big budget for independent film. The best, most experienced, most respected directors miss shots, and that automatically causes pressure from producers, who are their direct link to the money source for the film. I'd say over 50% of the filming in the film industry runs late and is at some point stressful. Budgets get tight, investors impatient, producers need to pressure the big parties involved in film making. This does not make In Bruges an exception, it makes it amazing, because this is an uneducated first time director who didn't run late in shooting.
Why people got fired I have no clue. All I know is that it happened before I came to Bruges, and when I was there everyone was in a merry mood. It's also an intense industry and I'm sure people being fired is a hurtful process for all parties involved. It does not mean there is hostility on the set, it means that it is a complicated industry with a lot of financial pressure on it. They wouldn't fire people for no reason anywhere, and the show always goes on. Relatively, In Bruges is perceived by ALL of the former crew members to be one of the most fun and friendly filmsets they have ever been on. Mr Moeyaert confirms this himself - it was a VERY friendly filmset, giving credit to Martin McDonagh and Colin Farrell for it. So I am not saying Moeyaert is all negative... I am responding to some people's expressed worries that this means that they had a lousy time in Bruges. They did not have a lousy time in Bruges, no-one did. Maybe a few assistant crew members (who are almost somebody but not entirely yet, and so often have an attitude) made it a mission to make things miserable... but the majority of the people who worked on In Bruges loved it.
Some people who were involved in the film have even been back to Bruges when they had the time. This includes Brendan Gleeson, and I am sure Martin couldn't stay away forever either. Bruges holds a lot of happy memories for a lot of people who worked on the film. In fact, some of the crew members who are currently filming a WAY bigger budget project in Morocco, still talk about how great Bruges was. Case CLOSED. Bruges is NOT a shithole.
I clearly can't stay away from you guys ;-)
Here is a link to an interview from somewhere that must've been between Sundance and the New York premiere, it's with Colin and Martin.
I don't need a tour of Bruges, but hey I can pretend.
