fancylawn18: Kanye West Breaks Down Opening Line Of 'Runaway'

Tuesday, October 26, 2010

Kanye West Breaks Down Opening Line Of 'Runaway'

West said line about not trusting media reports is 'poignant.'
By Mawuse Ziegbe, with reporting by Sway Calloway

Kanye West at his "Runaway" interview on Saturday
Photo: MTV News

Kanye West's film debut, "Runaway," is short on dialogue but the film's few verbal exchanges make an impact.

The first line appears minutes into the movie when West advises the newly arrived phoenix — played by Selita Ebanks — to be wary of the information dished out by the media. West shuts off a televised report that has captivated the phoenix, saying, "First rule in this world, baby, don't pay attention to anything you see in the news." West explained in an interview with MTV News directly after the film's premiere that he kicked off the dialogue with the concise declaration because of his personal experience with published hearsay.

"I just thought that was so funny," he revealed. "When me and Hype [Williams] sat and wrote the entire script we had a lot more dialogue and I just thought that was a poignant thing. I thought of it just on set ... for the first thing for you to hear me actually say on my first film. 'Cause everyday on the news there's some new bullsh-- about me ... or about everything going on. Once you're on this side of the camera you're like, 'Aw man, none of this stuff is actually real.' "

West added that he had specific ideas for the delivery of the film's spare script.

"I wanted to hit all the lines just kinda cheeky, really heavy-handed, on some [Quentin] Tarantino-like [style] 'Anything you say in the news,' " West said, playfully affecting a thuggish accent."So it almost has a cadence of rap."

'Ye added that the film's lack of verbally-articulated lines makes the project difficult to characterize.

"But just the fact that [there's] only three points of dialogue through it you can't classify what type of film this is either," he said.

As far as his acting skills, 'Ye said he feels he's on par with other filmmakers who occasionally jump in front of the camera.

"I think I'm around a level of like, Tarantino or Spike Lee or something like that" he said. "I'm no Daniel Day-Lewis ... but I created the whole thing so it doesn't really matter [as long as] you get the point."

'Ye's first foray into film clocks in about 35 minutes, but while the artist maintained that he'd like to see "Runaway" in movie theaters, he said he's not sure if he would make a feature-length production. West said he's largely indifferent to the running time of his projects and that it's all about putting out a game-changing piece of art.

"The idea of full-length is not my main concern," he said. "It's just that people enjoy themselves and ... they have to put their hands over their ears because what they see just blew their brains out."

What did you think of the dialogue in Kanye West's "Runaway" short? Tell us in the comments!

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