26/10/2022 - We met up with the Belgian filmmaker who’s back with a historical biopic about an anti-hero who becomes king of Antwerpian nightlife at the beginning of the 2000s

We met with Robin Pront who burst onto the Belgian scene and world stage with his first movie, the family-centric thriller Ardennes [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Robin Pront
film profile], and who is returning with a very different new film called Zillion [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Robin Pront
film profile], which is a historical biopic about an anti-hero who becomes king of Antwerpian nightlife by creating the legendary noughties nightclub Zillion. The film will be released in Belgium on 26 October, distributed by Kinepolis.

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Cineuropa: How did this project come about?
Robin Pront: It’s a story I’ve always wanted to tell. Even before I knew I wanted to become a director, I was obsessed with this story. I grew up very close to where Zillion was, and when I was 13-14 years old, it was on all the front pages. I’d tried pitching the film before making Ardennes, but it’s a really difficult film to put into place, especially when it’s a first feature film…

What attracted you to this story?
The combination of the power of the characters and of the venue, and the singularity of that time. Frank Verstraeten is an incredible character: a computer nerd who doesn’t really like people but who insists of having lots of them around him; a little geek in a world dominated by testosterone-pumped alpha males, who, ironically, always has the most beautiful woman in Belgium by his side, not to mention a super-virile porn producer. They were incongruous in the media landscape back then. And I was also interested in the era, too, the end of the 90s and the beginning of the noughties. Frank wants to be part of a world which he doesn’t belong to. Actually, he doesn’t just want to be a part of it, he wants to become the king of it.

He also has a strange relationship with his mother, who helps him go the extra mile but then ends up hampering him…
Yes, I really like this aspect of the story, it’s a story full of men but I got the impression that the women in the story were really close to his heart. In my mind, it’s a story about a trio: Frank, his mother and his wife. One of my favourite films is White Heat by Raoul Walsh, an old gangster film starring James Cagney, where the character’s mother plays an integral part in the heist.

Making a biopic about Frank Verstraeten inevitably means making a biopic about his nightclub.
That was the other really interesting thing about this project. This was a ground-breaking nightclub, it was the first to enter into the digital era. Zillion was only open for 5 years: it took off like a rocket but then exploded mid-flight, but that’s what makes it fascinating too.

Zillion is very different from your first feature film. What type of film did you imagine it to be?
When I was pitching it, I’d always say: it’s The Social Network vs Casino. I wanted to create an epic film about a handful of characters who set out on a shared adventure which sees them constantly clashing. It’s also a bit of a mafia film, except that the hero isn’t a mafioso, he’s a geek.

How did you look to recreate the venue, notably when working with your DoP?
I did a lot of research, I wanted to understand what it was that made Zillion so special. My director of photography Robrecht Heyvaert is a genius, his films look like they cost 60 million dollars when they only actually cost 4 or 5 million. I also wanted the film to speak to a wide audience, more so than with my previous film, for it to be like a rollercoaster ride. Visually, I had to give viewers an eyeful. The complicated part was finding a visual identity for the 90s and 2000s. There’s a film aesthetic for the 60s, 70s and the 80s, but not for this period. I didn’t want it to be too glossy or too refined, but I did want it to shine. But it’s not a “best of” of that era either, it’s first and foremost a character film.

What was the biggest challenge you faced with this film?
First of all, actually making it! I wanted to tell a story about real people, but there wasn’t a book I could buy the rights to. I had to carry out all the research myself, go and talk to them, get them to agree to it. Obviously, we had to find funding for the film, and then there was Covid. A real uphill battle.

Another challenge was striking the right balance between the film’s party side and the characters’ fate. The audience needed to get something out of the party scenes, but they needed emotion too. The film isn’t an auteur drama, but it’s not pure entertainment either. The most important thing for a director is preserving the tone of his or her film. As for the rest of it, there are scores of talented artists working on artistic direction, lighting… And I’m happy with the tone we settled on.

(Translated from French)