The French director on how Catherine Deneuve didn’t get what he was doing on 8 Women, his love of Kubrick – and why he won’t work in Hollywood

You’ve had such an eclectic career. Is there any particular genre that you haven’t tackled already but would like to? LickyKicky
I don’t care about genre. What interests me is first the story. When I have the story, I try to find the best genre with which to communicate it. So the genre arrives second, and very often I mix them. 8 Women was not a musical to begin with. That was based on a play. A bad play. Old-fashioned. But I loved the plot: eight women and one of them is a murderer. It was my idea to make it a musical because it was a way to be democratic. To give each character the chance to express herself with a song, with a dance. With all those actresses together, there might be one scene where, say, Isabelle Huppert is merely an extra in the background. And you say: “Isabelle, don’t move! Now Catherine, say your lines.” Isabelle loved it but Catherine Deneuve didn’t get what I was trying to do. When she saw the film, she understood. But during the shoot, it was too theatrical for her.

8 Women was very successful, and Catherine and I met again afterwards – we are human beings, we are able to talk, sometimes we have problems but we explain ourselves. Maybe our next film, Potiche, was easier for her because she was the main woman rather than one of eight. Also, she knew what kind of movie I wanted to make this time.