Nicolas Winding Refn is reflecting on his near-death experience.
The 55-year-old Her Private Hell director spoke out during the Cannes world premiere for his latest movie on Monday (May 18).
The filmmaker explained to the Grand Theatre Lumiere audience that he was dead for 20-plus minutes during heart surgery, via Deadline.
“Dying is very interesting,” he said.
“Before I died, I had come to the end of my career because I didn’t have anything left in me. And so, there was nothing for me to do. And then I suddenly had what is called a leaking heart, which means your blood runs backwards in your heart, and I was dying as my lungs were filling up with blood,” he explained.
“And that situation was discovered by accident. Suddenly I was told that I would probably not live, but if I did, they didn’t know what would happen. So two weeks later I was operated on. Thank God the surgeon was Tom Cruise because he could go through my body with these abilities and he could slice open my heart and he could fix my heart with his hands,” he joked.
“And I thought I was a genius, like this guy was like…genius. And then I was put together with electricity like Frankenstein. And then when I came back, I realized, okay I lived 50 years of my life, and I would have maybe 25 left, but I was going to make damn use of those 25 years.”
“Suddenly time becomes much more an essence. Time is everything and the interaction with time and when you create the exchange with an audience of taking their time, you have to respect that very well. It’s like a golden exchange. You have to give something in return in my opinion, and that’s what I think I’m here to do as much as possible with everyone around me.”
“So now obviously, I’m like the bionic man, because I realized before I died that I’d been given a gift. I could start over again. Like, how many people in their lives get a second chance?” he said as he cried.
“And I was given a second chance by God, and I was going to use that chance for something that was going to be good..at least for me, how can I expand my kid’s horizons? How can I expand everyone’s childrens’ horizon…” Watch above.
Her Private Hell centers around a group of actresses who are making a movie in a future metropolis, per Deadline. One of them, Elle (Sophie Thatcher), is haunted by a nefarious murderer, the Leather Man, who is offing women around the city. Charles Melton, Havana Rose Liu, Kristine Froseth, Diego Calva, and Dougray Scott also star.
Her Private Hell had one of the longest standing ovations at this year’s Cannes, clocking in at 12 minutes. It will hit theaters on July 24.
Posted To:Nicolas Winding Refn
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