STEVE MCQUEEN: SHAME

Despite his own blasé attitude to nudity, he did admit certain scenes were difficult for Michael Fassbender. "Yes. Yes. But we’re here to support and push. That’s my job. To maintain and be the scaffolding, to prop him up. Michael went deep. He went very deep. For example, there’s a beautiful bit on screen where Michael is waiting for the elevator. The doors open, they close, he sits down. That was improvised. That was all him. I’m upstairs, and looking at him, and he’s not getting in the elevator. I’m thinking, 'What the fuck? What’s the matter with him?' But it’s beautiful. He’s so in there. That’s genius. That’s beautiful. You can’t make that shit up. It’s a small detail but it adds so much. The doors open – bing – he looks at the elevator and sits down."

As for the title, Shame, for a film that centres around sex addiction, it is quietly provocative. "The title came up through the interviews [writer] Abi Morgan and I did because that was the word that kept coming up all the time – shame. It kept coming up in the interviews. And it seemed like a strong word to use in the titles." Though he made his name for himself as an artist, McQueen reached repute for his work with film and even studied film in New York for a short while. As you’d expect, he doesn’t hold a separation between film and art. "When I’m looking through a lens for a shot or a scene, I’m not thinking about Goya or Tarkovsky, I’m thinking. 'What’s the best thing I can do in this present mood?' Certain things are coincidence. But it’s different textures, a different aesthetic, and a different feel with film compared to painting. So I’m not thinking of painting at all. I’m just thinking about the actual content, the story, the narrative. Film will take care of itself. You’ve got to focus on what you’re looking at, and how you portray that in the right way. The best piece of advice I’ve ever heard about that, as far as images and content was concerned, was from a very good friend of mine, Robbie Müller, who used to work with Wim Wenders, Jim Jarmusch and Lars von Trier. He said, ‘A camera move should be like a cat jumping onto a table; effortless. That’s it. That’s enough.’ As far as art is concerned, as far as filmmaking is concerned, I don’t think there’s any separation. If the actual content which I had wanted me to be a tap dancer, I’d be a tap dancer. If it wanted me to jump out of an aircraft, I’d jump out of an aircraft. If it wanted me be a sculptor, I’d be a sculptor. So the content actually has to tell you what it wants. The form is there to give it some sort of reality."

"I’m an amateur. I always want to be an amateur. I always will be. I’m not interested in being a filmmaker" 

With his first film Hunger receiving such huge plaudits, McQueen is very dismissive of feeling a sense of pressure while filming and promoting Shame. "No. I didn’t feel any pressure. For me, this is my first film. Every film will be my first film. I don’t know what I’m doing. I’m Mr Magoo, bumping into things! I always wanted to be a little bit naïve. Like I said, I’m an amateur. I always want to be an amateur. I always will be. I’m not interested in being a filmmaker. I always feel like I’m an amateur. Most of the time I don’t know what I’m doing. So this is a continuation of Hunger really. It’s one film as far as I’m concerned. It’s just a case of trying things out, failing and trying them again – and hopefully they work. Often what people think doesn’t work actually often does work. So it’s a situation of experimenting, collaborating with great people and getting it done. Just trying to do something which has some kind of meaning. It’s very simple really."

"[Brandon] orders take-out food, take-in prostitutes…you don’t have to communicate with anyone. That’s the loneliness of New York"

One aspect of Shame likely to raise questions on this side of the Atlantic is McQueen’s decision to set the film in New York rather than London – given he and the writer are both English. "I love New York. Sometimes, starting points are to do with the last thing you did. So with Hunger, being in a prison cell in Northern Ireland, what happens if you turn it on its head? You have a place of excess and access. You have a place of choice, multiple choices and freedom, compared to being in a prison cell. So I like the idea of that environment. Then you put Brandon in the situation, who is not thinking about other people, just himself, and then that’s interesting. It’s the total opposite to the previous situation. Then to feed this craving of sex? I think New York is the best place for this character. You can order a prostitute? What kind? There are thousands of choices. For Brandon, it’s a Mecca. He orders take-out food, take-in prostitutes... you don’t have to communicate with anyone. That’s the loneliness of New York. For a lot of people it can be very lonely and isolating. No-one cooks – everyone eats out or takes out."

Shame is one of those films whose resonance will be felt throughout the year. It affirms McQueen as one of the most rigorous directors working at the moment in his ability to elicit powerful performances and tell compelling stories.

Simon Jablonski is the film editor for Topman GENERATION and writes for Dazed & Confused, Little White Lies and The Guardian

SHAME is released in the UK and Ireland on 13 January. For more information go to facebook.com/shameuk or follow @shamefilm