I'm finding myself in this lousy sexclub called "CLUB NECTAR". As far as I can remember, this club has got to be one of the oldest sexclubs in town (the town we call Sint Martens Latem, aka Prostitutes Paradise).
Despite its fruity name, Nectar is the type of club that would deserve a 10 on the Richter scale of filthiness. The walls are covered with greased-up mirrors, cheap twinkling lights and a couple of smoke and fume extraction fans (yellowed by a decade of nicotine filtering). I can spot one big shiny-ass pole ("Ooh baby you want me? Well you can get this lap dance here for free").
So far, so good.
Upstairs I'm introduced to the private rooms of the club. The rooms in which people copulate. It’s even more greasy. There are two compartments, with in the center of them two big mattresses. Not your average IKEA(TM) lattoflex mattress, but the curled-up-and-stained-by-cum type of mattress. Yep. You definitely have to search for blank spots. And you know what's more? The mattresses themselves are surrounded by a dozen of seats and chairs. It's for the freaks who like to watch. Not to mention the sun-bleached curtains, top-to-bottom palmbeach wallpapers (sun-bleached too), and some secondhand Polish video equipment to watch the latest release of Anal Bang 2.
Well folks, this is the perfect rendezvous to meet upcoming director talent Felix Van Groeningen. Club Nectar is part of the setting of his major debut movie Steve+Sky, now showing across all theatres.
Lenzz: Tell us Felix, what's Steve+Sky all about?
Felix: Steve+Sky is a love story, straight up! A love story pur sang. I had the idea of telling a story about people who are lost; people who are searching their inner selves...
The outline of the story goes like this: a guy is released from prison, gets dumped by his girlfriend, swears not to touch a girl ever again, but falls in love with the first girl he comes across. Cliché, right? Cliché pur sang (laughs).
The setting of Steve+Sky is very remarkable: it takes place on the Kortrijksesteenweg, a big road which connects Ghent with Deinze. Pretty much everything is for sale on this road. "How do you want it, we got it!" Kortrijksesteenweg has strip joints, sex clubs, pubs, carrefours, swimming pools, car dealers, corporate companies, art galleries, ... You name it! This gave me all the inspiration I needed for making Steve%2bSky.
Lenzz: How did the idea of making Steve+Sky get started?
Felix: Somewhere in March, 2001. Dirk Impens (producer from Daens, Villa des Roses, Sedes and Belli, ...) made me a wonderful proposal. He said: "Felix, if you want to make a movie and write the script, than I'll be the one who wants to produce it. That’s when it all started. I put my mind at work and got into a very time consuming process of thinking, contemplating, writing, thinking, researching, ...
I had my first treatment ready in August 2001. It took me another year of writing the full script. I finally submitted it somewhere 2002 and got a budget for it. A year later we started filming.
Lenzz: Is the script/scenario being followed by the book? What about coincidences and ideas that pop up?
Felix: I'm pretty insecure as a person. I make sure everything is rehearsed in detail. Dialogues are rehearsed, the decoupage is all set, ... Occasionally I will try something new, but it doesn't happen very often. Mainly because we have such a tight budget. The timing is very important. We just can't afford to make mistakes.
Lenzz: The shooting and filming for Steve+Sky takes place in sexclubs and strip joints. Are these clubs all willing to cooperate?
Felix: Most of them are really cool. But we had some bad experiences as well. At one point during our scouting we spotted a super deluxe sexclub. A very exclusive club with rich clientele. We made an appointment; the owner of the club was really friendly; we checked the place and it was perfect as a setting in our movie. But all of a sudden, when we came in with all our camera equipment, the owners backed out, telling us: "We don't want our place to be referred to as some sex club...".
I was like: "What?"
Lenzz: Your girlfriend - Delfine Bafort - is one of the major characters in this movie. Did you choose her from the start?
Felix: Yes. I wanted to make this movie with Delfine, even though she had no film experience. She and Titus De Voogdt were already casted even before I had the script ready. I had the entire cast in my mind before I had the title of my movie. The scenario is based upon them.
Lenzz: Can she combine both? Modelling and doing this movie?
Felix: She took a 3 months' break to make this movie. She's really enjoying it! A perfect timing, because Delfine was in need of some fashion timeout (things can get quite stressy over there). But when the filming part is over she will continue modelling, no doubt!
Lenzz: Belgian movies in general. Are we doing ok?
Felix: Hmm... I don't have a straightforward answer to that one... Belgium is such a small country! There aren't many Belgian productions. And only a few of them are really good ones. And yet everyone is so busy talking movies. "Belgian Movie-Making, The Sweep of the Nation" (laughs).
Lenzz: David and Stephen Dewaele (2 Many DJ's) are producing the soundtrack for Steve+Sky. Just like their previous albums ("As heard on Radio Soulwax"), the score will be a compilation of mostly Belgian music. Can you tell us what's on the album?
Felix: It's not 100% pure Belgian music. I would call it a "Benelux" project. That's why we have Marco Borsato on it (laughs). There's Rock to the Beat, TC Matic, ... the Belgian classics, you know. And some more obscure stuff like Psychogene (from Brussels). David and Stephen had the idea of making the score Benelux wise. It matches perfectly the atmosphere of the movie. It's also a lot easier for us to clear all those copyrights. Man, that's the most tricky thing of a soundtrack. Plus: it's a lot cheaper too (we merely had a budget).
Lenzz: Thanks & Good luck Felix!
Felix: Cheers!
Photography: Ruben Impens