Liam Neeson and Diane Kruger Talk 'Marlowe' as Neil Jordan Film World Premieres in San Sebastian

Liam Neeson and Diane Kruger traveled to the San Sebastian Film Festival on Saturday to support the world premiere of "Marlowe" by Neil Jordan, which closes the festival tonight.

Jordan and William Monahan's adaptation of John Banville's novel "The Black-Eyed Blonde" is centered on Raymond Chandler's famed detective Philip Marlowe, and - like Chandler's books - is set in 1930s Los Angeles.

Jordan said it was confusing to call it film noir. "First of all, it's shot in color," he said.

Even though it's set in the past, it's a futuristic movie that provided its point reference for the look of it.

"To make a movie like this, you have to reinvent the image. The reference I chose was "Blade Runner", which is set in L.A. in the future. I'm doing a movie set in L.A. in the past, but in a way it's a sci-fi movie. […] It was a good reference for the designers and the film crew.”

The film was mostly shot in the hills of Barcelona, ​​which Neeson, who plays Marlowe, told him recalled L.A.

"I lived in Laurel Canyon and where we shot in Barcelona was a replica of Laurel Canyon," he said.

The film began with a book that had not yet been published.

"The book was written by a friend of mine," Jordan said. "We bought the rights to the book, and William Monahan wrote a wonderful script, but I thought there wasn't enough complexity in the script, and I said can I give it a try. We ended up with the script we have."

He chose his cast well.

"I was desperate to work with Jessica Lange," he said. "The thought of Jessica Lange playing a retired screen goddess was amazing. Luckily, she agreed to play the role."

Neeson referenced former actors who played the role of Marlowe, when asked asked how to prepare for the role.

"There were extraordinary actors like Bogart or Elliott Gould in Robert's 'The Long Goodbye' Altman was wonderful," he said. "And of course Robert Mitchum played him in the early '70s ("Farewell My Lovely"). I'm an avid reader, but I had never read Raymond Chandler. Then I devoured everything on my best friend's Kindle. But I was never intimidated by it. I have worked with Neil four times. I knew Neil would give it a certain quirky twist and cast it superbly, which he did. Diane and I acted together in a movie we shot in Berlin 12 years ago. Neil has assembled a wonderful cast. It was intimidating."

For Kruger, the chance to star in the film represented a rare opportunity.

"We don't get to play these types of characters or do these types often movies," she says. "I hopped on a Zoom with Neil. I knew he would do something classic but with a twist. We shot in Barcelona which was great."

What drew Jordan to this story?

"It's not so much the genre," he said. “It's the whole landscape of the film. I thought if I could make a movie about a Marlowe hired by a beautiful woman to find her lover, and what he doesn't know is it's to kill him, well I don't. haven't seen that."

The L.A. he filmed is gone, though Chandler's legacy lives on.

He added: "We invented our LA period. Had to invent an imaginary city because if you go to L.A. there's nothing left from that period. They destroyed it."

The film is...