Jérémie Périn is the director behind the critically acclaimed sci-fi cyberpunk film Mars Express. In fact, he’s also one of the writers for the film’s plot alongside Laurent Sarfati. Thus, he’s one of the main driving forces behind this amazing film. All of which explains why we at That Hashtag Show (with Junior Felix himself as the interviewer) decided to perform an interview with him over that very film. Here are the details of that interview.
Mars Express: Jérémie Perin Interview ~ Details
1. Media Influences on Mars Express?
This was the very first question for Jérémie Perin, and he revealed some fascinating details about the film from that question. According to him: the primary influences for Mars Express are Blade Runner and Ghost in the Shell. It makes perfect sense there. Both works are the epitome of classic cyberpunk work, so you can easily imagine why they’d be major influences on the film alongside the minor influences of films like RoboCop and Minority Report. However, that influence is not in the way you would expect.
Apparently, Jérémie Perin is a fan of Ghost in the Shell. Laurent Sarfati though is a fan of Blade Runner. You would think that under normal circumstaces, they’d be mutually compatible fandoms. If you think this is the case here though, then you would be very, very wrong. As it turns out, Perin despises Blade Runner, and Sarfati apparently despises Ghost in the Shell much the same. And yet, somehow, this mutual distaste for their counterpart’s favorite cyberpunk work produced Mars Express. It’s like their respective animosity and criticism of each other’s favorite works somehow resulted in a product that is greater than their dislikes. Like disparate puzzle pieces in the way Perin described it. How? I have no idea, but I am definitely eager to see more of these opposing forces at work once more.
2. Why Make Mars Express Your First Feature?
Yes, it’s true! Mars Express is the first feature-length film Jérémie Perin has directed. Why he decided to make this his first feature film is pretty simple: he’s a fan of science fiction. Ever since he was a child, he’s been a fan of the entire genre of sci-fi. Thus, he’s always wanted to make his feature debut with a sci-fi film like this one. After an initial failure, that is.
Perin doesn’t go into much detail as to what this failure was. Only that he worked on it with an unnamed producer, and that it featured a completely different story from Mars Express. What story it has is mostly unknown, with Perin only mentioning that it was a “campy” space adventure in the vein of Barbarella or Space Adventure Cobra. Nothing else.
Even more interesting, Perin’s previous directing experience was with an unnamed TV show aimed at teens and adults. Apparently, this was atypical for directors/producers due to the belief that it would be a filler that wouldn’t be worth much. Although, he did mention that it was a success. It was because of that success that we got Mars Express, so perhaps we should be thankful for it and even that unnamed failure.
3. Why Make Mars Express a Cyberpunk Film?
If the success of Cyberpunk 2077 (and its accompanying anime spinoff Cyberpunk: Edgerunners) and Detroit: Become Human hadn’t clued you in, the entire cyberpunk genre is hot right now. Hot enough to wonder if that had any influence on Mars Express? Well, as it turns out: that was never a factor in its development. Jérémie Perin revealed that development for Mars Express began roughly six years ago, so about 2018-ish. Detroit: Become Human saw a 2018 release date, while Cyberpunk 2077 launched in 2020. You would’ve thought that would’ve had an impact on the film’s development, but it was apparently all a complete coincidence. It does match up with the timeline, since there’s no way those game could’ve affected the initial planning process in that time. It might’ve been possible in the later phases of development though, but even those would be more homages and cameos than anything serious.
4. Any Sequel in the Works?
This is perhaps the most fascinating question for Jérémie Perin: is there going to be any continuation of the story of Mars Express? Perin was quite touched by that particular question. To him, it indicated that he did something right with the worldbuilding for people to want to know more about the world Mars Express takes place in.
Alas, Perin did not plan any sequel when he made Mars Express. He had no plans for a sequel, and he does not have any plans for a sequel in the future. Mostly because since the development of the film took six years, he fears a sequel would take another six years to make. Which alas, is not something he wishes to do.
However, Perin does mention that there’s an official book that’s came out. This was apparently a prequel to Mars Express, which is the exciting bit. The bit that pokes a hole in that enthusiasm is that Perin did not okay this book. Apparently, this “official” book is not actually official, and is more…published fanfiction, is what I can best describe it. You can still read it on Amazon if you understand French, but be aware that it’s not quite canon.
5. How was Working with GKIDS?
Apparently, Jérémie Perin’s experiences working with GKIDS has been really positive. He really appreciates their tastes, and believes his film to be in good hands as far as distribution goes. Which is just as well, because GKIDS released Mars Express for theaters on May 3, 2024. You can purchase tickets for it right now directly from GKIDS.
