\n\tQuite often auteurs don\u2019t lose sleep over whether their movie will connect with a greater audience or not. It\u2019s always about what they want to say to the world at that given point in time. You\u2019re either along for the ride, or you\u2019re not. <\/p>\n
\n\tDarren Aronofsky<\/a> has built his canon on a string of edgy yet eerily grounded features, i.e., Black Swan (which just had an Imax rerelease this past weekend, grossing $850,000), The Wrestler, Mother! .. the list goes on. These have been audacious swings, and in the case of Mother! was polarizing with a rare F CinemaScore.<\/p>\n \n\tBut don\u2019t think that the audience is never on Aronofsky\u2019s mind.<\/p>\n \n\t\u201c(Filmmaker) Stuart Rosenberg, my mentor, use to have a sign on his desk, \u2018Where is my audience now?\u2019 I think that it\u2019s super important for a filmmaker to constantly be making a film for your audience,\u201d says the director, whose Austin Butler-starring comedy caper Caught Stealing<\/a>, opens over the Labor Day box office weekend. \u201cThat\u2019s our artform, it\u2019s not for a vacuum, it\u2019s not for an audience of one, it\u2019s for an audience of hopefully millions, if not bigger than that. It\u2019s so expensive to make movies.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tWhile critics have looked to thread a motif through Aronofsky\u2019s work, the director\u2019s response to that is: \u201cI\u2019ve always tried to challenge myself with new things whenever I can. I guess Madonna is a big influence where you just try to reinvent yourself every time, and be truthful to the story that you have to tell and try to figure out a new kind of film grammar, and try to surprise people.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\t\u201cI have noticed over the years, people kind of connect [his movies] and see themes that go through them, but there\u2019s no conscious overlord thinking through this. It\u2019s more like, \u2018Oh, that\u2019s a cool story. I think that sounds like a lot of fun. Let\u2019s go for it.\u2019 \u201c<\/p>\n