Talk about the inspiration for this piece.
Anderson: There’s this writer Stefan Zweig, who I had never heard of up until six or seven years ago. I read “Beware of Pity” – which I loved – and I thought about trying to adapt this book. But then I read more of his fiction and I kind of liked many of the pieces, and then his memoir, “The World of Yesterday,” ended up inspiring the whole setting of the movie. So I ultimately decided to do something Zweig-like, instead of adapting only one of them.
What was the process of you discovering the source material and trying to get it produced?
DeCaprio: As soon as I read the novel I thought, “This is like a modern day Caligula.”
How much fun was it to play someone that rude?
It was bliss, of course, because I think we were all far too well brought up. From very early on we’re encouraged to say ‘please’ and ‘thank you’ to everyone for no good reason, and of course for things we don’t actually want.
Would you have made the film any other way, looking back?
Having been in this industry for a long time, trying to get movies made is very challenging under any circumstances.
How did you come across the book and what compelled you to champion this project?
Coogan: I was in New York making a film. And because my career’s been in comedy—I’ve written a lot of television comedy— I wanted to find something more substantial, that had more substance.