New Delhi

Filmmaker Neil Burger, who is known for his projects like 'The Illusionist', and 'Limitless', expressed his admiration for Indian cinema, Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan and shared his shooting experience in the national capital for his film 'Inheritance'.

In a conversation with ANI, he said, "I love Delhi. I like Mumbai as well. I really like everywhere. I'm fascinated with India and there's so much to explore. But, you know, we chose to shoot in Delhi to set the story or part of the story in Delhi."

He added on what he liked about the country, saying, "What was exciting about it... there's sort of this sense of mystery and wonder in India, certainly for a Western person still...There are people who are incredibly friendly and incredibly generous. And there was an excitement on the street and that's what we were looking for in the movie to get this kind of energy of life as lived. And, I think we were very successful with that."

'Inheritance' is an American espionage thriller film directed by Neil Burger from a screenplay he co-wrote with Olen Steinhauer, starring Phoebe Dynevor and Rhys Ifans.

While expressing his admiration for Indian food, its culture and people, the ace director added, "Our experience was incredible. Actually, it was I mean, I love Indian food. So that was amazing. I don't think I'm enough of an aficionado to know the difference between, Delhi food and, some other cities food. We had a great crew and fantastic actors. Then just the setting is so cinematic, so visual and and so dynamic. So our experience was phenomenal."

'The Illusionist' director opened on the family bond with the country and why India is so special for him and his wife, Diana Kellogg, "My wife is an architect and designed a very beautiful girls' school in Jaisalmer, Rajasthan. And so she's been working on that for 10 years and coming to India over and over. And India has been and its people have been so welcoming to her and so generous with her. And I think that she is just has a love affair. So we feel like we have this special relationship with India. I love Indian food like naan and roti. And so it was important to me to set this particular sequence in India because of it."

He added that he is fond of Indian cinema and Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan, "I do." follow Indian cinema, and actors like "Shah Rukh Khan". "I've seen lots of (Indian) movies and I'm fascinated with them," he shared.

He spoke about his film, 'Inheritance' and how he conceived the idea behind it. Burger came up with the idea for the film during the Covid-19 pandemic, and it has an international scope despite being shot completely on an iPhone.

"It really came out of Covid originally, I wanted to see, like how the world was being affected by Covid and what the new normal was, I didn't want to make a documentary. I'm a narrative filmmaker. So I wanted to create a story that kind of took us to these different cultures just to see how people were reacting. Now, films take a long time to get made....So we created this story that went around the world from New York to Cairo to New Delhi to Seoul and then back to New York."

The filmmaker, who shot the thriller with an iPhone, shared, "When you travel around with a film crew, lots of trucks and lots of equipment and lots of people you disrupt the normal kind of routine of life. And so people end up looking at you. Whereas I wanted to, from this original idea, see the world, look at the world. I came up with this idea that I would shoot it on an iPhone , not as a gimmick, not merely as a substitute for a motion picture camera, but because we could walk through a crowded Delhi market and nobody would look at us because no no lights, no boom mics, just like somebody walking seemingly next to their friend. For all anybody knew they were shooting some social media, something rather. And it was a very effective way to do it. A very small crew kept the crew away. We were very quick with what we were doing. So it was a unique way to shoot it and it has a unique energy because of that."

He recalled working with  Robert De Niro and Bradley Cooper in science-fiction thriller film, 'Limitless', saying, "Working with De Niro, who has always been a hero of mine, it became very, suddenly you're in the room and he's right here and you're giving him direction. And all you're thinking about his incredible roles. The amazing thing about Robert De Niro..is that he wants to collaborate. He's not in a place where he's like, well, I just know what I'm doing and I know what what's the right thing. He actually wants to, work with the director and build a character together.  And then with Bradley Cooper, we were doing there's a crazy stunt where he like runs in front of a truck and almost gets hit by it. And he ran in front of a truck and almost got, hit by it. And so it's fantastic, this sort of commitment that these guys make. And it was one of my favorite films that I've made. And it was it was amazing to make it."

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"I made a movie called 'The Illusionist' (2006) a number of years ago with  Edward Norton, Paul Giamatti, and Jessica Biel and I and I'm actually turning it into a TV series, expanded it into a TV series. So I'm actually writing. And now I'm sort of working on the next episodes, which have been really fun..."