Jonathan Glazer’s regret at not making ‘The Zone of Interest’ a musical comedy

Jonathan Glazer, the director of the Oscar-winning The Zone of Interest has spoken of his regret that he didn’t make the film a musical comedy.

“Honestly? I don’t know what I was thinking. I mean, who on earth is going to want to go and see a film about a bunch of Nazis just living their life,” he said sadly.

“I mean, you look at Barbie, or that new Mean Girls. Musical comedies. People go to see them, they have a really good time, they come out, they’re happy. With The Zone of Interest, people come out, you know, they’re impressed but they’re also shellshocked – a bit broken. I’m not sure I feel good about that.”

He went on to describe what his initial plans for the film were.

“Well, I always admired the book and the intellectual statement it was trying to make, but I wanted to just lighten it up. So, start with a nice song about the family having a nice house and garden and the kids doing a funny little dance and falling over a bit.

“I could have got some good jokes in about Hedwig trying to one-up her friends with her garden, and Rudolf getting in a bit of a panic because his boss was coming round for dinner. Perhaps a big ballad about the importance of family. Maybe leave out all the concentration camp stuff because that does make it a tough watch.”

However, despite his regrets, he is proud of the finished film.

“People seem to like it, so that’s good. It’s just, you know, Dua Lipa had that song Dance the Night from Barbie. It would have been lovely to hear a DJ say – ‘And that was Beyonce with a cover of Hooked on a Feeling from The Zone of Interest.’”