Isaach De Bankole said the story in The Limits of Control is not symbolic

L to R: Moderator from Museum of Arts and Design, "Behind Jim Jarmusch" director Lea Rinaldi, actor Isaach De Bankole, 4/29/11, NYC

Let me clarify that title above - of course anything can be symbolic - can hold a meaning other than what is primarily presented in a given object, story, or person, but, what I wanted to find out was that as an actor, when faced with a scene such as the one where De Bankole's character tells Bill Murray's character in the fortress scene that he (the hit man/De Bankole) got into the well guarded facility using his imagination, was that statement in the script accepted as truth in the real world (of the movie) by him (De Bankole, the actor, in playing the character, as opposed to the scene being a dream sequence, a fantasy, or a symbolic/not-real scene)?

De Bankole said it - the statement/the event - was real.

Further explanation: my question to De Bankole was how exactly did the hit man use his imagination to get into the well guarded room? De Bankole said that earlier in the script clues are given, such as being able to break the body down into small molecules, etc and by using those methods the hit man was able to get past the guards. So, if that is the truth, if De Bankole approached the script as a "real" story (specially that scene, the most important one in the entire movie in my opinion), & not a symbolic story, then the next time I watch The Limits of Control I am going to approach it the same way - the story presented is literal, or more literal than symbolic (the first time I watched the movie I did not know exactly what to make of it). So the hit man actually walks, walks, walks, & then uses special abilities to get into a guarded room & kill the bad guy - instead of that whole story being primarily a symbol for many other things (creative power vs guns, etc.). Cool, mystery cleared, thanks to everyone who had a hand in making the screening event mentioned below possible. I am going to take The Limits of Control as an actual story that happens in the world of the movie, just as Stranger Than Paradise, Mystery Train, Night On Earth were real stories, as opposed to dream sequences, or other primarily symbolic scenes, within the world of the movie.

That Q & A mentioned above happened earlier today at the NYC/Museum of Art and Design screening of Behind Jim Jarmusch, a doc about the making of The Limits of Control. I believe the doc is available as an extra on the Limits DVD. Check it out, great movie for Jarmusch fans.

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