In hindsight it's hard to see why so many seemed to consider "Joe" a personal affront. If nothing else, it's a gentle film, visually inventive yet humble, whimsical but never stridently so—the kind of movie that you can luxuriate in, as one might a candlelit bath. It's immersive in the way that Jacques Tati's "Playtime" and Ridley Scott's "Blade Runner" are immersive, transporting the viewer into a different headspace through clever tricks of production design, lighting, camerawork, editing and music, while asking them to care about simple characters chasing happiness and often stumbling along the way.

The movie will be screened at the IFC Center in New York City Feb. 4 with Shanley in attendance. Shanley was kind enough to spend some time on the phone with RogerEbert.com discussing his movie. A transcript is below.—Matt Zoller Seitz

The Unloved - Joe Versus The Volcano from Scout Tafoya on Vimeo.

hat on earth possessed you to make a movie like this? And how on earth did you get it made?

John Patrick Shanley: [Laughs] I just wrote whatever came into my head, whatever I wanted to write next. I wrote it on spec. I wanted to write the story of 'Joe Versus the Volcano,' and when I was done with it, I said to my agent, “You know, I think this is something Steven Spielberg might like.”

And she sent it to him, and I was in Los Angeles at a hotel doing something, and the phone rang, and it was Spielberg. And he said, “I read your script and I really like it.” I said, “thanks,” and he said, “I understand that you want to direct it,” which I don’t remember saying, and I said, “Yes.” And he said, “Well I think that’s a great idea.” And that’s how I got the directing job of Joe Versus the Volcano!

And then the movie may seem unlike other movies because…it’s what I wanted to make. It’s not a movie about other movies. It’s a movie about what I saw and what I felt around me, and what I found attractive and interesting to depict on screen.