Good afternoon. My name is Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck.
I'm the director of this film.
And I'm recording this DVD commentary...
...on Friday, December 10th, 2010 in Santa Monica.
I figured that since we had about a minute worth of logos...
...at the beginning of the film...
...we'd go straight into the action and not have a long title sequence.
I also always think that that helps you enter into the reality of a film...
...if you don't have to see for a long time...
...the names of all the people who made it.
There's something, I think, that helps suspension of disbelief...
...if you aren't constantly reminded of the fact that it's made by people.
One thing that's always really important to me...
...is the very first introduction of a character.
I think in a little subtle way, it has to say something about the person.
And about how that person will be treated throughout the film.
And here, I thought that a fun way to introduce Angelina...
...would be to have these cops talk about her...
...as this elusive and dangerous target.
And then once the door opens...
...you see that the target is actually this beautiful...
...delicate, elegant and sophisticated woman.
And that's kind of the game that we play throughout the whole film.
Underwear or no underwear today?
And that's also a principle that I tried to apply to all supporting characters too.
Like for example the French sergeant...
...a brilliant French actor, Bruno Wolkowitch.
He comes in and he's the kind of sergeant...
...who will actually bring coffee to his officers.
And they're the kind of officers who will actually make their job fun...
...by enjoying the beauty of the target they're observing.
I feel that every character deserves a little bit of three-dimensionality...
...even if you only see them for a moment.
Do you have a visual?
Well, you know, here these people are just undercover cops...
...but they are two very, very good actors.
Frangois Vincentelli and Clément Sibony.
And so I give them a little moment to show...
...what it looks like when they flex their acting muscle.
A little joke.
No one gets the tea joke, but I actually think it's quite funny.
Yes, this is Mhamed Arezki who plays the courier.
Tried to find someone who could really express that innocence...
...that I needed for this character...
...to be a humourous victim for Paul Bettany.
Another of those introductions of a character.
See, just a shrill ring of a cell phone.
Felt that would be a good way to characterise...
Stay on his face.
...Acheson's, Paul Bettany's, intensity.
PaulBefiany really is a phenomenal actor.
And I fought hard to make sure we could close his deal on this picture...
...because he just acts as an acting catalyst.
He raises everybody's game, because he's just so good.
There really has not been a film where I haven't admired...
...his acting skill and intelligence.
This whole sequence at the beginning used to have many more jokes.
And, yeah, they were kind of funny...
...but, you know, upon watching it a few times...
...| felt that it would be more interesting if the full humour really started...
...with the arrival of Johnny Depp and Frank Tupelo.
So I cut out all those things.
One thing that was very important to me in this film...
...was to have ultimate clarity at all times.
You can see that even in this handwriting...
...or the logo of the AP on the Smythson stationery.
Or just all the images...
...and the way that you're given information several times over.
I just wanted this to be the kind of film where you could just lay back...
...and know that you didn't have to think too hard or exert yourself...
...that you could just be enveloped in this world of clarity...
...and luxury and beauty...
...and, you know, hopefully some suspense.
But I wanted it to feel easy.
I wanted to see how light and easy can I go.
Save that letter. Go in now. Save that letter.
Yes, this was a big discussion.
Would we be able to keep this "****" of Paul Bettany here in this scene?
And I felt it was very important to introduce the character...
...and to make him feel like someone who would use a strong word.
But if you want to go for a PG-13 rating, which we had to...
Il**** II ...you can only have two.
I'll send you someone.
Now I've already maybe used my quota on the DVD commentary...
...so I won't say the word again.
But we had to distribute them very carefully.
And of course we needed Johnny's "****" later on...
...when he just admires Angelina's beauty.
And there was a third "****" actually...
...when Paul Bettany sees Johnny arrive on the dance floor...
...and he says, ll' lh\-~k*****ll it."
But luckily we were able to change that to, "I don't bloody believe it"...
...and still sounds pretty strong and still makes the scene funny.
Yeah, this was a tough one to make very clear exactly what she's doing.
To not have to involve people in thinking.
That was my big ambition, to not have to have people think.
Just have them, you know, somehow feel and enjoy and relax.
If you look at all these extras, not just here, but in every scene...
...every one of them is chosen with a lot of love and care.
And every one of them was cast for their ability to walk elegantly...
...or to express something in their face...
...and I hope you can feel all the love that went into those little details.
Oh, yes, here is Timothy Dalton...
Specialist pool.
...whom I wanted to have in the film not so much because of James Bond--
Of course I enjoyed him as James Bond.
--But mainly because of his role as the villain in The Racketeer.
I just felt he was so compelling and charming and attractive in that...
...that I just wanted that for this film and for this part.
Not only has Pearce--
And I think he did a really great job.
--He's also 4 inches shorter than he used to be.
Dalton's assistant is lddo Goldberg.
That's him right there, a very accomplished actor.
And I'm very glad that he was willing to do this part.
I feel that for the small part, for an exchange of glances like that...
...it's very important to have a very, very good actor...
...because otherwise a moment like that will ruin a scene.
--Has 744 million in illegal assets...
...that, given he is a British subject, we might seize.
That apple that you see on Timothy Dalton's desk...
...that was at Timothy's request.
I'll often ask an actor when he or she first comes on the set:
"What is it that you think this set could take...
...to make it more your own space?
What would you, as the character that you're playing...
...have on the desk or around there?"
Thank you, sir.
Timothy said, "You know what? I think I'd like an apple there."
And I really like the apple in that scene.
Yes, this technology of actually reconstructing letters...
...with special chemicals even after they've been burnt...
...is something that I saw as a child on a science show called 3-2-1 Contact.
Those of you who are about my age will remember that show.
It was really impressive.
And they once had an episode about reconstructing burned documents.
And it looked something like this. And so when I thought up this scene...
...| went back there mentally.
This is the last time you see my three French officers:
Bruno Wolkowitch, who plays the captain.
March Ruchmann, who's the Brigadier Kaiser.
And Julien Baumgartner, who plays Brigadier Ricuort.
I always like to give actors-- Their character's names...
Gare de Lyon, perhaps?
...even if you don't hear them on-screen.
I think it says something about the respect...
...for the characters that they play.
She's getting on an 822 train. Go.
And for their names...
...| always choose the last names of members of the crew...
...who've somehow impressed me or really helped me.
So I'll leave it to you to figure out who was who.
Bruno Wolkowitch, the French captain...
...actually also a very accomplished theatre actor.
The day after we finished shooting--
No, actually the very day that we finished shooting...
...| took my DP, my production designer and my assistant...
...to watch one of his plays.
It was called Le Donneur de Bain, The Giver of Baths.
He plays a crippled orphan who lives in the basement of a brothel...
...and falls in love with one of the prostitutes. Pretty extreme story.
But he's a really wealthy guy, so when she becomes pregnant...
...this prostitute pretends that she loves him.
And he can't believe his luck.
And you get to know Bruno's character as this deeply romantic person...
...who tells this prostitute how, despite everything...
...she was always this pure creature for him.
And what she doesn't know is that he has the whole brothel wired.
When she goes back to her other clients...
...and makes fun of the cripple and his romantic notions to them...
...it destroys him completely...
...and he seeks vengeance by electrocuting everybody.
But back to our heroes.
This scene to me is your kind of ultimate wish fulfilment.
I mean, we all know that situation...
...where we're on a train or a bus and there's a seat next to us...
...and a beautiful girl comes walking down the aisle.
And we think, you know, "Please, sit here right next to me."
And she almost never does, of course.
But when she does, we don't know what to say...
...and it turns out to be an embarrassing fiasco.
Well, not here. Not in this film.
Here she actually sits right opposite us...
...and starts hitting on us, seducing us, and takes us to her hotel room.
That's what the world should be like...
...and that's what it's gonna be like in this film.
That's a terrible name.
It's the only one I've got.
Now I'm going to tell you a secret...
...since most of you listening are probably filmmakers anyhow.
That landscape out there is all green screen.
And I really think that in this film, you can't tell.
I really think that Ted Rae, our VFX supervisor...
...has set a new standard here for train green screen.
I'm a mysterious woman on a train.
He shot these perfect landscapes in Tuscany...
...that we spent a long time selecting...
...on VistaVision to fill these green screens.
And I think that's what makes it feel so especially crisp.
And it's also just a very, very, very good compositing job.
--Whose father's been kidnapped--
Look at train scenes in the future and if you can find a better one--
A microfilm. There's usually microfilm involved.
--Then write me about it.
Or write my assistant:
asst@donnersmarck.com.
Is there a man in my life?
Have to wait and see.
Johnny, I could just look at him forever.
He's just such a phenomenal actor...
...and he has just such an incredible sense of humour.
Straight from the first meeting that we had...
...| knew that I had to write a lot of humour into the script...
...because he's just such an incredibly funny person.
He just really makes everybody laugh.
I know that's a dangerous thing to say about someone since Goodfel/as...
...that they're a funny person.
Remember Joe Pesci asking Ray Liotta, "So I amuse you?"
"Yes-II And then think he's gonna kill him.
Oh, here are the first of our aerial shots.
Well, actually there was one when the train left.
I love helicopter shots when they're done right.
And I feel no one does them better than Ridley Scott.
So when I came on the show, I just asked:
"Who does Ridley Scott's aerial shots?"
They said it was this man called Marc Wolff.
So I said, "| need Marc Wolff." And Marc Wolff came and delivered.
And I will be forever grateful to Marc Wolff.
I actually used some of the insights that I had also learned...
...from Simon Crane, our stunt supervisor...
...in working with Marcus Wolff, because Simon has this principle...
...that to make something very dramatic and fast that's moving towards you...
...you have the camera move against it, never with it.
Of course it seems self-evident, but it's actually a pretty deep insight.
And so I kept pushing Marc Wolff to actually move against the train...
...to make it even faster and more impressive.
So I'm particularly pleased...
...with our aerial photography.
My main photographer was John Seale.
I actually wrote my thesis in film school about The Talented Mr. Ripley...
...and had a large section about his work.
So he was actually shocked to see how much I knew...
...about his method of working, that I'd really seriously studied him.
He developed a special light...
...where you can actually shoot several cameras at the same time.
Three is the minimum he likes to use.
And not have to make any compromises in lighting.
It was really interesting to experiment with that.
But about halfway through the shoot, I just said:
"You know, this isn't working for me. I have to go back to just one camera.
I can't concentrate on two actors at the same time."
And I do also believe that an actor acts a little differently...
...for a close-up than for a wide shot.
It's just a different concentration of energy.
And so I said, "Let's send the other operators home."
And from then on, I concentrated only on one image.
And we did have to do a lot of digital corrections...
...to the frames and the movements...
...that were shot while we were still in our three-camera mode.
But luckily it was all fixable.
Do you know something?
I think you're right.
Really?
And there's this idea that, of course, if you cross-shoot with two cameras...
...you would be able to out almost like live television to the actual reaction...
...but you never end up doing that.
I've spoken to several directors since who have cross-shot...
...and to many editors who've edited things like that...
...and they always say that's a very theoretical idea.
You always end up going for the strongest moment...
...and not for the one that happens to match perfectly.
Perfect continuity is overrated anyhow.
Yes, this is Alessio Boni, the Italian captain there.
He is an actor that I've admired for a long time.
If you still have space on your Netflix queue...
...you should put a film on there called Best of Youth.
It is truly one of the best Italian films of the past decades.
What happened?
And in it...
...he plays one of two brothers...
...who all go very separate paths and then unite...
...to find a girl that they both loved when they were young...
...and who has been imprisoned in a lunatic asylum.
It's extremely melodramatic, unbelievably moving.
And I always knew that if I ever had a role for an Italian actor...
...it would have to be Alessio Boni.
He's just so incredibly attractive in that film...
...and gives a very complex performance.
Again, here he only has a very small part...
...but I think you can sense how magnetic he is.
Yes, here's one of those moments that I always like in films...
...when the boy looks after the girl and she seems to be looking away.
And then just as he turns around...
...after him.
Misunderstanding: the essence of human life.
This is Gwilym Lee, who I think is a phenomenal actor.
He actually went to the same film school, the same acting school...
...as Steven Robertson, who plays the junior technician, the traitor...
...a few scenes later.
Here I find you can notice something interesting.
Look at the way that Gwilym slightly chews one corner of his lip.
Then look at the way Paul Bettany does the exact same thing.
One of those interesting mannerisms...
...that I have just seen come about in acting over the past decade or so.
Thank you.
But they both pull it off, because they're just terrific actors.
I always think Gwilym has such an amazing voice also.
I wish I had had him speak more in this film.
Here is our first glimpse of Venice. Not yet a beauty shot...
...but I wanted to hold those back for a second.
Yes, here you see Alessio Boni again...
...with that intense face.
And he actually used to be a policeman...
...so he can explain a lot of the Italian police things to us.
Return to headquarters. Quickly.
This little moment, believe it or not, was one of the hardest things to shoot...
...because it was hard to communicate with all these people at the same time...
...and get them to do that exact choreography...
...and coordinate it with the moving train.
And more of my brilliant extras.
Every single one of them...
...clothed with the same care as our lead actors, really.
This is a thing that I just found very funny...
...the idea of him helping someone who really doesn't want to be helped...
...because that's just who Frank is.
What are you doing?
The Internet fraud report.
80--
This Scotland Yard location was entirely built in Venice...
...right on the Grand Canal...
...by my brilliant production designer, Jon Hutman.
Oh, yes, here is the traitor, Steven Robertson.
And now you're going to meet Reginald Shaw.
See, look. You start all gentle and soft over the clouds...
...and then move on to a face that seems to be thinking about things...
...that are less gentle than those clouds.
He's mulling over his past crimes.
Now, that's kind of the spirit in which I wanted to introduce him.
And then also show what a smart...
...and, in a way, humourous person he is also...
...despite all his vice...
...by helping one of his guys win at poker without even watching.
I have a piece of information--
It's another one of those character introductions.
Supposed to be subtle. Shouldn't be too in-your-face.
It's supposed to teach you something about a character...
...just within a few seconds.
--Just arrived in Venice--
Just like when I introduced Johnny earlier.
I introduced him as a man who's smoking...
...under a "no smoking" sign on a train.
But it turns out he isn't really smoking.
In a way, that says a lot about who he is in this film.
And just in a little symbolic way.
That's what I like to get from the introduction of characters.
Frank!
You know that feeling when you arrive in a city...
...and you just don't know your way around.
And I'm not particularly great at reading maps.
Do you want to come with me?
And what you hope for, of course, is a beautiful woman...
...to pull up on a boat with water sparkling behind her.
We waited for a long time for just that sparkle.
And take you to her fantastic hotel room.
I love the unabashed romance and joy...
...that James Newton Howard put into his beautiful Venice theme here.
Now, why I wanted to set this whole film in Venice.
Because Venice is just a place that makes people beautiful.
Something quite extraordinary, living there for half a year, almost...
...and just seeing so much beauty in people's faces...
.“notbecause they just are beautiful...
...but because the place makes them that. It just makes you feel happy.
And I wanted to see that on my actors' faces.
And I hope we do.
This is another one of those moments...
...that never really gets the laugh that I get out of it.
But I still think it's really funny.
Neri Marcoré somehow losing his train of thought...
...simply because he's so confused by this woman's beauty.
Neri is a very famous TV personality...
...because he can imitate any Italian politician perfectly perfectly.
Thank you.
And I thought, "That's not impersonation skill.
That's real acting skill. I need this man."
And he really, really delivered.
--Arranged according to the precise instructions.
Just there you also saw Rufus Sewell for the second time.
I was very happy when Rufus accepted this part...
...because I needed the red herring of this film...
...to have a great screen presence.
And, in a way, be made out of the same superstar clay...
...that my lead actors are made of.
And Rufus Sewell is that completely.
He is such an incredibly precise and subtle actor.
This is one of those moments where I went very soft and mushy.
A girl fawning over jewellery and clothes.
But, I don't know, it just felt like the right thing at the time.
This really is a very nice hotel, isn't it?
They think of everything, don%they?
I probably would have out that little exchange out now.
Just would have had him look, see that closet and then walk on.
I think we could have understood that without words.
Although Johnny's line always gets a laugh...
...| don't think it's one of my best lines.
And here I would have racked focus onto the Rialto Bridge.
Would have been interesting to see the focus go away from him...
...and into that landscape, but, you know...
...you always have to live with a few little regrets.
This is actually Johnny Depp's plane.
Or I think the plane that Johnny and Graham shared on this picture.
So, Johnny is the real Reginald Shaw, or Graham King is.
Steven Berkoff is an actor that I've admired for so many years...
...ever since I saw him in Beverly Hills Cop.
Thought he was such a charming and dignified villain.
I always love it when villains are dignified.
And he always is.
And then a few years afterwards--
Understand?
--I saw him playing his own stage version...
...of Franz Kafka's Metamorphosis...
...in one of the very serious theatres in Brussels.
It was just so impressive to see that somebody could be equally at home...
...in the world of so-called high culture and of popular culture.
Do you mean ravishing?
And so I really needed him for this part and I'm so glad...
I am.
...that he was available, that he did it...
...and that I got to work with him and know him.
Now actually, he's just shooting David Fincher's...
...Girl with the Dragon Tattoo.
So I'm looking forward to seeing him on the big screen soon again.
I'm glad that Fincher and I on this were aligned in taste.
Excellent.
This is Maurizio Casagrande, another famous Italian TV actor.
He didn't say that to me.
My first AD, Alberto Mangiante...
...who was also Giuseppe Tornatore's first AD.
So he showed me this film of his...
...where he plays a priest who is so incredibly bored...
...with hearing the confessions of the people in his parish.
And it was just so funny that I thought, "I really need him for this little part."
I think he really adds something to it.
Hotels don't leave gifts like that, do they?
I find that Angelina here looks so beautiful...
...that I could just look at this footage forever.
Used to?
Took a long time selecting that exact shade of lipstick.
Lot of camera tests.
Had to be a red that wasn't too bright...
...as if it were some, you know, very young little girl wearing it...
...but it also couldn't go too far into that violet colour...
...that, you know, the 50-year-old vamp will have.
It had to be right in between.
And I think Toni G, who was Angelina's makeup artist...
...found the exact right shade.
And I was very glad when it photographed like that.
It also goes so well with the white silk.
--The Roman god, Janus.
You know, it was an interesting experience for me...
...spending all my time thinking about these things...
...and not about weighty political issues...
...|ike on The Lives of Others...
...and on the film that I'm going to be doing next.
It was an interesting bizarre experience...
...just thinking about material beauty and what it can say...
...and really taking things from the outside in.
You know, and trusting the fact...
...that if you accumulate the right amount of material beauty...
...it will say something about the world.
He's different--
I love that gentle, delicate voice and accent...
...that Angelina developed for this film.
She is a very, very accomplished actress.
Where I come from...
...the highest compliment they can offer a person...
Johnny, during this scene...
...improvised a lot. I mean, none of which we used...
...because it would have made our film an instant NC-17.
All of his improvisations are always completely obscene.
But it was very, very funny and I think gave the scene a certain lightness...
...that it otherwise would not have had...
...because Angelina's laughter and his jokes...
...will somehow spill over into the rest of the scene and just energize it.
I'm sure that's why he did it.
--Restaurant, wasn't it?
A very nice wine.
I'm making us a nice little drink...
...which is nice of me--
Isn't she just perfect goddess there draped on that sofa?
Thank you.
Were those here when we checked in?
I love the play with the various reds here.
The red of the lipstick, the red of the sofa...
...the red of the Americano Campari drink.
And here all the different beiges and whites going into the pinks.
It's an invitation to a ball--
When I got that invitation, I thought:
"This is the most glamorous piece of paper I have ever gotten."
Not so much because of the content. That too.
But just because of the way that it was done.
Everything was done with such incredible taste.
May I pay you a compliment?
Another question you need never ask.
You are the least down-to-earth person...
...I've ever met.
For me, this is one of the most touching moments in the film...
...where he says, "You're the least down-to-earth person I've ever met."
And she suddenly snaps out of her...
...somehow unhappy...
...and cool mode.
And just realises for a second what kind of a man he is.
But then she quickly decides:
"| can't do this after all."
I love this picture. Look at that. Imagine that as a painting.
Angelina had a good way of describing what she was thinking in that moment.
She said, "| close the door and I ask myself:
'Did I do the right thing? Yes, I did."'
I'll forever hear that in my ear, how she says that.
And this was a shot that I had big discussions over with my DP.
He felt that people would think...
...that this was the Russians' perspective.
Or the police's perspective, that they were watching them.
I thought that by now, we'd have forgotten them...
...would just be thinking about the two of them together.
I don't think that we see this as the Russians' perspective.
But he was not happy with me when he saw that on the shot list.
You decide.
Now, this scene, I'd originally meant to show...
...how beautiful it is when a woman undresses...
...and how somehow sad it is when a man undresses...
...but it turned into something a little bit different.
I thought here, "Look at those beautiful female feet."
But then Johnny turned out to have these beautiful feet.
And I remember everybody on set commenting on the fact...
...that his feet were really quite extraordinarily handsome.
Here I am giving a director's commentary about feet.
But I like the quiet yearning melancholy of this scene...
...and of John Seale's beautiful light...
...and of Jon Hutman's fantastic production design.
Doesn't that bed in that moment there feel like most cosy place on earth?
That one, not so much.
You hear that foghorn there in the distance?
You know, those things really add atmosphere, I find, to moments.
Wylie Stateman, our supervising sound editor...
...was a master at that kind of sound creation.
This was the piece of music that I asked James to write...
...over and over and over again until we had this piece.
But I just feel it has a real erotic--
Well, more than that, sexual intensity.
I always felt that dreams--
They feel like dreams of conquest, those sexual dreams...
...and I wanted the music to express that.
Now here is the man. He's taken the castle.
He's taken the fortress. He's the king.
And then the cut will be even more painful.
Good morning. My name is Guido.
I'm your waiter.
I'm Frank.
What's this?
It's your breakfast, sir.
This was Johnny's idea, to actually say, "I'm Frank."
And I thought it was very touching...
...this idea that the waiter comes and introduces himself...
...and he also dutifully introduces himself.
That's very much the character that Johnny plays here.
This was something I actually went back to shoot.
When I shot it the first time, I didn't feel that I'd seized that moment enough...
...that this is where he just had this incredible fantasy.
So we went back the next day and just shot that for a half-hour...
...just to be sure to have that moment.
Him reminiscing about the dream and realising that it was just a dream.
Vladimir Orlov, Vladimir Tevlovski.
These two tough guys are actually two of the most decent gentlemen...
...I've worked with ever.
They used to be stuntmen. They now are actors.
And good ones, I think.
I like their very minimal precise movements.
We worked on those for a while.
This shot is one where I'm really not happy with the colour and the lighting...
...but there was nothing we could do.
There are men trying to break--
I'd just not noticed on set that we were just lighting it from below...
...and that it looks like from a different film a little bit.
Your Spanish is excellent, sir.
But if you push these kind of things in colour correction too far...
...they look artificial and that's the worst of all.
I really wanted everything in this film to feel very natural.
You know, this chase sequence was meant as a fun, light...
...by-the-by introduction of the beauty of Venice.
I thought it would be a fun idea...
...to present Venice while people were actually chasing after you with guns.
What made me think of this sequence...
...was Casanova fleeing over the rooftops from the cuckold husband.
But I thought that Frank really was the anti-Casanova.
That it would be really funny seeing him use the same escape route.
Daniele Pecci, who puts the gun together there.
Also a very good actor.
Request permission to intervene.
And if I'm to trust the tabloids...
...he is presently dating Michelle Hunziker...
...who is truly one of the most beautiful showbiz women ever.
I'd say not our mandate.
Sir, this man is in real peril.
So I know that both he and she have very good taste.
If that's true.
--Move unless she moves.
Am I making myself crystal clear?
Sir, they Will kill him.
Not our mandate.
Yes, this view of Venice I think is the most phenomenal view...
...you will ever have of Venice.
It's not been shown in any film before.
But Jon Hutman and I kept seeing this one huge rooftop balcony.
And said, "Why can't we get up?"
They said, "It's the top of the music academy. It's difficult to get there."
We said, "We have to go up there," and when we went there...
...we had this phenomenal view and said, "We have to use this."
And so we used it for this one shot where Frank climbs along the rooftops.
Hello? Hello?
Hello?
Oh, God.
Fruit market.
We actually had new canvas put over the entire fruit market...
...because it just had to look fresh and beautiful...
...and not like some old decrepit market.
So if you go to Venice and see that market...
...know that Graham King and Tim Headington...
...paid for the beautiful roofing that you see there.
Stop, stop! Please!
This was a difficult sequence to shoot, the whole rooftop chase.
Johnny actually scratched his feet and was bleeding all over the roof...
...and, you know, said, "No, no, it's just scratches"...
...and went on playing.
I felt terrible that evening.
Remember going home and thinking, "This is not why I became a director...
...to have great actors bleed for action sequences."
Stop him!
Nino Frassica, another phenomenal TV actor...
...who just makes me laugh whenever I see him.
Johnny in handcuffs.
He's going to have to get used to those handcuffs in this film.
And this is Christian De Sica...
...an actor so famous in Italy that his autobiography became a bestseller.
And it was called Figlio di Papa.
I think you need it more than I.
Papa's Son. Daddy's Son.
Because his father, of course, was Vittorio De Sica...
...who really is a legend in Italy.
No.
He's a very famous actor, of course, his father...
...but also the director of Bicycle Thieves.
Actually Bicycle Thief, I think it's called. Yeah, Ladri di biciclette.
You wish to report a murder.
No.
Some people tried to kill me.
I was told you were reporting a murder.
Attempted murder.
That's not so serious.
No. Not when you--
This is actually shot on St. Mark's Square.
No one will believe that, because all you see is just something...
...we could have easily done as a backdrop...
...but I always think you can sense these things.
This is the Marciana...
...the administrative offices of the official Venetian state library.
--Not Italian.
I just felt that even Jon Hutman...
...even Jon Hutman, the genius, our production designer...
...would not be able to create patina like you found in this old library.
What is it you think you're involved in'?
It all started when I met a woman on the train from Paris.
-This is already good. -No. No.
She took me to her hotel.
I don't know. No. She's involved with--
The suit that Christian De Sica is wearing...
...is one of the few pieces of clothing in the film...
...not designed by Colleen Atwood.
Colleen Atwood is our costume designer.
I'd first become aware of her work through Chicago.
I just thought, "How is it possible that she can present these women...
...in such an incredibly sexual way without making them seem cheap?"
And I just wrote her name down.
I was in film school in Munich at the time and said:
"Okay, if I ever make an American film...
...this is the lady I'm gonna ask to do the costumes.
And luckily she was available and game to do this.
So almost every single costume in the film was designed by her...
...but when she saw Christian come in with this suit...
...she said to me, "We can't do better than that suit.
Just if you look at that fabric, the way that that's tailored and cut...
...we can't beat that."
So Christian is there in his own suit.
And I will soon be flying to Naples...
...to have his suitmaker make me a suit.
Please don't do this.
Sir, I've done nothing wrong.
-Please. -It's only until I check some facts.
Here I thought there had to be someone in the jail cell...
...who would just impress through his physical presence.
And I thought of my training partner, Ralf Moeller...
...who you might know from Gladiator.
So he flew in for a day and did this little appearance.
We have to leave.
You're not safe here.
I love the way that John Seale has sculpted the light here.
Beautiful use of shadow and light.
Come on.
The man you are talking about is called Alexander Pearce.
And here you experience the dark and mysterious side of Venice...
...which definitely exists.
You walk through Venice at night...
...you somehow know that you could just disappear here...
...and no one would ever hear of you again.
Just seems like a gigantic, beautiful, very dark maze.
Wait here for a moment.
Went pretty heavy on the fog.
And Wylie even had a dog bark in the distance.
But of course most of the atmosphere is created...
...through the production design here.
Jon Hutman really is my hero on this film.
People think of production design as everything that's built or decorated...
...but so often, it's just the choice of locations...
...and even the choice of an angle.
He'd sometimes bring me somewhere and say, "Look at that from this angle."
And I'd see it as a completely new location...
...and realise why it could work for our film.
Jon Hutman...
...designed everything from Quiz Show to Sydney Po||ack's The Interpreter...
...from Nancy Meyers' What Women Want...
...to Coyote Ugly.
And on every single one of those films...
...you will see that he's invented a new universe...
...of style and precision and discipline.
He is quite phenomenal.
Actually on What Women Want...
...Nancy Meyers was so enthralled with his work...
...that she actually had him do the DVD commentary with her.
I remember about halfway through the film--
He was explaining things so well.
--He left the DVD commentary.
And I always thought, "What happened there?"
Did Nancy feel that he was taking up too much of the attention...
...too much of the space, being too eloquent, maybe?
And so I asked him when we worked together and he said:
"No, I think I just had a dentist appointment.
That's why I had to |eave."
So out the window went my conspiracy theory from film school days.
0K8)'-
Elise! Elise!
Here comes Tevlovski's big leap.
I always thought when I used to see stunt sequences...
...that somehow things weren't as dangerous when stuntmen did them...
...as they would be if they were done for real.
But this stuntman really literally had to jump against this boat...
...and missed it three, four times...
...before he finally was able to hang on there.
And here we actually, you know, killed one of our actors.
Very unfortunate.
Now, we just did a double pass, of course.
But it's amazingly effective, isn't it?
So we had Tevlovski swim in the canal and suddenly throw his face forward...
...as if he'd been knocked by something.
And then we left the camera in the same position...
...had Tevlovski swim out...
...and just had the boat move towards the camera...
...which was still in the exact same position.
And then at the last moment...
...the camera moved out of the way so the boat would knock into it.
And then we just digitally...
...copied those two scenes, composited those two takes together.
And when we went to a second round of shooting it...
...you know, just so you have multiple choices...
...we just had to, again, lock the camera in a new position...
...have Tevlovski throw his face forward again...
...and then do the pass again.
It's actually really simple and traditional...
...but I know that many people will be thinking, "How did they do that?
And I know that we were all really proud that we were able...
...to present the brutal death of Vladimir Tevlovski here.
I love the way that James Newton Howard...
...built a dramaturgy of music for this chase sequence...
...making it consecutively more intense.
In a way, he really helped me be a better director here.
You all right'?
Yeah.
It's amazing what Johnny let us do with him here.
He's such a generous and wonderful person.
A few days ago, he was on Letterman...
...talking about our film and about Angelina's dog.
And at the end of the show...
...when Johnny left, Letterman said to the audience--
And you could see that it was completely heartfelt.
He said, "You know, every time when Johnny Depp leaves...
...| just feel like he's leaving a void in my life.
I want him to stay."
I've never heard him say anything like that about anybody on his show.
But it's so true. That's what it feels like, even at the end of the day of shooting.
So that's why often we'd sit together...
...and have some of Johnny's amazing wine...
...and just talk through philosophical questions.
He's a great philosopher.
He thinks a lot about philosophy of religion...
...and he follows literature very, very closely.
--Who stole $2.3 billion--
I think a person who could not have an interesting conversation...
...with Johnny Depp...
...could not have an interesting conversation with anyone.
No more chasing--
There is really a reason why he's such an incredible star and so admired.
Here you see Steven Berkoff again.
I always find that his head reminds me...
...of those old Mexican, pre-Columbian Olmec statues.
There's something so sculpture about his face.
I really think that he's a very beautiful man.
And I don't know anybody who has a head shaped like that.
Somewhere between a great sculpture...
...and, yeah, a Roman emperor.
He's a very, very elegant man.
And I think those very traditional, gentlemanly clothes suit him very well.
In real life, he wears much more extravagant, flamboyant...
...exotic costumes.
Like always.
But I think the cashmere coats...
...and these beautiful suits suit him even better.
--I think it looks all right.
I love the way that Igor Jijikine, who is actually a very good Russian actor...
...who was also in the latest Indiana Jones instalment...
...and has played with Clint Eastwood, and has quite an impressive resume...
...| love the way that he plays that "very good"...
...at the end of that exchange with Shaw.
He just plays so well a thug under pressure.
That's a real performance.
I always like it when people who seem like background figures...
...suddenly have a moment where they can show their acting.
It's like when, in an orchestra, you hear the bassoon as part of the orchestra...
...but suddenly it's given a solo just for a little moment...
...and you realise, "Wow, this is a real musician."
You know, just like that, I want people to marvel:
"Wow, this guy. We thought he was just some goon standing around.
He's a real actor." And he certainly is.
I am sorry I got you involved in all this.
Why are you involved in all this?
-Because I'm in love with him. -Really? I'm not.
Seriously, help me understand why.
I honestly didn't think--
I thought for a while what the horror story about Shaw was going to be...
...that could show that he was incredibly violent...
...but that would be fun enough to actually listen to twice...
...because we hear it once here and then at the end at the apartment.
And finally...
...| thought of that very primal male fantasy...
...of killing every man...
--owns most of the casinos and brothels from here--
...that a woman that you like...
...or that your girlfriend or wife or anything ever had anything with.
...his wife had slept with before she met him.
I think Angelina delivers it beautifully.
There you are.
One incredible thing that no one would think...
...about superstars like Angelina and Johnny...
...is that they are incredibly well-prepared.
They never flubbed a single line.
They got every scene wrong.
They were always willing to go for that extra take.
I don't regret it, you know.
Kissing you.
I have to go check--
This was actually a really nice scene to shoot.
We had this boat propped up on a stand in a studio...
...and it was very just calm and peaceful.
Some of the shooting always has the spirit of what the scene is about...
...and this was a very tender, intimate scene...
...and that's how it felt on the set too.
Yeah, here, Angelina actually drove this boat.
She learned that so well that we got rid of all the stunt drivers...
...and just had her do it.
And Johnny trusted her.
And I was in the back.
It was just me, I think. So it was the three of us on a boat.
And she went very, very fast...
...and violated all the traffic rules...
...but drove so impressively and with such total command of that boat.
And she'd only learned over the past weeks, but no one stopped her.
I wish we'd met in another life, Frank.
Take the next flight to America. Find what you need in the bag.
Be safe.
Yes, and here you hear that beautiful song...
..."Fear of Heights" from Katie Melua's new album.
While I was making this film...
...| listened to Katie Melua's music many times.
Mostly her beautiful sailboat song, "If I Were A Sailboat"...
...written by Katie Melua and Mike Batt.
I tried to use that sailboat song in the film, but it never quite fit anywhere...
...because it was somewhat too melancholy.
But then while we were making this film, her new album came out.
And there was this beautiful, tender...
...gentle piece of music on it written by Katie herself.
And I just put it on there and I called her and said, "Can we use this?"
And she actually came to L.A., to the editing room...
...and was I think the first person who ever saw the film.
She liked it very much and said, "Yeah, you can use it."
She's a very beautiful and incredibly talented singer...
...that, by chance, I heard once live at an awards show...
...where my lead actor from The Lives of Others got an award.
She wasn't really that famous yet and I think she was 17 at the time.
And just that little awards show in Eastern Germany...
Agent Elise Clifton-Ward--
...suddenly everything in that performance room changed...
...when she got up on the stage with a guitar...
...and just started singing her song about the bicycles in Beijing.
I never forgot that and since then, I've followed her career.
And I always wanted to use one of her things in a film...
...so I'm very glad that it finally worked out that way.
I think we've only seen the beginning of Katie Melua's career.
Oh, by the way, the number, her identification number was--
The MFS number was the same that Ulrich MtJhe...
...my character in The Lives of Others, had as an identification number...
...for his agency card.
You can only find it in the print and screenplay...
...because it's a scene that I actually deleted, where he uses it.
But as we learned from Inception...
...there's a certain subconscious reason...
...why we just write seemingly random numbers.
They mean something.
So I always come up with the same numbers and same sequence of letters.
So you aren't here to beg me to lift your suspension.
You've actually come to do your job.
Allow me to ask--
I had the ambition with every picture that we made here...
...with every frame, to create a painting.
--Man for a year...
...during which time we don't get one single useable-
I really thought there's never an excuse on this film...
...not to go for the maximally beautiful.
Takes a lot of effort. It's really very difficult to do.
Nothing is easier to create...
...than random ugliness.
You can point a camera at anything.
But to create beauty, that's really very, very hard.
So hard that I'm actually not gonna rush to do it again.
I wish I could understand your choice in men.
A fugitive thief. We||--
The look of that, I mean...
...has any Scotland Yard-slash-Interpol agent ever looked more beautiful?
I find it so interesting that Angelina has everything at the same time.
She is mysterious and open.
She's strong and gentle.
She's everything at the same time.
She has that amazing contradiction within her...
...in almost every characteristic.
This scene was actually the idea of my producer, Graham King.
He read through the script and said:
"Florian, we're missing just a superstar moment, a walk.
And then we brainstormed what it could be...
...and came up with this thing that maybe he should just be smoking...
...you know, and show that he's finally broken free...
...from all his psychological inhibitions.
When I shot this scene here...
...where she arrives at that landing and walks into the ballroom...
...| was just so thrilled when I saw her step off that boat and I thought:
"Wow, has anyone in the history of mankind ever looked better?
You think of how much in the world and in the history of the world...
...is about female beauty.
And we may have reached the pinnacle here...
...with Angelina Jolie on that evening where she enters at the ball.
Those are the rare moments on a film like that where you're just really happy.
And you think, "| have captured something...
...and this can be my gift to the audience."
I know it's not always seen like that.
And certainly many reviewers don't see it like that.
I thought you'd never--
But I really perceive filmmaking as a gift...
...from the filmmakers to the audience.
And if I'm not in that spirit of giving...
...then I'm not good.
Fate wouldn't bring me to an evening like this with no reason.
As soon as you walked in, I knew what the reason was.
This is Raoul Bova...
...who plays Conte Filippo Gaggia.
There is actually a real Conte Filippo Gaggia...
...from whom we had to get clearance to play this, and he said:
"You know what? If Raoul Bova is playing me, I'm in"...
...because Raoul Bova is just such a universally admired actor.
And I called him Conte Filippo Gaggia...
...because I got to know this man in Venice.
And I just thought he must have been incredibly charming and smooth...
...when convincing his unbelievably beautiful wife to many him.
So I thought, "Okay, here I'm writing this very smooth character...
...who is confident enough to approach this woman.
Let's call him Conte Filippo Gaggia.
Pull up the footage, we have his face.
Alexander.
Just look at all those girls at this ball.
Alexander.
Now, isn't there this idea...
...that Muslim paradise for the just...
...is just this idyllic place with 70 virgins?
Well, if that paradise exists, I'd imagine it to look like this ballroom.
Minus the men.
And all the dancers would be there.
And all the women standing around there. Just look at some of them.
I think you'll discover some that you'll fall in love with.
I'll tell you, all the men, while we were shooting this scene...
...were in constant hormonal overdrive...
...because there was just so much to look at.
Because Colleen, our costume designer...
...had sculpted all these women so beautifully...
...as had Maurizio Silvi, our makeup artist...
...and Giorgio Gregorini, our hairstylist.
I'm not just saying these names to flatter them and bore you to death.
But I think that you are filmmakers who are listening to this.
Otherwise you just wouldn't take those extra two hours.
I really am mentioning only the people who were key to making this film...
...into what obviously interested you enough to listen to this commentary.
And I just wanna point towards these people...
...and say that if you want to achieve what hopefully you've liked on-screen...
...you will need these people or people like them.
And you'll have to understand...
...that it's really not only the director who does all these things...
...but these key people.
And I'm not leaving without you.
One thing for instance that just happens in the background here...
...is this incredible dancing.
For that, we had an incredible choreographer...
What do you think--?
."Luca".
...and a great dance teacher, Roberta...
...whom you actually seen in this film from time to time.
She was so beautiful and thereby really inspired...
...both Angelina and Johnny to practise with her all the time.
She was on the set for weeks on end...
...so we could just rehearse this dance in little pauses between setups.
And I just thought, "Wow, isn't this incredible?
That such a beautiful woman like Roberta...
...would just, you know, be living in an Italian town, undiscovered somehow?
And in America, she would be a star...
...or at least be dating someone incredibly important."
And then I found out that she was Matt Dillon's girlfriend for five years...
...that he was constantly travelling to Italy to see her.
Anyway, one of the happiest moments that I had in making this film...
...was when Luca and Roberta first presented me with their dance troop...
...and did a rehearsal for me in a gymnasium...
...in a school gymnasium in Venice in the middle of the night.
It was at 2:00 in the morning.
I just drove there after a long shooting day and just thought:
"| hope they got this right, because we talked through every move."
Then I saw them dance and it was so beautiful...
...and these people were just so charming and so friendly...
...and so fresh and had so much energy...
...and I knew that that would translate into such a feeling of...
...you know, warmth and love and lightness on-screen...
...that I was very, very happy.
And I'll really forever stay grateful to those dancers.
And I've listed every single one of them in the end crawl.
Can you believe that Reginald Shaw...
...Steven Berkoff was never on that boat?
We actually digitally composited him into that shot, into those two shots.
I think that's really wizardry...
...but Ted Rea, our VFX supervisor, is a wizard.
And if you're looking for truly realistic VFX...
...you should get him for your next picture.
Let's have a little fun with him.
Who are you people?
Where are we going?
I think this is one of those scenes where you just see...
...what an exceptional actor Paul Bettany is.
Making this character disgusting and attractive...
...angry and happy all at the same time.
It's within those contradictions that lies great acting.
Great acting is never just one thing.
--Million pounds back taxes.
Seven hundred and forty-four million?
And you know what? I'll say something very arrogant here.
Anybody who really understands acting...
...will see what incredible talent this film presents...
Stay close but not too--
...and will see how they can live that talent in this film.
Yes, 744 million.
You didn't think we knew about that bank account in Liechtenstein.
The tiniest mistake in acting, the tiniest moment of untruth...
...will totally pull me out of a film.
And I don't think there is one here.
There are moments of stylization.
There are moments of somehow blissfully...
Hopefully blissfully aesthetic interpretation...
...of what life and human behaviour could be like.
But to me, there is not a single moment of weak acting.
You know what? Not just to me. There is not a single moment of weak acting.
All these actors are just brilliant and play together so wonderfully.
It's all right, Frank.
I know you're not Alexander Pearce.
But you know who you are?
You're a moron.
Look at that smile that Paul Bettany has here.
Look at the way that after he says "twice," he still smiles.
There's nothing to smile about, but somehow there is--
I haven't done anything.
--Because that's what human nature is like.
And he just detects that.
There's something very supernatural about acting.
--You really should be.
You know, I often think that it's the purest form of art.
Because, for acting, you know, you're not like a painter who needs a brush.
You're not like a trumpet player who needs the trumpet.
Or a writer who needs his pen.
You can't hide behind anything.
You can't hide behind the camera like I can.
All you have is your own body and your own experiences.
And through that, with that, you somehow have to create emotions...
...for the person who's consuming this piece of art.
The viewer.
So to me, a good actor...
...is the greatest artist.
No question about it.
Here the challenge, of course, was to keep it very light at all times.
Sometimes I'd misdirect a scene...
...and actually go into my default mode of doing things seriously...
...and then I'd say, "Oh, no. Sorry. I got that wrong.
Let's rewind and do it all without any sense of doom or tragedy."
So that even here when she comes into the apartment...
...that he's promised to build for her at some point in Venice...
...maybe a little bit emotional, but not too much.
Magnificent.
We searched for a long time until we found a room...
...that Jon Hutman could build into this apartment.
Money, yes. Possessions, yes.
But people--
You know, even the producers got involved.
I wanna speak a little bit about our producer, Graham King.
GK Films stands for Graham King Films.
It's a company that he has with his partner, Tim Headington...
...who made a fortune in the oil business...
...but cares more about movies than he does about oil.
And teamed up with Graham, who had been Martin Scorsese's producer.
They created a company which is slowly growing into a real studio.
They now have their own distribution apparatus.
Got Bob Berney to run it, the man who distributed Pan's Labyrinth.
So if you want to become filmmakers...
...these are the kind of people who will be key to your career.
Now, if Hollywood is about thinking big...
...I'll tell you, no one thinks bigger than Graham King.
So, I mean, he should be on the top of the list of people...
...that you send your screenplays to.
--Didn't give me any pleasure at all.
You know, this dialogue, this monologue, actually...
...where Reginald Shaw speaks about Alexander Pearce...
...you know, I really like it.
And his joke about the family doctor is one of the ones I'm most proud of.
You know, it never really gets a laugh...
...but I do think it's kind of creepy funny in a camp kind of way.
I just love him and the way he delivers it.
And maybe subconsciously it'll register as very funny.
Alec Utgoff, who does that laugh. A very young actor.
I just saw his graduation film project he did in film school.
I don't think it was his graduation film. I think it was just a film that he did...
...while he was in acting school.
It was somehow so impressive...
...and he had such an interesting creepy presence...
...that I immediately asked him to join our cast.
He sent you to get the money.
He did very well.
80--
Of course I don't usually watch graduation films or anything like that.
But our casting agent did, Susie Figgis.
She's, of course, the most important casting agent in England...
...and I was lucky to have her as an adviser.
And this is an interesting thing that I always tell young actors...
...who come and give me their portfolios and their show reels:
"Don't give it to me. I'm just gonna throw it straight into the trashcan...
...if I'm gonna be honest.
Give it to a casting director.
When I'm casting a film, that's the person I'm talking to.
That's the only person whose advice I'm going to listen to...
...apart from that of the producer."
And obviously that's what Alec Utgoff did...
...and it got him a role while he was still in acting school.
So I think that's what you should tell all young actors.
Make sure the casting directors know you.
I repeat, hold your fire.
There aren't so many.
There's only about, you know, probably a dozen serious ones in every country.
Make sure that they are aware of what you've done in the past year.
That's probably the most important piece of advice you can give an actor.
Make sure they always have updated show reels.
Make sure that they realise that you're a reliable and agreeable person.
You know, that you're professional.
That's important advice to young actors.
Expert in undercover operations.
Yeah, surveillance. I know a few journalists have said:
"This has the common theme of surveillance with The Lives of Others."
But, you know, I really don't believe that at all.
This is as far away from The Lives of Others as anything can be.
It's not something that somehow sprang from my own subconscious...
...and it's not a story that I've wanted to tell all my life.
You know, it's something that I saw as a vehicle...
...to transport something very light and beautiful into the world.
And of course surveillance is a part of our modern world.
I think surveillance will be a part of every single film...
...that I set in a vaguely contemporary setting...
...because it's just part of our lives.
I mean, just think of this situation.
I'm here in a little booth in a sound studio.
I have two engineers watching me and recording me.
I have a producer watching them.
I have my assistant watching all of us.
And, you know, just surveillance is everywhere.
Our mobile phone companies know where we are at this very moment.
Surveillance is just part of our everyday lives...
...and, you know, is not a specific foible of mine somehow.
It's the reality of modern life.
--If you don't tell me where the safe is...
...| might be tempted to rearrange your face--
Yeah, this was a scene where I just thought:
"What is most iconic about the wonderful icon that is Angelina Jolie?"
And I'm sure it is her lips.
So I thought it would be really fun to have Reginald Shaw...
...threaten to somehow cut off her lips, to disfigure her.
I'm really proud of that line:
"You will find life is less giving to an ugly woman."
There's a lot of truth in it.
Think of how easy and welcoming and giving, truly...
...|ife is to beautiful women.
Of course it has its difficulties too, for beautiful women.
If there's difficulty, it's the abundance of gifts that's thrown their way.
And the sudden absence thereof at the moment that they lose their beauty.
But I think that scene worked really well.
And if you listen closely to those sounds...
...| love that little sandpaper sound of the knife...
...a sharp knife travelling over her lips that Wylie created for this.
Isn't this safe just an amazing creation?
Open it.
You just write something in a script...
...describe something to a production designer and a special effects guy...
...and they just make it possible.
You know what? He does look a little like you.
Paul Bettany, I just never get tired of watching him.
Maybe I should tell a little about the genesis of the project.
I had just spent a year researching a very dark subject, suicide...
...and exploring that in the lives of different regular people...
...and how their lives start interconnecting when their suicides fail.
And while I think that I found a way in the script that I then wrote...
...to bring it to a positive place...
...| was kind of depressed after spending so much time...
...thinking about these really dark subject matters.
And I'd spent five weeks in a monk cell in the Vienna Woods in Austria...
...actually writing the first draught for this screenplay...
...when Angelina called me and said:
"You know, I have this project that I'm toying with.
If you'd consider rewriting it and directing it...
...I'd be really interested to do it.
See if you find something interesting about it."
And I read it...
...and I could completely understand what she liked about it.
The interesting thing was...
...that it immediately somehow uplifted my spirits...
...because it was somehow so light and so different...
...from everything that I normally do, that I normally go to...
...that I said, "You know, I think I can turn this into something."
And then I thought:
"Who could be an equally charismatic co-star for Angelina?"
And except on Mr. & Mrs. Smith, on many of Angelina's films...
...| don't even remember who she played with, acted with.
I don't remember who her co-stars were...
...because she just has such a strong presence...
...and she dominates the screen so much.
So I didn't want that to happen.
And then brainstorming with Angelina and Graham King...
...came up with Johnny. You know, he just is so charismatic...
...that no one would forget that it was him playing opposite her.
And Graham arranged for a meeting with Johnny.
Normally it takes about a year to get an audience with Johnny Depp.
But in this case, it took a few days...
...because of Graham's special relationship with Johnny Depp.
And he liked it.
And, you know, before we knew it--
You told a tourist?
--He said, "| wanna do it, but we have to do it pretty much right away."
That was a little scary, because we were in December of '09.
And he had a commitment to play Captain Jack Sparrow...
...as of May 2010.
So all we had left was, you know, a little over five months...
...to prep and shoot the film...
...and for me to rewrite the screenplay that nobody was really happy with yet.
So after some soul-searching, we decided:
"You know what? This is gonna be a fun adventure.
We know that we have to have done this entire film within 11 months...
...from starting to write the script...
...to finishing the mix and having the first answer print."
Because the film had to be released before Christmas...
...for other contractual reasons.
So, yeah, it all became a really big adventure.
And we looked each other in the eye and said, "Let's justjump into it."
And I also felt that if it uplifted my spirits...
...and stopped me thinking about the suicide in my film...
...maybe it would uplift people's spirits too.
You know, the viewers' spirits.
And they would stop with their suicidal ideation...
...which they couldn't turn into a script.
So that was what really moved me towards this subject...
...if I'm to be totally honest.
You know, here, for this scene, I thought it would be good...
...to have an almost painfully beautiful music.
Because there's something beautiful about a man...
...willing to sacrifice himself for someone else.
It doesn't make se--
This is Chief Inspector Jones.
I remember that one of our producers...
...and my story consultant, Denis O'Sullivan...
...was always really worried if people would accept...
...that Timothy Dalton suddenly appeared there in Venice...
...out of nowhere, but I feel it's not really a problem.
Did you see when Shaw just fell there?
That incredible bullet flying through his lapel...
...the lapel flapping open, him falling to the ground.
That's a digital effect, believe it or not. I think it's very, very impressive.
I wanted to be able to determine...
...the exact level of goriness and blood in post...
...so we didn't actually do any shots or blood or anything...
...while we shot it.
Then in post, I actually became quite squeamish.
Whenever we had more blood on there, it just felt gross...
...and somehow didn't fit the film, so that little hole is all you'll see.
-Are you all right? -Yes.
This is one of Angelina's most attractive shots.
The way that she looks slightly hurt, slightly defiant...
...still so delicate and feminine.
Yeah, and here is Acheson, saved by the bell.
Saved by his radio from the day of reckoning.
Do you hear that little boat driving off there in the distance...
...to show that they now are truly alone...
...so we have space for this intimate scene?
Those are the little subconscious tricks through which we manipulate you.
Well, not you who watch the DVD commentary...
...but you if you hadn't watched the DVD commentary...
...if you weren't a filmmaker.
I love him too. Unfortunately.
You know, this was one of the most difficult scenes to shoot...
...because somehow Johnny was being particularly funny that day...
...and Angelina was finding him particularly funny, as was I.
So we have probably about an hour's worth of Angelina just laughing.
And Johnny laughing too...
...and me laughing too much to be able to say cut.
All in the middle of what was supposed to be a really tender, delicate scene.
But it still worked out fine.
Are you with me this time?
Just earlier this week, I was on Charlie Rose.
And Charlie Rose asked me:
"What is it? What does Johnny Depp have?
What makes people so crazy about him?"
I thought about it and I said:
"| think it is that he makes it so easy for us to love him.
And we appreciate him for that."
Everybody likes to feel love...
...and he allows us to feel that.
He's almost like a teacher of love.
He can make anyone access that feeling.
And I love him for it all the more.
Here is a scene where you suddenly see...
...what a fantastic actor Rufus Sewell is.
You know, it's as if you haven't let the clarinet play a solo...
...and suddenly here it goes.
So let me get this straight because I'm a little confused.
You receive money from a man you've never met before--
Rufus Sewell and Paul Bettany have been in a film together before...
...in The First Knight with--
No, it's not called The First Knight. A Knight's Tale with Heath Ledger.
Of course Rufus was the bad guy and Paul Bettany was Geoffrey Chaucer.
Here is the only explosion in the film.
So this is a film with explosions.
At least one very underplayed explosion.
Do you hear that sound when he opens the safe and the music?
That synthesizer, I call it kind of headache sound...
...that is a sound that James Newton Howard...
"specifically developed for the film.
One of many sounds that he developed specifically for the film.
He has a team of sound experts that, with him...
...develop specific new acoustic elements...
...that he uses only for a specific film that he works on...
...so he doesn't repeat himself, so every film sounds unique.
I think that's extraordinary and I'm going to do exactly the same thing...
...for other technical things on my next too.
A dead gangster.
And he has good taste in women.
I love the way Timothy Dalton walks off here.
When my editor Joe Hutshing saw this footage for the first time, he says:
"Boy, that man knows where the camera is."
And it's true. He is such a precise actor, Timothy Dalton.
In acting, experience really helps.
Although some people are born geniuses like Paul Bettany.
Originally there was gonna be another big kiss between them there.
But then one day, after we had really perfected the editing...
...of that beautiful kiss at the end--
Do you not like it?
--I just suddenly thought, "We've had three kisses in this film.
Let's cut it out. Let's just end with this sail coming out."
A digital sail, by the way.
And I'm really glad we did.
And now you hear Muse.
Muse, they're just really extraordinary.
I know that people have been crazy about them in Europe for a long time...
...but in America, it's only just starting.
And they're slowly turning into the Beatles of our generation.
Maybe thanks to Twilight.
I'm sure they wouldn't like to hear that.
Let me tell you about some of the people on here...
...and some of the producers.
Gary Barber, Roger Birnbaum.
They own a company called Spyglass...
...that burst onto the scene with The Sixth Sense...
...which they completely financed and owned.
So suddenly they were major players and, boy, have they used that status.
They now run MGM.
Jonathan Glickman is their junior partner.
His father, Dan Glickman, was the head of the MPAA.
Jon had said:
"| was first in this industry and I talked to my psychiatrist about it every day."
Ron Halpern.
Olivier Courson.
They were the heads of-- They are the heads of StudioCana|.
Our French co-producers.
I've told you about Tim Headington and Graham King, that formidable duo.
Denis O'Sullivan is their head creative guy.
A really brilliant head.
And, I don't know, if you could buy producer future stock options...
...I'd buy Denis O'Sullivan options.
Lloyd Phillips...
...was someone who had already worked with Tom Tykwer...
...another German on The International.
And he recently executive produced...
...Quentin Tarantino's lnglourious Basterds.
My editors.
Joe Hutshing, I told you about him. He's someone who's edited films...
...as diverse as Being John Malkovich and Jerry Maguire...
...one of my favourite films of all times.
Patricia Rommel. Don't say Rommel.
Patricia Rommel. She's French and beautiful.
And she's edited The Lives of Others for me...
...and most recently already edited an English language film...
...called The Last Station. I still haven't seen it.
And I will always think of it as The Last Station...
...because that's how she always calls it.
And by the end of our postproduction process...
...everybody was referring to Reginald Shaw's Russian killers...
...as "the thugs."
Because that's what she always called them with her French accent.
Well, so that was The Tourist and I hope you enjoyed it.
And I hope I've been able to give you some insight...
...into how we made it with this commentary.
You know, I think a lot of people...
...a lot of critics certainly misunderstood this film when it came out...
...and somehow thought I was going to make another The Lives of Others.
Because it turned out to be The Tourist...
...it must have fallen short of that ambition.
But I really hope that over time...
...this will be the film that people turn to when they feel low...
...and just want to spend two hours soaring through...
...you know, the beauty that the world has to offer.
And when they just want to, you know, relax for two hours.
I really believe in beauty.
The beauty of our actors, the beauty of their performances.
The beauty that we've hopefully created in images...
...and through the costumes and the production design.
And I hope that you can see this...
...as the eternal Christmas gift that we meant it to be.
We had an amazing time making it.
I remember that sometimes in the mornings...
Because as you can see, most of the film was shot at night.
So when the sun started coming up, we had to stop shooting.
And I'd go on to my boat...
...and we'd drive through the canals of Venice...
...in that early morning sun.
Mostly Venice was still completely deserted.
I had a few cigarettes, not electronic ones...
...with my driver and Jason, my assistant.
And, you know, then I'd drive home...
...and walk up to my incredible living room there...
...right on the Grand Canal...
...and went onto the balcony and looked over the city.
I still couldn't sleep, because I was still so full of all these impressions...
...that I had experienced throughout the entire day.
I just stood there looking over the city.
It's right by the Accademia Bridge.
I thought, "You know, it could well be that in the history of mankind...
...no one has ever had it better than I have it now."
And if only a little bit of that feeling that I felt there and then...
...is translated in this film...
...then I'd trust I made the right decision in making it.
Thank you and goodbye.