1 00:00:00,391 --> 00:00:07,224 ♪♪ 2 00:00:07,268 --> 00:00:09,922 Welcome to "Off Script with The Hollywood Reporter." 3 00:00:09,966 --> 00:00:11,141 I'm your host, Yvonne Orji, 4 00:00:11,185 --> 00:00:13,752 here at the gorgeous Georgian Hotel 5 00:00:13,796 --> 00:00:15,798 in Santa Monica, California. 6 00:00:15,841 --> 00:00:17,408 For years, "The Hollywood Reporter" 7 00:00:17,452 --> 00:00:19,976 has brought the film industry's top creatives 8 00:00:20,020 --> 00:00:23,893 together for inspiring and surprising conversations, 9 00:00:23,936 --> 00:00:25,112 and today is no different. 10 00:00:25,155 --> 00:00:26,983 When it comes to filmmaking, 11 00:00:27,027 --> 00:00:31,292 from the very first "Action" to the final "That's a cut," 12 00:00:31,335 --> 00:00:34,251 It's all about bringing the director's vision to life. 13 00:00:34,295 --> 00:00:37,167 And today, you're about to hear from six visionary directors 14 00:00:37,211 --> 00:00:40,692 who made some of this year's most talked about films. 15 00:00:40,736 --> 00:00:43,347 That's right. Today we have Blitz Bazawule 16 00:00:43,391 --> 00:00:44,653 of "The Color Purple," 17 00:00:44,696 --> 00:00:46,524 Bradley Cooper of "Maestro," 18 00:00:46,568 --> 00:00:48,222 Ava DuVernay of "Origin," 19 00:00:48,265 --> 00:00:49,658 Greta Gerwig of "Barbie," 20 00:00:49,701 --> 00:00:51,486 Todd Haynes of "May December," 21 00:00:51,529 --> 00:00:53,966 and Michael Mann of "Ferrari." 22 00:00:54,010 --> 00:00:56,056 ♪♪ 23 00:00:56,099 --> 00:00:57,840 Normally they're behind the camera, 24 00:00:57,883 --> 00:01:00,060 but today, they're on the record 25 00:01:00,103 --> 00:01:03,150 and just a little off script with "The Hollywood Reporter." 26 00:01:03,193 --> 00:01:05,152 Hey, Rebecca, they're all yours. 27 00:01:05,194 --> 00:01:07,110 Thanks, Yvonne. 28 00:01:07,154 --> 00:01:08,198 We're here with "The Hollywood Reporter" 29 00:01:08,242 --> 00:01:10,070 directors roundtable. 30 00:01:10,113 --> 00:01:12,985 How do you guys like to start? Do you actually call action? 31 00:01:13,029 --> 00:01:14,683 Greta, what's your preferred way of diving 32 00:01:14,726 --> 00:01:16,032 into a scene? 33 00:01:16,076 --> 00:01:18,904 I guess I say "When you're ready." 34 00:01:18,948 --> 00:01:21,515 I usually use, "The sun's going down." 35 00:01:21,559 --> 00:01:24,084 [Laughter] 36 00:01:24,127 --> 00:01:25,781 I don't even yell it on set. 37 00:01:25,824 --> 00:01:28,827 Like, the first AD does that. Like, I just whisper. 38 00:01:28,871 --> 00:01:33,396 And like, often I'm also, like, so nervous 39 00:01:33,441 --> 00:01:36,357 that I don't want to, like, transfer that energy into -- 40 00:01:36,400 --> 00:01:39,621 So I just go, somebody's job is to just be the confident one. 41 00:01:39,664 --> 00:01:41,971 Like, I'm just going to be here, looking at this monitor, 42 00:01:42,014 --> 00:01:44,277 going, "Please work." 43 00:01:44,321 --> 00:01:48,064 I call action, or I have action called. 44 00:01:48,108 --> 00:01:51,328 It took me a long time in my filmmaking to feel confident 45 00:01:51,372 --> 00:01:53,461 not to be the one calling action 46 00:01:53,503 --> 00:01:56,594 because, you know, I thought, I need to be doing it. 47 00:01:56,638 --> 00:01:59,815 And now I'll just tap my AD, and he or she will do it. 48 00:01:59,858 --> 00:02:02,383 But I find it important to do 49 00:02:02,426 --> 00:02:04,472 because there's more than the actor 50 00:02:04,515 --> 00:02:06,213 who is working in that moment 51 00:02:06,256 --> 00:02:07,997 and that you need to call attention 52 00:02:08,039 --> 00:02:10,608 to everyone on the crew that we are now focused. 53 00:02:10,651 --> 00:02:13,176 Stop, and now we're going to we're going to look here. 54 00:02:13,220 --> 00:02:16,310 And so I like to do it. What about you? 55 00:02:16,353 --> 00:02:19,182 I do it because I feel like the actors 56 00:02:19,226 --> 00:02:24,405 appreciate a moment of just collective, "Okay." 57 00:02:24,448 --> 00:02:27,103 The energies can align 58 00:02:27,147 --> 00:02:29,932 and we can all be in sync with each other, you know? 59 00:02:29,975 --> 00:02:32,587 But it should be gentle, of course. 60 00:02:32,630 --> 00:02:34,023 Do you -- What do you do, Bradley? 61 00:02:34,066 --> 00:02:36,067 Well, I think because I'm in the movie, 62 00:02:36,112 --> 00:02:38,549 I have a leg up in that way that I -- 63 00:02:38,593 --> 00:02:41,291 I have more sort of tools to create an environment. 64 00:02:41,335 --> 00:02:43,511 So actually, I have hand signals with the sound mixer 65 00:02:43,554 --> 00:02:46,731 and the camera operator, and I don't call action. 66 00:02:46,775 --> 00:02:49,430 And I'll sort of, after everything's set up, 67 00:02:49,473 --> 00:02:51,432 I'll just sort of start talking and bring the actors. 68 00:02:51,475 --> 00:02:53,825 And often they don't -- they don't know we're rolling. 69 00:02:53,869 --> 00:02:55,131 And then they're like, "The scene's over." 70 00:02:55,175 --> 00:02:56,698 And they're like, "Huh?" 71 00:02:56,741 --> 00:02:59,135 Yeah, that sort of try to do that so it's -- 72 00:02:59,179 --> 00:03:00,963 And also, I'm Lenny, 73 00:03:01,006 --> 00:03:03,183 so it's not like -- I'm not breaking in 74 00:03:03,226 --> 00:03:05,010 and out of character. So I really -- 75 00:03:05,054 --> 00:03:06,751 it's really kind of -- I can -- 76 00:03:06,795 --> 00:03:09,711 I have much more ability to, like, create this illusion, 77 00:03:09,754 --> 00:03:13,149 you know, so it's -- it's easier. 78 00:03:13,193 --> 00:03:15,586 Ava: So you stayed in character in between takes. 79 00:03:15,630 --> 00:03:17,371 Yeah. So Leonard Bernstein 80 00:03:17,414 --> 00:03:19,068 was directing everybody. Leonard. Yeah. 81 00:03:19,111 --> 00:03:21,679 I mean, I would go -- I would show up with Kazu here 82 00:03:21,723 --> 00:03:23,246 or the makeup artists at, like, 1:00 a.m. 83 00:03:23,290 --> 00:03:26,075 And then Lenny would be done before crew call, 84 00:03:26,118 --> 00:03:29,034 and then I would -- Yeah, Lenny all day. 85 00:03:29,078 --> 00:03:30,514 And then he was different ages. 86 00:03:30,558 --> 00:03:32,168 So the crew was like, oh, we got young, Lenny. 87 00:03:32,212 --> 00:03:33,735 This is gonna be a quick day. 88 00:03:33,778 --> 00:03:35,519 Old Lenny, it's like, oh, here we go. 89 00:03:35,563 --> 00:03:37,173 He's gonna walk from there to there. 90 00:03:37,216 --> 00:03:39,305 You know, it was -- It was crazy. Yeah. 91 00:03:39,349 --> 00:03:41,264 How important is it choosing 92 00:03:41,308 --> 00:03:44,353 what your first scene that you're going to shoot is? 93 00:03:44,398 --> 00:03:46,138 How does that sort of set a tone? 94 00:03:46,182 --> 00:03:47,618 What goes into the thinking? 95 00:03:47,662 --> 00:03:49,968 Ava, what was your -- what did you start with? 96 00:03:50,012 --> 00:03:52,232 On "Origin" -- Gosh, I remember 97 00:03:52,275 --> 00:03:54,016 about an hour into the first day, 98 00:03:54,059 --> 00:03:57,802 I thought, "Why? Why did I choose this?" 99 00:03:57,846 --> 00:04:00,065 It was a matter of location availability 100 00:04:00,109 --> 00:04:01,893 and just I couldn't dictate. 101 00:04:01,937 --> 00:04:04,418 It was purely a logistics decision. 102 00:04:04,461 --> 00:04:08,422 But it was the day that I woke up that morning. 103 00:04:08,465 --> 00:04:13,122 First morning, Monday, 4:00 a.m. call, 104 00:04:13,165 --> 00:04:18,257 for a thousand background actors to heil Hitler. 105 00:04:18,301 --> 00:04:21,783 And I thought, you know what? Let's just start it off. 106 00:04:21,826 --> 00:04:24,351 Let's just do this. And so it was the morning, 107 00:04:24,394 --> 00:04:27,702 and it just -- so much, so many background actors, 108 00:04:27,745 --> 00:04:32,402 that action, that intention was the first thing we did. 109 00:04:32,446 --> 00:04:36,841 And in some ways, the film is what it wants to be. 110 00:04:36,885 --> 00:04:42,847 And it set a tone for the seriousness 111 00:04:42,891 --> 00:04:44,632 of the subject matter, the intention with which 112 00:04:44,675 --> 00:04:46,677 we were going to work throughout the production. 113 00:04:46,721 --> 00:04:48,288 And that, oh, this is really about something 114 00:04:48,331 --> 00:04:50,768 that we need to keep our eyes on for the whole crew. 115 00:04:50,812 --> 00:04:52,553 I'm not that concerned with the first day. 116 00:04:52,596 --> 00:04:55,860 What I'm concerned with is when in the schedule 117 00:04:55,904 --> 00:04:59,299 I want to have the most pivotal and important scenes. 118 00:04:59,342 --> 00:05:02,563 And so for me, that's usually around week 4 or 5, 119 00:05:02,606 --> 00:05:05,827 because, regardless of how much we've all prepped, 120 00:05:05,870 --> 00:05:09,613 you learn about making the film organically and emotionally. 121 00:05:09,657 --> 00:05:11,659 Sure. Intuitively as you go. 122 00:05:11,702 --> 00:05:14,357 And so you know more about making this for everybody. 123 00:05:14,401 --> 00:05:16,011 Man: What were those scenes in "Ferrari?" 124 00:05:16,054 --> 00:05:20,102 The scene when Enzo and Lara have their big blow up. 125 00:05:20,145 --> 00:05:22,104 And then, of course, the last scene in the film, 126 00:05:22,147 --> 00:05:24,802 which is key. 127 00:05:24,846 --> 00:05:27,718 So I wanted those scenes to be in about week four. 128 00:05:27,762 --> 00:05:29,938 I wanted to do all the car work in the beginning 129 00:05:29,981 --> 00:05:32,593 and get it out of the way so we could shrink wrap down 130 00:05:32,636 --> 00:05:35,247 into a smaller unit that's very organic 131 00:05:35,291 --> 00:05:36,771 and shoot the dramatic scenes. 132 00:05:36,814 --> 00:05:39,948 And of course, it did not work out that way at all. 133 00:05:39,991 --> 00:05:43,560 So we wound up doing all the dramatic scenes first -- 134 00:05:43,604 --> 00:05:46,476 I was going to say, I thought you did the cars last, right? 135 00:05:46,520 --> 00:05:47,999 That's why we wanted to do the cars last. 136 00:05:48,043 --> 00:05:49,653 And then they were done quickly. 137 00:05:49,697 --> 00:05:52,003 Like everything in the mountains was shot in one day. 138 00:05:52,047 --> 00:05:53,178 Wow wow. One day? 139 00:05:53,222 --> 00:05:54,528 Really.Oh, wow. 140 00:05:54,571 --> 00:05:55,877 Which is crazy. 141 00:05:55,920 --> 00:05:57,705 Man: That's crazy. 142 00:05:57,748 --> 00:06:00,403 Greta, what's the day that you were sort of moving toward? 143 00:06:00,447 --> 00:06:04,102 Was it -- Was there a particular scene that you had in your head? 144 00:06:04,146 --> 00:06:06,757 I tend to like to shoot the beginning 145 00:06:06,801 --> 00:06:08,150 of the movie at the end, 146 00:06:08,193 --> 00:06:11,719 because you're not so tense about it. 147 00:06:11,762 --> 00:06:14,374 I mean, you know, you have some ease with it. 148 00:06:14,417 --> 00:06:17,072 But on this one, we actually shot 149 00:06:17,115 --> 00:06:20,902 the whole beginning of it in the beginning, 150 00:06:20,945 --> 00:06:24,079 and it was like a -- it was like a silent film that was unfolding 151 00:06:24,122 --> 00:06:25,602 because the whole wake up sequence 152 00:06:25,646 --> 00:06:28,431 and everyone was in their own strange houses. 153 00:06:28,475 --> 00:06:30,651 And it was -- And so it was like a week of, 154 00:06:30,694 --> 00:06:34,872 like a silent movie, which was great 155 00:06:34,916 --> 00:06:38,049 because then there were lots of words after that. 156 00:06:38,093 --> 00:06:40,008 But everyone became very in sync. 157 00:06:40,051 --> 00:06:42,750 And everyone on the crew, everyone was like a dancer. 158 00:06:42,793 --> 00:06:45,579 Sound and camera and everyone was... 159 00:06:45,622 --> 00:06:48,843 Which makes total sense because the opening is fantastic. 160 00:06:48,886 --> 00:06:50,540 The camera just moves around. 161 00:06:50,584 --> 00:06:54,414 You understand the entire culture of Barbie's world 162 00:06:54,457 --> 00:06:57,460 and, you know, in just one whole set of moves. 163 00:06:57,504 --> 00:06:59,593 There are so many moments where I'm amazed 164 00:06:59,636 --> 00:07:02,639 what you got away with, in a wonderful way. 165 00:07:02,683 --> 00:07:04,424 And I was wondering if there are moments 166 00:07:04,467 --> 00:07:06,426 that you're amazed that you got away with. 167 00:07:06,469 --> 00:07:10,081 Yes, there are many moments I'm amazed that I got away with. 168 00:07:10,125 --> 00:07:13,607 There's just some very obscure jokes which I can't believe 169 00:07:13,650 --> 00:07:17,175 are in the movie, like a Proust Barbie joke. 170 00:07:17,219 --> 00:07:18,916 That's a real -- That was, I don't know -- 171 00:07:18,960 --> 00:07:21,136 I heard one woman in New York laugh at that joke, 172 00:07:21,179 --> 00:07:22,832 so I thought, "Oh, that's for you." 173 00:07:22,877 --> 00:07:26,446 There's a Stephen Malkmus Pavement joke, 174 00:07:26,489 --> 00:07:29,666 which I was like, that's a deep cut 175 00:07:29,710 --> 00:07:32,843 even, you know, and things like that. 176 00:07:32,887 --> 00:07:36,630 There's a dream ballet of Kens, the things like that. 177 00:07:36,673 --> 00:07:40,372 [Stammers] There's a ton of stuff in it -- you know, 178 00:07:40,416 --> 00:07:42,200 when you make strong stylistic choices, 179 00:07:42,244 --> 00:07:44,899 which is true of everyone at this table, 180 00:07:44,942 --> 00:07:50,078 it's like you kind of have to get behind it 100% 181 00:07:50,121 --> 00:07:53,298 because you're like, well, I guess I'm doing it this way. 182 00:07:53,342 --> 00:07:55,649 I don't have another way. 183 00:07:55,692 --> 00:07:58,390 And then you think, well, maybe I should have covered myself. 184 00:07:58,433 --> 00:08:00,175 Too late now. It's this. 185 00:08:00,218 --> 00:08:03,221 And I think that that's, like, a -- but there's sort of freedom 186 00:08:03,265 --> 00:08:04,701 in realizing there's no way -- 187 00:08:04,745 --> 00:08:06,442 there's no way, you're just going to do, like -- 188 00:08:06,486 --> 00:08:08,139 you're going to do it in one shot, 189 00:08:08,183 --> 00:08:10,794 or this is going to go into this dream sequence -- 190 00:08:10,838 --> 00:08:12,666 Like there's these kind of moments where you're like, 191 00:08:12,709 --> 00:08:16,278 I guess I've committed, you know? 192 00:08:16,321 --> 00:08:20,325 ♪♪ 193 00:08:22,197 --> 00:08:28,986 ♪♪ 194 00:08:29,030 --> 00:08:31,249 Todd, there's a scene early in "May December" 195 00:08:31,293 --> 00:08:33,991 that feels to me like it really defines the tone 196 00:08:34,034 --> 00:08:35,297 for the movie, and I'm sure people 197 00:08:35,340 --> 00:08:36,602 have asked you about it. 198 00:08:36,645 --> 00:08:38,169 It's when Julianne Moore opens the fridge 199 00:08:38,212 --> 00:08:40,258 and says, "There's not enough hot dogs," 200 00:08:40,302 --> 00:08:43,174 and you have this dramatic zoom and the score changes. 201 00:08:43,217 --> 00:08:45,525 I just want to know what were you thinking 202 00:08:45,568 --> 00:08:49,311 in terms of setting the tone and particularly about that scene? 203 00:08:49,354 --> 00:08:53,968 Well, that scene sets up this whole barbecue sequence, 204 00:08:54,011 --> 00:08:56,710 when Natalie Portman is coming for the first time 205 00:08:56,753 --> 00:08:58,320 to introduce herself 206 00:08:58,363 --> 00:09:03,151 to the woman she's going to study to play in a film. 207 00:09:03,194 --> 00:09:04,935 But the thing that I was thinking about 208 00:09:04,979 --> 00:09:07,198 whenever I was talking about their first days 209 00:09:07,242 --> 00:09:11,551 is the music that we used in the film was inspired 210 00:09:11,594 --> 00:09:13,117 by a Michel Legrand score 211 00:09:13,161 --> 00:09:17,295 from a Joseph Losey film "The Go-Between," from 1971, 212 00:09:17,339 --> 00:09:22,649 and I knew "May December" needed a very strong tonal frame 213 00:09:22,692 --> 00:09:27,392 to sort of create this sense that you're really questioning 214 00:09:27,436 --> 00:09:29,220 what you're watching all the way through, 215 00:09:29,264 --> 00:09:32,833 and it entices the viewer into that discomfort 216 00:09:32,876 --> 00:09:35,400 of feeling the ground shift beneath you, 217 00:09:35,444 --> 00:09:39,143 which is really what happens throughout the film. 218 00:09:39,187 --> 00:09:42,364 And so I thought, okay, this music is -- 219 00:09:42,407 --> 00:09:47,761 we also had 23 days to shoot the movie in Savannah, Georgia, 220 00:09:47,804 --> 00:09:50,981 so everything had to be so meticulously planned. 221 00:09:51,025 --> 00:09:54,028 And it meant though, that it was like what you were saying. 222 00:09:54,071 --> 00:09:58,249 You bring everybody in to this adventure, 223 00:09:58,293 --> 00:10:00,077 these risks that you're taking as a director, 224 00:10:00,121 --> 00:10:02,123 these choices that you're taking as a director. 225 00:10:02,166 --> 00:10:03,472 But it doesn't work unless you're all... 226 00:10:03,515 --> 00:10:06,649 That's right. ...sharing that concept. 227 00:10:06,693 --> 00:10:10,914 So that music, this score from that film became my example 228 00:10:10,958 --> 00:10:13,134 of what I wanted to do with the score -- very bold, 229 00:10:13,177 --> 00:10:15,919 very in-your-face score that sits right in front 230 00:10:15,963 --> 00:10:17,660 from the very beginning. 231 00:10:17,704 --> 00:10:20,707 And so the very first setup we did was just Natalie Portman 232 00:10:20,750 --> 00:10:22,317 driving up to the community center, 233 00:10:22,360 --> 00:10:26,930 where she does a flower arrangement scene with Julianne. 234 00:10:26,974 --> 00:10:30,673 And right away I was like, "Hit it, Ben," my assistant. 235 00:10:30,717 --> 00:10:34,982 And all of a sudden we go, ♪ da dum da dum ♪ 236 00:10:35,025 --> 00:10:37,637 This music, and the whole crew is like, 237 00:10:37,680 --> 00:10:38,855 "What the fuck?" 238 00:10:38,899 --> 00:10:43,077 Like, what movie are we making? 239 00:10:43,120 --> 00:10:47,385 And we played the cues to this other score 240 00:10:47,429 --> 00:10:50,432 through the entire shooting of the movie, 241 00:10:50,475 --> 00:10:54,131 but it put us all in the same tonal space, you know? 242 00:10:54,175 --> 00:10:55,611 And then it was ultimately something 243 00:10:55,655 --> 00:10:58,527 I had to have my composer adapt. 244 00:10:58,570 --> 00:11:00,747 But that scene with that -- 245 00:11:00,790 --> 00:11:03,227 with just a sting from that score, 246 00:11:03,271 --> 00:11:05,316 it marks that moment with the refrigerator, 247 00:11:05,360 --> 00:11:09,146 sets up a tonal, you know, freedom, I think -- 248 00:11:09,190 --> 00:11:12,106 a relaxation that there's going to be humor 249 00:11:12,149 --> 00:11:14,151 against this very dark story. 250 00:11:14,195 --> 00:11:16,153 Well, I try to have the music ahead of time. 251 00:11:16,197 --> 00:11:18,112 And because it becomes, as you're talking about, 252 00:11:18,155 --> 00:11:21,158 kind of a poetic modular. So what is this scene about? 253 00:11:21,202 --> 00:11:23,160 Again, it was a certain emotional quotient 254 00:11:23,204 --> 00:11:24,814 that I can't put into words. 255 00:11:24,858 --> 00:11:28,296 And if you have one piece of music for a pivotal scene 256 00:11:28,339 --> 00:11:30,515 or for the whole thing, for me that's kind of a -- 257 00:11:30,559 --> 00:11:32,735 kind of a poetic modular for something. 258 00:11:32,779 --> 00:11:35,042 And so I try to have it ahead of time. 259 00:11:35,085 --> 00:11:38,001 Rebecca: Blitz, I heard you say that when there was 260 00:11:38,045 --> 00:11:40,177 first discussion of making "The Color Purple" 261 00:11:40,221 --> 00:11:42,614 as a movie, your thought was, "Why?" 262 00:11:42,658 --> 00:11:45,661 But obviously, you ultimately became persuaded. 263 00:11:45,705 --> 00:11:47,532 What was it that persuaded you? 264 00:11:47,576 --> 00:11:51,319 Well, it was actually going back to Alice Walker's words -- 265 00:11:51,362 --> 00:11:53,538 you know, her brilliant, Pulitzer-Prize-winning book. 266 00:11:53,582 --> 00:11:57,281 And those first words, "Dear God," you know, 267 00:11:57,325 --> 00:11:59,849 for me were, like, the anchor. 268 00:11:59,893 --> 00:12:01,372 Because immediately I understood 269 00:12:01,416 --> 00:12:04,027 that whoever writes letters to God 270 00:12:04,071 --> 00:12:06,334 has an imagination, period. 271 00:12:06,377 --> 00:12:08,379 And then I kind of started to break through that 272 00:12:08,423 --> 00:12:11,034 and go, well, if they have an imagination, 273 00:12:11,078 --> 00:12:16,387 how wide can we push this idea of this imagination? 274 00:12:16,431 --> 00:12:21,349 And throughout, the challenge was how do you not be redundant, 275 00:12:21,392 --> 00:12:24,744 you know, for a piece of material 276 00:12:24,787 --> 00:12:26,310 that's been this explored 277 00:12:26,354 --> 00:12:29,226 and we all know all its machinations. 278 00:12:29,270 --> 00:12:31,054 What are you actually going to contribute? 279 00:12:31,098 --> 00:12:32,882 So that was my biggest challenge. 280 00:12:32,926 --> 00:12:36,886 And so once I found this idea of this imaginative space, 281 00:12:36,930 --> 00:12:39,193 then it became about what are the elements 282 00:12:39,236 --> 00:12:41,717 that are going to help us explore better. 283 00:12:41,761 --> 00:12:44,502 And some of them were visual, some of them were sonic. 284 00:12:44,546 --> 00:12:49,464 But also, I also could think about myself and go, 285 00:12:49,507 --> 00:12:51,466 you know, when I think about people 286 00:12:51,509 --> 00:12:54,338 who are -- have dealt with trauma and abuse, 287 00:12:54,382 --> 00:12:56,514 you know, they're often miscategorized as, 288 00:12:56,558 --> 00:13:00,257 you know, being docile or waiting to be saved. 289 00:13:00,301 --> 00:13:02,085 I think nothing could be further from the truth. 290 00:13:02,129 --> 00:13:04,000 It's really people who are in their heads, 291 00:13:04,044 --> 00:13:05,785 trying to figure out how to work their way out. 292 00:13:05,828 --> 00:13:07,743 Right? And so I knew very quickly that, 293 00:13:07,787 --> 00:13:11,573 you know, that pathway was going to open up so much opportunity 294 00:13:11,616 --> 00:13:14,750 for us to actually contribute to the canon. 295 00:13:14,794 --> 00:13:19,973 And I'm so thankful that I was allowed to push forth. 296 00:13:20,016 --> 00:13:21,452 I remember our very first day 297 00:13:21,496 --> 00:13:26,196 with our two girls, Nettie and Celie, 298 00:13:26,240 --> 00:13:27,763 and I wanted to begin there 299 00:13:27,807 --> 00:13:30,026 because I wanted to begin in a space of innocence 300 00:13:30,070 --> 00:13:33,377 and a place of beauty for the whole cast, 301 00:13:33,421 --> 00:13:36,424 you know, just to go and the crew to go 302 00:13:36,467 --> 00:13:38,121 whatever happens here, 303 00:13:38,165 --> 00:13:39,601 whatever darkness we're going to kind of go through, 304 00:13:39,644 --> 00:13:41,472 we're going to find light at the end. 305 00:13:41,516 --> 00:13:47,130 Ava, the book that "Origin" is based on is this incredible, 306 00:13:47,174 --> 00:13:51,308 sort of scholastic book, Casteby Isabel Wilkerson. 307 00:13:51,352 --> 00:13:54,746 It is not in any way an obvious cinematic adaptation to me. 308 00:13:54,790 --> 00:13:59,273 When I read it, I maybe would have seen a docuseries. 309 00:13:59,316 --> 00:14:01,362 You went a whole other way with it. 310 00:14:01,405 --> 00:14:05,409 Where did you get the idea to to frame it the way that you did? 311 00:14:05,453 --> 00:14:07,281 Well, I read the book the first time. 312 00:14:07,324 --> 00:14:10,719 I didn't understand it, and that frustrated me. 313 00:14:10,762 --> 00:14:14,288 I read it again, and I started to kind of get a feel for it. 314 00:14:14,331 --> 00:14:15,898 And by the third time I read it, 315 00:14:15,942 --> 00:14:18,727 I thought, people need to know this information. 316 00:14:18,770 --> 00:14:20,772 And I had done "13th" before 317 00:14:20,816 --> 00:14:23,427 and had considered doing it as a docuseries, 318 00:14:23,471 --> 00:14:26,082 but I know that 319 00:14:26,126 --> 00:14:28,780 the characters, they started to call to me -- 320 00:14:28,824 --> 00:14:31,827 because they're characters within this nonfiction book, 321 00:14:31,871 --> 00:14:36,092 embedded in the historical tales that the author shares. 322 00:14:36,136 --> 00:14:37,833 One I talked about my first day 323 00:14:37,877 --> 00:14:40,531 was all of these background actors heiling Hitler. 324 00:14:40,575 --> 00:14:42,142 The way -- The reason we staged that scene 325 00:14:42,185 --> 00:14:44,622 is because there was one man, August Landmesser, 326 00:14:44,665 --> 00:14:46,450 who refused to heil. 327 00:14:46,494 --> 00:14:49,584 And I thought, well, I want to know more about his life. 328 00:14:49,627 --> 00:14:52,369 And so there's nothing else about him. 329 00:14:52,413 --> 00:14:55,590 So I had to research that, shoot that put, it on its feet, 330 00:14:55,633 --> 00:14:57,809 and bring actors in to flesh out his life 331 00:14:57,853 --> 00:14:59,899 and the life of his spouse. 332 00:14:59,942 --> 00:15:02,640 And so those characters throughout history 333 00:15:02,684 --> 00:15:05,034 that the author references, 334 00:15:05,078 --> 00:15:06,818 I wanted to animate them with real life, 335 00:15:06,862 --> 00:15:08,516 with flesh and bone on them. 336 00:15:08,559 --> 00:15:10,997 But also, when you're thinking about the structure, 337 00:15:11,040 --> 00:15:12,563 I said, well, is this crash? 338 00:15:12,607 --> 00:15:15,349 Is this like a bunch of stories kind of together 339 00:15:15,392 --> 00:15:18,526 that touch a bit this tangentially? 340 00:15:18,569 --> 00:15:22,356 Or could I find a character that delivered it to us? 341 00:15:22,399 --> 00:15:25,011 And, when you read the book really closely, 342 00:15:25,054 --> 00:15:27,665 you see Isabel, the author. She's speaking in her voice. 343 00:15:27,709 --> 00:15:30,755 She is discovering. She is the delivery system. 344 00:15:30,799 --> 00:15:32,409 And when I researched her even further, 345 00:15:32,453 --> 00:15:36,718 she lost people in her life within a 16-month span 346 00:15:36,761 --> 00:15:38,111 while she was writing the book. 347 00:15:38,154 --> 00:15:40,417 Now that's a character, and that is someone 348 00:15:40,461 --> 00:15:42,724 that I want to get to know, someone that I feel empathy for, 349 00:15:42,767 --> 00:15:46,380 someone that I want to deliver this information for us. 350 00:15:46,423 --> 00:15:49,818 And so, it's an unadaptable book. 351 00:15:49,861 --> 00:15:53,953 And that's always the kind of books you want to adapt. 352 00:15:53,996 --> 00:15:56,042 Lights, camera, and lots more action 353 00:15:56,085 --> 00:15:58,696 with our directors right after the break. 354 00:15:58,740 --> 00:16:02,613 ♪♪ 355 00:16:04,789 --> 00:16:11,057 ♪♪ 356 00:16:11,100 --> 00:16:15,539 There's a quality with Isabel's character 357 00:16:15,583 --> 00:16:18,542 where she's often having to persuade skeptical people 358 00:16:18,586 --> 00:16:20,196 about her book, 359 00:16:20,240 --> 00:16:22,198 and I wondered if there was any of you in that, 360 00:16:22,242 --> 00:16:26,072 in having to persuade skeptical people about your idea. 361 00:16:26,115 --> 00:16:27,421 Yes. Yeah. 362 00:16:27,464 --> 00:16:29,205 Did I say I made it independently? 363 00:16:29,249 --> 00:16:30,902 Yes. 364 00:16:30,946 --> 00:16:32,774 Yes, it really was. 365 00:16:32,817 --> 00:16:34,689 I mean, this isn't the kind of film that you take to a studio 366 00:16:34,732 --> 00:16:36,430 and say, "Can you give me millions of dollars 367 00:16:36,473 --> 00:16:39,650 to make a story about a woman who's going through a trauma, 368 00:16:39,694 --> 00:16:41,348 and through that trauma, writes a book 369 00:16:41,391 --> 00:16:43,219 about very dense subject matter 370 00:16:43,263 --> 00:16:45,874 that she believes will save humanity? 371 00:16:45,917 --> 00:16:48,920 There's no actual enemy or antagonist. 372 00:16:48,964 --> 00:16:51,140 The antagonist is all of us." 373 00:16:51,184 --> 00:16:54,404 Like, that pitch meeting doesn't go well at the studios. 374 00:16:54,448 --> 00:16:56,015 And so we just didn't do it. 375 00:16:56,058 --> 00:17:00,019 We just decided to take that off the table and not ask, 376 00:17:00,062 --> 00:17:03,370 can I populate this with the actors that I love? 377 00:17:03,413 --> 00:17:05,111 We only have 37 days. I know that, 378 00:17:05,154 --> 00:17:07,722 but I'm going to do three countries in 37 days. 379 00:17:07,765 --> 00:17:09,984 And so sometimes you just don't ask. 380 00:17:10,029 --> 00:17:11,551 So there wasn't a lot of no's. 381 00:17:11,595 --> 00:17:13,162 And also, I tried to surround myself 382 00:17:13,205 --> 00:17:18,166 with people who saw me reaching for something 383 00:17:18,211 --> 00:17:19,603 and who supported that. 384 00:17:19,646 --> 00:17:22,693 You know, there was one friend of mine 385 00:17:22,737 --> 00:17:25,087 who I leaned on so heavily in this. 386 00:17:25,131 --> 00:17:28,221 His name is Guillermo del Toro. He got me through this. 387 00:17:28,263 --> 00:17:30,049 I get emotional. He got me through this. 388 00:17:30,092 --> 00:17:31,702 You know what I mean? He got me through this. 389 00:17:31,746 --> 00:17:33,661 From the script, when people were saying, 390 00:17:33,704 --> 00:17:37,491 "I don't get it." He was like, "Mi amiga, 391 00:17:37,534 --> 00:17:40,146 keep going, keep going. You must." 392 00:17:40,189 --> 00:17:42,409 Just with the fervor, the Guillermo fervor. 393 00:17:42,452 --> 00:17:44,280 It's like, okay, I'm going to keep going. 394 00:17:44,324 --> 00:17:46,239 And every step of the way, he'd call me during the week, 395 00:17:46,282 --> 00:17:48,458 check on me, casting. I heard about this, 396 00:17:48,502 --> 00:17:50,547 came into the editing room, just pop up, and I'd be like, 397 00:17:50,591 --> 00:17:51,853 "What are you doing here, GDT?" 398 00:17:51,896 --> 00:17:53,942 "Just coming to hang out. 399 00:17:53,985 --> 00:17:56,205 Let's see what's going on." You know? 400 00:17:56,249 --> 00:17:59,991 And just really that friend who said this is untraditional. 401 00:18:00,035 --> 00:18:02,690 This is a little different. 402 00:18:02,733 --> 00:18:05,258 But you deserve space to do that. 403 00:18:05,301 --> 00:18:08,174 You can do it, too. Keep trying. Keep pushing. 404 00:18:08,217 --> 00:18:11,220 So I think the answer to the question is, yes, 405 00:18:11,264 --> 00:18:12,830 there were a lot of people saying no, 406 00:18:12,874 --> 00:18:14,832 but I surrounded myself with the people who said, 407 00:18:14,876 --> 00:18:16,007 try it, try it. 408 00:18:16,051 --> 00:18:18,401 Yeah. And that kept me going. 409 00:18:18,445 --> 00:18:19,750 Does that resonate for anybody? 410 00:18:19,794 --> 00:18:21,100 Uh, yeah. 411 00:18:21,143 --> 00:18:23,276 [Laughter] 412 00:18:23,319 --> 00:18:27,193 Everybody said no to "Maestro." Yeah. Every studio passed. 413 00:18:27,236 --> 00:18:29,456 A studio I had made so many movies with 414 00:18:29,499 --> 00:18:32,415 that were also big risks that worked out. 415 00:18:32,459 --> 00:18:35,201 And luckily, Scott Stuber, man, one guy, 416 00:18:35,244 --> 00:18:38,291 he said, look, I trust you. It's crazy. 417 00:18:38,334 --> 00:18:40,336 A movie about a fluid male character 418 00:18:40,380 --> 00:18:41,555 who's a classical musician, 419 00:18:41,598 --> 00:18:43,034 and half it's in black and white, 420 00:18:43,078 --> 00:18:44,384 and you're going to shoot it on 35 millimeter 421 00:18:44,427 --> 00:18:45,602 black and white stock? 422 00:18:45,646 --> 00:18:47,778 So I can't change it? 423 00:18:47,822 --> 00:18:49,563 And he said, yeah. And that was -- 424 00:18:49,606 --> 00:18:52,174 And then it was just surrounding myself with people -- 425 00:18:52,218 --> 00:18:54,785 Luckily Guillermo also, always there. 426 00:18:54,829 --> 00:18:56,918 What a beautiful man. Woman: Beautiful man. 427 00:18:56,961 --> 00:18:58,572 Can I do a segue real quick? 428 00:18:58,615 --> 00:19:00,269 Because I wanted to get it in here. 429 00:19:00,313 --> 00:19:02,141 Because -- I'm going to try not to get emotional, 430 00:19:02,184 --> 00:19:04,099 but, you know, I've been an actor 431 00:19:04,143 --> 00:19:06,014 for so many years, still an actor, 432 00:19:06,057 --> 00:19:07,798 and one thing I learned from this man 433 00:19:07,842 --> 00:19:11,237 was I put myself on tape for "Public Enemies" 434 00:19:11,280 --> 00:19:13,674 years and years ago, and I didn't get it. 435 00:19:13,717 --> 00:19:15,023 And he wrote me a letter. 436 00:19:15,066 --> 00:19:17,895 I got a letter from Michael Mann saying, 437 00:19:17,939 --> 00:19:19,767 "Thank you for auditioning. 438 00:19:19,810 --> 00:19:21,595 And, you know, I see something in you." 439 00:19:21,638 --> 00:19:24,641 And I kept that on my bookshelf for so many years. 440 00:19:24,685 --> 00:19:28,602 And, you know, you never know the impact you have. 441 00:19:28,645 --> 00:19:30,386 And I learned from that. Thank you. 442 00:19:30,430 --> 00:19:32,780 And anybody that auditions, I always write them. 443 00:19:32,823 --> 00:19:34,390 And that's because of you. It's so hard. 444 00:19:34,434 --> 00:19:36,436 I can't imagine putting myself in the position 445 00:19:36,479 --> 00:19:38,264 of actors who come in. Hard films -- 446 00:19:38,307 --> 00:19:40,048 I know, but you're Michael Mann, you know? 447 00:19:40,091 --> 00:19:42,398 So it's, like, beautiful lessons. 448 00:19:42,442 --> 00:19:44,835 Is this the Michael Mann tribute section? 449 00:19:44,879 --> 00:19:46,837 Because I just have a quick -- Yeah, do it. 450 00:19:46,881 --> 00:19:48,143 A have a quick... We all have. 451 00:19:48,187 --> 00:19:51,277 I have a quick story, if I may. 452 00:19:51,320 --> 00:19:54,497 So Michael and I have a special relationship 453 00:19:54,541 --> 00:19:57,848 because Michael is the reason that I thought 454 00:19:57,892 --> 00:19:59,546 that I could become a filmmaker. 455 00:19:59,589 --> 00:20:01,025 Michael Mann. 456 00:20:01,069 --> 00:20:05,116 I was a publicist on his film, "Collateral," 457 00:20:05,160 --> 00:20:09,295 and I was one of the group of unit publicists 458 00:20:09,338 --> 00:20:13,603 and had always been on sets and seen things happen, 459 00:20:13,647 --> 00:20:15,388 but I had never seen 460 00:20:15,431 --> 00:20:18,042 anyone shooting in communities of color 461 00:20:18,086 --> 00:20:20,480 in Los Angeles, where I was from. 462 00:20:20,523 --> 00:20:25,659 "Collateral" also had a cast of people who looked like me. 463 00:20:25,702 --> 00:20:27,269 I know everyone thinks Tom Cruise, 464 00:20:27,313 --> 00:20:31,273 but Jada Pinkett and Jamie Foxx and Javier Bardem, 465 00:20:31,317 --> 00:20:34,145 as well as Mark Ruffalo were also in that film. 466 00:20:34,189 --> 00:20:36,191 And Michael was shooting in East L.A. 467 00:20:36,235 --> 00:20:37,671 he was shooting in South Central. 468 00:20:37,714 --> 00:20:39,586 He was shooting in the communities that I grew up in, 469 00:20:39,629 --> 00:20:42,719 and he was shooting with these newfangled cameras 470 00:20:42,763 --> 00:20:44,417 called digital cameras. 471 00:20:44,460 --> 00:20:46,941 I said, God, these are fast. What is he doing? 472 00:20:46,984 --> 00:20:49,378 And he's moving around and he's doing his thing. 473 00:20:49,422 --> 00:20:52,425 And just watching him being on that set 474 00:20:52,468 --> 00:20:55,297 as a young publicist made me think, 475 00:20:55,341 --> 00:20:57,473 "Wait, he's shooting with black and brown people 476 00:20:57,517 --> 00:21:00,128 in black and brown communities with cameras that are fast?" 477 00:21:00,171 --> 00:21:02,086 Like, I'm going to look into this. 478 00:21:02,130 --> 00:21:04,567 And just seeing the way that he controlled the set 479 00:21:04,611 --> 00:21:07,266 and really was so visionary in what he wanted. 480 00:21:07,309 --> 00:21:10,443 And so all throughout my, you know, Sundance -- 481 00:21:10,486 --> 00:21:12,619 all my journey, people say, how did you get into this? 482 00:21:12,662 --> 00:21:15,230 I always speak his name. I always say, Michael Mann. 483 00:21:15,274 --> 00:21:18,886 Your films were so absolutely distinctive 484 00:21:18,929 --> 00:21:20,583 from the very beginning. 485 00:21:20,627 --> 00:21:24,195 They established themselves stylistically 486 00:21:24,239 --> 00:21:28,635 and tonally with such force and such confidence. 487 00:21:28,678 --> 00:21:32,465 But they were your lowest budget films, obviously. 488 00:21:32,508 --> 00:21:35,772 But you built on that. That's sort of how I feel. 489 00:21:35,816 --> 00:21:39,602 Somewhat how I've been able to build a career. 490 00:21:39,646 --> 00:21:42,518 Well, what is it like for you to know about the impact 491 00:21:42,562 --> 00:21:45,173 that these choices that you've made in your career have had? 492 00:21:45,216 --> 00:21:46,348 It's a surprise. 493 00:21:46,392 --> 00:21:48,176 Is it? Yeah, absolutely. 494 00:21:48,219 --> 00:21:52,180 Because, you know, to me, I just pretty much occupy a present, 495 00:21:52,223 --> 00:21:53,921 looking to the next thing I want to do. 496 00:21:53,964 --> 00:21:56,010 That is, you know, go forward. 497 00:21:56,053 --> 00:21:59,361 But the -- as I was saying, I just -- the -- when actors -- 498 00:21:59,405 --> 00:22:01,407 actors come in, they put their, you know -- 499 00:22:01,450 --> 00:22:04,323 their heart and soul out there into something 500 00:22:04,366 --> 00:22:08,457 and it's such a difficult position. 501 00:22:08,501 --> 00:22:11,068 And that's what motivated me to, you know. 502 00:22:11,112 --> 00:22:13,244 But this was a small role, very small role. 503 00:22:13,288 --> 00:22:16,987 It wasn't like, you know. Michael: Yeah. 504 00:22:17,031 --> 00:22:18,641 Thank you. [Laughter] 505 00:22:18,685 --> 00:22:20,077 Anyway. 506 00:22:20,121 --> 00:22:22,384 I think it's important because I think you have 507 00:22:22,428 --> 00:22:27,302 a reputation in this business as a hard-nosed guy. 508 00:22:27,346 --> 00:22:31,175 And to me, you're just a teddy bear. 509 00:22:31,219 --> 00:22:32,916 She's ruining your rep. 510 00:22:32,960 --> 00:22:34,570 Don't tell anybody. 511 00:22:34,614 --> 00:22:35,745 [Laughter] 512 00:22:35,789 --> 00:22:40,620 ♪♪ 513 00:22:42,404 --> 00:22:48,758 ♪♪ 514 00:22:48,802 --> 00:22:51,674 I didn't realize until yesterday 515 00:22:51,718 --> 00:22:53,633 that ARRAY, Ava's company, 516 00:22:53,676 --> 00:22:56,723 had released Blitz's movie about five years ago. 517 00:22:56,766 --> 00:22:58,899 So there's a lot of connections here. 518 00:22:58,942 --> 00:23:01,162 I mean, I say thank you to you all the time, 519 00:23:01,205 --> 00:23:03,730 but, you know, I'll take this opportunity to say -- 520 00:23:03,773 --> 00:23:08,038 since it's we're giving flowers, you know, it's -- 521 00:23:08,082 --> 00:23:10,911 I went to Ghana with $40,000 522 00:23:10,954 --> 00:23:14,784 because nobody would even look or think 523 00:23:14,828 --> 00:23:19,398 that I had the ability or it was even worth exploring -- 524 00:23:19,441 --> 00:23:23,010 an African filmmaker making a movie in his country. 525 00:23:23,053 --> 00:23:25,578 Went to Ghana with a community 526 00:23:25,621 --> 00:23:28,102 who had never made a feature film before. 527 00:23:28,145 --> 00:23:30,452 We all learned. I remember we were on YouTube going like, 528 00:23:30,496 --> 00:23:32,541 "What does a -- What does the first AD do?" 529 00:23:32,585 --> 00:23:35,501 Like, no one knew anything about anything. 530 00:23:35,544 --> 00:23:39,896 And Ava's amazing company, ARRAY, were like, 531 00:23:39,940 --> 00:23:41,768 "I see something here." 532 00:23:41,811 --> 00:23:44,466 It became Ghana's first film to be on Netflix. 533 00:23:44,510 --> 00:23:47,687 Because that's what Beyoncé saw and called me to do 534 00:23:47,730 --> 00:23:49,384 "Black is King" with her. Man: Wow. 535 00:23:49,428 --> 00:23:54,433 And fast forward, you know, making "The Color Purple" -- 536 00:23:54,476 --> 00:23:55,782 You know how you go -- [Laughs] 537 00:23:55,825 --> 00:23:57,479 You don't know how you arrive at these places, 538 00:23:57,523 --> 00:23:59,612 and you have no idea how each decision, 539 00:23:59,655 --> 00:24:02,092 big or small, affects your trajectory. 540 00:24:02,136 --> 00:24:04,747 And so we find ourselves in these, you know, 541 00:24:04,791 --> 00:24:09,709 pioneering positions that you can only get here 542 00:24:09,752 --> 00:24:11,885 based on goodwill, kindness of heart. 543 00:24:11,928 --> 00:24:14,017 You know what I mean? Of people. 544 00:24:14,061 --> 00:24:16,933 So I'm a deep beneficiary of your grace, 545 00:24:16,977 --> 00:24:19,066 and your -- and I'm deeply thankful. 546 00:24:19,109 --> 00:24:21,938 And I mean, the journey just keeps going. 547 00:24:21,982 --> 00:24:25,376 I'm amazed to be sitting at this table, too, with the likes. 548 00:24:25,420 --> 00:24:26,943 I mean, this is like, you know, 549 00:24:26,987 --> 00:24:29,772 an incredible table of brilliant, brilliant artists. 550 00:24:29,816 --> 00:24:32,819 And so, yeah, I'm -- you know, I could cry. 551 00:24:32,862 --> 00:24:34,951 I know. I feel that. 552 00:24:34,995 --> 00:24:36,170 Blitz: Don't cry, don't cry. 553 00:24:36,213 --> 00:24:38,085 Greta: You know, directing is 554 00:24:38,128 --> 00:24:41,349 you're with this crew that you're doing it together, 555 00:24:41,392 --> 00:24:44,483 but in a certain way, it can -- it's lonely 556 00:24:44,526 --> 00:24:46,093 it's individual. It can be very lonely. 557 00:24:46,136 --> 00:24:49,009 And to be able to talk and to be together 558 00:24:49,052 --> 00:24:52,186 and I've, you know, had the privilege of, you know, 559 00:24:52,229 --> 00:24:54,101 running into you, and you'd already directed something, 560 00:24:54,144 --> 00:24:56,625 and you tell me something, and then we talk at a luncheon. 561 00:24:56,669 --> 00:24:58,148 And it's just, like, you see people. 562 00:24:58,192 --> 00:25:00,063 And then you came to a dinner and it was -- 563 00:25:00,107 --> 00:25:02,196 And everybody's trading stories. 564 00:25:02,239 --> 00:25:05,721 And there's something about it where it's not -- it's not -- 565 00:25:05,765 --> 00:25:09,464 it's a -- it's a craft in that it's passed person to person. 566 00:25:09,508 --> 00:25:12,859 I really believe that, that there's a way in which 567 00:25:12,902 --> 00:25:15,122 you learn it from people and with people. 568 00:25:15,165 --> 00:25:17,211 And I was actually feeling lucky 569 00:25:17,254 --> 00:25:19,213 because I felt like we were on parallel tracks. 570 00:25:19,256 --> 00:25:21,128 We were also pitching during COVID. 571 00:25:21,171 --> 00:25:22,869 Yes, I know. Like, we were the -- 572 00:25:22,912 --> 00:25:25,611 I was technically one of the first to pitch during COVID. 573 00:25:25,654 --> 00:25:27,438 Yes. And so my COVID pitch 574 00:25:27,482 --> 00:25:30,006 became, like -- we started sharing it, 575 00:25:30,050 --> 00:25:31,530 you know what I mean? And -- 576 00:25:31,573 --> 00:25:33,009 I saw your COVID pitch. You saw my COVID pitch? 577 00:25:33,053 --> 00:25:34,620 I saw your COVID pitch. She saw my COVID pitch. 578 00:25:34,663 --> 00:25:36,491 Because I was like, I'd never seen it pitched that way. 579 00:25:36,535 --> 00:25:38,014 And I was like, what do people do? 580 00:25:38,058 --> 00:25:39,189 And they were like -- And then I was like, 581 00:25:39,233 --> 00:25:40,669 okay, that's how we do it. 582 00:25:40,713 --> 00:25:42,410 And you talked about magical realism 583 00:25:42,453 --> 00:25:45,848 and you had all these examples, and I was like, okay. 584 00:25:45,892 --> 00:25:48,242 You get a gift from somebody and you pass it on. 585 00:25:48,285 --> 00:25:50,157 That's really what it is. 586 00:25:50,200 --> 00:25:52,594 I mean, I learned things from Kubrick and from George Cukor. 587 00:25:52,638 --> 00:25:54,161 I mean, these are things you just pass on. 588 00:25:54,204 --> 00:25:56,511 It's very gratifying, what you said. Thank you. 589 00:25:56,555 --> 00:25:58,992 When Blitz was talking about working with the studio, 590 00:25:59,035 --> 00:26:01,342 I thought about something I've heard you say on "Barbie," 591 00:26:01,385 --> 00:26:04,563 which is that your motto was "drive it like you stole it." 592 00:26:04,606 --> 00:26:07,261 Can you explain that, what that means? 593 00:26:07,304 --> 00:26:10,046 Well... Man: I'm stealing that. 594 00:26:10,090 --> 00:26:11,570 It was -- Yeah. Well, it was actually -- 595 00:26:11,613 --> 00:26:15,008 I mean, Margot, who I had as a producer, 596 00:26:15,051 --> 00:26:16,531 she'll always, you know, say, like, 597 00:26:16,575 --> 00:26:18,577 "Does anybody have anything else they want to say?" 598 00:26:18,620 --> 00:26:20,317 And I was like, they gave us the yes, Margot. 599 00:26:20,361 --> 00:26:22,015 Just leave the room. 600 00:26:22,058 --> 00:26:24,495 We don't need to look for another thing. Let's just go. 601 00:26:24,539 --> 00:26:27,281 But for me, it's been lucky within the studio in terms 602 00:26:27,324 --> 00:26:30,893 of people have taken these big risks 603 00:26:30,937 --> 00:26:33,548 and gotten behind it and said yes. 604 00:26:33,592 --> 00:26:37,117 And even if it's a yes? 605 00:26:37,160 --> 00:26:38,988 Then you're just like, it's all I need. 606 00:26:39,032 --> 00:26:43,645 For me, like, I really believe in showing, don't tell. 607 00:26:43,689 --> 00:26:46,169 Just go, this is a glass and this is water 608 00:26:46,213 --> 00:26:47,954 and you can see it. That's it. 609 00:26:47,997 --> 00:26:51,348 And they'll go, yeah, it's a glass of water, I see it. 610 00:26:51,392 --> 00:26:54,308 And so going into that pitch, I was like, I can go in 611 00:26:54,351 --> 00:26:56,832 and I can talk about all these things I'm going to do. 612 00:26:56,876 --> 00:27:00,314 I'm never going to get greenlit. But I can go in and show him. 613 00:27:00,357 --> 00:27:03,099 And guys, we went in, I found music, 614 00:27:03,143 --> 00:27:06,363 I found -- I mean, that thing was alive in the pitch deck. 615 00:27:06,407 --> 00:27:09,976 Because here's my other thing. If you greenlight this, 616 00:27:10,019 --> 00:27:13,370 well, that's what you greenlit. 617 00:27:13,414 --> 00:27:15,068 You can't go back and go, "Blitz, you -- 618 00:27:15,111 --> 00:27:16,373 You're doing all this" -- No, no, no. 619 00:27:16,417 --> 00:27:17,984 Guys, I told you what I was going to do. 620 00:27:18,027 --> 00:27:20,290 And trust me, there were phone calls about, 621 00:27:20,334 --> 00:27:22,118 "You know, maybe we should." And I go, no. 622 00:27:22,162 --> 00:27:23,903 [Laughter] I mean, it was -- 623 00:27:23,946 --> 00:27:26,949 And I also got to say, my first AD sent me the schedule, 624 00:27:26,993 --> 00:27:29,517 and I looked at that stuff and I said, guys, 625 00:27:29,560 --> 00:27:31,258 if I commit to this schedule 626 00:27:31,301 --> 00:27:34,087 and I shoot these first five days, I'll be out of here. 627 00:27:34,130 --> 00:27:36,045 And it's not that I can't direct, 628 00:27:36,089 --> 00:27:39,962 it's just that it's ordinary people talking 629 00:27:40,006 --> 00:27:41,311 and someone is going -- 630 00:27:41,355 --> 00:27:42,356 You have to show a little razzle dazzle. 631 00:27:42,399 --> 00:27:43,705 -So true. -Yes. 632 00:27:43,749 --> 00:27:45,402 I literally had to call Fatima and go, 633 00:27:45,446 --> 00:27:48,841 I know I'm about to put everybody in a crazy position. 634 00:27:48,884 --> 00:27:51,582 I know you've got 100 dancers to get ready. That's so smart. 635 00:27:51,626 --> 00:27:53,149 But we're going in. 636 00:27:53,193 --> 00:27:55,456 And we're going in -- These first three days, 637 00:27:55,499 --> 00:27:57,197 we're going to do three of our biggest -- 638 00:27:57,240 --> 00:28:01,723 We shot the huge, massive dance number, like, day two. 639 00:28:01,767 --> 00:28:03,072 I think that's an important conversation, 640 00:28:03,116 --> 00:28:05,248 the management of the people 641 00:28:05,292 --> 00:28:09,557 who have given you the millions of dollars to do the thing. 642 00:28:09,600 --> 00:28:10,950 It's a big part of the directing 643 00:28:10,993 --> 00:28:12,865 that we don't talk about. Talk about. 644 00:28:12,908 --> 00:28:15,824 Talk about. Because -- Go ahead. 645 00:28:15,868 --> 00:28:19,219 I had one -- I've only had one movie in which I walked in 646 00:28:19,262 --> 00:28:20,873 and said, "You know, Michael, what do you want to do?" 647 00:28:20,916 --> 00:28:22,135 I want to do "Last of the Mohicans." 648 00:28:22,178 --> 00:28:23,832 "Great idea. Let's do it." Once. 649 00:28:23,876 --> 00:28:25,268 -Yeah. -Right. Right. 650 00:28:25,312 --> 00:28:26,966 Greta: And they just let you do your thing? 651 00:28:27,009 --> 00:28:29,925 "How about Daniel Day Lewis?" "Great idea. Let's go." 652 00:28:29,969 --> 00:28:31,361 [Laughter] 653 00:28:31,405 --> 00:28:32,972 You're like really? Wait. Is this -- 654 00:28:33,015 --> 00:28:34,887 Is this happening? Am I gonna get shot right now? 655 00:28:34,930 --> 00:28:36,497 So did you have to hard pitch "Heat?" 656 00:28:36,540 --> 00:28:37,977 Michael: No. "Heat" was different. 657 00:28:38,020 --> 00:28:40,414 "Heat," I owned, I wrote the screenplay. 658 00:28:40,457 --> 00:28:43,417 I had the screenplay. Got Bob, got Al. 659 00:28:43,460 --> 00:28:44,766 What else? 660 00:28:44,810 --> 00:28:46,420 Yeah, there was no development. 661 00:28:46,463 --> 00:28:49,075 And the studio hated the fact that they liked it a lot 662 00:28:49,118 --> 00:28:51,120 and they had no control over it. 663 00:28:51,164 --> 00:28:53,079 Which is -- This is exactly what you want. 664 00:28:53,122 --> 00:28:54,820 That's what we like. 665 00:28:54,863 --> 00:28:57,344 Lights, camera and lots more action with our directors 666 00:28:57,387 --> 00:28:59,172 right after the break. 667 00:28:59,215 --> 00:29:03,393 ♪♪ 668 00:29:05,308 --> 00:29:11,750 ♪♪ 669 00:29:11,793 --> 00:29:14,187 Who here had final cut on their film? 670 00:29:14,230 --> 00:29:16,493 I didn't. I didn't. 671 00:29:16,537 --> 00:29:17,886 I've never had final cut. No, me neither. 672 00:29:17,930 --> 00:29:20,106 Well, independent. You did yours independent? 673 00:29:20,149 --> 00:29:21,585 No. Independent or not independent... 674 00:29:21,629 --> 00:29:23,196 [Indistinct conversation] 675 00:29:23,239 --> 00:29:24,458 Bradley: But I did have an ace. I did have an ace 676 00:29:24,501 --> 00:29:25,589 because I was like, well, I mean, 677 00:29:25,633 --> 00:29:26,765 you could fire me or anything, 678 00:29:26,808 --> 00:29:29,245 but, like, you got to recast Lenny. 679 00:29:29,289 --> 00:29:31,465 Good luck, dude. 680 00:29:31,508 --> 00:29:33,206 [Laughter] 681 00:29:33,249 --> 00:29:35,338 I have always had tiebreaker or whatever the language is. 682 00:29:35,382 --> 00:29:37,210 But I always figure, 683 00:29:37,253 --> 00:29:39,473 the movies I've gotten to release 684 00:29:39,516 --> 00:29:42,258 were the movies I wanted to release in every way, 685 00:29:42,302 --> 00:29:44,521 but, so I don't feel like 686 00:29:44,565 --> 00:29:46,872 it's, you know, been something where I'm like, 687 00:29:46,915 --> 00:29:48,438 "I would have done it differently." 688 00:29:48,482 --> 00:29:50,571 But what you said also about, 689 00:29:50,614 --> 00:29:53,487 like, what the studio looks at the first week -- 690 00:29:53,530 --> 00:29:55,315 I remember with "Little Women," I started doing it, 691 00:29:55,358 --> 00:29:58,405 and I was shooting all these, like, dark, candlelit scenes, 692 00:29:58,448 --> 00:30:00,015 and someone was like, 693 00:30:00,059 --> 00:30:03,453 "Do not send them a bunch of underlit scenes." 694 00:30:03,497 --> 00:30:06,500 And I was like, "That's right. We got to change the schedule 695 00:30:06,543 --> 00:30:09,590 and do like girls at Christmas." 696 00:30:09,633 --> 00:30:11,331 [Laughter] 697 00:30:11,374 --> 00:30:14,160 Because they're like, "That looks like what I thought 698 00:30:14,203 --> 00:30:15,726 it was gonna be." 699 00:30:15,770 --> 00:30:18,686 No one told me on "Selma" not to shoot first week 700 00:30:18,729 --> 00:30:20,819 David Oyelowo and Colman Domingo 701 00:30:20,862 --> 00:30:23,473 in a jail cell in Selma, Alabama, 702 00:30:23,517 --> 00:30:26,172 lit by one street light through the window. 703 00:30:26,215 --> 00:30:28,261 It's in the film. It's Bradford Young, 704 00:30:28,304 --> 00:30:31,394 Shute Stark, my beautiful cinematographer, on that. 705 00:30:31,438 --> 00:30:33,179 Sit and shot it, and we were like, "We're going to make it 706 00:30:33,222 --> 00:30:35,834 feel like the hull of a slave ship." 707 00:30:35,877 --> 00:30:38,488 Here you go, here you go. 708 00:30:38,532 --> 00:30:40,099 Here, you guys. Here's the dailies. 709 00:30:40,142 --> 00:30:41,796 And literally, they freaked out. 710 00:30:41,840 --> 00:30:44,538 They made us reshoot the scene. 711 00:30:44,581 --> 00:30:46,714 No, no one told me this, Greta, 712 00:30:46,757 --> 00:30:51,414 to do the dancing girls first and then do the dank -- yeah. 713 00:30:51,458 --> 00:30:53,373 So depending on how you made your movie, 714 00:30:53,416 --> 00:30:57,029 you have this sort of commerce issue in the back of your mind. 715 00:30:57,072 --> 00:30:59,683 I mean, Todd, how do you -- when you really need to be there 716 00:30:59,727 --> 00:31:01,337 for your actresses in this film... 717 00:31:01,381 --> 00:31:04,036 Todd: I mean I have to just -- 718 00:31:04,079 --> 00:31:07,822 I have to just thank my unbelievable good fortune 719 00:31:07,866 --> 00:31:11,652 of having Christine Vachon at my side 720 00:31:11,695 --> 00:31:14,437 as my producer from my first feature film, "Poison," 721 00:31:14,481 --> 00:31:16,570 which was made sort of like an art project, 722 00:31:16,613 --> 00:31:17,919 through arts grants, 723 00:31:17,963 --> 00:31:19,747 through the National Endowment for the Arts 724 00:31:19,790 --> 00:31:21,314 and New York State Council for the Arts. 725 00:31:21,357 --> 00:31:23,751 And we did it like -- it wasn't like making a movie 726 00:31:23,794 --> 00:31:25,753 with anybody looking over your shoulder. 727 00:31:25,796 --> 00:31:27,015 And that was the orientation 728 00:31:27,059 --> 00:31:29,626 that I came out of as a filmmaker, 729 00:31:29,670 --> 00:31:32,978 and the examples that inspired me to to take risks 730 00:31:33,021 --> 00:31:37,721 and not think about a commercial outcome. 731 00:31:37,765 --> 00:31:40,637 And I've been lucky enough 732 00:31:40,681 --> 00:31:44,250 to just take those little steps toward like, yeah, 733 00:31:44,293 --> 00:31:46,817 you get -- we got a distributor for "Poison" -- 734 00:31:46,861 --> 00:31:48,819 the New Queer Cinema. 735 00:31:48,863 --> 00:31:50,996 The whole AIDS crisis was happening 736 00:31:51,039 --> 00:31:52,954 at the same time as my first feature film, 737 00:31:52,998 --> 00:31:56,436 and it fueled why we were making the film to begin with. 738 00:31:56,479 --> 00:32:03,660 But it also provided an audience for new and innovative whatever, 739 00:32:03,704 --> 00:32:06,054 you know, kinds of filmmaking and other filmmakers 740 00:32:06,098 --> 00:32:10,276 who would became part of that whole company. 741 00:32:10,319 --> 00:32:14,671 And so I've just -- I feel so lucky and protected 742 00:32:14,715 --> 00:32:18,153 that I've been able to keep working kind of 743 00:32:18,197 --> 00:32:20,721 in that artistic vacuum, I think. 744 00:32:20,764 --> 00:32:22,636 I think final cut is an attitude. 745 00:32:22,679 --> 00:32:24,116 It's a state of mind. 746 00:32:24,159 --> 00:32:25,987 I mean, I wasn't going to be making films -- 747 00:32:26,031 --> 00:32:28,163 I was only making films I felt passionate about. 748 00:32:28,207 --> 00:32:29,817 If I felt passionately about it, 749 00:32:29,860 --> 00:32:31,601 then it's going to have to be... 750 00:32:31,645 --> 00:32:33,212 Man: Yeah, this way. This way. 751 00:32:33,255 --> 00:32:35,127 If you don't want to make this film, don't make the movie. 752 00:32:35,170 --> 00:32:37,042 Exactly. But this is the movie I'm making. 753 00:32:37,085 --> 00:32:39,696 If you do want to make it, let's go. You know? 754 00:32:39,740 --> 00:32:42,177 Final cut is a state of mind. 755 00:32:42,221 --> 00:32:45,485 Bradley: That's the gem. That is the T-shirt. 756 00:32:45,528 --> 00:32:47,835 That is the T-shirt. I love that. 757 00:32:47,878 --> 00:32:50,272 Greta: It is also just you can't fake it. 758 00:32:50,316 --> 00:32:52,100 But, like, when you're actually -- 759 00:32:52,144 --> 00:32:53,884 can say from within yourself, 760 00:32:53,928 --> 00:32:56,539 I don't need to make aBarbie movie. 761 00:32:56,583 --> 00:32:58,193 I'd like to make this one. 762 00:32:58,237 --> 00:33:01,588 If you don't want to make it, I don't need to make it. 763 00:33:01,631 --> 00:33:03,590 I didn't actually have final cut, 764 00:33:03,633 --> 00:33:06,114 but I could have the T-shirt. [Laughter] 765 00:33:06,158 --> 00:33:07,333 They knew. 766 00:33:07,376 --> 00:33:09,335 -They knew. -I interrupted them. 767 00:33:09,378 --> 00:33:12,642 I was just thinking that, like, I actually -- it forces you 768 00:33:12,686 --> 00:33:14,905 to double down on your point of view, I found. 769 00:33:14,949 --> 00:33:16,472 There's a part of it that I like. 770 00:33:16,516 --> 00:33:18,170 I like the challenge. 771 00:33:18,213 --> 00:33:19,562 I always found myself -- I had to keep saying, like, 772 00:33:19,606 --> 00:33:20,999 "No, I told you, it's a movie about marriage, 773 00:33:21,042 --> 00:33:22,565 and it's going to be one musical element." 774 00:33:22,609 --> 00:33:24,393 That was the thing I said six years ago. 775 00:33:24,437 --> 00:33:25,829 I've never been in an experience 776 00:33:25,873 --> 00:33:28,745 where I have felt so a part of and so alone, 777 00:33:28,789 --> 00:33:32,140 and depending on where I was in the filmmaking process. 778 00:33:32,184 --> 00:33:34,316 But it really -- you know, for example, 779 00:33:34,360 --> 00:33:36,753 there's one scene where we shot it was always going to be 780 00:33:36,797 --> 00:33:38,973 this big fight scene, and it was always that. 781 00:33:39,017 --> 00:33:40,931 You know, and I understand if you're in the studio, 782 00:33:40,975 --> 00:33:42,890 you're like, "No coverage?" 783 00:33:42,933 --> 00:33:45,414 You know, I was like, that's it. Yeah. 784 00:33:45,458 --> 00:33:49,288 Isn't it wonderful? No coverage. I was like, yeah. 785 00:33:49,331 --> 00:33:53,901 And it forced me to actually even have to articulate why -- 786 00:33:53,944 --> 00:33:56,382 And I don't mind that. I don't mind being challenged 787 00:33:56,425 --> 00:33:58,688 if I've done the work. I actually think that -- 788 00:33:58,732 --> 00:34:00,473 And sometimes you learn something. 789 00:34:00,516 --> 00:34:04,912 You know, but I actually don't mind not having final cut. 790 00:34:04,955 --> 00:34:06,609 I didn't pay for the movie. They did. 791 00:34:06,653 --> 00:34:08,002 You know, that's very clear to me. 792 00:34:08,045 --> 00:34:09,656 It's like, I didn't have that money. 793 00:34:09,699 --> 00:34:13,094 They did. And I respect that. It is there for them. 794 00:34:13,138 --> 00:34:16,184 But I have the power to say, I'm walking away, 795 00:34:16,228 --> 00:34:18,491 you know, so I -- Yeah. 796 00:34:18,534 --> 00:34:21,188 So it's like it is a state of mind because of course, 797 00:34:21,233 --> 00:34:22,799 why would I spend this amount of time -- 798 00:34:22,842 --> 00:34:25,150 Why would we all spend this much energy, 799 00:34:25,193 --> 00:34:27,239 realize that we have a story to tell, 800 00:34:27,282 --> 00:34:28,804 as you so articulate -- 801 00:34:28,849 --> 00:34:31,199 I love how you articulate why you made that movie. 802 00:34:31,243 --> 00:34:33,201 Then it's, like, that's your anchor. 803 00:34:33,245 --> 00:34:35,116 Yeah.That's your, you know -- 804 00:34:35,159 --> 00:34:38,511 That's a huge pillar that you could just wrap yourself around. 805 00:34:38,554 --> 00:34:40,643 I was going to say, 806 00:34:40,687 --> 00:34:45,909 you you made the original "Barbie" movie. 807 00:34:45,953 --> 00:34:47,302 This is the Karen Carpenter -- Karen Carpenter. 808 00:34:47,346 --> 00:34:49,478 "Superstar: The Karen Carpenter Story." 809 00:34:49,522 --> 00:34:51,132 Did you see that, Michael? Did you ever see it? 810 00:34:51,176 --> 00:34:52,786 No. Oh, my God. 811 00:34:52,829 --> 00:34:54,483 Greta: But it's a wonderful thing 812 00:34:54,527 --> 00:34:56,137 that we're sitting at the table right now, 813 00:34:56,181 --> 00:34:59,140 because I think that -- I think it was genuinely -- 814 00:34:59,184 --> 00:35:03,710 You made them nervous about the possibilities 815 00:35:03,753 --> 00:35:05,451 about what it could be. 816 00:35:05,494 --> 00:35:08,758 But I felt like it was -- Anyway, it's very special. 817 00:35:08,802 --> 00:35:10,369 Are you kidding? 818 00:35:10,412 --> 00:35:13,981 I mean, my -- my use of Barbies was as a subtext. 819 00:35:14,024 --> 00:35:16,244 Yes. You know, to a story about 820 00:35:16,288 --> 00:35:18,507 how women's bodies are commodified and -- 821 00:35:18,551 --> 00:35:22,032 and the story of this -- incredibly heartbreaking story 822 00:35:22,076 --> 00:35:26,167 of a young woman studying suffering from anorexia nervosa. 823 00:35:26,211 --> 00:35:30,302 But you took on the cultural meaning of Barbie 824 00:35:30,345 --> 00:35:33,043 and you exploded it and you -- 825 00:35:33,087 --> 00:35:37,831 but also made it a confection that everybody could share. 826 00:35:37,874 --> 00:35:40,399 But I would say your movie and your response 827 00:35:40,442 --> 00:35:43,837 to it, the way you used it, was part of the cultural history 828 00:35:43,880 --> 00:35:45,839 of Barbie, and it's in there. 829 00:35:45,882 --> 00:35:49,886 And even if it's not forward, it's part of it. 830 00:35:49,930 --> 00:35:51,671 It's the way I think of it. 831 00:35:51,714 --> 00:35:54,717 And so anyway, it's -- but yes, I think they were like, 832 00:35:54,761 --> 00:35:56,850 "Are you going to do that thing that he did?" 833 00:35:56,893 --> 00:35:58,286 [Laughter] 834 00:35:58,330 --> 00:36:02,160 We were like, "Well." [Laughs] 835 00:36:02,203 --> 00:36:04,553 Now, I know you are anxious to run out 836 00:36:04,597 --> 00:36:06,076 and see these great movies 837 00:36:06,120 --> 00:36:07,904 or just log into your streaming account, 838 00:36:07,948 --> 00:36:09,428 but give it a beat. 839 00:36:09,471 --> 00:36:11,343 The final moments with our directors roundtable 840 00:36:11,386 --> 00:36:13,214 right after this. 841 00:36:13,258 --> 00:36:17,175 ♪♪ 842 00:36:19,177 --> 00:36:24,965 ♪♪ 843 00:36:25,008 --> 00:36:28,664 Does anybody have a ritual that sets them up for the day? 844 00:36:28,708 --> 00:36:31,276 Yeah, I've got -- I've got to work out. 845 00:36:31,319 --> 00:36:33,234 I've got to run. I've got to do something. 846 00:36:33,278 --> 00:36:35,367 I zone in the night before, 847 00:36:35,410 --> 00:36:38,021 and then I have to refresh the prop 848 00:36:38,065 --> 00:36:42,287 and just be totally focused. And that usually comes for me, 849 00:36:42,330 --> 00:36:45,377 for whatever reason, is I got to get my, 850 00:36:45,420 --> 00:36:48,162 you know, heartbeat up to 120 for 20 minutes. 851 00:36:48,206 --> 00:36:50,382 And while it's in that state, 852 00:36:50,425 --> 00:36:54,255 that's when I zone into what I'm going to do. 853 00:36:54,299 --> 00:36:55,909 As an actor, I used to always go to set 854 00:36:55,952 --> 00:36:58,738 before -- at crew call, even before my call time, 855 00:36:58,781 --> 00:37:00,479 just because I just would love to -- 856 00:37:00,522 --> 00:37:02,220 I just loved the filmmaking process. 857 00:37:02,263 --> 00:37:03,699 So in this one, 858 00:37:03,743 --> 00:37:05,223 and I always felt like a little goofy doing it, 859 00:37:05,266 --> 00:37:06,702 and I was like, what are you doing? 860 00:37:06,746 --> 00:37:08,313 But I just wanted to do it. And in this one, 861 00:37:08,356 --> 00:37:10,750 I got to go to work, like, six hours before crew call 862 00:37:10,793 --> 00:37:12,882 because I would become Lenny before. 863 00:37:12,926 --> 00:37:16,408 And I actually found that as a filmmaker was just invaluable. 864 00:37:16,451 --> 00:37:19,759 That I was actually actively in a chair with Kazu, 865 00:37:19,802 --> 00:37:22,718 and I would just go through the whole day all the time. 866 00:37:22,762 --> 00:37:24,720 You know, and it was really -- I have to say, 867 00:37:24,764 --> 00:37:28,071 it made the shooting just that much easier. 868 00:37:28,115 --> 00:37:29,769 And I wouldn't have thought of that, 869 00:37:29,812 --> 00:37:32,380 but on this particular film, it was a huge, I think, 870 00:37:32,424 --> 00:37:35,427 asset just for my clarity once I was there. 871 00:37:35,470 --> 00:37:37,255 I love that. That's got to be mesmerizing. 872 00:37:37,298 --> 00:37:39,431 It really was. It really was. 873 00:37:39,474 --> 00:37:41,563 You imagine all of us as directors, like, being forced 874 00:37:41,607 --> 00:37:45,306 to sit for 2 or 3 hours before a shooting day? 875 00:37:45,350 --> 00:37:49,005 And have that time given to you in that space, 876 00:37:49,049 --> 00:37:50,093 like, every day. 877 00:37:50,137 --> 00:37:52,139 I have a guitar. And so, like, 878 00:37:52,182 --> 00:37:55,795 I have to sit and I have to play 879 00:37:55,838 --> 00:38:01,104 and I have to imagine, and I do a very similar thing, 880 00:38:01,148 --> 00:38:04,064 before anyone gets on my set, even grips. 881 00:38:04,107 --> 00:38:06,719 I'm like, no, you're not getting on my set before me. 882 00:38:06,762 --> 00:38:07,981 That's right. And I show up 883 00:38:08,024 --> 00:38:09,852 and I walk it, and I walk it, 884 00:38:09,896 --> 00:38:13,465 and I walk it quietly, before the noise. 885 00:38:13,508 --> 00:38:15,641 Yes. Because, boy, when that noise starts, 886 00:38:15,684 --> 00:38:17,556 oh, boy, it doesn't stop. That's right. 887 00:38:17,599 --> 00:38:20,776 So I like to just kind of sit on the set, just being there early 888 00:38:20,820 --> 00:38:24,171 and having my guitar and playing... Beautiful. 889 00:38:24,214 --> 00:38:26,608 ...and just like quietly, peacefully. 890 00:38:26,652 --> 00:38:29,655 Before again the explosion happens, you know? 891 00:38:29,698 --> 00:38:31,309 What do you do? 892 00:38:31,352 --> 00:38:33,702 I don't have a ritual. [Laughs] 893 00:38:33,746 --> 00:38:36,488 I try to stay present in whatever the day 894 00:38:36,531 --> 00:38:38,316 is going to bring, and that's always different. 895 00:38:38,359 --> 00:38:41,754 You know, the night before, whatever has been done on set, 896 00:38:41,797 --> 00:38:45,061 whatever interactions I've had affect the next day. 897 00:38:45,105 --> 00:38:48,021 And it's a -- it's a continuum from one day to the other. 898 00:38:48,064 --> 00:38:53,853 So I try not to -- I just personally don't -- 899 00:38:53,896 --> 00:38:55,333 I don't have one. 900 00:38:55,376 --> 00:38:56,812 How about you? Do you play the guitar? 901 00:38:56,856 --> 00:38:58,379 What are you doing? You swimming? 902 00:38:58,423 --> 00:39:00,120 What's happening? No, I wish man. 903 00:39:00,163 --> 00:39:01,817 What's going on? [Laughter] 904 00:39:01,861 --> 00:39:03,515 No, I just come as prepared as possible. 905 00:39:03,558 --> 00:39:06,474 You know, I do all my -- all my prep really in advance. 906 00:39:06,518 --> 00:39:09,999 And then what was amazing about "May December" 907 00:39:10,043 --> 00:39:12,524 is that we had such a short amount of time to make it. 908 00:39:12,567 --> 00:39:13,873 It happened very quickly. 909 00:39:13,916 --> 00:39:16,223 The financing came together quickly, 910 00:39:16,266 --> 00:39:17,659 and when it ended, I was like, 911 00:39:17,703 --> 00:39:19,792 I don't know how it's going to come out well 912 00:39:19,835 --> 00:39:22,360 if I had this much fun making it. 913 00:39:22,403 --> 00:39:23,709 [Laughter] 914 00:39:23,752 --> 00:39:25,058 Your ritual? 915 00:39:25,101 --> 00:39:28,975 My ritual is -- I was -- I'm, like, a -- 916 00:39:29,018 --> 00:39:31,020 I'm like a major league baseball player 917 00:39:31,064 --> 00:39:32,805 who has to do the same things all the time. 918 00:39:32,848 --> 00:39:35,198 Like I'm -- And then, like, if a day went well, 919 00:39:35,242 --> 00:39:36,852 then I'm, like, well, I got to do that again. 920 00:39:36,896 --> 00:39:40,203 And so I have lots of things. On "Barbie," 921 00:39:40,247 --> 00:39:45,339 the week before we started, Rodrigo Prieto, 922 00:39:45,383 --> 00:39:46,906 who shot my film, his wife, Monica, 923 00:39:46,949 --> 00:39:49,691 gave me a special stone that she said was magic. 924 00:39:49,735 --> 00:39:52,520 And I was like, but then I need it with me 925 00:39:52,564 --> 00:39:54,348 all the time! 926 00:39:54,392 --> 00:39:56,045 And then I saw Rodrigo the other week and I was like, 927 00:39:56,089 --> 00:39:59,005 Tell Monica I still have the stone. 928 00:39:59,048 --> 00:40:02,487 And she was like, you know, she can put that down. 929 00:40:02,530 --> 00:40:04,140 And so -- And it's with me. 930 00:40:04,184 --> 00:40:07,753 I have, like -- I have to wear the same thing every day. 931 00:40:07,796 --> 00:40:10,408 I learned how to do transcendental meditation 932 00:40:10,451 --> 00:40:12,192 because of David Lynch. 933 00:40:12,235 --> 00:40:16,326 I've never gotten a vision like he has, but I'm waiting. 934 00:40:16,370 --> 00:40:19,591 Meditate, hold my stone. Have my outfit. 935 00:40:19,634 --> 00:40:22,420 Like, I'm just like -- It's all -- It's like -- 936 00:40:22,463 --> 00:40:23,899 And in some ways, like -- 937 00:40:23,943 --> 00:40:26,162 If I could grow facial hair, I'd like never -- 938 00:40:26,206 --> 00:40:29,339 I would just have a giant beard. I feel like I'm -- 939 00:40:29,383 --> 00:40:32,778 It's, like, I don't know. It's all ritualistic. 940 00:40:32,821 --> 00:40:35,868 Michael: The irrational objects are really interesting. 941 00:40:35,911 --> 00:40:38,174 I've got an old aluminum clipboard 942 00:40:38,218 --> 00:40:40,307 that I've had for 40 years, and I can't -- 943 00:40:40,350 --> 00:40:42,352 I don't know what would happen if I lost this. 944 00:40:42,396 --> 00:40:45,007 It's been run over by trucks, everything. 945 00:40:45,051 --> 00:40:47,662 Just gotta have that. Greta: Gotta have that one thing. 946 00:40:47,706 --> 00:40:49,011 Do you hold the clipboard throughout the day? 947 00:40:49,055 --> 00:40:50,709 Absolutely. Everything will break down. 948 00:40:50,752 --> 00:40:52,232 Bradley: Everything's there. Everything's right there. 949 00:40:52,275 --> 00:40:53,755 Got to have it. Blitz: Amazing. 950 00:40:53,799 --> 00:40:56,410 The dressing the same every day, though, like, 951 00:40:56,454 --> 00:40:57,846 that also became my thing. 952 00:40:57,890 --> 00:40:59,544 First of all, it was just super practical. 953 00:40:59,587 --> 00:41:01,328 It was, like, I went to, 954 00:41:01,371 --> 00:41:03,809 like, H&M, bought the same black shirts, went to Uniqlo, 955 00:41:03,852 --> 00:41:05,898 got the same black pants, like 20 of them. 956 00:41:05,941 --> 00:41:08,944 It makes people comfortable when you show up every day, 957 00:41:08,988 --> 00:41:10,511 like, because they just go, 958 00:41:10,555 --> 00:41:12,426 all right, that guy seems to be a steady guy. 959 00:41:12,470 --> 00:41:16,386 Like whether you are or not, it feels like he's consistent. 960 00:41:16,430 --> 00:41:18,476 In London, I interviewed Stanley Kubrick 961 00:41:18,519 --> 00:41:19,999 a couple of times -- three times. 962 00:41:20,042 --> 00:41:21,653 Man: Wow. And every time I interviewed him, 963 00:41:21,696 --> 00:41:23,959 he wore the same pants, the same jacket. 964 00:41:24,003 --> 00:41:25,744 And I said -- The third time I said, 965 00:41:25,787 --> 00:41:27,528 you know, Mr. Kubrick, I have to ask you, 966 00:41:27,572 --> 00:41:28,877 why are you wearing the same clothes? 967 00:41:28,921 --> 00:41:31,097 He says, "No, I've got 30 of these pants 968 00:41:31,140 --> 00:41:32,794 and 30 of these jackets, 969 00:41:32,838 --> 00:41:34,448 because I don't want to have to spend any mental energy 970 00:41:34,492 --> 00:41:36,885 thinking about what I'm going to wear tomorrow." 971 00:41:36,929 --> 00:41:38,713 -Wow. -Get up and go. 972 00:41:38,757 --> 00:41:40,498 Rebecca: I could listen to you guys talk all day. 973 00:41:40,541 --> 00:41:43,239 Thank you guys so much for being here. 974 00:41:43,283 --> 00:41:44,676 -Pleasure. -Thank you so much. 975 00:41:44,719 --> 00:41:45,807 I got to say, that did not feel like an hour. 976 00:41:45,851 --> 00:41:46,808 -No, not at all. -Good. Good. 977 00:41:46,852 --> 00:41:47,853 -Wow. -Good. Good. 978 00:41:47,896 --> 00:41:48,897 -Yeah. -Cheers. 979 00:41:48,941 --> 00:41:50,595 All: Cheers. 980 00:41:50,638 --> 00:41:52,553 Bradley: What a blessing. What a blessing. 981 00:41:52,597 --> 00:41:54,337 That was so beautiful. 982 00:41:54,381 --> 00:41:56,252 Great job. Thank you. 983 00:41:56,296 --> 00:41:58,690 And that's a wrap. Yeah! 984 00:41:58,733 --> 00:42:01,606 On a very beautiful and emotional conversation 985 00:42:01,649 --> 00:42:04,696 with six directors who apparently also had 986 00:42:04,739 --> 00:42:06,915 less than six degrees of separation. 987 00:42:06,959 --> 00:42:09,004 Y'all, did you see all the full circle moments 988 00:42:09,048 --> 00:42:11,529 happening around the table? Ugh, amazing. 989 00:42:11,572 --> 00:42:13,835 Well, until next time. I am Yvonne Orji 990 00:42:13,879 --> 00:42:17,230 and this has been "Off Script with The Hollywood Reporter." 991 00:42:17,273 --> 00:42:22,496 ♪♪