• last year
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Fun
Transcript
00:00 [upbeat music]
00:02 - What film or series lit your fuse
00:13 and made you have to tell stories on screen?
00:16 - You know, a lot of films did that.
00:18 You know, you kind of wanna do it
00:20 because you kind of grow up with films
00:24 and a lot of films taught me things of life.
00:28 And you wanna do that for other people, basically.
00:32 So a lot of films did that, a combination of films.
00:36 But I guess when I look back on things
00:39 that were really influential,
00:41 I'd probably say like "Apocalypse Now" would be,
00:44 you know, that film where it transcended
00:48 kind of normal filmmaking techniques
00:51 and was more poetic, I guess you'd say.
00:54 That's what, you know, kind of turned it for me.
00:58 Again, there's numerous films,
01:00 but if I had to kind of come down to one, that would be it.
01:04 - So when you watched it,
01:06 what were some of the indelible elements
01:08 that rubbed off on you?
01:09 - The use of narration there was very different for me.
01:13 I mean, you kind of later would see it in, you know,
01:18 Terry Malick's films and all that.
01:20 But, you know, for some reason,
01:22 that one really caught me first.
01:26 Again, the opening scene or opening scenes,
01:30 you know, and, you know, Martin Sheen in the hotel room,
01:35 obviously that stuff where you kind of imagine
01:39 that's where he had his heart attack or whatever.
01:42 So intense, you know, so intense at that moment,
01:46 you know, just really affected me.
01:48 But again, so many visual elements
01:53 really added to, you know, my impression of it
01:56 and inspired me in some ways, you know.
02:00 - When you were making your way as a producer,
02:05 as a distributor, and then as a writer and director
02:09 of the films that you've made,
02:11 what movie or series did you watch
02:14 as you were cutting your own teeth?
02:16 And that was so good, it made you think,
02:18 boy, can I ever play in this sandbox?
02:22 - Yeah, I mean, well, certainly that one,
02:24 but I mean, later films that you kind of end up feeling
02:28 like you're going head to head with, you know.
02:31 I'm trying to think of that kind of situation
02:36 where you're doing it.
02:37 I mean, honestly, we probably,
02:40 we talked about this at the time,
02:42 but working with Terry on "Tree of Life"
02:46 was obviously incredibly influential.
02:49 I was gutsy enough or stupid enough
02:51 or whatever to, you know, as we were shooting the film
02:54 and kind of through the edit process,
02:58 I was obviously giving notes to Terry,
03:01 which seemed kind of, how am I able to do this?
03:05 But, you know, I wanted, you know,
03:06 'cause I was never caught up in people
03:10 as my idols or whatever.
03:12 Obviously, Terry became a good friend and very influential,
03:16 but I never really, when people asked me
03:18 who I wanted to work with,
03:20 there wasn't a list of like,
03:22 oh, I want to work with him or her or whatever.
03:26 I didn't think of it that way.
03:28 You know, I really wanted to do it myself,
03:31 which I guess led to me giving Terry notes
03:35 'cause the audacity of that is still amazing to me now.
03:40 But yeah, you kind of have this desire to do it
03:44 and want to transfer that right onto the screen,
03:47 you know, myself.
03:49 - Well, what reaction does one get from Terry Malick
03:54 when you give him notes?
03:57 - Yeah, well, I mean, you know, again,
03:58 by that point, we were very good friends.
04:01 So he's super polite and good
04:03 and, you know, great throughout the process.
04:05 I can't say that, like, a lot of those notes,
04:10 I could see it translate into the real thing
04:13 'cause I was obviously asking all the normal questions
04:16 that people would ask, like,
04:17 do we have to go back to the dinosaurs or whatever?
04:21 You know, obviously he had a singular vision
04:23 and I respect that.
04:25 At the end of the day, I respect that, you know,
04:27 you're kind of always challenging him
04:30 on the length of the film
04:32 and the different chapters that it goes through.
04:36 But obviously that's what makes the film amazing, so amazing.
04:43 So I'm glad he didn't take my advice
04:47 on some of the things.
04:48 But I think, you know, it was still a great relationship,
04:51 working relationship.
04:53 Yeah, he respected me and I respected him, obviously, so.
04:58 - Great.
05:00 Whether it was success of a work of yours
05:04 or approval from someone whose opinion really mattered to you,
05:09 you know, what first gave you the confidence
05:11 that you did belong here as a director, as a filmmaker?
05:16 - Well, I mean, you know,
05:17 obviously it was with love and mercy.
05:19 First of all, I worked with Oren Moberman
05:23 at the time, writing.
05:24 We were just writing.
05:25 I was producing.
05:26 And through the process of writing,
05:29 Oren said, "I think you should do this.
05:31 "I think you should direct this."
05:32 Which really, you know, I obviously wanted to,
05:35 but at the time I didn't really maybe have confidence
05:39 in myself enough.
05:41 And I thought it was kind of outrageous in some ways
05:44 that I would do that.
05:45 But so when he gave me that kind of permission
05:49 or that kind of sanction, I guess you'd say it,
05:53 you know, that's what did it.
05:56 So, and along the way,
05:58 clearly with the success of love and mercy, creatively,
06:03 I mean, that's really also, it helped me a lot.
06:06 You know, a lot of musicians, honestly, that I respected
06:10 and, you know, big names, you know, really responded well
06:15 to that film.
06:16 And so that really gave me confidence along the way.
06:21 You know, Paul McCartney and different,
06:24 Pano and stuff like that.
06:26 I heard along the way and talked to them directly.
06:29 Yeah, it did give me the confidence to move forward.
06:34 So.
06:35 - What would you say was the biggest obstacle
06:38 that you had to overcome to allow you to turn the projects
06:42 that influenced you into your own language as a filmmaker?
06:46 - Just audacity.
06:50 I guess the same part of me that would give Terry notes,
06:54 you know, I guess it was, now that I think of it,
07:00 it runs through various things.
07:02 When we decided to do "Brokeback Mountain," for example,
07:06 my thinking was like, if we have one chance in this business,
07:11 you know, I just wanna, I wanna believe in what it is.
07:15 And I wanna, in other words, go down in flames.
07:18 If I'm gonna go down in flames,
07:19 I'd rather do it with something I really believed in.
07:22 And so that decision with "Brokeback Mountain"
07:27 was predicated on that.
07:28 And it was the same thing with "Love and Mercy."
07:31 You know, if I'm gonna do this, I wanna go the whole way,
07:35 not be shy or, you know,
07:38 reserved about any of my ideas or styles.
07:42 Just, you know, have the courage to go forward.
07:46 - "Dreamin' Wild" is a very interesting
07:49 kind of unknown story until you brought it to the screen.
07:54 And there are themes of this musician being rediscovered
07:58 and then wanting to be himself
08:01 when the people who rediscovered him
08:03 wanted the kid who was a teenage phenom.
08:07 Tell me what burned in you to have to tell this story
08:11 and how hard was it to get the principles
08:13 to hold still for what you did?
08:15 - Well, I mean, you know, you can look at the music.
08:20 You know, "Baby" was, I have to admit it,
08:24 and sometimes Donnie even bristles at that,
08:28 like that I loved "Baby" and it was running in my head
08:33 throughout the process while I was editing.
08:35 And, well, actually while I was writing the film.
08:38 So I was guilty of that too,
08:41 in the sense that I wanted him to play the old stuff,
08:44 so to speak.
08:45 But you also, I mean, for me,
08:50 I thought that it was most important,
08:52 kind of the human story was really what intrigued me.
08:57 It wasn't so much the music.
08:59 That was certainly powerful and, you know, important to me.
09:04 But really it was the people.
09:07 I really didn't choose to follow up "Love and Mercy"
09:11 with another music film.
09:13 That wasn't my idea.
09:14 But I really, as I said,
09:17 I chose to do it because of the human elements.
09:21 Those are what intrigued me.
09:22 It was nice that it had great music to work with,
09:25 but it wasn't like "Love and Mercy"
09:28 where the music just drove the whole thing for me.
09:31 It was really the people and the relationships.
09:34 - And so where do you go from here?
09:36 Will you do another music themed film?
09:39 Are you off in a different direction?
09:41 - Well, I mean, obviously, you don't know right now
09:47 based on everything.
09:50 Although we actually do have a project
09:52 that I feel very strongly about,
09:54 and we have a first draft of a script
09:57 that was developed before the strike.
10:01 So hopefully that goes forward.
10:04 It is a music related story,
10:07 but it's mostly, it's primarily a love story.
10:10 So I think, again, I don't wanna just be typecast
10:15 or anything like that in trying to do movies about music,
10:20 but I do love music and I can't deny that.
10:25 But, you know, it was important here
10:27 that it really be another element.
10:30 Like "Love and Mercy" that is kind of dominant
10:33 versus, you know, having it all be about music.
10:37 I'm excited about it.
10:38 And I think it'll be exciting for people in general.
10:41 (upbeat music)
10:43 [BLANK_AUDIO]