The Hollywood Reporter (via ONTD) has three short videos and the whole transcript of a director’s roundtable involving some of this year’s biggest names in directing, with Kathryn Bigelow, Quentin Tarantino, Peter Jackson, James Cameron, Jason Reitman and Lee Daniels. It’s a fascinating watch and/or read although the videos are heavily edited and on the short side.
When the directors are asked about what they would do if they weren’t directing, Tarantino took the opportunity to reiterate his threatening plans to retire at a decent age and just write.
“I intend to quit at 60. I’m going to write novels and cinema literature and stuff like that,” he said, shocking even his counterparts at the table, though he’s already hinted at this several times in interviews this year. Obviously, Tarantino is notorious for making wild statements but the serious manner in which he announced his plans makes sense for his career path. At this stage in the game, he’s a better writer than director.
“Actually, I would even add more to that though,” Tarantino later notes, interrupting James Cameron during his speech about directing until he dies. “I would say that if it actually gets to where you can’t show 35mm film in theaters anymore and everything is digital projection, I won’t even make it to 60.”
Cameron then jokingly replies, “Nobody’s told you?” before Tarantino argues; “It hasn’t happened yet!” — sensing the potential showdown in ideologies, Reitman cuts in with “Let’s not turn this into a fight.”
Other interesting highlights:
– As Cameron explained how he finds the “cinematically vague and stylized” stuff the hardest to film, Jackson interrupts admitting that he has “just done an entire film like that! And it was hell on earth.”
– Cameron revealed he never test screened for “Aliens” or “The Terminator,” he simply just “finished the film, put it in theaters, no bullshit, no screening, nothing.”
– In response to a question about a “director’s personality,” Reitman recounted that he’s “had conversations with Spike Jonze, who is so quiet and uncomfortable, and I’ve talked to Quentin, for example. (Laughs.) They’re all storytellers. I think there’s perhaps a confidence and arrogance in knowing we have something to say but the way that each one goes about it seems to be very different.”
– Bigelow recalls her nerves about shooting a scene in a Palestinian refuge camp for “The Hurt Locker.” On the day of shooting, “[Bigelow and her cast and crew are] running around shooting their M4s and I’m thinking the place will explode. Not even a bathroom light goes on.”
– After Tarantino discussed how he miscalculated his 38 million dollar budget for “Kill Bill” by 8 million, Cameron advised him “don’t get worked up about it. I’ve been wrong by more than that entire budget.”
– Daniels revealed that “Precious” took two attempts at production because he wasn’t confident in his crew. “Two weeks into production, I hated everyone, there was no one I had worked with, they weren’t responding, they didn’t get the story, they didn’t get me, and I had to go back to the investors and say, ‘Listen, guys, I have to shut down production and reshoot most of this.'”
It’s also interesting to point out that four of these six directors were nominated today for the Best Director Golden Globe.