I’ve become friends with Michael Mann and Oliver Stone; I’ve seen those guys work and that was great to see.
I like the opportunity to make films.
What I learned is, don’t forget who you are, because that’s what’s going to make you a filmmaker.
I’d seen too many shrines in South Central and thought it was worth asking where the first bullet came from that started all this violence.
If you see someone lying out knives and forks consistently, but then one day those knives and forks become weapons you’re not sure if he does that as a warrior, that’s just his thing.
It’s a dumb question, because I don’t look at things as a black director, just as a director, so ask me as a director first and we can segue into the colour thing later.
I like the platform to show your art and everything that goes along with that. To show your voice and hopefully find films that are more politically driven, films that maybe inspire.
It’s not worth it, it’s not about money, especially when you’re dealing with a culture. It should be about elevating the idea of what we are and who we are as people in the cinema, and that kind of stuff keeps dragging us back down.
If I’m going to see my mom, I’m going to church!
It’s a hard line to walk, man. Cause you know you want to make this movie, you want to make it dark and real, you want to show all this stuff but unfortunately you can’t always do that.
Bruce Willis. Pain in my ass, no problem about that. We just didn’t get along. We got along off camera, but shooting we just didn’t get along.
Cinema Paradiso, because it reminds me of why I make movies, the magic of movies, the romance of movies.
So it’s hard to be an artist and be true to the reality of the world you want to create and also make it entertaining and successful financially.
My experience of test screenings is that you don’t know what kind of mood people are going to be in, and sometimes the studios accept what Joe Blo says – and this guy could just be a frustrated filmmaker, or not paying attention.
You’ll see a consistent, like the tea, the tea bags you saw there-you’ll see a consistent-did you see the cafeteria? I mean the diner?
You’ll see in the movie he constantly does that-he only drinks his tea a certain way, brings his own tea bags, the guy pours hot water, it’s like a consistency throughout the film, but he never breaks his habits. I mean, to a point, where he has to.
We’re very good friends, we have a very honest relationship. He keeps me honest, I keep him honest. He’s an incredible actor and when you have an actor like Denzel action becomes drama.
Well, we studied a lot of books and things like that. Denzel has a personal experience with it, not himself, that’s his business-I won’t get into that, but he knows a lot about it as well. So, we took some real life experiences that we both-I’ve been told that I have OCD.
Well, I mean, the original is certainly the jump-off, it certainly is what it is, you know, I grew up around that era so I watched all those shows. The basic concept is there, it’s just a different movie. Totally different actors, different filmmakers, different script, but same concept.
In movies you get to do that. Sometimes with the vigilante justice movie he has to also tangle with police, which are traditional or security people. Is there going to be any of that in this?
One hundred percent, I mean, many of the Sergio Leone movies were with Clint Eastwood, and that’s what it is.