I don’t want to make films that give you the answer. If there is a message to my films – and I hope there isn’t – it’s to be open-minded.
I used to have a group called Bad-Movie Saturday. Every Saturday, six of us would go see the worst movie that came out each weekend. It’d be noon in Burbank. It was just a running commentary. All executives – we would each talk through the movie and make jokes.
I don’t consider myself bossy, but I do know what I want. You know, I have a gut feeling about a piece of material, but I’ve never envisioned myself as the director on top of the hill with a megaphone in my hand, screaming at 1,000 extras.
I grew up on movie sets, I’m comfortable on sets. A movie set is like a circus. I don’t understand why moviemaking has to be such an insane environment.
Things like Facebook have made you feel as though you’re connected to everybody. You’ve got a thousand friends on Facebook, but you don’t actually talk to anybody. You’re not close to anybody.
Directing ‘The Office’ is kind of like someone going, ‘Would you like to drive my Lamborghini?’ And I’m like ‘Yes, I would like to drive your Lamborghini. That sounds like fun.’
And I certainly like being on a plane, next to a stranger, having conversations that you’d never otherwise have. You’re unplugged, your phone doesn’t work, you’re not online.
When characters change on screen, it makes you feel better about yourself. You think, ‘Oh I change too, I’m constantly becoming a better person.’
What I do feel is that ‘Up in the Air’ is the most indicative film of 2009. It is the portrait of 2009.
I don’t believe in director’s cuts where you make things longer. The coolest thing was when the Coen brothers did a director’s cut of ‘Blood Simple,’ and they made it shorter.
When it comes to casting, I’ve been so lucky. I’ve worked with unbelievable actors who make me look better than I am and take the written word and make it honest.
When I think of ‘Nightmare on Elm Street,’ there was a warmth to those teenagers that I related to. They were not aware that they were in the middle of a horror film, and I really loved those characters and I empathized with them.
And over the course of the last six years, as I’ve directed more features and commercials, I’ve become better at articulating exactly how I want the audience to feel.
And as a director, you make 1,000 decisions a day, mostly binary decisions: yes or no, this one or that one, the red one or the blue one, faster or slower. And it’s the culmination of those decisions that define the tone of the film and whether or not it moves people.
All the airports kind of feel and look the same now. Some are more beautiful, some are less beautiful, but for the most part you’re going to find a Starbucks in every airport. You’re going to get your coffee and the ‘USA Today’ or ‘New York Times’ in every airport.
I remember when I was like 19 years old and I started a desk calendar company to pay for my first short film, just so I could say one day that my daddy didn’t pay for my first short film. And I really established myself in the film festival world.
Unlike with any other art form, filmmakers have this unique web of festivals. There are hundreds. It is a democratic system in which you submit films, and if they are good enough, they play. The only barrier to entry is the submission fee.
Rian Johnson’s ‘Looper’ is inventive, entertaining, and thought-provoking in every way a movie can be. It is in fact the kind of movie that reminds us why we watch them and make them, a beautifully told story that deserves to be not only remembered, but acknowledged for its writing.
I’ve been very, very lucky in my career, in my life – from day one. When aspiring directors say, ‘What’s your advice?’ first I say, ‘Be born the son of a famous director. It’s invaluable.’
I’m not Michael Moore. I think Michael Moore wants to tell you how to think. He wants to give you answers. I make movies to raise my own personal questions and not to give answers.
Filmmaking is a completely imperfect art form that takes years and, over those years, the movie tells you what it is. Mistakes happen, accidents happen and true great films are the results of those mistakes and the decisions that those directors make during those moments.