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- I'm a broken person.

At about seven years old I
fell in love with movies.

The movies, as a whole,
allowed me to find my way.

I fell in love with
going to the movies,

Robert Redford and Paul Newman,
Faye Dunaway, Steve McQueen.

For me, everything's romantic.

I was always looking at
movies to really take in

what other people's version
of life was, with romance.

I live in a fantasy
world because I love

the idea of creating.

Building a legacy is
to include my family.

And if you get lucky, you
get to live that dream.

I'm always praying

that I'll be remembered fondly.

Life is by design.

You create who
you're going to be.

My old buddy, my mentor,
Warren Beatty always told me,

"Jonathan, making a movie,
it's not a democracy.

"And once you learn
that, you'll understand

"how to be true to your vision."

It becomes a them
versus you on an island.

There's no enjoying
making a movie.

It's a war.

- I remember the first time
I was doing a television show

when I was about six, "The
Courtship of Eddie's Father",

and one day I came
in to do something,

and the actor, Bill Bixby
was suddenly the director.

And I was completely confused
and my mouth was open

and I thought "Oh wow, they
let actors be directors?"

And I "Oh yeah, that's
what I'm gonna do".

- [Jonathan] Elliot Silverstein
is a famous director.

Worked with Richard Harris.

Richard Brooks, even
more famous director.

And Warren Beatty, all, at
one point or another told me,

"You're gonna have to eat shit."

And I had no idea
what that meant.

Like eat shit, what the
hell does that mean?

I'm strong, nobody can
tell me what to do.

I'm gonna do what I need to do

and I'm gonna get my movies done

we're gonna make
some magic here!

- We had a meeting I
remember at United Artists,

and he started
screaming, incoherently.

I mean I couldn't understand
a word he was saying,

but he, what came over was
that he was so passionate

about getting this
fucking movie off.

- Oh I mean my god,
it's your first chance

of making a feature film,
it's a dream come true.

On the one hand.

On the other hand, it
becomes quickly apparent

when you start getting
into the professional world

of Hollywood, that you're
probably gonna have one shot,

and that's it, so you better
make sure that it works.

- I still have these
moments where I'm like,

oh, I don't know if
this is gonna be right,

I don't know if
this is gonna work.

I only know if
it's gonna be good

if we're stretching and
trying to do something

a little bit outside
the envelope.

I'll tell 'em to stand naked
on the ceiling upside-down,

if that's what you want.

I think no director ever
lived who didn't wake up,

a week, a month, a year,
10 years later and go,

"Oh no, if I had only just..."

- Take control, or they're
gonna take control of you.

What you're saying you're
gonna be able to do,

and deliver, if it's
successful we're a team.

If you fail, it's all on you.

And as scared as I
was, I was just happy

to have all the control.

I was ready to fail
on my own terms,

I was ready to succeed
on my own terms.

(gentle music)

"Inconceivable", and my
film-making career started,

with my mother, who
wanted to be an actor.

This journey, she'd been on
the journey, as an actor.

She would be watching
me, for a long time,

write the scripts,
raise the money,

put together the
production deals.

I grew up in New York
City, circa 1960's.

At about seven years old
I started this journey.

Like anybody else who
fell in love with movies,

I fell in love with
going to the movies.

At six and seven years
old, I'd get to go

to Mount Everest, or I
got to go to Bangkok,

or I got to go to California.

My escape was always
the environment.

I'm a lone wolf.

I've always been a lone wolf.

I was taking the subway,
and I was gettin' up

and going to school
all by myself.

Yeah, I always got into trouble.

The difference between
a bus and a subway.

Subway will take you
uptown and downtown.

Bus is a little bit safer,
at least for the times where,

I was a very curious kid.

They would leave for like
three hours, come back

and everything
would be torn apart,

they'd be like "What
are you looking for?"

I'm like "I don't know".

Somebody once asked me,
"Where are you gonna go?",

I was 11 years old.

I said, "I'm going
to California."

Once I make this movie,
there's like, 1% left.

Everything and anything I ever
wanted, or made happen, left.

And then again, I don't know
what I'm gonna feel like

when I'm 88 years old, but,

Hugh Hefner told me
his life didn't start

until he was 52 years old.

Hugh Hefner's life is
a very fascinating one.

And the fact that I got
to intertwine, live,

inside of his world,
as he loved movies,

appreciated movies, and listened
to me talk about movies.

When you come to the front
door, you are equalized.

Included.

And I strive to write
movies, direct movies,

and produce movies.

And I've met all the
celebrities and the giants

that have come through there.

Michael Bay, Quentin
Tarantino, Ridley Scott.

These are the greatest
directors of our time.

These guys know how to
make movies, tell stories!

It's amazing to me!

More important,

they don't have to eat shit.

I know that I will
be a good director.

I had to learn it,
and this documentary

has been a great self-reflection
on what I can do.

And how I'm growing,
with the projects.

As I'm becoming the person
that I set out to be

when I was seven years old.

Sometimes you get lucky,
sometimes you fight.

Why go to the end of the
road when it's blocked?

Because you can.

Because you wanna
see what's there.

Who cares if it doesn't go
through to the other side?

I'm not afraid of anything.

- [Interviewer]
Forces of nature, god.

- (laughs) Yeah, well,
I'm not immortal.

(unsettling music)

I'm always amazed that
these people lived

in a time that's
twice my lifetime.

1886, 1896, 1859, 225 years

before I was born.

This is what I
consider Trump Row.

Most iconic street in New York.

Luis Vuitton, Tiffany,
Bergdof Goodman, Trump Tower.

This is the best reticle
you're gonna find.

Fifth Avenue, 57th Street.

Success is success.

It doesn't travel up and down.

Success travels across.

So when you hit it, you'll
be successful forever.

You just have to hit it once.

Success is getting to a
place that other people

appreciate and
contribute to what it is

that you made for them, and
you're rewarded financially.

Affluence is how you
spend the money, or,

if you never had to work for it.

I don't follow the same
path as most people.

Back then they might've thought
it was dyslexia, it's not.

It was just because I
was running the streets.

My brain would
work so much faster

than the mechanics of
what I wanted to do.

My grandfather used
to always say to me,

"You can sell anything
in New York, to anybody".

And I went into the garbage,
like everybody throws away,

and sell it for a dollar or two.

When I was six, I was running
the streets by myself.

When you have no
restrictions by the time

you get to be 13, what
type of a person you are.

I was 27 years old when
I was 11 years old.

New York City kids are the
smartest kids in the world.

And you're independent
at a very young age.

I learned how to be a fighter.

Survivor.

I was taking the bus to school
at six and a half years old.

During that time everything
was under construction.

And so, it made for
the greatest scenes.

And I would light
all the firecrackers,

and I'd throw 'em
into the lead pipe,

and I'd throw marbles on top,

and I'd watch 'em go boom
boom boom boom boom boom boom!

Or I would be James Bond, as
I would jump from water tower.

I was not your typical kid.

These buildings were never here.

And all I did was
see that bridge,

which is the Triborough
Bridge, this was my set.

Right there was my, was my
bedroom, which is amazing.

Okay.

You can imagine what I
could do with just this.

It would be a bank, it would be,

I mean, look at the
vertical, look at the water

that's coming down.

I'd throw a rope down.

My mother was a single mother.

I'm a broken person.

My father left when I was seven.

Now my dad, from
what I understand was

a very charismatic person.

Very charismatic.

People would tell
me all the time,

he was just too much a partier.

He wanted to go out and
have fun like in that time.

It broke my heart, but
it wasn't my fault.

I never, maybe I thought it
was my fault when I was six,

but it broke my heart.

Every Saturday we'd
sit on this stoop

and wait for my father to come,

and I'd sit here, and
I'd wait for an hour and,

when he didn't come,
I'd go back upstairs.

(sad music)

I went to escape.

Movies, as a whole,
allowed me to find my way.

My movie stars were Robert
Redford and Paul Newman,

Faye Dunaway, Steve McQueen.

Being in love is an idea
that you have with yourself.

Romance is something, you
are romantic or you're not.

For me, everything's
romantic, so starting

at a very young age, I was
always looking at movies

to really take in what
other people's version

of life was, romance.

I started to bleed
everything together.

It wasn't until MTV showed
up that I was able to see

music with visuals, and I went
"Oh my god, this is amazing!"

People were spending millions
of dollars on music videos.

In the 70's, really,
were taking the art

of characterization
and bleeding it

into the art of film-making
where it wasn't just

independent films, it
wasn't just studio films.

All of a sudden, we had a
commercial aspect of propaganda

that was hitting the nerve
of the American public.

I love propaganda
and I love the fact

that we can tell character
arcs, story arcs,

and then bleed that
with pop culture.

And, when you hit a nerve you
know you've done it right.

Just because you do
something and nobody sees it,

it doesn't make a difference.

It's a great way for you
to keep track of yourself.

Some people do it with
picture books, scrapbooks.

Some people do it with blogs.

Some people do it on Facebook.

I'm just doing it in film,
television, fashion and music.

I want to be larger than
life because the journey

is larger than life.

Money is just a way to
make something amazing.

My grandfather was
very good to me.

He died looking at me in 1980.

In that moment,
I'm having somebody

close their eyes and die, I
remember that it was final.

And I remember

that at that point
I had a choice,

to celebrate life,
or to cry about it.

And I'm always praying that
I'll be looked at fondly,

that I'll be remembered fondly.

I have a very complicated life.

By design.

Jenny, my wife
wants to live here.

- [Jenny] And his
heart was pining for LA

and mine was pining
for New York.

- We go back and
forth, we're bicoastal.

You know, for a long time I
wouldn't give myself the credit

that I deserve.

What does the end
look like for me?

It means that I can create
films, create the product line,

and then, my hotel the
Maidstone in the Hamptons.

And, there's the
Maidstone house and then

there's the palm
down the street.

We're in East
Hampton, Stockholm.

I'd like to think of myself
as Tom Ford in reverse.

Films, music, fashion.

I'd like to be a fashion
designer for men.

Building a legacy is
to include my family.

Jenny and I are opposite
ends of the same coin.

We're so different,
we're so the same.

Opposites attract.

- [Jenny] I had the platform.

Together we could do this.

He likes to see us
somehow collaborate,

and he's extremely particular

about how he wants
to do the journey.

- 'Cause I wanted to be a brand.

I wanna be a filmmaker.

I wanna be a brand.

I wanna be a storyteller.

The Maidstone allows me

to have a voice, outside
of the film industry.

We're so dynamic, we love
each other's journeys.

That's what really
holds us together.

And then having a family.

We're here in Central
Park, and my wife and I

have bought these benches.

Today's the unveiling.

It's very emotional.

For me it was very emotional.

Because when I got here Jenny
had put cards on the bench

for all the children,
I didn't see mine.

But it's all on the cards,
and I read all the cards,

and they were very
touching and very poignant,

and that's why I
married her, because,

as she said, in my card,
when I finally got to it,

she's an angel, or, you know,

we're together because
we've been together

before in a past life.

And I will say that
she's an angel.

'Cause what I get from her I
never got from my own mother.

Trying to make FATE and
Icon, because they talk about

what I believe is important

to everyone on this
planet, family and love.

I love everything
about creating,

I love everything
about doing business,

I love everything
about marketing,

I live in a fantasy
world because I love

the idea of creating.

I'd like to believe
that life is by design.

You create who
you're going to be,

and if you get lucky, you
get to live that dream.

I went to the cemetery
with my 10 year old.

And there in front of us
was Marilyn Monroe's grave.

She died in 1962.

Above Marilyn's grave,
there's another person,

that was born in 1962.

And that person was me.

And everyone asked, "Why
did you put your name

"on a grave when
you're not dead?"

It's my sense of humor.

Warren Beatty is and
has been my mentor

for a couple of years now.

If it wasn't for Warren,

I wouldn't have the
strength to fight Hollywood.

The truth is, if it
wasn't for Warren Beatty

I wouldn't be a director,

I would just be a
writer and a producer.

Warren sat me down and he said,

"You'll regret it the rest
of your life, Jonathan."

The house that I
bought from Warren,

first of all, he's never
sold anything in his life.

So I felt very honored that
I actually got the house.

He lived there for 22 years.

He had many studio
heads, famous actors,

dignitaries, come through.

It represents an era gone by.

The end of Hollywood,
before it became corporate.

Every day I walk on the property

and every day I think about,

him passing the torch to me.

When he sold me the house
he was getting involved

with me as a filmmaker, because,

that's why he sold me
the house, because,

together we would
talk about movies and

we would talk about really
what meant something,

what didn't mean anything,
what was commercial,

and what was failure.

You make a bad movie
that doesn't mean

you're a bad director.

You make three bad movies,
you're a bad director.

He taught me how
to have a backbone.

- I've done a couple of shorts,

I did a short
called "Mr. Smith",

and another short
called "The table",

that were both in the
London Film Festival.

So that sort of helped me, and
also my reel of commercials

was actually quite good.

And that's really
what helped me here.

Petrified, absolutely petrified.

I mean, you have no idea.

I had friends who came round.

I was staying in a hotel called

"The Regency Apartment Hotel",

and it's not there
anymore, very seedy place.

And I had friends from
London in my office,

came round and were all sort
of exuberant about the film.

And, I remember sort
of looking at them

and hearing them almost
through a sort of film,

through, like a haze, you know?

I just couldn't hear
them, very strange.

Because I was so involved
mentally in the film.

This was a film
about kids at school

growing up in the valley,
so I sat in a school

in the valley at the
back of the classroom,

I sat back there for
quite a long while,

two or three weeks,
watching people

and learning that the
surfers for example

all had combs in the
back of their jeans

and they all had jeans
that were too long.

They trod on the ends.

So you started to learn
about what you were doing,

what I was doing.

- I started at
three, and I'm 53,

so that's 50 years (laughs).

It's a long time
to be on movie sets

and to do the job, and
to see what it takes

to start with a script and
what ends up on screen.

Because there were
no other women,

that I ever saw,
except in Europe,

I just assumed I would
have a hard time directing.

And I thought the
only way to do that

would be to write, so,
that's what I focused on.

I did my first
movie when I was 27.

I don't think the
transition from acting

to directing is difficult.

In fact, I think it's
probably the best position

you can be in to learn what
a director really does.

Certainly more than the writer,

who mostly sits along in
a hotel room by himself

with a computer.

As an actor you really
understand why a scene works

and why it doesn't.

And, how the moment
applies to the whole.

And there really isn't
any other position

on a film that gives
you that point of view.

I picked my first project,
it probably picked me.

I, reading through
scripts as an actor,

I found Little Man
Tate, and I said,

"I might wanna act in this,

"but mostly I'd
like to direct it."

And I said to the producer,
"If I can get this set up,

"for a decent budget,
with me as a director,

"will you say yes
to me directing it?"

He said yes, and I went full.

- All my documentaries
and the awards

didn't mean anything
in Hollywood,

but this dramatic film,
they thought, "Ooh".

You could maybe
work with actors,

which was, they don't
know how hard it is

to get real people to reveal
themselves in a documentary.

In any event, I got an agent,

because of this
short dramatic film.

And, they were gonna get
me a television episode,

and I was gonna
learn that process.

That woulda been, I mean listen,

when you make documentary films,

that was a dream come true.

But then I got a call
from the agent saying,

"Listen, there's these
two young producers,

"who are making a film
in United Artists.

"A cheap film, but a very
interesting subject".

It was about the making
of rock 'n' roll idols

in the late 50's, based
on the life Bob Marcucci

who discovered Frankie
Avalon and Fabian.

And I happened to know a
lot about rock 'n' roll.

I played when I
was in high school,

I taught a history of
rock 'n' roll class

in the alternative university
at USC where I went,

when I was a senior in college.

And when I met these guys,
Hawk Koch Jr and Gene Kirkwood,

they were young like I was,

and they had had
more experience,

they'd worked at
Howard and Penn and AD,

and Gene had been a
producer of Rocky.

They listened to
what I had to say

and they realized that I did
know what I was talking about.

So they hired me to
rewrite the script.

And the idea was, if
you rewrite the script

and can get us a green light,
you can direct the movie.

- My first theatrical
film was the "Bingo Long

Traveling All-stars
and Motor Kings".

And that followed on
a half a dozen or more

of different movies of the week,

that some were
television pilots,

some were just movies,
standalone movies of the week.

So the success of some
of those is what got me

"Bingo Long
Traveling All-stars".

I think that there
are musical numbers

in "Bingo Long Traveling
All-stars" as this team,

this baseball team
is barnstorming
through the countries

and they realize that they
have to put on a show,

it's like a traveling
circus to get people

to come to the ballgames.

And that, strangely enough,
got me Saturday Night Fever.

- I walked into a
meeting at Lionsgate

and they introduced me
to the production company

that had a deal with them.

And they said, collectively,

"We'll do your movies,

:but you have to do
one of ours first".

Took home a stack of
scripts about this big.

And went through them.

Said, "I don't wanna
make these movies.

"I don't wanna do
shoot 'em ups".

They happened to say to
me, "We have this one film

"that's sitting on the
shelf, it's all about women

"and IVF, and mayonnaise".

I said, "That
sounds interesting."

I said, "If I can rewrite
it, I'll do this with you."

I always wanted to make
films with women in 'em,

because I think women actors
are kind of underrated,

when they stand by themself.

This is what, it's got men
in it, though I wrote Icon,

which has got the biggest
character arc about women

and their journey of that time.

I had said to Lionsgate,

"Let's start going
after the women".

And they were like, "No,
you can't go after the women

"without hiring the guy".

I started meeting with different

Hollywood actors around town.

And the first question
I would get, would be,

"Who's the male lead?"

I had to adjust,
and believe that,

the system of
Hollywood was broken,

and that, water only
went one way, down.

So I had to find a way
to create the security

of the film around a male lead.

And we bumped up
against Kevin Costner,

he was very close
to taking the role.

Nick Cage had always
been my number one pick.

And Nick came into
the picture knowing

that we wanted to
help women in billing.

- It's no secret that,
there is a certain lack

of great roles for
females, for ladies.

- My vision was something
he was going to support,

and he signed on.

From there, all the
actors signed on,

it was just a question
of dollars and cents

and making sure, go
back to Warren Beatty,

that 50% of your
movie is your actors

and make sure that they gel.

- All of a sudden I got
the script to a point

where they said, "Okay,
now you're gonna make it."

And, it was a dream come true

but also a very
daunting experience.

Because you make
documentaries, I know the camp,

I knew how to, I know how to
edit, I knew how to shoot,

I knew, sometimes
I'm doing sound.

I know all that process.

But when you go onto a
set and when you've been

making documentaries, you
have to have a certain style

and taste, but the
idea of costumes?

Never worried about that.

Sets, never worried about that.

All of these things I had,

spent, probably six,
seven years of intense

going to feature
films, looking at them

and learning from them, but
now practically applying

the knowledge that you
need on a movie set,

was very interesting.

- I rang up a friend of
mine called Howard Zieff,

who was at that time quite
a successful director.

He'd also done commercials,
but he was doing feature films.

And I said, "If there
was one word of advice,

"what would it be, to
me, before I shoot?"

And he thought for
quite a long while,

and then he said, "Be
on it at the end."

Which is smart, really.

- Preparation is everything.

I mean, a lot of
people get confused

and they start talking
about spontaneity.

Well, spontaneity
is a great idea,

but you better be prepared
because spontaneity

doesn't always work.

- I was told that I had

40 days to prep, and,

20 days to shoot.

Most people have three
months to prep, and,

three months to shoot.

Eventually I wound up shooting
everything in 15 days.

I knew I'd have to work fast.

And I don't know how
fast I had to work

but I knew that in
order to survive

I'd have to be ahead of the
wave, kind of like surfing.

Starting Monday, pre-prep
turns into real prep.

Everybody starts coming aboard.

And, every friend,
and the DP's here,

and everybody starts.

Like a torpedo, this thing
takes off and everything starts.

The announcements, the
press, the criss-cross

of the documentary.

Being in pre-production
was like watching a storm

from a distance,
coming towards me.

First it was this
windstorm, and then it was

a snowstorm, and by
the time we got close

to production, maybe
a couple of days out,

maybe a week out, it
looked like a tsunami'

was on the horizon.

And I would sit every night
after a full day's of work,

and I would look out
into my own mind's eye,

and I'd see the
tsunami of information

and just the amount of
inertia from all the things

that happened in a 12 hour day

that turned into a
14 hour day become

so overwhelming, because,
the crew is basically saying,

"We're here to support
you, it's all on you".

And you very quickly move
on to your own island.

And when you look out,
it has the feeling

of the eye of the tiger.

The middle of the storm.

And then, you're in it.

And now, I'm literally
inside of a wave

that is forcefully erupting
as it's carrying me,

and I have to figure out how
to kind of swim through this.

I heard this from
John Badham, and,

when he said it a light went on,

and he was like,
"Why do it yourself

"when you got all these people

"that really want to do what
it is that they wanna do?"

So what I've done is
I've isolated everybody.

And I've empowered them.

And I said, "Listen, I'm gonna
give you this opportunity

"and you're in control of it."

You finally get what you
want, it's a big moment

and it looks much different.

Transition is
always the hardest.

Transition is the most exciting.

Today a big swell is coming up.

Storm is coming in.

I am a firm believer
that what's on the page

shows up on the screen.

As a writer, I had
to rewrite the script

so that I could
actually direct it.

Nobody wants to do
the script changes.

I don't want the writer
to do the script changes.

I've got a list,
literally a mile long,

changing it from the
Hamptons to Cincinnati,

to the opening scene,
to omitting all these
things from Nick

that are in the scene
so that I can cut down

the pages and really, again,

and it's amazing how
many times a director

has to rewrite a script.

There's the script that
you write to yourself,

there's the script that
you write that people

are actually performing,

and then there's the
script that you actually

are writing to the
locations that you find.

So I wound up, so I
finished the script.

18 hours, four days in a row,

went through line
by line by line,

for the first time in this
process of signing anything,

even stars, nothing
has charged me up

until I know that the
content was right on paper.

Now I have the hospital,
which is amazing.

I have the Reynolds' house.

I have the Morgan house.

Now the gallery gets locked.

The whole thing right
now is are these actors

going to go sideways,
their performance,

can I be able to
deliver the performance

that I can't see?

- You know one in five guys

enjoy mowing their own
lawn, and I'm one of 'em.

- [Jonathan] You do?

- You have a (multiple people
speaking over each other)

- I enjoy it, it relaxes me.

Well listen, let's
all raise a glass,

and toast to the beginning
of another wonderful summer,

and all our friends who
always make it so special,

the tried and true--

- Thanks bro.

- I see you there, and the new.

- Everybody started
laughing, they're like,

"Ha ha Jonathan, you're about
to see what it's really like."

And I looked at them all,
and I stopped, and I said,

"Why do you think I put
myself in the movie?"

And they just shut up, because,

at that point, they
have to respect me

whether I'm gonna
do a bad job or not,

I'm sitting literally right
in between Faye Dunaway

and Nick Cage on, my scenes.

And I said, "I'm
gonna try my hardest,

"but you got me doing
13 pages a day!"

I said, he goes,
"Oh, that's nothing!"

"Like, okay, I get it,

"but that's not what
we're doing here."

He goes, "Oh, we
need Robert De Niro,

"we had him for four days."

And we really only
had him for two days

and he stayed for
an extra two days.

I'm not sure that I
can move that fast.

I'm gonna try.

I mean, you got
me doing so much.

It didn't make a difference
what they threw at me.

I was going to do it the
way that I wanted to do it,

with whatever resources I had,

and I was going to make sure
that I had a fighting chance.

In this business,
if you're emotional,

if you're straightforward,
people will always say yes,

and then they do what they want.

I just have to try
to be as authentic

and as specific as who I am,

and be the only transparent one

and pray that
they're transparent.

Their hands were tied, and
they never met somebody

that was such an
out-of-the-box thinker.

And I gave them an opportunity
to be part of making history.

- [Faye's Father-in-Law] I just
don't wanna be so coarse about
it,

I just wanna say as
as I love and respect

my daughter-in-law, and she's
achieved so much, hasn't she?

Know what I mean?

And Faye just goes
on to say well,

I was just this restaurant cook

and she was saving lives, so,

and that is between you and me.

She's not good
enough for our son.

- [Man] And on top of it she
had a drug problem at one point

and you were like, "Wait,
you're having a baby,

"why did you have a drug
problem, why did you,

"what could you possibly have
wrong with the way you live?"

- The end of the
day conversation.

I'm like, "And by the way, I
just talked to Warren today,

"and I told him that
you're joining the cast,

"and he was so happy for me."

And she stopped, and
she thought for second,

just, "Warren, yes,
I like Warren".

(unsettling music)

What happens in a day
that you straddle the line

between having to deal with
line producers and production.

For some reason,
it's a known fact

that you have to
give up to direct.

But directing is a
beautiful accident.

What I ran into
was line producers,

and the representative
of the studio.

I'm trying to recap
a day that I gave up.

Jonathan, Jonathan,
is this true?

Did you really give up this day?

I said, "Well, I didn't
really give it up,

"I needed a travel day,
and I didn't wanna work

"on the travel day, and
then what we're gonna do

"is split your crew up at
the lake where I wanna go

"and you'll pitch at
me", "No problem."

He took it off the schedule,
never to be seen again.

Sucked in to the
fucking black hole

with production
which I did not know.

We started with 20
production days.

When the film was
over, I had 15.

It was extremely hard for
me to shoot that fast.

But more important, I
had to give up other days

in other to get things
that were important to me.

The lake scene, they wanted
to shoot in the woods,

and I'm like "No,
you can't do that."

I would make these
compromises, and one by one,

as I made a
compromise, the days,

the production days
would disappear.

Nobody cared,
because I was the one

that had to make the
day, I was the one

that had to make the schedule,

and I had no choice
but to work smart

to make lemonade out of lemons.

When you have an entire
crew that has been mandated

to make a movie a certain way,

it becomes quite
apparent really quickly

that all of that onus
is on my shoulders.

They were like, "Hey,
Jonathan, enjoy your movie,

"you know, you're in control."

Because I was a
first-time director,

I was dictated to, and
when I would call Taylor,

and John, Jodie,
Warren, and say,

"Hey, did this happen
to you, is this real?

"Should this be happening?"

Not one of them ever said,
"Jonathan, this is the way

"you eat shit."

They're like,
"You're the director.

"Nobody should be talking
to you like this."

Not only did I eat shit, but,

I think they rubbed my
face in it (laughs).

But I am strong,
and I'm a creator,

and I believe that
I'm artistic, so,

I took what I had,
and I made a movie

with what was given to me.

Being a team player at this
point was to my disadvantage.

But it'll never happen again,

because now I know better.

Always handpick your team.

They report to you,
and if somebody else
picks them for you,

it becomes a them versus me.

There's only one
way to prevent it.

Make sure that
everybody's on your team.

Lesson one, never say
fucking yes to anything.

Having to move hotels,
having to move cities,

having to find our way
after I got started,

and then they would
break me 10 days into it,

and say "You have to change."

They're basically saying
"You're the first-time director

"we can abuse the
shit out of him."

And quite frankly, because
I don't know any difference

or know any better, that's
why they're doing it.

I allowed it to happen because
I said I'd be a team player.

But there was a point where,

I needed to become the leader,

and I needed to let them
know, very hard very clear,

that not only am I the writer,

not only am I the director,
I am also the producer,

which means that I
really am their boss.

If you don't
hand-pick your team,

it becomes a them
versus you on an island.

We have eight days
before we shoot

and four weekend days.

And nobody works on the weekend.

They do work, they just
don't get paid for it.

I've not stopped
since September first.

I was getting beat up
on by the bond company.

I was getting beat up on,

by second guessing
myself at times.

And I'm a loner,
I'm a lone wolf.

I like to create, but
there was an isolation.

The day my daughter was
born, very emotional day.

First time I haven't been
with her in 10 years.

I have a wife and two kids
that live in New York.

My four year old Sienna,
I put into this film

because I thought
she'd be great at it.

I started training her
three months before.

My other child is doing
the music for the film.

It's my way of making
my connection with them.

I'm a single father.

Every two weeks, with
the other child in LA,

and then, I work,
I play, I work.

I had a lot of emotions
running through me,

I called my mother.

I'd not spoken to my
mother in about a year.

We've had some disagreements.

Hey, it's me.

- [Mom] Nice to hear from
you from all this time.

- [Jonathan] Yep, so,
Monday, I start my film.

I think that calling you up
and having you complete this--

- [Mom] Journey.

A lot of hurdles to jump, huh?

Oh, I know, I know,
it's taken a lot.

I love you.

Is this tears of
happiness or release?

Okay, take your time.

Yeah.

- [Jonathan] I'm
trying to speak, Momma.

- [Mom] I'm here.

- [Jonathan] (clears
throat) I got what I wanted.

Nothing comes without a price.

So, just trying to get
my voice back on set.

I've been here for 45 days.

I mean, look, I
took it on myself,

I'm shooting the documentary.

I just got off the phone
with Warren Beatty.

So, that was interesting.

- [Mom] Where are you now?

- [Jonathan] I'm in a
hotel, I'm getting ready

to go to work.

I just was, you know.

- [Mom] Where are
you, Cincinnati?

- [Jonathan] What,
I'm in Cincinnati,

I've been here for 45 days.

- [Mom] Well how's
the filming doing?

- [Jonathan] We haven't
shot the film yet.

- [Mom] Oh oh oh.

- [Jonathan] I have a vision.

I've been very clear
about my vision.

I've had a vision about
the way I want it shot,

and the way the
colors, and the art,

and I've pulled all the
art from the Maidstone.

- [Mom] My god, I just woke up,

I can't believe
I'm talking to you.

- [Jonathan] You
know, I started crying

because I couldn't get it out.

Because I was...

I guess I wanted
somebody to understand

where I was and what I was
doing, it didn't happen.

And she understood.

I mean, you know.

Your mother's your mother,
whether you like it or not.

Your father's your
father, I guess.

I don't have a father
so I don't know,

but I would assume
it's the same thing.

I saw myself as a kid.

I saw myself as a seven year
old, as an eight year old.

My mother would tell you that
I live inside of a movie.

Dreaming, and moving,
and twisting and turning

and following the
aether of this business

and the fate of who
I'm supposed to be.

When I look at this I
think of Wall Street.

I think of Michael Douglas
walking on this beach,

with these waves going
"Money never sleeps, kid."

If I'm fighting an uphill storm,

that will be an
interesting moment.

Little did I know, the
worst was yet to come.

Went into work, the bonding
company still hadn't closed.

Three days away from production,

because there's children,
there's a first-time director.

And so above the line basically,

split to the side, nodded
to the bond company,

and said, "We've
released the project.

"Here's the final script
that you're gonna bond,

"and here's Jonathan,
go and meet him,

"go and decide for yourself

"whether or not you want
to bond the company,

"or bond the film".

And the doctor showed up
to the bonding company,

that lasted for about an hour.

It's not over.

We've just got a letter
from the bond company

that they all wanna have a
legal meeting regarding you,

and the responsibility that
you've basically chewed off.

Everybody is kind of
worried that you have now

taken the position of producer,

taken the position of director,

taken the position of
doing the documentary,

taken the stance of basically,
one-manning this movie.

(ominous music)

We are making a bigger
movie with a bigger breadth

than what we are budgeted for.

We're just outta time.

There's nothing we can
do, what do you wanna do?

Every time I say
I'm doing something,

it's another thing, they
just erased the needle.

It's not like good job,
we're just doing it to you

to make your film.

It always comes across like

I'm just being too
aggressive, and I am.

I'd like to be a better person.

I'm not sure many people could
multi-task as fast as me,

probably more efficient than me.

I don't know whether they're
fighting for the film,

fighting for the bond,
fighting for the budget,

all I know is that,
they're not coming to me,

and realizing my dream.

Even if I was the
top of my food chain,

you still have to
rely on your team.

I was gonna command
a crew of 300 people.

They just wanted to
know that I had a plan.

And on the day that the
bond company showed up,

they were going to deliver
some bad news to me,

and they wanted to do it in
front of the bond company,

and I really didn't know
that they were setting me up.

I was sitting out in front
of one of the locations.

And it was set for Christmas,
as quiet as a mouse.

Snow, dripping, falling.

That was the opening
of the movie.

I didn't know who
the bond company was,

but he was walking up,
and these guys basically

said to me, knowing
that he was walking up,

"Jonathan, we just
wanted to tell you

"you can't shoot Christmas.

"You can't have any fire,
you can't have any snow,

"you have to change the entire
beginning of the movie."

And I, I was like, "Hell no."

I was like, "Go fuck yourself".

And the bond company heard it.

And heard the turmoil between
me and the line producer.

It was like, well, most
people they come in,

they do their first-time
stuff, are controllable.

Most people that are
directors are controllable.

You're not.

We understand that your
child is in the movie,

and we can't have that.

She has an acting coach,
she's coming here,

and you think you're
gonna replace somebody

that I've been working
with for months.

Good luck, I don't
wanna do the movie.

They took all these
different chains

and they tried to chain
me down, in every way

they possibly could.

Financially, emotionally,
contractually.

I don't work well when
people tell me what to do.

There's a cocktail here
that we're afraid of.

You're gonna blow up the set.

I won't compromise my
vision, and they went

"Great, put your money
where your mouth is,

"sign everything away".

I got a call from Lionsgate,

"We're not gonna
bond the movie."

Well, they just feel like you're

not gonna be able to deliver,

you're not gonna be able
to work well together

with the line producer,
the production crew

that's supposed to toe
the line for the bond.

And they didn't believe, the
bond company didn't believe

that the bond company
was given proper budget.

And so the bond company
left, went home.

The lawyers, everybody,
just kind of went away,

the next thing I know, the
line producer calls me up,

says, "I've been told to
shut down the production.

"We're shutting down,
you can leave tomorrow."

I just wanna point out
that that conversation

happened where I got out
in the middle of a freeway.

And they all freaked
out in the car

because I wouldn't
talk in front of them.

If I'm sitting in the
car, and the director

gets out of the car
and does what I did,

I'd think, "Wacko!
Okay, red flag".

Nobody knew that this was
going on in the production,

except for the two producers,
and then eventually,

I told the DP, because
he was in the car,

and I just said, "I can't
just let my behavior

"go unnoticed here.

"You gotta understand
why I got out

"in the middle of the
street", 'cause I did,

I got out in the
middle of the street,

I called an Uber.

It took 17 minutes to
come, and in that time

I had the last
conversation regarding

the bond company and the acting.

If they don't believe in me,

they're betting
against themself.

If they do believe in me, it's
the well that keeps giving.

And then they realized
that they were tied to me.

And tied to me in a big way.

It was a very sombering moment,

knowing that I had
two million dollars.

Of a nine million dollar
budget in this movie,

and I was being dictated to.

I don't get paid any day
unless this is a success,

I've deferred the investment
to the end of production,

I took the deed of my house

and I placed it
against that bond.

I put up, $1,800,000.

I took a giant step backwards
and kind of looked at it,

from the outside looking in.

And signed my (drowned out
by music), my history away.

If I fall behind, I would
agree to be replaced.

I got a call from the studio
saying "Congratulations,

"you're gonna make your movie".

I really wanna make a movie.

It was the moment of clarity.

That you either
put up or shut up.

If you're a success,
we love you.

If you fail, we're
gonna devour you.

I don't think that anybody
ever wants to, fail.

- You have to work from a
position of total paranoia.

If you assume that everybody's
trying to fuck you,

you'll be just about right.

- Everyone wants to get
their first feature film.

Everyone is clamoring.

And it's no different now
than it was back then.

- Producers just want to
bring it on, in on budget.

They don't really care about,
I mean they do up to a point,

but they don't care
about the quality,

the performance, like you do.

- The first day on set
of Little Man Tate was,

probably one of my worst
days of shooting in my life.

It was a major, major rainstorm.

- You realize the enormity
of the responsibility

that's on your shoulders.

Now you either like that
or you don't, I loved it.

I'm one of those hands-on,
I wanna control everything

kind of people, which I
believe directors need to be.

- I had designed the film so
that I wouldn't have to act,

first day as an actor.

And of course, there
I was, first day.

- I had all my biggest scenes
scheduled for day four,

with Nick Cage.

The line producer decided
that it would be easier

to move it to day one.

My biggest scenes of the
entire film were on day one.

Scene two.

Very interesting, that I had
to do all my dramatic work

up front, that I had to
do all my dramatic work

with Nick Cage, and,
for me I was just trying

to make sure that there was
enough room for me to direct

before I started really acting.

And then I showed up
and I saw Nick Cage,

and I was like, "Oh boy.

"He's not phoning this in", so,

it took everything for me to
take the director's hat off,

and put the actor's hat on.

It all happened on the
first day, second scene.

I didn't expect it.

- I am so sorry.

(Nick Cage sobbing)

- I was sitting
there, emotional,

really emotional, just because
I had to fight so hard.

Because everybody I was
calling that were superstars

were telling me, "Nobody
goes through this".

Most people shoot a
movie in two pages.

Most television shows
are four pages a day.

I had to shoot 13
pages in a day.

- I think the longest
schedule that I had had

up to that point, on a
television movie of the week

was 24 days.

So here was a
movie with 38 days,

and, I have the production
manager telling me,

"I know it's supposed
to be 38 days

"but it's really gonna be 52".

And none of the actors
had come together.

I'd spoken to them
all individually,

made it part of my contract
that I would do a table read,

which they didn't wanna pay for.

- Table read,

- what's that?
- You don't know a table read?

- What's that, they bring a
table in, you read the table?

- [Interviewer] No, nothing.

- Nothing.

I haven't had a table read
since I was doing The Shield.

And those actors had to
table read for every episode.

But on these shows it's
just show up and do it.

- [Jonathan] The table read
wasn't for them to read,

it was for me to say to them,

"Look, when you get to the set,

"there will be no working
this out on the set,

"let's work it out now,
you have five hours

"to go through it, tell
me what your concerns are,

"tell me what you need to do,

"tell me what you wanna change",

and what was supposed to
take two or three hours

became six, seven, eight hours.

But it was the best
thing I ever did.

(somber music)

- Collaboration is really
more the order of the day,

than domination.

I mean, we hear about
the dominating directors,

the ones who just, it's
my way or the highway.

In the olden days,
it was John Ford,

Otto Preminger,
or Henry Hathaway,

and nowadays there are others.

Who are dominating

and those are the
ones we hear about.

But, the people who
have a wonderful way

with their actors
and their casts

and know how to work with
people like Sydney Lumet,

Sydney Pollock,
people like that,

or actors like Robert Redford.

Or Eastwood.

These are wonderful
directors who know

how to collaborate and
listen to people around them.

- If you have the opportunity
to take this army of people,

and start to organize
them to fit your vision,

it's both, as I said, daunting,

I wouldn't call it
frightening, but it is like,

oh my god.

And at the same time, if you
are I think built for it,

if your psychology
is built for it,

and I mean directors are more,
directors are a unique breed.

And every writer wants
to be a director,

and god knows writers
are really important.

But not every writer is
a director, very few are.

And the same goes for everybody
else in the film business.

Director has an ability
to make decisions

and to coerce or charm,
let's use those two C-words.

The group that you
are putting together

into delivering your vision.

And when you get your
first feature film,

it's a very very explosive,

in terms of psychology,
explosive moment.

Because you realize,
all of this is going on

and it could be chaos,
what your job is to do

is to get it out of chaos and
bring it down and focus it,

so that you can get your
vision on the screen.

- When you're a director,
you make it your business

to find out everything
about the movie.

I mean, if you're making
a movie called "Das Boot"

about a submarine,
and you don't,

there isn't a situation where
you shouldn't make the movie

'cause you're not a
submarine commander,

you just learn about it.

A director immerses
themself in a project.

- When you are working
for the first time,

and like I said, I
made documentaries,

I won awards for documentaries,
I knew what a crew was.

But a crew that
does a documentary

is a minuscule amount in
terms of the whole pie,

that is involved in
making a feature film.

You have a costume designer,
you have a set designer,

you have the DP who is
the quote photographer,

but he has an army
working for him.

Or her, now.

But gaffers, and grips,
and all those people,

and dolly grips, and
all these people that,

are going to be used
to deliver your vision.

And if, then on the other side
you got the sound department

and the idol maker.

I had to pre-record the music.

It was a musical, it
was an original musical.

And that fit right
into my bailiwick

because I knew a
lot about music.

So, in this instance, you've
gotta organize all that.

And if you don't organize it,

it's gonna be apparent
on the screen.

So I, I couldn't say that I
wasn't a little frightened.

But on the other hand
I was just, my god,

it's like I said, it's
a dream come true.

And so my sense is, I've
always been a worker.

I'm not somebody that
kind of sits back

and lets other people do it.

So what I immediately
did was plunge in

and choose a group
of collaborators,

that I felt would
be helpful to me.

And who had more
experience than I did

in making feature films.

- You know, the really
smart piece of advice

is to make sure
that you sit down,

because by day two
your feet are done.

Your hamstrings
have knots in them,

and you can't walk anymore,

so you really do
have to sit down.

- My day one was this.

It was a scene in a bedroom
with the girls at night.

And they were, it was a scene
in the bedroom, nighttime.

And we went to the
rushes, and I said,

and I'm sitting
there, with the crew,

and I'm saying "Okay,
let's start the rushes."

And somebody said to
me, whispering in my
ear, "They're on."

And I looked again at the screen

and it was coal black,

there was nothing
on the screen at all

other than a blindingly
bright square

which was the window, right?

At night, so you couldn't
do anything with it,

know what I'm saying?

Because the balance was
all wrong, it was black,

there was nothing to see.

So, I think, I think good
advice would be really,

to think that maybe you
won't use the day's shooting

in your movie, the first
day's shooting in your movie.

- There was no air conditioning
and it was one of those

monsoon things, and it
was terrible first day.

I think we might've reshot part
of the first day, actually.

- When a film runs
through the camera,

you can just say it's
a euphemism for dollars

running through the camera.

You're making a feature film,
there's all these people

out there, they're saying,
"He's got my money,

"he's never made a film before.

"He's gonna blow it!"

And so there's huge pressure.

And what you have
to do every day,

is make your day.

You give it a schedule,

you have to shoot a
certain amount of material

in that schedule, but if you
don't, you're falling behind.

And if you fall
behind, the forces

are gonna come down on you,

and it's gonna destroy you.

- People are petrified because

you're a first-time director.

So there's a lot of interest
in maybe replacing you.

So I think that's
the foremost thing.

Don't be behind in
the first two weeks

if you can avoid that,

because they'll
really start panicking

if you're three days
behind in 14, or 10.

Which I by the way usually am.

But, (laughs).

- [Jonathan] I
called Warren Beatty,

and he is the reason
why I am a director.

Warren, how do you merge
production with creative,

direct yourself,

and make sure that the
safety nets are there?

How do you use
your king correctly

so that the actors can bleed,

and how do you get production
out of your face to do this?

He alone, has done everything.

And he's the reason why
I'm doing what I do.

Well you're the director,
you make that call.

And I look at them and I'm like,

"Well you're the professional.

"It's my job to tweak
you, it's my job

"to make sure you
stick into the model

"that I'm presenting to you.

"I hired you all so that you
can bring your expertise."

My mother wasn't bad to me.

She just didn't feed
the child in me.

My grandfather was
very good to me.

He died looking at me in 1980.

In that moment, of
having somebody close
their eyes and die,

I remember that it was final.

(tense music)

The only thing that I
worry about is my stamina.

(sirens wailing distantly)

And I have this thing
called sarcoidosis.

And what it is, it's runaway
inflammation of the lungs,

you can hear it in my
voice if you really listen.

And I have to deal
with that daily.

Guess it's better than
having a heart attack,

it's better than
having cancer, but,

what I have, 54 years old,

is what I think about
when I get tired,

and the only way to
fix it is to sleep.

I showed up the next
day, there were,

two producers from the
production company.

Two people from Lionsgate.

Two people from
the bond company.

The director who was
going to replace me.

But I wasn't supposed
to be on it at the end.

Adrian Lyne said, "Be
on it at the end".

And that's what I
was thinking about.

How am I gonna be
on it at the end?

They line their chairs
up, and they just watched.

And for me it was,

it was very challenging, but
that was the love affair.

That was why I did
it, because I loved

every aspect of it.

And I felt very good
about the first day.

Probably the best that I've
felt of the entire shoot,

'cause it went my way.

I had to do this now
for another four days,

because it was four
days, five days,

of 13 pages a day, and then it
dropped to seven pages a day,

and then at the
end it would drop

to a normal three
to four pages a day.

I just remember watching
Nicky have her breakdown,

the lead character.

And thinking "Wow, that
really looks good."

I really fought for this
hospital, and it looks amazing.

'cause the bigger the better.

I had 15 feet panes of
glass by 20 feet long,

that used to be a classroom
that I made into a,

a baby ward.

- The truth I think with
anybody making a film is that,

everything that you
have, is in the script.

And your job really is to just
sort of coax it out of there.

And to be inspired and
to watch things happen

in front of you and
recognize the good ones

and discard the bad ones.

I can't change an
actor in 20 minutes.

If I cast somebody
and they arrive,

I absolutely can't change
them in 20 minutes,

it's really about trying
to be a good parent

and to coax a good
performance out of people,

whether that's a performance
by the technicians,

it's being a good
communicator, communicating

what you're looking
for and then hoping

other people will add
their voice onto that.

It's not anybody doing
everybody's job for them

or having every answer,
in fact just the opposite.

It's about asking enough
questions so that people

can keep being inspired
and delivering new options.

- The key to a director, all
the things you talk about,

oh he's got an
eye, he's got this,

you gotta be able to make
decisions, and live with them.

You know, you gotta
be able to say,

"That's what I wanna do,
that's where I wanna go,

"and I don't care, I'm gonna
get to the end of the day".

That's the best
advice you can get.

If you say, "Oh gee,
I can make it better,

"I've gotta sit and
think and talk about it",

there's no time
to think and talk.

You can think, your
thinking process,

instead of, oh, I gotta
take an hour out and think.

An hour, forget it.

Minutes, seconds, think through
it, make a decision, go on.

And that's the process
of making a first film.

- At that moment I
knew I was a director.

Because I looked over at
the person that they got,

and he came up to
me and he said,

"Jonathan, you don't need me.

"I just have to be here,
and then I'm gonna go home.

"You got it all under control."

I did this for another four
days, and they all went home.

One by one, the bond
company went home.

The production
company went home.

The studio went home.

They finally left me to myself.

And I was able to make the
movie, called "Inconceivable".

- On my first movie, I
think that I was just amazed

that I survived the whole thing,

and that I hadn't
imploded or something.

And I think it's sort of
like having your first child,

where you're so exhausted
by the experience,

by the time you
have a second child

you realize that you don't,

you can take a shower.

And if they cry, they're
not gonna die, it's fine,

it's all gonna be fine.

And as time goes on I think
you become more comfortable

with that and you
start realizing

that there's a lot of
energy that you had expended

that was unnecessary.

- And like Madonna, said
when she got to the top,

"Once you're there, what do
you have to say to everybody?"

'Cause that's the real question.

What do you have to say
now that you're there?

Anybody say, (mumbles), Madonna.

Stand closer, okay.

I just want you
closer, (shushes).

Where's Leanne?

Cluster cluster
cluster, okay let's go.

Okay, that's fine perfect.

'cause she has to
follow you in here.

All right, let's go.

Let's go.

Redo that, Gina, please.

- [People] Surprise!

- [Gina Gershon] What is this?

- It's a baby shower,
it's your shower.

- (breathing heavily)
Oh, don't tell me,

this is her idea.

- [Nick Cage] Wanted
you to feel special.

- [Gina Gershon]
Oh was that really,

is that how you want me to

(drowned out by Nick
Cage stammering)

- [Nick Cage] We got a party,
we got a party here, okay?

- [Gina Gershon]
She's tryna kill me.

- She drugged me.
- What?

- [Nick Cage] What, what.

- [Gina] She's Cora's
biological mother,

and Gabriel's
biological mother--

- [Nick Cage] What the
hell are you talking about?

- [Gina] Katie is our donor.

- [Nick Cage] You are an addict!

- You are an addict!
- Listen!

- Look at!

Look at this creature!

- This is her, this is her!
- Okay, all right.

- Please, give it up.
- You have to believe me!

- And she's taking my picture,
- Yeah sure.

- She's taking my picture.
- Calm down!

- You have to believe me!
- Angela shut the fuck up!

- [Nick Cage] All right,
come on, let's go,

let's go, everybody out!

Come on, let's get out!

Let's get out!
(Gina sobbing)

Dammit!

- Just let me get
through to her.

- Okay, out.

I'm sure there's a
lot worse out there,

I'm sure there's
a lot of directors

that are worse than me.

It's good all the way around.

All the way around.

Nobody I'd ever spoken to.

Not Warren Beatty.

Not Jodie Foster, Taylor
Hackford, Adrian Lyne.

Calling each of
them, is this normal?

John Badham, is this normal?

None of them have ever heard

of a first-time director
having to go through

what I went through.

They were so afraid of me
because I'm so controlling

or demanding, aggressive, I
don't know what the word is.

But, they were so afraid,

to allow me to be me.

To protect themself,
the corporate entity,

to protect the corporate
dollar, the bond company,

the studio, the
production company,

that they didn't
give me the tape,

that they started out with.

And the irony of the
whole thing is that,

I brought the film in,

under budget, under the
days that were needed,

under the page-count.

- Nothing is as
good as the rushes,

or as bad as the first cut,

which I think is totally
true, totally true.

And you need to be able
to say, "My god he's shit,

"this guy is a
fucking disaster",

the actor or
actress or whatever.

Brings something up, take
their advice if it's good.

Take their idea if it's good.

And he said, "Maybe if
I'll get some cream cheese

"on my nose, or whatever,
when I'm eating it,

"and she points out to you that
you've got it on your face",

and that made the scene.

- I look at my first film now

and I think the same
way writers look

at their first novels,
or first screenplays,

and I see it as a
really young effort.

That the way that
I saw the world,

which was absolutely
true to me at the time

and felt very authentic
to me at the time,

was really simplistic,
and was appropriate

for somebody who
was in their 20's.

That hadn't had a
lot of experiences.

- If I only knew
then, what I know now,

it would be a better film.

Because when you
start you know zip.

When you finish, you've learned,

you've had the test
of fire, and you know,

and you think back,
"God, if I'd only gone,

"first day I had
all this knowledge".

Not the way it works.

The first film is a
complete learning process.

And for people to
come in and say,

"Man, I knew exactly
what I wanted to do,"

I drew every image
that I was gonna shoot

I didn't know what
I was gonna do.

You go into it and
you're now faced

with that kind of pressure.

- It was the moment that
I became a director.

I don't know anybody that
can do 13 pages in a day.

Do I wanna do 13 pages in
a day, going forward, no.

But I've been schooled.

I really appreciated Nick Cage.

He was the only guy I
had on the cast with me.

- Jonathan is very enthusiastic,

he's extremely excited
about the material,

he cares so much, he's a
very sincere filmmaker.

- [Jonathan] And he's
the only one that got me.

My style, my sophistication.

- [Nick Cage] He really wants
this to fit within his vision,

and he doesn't, he's not
afraid to speak his mind

and stand his ground
and get what he needs,

and that's rare in
modern filmmaking.

- The art that I
brought to the house.

Everything that you
see, I brought with me,

because I couldn't
find it in Ohio.

- He's really trying to
make a movie, not a TV show.

He wants this to be a movie in
a grand tradition of cinema.

He cites the 70s, he talked
about St. Elmo's Fire,

with Joel Schumacher, he
wants it to have style,

and he's very clear about that,

and I think we're gonna
see a lot of Jonathan.

- I'm thankful that
it fell my way.

Can I Excalibur, pulling
the sword from the rock.

- [Interviewer] How many
first-time directors

have you worked with?

- I don't know,
three or four, five?

Maybe 10 (chuckles).

- [Interviewer] Are
there certain hurdles

that you always have to
face when you're dealing

with somebody who's
out for the first time?

- No yeah.

They're interested,
they sometimes get
daunted by the work,

and other times they're
really interested

just in working with you,

because they like
your work so much, or,

you know, most of the jobs
are very interesting though

because they're very innovative

and they're looking
to do something new.

That's true of Jonathan, I
find him very impressive,

I think he's got a lot of
interesting work that he's done,

and that he will be
doing in the future.

- [Jonathan] It's the journey.

It's how you embody the
creative as you take the steps.

- [Interviewer] Anything else

about working with
Jonathan specifically,

strong personalities, is
there bumping heads at all?

- Not really, no.

He's a strong personality.

I mean it's important,
you know, butt heads

with a lot of strong
personalities, and,

I think that it shows
you how good they are.

You know, because they're
convinced of their own views,

and their own beliefs,
and their own desire

to get the movies right.

And I think that's true
of Jonathan as well.

- When you get there,

it's just product.

It doesn't make a difference
what the product is,

I mean this is "Inconceivable"
behind us, rendering.

So how do you
represent your product?

How do you represent yourself?

How do you become
what you want to be?

- [Interviewer] Had some great
actors that were with you

on set today.

When you're in a scene
with someone like Nick Cage

or Gina Gershon, do they
defer to you a little bit?

Do they, take your
advice, your perspective,

or are you guys all peers?

- No, no, they don't.

We are all peers.

That's the point, I don't
think that any of those kinds

of people do feel that.

I think they're interested
in working with somebody,

not just be overly
impressed by everybody.

All these people, I
mean Nick is amazing.

He's so great, and Gina's
got so much guts and energy,

and I love her.

And, it's been a great cast,

I've enjoyed the work very much.

- [Interviewer] Any words
of wisdom for Jonathan?

- Oh Jonathan.

Well, keep going.

Keep on going, he works
out with Warren Beatty,

he's told me, and
Warren would say

"Just keep on doing it" and
I say the same thing to him.

He's talented, no
doubt about it.

He's going to succeed,

and he's gonna do
some wonderful films.

- [Interviewer] Would
you work with him again?

- Absolutely.

- It's just like
falling in love.

You meet somebody, you
fall in love with them,

you create a project,
you fall in love with it.

You take it as far as
it will let you take it,

so you can be truthful
to the journey

and the self-discovery
will teach you so much,

no matter what it is.

You have to become
the leader in order

to get what you need.

The industry will build
a circle around you,

and they will try
to squeeze you,

because they want their
handprints all over your work.

That's been a fight from
Hollywood from day one,

it's why directors are
so kind of, headstrong,

about not wanting
to be in Hollywood,

and not wanting to play
the Hollywood game.

I actually love
the Hollywood game.

- I learned a lot working
for first-time directors,

and I feel like
that's the advice

that I always like to pass on.

First-time directors often,

they really get
stuck in the words,

they get stuck in that
concrete thing that they know.

She must have a chipped tooth!

She doesn't have a chipped
tooth, then that character

just is not the same!

They hang on to one thing
that for some reason

has been this anchor for them.

And in a collaborative process,

very often that one
thing just needs to go.

- You can do all the
prep you possibly can,

and it doesn't prepare
you for walking on the set

the first day, and
the volume of energy.

And you're saying "Oh my god,
I have it all laid out, but,

"is this the right way to go?"

- I think that directing
for the first time

is like having sex
for the first time.

You just don't know
where things are,

and where the parts go,
and how they fit together.

It's very unnerving.

After a while, you
get the hang of it.

Now after you
finish the picture,

you will have a lot of regrets
about I could have done this,

I should've done this, but
you have what you have,

and you try to make
the best of it,

and make it work
as well as you can.

And look forward to the next
film that you're gonna make.

- You don't see,
when you have film,

you don't see dailies until
the end of the second day.

So for two days, I'm kind
of ameliorating my vision,

and going "Well, they've
got all the experience,

"I guess they know what
they're talking about."

At the end of the second
day, you look at dailies

from the first day.

And I looked at
this, and I went,

"Oh, that's not very good,
eugh, I don't like that".

And I realized, if I sit around
and take, all these quote,

all these experienced crew
members' point of view,

and it's wrong, I
can't sit in the lobby

of a movie theater as people
are walking out saying

"Oh, you don't understand,
it's got my name on it

"as director but it's really
these other people's ideas".

You can't do that.

I think the problem is
you can be intimidated

by the experience of your crew.

Yeah, let 'em say what
they're gonna say.

But have your vision,
because you're gonna have

to live on the reputation
that your film does.

And it's gotta be your vision,
better or worse, it's yours.

Take everybody's
opinion, take good ideas,

work it into your own,
but don't be following

someone else's point of view.

- I knew it was gonna come
out to be a good film.

I was confident.

I did my rewrite, I did my prep.

It didn't make a
difference to me.

Movie could've been
shot on automatic,

it would've been
almost the same movie.

Because I am the
type of director

that allows the actor to create,

and bring in what
they need to bring in.

- Sometimes you walk in to a
room with a first-time director

and they're like, say nothing,
they have nothing to say,

they look at their shoes,
you think "Oh my gosh,

"this guy's gonna
make a terrible movie,
who is this guy?"

And then they make this
extraordinary, beautiful film.

- Having the platform
to be creative

and hoping your
ideas are correct.

And when everybody
is second-guessing

because you're the
first-time director

and everybody goes through that.

I know 'cause I've asked.

Everybody gets the
first-time director syndrome,

which is, you don't really
know what you're talking about

because you've never done this.

But I've always had enough
confidence in myself,

no matter what I
do, to know that

when I step into something,

I know what I want.

And magic is what
you get from it.

Everything that you
create is by prep.

There's nothing you can
do except prep a movie.

This is what I got
from Taylor Hackford.

I was very very schooled by
the people that taught me.

I was schooled by the best.

Jodie Foster.

Nicholas Cage, Faye Dunaway.

Taylor Hackford, John
Badham, Adrian Lyne.

- Really appreciate
the information,

and what I'd like to
do is introduce you

to our director.

- Oh, you're the director?

Oh shit, I didn't know that.

Oh fuck, it's great, it's great.

- Yeah--

- Isn't that funny,
isn't that funny,

because I didn't
know, are you still?

- [Jonathan] I
tried to sit there.

- That's so smart.

Now you're clever, that's
a good idea, I like that.

- How you doing?

- [Jonathan] Thank you.

- Oh, my heart goes out to you.

- I wanna thank you so
much for doing this,

and hopefully will help a
lot of first-time filmmakers.

- Listen, the
thrilling thing is,

you don't know when you come
into an interview like this,

is it gonna be on
television or someplace,

and there's a lot
of duffers sitting

in their living rooms that'll
never get behind a camera.

And you hope that it will
reach actual filmmakers,

or inspire people who would
like to become filmmakers.

Little did I know that somebody

who's gonna make
their first film

was actually connected.

- I didn't realize
you were the guy.

Cool!

- We started this as
a project of love,

to kind of coax out all the
directors and their work,

so that I could
actually learn from--

- Oh wow, fun.

- And I thought you
gave amazing advice.

So, I was sitting there going,
"You know, that's really..."

When anyone asks, why
did you put your name

on a grave when you're not dead?

But I look around the cemetery,

and everybody in it is dead

but they all have
a funny statement.

And so mine says, "Life
is by design. Stay tuned".

I'm never gonna change the grave

'cause I get to be immortal.

That's why I put it up there.

- [Man] We are wrapped
for the third day!

At 10:30.

- [Jonathan] Beautiful morning.

It's gonna be a beautiful day.

- [Taylor Hackford] Listen,

you don't start a
first feature film

without having all
of those experiences,

and I envy him, because
you only do it once.

After your first film you know,

you're gonna survive,
or you're not.

And if you survive,
you know more

but you're never gonna
be quite as alive,

and quite as attenuated
to every little thing

that's happening as when
you make your first film.

It's a terribly
exciting experience,

and at the same
time, like I said,

I wish him all the best.

- [Jodie Foster] It was great.

It seems like he's asking
all the right questions.

I've worked with
lots of first-time
directors, in my life.

I did Alan Parker's first movie,

Adrian Lyne's first movie.

They always bring joy
to the process, and,

every experience is different

and how they approach
it is always different,

but it's always really
rewarding to see,

to see them find themselves

in some ways through
that process.

- [Adrian Lyne] He's
got great enthusiasm,

and he reminds me of myself
a bit when I was starting.

So I cannot believe
that he won't do well.

- [Jonathan] I'm proud
of "Inconceivable".

More, because of "Inconceivable"
I get to do Icon.

A film that I have been trying
to get made for 10 years.

The greatest part about
this entire experience

is I get to arrive.

(unsettling music)