All language subtitles for filmmaker_-_a_diary_by_george_lucas (240p)

Once my mother got in a car and had an
argument, not a serious one with my

father, and she just drove away for
three days. No one knew where she was.

it turned out all she'd done is checked
into a motel and sat with the door

bolted, very frightened, on the bed.

Those were things I never forgot.

And most writers go wrong from the
beginning because they haven't selected

things to themselves that they really
care about.

You're an idiot.

I feel that there should be a buffer
period where the actor and director work

any number of ways, so that they uncover
some things before they've committed it

to film. In a sense, there should be a
little growth period where the actor is

allowed to experiment and feel out what
he's going to do before he commits to

it. Because once he commits to it on
film, it's forever.

The most important thing about acting
that I'm starting to learn is that...

problem you have with actors, probably
90 % of those problems, deal with the

fact that the actor feels very
uncomfortable with the work he's doing

insecure about it. And you can solve
more problems with actors by trying to

to the root of the insecurity and in
some way doing something about it than

telling him off or any of the obvious
panaceas to any of those problems.

I felt that if I'm taking this group of
people across the country for four

months and they don't like making
movies, they're going to be very

And if they're unhappy, it's no good for
them and it's no good for me.

Francis talked to me about the project
and everything.

I could not possibly foresee all the
things that were going to happen.

Could we do a little, a little, is this
so inappropriate that it would be really

cool? Could the next thing be the
bride's mother dancing with the groom?

No. Could that happen? I know.

All right, action.

And now, ladies and gentlemen, we'd like
to have the bride and groom dance their

first dance as Mr. and Mrs.

Goodman.

But it looked pretty bad and a number of
times in there right in the beginning

and I was acting very irresponsibly I
mean I was committing all my personal

money such as it is Into the film with
no guarantee that we were going to make

the film so I stood to lose everything
It's not too much because you know I

figure if you're not willing to risk
some money when you're young Then you're

certainly not going to ever risk
anything in the years that follow

It's very often an actor and a director
could argue about some little moment in

a scene when really what they're arguing
about is more fundamental is that they

disagree on the scene itself or they
disagree on some other bigger thing.

It blows it for you to disappear and
then run around. There is no scene.

It is a naughty problem, but it's
important only to you.

Well, that's like all those movies that
are made in Hollywood, and everybody

says nobody will notice. That's not what
I'm saying. What I'm saying is there is

an objective to a scene, and if a purse
is going to blow the objective of the

scene, then we shouldn't have a purse.

You're only going to stay in some place
for a tentative amount of time. You're

always figuring on leaving shortly
there, right? I think it's very small.

not the problem.

There's no problem to any scene.

There is no problem to any scene.

And in no circumstance is it not like
those movies where that gets me mad.

It does, Shirley, because I sit on my
ass for three days without shooting a

of film.

I ask, I give people a chance to
rehearse and to talk about sequences,

back into Warner Brothers. We've got
enough to film after two days. You know,

everything I've done is to make it not
be like that.

No, it's not me. It's the whole thing.
We're sitting out here just... Okay.

Let's just try this last one.

Right.

He doesn't like the secrets. He doesn't
like, you know, when she's not... You

know, everything is wrong about it. You
know, you couple that with this physical

location of being... You know, I just
get brain -tied.

At least she gets something special, you
know.

This film cannot be good unless she's
good.

You know, on one hand, I don't want to
indulge her because I think it's

destructive to her and her results. And
on the other hand, I don't want to hurt

her when she has to, you know, what
she's going to do. So it's an incredible

dilemma.

I guess I'm too much like her or
something, you know, like I... I find it

difficult to just sort of stay there and
be the anchor, you know, when I see my

world come to me.

But you get so impatient with the
technicalities. I'm trying to simplify

technicalities. I've told you that in
some of the sequences, I'm not even

the sheet coverage, but this is not...
That place. This is a moment that I went

for. Maybe I shouldn't go for this kind
of stuff, but that's the style of the

film. Sitting on a couple of ticklish
things. I've got something over there

going. I've got something over here
going. I don't know which... Now I'm

to start just becoming selfish and just
make everyone please me. I'm trying to

please everyone.

There's nothing I want more than to
please you.

Nothing I want more to make the people
who are working on it feel like they're

working for me. But when do I start
getting pleased?

Well, you know what it amounts to. Had I
known... this or had they told me,

because I called the guild right away
about this problem, or he would have had

to say, look, if you're going to be
working out of the East, get a man out

the East and then you'll be okay. But
they didn't tell me that. So it's almost

as though they knew I'd have to have two
men. And they knew that I was fighting

for... Well, I don't think they handled
it right because basically I'm just a

nuisance. I mean, it's like a stupid
little movie that doesn't amount to

And they're looking at me as someone who
might break a couple of precedents. I'm

not even trying to. All I want to do is
get the film going.

Well, you can imagine Warner Brothers
financing a picture when they haven't

the script and they don't even know who
the hell the people are in it on. They

think it's a ridiculous thing. They only
let me do it because they like the

other picture.

Today, you just don't need as many guys.

And that's the whole point. I'm not ever
saying to exploit people in terms...

Well, the thing is that these guys like
Waldo and a lot of others, a lot of my

friends who are ready to make films, who
are watching very carefully to see...

if their problems can be made within the
establishment, because they'll just

make it without it. They'll just make it
the way Warhol does. And there's no way

any yield or union can stop them. The
point is that some of the most

guys working, the younger guys, don't
even want to be a part of it. And I

that's a serious danger, because what do
you do if suddenly 15 of the best

Americans don't want to be part of the
BGA or the IRA?

There's no legal way that anyone can
make them join.

I yell and rant a lot, but I'm not doing
it personally.

I'm doing it at the ideas involved. I'm
just trying to make the film.

No, I understand that from the point of
view of your responsibilities to the

guild, that's one thing, but my
responsibilities are equally to the

I feel like I'm on the verge of saying,
fellas, all jump in the lake. I'm going

to make the movie now, unless you can
get the police.

to come and stop me from shooting,
because I don't need Warner Bros. I

Warner Bros. can waltz out on the deal,
and I've got the money to make the film,

unless you can get the police, the state
troopers to come and tell me to stop.

There's nothing you can do, because
there's no law against making a movie,

don't need the unions, because I know
the guys who can make the picture just

well, and in some instances better, than
the craftsmen who are unionized. An

inequitable system falls by its own
weight.

You look at history...

It's going to fall by its own weight.

It cannot fail to.

What happened is not only did the
directors of Guild make me take one of

standard assistant directors, who I
might add, nothing against him because

was a lovely guy. He didn't know what we
were doing because he was trained in

another kind of filmmaking.

Bart was the kind of guy who knew how to
do this.

Not only that, when I got to New York...

These son -of -a -guns told me that I
had to take a backup assistant director

because we were out of that
jurisdiction. I almost shot myself.

You know, there were so many problems in
putting things together that when we

finally more or less had done it and
were ready to make the film, I was

I wasn't ready to be creative or get any
ideas.

Now, you set up, you know, on 40th
Street or something like that, 10th

You just whipped into the tunnel, and by
the time they nail you, you're at the

toll booth, and then the shot's over.

It really irritates me.

It seems that, you know, the more you
give, the more they want out of you.

That's true.

It's the same of a crew.

I'm getting old.

Once we left New York City, everybody
had to get a haircut and shave their

beards off, primarily because we had to
get the cooperation of the various

cities and towns that we'd go through in
order to be able to shoot.

When Francis shaved his beard off, it
was unrecognizable.

Going across the country the way we
were, it was vital that everybody stay

contact because nobody knew where we
were going to end up at the end of the

So we had to have some kind of
communication between cars, and it

created a lot more problems than it
solved because everybody was constantly

getting lost and going out of range, and
everybody talked all at once all the

time.

we would hit an area and then to learn
as much as we could about the area in as

quick a period of time as I would
charter a light plane.

And very often the fellow who flew this
plane knew the area. We'd fly around and

say, well, that's the so -and -so such
-and -such. And over there in 1927 was

the great granite rock riots. And we
uncovered lots of interesting things by

using that technique.

Just at the point where I got there,
when I was being offered literally

fortunes, is when I went off to make
this film. So a lot of people thought I

really nuts.

They said to me, take the money while
it's being offered to you, and then you

make your own personal movies.

And there's a lot of sense to that,
except the world is filled with guys who

said, well, I'm going to make the money
and then make the personal films, and

somehow they never get around to doing
it.

The casting philosophy was to use the
people that were at hand. And while we

couldn't find a truck driver that was
readily accessible, I was cast in the

part. So I ran down and I got a crew cut
and I jumped into some old clothes.

And I had a tattoo painted on my arm.
They learned how to drive a truck in a

very short time. And we went out and did
the scene.

131, take five.

That's WCAW World Wide News from
Charleston, West Virginia at 7 o 'clock.

Is he rolling?

Yeah, I'm rolling.

Is the camera rolling?

It's rolling. It's rolling.

It's rolling.

It's rolling.

It's rolling.

It's rolling.

It's rolling.

There was just no one to lay the garbage
on, is what it amounted to. So the

garbage sort of fell on everybody a
little bit all the time.

George, why don't you use an exposure
meter?

One of the more difficult aspects that
they don't teach you about in film

is that if you're making a film on
location, you're usually away from

friends, and it helps if one could bring
one's family.

Fortunately, Francis was able to bring
his family along on the trip across the

country.

I think they enjoyed the adventure of
the trip and everything that was going

What are you doing, Matilda?

I came to see you.

I wish you could stay out a minute.

Well, hi.

Oh, that's very kind of you.

Ellen. Ellen, they've come all the way
from New York.

Well, this is a boy from school, Mom.

Killer? Hey. Bye.

Often, the cameraman and the director do
not see eye to eye on how they want to

shoot something.

They ask you if the shot is good, and
they give you two seconds. You have to

have an answer right now.

And if it's no good, you have to have a
reason for why it's no good.

We're going to get out of here at 4 o
'clock. We're in a hurry, fellas.

Wild track, Chattanooga, parade, May
17th.

May 17th, the rain people.

We heard that they were going to have an
Arms Sports Day parade in Chattanooga,

and we decided to rewrite the scene to
kind of be able to take place there,

which was sort of in the spirit of the
whole production.

I just had a terrible case of the flu
and I was in bed and Ronnie Colby and

had to come in and drag me out of bed
because I didn't want to shoot the

I'm glad we did because I think it
integrates with the film in a very

interesting way.

But I ran to that Greyhound bus terminal
about 40 times and didn't get into the

men's room. In fact, I was there so many
times that I got the idea to end the

scene in the Greyhound bus terminal.

The coach was bound for St. Louis.

I didn't go. Greyhound 5 is not
reporting.

in zone four.

Passengers on this coach walk right
west.

Please reclaim your seats.

Coach not holding in zone four.

Are you publicizing me?

vehicles and we had very few vehicles so
there really wasn't much room for

changing around from car to car and
people sort of formed groups and always

drove in that group.

God knows what went on in the other
cars.

Our car was in the asthma of
psychotherapy.

Well, the incident at the ferry was,
there was this cat running his ferry,

you know, I had to respect that. That
was his thing, and he didn't want us on

his ferry.

And this guy had put me through the
thing of going through the local

and then through the Coast Guard and
then through, I guess, the Attorney

of the state, and finally I had to get
the state police down there, and it was

whole thing of...

I suppose a fundamental lack of
communication.

The biggest job that...

director of photography has is to make a
total unit starting from the beginning

to the end of a picture and have the
look on the screen from the beginning to

the end that he wants it's it's maybe
not so difficult to get one sensational

shot look at that look at that where

are they

is i tried as honestly as i i could to
deal with certain themes certain human

situations and i made a film out of it
nobody would ever made that film when i

make a good film i mean a beautiful film
i guess that's my ambition to make a

truly beautiful human film uh i'll know
it and then i might be very pompous

about it i don't know but i haven't yet
and i know that

This archaic means of swinging a single
microphone around the set in this modern

electronic age still seems to be the
best way of doing a sound job.

The kind of single viewpoint the camera
lens gives you, this one microphone

being used correctly, duplicates that
best.

The fox is working on the rabbit.

Really what I'm involved in when it
comes right down to it, mostly is just

providing something for the camera to
point at.

When I do sets, I'm really doing the
same thing that I used to do in my

backyard, build little towns and model
airplanes.

You know, I'm doing the same thing that
I used to get spanked for staying out

late doing.

A good dolly track is nothing more than
laying a good floor.

When a camera is panning, that has to be
level in all directions so that his

camera doesn't choke during the pan
shot.

I would compare it more or less to
dancing.

It's very well to give your actors marks
and make marks for your dollies, but if

your actor misses his mark, you've got
to miss proportionately to keep the

in focus.

And then there was this thing of a
patch. Well, we put on a patch, which

official state trooper patch of
Nebraska.

And one day we were requesting police
assistance so that we wouldn't tie up

traffic or have any accidents on the
highways.

And down came this police captain.

And he objected to our use of this
patch.

It's a big thing of identity, and I feel
that if a patch, of course, you know,

takes over such strong symbolism, you
know, there's a little bit of trouble

there sometimes.

I hate night shooting. No one ever
sleeps in the day, and you just stay up

night, and you're tired, and you feel
weak, and you don't know what you're

doing, you don't know what you're
saying, and yet it looks real, and so I

want to fake it. I just may not write
any more nights in the night.

and just had gotten hysterical. No one
knew what they were doing, and it was

late, and no one had slept during the
day, and it was near the end of the

picture, and everyone wanted to get out
of Ogallala, and it was just sort of on

the verge of insanity.

You really know how to make pictures
after you've been through a few of these

little films.

You can work 20 years on the thing.

$10 million pictures, but on a small
film, there's no expert to learn from,

it's trial and error, but I believe in
the long run, if you're going to learn

motion pictures, that's the only way
you're going to learn it.

There's more nourishment in a good film
than in a box of Wheaties.

Obviously, the concept of filmmaker, of
a man who's vitally interested in every

phase of filmmaking, is as interested in
photography as he is in music and

editing. And although he may not do all
of these things himself, he works very

closely with the people who do, and he
is capable of doing much of this work.

On any given moment of film, there are
certain truths in that film that are

impregnated in it, and that's a fact.

And it doesn't matter what you thought
you wrote, and it doesn't matter what

thought you planned, all you got is what
really you got.

So it's all really one thing. It's not
writing, directing, and editing. It's

really three phases of filmmaking.

And the writing, to me, and the
editorial are the most pleasant, because

it's just you and the material, so to
speak, and the other thing is you're

constantly the target.

of being shot at i didn't used to think
that because i used to think oh how

wonderful being the big cheese on a film
and doing everything and being the boss

and that's that i i never enjoy making
the film i never have and uh that sort

disillusioned me like i'd be a lot of
fun but i now really enjoy writing a lot

and and now i'm just on the verge of
starting to write another original

screenplay i really i feel good about
that i feel like i'm really looking

forward to it

Did we just get away with this?

You know, we can bring him in.

Bring him in early.

We could.

Did you make the changes?

Yeah, that worked good.

I went back to the zoom in on the note
from the car.

That's what... Yeah,

I'm perfectly willing to...

totally throw out the structure that was
in the script. I wanted to get a little

closer to working like it would have
worked. And we made any number of

mean, the possibilities are infinite.

I saw four great openings, you know,
kind of thing.

A whole beginning section before all of
the stuff.

No, the beginning section is still as
screwed up and amorphous as it was. But

personally this time saw it,

you know.

50 times too long, but I mean, it's very
simple. There's some beautiful moments.

The film, it intrigues me. I thought I
was going to really be depressed and

unhappy about it.

You know, like I was when I saw Big Boy.

I'm less depressed than I was when I saw
Big Boy, but the same thing I feel.

When I saw Big Boy, I felt, well, it
doesn't have any rhythm. It doesn't

it doesn't, there's a lot of scenes, a
lot of things. It doesn't have a thing.

This intrigued me more.

It has some awful stuff in it. I mean,
there's some really awful scenes.

What do you mean, awful?

Just bad stuff.

Bad? Yeah, but there's some terrific
stuff in it. You know, it's going to be

long time until we get this thing done,
as I see it.

But there's really some interesting
things.

Oh, look, it's something I don't know
where it came from.