All language subtitles for MasterClass Ron Howard Teaches Directing - 108 - Collaboration Part 2

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Apollo 13 was u a project that it was it

was easy to fall in love with we all

became very passionate uh about about it

one of the real

champions uh of um of this of of of the

the ver similitude the honesty the

speaking the truth in the story was Tom

Hanks who loved the space program the

initial screenplay was very entertaining

but there were some some some situations

some scenes where things were um you

know sort of combined slightly

exaggerated for drama and um Tom would

always say why are we doing that is that

really what happened and I actually

wrote on the cover of my script finally

um tell the truth just show it because I

began to trust that and it was really

the first time that I developed that

that that trust in in in the in the in

the ideas uh um and it was the first

first time I worked on a story it was

based on real events but again one of

the great triangles was in fact Dave

Scott who was a an Apollo veteran uh an

ex- Commander um and uh who was our

technical adviser Tom Hanks and myself

sitting simply sitting with transcripts

and you know and Tom wanted to

understand as a as a as a commander you

know what these various procedures might

mean and we wound up getting so much

suspense and gaining so much drama

simply by going through a process that

began as a sort of a technical

understanding of a

procedure and wound up turning into um

you know a character moment a moment of

decision a moment of sus expense that I

was able to identify and do something

with that would inform the camera work

would inform the editing um but it would

come out of these These Quiet

three-way you know conversations that

were more informational and creative and

yet I think every conversation you have

on you know around the problem solving

uh of a movie or television show is

ultimately a creative conversation

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it was an important moment where I I

really um availed myself of um some some

relationships that I was lucky enough to

have as a director um and I was timid

about it at first but I was I was going

into a beautiful mind it was the most

serious movie uh that I'd made at that

point in my career and um um and I and I

I i' done a lot of rehearsing and

preparing of movies I love to Stage I

love to rehearse ahead of time but there

generally were lighter movies um or you

know or a little more action oriented

and it wasn't so much about mining these

deep uh

psychological uh Mine Fields you know

and these troubles uh and setting the

stage for uh triumphs that

were you know supposed to be Monumental

for the character and for the audience

but in fact we're small small

things and um we were about to begin

rehearsals and I I decided that I would

I would call on some people I really

admired who I knew just enough to be

able to to to send a call out um kind of

a kind of a SOS of sorts and it was U

Martin scorsi Mike Nichols uh and Sydney

lamt and they're three directors who

whose dramatic work I admired um you

know I'm um uh and and I and I knew them

well enough to call and they had three

very different ideas for me in terms of

going into this rehearsal period um you

know I said how do you approach it Mike

Nicholls said I try to in addition to

working out the problems of the script

and you know and sort of testing the

material I try to build a bridge between

the the actor and the character and I

want to talk about about it enough so

that I understand what that bridge is

like so that at 3:00 in the morning on

some bitter cold night if I feel like

they're missing a moment I might be able

to remind them of the conversation we

had in rehearsal or push a button in

some way that reconnects them and

bridges them to that character so that

what they give is organic you know Mike

was was a tremendous um you know uh

stage and theater director as well as as

film and television I thought that was

really insightful I'd never heard uh

anyone describe it that

way um he said I sometimes I don't care

if we never get around to actually

reading this script you know I I I just

want to build that bridge Sydney the mat

was um much more about preparation he of

course wanted to explore it uh he wanted

to hear what the actors thought there

was a lot of trust there um and c l mat

also wanted to make sure that it was

technically prepared

that it that that it was um meticulously

marked out that camera positions were

selected so that when the actor came in

not only could the production work very

very

efficiently the actors would be

liberated of that concern of that

pressure because the the production was

moving um you know so swiftly um but um

all they had to think about was the was

the performance and and he also did very

few takes which I thought was

interesting some of these things I chose

to borrow others you know not so much

but I thought it was very very

interesting

scorsi was um used a lot of

improvisation he said and a lot of uh of

of character exploration but he also

said something that I really related to

that kind of surprised me which is he

said he wanted to make sure that there

were no barriers that there were no

roadblocks that if a scene troubled an

actor he wanted to know about it ahead

of time um and uh so that the big

problems could be solved in

pre-production and the shooting could

just be all about maximizing the ideas

that they'd more or less all um agreed

upon and uh you know three sort of

different headlines but all very much

adding up to the to the same thing uh

use this period to um go

beyond understanding the material and

preparing professionally to execute it

and you know really roll up your sleeves

and expose yourself to it both as a

professional and as an artist and um you

know I I I really um that that was a

that was a remarkable day a singular day

in in my experience as a as a director

and I you know I've uh uh always always

appreciate having that having that

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conversation sometimes it would just be

easier to say no let's put the camera

here and you stand over there and say

the line sometimes you have to do that

that you know cuz the sun is coming is

going down but again I always feel that

in a spirit of a collaborative

environment that when you do have to

Simply decide people are far more U

accepting but sometimes it's

exhausting uh when you've basically

opened up the channels of collaboration

and expression and you're in this role

as kind of editor and chief of a lot of

ideas it that that alone will never

really make the movie work you must

decide you have to ultimately be the

last word you have to it's not directing

by consensus that never I you know that

never works and I never feel like that's

what I'm I'm ever advocating or doing

it's it's trying to you know

mine the creative uh brain power uh and

uh um and and and and you know and

artistic instincts of the people I'm

working with to just to elevate my set

of choices and then make those decisions

but sometimes sometimes it can be very

difficult and sometimes it can be

offensive to people um and of course um

one of the things that I love about

about this career is it not

only um generates a kind of a lifetime

of of uh exploration and understanding

the world and the way it works because

you know that's ultimately what

storytelling is all about is sharing uh

aspects of The Human Experience in

particular ways um and and uh to you

know to try to reach an audience and

that's thrilling and you learn a lot

doing it but equally as fascinating

maybe even more fascinating uh is is the

array of individuals that you work with

because nothing draws a more disperate

group of um you know highly motivated

very talented um very interesting people

but from all walks of life all

sensibilities uh you know all cultures

and uh and all personalities and there's

a lot of pressure you put them all in a

pressure in a pressure cooker it's

another reason I like to create an

environment where it's as much fun as it

can be but it cannot always be fun and I

cannot always be the one who's making it

Pleasant in fact often I'm the one

making it very unpleasant um but I I try

to apply by you know um a sense of logic

like we all we all want the same thing a

great moment a great scene a great movie

This Is What It Takes right and uh when

when things get difficult those are the

kinds of conversations that I'm able to

have and most of the time um you know

they they lead to a good result um

sometimes you know look having been an

actor I know what people say about the

director back in the makeup trailer and

I'm sure I'm not immune to you know all

those mutterings and and all that head

shaking uh but uh um but you know I do

love that

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collaboration when it comes to

collaboration um around your project I

would say try to keep the kind of mental

emotional

equilibrium so that you can you know

you're open and you hear everybody but

ultimately you listen to yourself you

know really look yourself in the mirror

but listen to yourself because it these

projects are not ma are not um

made by committees yes you want to take

into account the comments and the ideas

that are coming at you but you you you

have to run them through your filter and

U vitally important to have the the

strength Str and the confidence uh to do

that