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[Music]

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directors are meant to to sort of

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dream the you know the movie or the the

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episode or the short film or whatever

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whatever it is and you know visualize

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it um hear

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it and that's all valuable that's a

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that's a that's a level of preparation

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that's

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important and that's also a great sort

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of

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foundation

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but I have discovered that if you try to

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enforce that too rigidly you're you're

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you're

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losing uh all the

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spontaneity uh and and the sort of

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organic creativity that the people

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around you have to

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offer coming to that understanding was

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was the beginning of a rule that I just

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simply call the six of one rule six of

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one half a dozen of another and that is

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I believe that when you're working with

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whether it's a cinematographer an actor

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a writer a composer production designer

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you know any of the the key you know

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creative collaborators on a project that

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your job as the Storyteller as the

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Director as the You're The Keeper of the

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story right uh your taste is ultimately

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what's going to guide the production the

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editing and the

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outcome but if someone comes up with a

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suggestion some talented person that

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you've come to you know respect you

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respect enough to hire them and they

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come to you with a suggestion that that

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they understand on an intuitive level on

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an organic level if that if that choice

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still achieves the objective the super

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objective of the scene or the moment in

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the

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story um then it's much better to let

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that person use their

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choice and it accomplishes two important

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things and my work really improved when

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I began to understand this first it

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invests those talented people in the

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project um in a in a very important way

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um the the other thing is it it develops

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a kind of a trust it's much easier to

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edit people's ideas and say no and not

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have them be frustrated angry and close

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down on you but instead respect you know

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your thinking because they know you're

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more than willing to say yes when

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talented people know that you're more

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than willing to say yes to their

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suggestions they are also more sanguin

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about accepting uh a No in fact they

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like it it's liberating because then

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then they don't have to really edit

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their ideas with a sort of a God forbid

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he he uses it and it doesn't work that's

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gone that's no longer in the mix instead

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they're free to sort of have this

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dialogue going with you um the director

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and they're excited about the fact that

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you can edit that you can you know

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exercise that

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responsibility um that you have to make

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those to make those choices for them

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well you know my my work U improved now

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there are great directors that don't

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operate that way um um you know Charlie

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Chaplain didn't listen to anyone um

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cubrick was not much of a listener uh

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there are others you know who who who

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really you know they they they they they

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they have a vision and they follow it

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that's completely valid it just doesn't

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happen to be the way I work I Revel in

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the excitement of the collaboration I I

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think it provides all of us not just me

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with a kind of um creative safety net

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but more than that um you know it's just

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it just it energizes um a set in in a

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great way sometimes you know you it uh

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you know it threatens your schedule if

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you're not careful which is a reason to

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be really prepared and be very efficient

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so that you're always making room for

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these moments where a good idea that is

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a little bit of a game changer um is uh

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is presented and you have the

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opportunity to either try it as an

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alternate or direct the scene in that

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way in a new way um and um you know it's

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very exciting for everybody and I've had

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a lot of scenes um and uh entire movies

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benefit from that those kinds of

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adjustments one of the keys to

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collaboration I discovered

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is that early on in the process of

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directing the movie or the television

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show um you you have this

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opportunity to engage with your heads of

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Department um writers sure producers

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absolutely um even uh studio and network

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Executives but you you have you have you

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have these these these um hours days

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sometimes where you're you're you're

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you're trying to start to deal with the

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logistics of of the project you're going

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on location Scouts you're looking at

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storyboards you're analyzing production

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schedules you'd think that's all kind of

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uh hard work and and just kind of the

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meat and potatoes of you know of

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launching a project but it's a fantastic

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opportunity to elevate it creatively

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because you're trapped you're problem

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solving and when you're problem solving

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it always raises questions and sure some

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of them are logistic are logistical in

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nature but it always comes back to the

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the creative because every decision

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you're going to make

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informs the the the the the story story

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is is King and there's this sort of the

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overarching understanding of the story

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and then the details underneath it that

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are are going to make it possible for

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you to execute and maximize the

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possibilities of that story well when

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you begin talking about not just the

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location but the themes what what the

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location might mean to the characters

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what does the location and the

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characters say to the audience how does

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that relate to the Thematic values of

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the story where is the potential and

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that helps you begin to Define your

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choices and it also engages you in a

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conversation with people like your

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production designer um like your editor

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like your cinematographer like your

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composer that are going to have a huge

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uh broad impact on the movie and they

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begin to make suggestions what do you

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guys think what would be best and that

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conversation um Can often inspire you as

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the filmmaker to make decisions which

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are um maybe surprise you and and

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continue this process of Discovery and

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that's what fuels the inspiration and it

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keeps the you know the project fresh

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because the choices that you make on the

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dubbing stage the very very end after

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two years of working on a movie when you

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might just be you ought to be exhausted

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and entirely sick of the of the project

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in fact can you know

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re-energize um your sense of inspiration

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and possibility uh for that for that

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project because it says something about

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the characters it communicates to the

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audience in a way that

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reinforces the themes that inspired you

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at the very very beginning to even take

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on the

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[Music]

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project the idea of working in threes is

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something that I learned through a very

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good friend of mine George Lucas who had

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a mentor of his own Aira kurasawa and I

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I was in Japan publicizing Willow a

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movie that I directed for for George

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Lucas um and was invited to this this

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dinner with the great Aira kurasawa and

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one of the things that he began talking

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about was working in teams of three and

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he believed in the power of that

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triangle um for a very simple practical

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reason was that ideas could quickly be

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voted in or out odd numbers work could

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be three could be five seven probably

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gets a little unwieldy but I have found

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over the years that uh three passionate

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focused people uh trying to address a

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problem often come up with you know a

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wider array of options faster the movie

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Parenthood uh was a great example of

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that that was my original idea again

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Brian graser as producer myself

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directing the writers were L Gans and

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babalo Mandel now that you'd think

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that's um you know sort of uh uh um

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undercuts the idea of the tripod

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triangle

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but they're they're very unified in

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their thinking so I think we can count

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them as one voice they're the writer we

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were all

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contributing um experiences of raising

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kids and of being kids and evaluating

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what was funny and that was one of the

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most challenging screenplays ever to

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solve because it seems very very simple

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on the surface but in fact it's kind of

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a matrix of four uh different stories

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and Ensemble um tonally it shifts from

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being very serious to very funny um and

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um and it tries to in a comprehensive

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way sort of explore the whole um process

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of being a parent it it uh we we failed

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with

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drafts uh many times until we finally

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clicked with you know the script that

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was undeniable and a lot of that came

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out of just hours and hours and hours of

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kicking around ideas and discussing the

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the um you know the the strengths and

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weaknesses of the of the idea and the

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new

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possibilities and I I just think that

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that kind

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of um creative problem solving really

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sustains the that sense of inspiration

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because director's job is to maximize

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the the potential of a story to fulfill

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the possibilities that a story offers

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and you know it it it it it

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really really get serious during that

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screenplay process and and especially

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the rewrites uh of that screenplay and

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when

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collaborators begin contributing in that

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way it's it's incredibly

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[Music]

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exciting A Beautiful Mind

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was such an inspired ingenious way to

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look at the tragedy of of mental illness

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and um and and the

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Triumph of the the possibility that

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mental illness could be

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overcome but as I went into it I really

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thought of it you know more as an

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examination of the

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disease and AA goldsman the

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screenwriter presented the

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characters um the imaginary characters

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as real I thought that was very

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interesting but I didn't understand a

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way to

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suggest to the audience that we didn't

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fully understand John Nash played by

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Russell

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Crow and AKA who not only had this

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ingenious notion of these characters

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that were more or less like ghosts his

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his hallucinations we were meant to

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believe in and then have the rug pulled

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out from under us uh as as we

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you know kind of understand that our own

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reality can't be trusted just as John

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Nash can't trust his reality we did

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something

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else something called affa in that

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schizophrenics um um have to have to

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cope with and um uh Kea goldsman both

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parents uh

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psychiatrists uh of course well informed

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on the subject suggested that I look at

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some documentary footage and I began to

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study some of the behaviors of um people

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um you know dealing with schizophrenia

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uh and other mental um

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disorders and I I sat down with

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AKA Russell

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Crow uh and it was myself so there's a

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triangle and we were just looking at

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these at the screen out of that

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conversation came the possibility that

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we could play very fair with the

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audience if we would choose some of

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those AFF effects and minimize them in

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the first act so that we just think that

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he's a lovable quirky

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guy um but Russell got very excited

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about what he could do with him is he

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would he would identify a few that he

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was comfortable with that he knew he

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could work with and then gradually

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exaggerate them and then by the time we

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know that that um his illness is

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full-blown and we're all aware of it

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it's the same affect only now they're

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beginning to look the way you know it

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was looking in that documentary to me I

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had one where he would he would sort of

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like rub his eye and in the beginning he

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just did it kind of cute and later it

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was almost like he was hurting himself

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and that was an idea that was born

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completely out of you know a triangular

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creative conversation that was really

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just what do a effects look like and it

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developed into this this um you know

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foundational idea that I could work with

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as a director and Russell Crow could

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build upon as an actor