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[Music]

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Apollo 13 was u a project that it was it

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was easy to fall in love with we all

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became very passionate uh about about it

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one of the real

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champions uh of um of this of of of the

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the ver similitude the honesty the

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speaking the truth in the story was Tom

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Hanks who loved the space program the

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initial screenplay was very entertaining

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but there were some some some situations

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some scenes where things were um you

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know sort of combined slightly

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exaggerated for drama and um Tom would

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always say why are we doing that is that

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really what happened and I actually

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wrote on the cover of my script finally

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um tell the truth just show it because I

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began to trust that and it was really

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the first time that I developed that

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that that trust in in in the in the in

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the ideas uh um and it was the first

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first time I worked on a story it was

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based on real events but again one of

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the great triangles was in fact Dave

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Scott who was a an Apollo veteran uh an

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ex- Commander um and uh who was our

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technical adviser Tom Hanks and myself

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sitting simply sitting with transcripts

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and you know and Tom wanted to

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understand as a as a as a commander you

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know what these various procedures might

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mean and we wound up getting so much

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suspense and gaining so much drama

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simply by going through a process that

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began as a sort of a technical

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understanding of a

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procedure and wound up turning into um

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you know a character moment a moment of

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decision a moment of sus expense that I

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was able to identify and do something

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with that would inform the camera work

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would inform the editing um but it would

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come out of these These Quiet

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three-way you know conversations that

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were more informational and creative and

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yet I think every conversation you have

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on you know around the problem solving

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uh of a movie or television show is

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ultimately a creative conversation

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[Music]

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it was an important moment where I I

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really um availed myself of um some some

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relationships that I was lucky enough to

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have as a director um and I was timid

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about it at first but I was I was going

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into a beautiful mind it was the most

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serious movie uh that I'd made at that

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point in my career and um um and I and I

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I i' done a lot of rehearsing and

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preparing of movies I love to Stage I

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love to rehearse ahead of time but there

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generally were lighter movies um or you

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know or a little more action oriented

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and it wasn't so much about mining these

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deep uh

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psychological uh Mine Fields you know

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and these troubles uh and setting the

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stage for uh triumphs that

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were you know supposed to be Monumental

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for the character and for the audience

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but in fact we're small small

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things and um we were about to begin

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rehearsals and I I decided that I would

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I would call on some people I really

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admired who I knew just enough to be

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able to to to send a call out um kind of

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a kind of a SOS of sorts and it was U

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Martin scorsi Mike Nichols uh and Sydney

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lamt and they're three directors who

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whose dramatic work I admired um you

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

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well enough to call and they had three

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very different ideas for me in terms of

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going into this rehearsal period um you

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know I said how do you approach it Mike

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Nicholls said I try to in addition to

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working out the problems of the script

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and you know and sort of testing the

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material I try to build a bridge between

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the the actor and the character and I

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want to talk about about it enough so

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that I understand what that bridge is

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like so that at 3:00 in the morning on

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some bitter cold night if I feel like

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they're missing a moment I might be able

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to remind them of the conversation we

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had in rehearsal or push a button in

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some way that reconnects them and

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bridges them to that character so that

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what they give is organic you know Mike

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was was a tremendous um you know uh

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stage and theater director as well as as

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film and television I thought that was

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really insightful I'd never heard uh

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anyone describe it that

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way um he said I sometimes I don't care

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if we never get around to actually

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reading this script you know I I I just

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want to build that bridge Sydney the mat

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was um much more about preparation he of

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course wanted to explore it uh he wanted

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to hear what the actors thought there

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was a lot of trust there um and c l mat

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also wanted to make sure that it was

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technically prepared

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that it that that it was um meticulously

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marked out that camera positions were

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selected so that when the actor came in

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not only could the production work very

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very

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efficiently the actors would be

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liberated of that concern of that

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pressure because the the production was

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moving um you know so swiftly um but um

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all they had to think about was the was

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the performance and and he also did very

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few takes which I thought was

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interesting some of these things I chose

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to borrow others you know not so much

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but I thought it was very very

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interesting

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scorsi was um used a lot of

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improvisation he said and a lot of uh of

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of character exploration but he also

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said something that I really related to

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that kind of surprised me which is he

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said he wanted to make sure that there

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were no barriers that there were no

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roadblocks that if a scene troubled an

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actor he wanted to know about it ahead

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of time um and uh so that the big

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problems could be solved in

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pre-production and the shooting could

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just be all about maximizing the ideas

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that they'd more or less all um agreed

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upon and uh you know three sort of

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different headlines but all very much

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adding up to the to the same thing uh

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use this period to um go

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beyond understanding the material and

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preparing professionally to execute it

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and you know really roll up your sleeves

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and expose yourself to it both as a

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professional and as an artist and um you

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know I I I really um that that was a

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that was a remarkable day a singular day

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in in my experience as a as a director

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and I you know I've uh uh always always

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appreciate having that having that

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[Music]

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conversation sometimes it would just be

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easier to say no let's put the camera

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here and you stand over there and say

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the line sometimes you have to do that

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that you know cuz the sun is coming is

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going down but again I always feel that

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in a spirit of a collaborative

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environment that when you do have to

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Simply decide people are far more U

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accepting but sometimes it's

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exhausting uh when you've basically

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opened up the channels of collaboration

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and expression and you're in this role

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as kind of editor and chief of a lot of

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ideas it that that alone will never

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really make the movie work you must

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decide you have to ultimately be the

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last word you have to it's not directing

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by consensus that never I you know that

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never works and I never feel like that's

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what I'm I'm ever advocating or doing

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it's it's trying to you know

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mine the creative uh brain power uh and

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uh um and and and and you know and

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artistic instincts of the people I'm

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working with to just to elevate my set

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of choices and then make those decisions

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but sometimes sometimes it can be very

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difficult and sometimes it can be

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offensive to people um and of course um

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one of the things that I love about

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about this career is it not

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only um generates a kind of a lifetime

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of of uh exploration and understanding

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the world and the way it works because

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you know that's ultimately what

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storytelling is all about is sharing uh

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aspects of The Human Experience in

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particular ways um and and uh to you

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know to try to reach an audience and

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that's thrilling and you learn a lot

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doing it but equally as fascinating

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maybe even more fascinating uh is is the

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array of individuals that you work with

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because nothing draws a more disperate

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group of um you know highly motivated

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very talented um very interesting people

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but from all walks of life all

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sensibilities uh you know all cultures

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and uh and all personalities and there's

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a lot of pressure you put them all in a

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pressure in a pressure cooker it's

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another reason I like to create an

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environment where it's as much fun as it

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can be but it cannot always be fun and I

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cannot always be the one who's making it

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Pleasant in fact often I'm the one

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making it very unpleasant um but I I try

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to apply by you know um a sense of logic

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like we all we all want the same thing a

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great moment a great scene a great movie

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This Is What It Takes right and uh when

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when things get difficult those are the

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kinds of conversations that I'm able to

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have and most of the time um you know

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they they lead to a good result um

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sometimes you know look having been an

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actor I know what people say about the

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director back in the makeup trailer and

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

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those mutterings and and all that head

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shaking uh but uh um but you know I do

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love that

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[Music]

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collaboration when it comes to

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collaboration um around your project I

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would say try to keep the kind of mental

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emotional

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equilibrium so that you can you know

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you're open and you hear everybody but

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ultimately you listen to yourself you

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know really look yourself in the mirror

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but listen to yourself because it these

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projects are not ma are not um

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made by committees yes you want to take

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into account the comments and the ideas

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that are coming at you but you you you

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have to run them through your filter and

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U vitally important to have the the

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strength Str and the confidence uh to do

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that