And if yes, what are the best ways to be a filmmaker?
The truth is my job hasn’t changed. Even though we’re filming a movie — one of two, like ‘Mad Max: Fury Road’ or ‘The Walk’ or ‘The Big Short’ — I still am a filmmaker. I always have been a filmmaker (I’ve never been a film critic or anything like that). I don’t know of a professional that hasn’t had a job in film.
So it’s just you making films and they just happen?
The truth is, as far as making films, I don’t think there really are any changes. They’re all the same.
There’s always this notion of where did the best films come from, and who’s the best film maker nowadays?
To be honest, it is very tough to answer that because we don’t ask a lot of questions. So we don’t get into the history and the genre of the film.
It also doesn’t matter who is the best film maker because there have been a lot of great ones. For example, in cinema today there is still a huge amount of cinema being made that doesn’t quite look like other films. So you need to look at the films and what they do and say about the genre. It’s a hard question to answer.
When you come up with a story about a family, how do you go about finding out exactly what kind of film that would be?
You just start talking to the filmmakers about that. You just speak to the director and ask them if they’ve made a film about a family or they’ve made about a child or a mother or a father or their family. Just think of these films. Once you understand what kind of people who go into making films, it’s really easy. I tell them to just tell me they want to make movies and why you want to make movies and I’ll tell you why I want to make them.
Your approach to film makes them very happy, not only doing good work for you but also for the fans. You are very approachable and open-minded.
It’s very important for me to keep the dialogue as open as possible. It really is a dialogue that goes around the world. It’s just a shame some movies or projects get canceled or that some films don’t go anywhere because it’s never been a good idea in the beginning. Some of the stuff that makes movies come alive right now
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