Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/637797
46 CINEMONTAGE / Q1 2016 them and keep them if I can. Usually the feeling remains; it's just that you've become a little more inured to it because it's boiled down to the more mechanical aspects after you've gone through it a few times. You have to try and trick yourself into seeing it for the first time every time you see it. But you also have to trust that you've done the process in such a way that you're retaining as much of those interesting bits as you can. CM: Can you differentiate the sort of footage you get from Kathryn Bigelow, Paul Anderson, Ang Lee and Wes Anderson? DT: With those four directors, I could almost assuredly pick out a shot in dailies from each of them. Kathryn's Zero Dark Thirty was a tremendous amount of footage, shot multi- camera, all of it documentary vérité style. There were fewer planned shots with beginnings, middles and ends of things. It was more a collection of documents of the moment. Wes would probably be on the other end of that spectrum. He is very clear and purposeful in his shot gathering. He probably storyboards more than anybody. Back in the day, Paul used to be more scripted, more pointed in his shot construction and scene storytelling. And I think that he has become more open and artistically freer as he's become more and more comfortable with the art of filmmaking. He knows how he wants it to feel, he knows the ingredients he is going to use, but he's very free to go with the flow, and mix and match. I made one movie with Ang and my feeling is that he's a master storyteller. He once asked me why I hadn't used a certain way of cutting something, and I said, "Well, I didn't want to be too obvious." He said, "Don't be afraid to be obvious. If the story is good, and if what you're trying to do is strong, there's no reason not to be obvious. Just tell the story directly." I got what he was saying, and he was very right about that particular thing. I had outsmarted myself, second-guessing what I was trying to do. But his point has really stuck with me. Directors, actors, writers — all of us in our different disciplines — try to jump through hoops to not do the thing that is expected, but you can also wind up trying to sidestep the fact that maybe there isn't a new idea there. CM: Like many of your projects dating back to your Altman days, Triple 9 is a film with many storylines and characters. Is that something that you enjoy juggling? DT: Yes, I constantly do that. Like almost all films, and some more than others, there was a lot of rearranging and rebalancing. How much of this storyline do we need? Do these beats need to be connected together, or do we intercut them with beats from other threads? How do we achieve a synthesis, a resonance between the stories, and have them flow together in a revealing way that maintains and builds tension? I do respond to those sorts of stories; certainly working with Altman, that was the norm. Also, I come from a family with a lot of people and had lived in some communal living situations when I was a kid, so maybe I have an affinity for having lots of people around. Triple 9. Open Road Films