Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/760821
DGA QUARTERLY 57 Well, in my own experience, it started at UCLA with just simply the mechanics of writing, the mechanics of directing and the mechanics of editing. The more experience a director has technically, if he or she has cut soundtracks, produced sound effects, edited—then, you know what the possibilities are, what the capabilities are, how it's done, and can better direct those technicians and artists with whom you work profes- sionally. You can tell them more specifically to go in a certain direction. I don't really understand a director who doesn't spend time in the edit- ing room, and doesn't understand it, because that's where your film is. I don't think the proper question is really about technique. In- creasingly, I think the most important trait for directors is to love people and to love his or her characters. If it's a 50 or 75 millimeter lens, or if it's done with montage, or mise-en-scène, OK, sure, it makes a difference. But what comes through to the audience is the feeling the director has for the world and for people. In terms of physical location, one of the things that struck me about The Descendants was the way you cap- tured Hawaii, particularly those sub- urbs around Honolulu. How much time did you spend there before you started shooting? About six months. Because I knew that was the job, and I knew I had to get it right. And that's what I'm inter- ested in. I try to have a documentary approach to feature fiction filmmak- ing. And not just the right locations and the right costumes and the right extras, which is huge. [The film] has to have the right rhythms of the loca- tion where it's being made. You eventually managed to be granted final cut on your films. On About Schmidt. How important is that? I don't know who has final cut and who doesn't. I also know that for a stu- dio, for a financier, it's a lot of work to take over a film. Nobody wants to do it. Maybe it was just pretentiousness that made me begin to ask for it. I've said this in other interviews, but final cut to me is an unloaded gun with the safety on, in a locked box. But I want it under my bed. Nobody ever wants to see the gun. And by the way, these final cut things usually come with provisos against going over budget and the running time of the picture. It's not so clean and simple. How has being a member of the Guild benefited your career and helped you make a living out of filmmaking? Other than the obvious benefit of insurance, which is super-fantastic, and union protections, directors work alone. We have our creative collaborators on our specific projects, but we often don't fraternize with other directors. We exist in our own individual fiefdoms. And it is endlessly delightful to me to feel the part of a larger brother- and sisterhood. I very much look forward to DGA events where we rub elbows and compare notes. And when you meet Payne guides Jack Nicholson, opposite, in About Schmidt; at left, the director elicits a breakthrough performance from Shailene Woodley in The Descendants; below, he confers with Bruce Dern and June Squibb on location for Nebraska. CONTINUED ON PAGE 89