Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/760821
56 DGA QUARTERLY PHOTOS: (LEFT & OPPOSITE TOP) PHOTOFEST; (OPPOSITE BOTTOM) EVERETT the most arrogant or the most condescending of critics. On Election, I was struck by the fact that it is told from four points of view. That was kind of a leap. It came soon after Goodfellas and Casino, both of which had multiple voiceover. I've always liked voiceover in films. A lot of people have issues with voiceover for some reason in the movies. They feel like it's uncinematic or too literary… I feel those people are handicapped. It's ridiculous to make a blan- ket declaration about any single tool of film language. "Don't zoom. Don't have voiceover." And they will point out the ways in which those devices have been used badly instead of the many ways in which they've been used well. And voiceover, of course, we have only to look at Billy Wilder, Stanley Kubrick, Martin Scorsese, lots and lots and lots of films. How do you prepare your actors in the weeks leading up to the shoot? Every film is different, and mostly I've had lower budgets and shot on location, which means that we didn't have the budget to bring in the actors very long in advance and pay that extra hotel and per diem. But it's nice to have at least a week of rehearsal. On Sideways I had two weeks with those two guys [Paul Giamatti and Thomas Haden Church], because they had never met before, and if the au- dience didn't believe their friendship, there would not have been a film. And when I say rehearsal, I'm not like Lumet or Kubrick or Coppola, who really meet formally and rehearse it like a play. At least if you can get to- gether with the actors for three or four hours a day and read through scenes, ideally take them to locations so that they can feel that that's their house... Another important thing for me is to have a read-through of the entire cast. Not that the script is going to change, but it's good for the day players to meet the stars so they're not freaked out on the day of shooting. What about when you work with ac- tors who've also directed? It's fantastic, because they know the director's problems. And they're not precious about what they do, and they offer helpful suggestions. It's wrong to think, "Oh, this actor who has directed is going to try to take over from me or give unwanted advice and try to interfere." That has not been my experience at all. On the contrary, the director ideally wants everybody around him or her to be thinking like a director. Even some actors who've never directed know a lot more than I do about filmmaking. When I direct a film, I'm the least experienced person there. I make a film every three years, but these guys might make three films a year for years. You've referred to the "holy trinity" as the cinematographer, the key grip and the gaffer. Can you elaborate on that? The director never works alone. He or she is only, as I see it, first among equals. Certainly in screenwriting I have a partner [Jim Taylor]. In deciding what the film's going to look like, I have a partner in the production designer. During production, my No. 1 partner is the cinematographer—what's this film going to look like exactly? And what coverage are we getting? Obviously in post I have a very strong partner in my editor, Kevin Tent. In deciding the music, I have a part- ner in Rolfe Kent. In my collaboration with Phedon Papamichael, the cinematogra- pher of my last four features, he brings with him a wonderful gaffer and a wonderful key grip. And they work on many, many other films together. So in my experience, that partnership, when I'm working with Phedon, I also feel my partnership with Rafael Sánchez and Ray Garcia, in terms of the cinematography. Now as far as ownership, I mean, do I operate the camera? No, I'd fuck it up, unless it's a lock-off. We're shooting digital now, but I never cared about keeping up with all the film stocks anyway, since they changed every six months. But lens choice and shot design are abso- lutely my bailiwick, in partnership with the cinematographer. What are some of the other technical things that you think are just must-know for a director if they're going to take themselves seriously? "It's ridiculous to make a blanket declaration about any single tool of film language."