Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/957795
DGA QUARTERLY 37 PHOTOS: (TOP) MYLES ARONOWITZ; (BOTTOM) GUSMANO CESARETTI/HBO man to do six pages of dialogue all in one shot. It took about three to four hours to rehearse. The way I designed the shots is that first I'd block it with the actors. Then I'd fold in the camera. Then we'd lock with the camera and adjust any of the staging and blocking. So it was a dance that we created. Then I'd fold in the sound. Then I'd fold in the extras, then the props. Then we'd do it all at once. It was a challenge for everybody—but then all of the sudden, you'd have six pages done before lunch. You can't get better than that. Q: How did you find Chris Cuevas, the Steadicam operator you've been working with for the past six years? A: I met Chris Cuevas when I was direct- ing the finale of Luck. He was the C camera operator. I just fell in love with him. He's the Man. He danced my dance. Meaning I would say, "I want the shot to start here, then I want you to go to her face"—what- ever the design of the very long Steadicam shot was—and then I'd say, "Now make it a little better" or "Instead of going right to left, should we go left to right? Should this be a 180 around this person? Or should we go 360? Does the story allow us to move the camera here organically?" I don't like to move the camera just to move the cam- era. I want to do it because it makes me feel something. He's just a unique artist. I brought him on The Leftovers as the A camera operator after I became co-exec producer. He's an integral part of the story- telling for me. You find these great opera- tors along the way. Operating is an art, and I work very much English style. Q: Meaning you prefer speaking directly to the camera operators instead of going through the DP? A: Yes, American style is that the director speaks to the DP and the DP speaks to the operators—and I'll do that too. But I'll also go to the operator and say, "Let's try putting the camera here." Q: You've guest directed many times over your 30-year career. Give an example of how to handle pushback from a crew member. A: On "Gladys" (an episode of The Leftovers), I was doing a shot of Ann Dowd. I said to the DP, "I want to do a medium shot of Ann get- would hit glass, it would bend a little differ- ently. So it has a very filmic quality. It has a lot of grain in it. Q: Do you like to rehearse? A: I don't like to rehearse a lot. I like to go through the scenes with the actors and talk with them about what they're about. Then stop. I don't like to find it in the room. I want to find it on the set. I want to find the magic and I don't want to catch it in a rehearsal hall or my apartment or my house and then never be able to find it again. Opposite: Leder is in command central on Deep Impact (1998), which grossed $350 million worldwide; top, she guides Nicole Kidman and George Clooney on The Peacemaker (1997), DreamWorks' debut release; above, Leder controls the reins on the finale episode of HBO's Luck (2012). ting into the van." He said to me in front of everybody, "Have you seen our show?" I said, "Are you telling me I don't know how to direct?" He said, "Oh, no. I'm not saying that. It's just that we have a style." I said to him, (very politely) "Could you please put the camera on Ann Dowd in the style of your show? Thank you." Then we broke for lunch and the two camera operators were like, "We're horrified. We apologize. We will do any shot you want." Then, of course, the DP apologized for being an asshole. Q: You like to shoot with three cameras. Why? A: Because I don't want to miss a perfor- mance. If we're shooting an incredible per- formance, I want to have it three times. For example, if I'm doing an over-the-shoulder of a person, I can, if the lighting demands allow it, do a close-up and a profile of them at the same time. Often on On the Basis of Sex, I couldn't use the third camera because it was lit so specifically that you didn't want to cut it with something that was not well lit. Q: What did you use for On the Basis of Sex? A: We used mini-Alexas. We shot on digital because it was cheaper. It was a film with an indie budget. We shot it in 34 days. My DP, Michael Grady, though, calibrated and used these old lenses from the '70s. When light