00:00This is Tim Wasberg, I'm here in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia for the Red
00:29Sea International Film Festival, now relocated into the historic part of the city, Abbalah.
00:37Could you talk about representing a kind of love story and how you wanted to bring that to bear?
00:44Obviously you were there, so you're watching it too as an actor, but as the producer, could you talk about that?
00:50Yeah, I want to say two things. Wasn't she phenomenal?
00:53Yes.
00:55Like, um, and I, it's not really, um, I think, you know when you're on set.
01:01Like she's holding her, when she's holding his head at one point.
01:03Listen.
01:04Put a bone.
01:06Oh, you were there.
01:08You were great.
01:10I see who's running the set, all right?
01:13No, but, um.
01:13We team up against him.
01:18That's why he's squeezed in the middle.
01:19Yeah, yeah.
01:19No, but, um, no, genuinely, you know, sometimes when you're with a project for a very long time and you're in the ins and outs of everything, um, getting a chance to watch, watch a cut sort of brings you back into the seat of the audience, you know?
01:36And one of the things for me, I feel, um, whenever I would watch, uh, Sanéa, um, and, and Abdu and their, their connection and all that, it was like, oh, so, so magic.
01:48And then I'm like, I delude myself and thinking, let's go, let's keep going.
01:52Because, you know, filmmaking is a very challenging process and it's even more challenging with a film like this, you know?
02:02Like, because, uh, a film like this is hot.
02:05You, if you can't see the vision, um, as we're going, you really get, you get one shot to sell what the finished product is.
02:14And, um, a black and white film with an unknown director to the industry, uh, silent film, um, it was, when I would, when I would, when I would.
02:24Yeah, that's a sell.
02:25You must be crazy.
02:26Listen, when I would pitch this to people, literally, when I would pitch this to people, I would physically see their eyes glaze over because it's like, what?
02:34But, like, but then when they see it.
02:35But see, they've never watched Chaplin.
02:37But then when they see it.
02:37They've never watched these movies.
02:38Right.
02:38No, but then when they see the film, they're like, I see what you did there.
02:44They're like, I see what you did there.
03:14Yeah.
03:15Yeah.
03:16Because my introduction to the film, like, goes way back when actually Gisele started.
03:19That's when I actually met, um, NG and Omar.
03:20Oh, okay.
03:21But, I mean, they were like, when they were seeking money.
03:22I used to work for a company like that.
03:23Like, that can put like some equity in film.
03:24Okay.
03:25But we couldn't.
03:26So, bridge gaps.
03:27Yeah.
03:28Yeah.
03:29But we couldn't put it together.
03:30We had like other things that we are in the pipeline.
03:31So, I had my eyes.
03:32So, I had my eyes on it.
03:33And I kept like seeing.
03:34Okay.
03:35Omar and NG all the time.
03:36Uh, and asking about the film and like, uh, and asking about the film and like, like,
03:39occasion here and there.
03:40I was like, we're going.
03:41We did this.
03:42We did this.
03:43We did this.
03:44We did this.
03:45Like, the film, like, it goes like, to, like, it goes way back when actually Gisele started.
03:47That's when I actually met NG and Omar.
03:48Oh, okay.
03:49But, I mean, they were like, when they were seeking money.
03:50I used to work for a company like, that can put like some equity in film.
03:52Okay.
03:53But we couldn't.
03:54So, bridge gaps.
03:55but we couldn't like put it together we had like other things that we are in the
03:59pipeline so I had my eyes on it and I kept like seeing Omar and Andrew and
04:04asking about the film and like occasion here and there I was like we're going we
04:08did this we did this so I kind of like was sitting on the back seat
04:14seeing the whole journey and the whole thing yeah I didn't even get involved
04:19but then then towards the end when they were like okay we have a film Salah
04:24the editor is also like a very close friend and I joined his journey when he
04:28came to New York so I have seen like a lot of progression during this film on
04:33people's lives and everything that happened seeking money raising money and
04:38everything so I was knowing what's going on so it wasn't like an introduction
04:43from the beginning for this project yeah I'm sorry I have to add that the film
04:47and then I'll get the mic to you just I'm not sorry and it started in our
04:51basement Omar and I and that started as we said I told Omar you work organically
04:57the best when he's he really from nothing he can do so much because he's
05:03very creative he's a visual artist yeah and he's a painter yeah and a film so
05:07there's still that's what I wanted to tell you you see it as frames it's like
05:12painting yeah and it's because he's a visual artist yeah wow like when you're
05:17going into the witch doctor that specific is like a painting or the two
05:21girls in the window the two girls in the window there's no it's like impressionist
05:25yeah absolutely so it started in our basement as sketches and then it took you
05:33know it started growing because he doesn't do anything small he always
05:36begins like this and it goes like that yeah and it got the attract the attention we
05:42got the attention of people like Jérôme Latteur who is the music producer of the
05:48artist we sent him like we got his contact we said you don't like in the
05:52industry we no one knows us right so he's like who are these people and we're
05:57like we proposed the film and he jumped in did you show him any yes we showed him
06:01he saw them and so the film was done no it was it was in like board
06:06bits of it bits of it was done okay and we shared we shared him I found his
06:11contact on IMDB we draft up the email together like Engie you know she said she
06:20is one of the she's my producing partner we argue pretty much every day but it's
06:27but we don't argue out of hate all this out of love but we we we break down we send
06:35the email to him and this was a long shot and he responded he responded that what
06:40I want to say is that people love it's really a love story yeah and but it also
06:45it's a love project I should know a passion
07:05when you have an idea of maybe where you want to go perhaps more than not
07:12but then you want to drop a lot of that because you want to try to have the moments
07:31maybe where you want to go perhaps more than not but then you want to drop a lot
07:38of that because you want to try to have the moments created without that to make
07:45it more spontaneous rather than give them too much of an expectation and too
07:51specific let the actor find a lot of it okay let me think directors too much
07:56talk it the best ones don't the best ones and I think it takes a lifetime
08:03sometimes I'm still working at it when I direct yeah to say less so yeah and and
08:09the more you say the harder it is for an actor because they're thinking about way
08:13too much you want them to just get the gist of something often it's not even
08:21anything other than something that that inspires you to to take off it could be
08:28one word I remember working with Paul Sills for the second city and he would he
08:35would look at me and and he would say Roger I you know what I mean and that said
08:47I mean look just live in in the process it's it's the fact that I now like honor
08:53the process more that it's faces I don't think about all the things that are
08:57going to happen to this timeline yeah at all the time okay it's a it's an idea
09:01that does not help will never help it's just what are you trying to get now oh I'm
09:05trying to get a rough cut of this of this scene to feel X okay that's it focus on
09:11that do the best with it because that will take you to the next one before you even
09:14know it interesting I for a while you know as a new editor and you come up you you think
09:19about things that you realize at some point as Roger was just stuck in it's
09:22really actually interesting here in all these parts because acting and editing as
09:28you might think they're not similar they are very and it's funny that we're yeah
09:33we're we're we're dumping in questions like because I don't feel like oh now
09:36last with cutting and the process of editing is it takes a lifetime too sometimes
09:41like you know if I find very experienced editor you say one thing and I'm like
09:45that is so true and it's like it took them years to get you know and that's
09:49really when when people see certain films and they get a certain feeling or hire an
09:54editor to do a certain job this is really what it is about is the amount of
09:58experiences you went through and the experience they've built they built for
10:00years okay to get to that thing they feel like oh yeah they just have it
10:04yeah they didn't just get it took them a while to get yourself
10:11when we talked we're like okay
10:41let's do put this together I work in a post-production facility in New York
10:46it's called picture shop okay and basically we have amazing talents and
10:51basically we're like okay it's a black and white film okay what are we gonna do
10:55with it because everyone now is like 4k 8k 16k you can shoot you can do
11:00everything but there is a still an art black and white okay but it was shot
11:08digitally it was shot digitally yes yes so there is a there is a lot of
11:12techniques there people think like oh you're gonna grab a black and white film
11:16it's gonna be much easier but you have a lot of constraint you playing with
11:20contrast and grain and like how it's gonna look and also Omar is an artist as
11:26well so and and and you can even try that you can just watch the film and just
11:31pose anytime still for it's a still frame yeah that you can you can actually admire
11:36for hours yeah so it's it's it's a very special film the colors we did who did
11:43this project is Sam Daly okay he did succession he did the Florida project he's
11:50an amazing artist as well who deals a lot with contrast exactly in color even and
11:55also on feature work and episodic so there is a huge discrete level of like
12:01dealing with a lot of elements here
12:25and and the process that you've been talking about as well as I think I have
12:43is really something that involves not knowing rather than knowing okay the
12:48problem with the teaching or academic teaching of of art particularly acting
12:55in in in academia is the talk becomes very important all especially in New
13:01York and even more so and and you talk because you have there are theories there
13:07are there are and and and and it's almost an unacademic thing to be acting
13:13interesting I like I always felt I was much more comfortable teaching in my own
13:18studio than I ever was when I was invited into a university or college to teach
13:23because they're yeah there's a syllabus and they're there then they're right and
13:28their expectations and it's hard it's also college and academics is about
13:33learning how to think yes acting is not learning how to think yeah acting is is
13:38using what's inside you to come out and it's not about an intellectual idea
13:43usually it's not yeah it might be part of it but it's not the main thing yeah it's
13:48your instincts which sometimes surprise you as you're doing them they can't be
13:53expected because things happen that are surprises all the time a good director
13:59has to be open to that Scorsese used to say that De Niro every time he would do
14:07a take it was totally different and he would do five or six of them totally
14:12different because he'd feel differently each time and he would say Scorsese would say
14:16I'd be crazy to get intrude in that he gave me six different options to edit why
14:21would I want to say I want it this way let him find that
14:46you
14:51you
14:53you
14:55you
14:57you
14:59you
15:01you
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