00:12I think it's important for a director to know something about acting.
00:16It's good if he or she gets in front of the camera
00:19and fails miserably
00:21and then succeeds a little bit.
00:23I think it's really important to know what it's like to hit the light,
00:26to make sure you're there,
00:28to make sure you're there for the other actor,
00:30to respond,
00:32to get a sense of how you walk across a room
00:35because you can become very self-conscious,
00:37what you do with your hands.
00:40It's always good after a certain period of time
00:44for you to get in front of that camera to play a part
00:46or in somebody else's film, be directed by other people
00:50or any bits and pieces, even if you're playing yourself.
00:54I mean, I'm not saying you should read all of Stanislavski
00:57or play Kowalski or Cordelia,
00:59but it's good to know something about the challenges
01:02and the fears that the actors face
01:04and the techniques they use
01:05and the different approaches they take to what they do.
01:09Because, again, I'm looking for the connection
01:11that sparked between us.
01:14Sometimes it proves to be more difficult on set
01:16with certain actors than you might have realized,
01:18and every once in a while it just doesn't work out
01:19and you're somewhat disappointed.
01:21You might get something else.
01:23And you may not even like that something else,
01:25but it's enough for that moment,
01:26and you realize, okay, in the future,
01:27I have to be careful of this or that.
01:29That may not always work.
01:32So you do work with what you get, ultimately.
01:36And that's a rule, I guess, in filmmaking,
01:39or many things.
01:40But you may want one thing,
01:41but you're going to, through circumstances,
01:44whatever you wind up with other things,
01:46and that also has to do with the actors.
01:47So hopefully you want what you get.
01:51And there's...
01:53The spark of humanity is the key with the actors.
02:02I guess the term director is misleading sometimes
02:05when it comes to actors.
02:06Of course, in one sense, it's on target.
02:08I mean, I could not think about working on stage
02:13or utilizing techniques by directors
02:18who have gone through certain methods.
02:20I wouldn't know.
02:23One thing, I mean, I would think,
02:26in a raw situation,
02:28an actor at least needs the director
02:31to kind of orient him or her,
02:35because, I mean,
02:36you're always going to be shooting out a sequence.
02:37That's one of the problems.
02:38And they're going to look to you
02:40to, you know, tell them where they are in the story
02:42and where they're feeling emotionally.
02:43It's a very difficult thing, I think.
02:45I think if you have the training of a director,
02:49a training of directors worked in theater,
02:51it might be never easy,
02:53but at least you might be more familiar with it.
02:55For me, I always find it rather difficult.
02:57But this is where you work together.
03:01But, on the other hand,
03:02they also need to explore.
03:04And I always tell,
03:05I like to tell the actors, too,
03:07particularly,
03:08try anything, you know.
03:12And if you had the time on set,
03:14which you don't usually,
03:16but if you do,
03:17if you make the time,
03:19have the time to fail
03:20as much as you can
03:21and tell them it's okay.
03:23Just go ahead, try this, try that.
03:25And you need that freedom.
03:27You need to give them that freedom.
03:28Particularly, you can do this in the rehearsal.
03:30There's no mistake.
03:31You just go.
03:32You do it.
03:32And explore the instincts.
03:35And then you try to shape from there in discussion.
03:39If something has gone in a different direction,
03:42I don't want to say gone wrong,
03:44but if something has gone in a different direction
03:46where people don't agree or something,
03:48you find yourself,
03:49you can cover it in such a way.
03:51And you never,
03:52at times,
03:53I must say,
03:53you have to be careful.
03:55You know,
03:55sometimes you think something is dreadfully wrong,
03:58and later when you look at it in the context of a cut,
04:01it might work, you know.
04:03There are things I know don't work immediately,
04:05but you shoot them.
04:07Just shoot them,
04:07because it's a process for the actor to go through that.
04:11And if I say,
04:12no, you can't do that,
04:13I found,
04:14when I did that,
04:15it threw certain kinds of actors off.
04:17Not all,
04:17well, not all,
04:18but certain kinds.
04:19And I found that
04:21it's best to
04:24let that person,
04:25he or she,
04:25work it out.
04:27And if it's a matter of shooting it,
04:29by the time you're discussing,
04:30you could shoot it.
04:32Then you use it or not.
04:39I think in terms of
04:42being able to work with De Niro
04:43in eight movies or so,
04:44and DiCaprio so far in five,
04:46I mean,
04:48again,
04:49it's all based on
04:50a similar experience,
04:52life experience,
04:53and a similar way of looking at life.
04:55Then,
04:57in the case,
04:58well,
04:58in the case of De Niro,
04:59he did actually,
05:01he was actually part of the neighborhood
05:03I was growing up in
05:04at the same time.
05:05So he knows the world,
05:07he knows the,
05:07the,
05:09the codes of that area,
05:10he knows the behavior,
05:11he knows the,
05:12the culture,
05:13you know.
05:13DiCaprio is something else
05:16with 30 years difference,
05:17yet his instincts
05:20are very similar,
05:22and his curiosity
05:24is very similar
05:25to mine.
05:29and the ability
05:30to take chances
05:31and not be afraid
05:32is something that
05:35is remarkable
05:36and feel comfortable.
05:37This all goes
05:37in the way of trust,
05:38trusting each other,
05:39you see.
05:40So when you trust that way,
05:42and we have,
05:43let's say in the case
05:43of Mean Streets
05:44or Taxi Driver,
05:45we have a really solid story
05:47in a way,
05:48if they want to take
05:49a scene a certain place,
05:50I'll go with them there,
05:51you know,
05:52see what it is
05:53to the point where,
05:55you know,
05:55either we do it
05:56or we don't do it
05:57in discussion,
05:59in rehearsal
05:59or in setting up the shot.
06:05Or we do it
06:06and I don't use it.
06:07And that doesn't mean
06:08you do it
06:10and intend not to use it,
06:12but you try it
06:13later in the cutting,
06:13it doesn't quite work.
06:15But there's the,
06:17there's a trust
06:18to open the character
06:24and enrich it
06:25within the context
06:26of the way
06:26the character's written
06:27and who he or she is.
06:29That's the key.
06:31If they start to take it
06:32and go off to suddenly
06:35doing things
06:36that we don't think
06:36the character
06:37really should,
06:37should be doing
06:38or who that character is,
06:40we'd find it.
06:42I think we'd find it.
06:42And I would felt
06:43comfortable with them.
06:44Harvey Kutell too.
06:45Mean Streets,
06:46Taxi Driver,
06:46for example.
06:48Judas,
06:48when he played Judas
06:49in,
06:50in Last Temptation
06:51of Christ,
06:52but I was very lucky.
06:53Barbara Hershey,
06:53Willem Dafoe,
06:54all these people
06:54felt that way,
06:56you see.
06:58And so,
07:00this is something
07:00that develops with time.
07:03I mean,
07:04I was very lucky
07:04with De Niro
07:05because it was
07:05on the first film,
07:06Mean Streets.
07:07We had it.
07:09We had that relationship.
07:11It was,
07:12it was solidified
07:13in Taxi Driver
07:14because we weren't
07:15playing a neighborhood guy,
07:17quote unquote,
07:17or playing something else,
07:19Travis Bickle.
07:21That reflected,
07:22positively or negatively,
07:26emotions,
07:27psychological states
07:28that we understood
07:30or felt,
07:32you know,
07:33that Schrader wrote.
07:35And so,
07:36that's why there was
07:37very little discussion
07:37about who he is.
07:39We didn't have
07:40any discussion on that.
07:41We just did it.
07:49There's aspects, too,
07:50where actors are
07:50completely,
07:52you get in a situation
07:53where somebody's
07:53completely, uh,
07:56incapable of working,
07:58whether it's, uh,
07:59chemicals or
08:01just,
08:01I don't know.
08:04And a case like that,
08:05only once I had to recast,
08:07I think.
08:08I was lucky.
08:10But once or twice,
08:12maybe.
08:13And there was a time
08:13where an actor decided
08:14he did a few scenes,
08:15and 20 years ago this was,
08:1725 years ago,
08:18and then one morning
08:19he was supposed to show up
08:20for the next scene
08:20and left a letter
08:21saying that he decided
08:22not to continue acting
08:25and apologized.
08:27And so he said,
08:28all right.
08:29We cast another fellow
08:30and reshot the scenes,
08:32squeezing it back
08:32into the schedule.
08:34These things happen,
08:36but if it is a picture
08:37where, um,
08:38you need the dialogue
08:39and you need a certain scene
08:40being done
08:41and a person can't do it
08:42or is incapacitated,
08:45it's tricky.
08:46Sometimes you're able
08:47to get them to do
08:48just enough
08:50and cover it
08:51in such a way.
08:52You know,
08:53and that takes a lot of time
08:54and patience.
08:56You know,
08:57and sometimes it's an issue
08:58where you can't reshoot
08:59a lot of things.
09:00You have to utilize
09:01that person
09:03for another two weeks.
09:06And so you just
09:07go through it,
09:08you know.
09:09The only thing
09:09you can think of
09:10in the future,
09:11you try not to,
09:11if the film
09:14calls for it,
09:14you try not to,
09:15meaning,
09:16if the film is of that,
09:17of that,
09:18uh,
09:20style,
09:21where you do need
09:22a person to go
09:22from A to B to C,
09:24maybe,
09:24or A to C,
09:25or A to F,
09:25whatever,
09:26in a scene,
09:27somebody who could
09:27kind of stay on track
09:30no matter what,
09:31what's going on
09:32in their minds
09:32or their bodies
09:33or their chemicals.
09:34Some can't.
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