WEBVTT - Stephen Daldry 0:00:03.000 --> 0:00:07.440 I'm Alec Baldwin. And here's the thing. Stephen Daldry grew 0:00:07.520 --> 0:00:11.240 up in the theater. He began directing plays at age sixteen. 0:00:11.760 --> 0:00:14.920 He went on to run several theaters before spending most 0:00:14.920 --> 0:00:17.919 of the nineteen nineties at the Royal Court in London. 0:00:18.320 --> 0:00:21.040 The New York Times has described the Court as the 0:00:21.120 --> 0:00:25.080 most important theater in Europe. Over ten years ago, a 0:00:25.120 --> 0:00:28.240 friend brought him a film script, which he decided to direct. 0:00:28.640 --> 0:00:32.360 That film, Billy Elliott, earned him a Best Director nomination, 0:00:32.880 --> 0:00:36.159 so did his next two films, The Hours and The Reader. 0:00:36.920 --> 0:00:41.600 His fourth movie, Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, opens on Christmas. 0:00:41.920 --> 0:00:45.200 It's a Christmas movie about nine eleven. It's a story 0:00:45.240 --> 0:00:49.159 about family trying to somehow not get over it and 0:00:49.240 --> 0:00:51.680 nor heal because you can't heal from that, but trying 0:00:51.720 --> 0:00:54.800 to come together again. This movie has all the trappings 0:00:55.120 --> 0:00:59.280 of Hollywood movie making, an infamous producer Scott Rudin, and 0:00:59.480 --> 0:01:02.959 a list stars Tom Hanks and Sandra Bullock, but none 0:01:02.960 --> 0:01:06.039 of this seems to distract Stephen Dawdry. It never feels 0:01:06.040 --> 0:01:08.240 like a big movie. It doesn't know, it never feels 0:01:08.280 --> 0:01:10.480 like it always feels like something you made and something 0:01:10.560 --> 0:01:13.800 you did, you know, homemade, something you did in your workshop. 0:01:13.880 --> 0:01:16.480 And I don't know what you who you make stuff for. 0:01:16.640 --> 0:01:18.760 I always make stuff for myself and my you know, 0:01:19.000 --> 0:01:21.280 you make stuff for your friends, yourself, and see whether 0:01:21.319 --> 0:01:24.640 it makes any sense to you. Your first film was 0:01:24.680 --> 0:01:27.920 Billy Elliott. Correct. Yeah, but that was a that was 0:01:27.959 --> 0:01:30.679 a really weeny one. Yeah, that's what I mean. So 0:01:30.760 --> 0:01:32.679 obviously you see where like that was. That was a 0:01:32.720 --> 0:01:36.360 small film and then you we we we made that 0:01:36.440 --> 0:01:39.480 literally we made it for next to nothing. And so 0:01:39.520 --> 0:01:41.920 what's the difference. How's it changed for your since it 0:01:41.959 --> 0:01:44.720 hasn't had no pressure on this. I mean, you know, 0:01:44.720 --> 0:01:48.720 Warner Brothers were so unbelievably supportive. It was rubbing off 0:01:48.720 --> 0:01:50.480 your robbin off. He runs the studio and I took 0:01:50.480 --> 0:01:52.040 the film to him and I said, you know, this 0:01:52.080 --> 0:01:54.200 is what I made with your money. So I showed 0:01:54.200 --> 0:01:56.400 it to him in Pasadena with a crowd about six 0:01:56.760 --> 0:01:58.120 other people, and at the end of he said, thanks 0:01:58.200 --> 0:02:00.680 very much. I said, what was the genesis of the 0:02:00.720 --> 0:02:02.240 film for you? In terms of it? Did someone come 0:02:02.320 --> 0:02:04.400 to you with a script or you had written Rowden 0:02:04.440 --> 0:02:07.280 had the script written, had brought the book from Jonathan's 0:02:07.280 --> 0:02:09.160 Hafing Fro who written this book called Extreme That and 0:02:09.200 --> 0:02:11.600 Qutty Close, and he had asked Eric Ralph to write 0:02:11.600 --> 0:02:14.639 a couple of drafts, which he had done, written both 0:02:14.720 --> 0:02:16.520 in a day, and ring back and said, yeah, I mean, 0:02:16.600 --> 0:02:19.360 I mean, is there a difference for you in making 0:02:19.440 --> 0:02:22.360 films and producing shows and directing shows in the theater? 0:02:22.480 --> 0:02:25.400 The difference between the two A big difference. One is 0:02:25.560 --> 0:02:28.400 in the theater, everybody's in the same room, so everybody 0:02:28.400 --> 0:02:31.120 can see what the beast is. Everyone you can see 0:02:31.320 --> 0:02:33.120 what it's made. And you start at the beginning, and 0:02:33.160 --> 0:02:35.000 you finish the people you start with, the people you 0:02:35.000 --> 0:02:37.920 finish with, and the movie the people you prep with, 0:02:38.160 --> 0:02:39.680 the people you shoot with, and the people you shoot 0:02:39.720 --> 0:02:41.280 with at the people you finish with. The people think 0:02:41.600 --> 0:02:44.320 it's more like a relay base making a movie. To me, 0:02:44.360 --> 0:02:46.320 it's more like cooking, you know, like there's a guy 0:02:46.360 --> 0:02:48.520 that makes the lettuce out in California, there's a guy 0:02:48.560 --> 0:02:51.040 that grew the tomatoes and Georgia, and none of them 0:02:51.040 --> 0:02:53.000 ever meet each other or know each other, they ship 0:02:53.000 --> 0:02:55.280 at all, and you cut it up into a salad 0:02:55.320 --> 0:02:57.160 and mix it all together. And that's why it's it's 0:02:57.200 --> 0:03:01.119 more lonely because it's so compartmental wise that word yeah, 0:03:01.200 --> 0:03:03.800 and you know when you're actually it's different. You know, 0:03:04.120 --> 0:03:06.760 this movie is different. And it's really interesting because on 0:03:06.800 --> 0:03:09.480 the other movies I've done, the moment of creation, the 0:03:09.480 --> 0:03:12.640 moment that you're actually making something. In the in the past, 0:03:13.080 --> 0:03:16.640 it was only the cameraman could really see what actually 0:03:16.680 --> 0:03:20.280 you're making. The digital revolution means that on set on 0:03:20.320 --> 0:03:22.720 this movie, for example, we had a screen. You're looking 0:03:22.760 --> 0:03:24.520 at what it's going to be seen in the movies 0:03:24.680 --> 0:03:27.000 as you're shooting it, and everyone can see it. It's 0:03:27.040 --> 0:03:30.240 not like everyone's looking around a little videomolitor is digital. 0:03:30.320 --> 0:03:33.680 So was this your first digital film? First digital film? 0:03:33.720 --> 0:03:36.120 And you preferred it? I preferred it, And you don't 0:03:36.160 --> 0:03:39.280 buy into the nothing is richer than film films for 0:03:39.360 --> 0:03:43.160 nostalgia film, the romanism, I felt, I don't you just 0:03:43.240 --> 0:03:45.760 carry and you shoot forever? Literally you don't have to 0:03:45.760 --> 0:03:48.840 say you know action or cart or you just you 0:03:49.040 --> 0:03:51.040 keep rolling. I mean I remember the first day that 0:03:51.080 --> 0:03:53.040 I ever shot anything on film, and you know, suddenly 0:03:53.480 --> 0:03:55.800 around the camera people are saying these extraordinary things to me, 0:03:55.880 --> 0:03:58.680 like you know rolling, you know, all these things. When 0:03:58.800 --> 0:04:01.360 was that billy it? And people are getting They're saying 0:04:01.400 --> 0:04:03.680 all these strange words, you know, and then everyone's looking 0:04:03.680 --> 0:04:05.600 at me and I'm going, what are they doing? What? 0:04:05.960 --> 0:04:08.240 And you go, oh, I'm meant to say action? People 0:04:08.280 --> 0:04:09.680 really say that do thing? I thought it was some 0:04:09.720 --> 0:04:12.040 sort of light joke. And since then, I've never really 0:04:12.040 --> 0:04:13.680 liked saying action, which is why I prefer just to 0:04:13.760 --> 0:04:16.160 keep rehearsing and roll the camera while we're rehearsing, and 0:04:16.200 --> 0:04:18.640 then eventually he's into Some people don't want to say 0:04:18.680 --> 0:04:21.200 the word action. I find a bizarre on myself, and 0:04:21.240 --> 0:04:23.360 when it freaks the actors out, actually do it now 0:04:24.240 --> 0:04:26.839 now it is not very intimate, it's not and it's 0:04:26.920 --> 0:04:31.080 a it's a it's like an assault on the I'm 0:04:31.120 --> 0:04:32.680 in bed with a woman. I like when she says 0:04:32.760 --> 0:04:37.800 action that that vibes Yeah, that gets you going. I 0:04:37.880 --> 0:04:39.760 directed a film once and I couldn't stand it. I 0:04:39.800 --> 0:04:42.640 really didn't care for it. But I wonder. I've always 0:04:42.720 --> 0:04:47.440 wondered if I had the inclination to absorb more about 0:04:47.600 --> 0:04:50.520 lighting and cutting and editing, and has that been a 0:04:50.520 --> 0:04:52.440 big thing for you? There's that journey of learning more 0:04:52.440 --> 0:04:54.600 and about how films are put together. And I love 0:04:54.720 --> 0:04:56.919 editing you do. It's my favorite bit of the pressure. 0:04:56.920 --> 0:05:00.440 It is a film is written three times. You write 0:05:00.440 --> 0:05:02.839 it to start it, then you rewrite it as you 0:05:02.880 --> 0:05:05.640 make it, and then you do the final and proper 0:05:05.720 --> 0:05:07.280 right as you put it all together. And it's like 0:05:07.279 --> 0:05:09.600 a jigsaw puzzle if you like jigsaw puzzles, if you 0:05:09.680 --> 0:05:11.839 love making movies. But it's actually putting the pieces together, 0:05:12.040 --> 0:05:14.480 finding out the rhythms. And I would imagine that the 0:05:14.520 --> 0:05:17.400 experience of editing makes anyone a better filmmaker in terms 0:05:17.440 --> 0:05:19.440 of teaching you what you need to have in the 0:05:19.600 --> 0:05:22.080 can people say to me, you know, what should I 0:05:22.120 --> 0:05:23.880 do to learn how to make a film? Just getting 0:05:23.880 --> 0:05:26.000 by a final club prom and just start shooting stuff 0:05:26.080 --> 0:05:28.040 and then just start editing and you'll learn everything you 0:05:28.080 --> 0:05:29.720 need to know about making a movie from editing it. 0:05:29.920 --> 0:05:32.599 Did you feel that you had learned everything that you 0:05:32.680 --> 0:05:35.600 needed to learn about directing actors from your years in 0:05:35.640 --> 0:05:38.599 the theater in England in terms of directing actress for film, 0:05:38.720 --> 0:05:41.760 was there a difference? It was the same. I think 0:05:41.760 --> 0:05:49.040 it's the same. Well, let it rip. Most of my life, 0:05:49.040 --> 0:05:50.760 you know, all my life has been in the theater, 0:05:50.839 --> 0:05:54.560 you know, and yes, all you need to work out 0:05:54.600 --> 0:05:56.760 with an actor is how to talk to them. And 0:05:56.800 --> 0:05:58.960 actors come with their own method like you. You know, 0:05:59.000 --> 0:06:01.039 you've come with your own method oology of where you've 0:06:01.360 --> 0:06:03.479 picked up and usually actor as a lot of actors, 0:06:03.520 --> 0:06:06.600 particularly American actors, if I may dare to say this, 0:06:06.720 --> 0:06:11.000 let it come from some notion, some they've picked up 0:06:11.040 --> 0:06:13.760 some ideas of what acting might be or what what 0:06:13.880 --> 0:06:17.719 a methodology might be. It's easier in Europe. It's easier 0:06:17.760 --> 0:06:20.120 in England because usually people have got a shared methodology. 0:06:20.120 --> 0:06:21.919 In other words, there's a language that people sort of 0:06:22.000 --> 0:06:24.800 understand that you can actually have a conversation about what 0:06:24.800 --> 0:06:26.760 what literally you're meant to be doing at any one 0:06:26.800 --> 0:06:30.479 particular time. A lot of American actors got lost in 0:06:30.520 --> 0:06:32.960 this idea of the method or some sort of notion 0:06:33.000 --> 0:06:35.880 of character. They keep going on about where my character 0:06:36.000 --> 0:06:38.720 this or and even what are you talking about? Where 0:06:38.760 --> 0:06:41.479 did you get this idea of character from. It's easier 0:06:41.520 --> 0:06:44.200 in Europe because people tend to be more strictly come 0:06:44.240 --> 0:06:48.360 from a training whereby a common training, a common training, 0:06:48.520 --> 0:06:51.240 there's a lot of training going on here, but that 0:06:51.360 --> 0:06:53.440 training is a different kind of training. It's a different 0:06:53.480 --> 0:06:56.000 sort of training. So the difficulty is just finding a 0:06:56.080 --> 0:06:58.560 language to talk to actors so you can be honest. 0:06:59.040 --> 0:07:01.919 You know, one time I was watching a concert and 0:07:01.960 --> 0:07:06.479 I was watching some famous musician like Tom Petty. He 0:07:06.600 --> 0:07:08.400 was performing at a benefit and I turned to a 0:07:08.440 --> 0:07:11.720 friend of mine and I had this chill run up 0:07:11.720 --> 0:07:13.440 my spine and I said, do you see what these 0:07:13.440 --> 0:07:16.280 people are doing. They're all doing the same thing at 0:07:16.320 --> 0:07:18.880 the same time, and they're all of one at the 0:07:18.920 --> 0:07:22.360 same time. It doesn't happen in the theater and enacting 0:07:22.400 --> 0:07:24.480 a lot of times it does in England. No, No, 0:07:24.560 --> 0:07:27.080 it's really hard. It's the only people. Sometimes people are 0:07:27.080 --> 0:07:29.000 doing their own thing. What is the job of the doctor? 0:07:29.000 --> 0:07:31.680 The job of the doctors. You've got one job is 0:07:31.720 --> 0:07:33.760 to make sure everybody's in the same show. And you 0:07:33.760 --> 0:07:37.760 can have fantastic films, fantastic fantastic theater. There in one show, 0:07:37.800 --> 0:07:40.000 he's in another show, she's doing something else. They're all 0:07:40.040 --> 0:07:41.640 being brilliant in their own way, but they're on the 0:07:41.680 --> 0:07:43.960 same space. Getting everybody in the same space. It's the 0:07:44.000 --> 0:07:47.000 hardest thing. But what's your methodology? Do you define your 0:07:47.000 --> 0:07:49.120 acting in a particular way. Well, it depends. I mean 0:07:49.160 --> 0:07:50.840 I try to think of it in terms of a style. 0:07:50.920 --> 0:07:54.240 If I do, especially this television show now for six 0:07:54.360 --> 0:07:57.120 years or two, you hit a kind of a a 0:07:57.240 --> 0:07:59.400 style that's similar to some of the theater I've done, 0:07:59.400 --> 0:08:01.720 like Orton or Hector MacArthur, where there's a kind of 0:08:01.720 --> 0:08:05.080 a farcical rhythm, there's a key you play and don't 0:08:05.080 --> 0:08:07.440 put a lot of unearned policies and they're really paces 0:08:07.480 --> 0:08:09.720 a big part of it. But did you train? Yeah, 0:08:09.720 --> 0:08:12.040 I went to n y U. And as I get older, 0:08:12.040 --> 0:08:15.920 everything is technical. I mean I literally mark my lines 0:08:16.560 --> 0:08:19.040 in the scripts that I do now lack of musical score, 0:08:19.400 --> 0:08:25.360 stop hard, constant, here, move, dip rise, all these things. Emphasis. 0:08:25.400 --> 0:08:28.120 Before that, though, it was all about authenticity. I would 0:08:28.160 --> 0:08:30.080 say that method acting was about like if you said 0:08:30.120 --> 0:08:32.760 to me, which I want you to do this, I'd say, well, 0:08:32.760 --> 0:08:35.440 I've got to go meet a bunch of surgeons. Let's 0:08:35.480 --> 0:08:38.600 go find out how hard surgeons really behave in the 0:08:38.640 --> 0:08:40.200 operating room, because I don't want to do anything as 0:08:40.200 --> 0:08:42.920 an authentic And then of course there's that famous Walter 0:08:42.960 --> 0:08:44.840 MATHO line where they said to Walter math how do 0:08:44.880 --> 0:08:49.640 you want to go observe some surgery. And he said, no, 0:08:49.800 --> 0:08:51.679 I'm a movie actor. No one expects me to know 0:08:51.720 --> 0:08:54.400 anything about surgery. So we're just gonna think it and 0:08:54.480 --> 0:08:57.320 indicate it. You're right about the technicle. I mean in 0:08:57.320 --> 0:08:59.679 England we do tend to be more technical. But a 0:08:59.760 --> 0:09:02.960 matter you know even remember you know I work with 0:09:03.000 --> 0:09:05.560 Mail Streep on a movie, and you know a Mail 0:09:05.640 --> 0:09:09.400 has this extraordinary emotional ability. But she does pause before 0:09:09.440 --> 0:09:12.240 the verb. And I know why you're doing it because 0:09:12.240 --> 0:09:15.000 you think I can't cut away. I can absolutely show 0:09:15.000 --> 0:09:17.280 you I can cut away from you even if you 0:09:17.320 --> 0:09:19.440 pause before the verb. And she knew she was pausing 0:09:19.480 --> 0:09:22.760 before the verb. Well, she she definitely is a maestro. 0:09:23.080 --> 0:09:25.720 She is. She's then her and Nicholson that they know 0:09:25.760 --> 0:09:27.440 every trick there is to force that cut in the 0:09:27.440 --> 0:09:31.400 film or to deny the cut in the film. It 0:09:31.559 --> 0:09:34.640 is thrilling when you go and you have a director 0:09:34.679 --> 0:09:37.800 who can help you. I've had to do what the 0:09:37.840 --> 0:09:40.560 modern actress had to do, which is to come prepared 0:09:40.600 --> 0:09:42.960 to be self directing in case you didn't have anything 0:09:43.000 --> 0:09:47.160 for me. Baganized, because I'd rather come and have you 0:09:47.200 --> 0:09:49.520 say to me. Well, of course it's this, and I 0:09:49.520 --> 0:09:52.000 would don't you realize it's this and you have got 0:09:52.000 --> 0:09:54.520 all font of information, but I would go crazy. But 0:09:54.559 --> 0:09:56.240 I find it really crazy when it is come in 0:09:56.600 --> 0:09:59.439 self prepared because they've done some journey that they get 0:09:59.440 --> 0:10:01.880 and you, well, well this is and again you get 0:10:01.920 --> 0:10:03.560 there showing your photographs of a trip they went on 0:10:03.600 --> 0:10:06.440 without you. Yeah, and then they again this comment my 0:10:06.559 --> 0:10:09.160 character and you're gonna look, it's not your character. Okay, 0:10:09.240 --> 0:10:10.959 it's ours, and we're going to make it up. Now, 0:10:11.000 --> 0:10:13.640 you're interesting. I've never heard that every before, that it's ours, 0:10:13.800 --> 0:10:16.280 it's ours, it's not your character. I'm going to remember 0:10:16.320 --> 0:10:18.600 that it's ours. Well, my character wouldn't do that. Well, 0:10:18.640 --> 0:10:21.000 let's change the character then, because we're going to do that. 0:10:22.000 --> 0:10:23.680 You know what is let's talk about a character they 0:10:23.720 --> 0:10:26.240 would do that. That's right, let's change it. What do 0:10:26.320 --> 0:10:28.040 you miss about running up by side the court which 0:10:28.080 --> 0:10:30.120 everybody just adores the work there and loves the chord? 0:10:30.200 --> 0:10:32.480 You miss it? I miss it, and I suspect I'm 0:10:32.480 --> 0:10:34.560 going to run another theater. I mean, it's too much fun. 0:10:35.200 --> 0:10:37.800 It's about community. It's about having a community of people 0:10:37.840 --> 0:10:39.480 that you're staying with for a period of time, the 0:10:39.520 --> 0:10:42.000 number of years you commit yourself to and trying to 0:10:42.040 --> 0:10:44.080 do something. You know, I don't know why you make work. 0:10:44.080 --> 0:10:45.439 I mean I make work to change the world. I 0:10:45.480 --> 0:10:48.120 think that's any reason to do anything. And getting a 0:10:48.200 --> 0:10:50.600 group of people in to start a conversation with the 0:10:50.600 --> 0:10:52.560 community and with a society you live in is going 0:10:52.640 --> 0:10:54.000 to be the greatest thing you can do. Can you 0:10:54.040 --> 0:10:56.800 do both right now or now? You certainly can't make 0:10:56.800 --> 0:11:00.200 movies in mouth theater and you can't movies are too obsessive. Ye, 0:11:00.840 --> 0:11:02.440 It's it's like it's it's two years of your life. 0:11:02.480 --> 0:11:04.880 Just whatever you do, it's two years too. The Billy 0:11:04.920 --> 0:11:08.080 Elliott is closing on Broadway. Billy, It's closing on Broadway 0:11:08.360 --> 0:11:10.640 generally eight. Well, what was the genesis of the film? 0:11:11.000 --> 0:11:13.160 How did you decide you were going to make the film? 0:11:13.440 --> 0:11:14.920 And then talk a little bit, if you would, about 0:11:14.920 --> 0:11:18.400 how the journey from film to Broadway and this enormously 0:11:18.400 --> 0:11:21.280 successful show on broad It's a very simple tale. An 0:11:21.320 --> 0:11:24.080 old friend of mine, Lee Hall, wrote a script. I 0:11:24.120 --> 0:11:26.880 read his script and said, oh, yeah, that's this is great. 0:11:27.000 --> 0:11:29.320 This is and you've been wanting to direct a film? No, 0:11:29.320 --> 0:11:32.280 no interest in films at all. But I read this 0:11:32.320 --> 0:11:33.959 and I went, this is greatly, this is really good. 0:11:34.000 --> 0:11:35.280 You should do this. Would you want to do it? 0:11:35.320 --> 0:11:36.800 I said, well, I don't know. I'm running a theater, 0:11:36.880 --> 0:11:39.320 you know that. Well, okay, let's have a go. And 0:11:39.360 --> 0:11:41.720 so we made it. Nobody was interested, by the way, 0:11:41.920 --> 0:11:44.880 you know, a kid who wants to be a dancer, please, 0:11:45.520 --> 0:11:48.079 But we took it to Can and the first showing 0:11:48.080 --> 0:11:50.720 in Can, for some unknown reason, Elton John was there 0:11:51.559 --> 0:11:54.120 and the party afterwards out and said, you know this 0:11:54.240 --> 0:11:55.959 is going to be better on stay. I mean, it's 0:11:55.960 --> 0:11:57.360 a great movie, but I want to write the music 0:11:57.400 --> 0:11:59.520 for this on stage and we went it's out on 0:11:59.600 --> 0:12:00.959 John and have been him before, you know, it's like, 0:12:00.960 --> 0:12:04.200 oh my god, you know, no, thanks but now And 0:12:04.200 --> 0:12:07.439 then he kept on going for what say, because we 0:12:07.559 --> 0:12:09.760 just finished the film and you just weren't ready to 0:12:09.760 --> 0:12:12.000 think about it, not even ready for it. He was 0:12:12.080 --> 0:12:15.280 persistent and carried on, and he would literally start writing 0:12:15.360 --> 0:12:18.120 stuff and write songs, and he'd ring me up in 0:12:18.160 --> 0:12:21.440 my kitchen and I put him on speaker phone and 0:12:21.480 --> 0:12:24.000 he said, look how about this one? You know, be 0:12:24.080 --> 0:12:29.280 cooking in my kitchen, and then speaker phone and he 0:12:29.320 --> 0:12:31.480 really didn't fall into a kind of a Lewis Carroll 0:12:31.600 --> 0:12:33.880 hole there. I think the stage show is better than 0:12:33.880 --> 0:12:36.479 the movie. It's found its natural home, Isn't it amazing? 0:12:37.000 --> 0:12:38.719 How that is a big part of this business. How 0:12:38.720 --> 0:12:41.360 you do fall into a hole one day you weren't 0:12:41.360 --> 0:12:43.960 sitting there. I would imagine at the court saying I've 0:12:43.960 --> 0:12:45.960 got to get out of here and make films. You know, 0:12:46.000 --> 0:12:47.800 it doesn't happen to you every day, though, that life 0:12:47.880 --> 0:12:50.120 changes in the second, like things just happen. You know, 0:12:50.160 --> 0:12:52.480 you're sitting on American airlines and something happens. I mean, 0:12:52.520 --> 0:12:56.320 just yes, somedays some flights are different than others. I 0:12:56.320 --> 0:12:59.160 can honestly say there's been some that are more eventful 0:12:59.160 --> 0:13:02.480 than others. One such turning point for you, I think 0:13:02.520 --> 0:13:05.280 from what I could gather from reading, was that you 0:13:05.360 --> 0:13:08.240 were a clown's apprentice. Correct. Yes, I was interested in 0:13:08.280 --> 0:13:13.120 circus when I was finishing university, So I I suppose 0:13:13.160 --> 0:13:15.360 I sought out this guy called Elder Milette. He was 0:13:15.360 --> 0:13:18.120 in a great Italian clown and then I went to 0:13:18.920 --> 0:13:21.640 work with him in Italy. I worked in a year 0:13:22.840 --> 0:13:26.520 I credo or fe. It was a hard circus. I 0:13:26.520 --> 0:13:30.080 mean it wasn't What does that mean? I love that. 0:13:30.240 --> 0:13:32.760 What does it mean A hard circus? A hard circus 0:13:32.840 --> 0:13:36.920 is it's three shows daily, hard schedule, a hard schedule. 0:13:37.120 --> 0:13:38.920 I was in charge of the giraffes as well. I 0:13:38.960 --> 0:13:41.240 had to look after the giraffes, and then we would 0:13:41.240 --> 0:13:43.520 travel by train and then I would take the giraffes 0:13:43.559 --> 0:13:46.920 off the train and put them into their little drive 0:13:47.000 --> 0:13:49.200 the giraffes. So it really is like you see in 0:13:49.240 --> 0:13:52.640 these period movies where it's like like Greatest Show on 0:13:52.679 --> 0:13:55.880 Earth everything, where it's there's everyone's multitasking everyone. You're the 0:13:55.920 --> 0:13:58.760 clown and you're claiming the giraffe pen driving the draft 0:13:58.880 --> 0:14:02.440 through these Pompeii me the draft from Pompeii. And people 0:14:02.480 --> 0:14:04.520 talk about, you know, the animals being mistreated, which I 0:14:05.040 --> 0:14:07.800 you know, people have different opinions about, but the people 0:14:07.880 --> 0:14:11.120 being so mistreated, the people who were they mistreated by management, 0:14:11.520 --> 0:14:17.319 management themselves, the hierarchy of drinking, love of very very 0:14:17.360 --> 0:14:21.400 tough living. It was a hard life. We were basically 0:14:21.440 --> 0:14:23.680 going to be training in Italy for a year and 0:14:23.680 --> 0:14:26.040 then we were going to go off to Moscow State Circus. 0:14:26.240 --> 0:14:28.880 When the call, you know, Okay, we're going off to Moscow. Now, 0:14:28.920 --> 0:14:30.440 I just went, you know what, I've done this for 0:14:30.440 --> 0:14:34.880 a year. I'm off. You're filmmaking experiences. It sounded a 0:14:34.920 --> 0:14:37.160 moment ago when we were talking like they've been relatively 0:14:37.640 --> 0:14:40.640 emotionally secure experiences for you as a filmmaker, and you've 0:14:40.680 --> 0:14:44.160 been very content and happy making films. Filmmaking hasn't been 0:14:44.160 --> 0:14:46.800 another hard circus for you people. I do understand a 0:14:46.800 --> 0:14:49.000 lot of filmmakers have a very hard time making films, 0:14:49.040 --> 0:14:51.960 and I've been blessed. I mean, I've got friends of 0:14:51.960 --> 0:14:53.760 mine who have had experience of sitting in the trailer 0:14:53.760 --> 0:14:56.040 and spending your whole time trying to defend what you're 0:14:56.040 --> 0:14:58.280 doing and fighting and cutting and and I haven't had 0:14:58.280 --> 0:14:59.960 that experience. But a lot of that is because of 0:15:00.000 --> 0:15:03.080 Scott Rotten, who, for me, has always been a huge 0:15:03.160 --> 0:15:06.920 filmmaker support fighting for me in the right way. Where 0:15:06.920 --> 0:15:10.080 were you, I mean this is obviously a nauseating cliche, 0:15:10.200 --> 0:15:12.080 but where were you when nine eleven went down? With 0:15:12.200 --> 0:15:15.600 Scott written on the actual nine eleven. Yeah, Scott and 0:15:15.600 --> 0:15:18.600 I were finishing a movie we made called The Hours, 0:15:18.760 --> 0:15:22.920 finishing in London. We're in the editing room and in London, 0:15:23.080 --> 0:15:25.640 and Scott got the first call, which must have been 0:15:25.640 --> 0:15:31.160 about like nine, just saying the plane just gone into 0:15:31.200 --> 0:15:36.240 the South Tower. And then we went downstairs to the 0:15:36.280 --> 0:15:38.600 common room, the green room as it were, and the 0:15:38.640 --> 0:15:41.280 TV already switched in UK, the TV switched straight away 0:15:41.320 --> 0:15:44.960 to live coveration and we basically sat there all day 0:15:45.240 --> 0:15:48.240 making phone calls as it unfolded. And then Scott and 0:15:48.280 --> 0:15:49.600 I was stuck in London trying to get back to 0:15:49.600 --> 0:15:52.240 New York for five days. And I think that's one 0:15:52.240 --> 0:15:54.560 of the reasons why Scott sent me this book, because 0:15:54.600 --> 0:15:56.480 it was such a powerful experience for the two of 0:15:56.560 --> 0:15:58.800 us to go through that together saying, you know, do 0:15:58.840 --> 0:16:00.920 you want to make a movie about about that time? 0:16:01.360 --> 0:16:05.920 And so for me with Scott to tell not our story, 0:16:06.000 --> 0:16:08.120 but to tell a story about one family on that 0:16:08.200 --> 0:16:10.520 day felt I felt like it was something we were 0:16:10.560 --> 0:16:12.640 both wanted to do. The age of the boy is 0:16:12.680 --> 0:16:14.800 how old in the film eleven and the age of 0:16:14.800 --> 0:16:18.080 the actor who portrayed him. Did you have like a 0:16:18.160 --> 0:16:22.120 huge nationwide talent hunter, worldwide talent hunt? You did? We did? 0:16:22.240 --> 0:16:24.480 You saw how many people for the role? Did you? 0:16:24.760 --> 0:16:27.000 Isn't amazing see people don't realize that they were, like, 0:16:27.560 --> 0:16:29.480 it really is kind of amazing. I think when you 0:16:29.520 --> 0:16:32.440 say to people, you saw three thousand people for the 0:16:32.520 --> 0:16:35.200 role of this child in this film, what was it 0:16:35.240 --> 0:16:37.680 about him that made you choose him? Scott rud And 0:16:37.720 --> 0:16:42.400 the producer had seen him win Kid Jeopardy and he 0:16:42.520 --> 0:16:45.200 remembered there was a kid that one Kid Jeopardy. Actually, 0:16:45.840 --> 0:16:48.320 by this point we were at the eleventh hour, and 0:16:48.320 --> 0:16:50.320 you know, I'm still going I don't think we can 0:16:50.360 --> 0:16:53.120 make thee because you just hadn't felt that I haven't 0:16:53.120 --> 0:16:55.760 really family kid and Warner Brothers again, I said to 0:16:55.760 --> 0:16:57.480 them all the way through, you know, if we can't 0:16:57.520 --> 0:16:59.320 find the kid, you're gonna spend a lot of money 0:16:59.400 --> 0:17:01.920 up front here pre production casting. But if we don't 0:17:01.920 --> 0:17:03.600 find the kid, we should really just call it a day. 0:17:04.080 --> 0:17:06.960 Again Wallners, Yeah, we agree, that's fine, you know, but 0:17:07.040 --> 0:17:09.480 we should go through this process. So and then eleventh 0:17:09.760 --> 0:17:11.560 Scott remember the kid and Kid Jeopardy, and we brought 0:17:11.640 --> 0:17:15.639 him in and Thomas had totally different to the character. 0:17:15.640 --> 0:17:17.639 There's no loss in Thomas's life. Is a very happy 0:17:17.720 --> 0:17:21.800 kid with great family, very smartly one Kid Jeopardy. For 0:17:23.720 --> 0:17:27.400 that I had this extraordinary emotional life. The long audition 0:17:27.400 --> 0:17:31.400 process inevitably, and I took his final tape to warners 0:17:31.400 --> 0:17:33.360 and I said, you know, well, I think that's the kid. 0:17:33.480 --> 0:17:35.400 If you don't agree when we let's stop it now. 0:17:35.680 --> 0:17:37.480 And Jeff we watched the tape together and he said, yeah, 0:17:37.480 --> 0:17:46.360 I think that's the Kid's gonna make your movie. You're 0:17:46.440 --> 0:17:49.760 listening to here's the thing. More from my conversation with 0:17:49.800 --> 0:18:07.119 Stephen Dowdry. In a minute. This is Alec Baldwin and 0:18:07.160 --> 0:18:10.200 you're listening to here's the thing. I'm talking with director 0:18:10.240 --> 0:18:14.440 Stephen Daldry. Do you find something out about yourself every 0:18:14.440 --> 0:18:15.919 film you make? Is there a part of you that 0:18:16.000 --> 0:18:18.119 you lay there that you weren't aware of? When you 0:18:18.160 --> 0:18:24.520 make a film, everything's therapy, don't you find? Yes? It 0:18:24.560 --> 0:18:26.560 is every piece of work you make. You you have 0:18:26.640 --> 0:18:28.879 to explore yourself the reader? What was the therapy for 0:18:29.119 --> 0:18:30.280 which I love that film? By the way, I was 0:18:30.320 --> 0:18:32.840 just I was completely spend with him. I worship her, Okay, 0:18:32.920 --> 0:18:35.280 I worship her. I can't go I'm unabashed about it. 0:18:35.720 --> 0:18:37.760 I am completely immune to all the charms of all 0:18:37.840 --> 0:18:40.200 movie actresses except her. I saw her an Award show 0:18:40.240 --> 0:18:45.760 and I gradually swallowed my turn. She's fantastic, um the reader. 0:18:46.040 --> 0:18:48.280 I spent a lot of time in Germany as a kid. 0:18:48.359 --> 0:18:50.439 I spent you know, learned German and spent a lot 0:18:50.520 --> 0:18:54.800 of time there. And the idea of a country crippled 0:18:55.560 --> 0:18:58.440 for many generations by something that happened, and how it 0:18:58.480 --> 0:19:01.440