WEBVTT - Christopher Columbus - Summer Staff Picks 0:00:01.600 --> 0:00:04.160 Hey, that's Zach McNeice. I'm one of the producers of 0:00:04.240 --> 0:00:06.960 Here's the Thing, and this week for our summer staff pick, 0:00:07.480 --> 0:00:09.320 I want to share with you one of my favorite 0:00:09.320 --> 0:00:12.080 episodes from all the way back in two thousand thirteen. 0:00:13.200 --> 0:00:16.040 I love movies, and I really enjoyed listening to stories 0:00:16.079 --> 0:00:18.680 from filmmakers about how they got their start and the 0:00:18.800 --> 0:00:22.760 turning points that shaped their careers. Chris Columbus may not 0:00:22.840 --> 0:00:25.799 be quite as recognizable a household name as some of 0:00:25.840 --> 0:00:28.240 his peers in Hollywood, but I have no doubt that 0:00:28.280 --> 0:00:32.120 you've seen and cherished many of his films. Here's Alec 0:00:32.200 --> 0:00:36.720 with Chris Columbus. Chris Columbus has brought to the screen 0:00:36.920 --> 0:00:39.680 some of the biggest American family films of the last 0:00:39.760 --> 0:00:44.839 twenty years, Adventures in Babysitting Home Alone, Mrs Dowdfire. He 0:00:44.960 --> 0:00:48.680 also produced and directed the first two Harry Potter films 0:00:48.880 --> 0:00:53.519 and produced the third as well. I'm a wizard and 0:00:53.560 --> 0:00:55.960 that's something good at night, wager, once you trade up 0:00:55.960 --> 0:01:01.040 a little, you've made a mistake. I mean, I can't 0:01:01.080 --> 0:01:07.600 be a wizard. I mean, I'm just Harry. I've known 0:01:07.720 --> 0:01:10.679 Chris for a long time. We were in school together 0:01:10.800 --> 0:01:14.400 at n y U I lived, started at Weinstein and 0:01:14.440 --> 0:01:17.520 then um moved to Reuben. You were in Ruby as 0:01:17.520 --> 0:01:20.319 in Reuben, and I think that's where we met. Yeah. 0:01:20.480 --> 0:01:22.920 For Columbus, n y U was more than just a 0:01:22.959 --> 0:01:25.840 place to learn the craft. He loved film school for 0:01:25.880 --> 0:01:28.320 me was the only it was sort of the only 0:01:28.360 --> 0:01:31.520 way out, you know. Um, I grew up in Both 0:01:31.520 --> 0:01:35.559 of my parents were factory workers in Ohio. UM my 0:01:35.800 --> 0:01:39.520 future was basically working at either my father's aluminum factory 0:01:39.600 --> 0:01:42.840 or my mother's automotive factory. Literally didn't own them that 0:01:43.280 --> 0:01:46.640 I was just be worried and they did. You could 0:01:46.640 --> 0:01:48.120 own them, I could own them, and they made a 0:01:48.160 --> 0:01:51.360 bad decision. I did. Although I don't think there's much 0:01:51.400 --> 0:01:54.280 work there. But at the time that was it, you know, 0:01:54.360 --> 0:01:58.600 and and the only escape really for me. Uh, we're 0:01:58.640 --> 0:02:01.000 movies and what we're moving to you then there was 0:02:01.000 --> 0:02:05.320 no DVD, There was no Noble television. How did you? 0:02:05.680 --> 0:02:09.200 Movies were the either the CBS late night movie. I 0:02:09.200 --> 0:02:10.960 would sneak out of bed and watch the late night 0:02:11.040 --> 0:02:15.640 movie on CBS and just stay in the movie theaters 0:02:15.639 --> 0:02:18.120 on the weekend. There were only two theaters, two films 0:02:18.120 --> 0:02:21.720 would be two separate theaters. There was no multiplexus back then, 0:02:21.760 --> 0:02:24.160 and I would watch whatever film came into town over 0:02:24.200 --> 0:02:27.760 and over, and I remember something clicked when I saw 0:02:28.280 --> 0:02:32.840 Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. Something really and I 0:02:32.880 --> 0:02:35.960 watched it three times and I just was amazed by 0:02:35.960 --> 0:02:40.000 the movie. And I didn't at the time. There's no understanding, 0:02:40.040 --> 0:02:43.400 there's no idea. No nobody knew about film schools. Nobody 0:02:43.440 --> 0:02:45.440 knew that you could actually go to school and learn 0:02:45.480 --> 0:02:47.360 how to become I didn't even know what a director was. 0:02:48.360 --> 0:02:52.080 So I put my energy into illustrating and writing comic books. 0:02:52.240 --> 0:02:54.880 I thought still didn't understand the film concept, but I 0:02:54.919 --> 0:02:59.160 started to draw Spider Man comics, Thor comics, Halt comics. 0:02:59.400 --> 0:03:04.600 I wanted to job at Marvel in the Marvel that 0:03:04.720 --> 0:03:06.880 was my goal. I still love movies, but I didn't 0:03:07.120 --> 0:03:11.519 I didn't understand how to get completely and and so 0:03:11.760 --> 0:03:14.040 the comic books and all of the kind This is 0:03:14.160 --> 0:03:16.480 very naive of me, but all the comic book superheroes 0:03:16.480 --> 0:03:19.160 lived in New York City. So this was this magical 0:03:19.200 --> 0:03:21.080 place for me as a kid, because I'm drawing New 0:03:21.160 --> 0:03:24.679 York City all the time, and I realized I was 0:03:24.720 --> 0:03:26.960 spending about eight to twelve hours alone a day, and 0:03:27.040 --> 0:03:29.800 I um, I wanted to work with people. I wanted 0:03:29.880 --> 0:03:32.639 to be with people. What did your parents think about that? 0:03:33.320 --> 0:03:34.760 They thought I could go to art school that like 0:03:34.840 --> 0:03:36.800 can't stay or something. You know that I could go 0:03:36.840 --> 0:03:39.720 to art school and I could um draw these comics 0:03:39.720 --> 0:03:43.280 and that's fine. Then I saw The Godfather. The Godfather 0:03:43.360 --> 0:03:48.080 was re released in four I think, and re released. 0:03:48.160 --> 0:03:50.200 And then the next movie I saw was Blazing Saddles. 0:03:50.200 --> 0:03:53.800 I saw those two movies change my life, both ends 0:03:53.840 --> 0:03:57.440 of the spectrum. I realized with Blazing Saddles the possibilities 0:03:57.440 --> 0:04:00.120 of what you could do with film We're endless. And 0:04:00.360 --> 0:04:03.920 Time magazine came out with a one page article about 0:04:04.080 --> 0:04:06.960 film schools. I had never heard of film school and 0:04:06.960 --> 0:04:08.920 don't know what this could possibly be. And I read 0:04:08.920 --> 0:04:11.640 about Martin Scorsese, and I read about Francis Ford Copeland. 0:04:11.640 --> 0:04:13.200 I read about USC and U C l A and 0:04:13.320 --> 0:04:15.600 N y U, and I said to my parents, this 0:04:15.640 --> 0:04:17.560 is what I want to do. What did they say? 0:04:17.600 --> 0:04:22.679 They were extraordinarily supportive. They were amazingly supportive. Every other 0:04:22.800 --> 0:04:25.840 relative in my family was not supportive. They said, oh, 0:04:25.880 --> 0:04:28.320 you're gonna, you're gonna saying you're gonna be back here 0:04:28.360 --> 0:04:31.240 in two years. You can't handle New York City. Uh, 0:04:31.279 --> 0:04:33.479 And it just it just was more fire. It was 0:04:33.560 --> 0:04:36.320 just I was like, fuck you, I'm doing it. I 0:04:36.360 --> 0:04:38.480 got to New York and I remember my father drove 0:04:38.560 --> 0:04:41.960 me up to Weinstein and he looked at the city 0:04:41.960 --> 0:04:44.240 and looked at the dorm and he said, let's go home. 0:04:44.279 --> 0:04:46.480 I'll drive you back home now. And I said, no way, 0:04:46.680 --> 0:04:49.800 no way. I was in. I was literally in oz. 0:04:50.000 --> 0:04:53.039 Weinstein doesn't look like the library at a community coach 0:04:53.160 --> 0:04:57.479 in the Soviet Union, right, exactly. It's a very but 0:04:57.680 --> 0:05:00.279 I immediately fell in love with the city, and I 0:05:00.360 --> 0:05:04.240 knew that I had no choice but to succeed. I 0:05:04.320 --> 0:05:06.080 had to find a way to succeed, or I would 0:05:06.080 --> 0:05:07.640 be back in the middle of Ohio working in an 0:05:07.680 --> 0:05:12.160 aluminum factory. And that's hideous. So you get there. Had 0:05:12.200 --> 0:05:15.640 you ever touched any film equipment before? Uh? Yeah, super. 0:05:15.839 --> 0:05:18.919 My parents did buy me a Super eight sound camera, 0:05:19.520 --> 0:05:22.839 which enabled me to start to make films. Actually, I 0:05:22.880 --> 0:05:26.320 made a twenty minute film for my theology class. Because 0:05:26.320 --> 0:05:29.839 I went to a very strict Catholic school, so it 0:05:29.960 --> 0:05:32.800 was a theology class that was dealing with social issues. 0:05:33.520 --> 0:05:37.600 So we made a film about abortion vasectomes. And I 0:05:37.680 --> 0:05:41.880 was very inspired at the time by remember SNL N 0:05:42.400 --> 0:05:45.640 seventies six. Sn L had just come you know, we 0:05:45.640 --> 0:05:48.200 would spend our Saturday nights watching Saturday Night Live. So 0:05:48.279 --> 0:05:51.400 I was doing these basically commercial parodies that I had 0:05:51.480 --> 0:05:53.679 versions that I had seen on SNL, and I screened 0:05:53.680 --> 0:05:56.200 it for the class. The class loved it. The priest 0:05:56.560 --> 0:06:00.880 was horrified. And what happened is the feeling of showing 0:06:00.880 --> 0:06:04.360 that movie and hearing those all of those kids laughing 0:06:04.880 --> 0:06:07.880 in this small Ohio town really really hit me. I mean, 0:06:08.279 --> 0:06:10.080 it's an addictive feeling, you know, what it's like being 0:06:10.120 --> 0:06:12.600 on stage while showing your film and having people respond 0:06:12.640 --> 0:06:16.480 to it became very addictive. So that fueled my desire 0:06:16.520 --> 0:06:18.120 to get there as well. What did your parents say 0:06:18.160 --> 0:06:22.680 about all your politically incorrect film, very dark stuff back then? 0:06:22.760 --> 0:06:26.159 You know, they they you know, my my mother went 0:06:26.240 --> 0:06:28.360 with it. My father didn't really want to have much 0:06:28.400 --> 0:06:29.919 to do with it. He figured okay that you know, 0:06:29.960 --> 0:06:32.040 my father was most most of the time, my father 0:06:32.160 --> 0:06:34.680 was under a car repairing it, you know, and in 0:06:34.720 --> 0:06:36.880 the garage when he wasn't working or having a beer. 0:06:37.160 --> 0:06:39.880 So I um, as long as he's not on the streets, 0:06:39.920 --> 0:06:43.680 it's exactly my parents. Not onways, he's not taking drugs, 0:06:43.720 --> 0:06:46.839 that's true, and that that actually, you know, my mother 0:06:46.880 --> 0:06:50.200 was very supportive. My mother was probably much more supportive 0:06:50.240 --> 0:06:52.040 than my father about what I wanted to do. And 0:06:52.120 --> 0:06:54.920 she had she shared sort of that dark sense of 0:06:55.000 --> 0:06:57.320 humor that I had as well. So she supported those 0:06:57.360 --> 0:06:59.200 of those movies and she watched I used to watch 0:06:59.320 --> 0:07:02.520 SNL with her. She loved it. So you you get 0:07:02.560 --> 0:07:05.960 to Weinstein, you had a super eight sound camera, but 0:07:06.120 --> 0:07:08.679 you get to Weinstein and what's what are the first 0:07:08.839 --> 0:07:10.600 recollections you have of that when you get there? To 0:07:10.600 --> 0:07:14.440 go to n y U? Honestly n Yu. The night 0:07:14.480 --> 0:07:18.400 I got there, Spawn drinking age was eighteen sponsored a 0:07:18.440 --> 0:07:20.760 bar tour. Can you imagine them doing that these days? 0:07:21.640 --> 0:07:23.800 Eight to ten bars in the East Village. They would 0:07:23.840 --> 0:07:28.480 take a group of freshmen and go to each bar Chumley's, mcsorley's. 0:07:29.320 --> 0:07:33.320 And that's where I met my best friends, and that's 0:07:33.320 --> 0:07:35.840 where I met my future producing partner, Michael barn Nathan. 0:07:35.880 --> 0:07:39.680 We met that first night night and Uh, yeah, you 0:07:39.720 --> 0:07:42.800 could be. I mean, the lawsuits are ridiculous. And we 0:07:42.840 --> 0:07:45.520 met and we hit it off, and and there was 0:07:45.560 --> 0:07:48.000 this I mean, you know what what it's like. You 0:07:48.080 --> 0:07:52.160 go into this community of everyone who shares your deepest 0:07:52.520 --> 0:07:55.600 love of something like film, and you have someone to 0:07:55.600 --> 0:07:57.280 talk to about it. I had no one to talk 0:07:57.320 --> 0:07:59.240 to about it in Ohio, you know, I was this 0:07:59.480 --> 0:08:03.880 everyone's come there from the aluminum factory. Finally I was 0:08:03.960 --> 0:08:06.840 able to have arguments and discussions, and we would get 0:08:06.880 --> 0:08:11.480 these into you remember these intense and passion discussions about directors, 0:08:11.520 --> 0:08:15.040 you know, and and Frank Capra Was he really great? 0:08:15.120 --> 0:08:16.720 Or was he? You know? Was he much more of 0:08:16.720 --> 0:08:19.840 a populous director? And you get into these fantastic discussions 0:08:19.840 --> 0:08:22.440 that didn't exist for me in Ohio. So I was 0:08:22.480 --> 0:08:25.760 in you know, it was like Christmas morning every day 0:08:25.760 --> 0:08:29.280 at NYU. So when you go to film school, did 0:08:29.280 --> 0:08:31.600 you go there when you started to become a wash 0:08:31.680 --> 0:08:33.800 and all that process? Did you love it? And you 0:08:33.960 --> 0:08:35.000 ate it up? And you said more and more and 0:08:35.040 --> 0:08:37.520 more you love the technical No, actually I don't. I 0:08:37.520 --> 0:08:40.080 mean the technical side of it. I have very little 0:08:40.120 --> 0:08:43.199 interest in it. I want to know as much as 0:08:43.200 --> 0:08:45.080 I need to know so I can go onto a 0:08:45.120 --> 0:08:47.440 set and block a scene with actors. But I'm much 0:08:47.520 --> 0:08:50.360 more and I was, I've always been this way. I'm 0:08:50.400 --> 0:08:53.200 much more interested in connecting with the actors on a 0:08:53.240 --> 0:08:55.640 set because what I've seen as a producer over the years, 0:08:55.880 --> 0:08:57.560 as I saw it as a writer when I was 0:08:57.600 --> 0:09:02.200 just starting out directors, A lot of directors tend to 0:09:02.200 --> 0:09:06.400 be afraid of actors, which it drives me insane. I 0:09:06.440 --> 0:09:10.040 cannot understand. They're suspicious of actors. They're suspicious of actors. 0:09:10.040 --> 0:09:12.920 They don't want to discuss, you know, it's this whole thing. Well, 0:09:12.960 --> 0:09:15.520 if an actor has a question, as he challenged, I 0:09:15.559 --> 0:09:18.280 love that. I love that back and forth, that discussion that, 0:09:19.720 --> 0:09:21.559 you know, I thought it was kind of cool. And 0:09:21.960 --> 0:09:25.640 the Apocalypse Now documentary when Brando and Coffler were sitting 0:09:25.679 --> 0:09:30.640 there for six days discussing, discussing his character. I love 0:09:30.720 --> 0:09:33.320 that about actors. So I'm much more drawn to working 0:09:33.360 --> 0:09:36.920 with the actors than I am working, you know, figuring 0:09:36.920 --> 0:09:38.920 out what lens I need to use. I know what 0:09:39.000 --> 0:09:40.560 I want the film to look like, I know how 0:09:40.600 --> 0:09:42.960 I wanted to feel, But I don't need to know 0:09:43.000 --> 0:09:44.760 the numbers. I just want to make sure that when 0:09:44.760 --> 0:09:47.320 I get on that set, those actors and I that 0:09:47.400 --> 0:09:49.240 we trust each other no matter what kind of film 0:09:49.240 --> 0:09:51.080 it is. So there must be moments, though, where you're 0:09:51.080 --> 0:09:54.160 sitting there on the set of a Harry Potter film 0:09:54.160 --> 0:09:57.160 and Roger Deakins, who is one of the greatest cinematographers 0:09:57.160 --> 0:10:00.000 of his generation, is there, and do you sit there 0:10:00.080 --> 0:10:02.400 and say, what do you think Roger? What lends you? 0:10:02.400 --> 0:10:05.360 You defer to him about all the cinematography to do. 0:10:05.480 --> 0:10:07.480 Sometimes that don't go no, no, I think it's this, 0:10:07.679 --> 0:10:10.120 or I think you must have an opinion. Oh completely, 0:10:10.400 --> 0:10:12.600 It's not like yeah completely. In other words, I don't 0:10:12.600 --> 0:10:15.240 abdicate all that to something. No. No, I I do 0:10:15.320 --> 0:10:18.760 my homework. I storyboard everything. Um, I do my own 0:10:18.760 --> 0:10:20.480 shot list in the morning. I know exactly if I 0:10:20.480 --> 0:10:22.840 want to use a crane or a dolly or And 0:10:22.880 --> 0:10:25.760 I also don't there there's the other side of me 0:10:25.960 --> 0:10:27.840 where I've seen directors who only want to deal with 0:10:27.840 --> 0:10:30.199 the actors and don't want to block the scene and 0:10:30.280 --> 0:10:32.040 leave that all up to the cinematographer. I'm sure you've 0:10:32.040 --> 0:10:33.920 seen that as well, But I and I'm not interested 0:10:33.960 --> 0:10:36.920 in that. I want to have the control certainly of 0:10:36.960 --> 0:10:39.800 the visual look of the film. But I don't need 0:10:39.880 --> 0:10:42.679 to get again, I don't need to say I want 0:10:42.720 --> 0:10:45.000 afford to here. I don't. That means nothing to me. 0:10:45.080 --> 0:10:47.200 What means something to me is to look through the 0:10:47.200 --> 0:10:49.640 camera and know if I've got it right. But it's 0:10:49.880 --> 0:10:52.880 as I said, it's much more important. The writing is 0:10:52.920 --> 0:10:56.280 extraordinarily important to me. And the connection with the actors 0:10:56.320 --> 0:10:58.720 and the crew as well. You know. I I've seen 0:10:58.720 --> 0:11:01.440 a lot of directors work and there's no connection with people, 0:11:01.520 --> 0:11:03.920 and I hate that. I just hate those directors who 0:11:03.960 --> 0:11:06.000 sort of build a wall up around them. And maybe 0:11:06.040 --> 0:11:07.800 maybe it works for them. I'm sure it works for 0:11:07.840 --> 0:11:09.280 some of them. But for me, it's a matter of 0:11:09.520 --> 0:11:12.000 connecting with almost every person on that set. So when 0:11:12.040 --> 0:11:15.080 I leave the set, they all feel that they've had 0:11:15.120 --> 0:11:17.000 a great day. I know it's a weird thing to say, 0:11:17.040 --> 0:11:20.600 but it's very important to me that that the person 0:11:20.720 --> 0:11:22.600 has the smallest job on the set feels as if 0:11:22.600 --> 0:11:25.200 he's he or she has contributed something that day. You know. 0:11:26.040 --> 0:11:29.199 And then when you left, NYU, what did you do? 0:11:30.120 --> 0:11:32.920 I left n y U. I had Actually I was 0:11:33.000 --> 0:11:38.920 lucky enough I had left. But in seventy eight, I 0:11:39.040 --> 0:11:43.599 had written, um, something interesting happened that I had a scholarship. 0:11:44.360 --> 0:11:47.160 I had this great scholarship that got me through ny 0:11:47.240 --> 0:11:50.520 U the first year, and my mother would call me. 0:11:50.559 --> 0:11:52.320 You remember, we had those pay phones at the end 0:11:52.360 --> 0:11:54.800 of our dorm hallways. It's no cell phones. So every 0:11:54.800 --> 0:11:56.520 Sunday I would go to the payphone a call home, 0:11:56.559 --> 0:12:00.960 and my mother would say, Chris, don't forget to go 0:12:01.000 --> 0:12:03.040 to the Burt Stars office and sign. I had to 0:12:03.080 --> 0:12:05.240 sign some papers. So I would renew my scholarship and 0:12:05.240 --> 0:12:08.120 I would say, Mom, no problem, I'd forget. I'd be 0:12:08.160 --> 0:12:11.280 doing something. That went on for six weeks. The seventh 0:12:11.320 --> 0:12:14.400 week I called. She was screaming at me, said you 0:12:14.440 --> 0:12:18.079 lost the scholarship. I said, oh, christ I lost the scholarship. 0:12:18.440 --> 0:12:21.080 She goes, this summer you're gonna have to work at 0:12:21.120 --> 0:12:26.079 the aluminum factory. So so I went back. I went 0:12:26.120 --> 0:12:29.360 back to Ohio and I was working basically swing shifts. 0:12:29.400 --> 0:12:32.280 I would work day shifts, afternoon shifts, and night shifts. 0:12:32.480 --> 0:12:34.959 After your first year, my first year, did your mother 0:12:35.000 --> 0:12:37.000 make you a little necklace with a little piece of aluminium? 0:12:37.000 --> 0:12:39.880 Moment after that, in the shape of a crucive thing. 0:12:41.960 --> 0:12:44.640 Don't don't sunk up on it any Oh god, I 0:12:44.800 --> 0:12:46.599 so anyway, So I realized if I was on the 0:12:46.720 --> 0:12:49.679 night shift, I could read. So that first year I 0:12:49.800 --> 0:12:52.560 was just read, you know, novels for eight hours. I 0:12:52.600 --> 0:12:55.920 had to do it again after my sophomore year. So 0:12:55.960 --> 0:12:58.120 I went back my sophomore year and I realized if 0:12:58.120 --> 0:13:01.880 I could get on the night shift for the entire summer, 0:13:01.920 --> 0:13:04.840 I could write a screenplay. So what I did is 0:13:05.040 --> 0:13:09.800 I remember these gigantic, hulking cylinders of aluminum, and I 0:13:09.840 --> 0:13:12.880 would sneak behind the aluminum corps and sit there with 0:13:12.920 --> 0:13:15.960 a notepad, and I wrote my first screenplay, a screenplay 0:13:15.960 --> 0:13:18.400 called Jocks about high school football, my experiences with high 0:13:18.440 --> 0:13:20.720 school football. And I was a terrible football player, but 0:13:20.760 --> 0:13:24.520 I I, you know, it was very person Sorry, yeah, 0:13:24.520 --> 0:13:26.720 I suited up. And I brought that back to my 0:13:26.760 --> 0:13:29.240 writing teacher, a guy named Jesse Cornbluth, who gave it 0:13:29.280 --> 0:13:31.440 to his agent. And his agent was a guy named 0:13:31.480 --> 0:13:35.160 Ron Bernstein who still works in New York. And Bernstein 0:13:35.160 --> 0:13:37.560 took me on as a client my junior year. A 0:13:37.559 --> 0:13:40.840 producer since passed away, Steve Friedman optioned it for five 0:13:40.920 --> 0:13:44.160 grand So your professional career, which was which began as 0:13:44.160 --> 0:13:47.839 a writer, as a screenwriter. W was leveraged by Corn Bluth, 0:13:47.880 --> 0:13:50.840 who was your teacher at n YU. Yeah, that five grand, 0:13:51.559 --> 0:13:53.280 preventing me from ever having to go back to the 0:13:53.280 --> 0:13:57.959 aluminium factory. Um. So that was my junior year, and 0:13:58.000 --> 0:14:01.400 then my senior year I decided to not right because 0:14:01.400 --> 0:14:03.719 I was getting writing offers, which was great, you know, 0:14:03.880 --> 0:14:05.760 but I was in college and I wanted to take 0:14:05.800 --> 0:14:08.040 that time to do my senior film, my senior thesis. 0:14:08.080 --> 0:14:11.040 So I did a senior film that year, and then 0:14:11.040 --> 0:14:13.079 when I was out, you know, after college, I just, 0:14:13.480 --> 0:14:15.680 uh my agents started to get me writing gigs and 0:14:15.720 --> 0:14:19.720 I started writing after as soon as I graduated. Basically, 0:14:21.280 --> 0:14:26.520 I lived on twenties New York between six and seven. Um. 0:14:26.800 --> 0:14:29.280 One school you were in Chelsea. So when school ended, 0:14:29.320 --> 0:14:31.040 you decide you're gonna stay in New York. Yeah. I 0:14:31.040 --> 0:14:33.080 decided to stay in New York because I again, I 0:14:33.120 --> 0:14:35.680 was always very wary of going to l A. I 0:14:35.680 --> 0:14:38.160 I don't know why, but why were you wary of it? 0:14:38.200 --> 0:14:40.360 Even then? You know? The weird thing is I have 0:14:40.440 --> 0:14:42.880 so many friends who think of l A as like 0:14:43.000 --> 0:14:45.440 that's where all the films are made. That's where that's 0:14:45.560 --> 0:14:48.040 where the magic happens. But for me, I was I 0:14:48.080 --> 0:14:49.960 just at that point, after four years in New York, 0:14:50.000 --> 0:14:52.080 I felt very comfortable in New York and had this 0:14:52.160 --> 0:14:55.280 vision of being able to make every film in Manhattan, 0:14:55.720 --> 0:14:58.120 or writing in Manhattan and living in Manhattan. I was 0:14:58.200 --> 0:15:00.200 kind of out of work and I couldn't figure out 0:15:00.280 --> 0:15:01.920 what I was going to do next. And a friend 0:15:01.920 --> 0:15:05.480 of mine, Mitch, said, you know, there hasn't since Jaws, 0:15:05.600 --> 0:15:08.440 there really hasn't been a great movie that's featured. He 0:15:08.520 --> 0:15:10.440 used the word monster. There has not been a great 0:15:10.480 --> 0:15:15.320 monster movie made. And I said, that's a good idea. 0:15:15.360 --> 0:15:18.000 That's interesting. And in the loft I lived in, we 0:15:18.040 --> 0:15:20.000 had these mice scurring around on the floors and I 0:15:20.040 --> 0:15:21.640 would sleep with my hand raped over the bed and 0:15:21.800 --> 0:15:23.000 mice would go by in the middle of the night. 0:15:23.040 --> 0:15:25.720 I thought, these tiny creatures are frightening. So I spent 0:15:25.800 --> 0:15:29.000 the next six weeks writing the script called Gremlin's and 0:15:29.000 --> 0:15:30.840 I wrote it on spec. I wasn't paid for it, 0:15:30.920 --> 0:15:34.040 and I sent it to my agent, who um liked 0:15:34.080 --> 0:15:36.080 the script but felt it was a little dark, and 0:15:36.120 --> 0:15:39.440 still sent it to about fifty producers and studio executives 0:15:39.520 --> 0:15:43.400 and everyone passed on it, and Spielberg. Steven Spielberg was 0:15:43.480 --> 0:15:46.440 leaving his office on a Friday and passed his secretary's 0:15:46.480 --> 0:15:48.520 desk and it was sitting there. That's why so much 0:15:48.560 --> 0:15:52.000 of this business is luck. He passed the script and 0:15:52.000 --> 0:15:54.920 saw the title and said that looks interesting, picked it up, 0:15:55.600 --> 0:15:58.560 read it that weekend, and decided he wanted to option 0:15:58.600 --> 0:16:00.600 the movie. Now I didn't know this. I gotta call 0:16:00.640 --> 0:16:03.040 up my loft bar. Nathan answers the phone and says, 0:16:03.480 --> 0:16:06.280 as someone on area says, it's Steven Spielberg, I get 0:16:06.320 --> 0:16:08.360 I get the phone. He goes, Chris, it's Steven Spielberg. 0:16:08.920 --> 0:16:12.800 I was stunned, and um, yeah, he flew me out 0:16:12.840 --> 0:16:15.240 to l A. I got to meet Spielberg and that 0:16:15.440 --> 0:16:20.280 sort of that. And I lived in l A for 0:16:20.360 --> 0:16:22.160 nine months at that point. So what happens in that 0:16:22.240 --> 0:16:24.640 nine months He's giving you notes, or there's creative people 0:16:24.840 --> 0:16:27.000 he would give me notes. Now, Gremlins was sort of 0:16:27.000 --> 0:16:29.320 off and running, and someone else was even rewriting it 0:16:29.360 --> 0:16:32.040 as I was working on another script for Stephen. For 0:16:32.120 --> 0:16:35.000 some strange reason, I had sort of carte blanche. I 0:16:35.000 --> 0:16:38.440 could go into his office whenever I wanted. He whether 0:16:38.480 --> 0:16:40.040 he liked me, I don't know what it was. But 0:16:40.760 --> 0:16:43.120 I had an office three doors down from him. I 0:16:43.160 --> 0:16:45.440 would just go down there whenever he would be sitting 0:16:45.440 --> 0:16:49.120 there with Richard Gere or or uh or Warren Beatty. 0:16:49.200 --> 0:16:51.000 One time he's like, Chris, come on in, would he 0:16:51.280 --> 0:16:53.520 and I would start to talk to him about ideas. 0:16:53.680 --> 0:16:56.520 One day he's looking through these old EC comic books 0:16:56.920 --> 0:16:59.520 and he says, look at this title, Chris, the goon Children. 0:16:59.640 --> 0:17:01.560 And I said, the goon Children, that's a cool title. 0:17:02.240 --> 0:17:05.200 And we came up with this story together about these 0:17:05.280 --> 0:17:07.920 kids who find a treasure map, and it was The Goonies. 0:17:08.520 --> 0:17:11.840 I would write three pages of Goonies, run to Steven's office, 0:17:11.880 --> 0:17:14.200 give it to him. He would make some notes. I 0:17:14.200 --> 0:17:16.160 would run back to my office and make the changes. 0:17:16.440 --> 0:17:19.480 And we finished that script in about six weeks. Then 0:17:19.520 --> 0:17:22.840 I wrote Young Sherlock Holmes with him, kind of in 0:17:22.840 --> 0:17:25.919 the same way for Amblin, And that's when I and 0:17:25.960 --> 0:17:31.000 that's when I redirected Goonies. Richard Donner Dick Donner directed Goonies, 0:17:31.440 --> 0:17:35.880 and who directed Young Sherlock Holmes Barry Levinson. Yeah, so 0:17:36.080 --> 0:17:40.560 it was. So you have Steven Spielberg producing your films 0:17:40.880 --> 0:17:44.040 and your three doors down from him and Richard Donner, 0:17:44.080 --> 0:17:46.240 who directed Superman. I'm gonna I want to tell people 0:17:46.240 --> 0:17:49.560 in the audience who don't remember this Timeline and Levinson 0:17:49.800 --> 0:17:53.080 was directed many great films they direct. Those are your 0:17:53.080 --> 0:17:55.000 first two movies. That could mean well, Gremlins is the 0:17:55.000 --> 0:17:57.879 first one as well. Joe Dante. Yeah, so you go 0:17:57.920 --> 0:18:01.080 from Joe Dante to Donner to bar E Levenson for 0:18:01.160 --> 0:18:03.560 the first three films that your name was on the script. Yeah, 0:18:03.640 --> 0:18:06.440 and your name was on as the writer of all three. 0:18:07.080 --> 0:18:08.919 You know, it was kind of a heavy experience. At 0:18:08.960 --> 0:18:12.600 the same time, I always knew, this is what I 0:18:12.640 --> 0:18:14.160 need to be do, This is what I should be doing, 0:18:14.280 --> 0:18:16.880 This is what I have to be doing. What did 0:18:16.880 --> 0:18:20.040 you learn from Spielberg? Spielberg was like graduate school of 0:18:20.080 --> 0:18:24.560 filmmaking for me. Spielberg was like, um, I learned shortcuts 0:18:24.760 --> 0:18:27.720 and I learned basically, it was a Billy Wilder quote 0:18:27.720 --> 0:18:30.640 that Stephen you know, nailed into my head every day, 0:18:30.680 --> 0:18:35.120 which was don't tell the audience something more than once. 0:18:35.640 --> 0:18:37.520 I learned how to edit material, I learned how to 0:18:37.520 --> 0:18:39.880 write better. Dialogue, and I learned how to be much 0:18:39.880 --> 0:18:43.000 more visual as a writer from Stephen. So it was 0:18:43.040 --> 0:18:46.320 a great relationship, you know, um and still is a 0:18:46.320 --> 0:18:48.600 great relationship to this day. We have the opportunity to 0:18:48.600 --> 0:18:51.120 work together a couple of years ago. So I I 0:18:51.200 --> 0:18:53.159 really loved that time. But at the same time, I 0:18:53.200 --> 0:18:55.600 needed to get back to Manhattan. Why. I don't know. 0:18:55.800 --> 0:18:58.040 I just felt like I missed I missed it. I 0:18:58.080 --> 0:19:00.080 mean it was It's a very simple did you of 0:19:00.119 --> 0:19:02.840 a sense? Because I find other people have the same thing, 0:19:03.600 --> 0:19:06.080 It's better for me to stay here for my career. 0:19:06.119 --> 0:19:08.439 You didn't think of all those lines. Now, I I 0:19:08.480 --> 0:19:11.240 don't think at the time, I was able to articulate it. 0:19:11.480 --> 0:19:14.640 You know, twenty years down the road, now I can 0:19:14.640 --> 0:19:17.200 look back and and understand why I did it, Because 0:19:17.280 --> 0:19:21.800 I was seeing the beginning of people losing touch with reality. 0:19:21.880 --> 0:19:24.159 Why do directors not have long careers. They don't have 0:19:24.200 --> 0:19:28.800 long careers because they become extremely successful. Then they move 0:19:28.840 --> 0:19:33.080 into these huge mansions and live an isolated life. They 0:19:33.080 --> 0:19:34.959 watch movies in their screening room. They don't do their 0:19:34.960 --> 0:19:37.000 own grocery shopping, they don't pump their own gas, they 0:19:37.000 --> 0:19:39.320 don't get out there on the street. At the end 0:19:39.359 --> 0:19:41.720 of all that, you've lost connection to real people. What 0:19:41.760 --> 0:19:44.760 are you making movies about, even if they're fantasy films. 0:19:44.760 --> 0:19:46.920 Even again, I did not realize it at the time. 0:19:46.920 --> 0:19:49.600 I realized it years later. I realized the reason I 0:19:49.600 --> 0:19:52.520 went back to New York was to connect with everyone again, 0:19:52.600 --> 0:19:55.600 so I could go to the corner superrette and buy 0:19:55.640 --> 0:19:57.679