WEBVTT - Chris Columbus 0:00:08.840 --> 0:00:12.039 This is Alec Baldwin and you're listening to Here's the thing. 0:00:17.440 --> 0:00:20.040 Chris Columbus has brought to the screen some of the 0:00:20.040 --> 0:00:24.160 biggest American family films of the last twenty years, Adventures 0:00:24.160 --> 0:00:28.560 in Babysitting Home Alone, Mrs Doubtfire. He also produced and 0:00:28.760 --> 0:00:32.320 directed the first two Harry Potter films and produced the 0:00:32.440 --> 0:00:36.919 third as well. I'm a Wizard and a Thumping good 0:00:37.080 --> 0:00:40.400 Night Wager. Once you trade up a little, No, you've 0:00:40.440 --> 0:00:45.199 made a mistake. I mean, I can't be a wizard. 0:00:46.120 --> 0:00:51.000 I mean, I'm just Harry. I've known Chris for a 0:00:51.080 --> 0:00:54.120 long time. We were in school together at n y U. 0:00:54.400 --> 0:00:59.120 I lived, started at Weinstein and then um moved to Reuben. 0:00:59.360 --> 0:01:00.760 You were in Ruby, I was in Reuben, and I 0:01:00.800 --> 0:01:04.400 think that's where we met. Yeah. For Columbus, n y 0:01:04.520 --> 0:01:06.880 U was more than just a place to learn the craft. 0:01:06.920 --> 0:01:10.000 He loved film school for me was the only It 0:01:10.120 --> 0:01:12.839 was sort of the only way out, you know. Um. 0:01:12.880 --> 0:01:14.840 I grew up in a Both of my parents were 0:01:14.880 --> 0:01:20.000 factory workers in Ohio. UM My future was basically working 0:01:20.000 --> 0:01:24.120 at either my father's aluminum factory or my mother's automotive factory. 0:01:24.280 --> 0:01:27.119 Literally didn't own them that I was just be working, 0:01:27.840 --> 0:01:29.720 and I think they did. You could own them now, 0:01:29.800 --> 0:01:33.080 could own them the decision I did, although I don't 0:01:33.080 --> 0:01:36.200 think there's much work there. But at the time that 0:01:36.280 --> 0:01:38.720 was it, you know, and and the only escape really 0:01:39.200 --> 0:01:43.280 for me. Uh, we're movies, And what were movies to you? Then? 0:01:43.360 --> 0:01:47.680 There was no DVD, there was no noble television. How 0:01:47.680 --> 0:01:51.800 did you? Movies were the either the CBS Late night movie. 0:01:51.800 --> 0:01:53.320 I would sneak out of bed and watch the late 0:01:53.440 --> 0:01:57.920 night movie on CBS and just stay in the movie 0:01:57.960 --> 0:02:00.400 theaters on the weekend. There were only two theaters. Two 0:02:00.440 --> 0:02:03.920 films would be two separate theaters. There was no multiplexus 0:02:03.960 --> 0:02:06.280 back then. And I would watch whatever film came into 0:02:06.360 --> 0:02:10.000 town over and over. And I remember something clicked when 0:02:10.000 --> 0:02:13.799 I saw Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. Something really 0:02:15.000 --> 0:02:18.000 and I watched it three times and I just was 0:02:18.040 --> 0:02:20.520 amazed by the movie. And I didn't at the time. 0:02:20.600 --> 0:02:24.920 There's no understanding, there's no idea. No nobody knew about 0:02:24.919 --> 0:02:27.480 film schools. Nobody knew that you could actually go to 0:02:27.480 --> 0:02:29.040 school and learn how to become I didn't even know 0:02:29.120 --> 0:02:32.520 what a director was. So I put my energy into 0:02:32.600 --> 0:02:36.160 illustrating and writing comic books. I thought, I still didn't 0:02:36.200 --> 0:02:38.919 understand the film concept. But I started to draw Spider 0:02:38.960 --> 0:02:42.839 Man comics, Thor comics, Halt comics. I wanted a job 0:02:42.880 --> 0:02:48.000 at Marvel in the Marvel that was my goal. I 0:02:48.040 --> 0:02:52.200 still love movies, but I didn't I didn't understand completely. 0:02:52.200 --> 0:02:56.000 And yeah, and so the comic books and all of 0:02:56.000 --> 0:02:58.000 the This is very naive of me, but all the 0:02:58.000 --> 0:03:01.040 comic book superheroes lived in New York City. So this 0:03:01.080 --> 0:03:03.080 was this magical place for me as a kid because 0:03:03.080 --> 0:03:06.760 I'm drawing New York City all the time. And I 0:03:06.800 --> 0:03:09.400 realized I was spending about eight to twelve hours alone today, 0:03:09.480 --> 0:03:12.200 and I, um, I wanted to work with people. I 0:03:12.200 --> 0:03:14.760 wanted to be with people. What did your parents think 0:03:14.760 --> 0:03:17.239 about that? They thought I could go to art school 0:03:17.240 --> 0:03:19.160 that like can't state or something, you know that I 0:03:19.200 --> 0:03:21.760 could go to art school and I could, um draw 0:03:21.800 --> 0:03:25.200 these comics and that's fine. Then I saw The Godfather. 0:03:25.360 --> 0:03:29.880 The Godfather was re released in four i think, and 0:03:30.000 --> 0:03:32.000 re released. And then the next movie I saw was 0:03:32.040 --> 0:03:35.440 Blazing Saddles. I saw those two movies change my life, 0:03:36.000 --> 0:03:38.520 both ends of the spectrum. I realized with blazing saddles. 0:03:38.600 --> 0:03:41.960 The possibilities of what you could do with film were endless, 0:03:42.640 --> 0:03:46.200 and Time magazine came out with a one page article 0:03:46.280 --> 0:03:49.560 about film schools. I had never heard of film school 0:03:49.560 --> 0:03:51.360 and don't know what this could possibly be. And I 0:03:51.400 --> 0:03:54.280 read about Martin Scorsese, and I read about Francis Ford Coppeland. 0:03:54.280 --> 0:03:55.840 I read about USC and U, C l A and 0:03:55.960 --> 0:03:58.280 n y U, and I said to my parents, this 0:03:58.320 --> 0:04:00.240 is what I want to do. What did they say? 0:04:00.280 --> 0:04:05.320 They were extraordinarily supported. They were amazingly supported. Every other 0:04:05.440 --> 0:04:08.480 relative in my family was not supportive. They said, oh, 0:04:08.520 --> 0:04:10.800 you're gonna you're gonna be saying you're gonna be back 0:04:10.800 --> 0:04:13.880 here in two years. You can't handle New York City. Uh, 0:04:13.920 --> 0:04:16.120 And it just it just was more fire. It was 0:04:16.200 --> 0:04:18.960 just I was like, fuck you, I'm doing it. I 0:04:19.000 --> 0:04:21.120 got to New York and I remember my father drove 0:04:21.200 --> 0:04:24.599 me up to Weinstein and he looked at the city 0:04:24.600 --> 0:04:26.920 and looked at the dorm and he said, let's go home. 0:04:26.920 --> 0:04:29.120 I'll drive you back home now. And I said, no way, 0:04:29.360 --> 0:04:32.440 no way. I was in. I was literally in oz. 0:04:32.680 --> 0:04:35.679 Weinstein does look like the library at a community coach 0:04:35.800 --> 0:04:40.800 in the Soviet Union right exactly. It's a but I 0:04:40.800 --> 0:04:43.320 immediately fell in love with the city, and I knew 0:04:43.440 --> 0:04:47.200 that I had no choice but to succeed. I had 0:04:47.240 --> 0:04:48.800 to find a way to succeed or I would be 0:04:48.800 --> 0:04:51.440 back in the middle of Ohio working in an aluminum factory. 0:04:51.839 --> 0:04:55.159 And that's hideous. So you get there. Had you ever 0:04:55.480 --> 0:04:59.040 touched any film equipment before? H yeah? Super. My parents 0:04:59.080 --> 0:05:02.960 did buy me a super great sound camera which enabled 0:05:03.000 --> 0:05:05.800 me to start to make films. Actually, I made a 0:05:05.839 --> 0:05:09.200 twenty minute film for my theology class because I went 0:05:09.240 --> 0:05:13.080 to a very strict Catholic school, so it was a 0:05:13.120 --> 0:05:16.440 theology class that was dealing with social issues. So we 0:05:16.480 --> 0:05:20.680 made a film about abortion vasectomes. And I was very 0:05:20.720 --> 0:05:26.120 inspired at the time by remember SNL n seventies six. 0:05:26.440 --> 0:05:28.680 Sn L had just come. You know, we would spend 0:05:28.720 --> 0:05:31.200 our Saturday nights watching Saturday Night Live. So I was 0:05:31.279 --> 0:05:34.520 doing these basically commercial parodies that I had versions that 0:05:34.560 --> 0:05:36.520 I had seen on SNL, and I screened it for 0:05:36.560 --> 0:05:39.920 the class. The class loved it. The priest was horrified. 0:05:40.200 --> 0:05:44.000 And what happened is the feeling of showing that movie 0:05:44.000 --> 0:05:47.760 and hearing those all of those kids laughing in this 0:05:47.880 --> 0:05:51.080 small Ohio Town really really hit me. I mean, it's 0:05:51.080 --> 0:05:52.839 an addictive feeling, you know what it's like being on 0:05:52.920 --> 0:05:55.400 stage while showing your film and having people respond to 0:05:55.440 --> 0:05:59.200 it became very addictive. So that fueled my desire to 0:05:59.240 --> 0:06:01.520 get there as well. Your parents say about all your 0:06:02.200 --> 0:06:05.599 politically incorrect film, very dark stuff back then, you know, 0:06:05.920 --> 0:06:09.240 they You know, my my mother went with it. My 0:06:09.320 --> 0:06:11.479 father didn't really want to have much to do with it. 0:06:11.520 --> 0:06:13.440 He figured, okay that you know, my father was most 0:06:13.720 --> 0:06:15.760 most of the time, my father was under a car 0:06:16.200 --> 0:06:18.159 repairing it, you know, and in the garage when he 0:06:18.200 --> 0:06:21.280 wasn't working or having a beer. So I um, as 0:06:21.320 --> 0:06:24.600 long as he's not on the streets, it's exactly my parents. 0:06:24.920 --> 0:06:27.599 Not only he's not taking drugs, that's true, and that 0:06:27.600 --> 0:06:30.359 that actually you know, my mother was very supportive. My 0:06:30.360 --> 0:06:33.800 mother was probably much more supportive than my father about 0:06:33.839 --> 0:06:36.360 what I wanted to do, and she had she shared 0:06:36.440 --> 0:06:38.360 sort of that dark sense of humor that I had 0:06:38.400 --> 0:06:40.640 as well. So she supported those of those movies and 0:06:40.680 --> 0:06:43.440 she watched I used to watch SNL with her. She 0:06:43.520 --> 0:06:46.760 loved it. So you you get to Weinstein you had 0:06:46.800 --> 0:06:49.680 a super eight sound camera, but you get to Weinstein 0:06:49.839 --> 0:06:52.440 and what's what are the first recollections you have of 0:06:52.520 --> 0:06:55.280 that when you get there? To go to n y U? Honestly, 0:06:55.920 --> 0:06:59.719 n Yu. The night I got there, Spawn drinking age 0:06:59.760 --> 0:07:02.440 was eight team sponsored a bar tour. Can you imagine 0:07:02.480 --> 0:07:05.400 them doing that these days? Eight to ten bars in 0:07:05.400 --> 0:07:07.600 the East Village. They would take a group of freshmen 0:07:07.600 --> 0:07:13.000 and go to each bar Chumley's, mcsorley's. And that's where 0:07:13.000 --> 0:07:16.440 I met my best friends, and that's where I met 0:07:16.480 --> 0:07:19.040 my future producing partner, Michael barn Nathan. We met that 0:07:19.080 --> 0:07:22.840 first night and and uh yeah, you could be said, 0:07:22.840 --> 0:07:26.320 I mean, the lawsuits are ridiculous. And we met and 0:07:26.440 --> 0:07:29.360 we hit it off, and and there was this I mean, 0:07:29.400 --> 0:07:31.160 you know what it what it's like you go into 0:07:31.200 --> 0:07:35.640 this community of everyone who shares your deepest love of 0:07:35.880 --> 0:07:38.560 something like film, and you have someone to talk to 0:07:38.600 --> 0:07:40.360 about it. I had no one to talk to about 0:07:40.360 --> 0:07:42.920 it in Ohio, you know, I was this everyone's come 0:07:42.960 --> 0:07:47.000 there from the aluminum factory. Finally I was able to 0:07:47.080 --> 0:07:50.160 have arguments and discussions and we would get these into 0:07:50.200 --> 0:07:54.400 you remember these intense and passion discussions about directors, you know, 0:07:54.560 --> 0:07:58.000 and and Frank Capra was he really great? Or was 0:07:58.040 --> 0:07:59.880 he you know, was he much more of a populous 0:07:59.920 --> 0:08:02.560 to director? And you get into these fantastic discussions that 0:08:02.560 --> 0:08:05.240 didn't exist for me in Ohio? So I was in 0:08:06.560 --> 0:08:08.520 you know, it was like Christmas morning every day at 0:08:08.600 --> 0:08:10.920 n y U. So when you go to film school 0:08:11.720 --> 0:08:13.920 did you go there when you started to become a 0:08:13.920 --> 0:08:16.320 wash and all that process? Did you love it? And 0:08:16.360 --> 0:08:17.600 you ate it up? And you said more and more 0:08:17.600 --> 0:08:20.040 and more you love the technical No, actually I don't. 0:08:20.120 --> 0:08:22.480 I mean the technical side of it. I have very 0:08:22.480 --> 0:08:25.680 little interest in it. I want to know as much 0:08:25.680 --> 0:08:27.640 as I need to know so I can go onto 0:08:27.640 --> 0:08:29.720 a set and block a scene with actors. But I'm 0:08:29.840 --> 0:08:32.840 much more and I was. I've always been this way. 0:08:32.840 --> 0:08:35.720 I'm much more interested in connecting with the actors on 0:08:35.760 --> 0:08:37.880 a set because what I've seen as a producer over 0:08:37.880 --> 0:08:40.000 the years, as I saw it as a writer when 0:08:40.000 --> 0:08:44.040 I was just starting out. Directors, a lot of directors 0:08:44.520 --> 0:08:48.679 tend to be afraid of actors, which it drives me insane. 0:08:48.800 --> 0:08:52.679 I cannot understand. They're suspicious of actor. They're suspicious of actors. 0:08:52.720 --> 0:08:55.600 They don't want to discuss, you know, it's this whole thing. Well, 0:08:55.600 --> 0:08:58.160 if an actor has a question, as he challenged, I 0:08:58.200 --> 0:09:00.800 love that. I love that back and forth, that discussion 0:09:00.840 --> 0:09:04.080 that you know, I thought it was kind of cool 0:09:04.200 --> 0:09:08.040 and the Apocalypse Now documentary, when Brando and Coffler were 0:09:08.040 --> 0:09:13.000 sitting there for six days discussing discussing his character. I 0:09:13.040 --> 0:09:15.560 love that about actors. So I'm much more drawn to 0:09:15.600 --> 0:09:18.960 working with the actors than I am working, you know, 0:09:19.160 --> 0:09:21.440 figuring out what lens I need to use. I know 0:09:21.480 --> 0:09:23.040 what I want the film to look like. I know 0:09:23.080 --> 0:09:25.520 how I wanted to feel, But I don't need to 0:09:25.520 --> 0:09:27.199 know the numbers. I just want to make sure that 0:09:27.240 --> 0:09:29.200 when I get on that set, those actors and I 0:09:29.840 --> 0:09:31.640 that we trust each other no matter what kind of 0:09:31.679 --> 0:09:33.560 film it is. So there must be moments, though, where 0:09:33.559 --> 0:09:35.800 you're sitting there on the set of a Harry Potter 0:09:35.880 --> 0:09:38.880 film and Roger Deakins, who is one of the greatest 0:09:38.880 --> 0:09:42.480 cinematographers of his generation, is there, and do you sit 0:09:42.520 --> 0:09:44.840 there and say, what do you think Roger? What lends 0:09:44.880 --> 0:09:48.000 you defer to him about all the cinematography to do. 0:09:48.120 --> 0:09:50.120 Sometimes that don't go no, No, I think it's this, 0:09:50.320 --> 0:09:52.760 or I think you must have an opinion. Oh completely, 0:09:53.040 --> 0:09:55.240 It's not like yeah. Complete. In other words, I don't 0:09:55.240 --> 0:09:57.880 abdicate all that to something. No. No. I I do 0:09:57.960 --> 0:10:01.400 my homework. I storyboard everything. Um, I do my own 0:10:01.440 --> 0:10:03.120 shot list in the morning. I know exactly if I 0:10:03.120 --> 0:10:05.080 want to use a crane or a dolly or a 0:10:05.400 --> 0:10:08.199 And I also don't there there's the other side of 0:10:08.240 --> 0:10:10.360 me where I've seen directors who only want to deal 0:10:10.400 --> 0:10:12.800 with the actors and don't want to block the scene 0:10:12.800 --> 0:10:14.520 and leave that all up to the cinematographer. I'm sure 0:10:14.520 --> 0:10:16.160 you've seen that as well, but I and I'm not 0:10:16.240 --> 0:10:19.440 interested in that. I want to have the control, certainly 0:10:19.480 --> 0:10:22.080 of the visual look of the film. But I don't 0:10:22.200 --> 0:10:25.160 need to get again, I don't need to say I 0:10:25.200 --> 0:10:27.679 want to fordy here. I don't. That means nothing to me. 0:10:27.760 --> 0:10:29.840 What means something to me is to look through the 0:10:29.880 --> 0:10:32.280 camera and know if I've got it right. But it's 0:10:32.559 --> 0:10:35.520 as I said, it's much more important. The writing is 0:10:35.559 --> 0:10:38.920 extraordinarily important to me. And the connection with the actors 0:10:38.960 --> 0:10:41.360 and the crew as well. You know, I I've seen 0:10:41.360 --> 0:10:44.080 a lot of directors work and there's no connection with people, 0:10:44.160 --> 0:10:46.559 and I hate that. I just hate those directors who 0:10:46.600 --> 0:10:48.640 sort of build a wall up around them and maybe 0:10:48.679 --> 0:10:50.440 maybe it works for them. I'm sure it works for 0:10:50.480 --> 0:10:51.920 some of them. But for me, it's a matter of 0:10:52.160 --> 0:10:54.640 connecting with almost every person on that set. So when 0:10:54.679 --> 0:10:57.720 I leave the set, they all feel that they've had 0:10:57.760 --> 0:10:59.640 a great day. I know it's a weird thing to say, 0:10:59.679 --> 0:11:02.360 but it's very important to me that that that the 0:11:03.040 --> 0:11:05.120 person has the smallest job on the set feels as 0:11:05.120 --> 0:11:07.640 if he's he or she has contributed something that day. 0:11:07.640 --> 0:11:10.200 You know. And then when you left n y U, 0:11:11.200 --> 0:11:14.240 what did you do? I left n y U. I 0:11:14.320 --> 0:11:18.520 had actually I was lucky enough I had left, but 0:11:18.679 --> 0:11:24.839 in seventy I had written, um, something interesting happened. That 0:11:25.200 --> 0:11:28.800 I had a scholarship. I had this great scholarship that 0:11:29.000 --> 0:11:32.360 got me through ny U the first year. And my 0:11:32.440 --> 0:11:34.320 mother would call me. You remember, we had those pay 0:11:34.360 --> 0:11:37.120 phones at the end of our dorm hallways's no cell phone. 0:11:37.160 --> 0:11:38.719 So every Sunday I would go to the payphone a 0:11:38.760 --> 0:11:41.920 call home, and my mother would say, Chris, don't forget. 0:11:42.200 --> 0:11:45.520 To go to the Burstar's office and signed. I had 0:11:45.559 --> 0:11:47.800 to sign some papers so I would renew my scholarship. 0:11:47.840 --> 0:11:50.640 And I would say, Mom, no problem. I'd forget. I'd 0:11:50.679 --> 0:11:53.520 be doing something That went on for six weeks. The 0:11:53.559 --> 0:11:56.920 seventh week I called. She was screaming at me, said, 0:11:56.960 --> 0:12:00.760 you lost the scholarship. I said, oh, christ, I the scholarship. 0:12:01.120 --> 0:12:03.760 She goes this summer, you're gonna have to work at 0:12:03.760 --> 0:12:08.719 the aluminum factory. So so I went back. I went 0:12:08.760 --> 0:12:12.040 back to Ohio, and I was working basically swing shifts. 0:12:12.040 --> 0:12:15.000 I would work stay shifts, afternoon shifts, and night shifts. 0:12:15.120 --> 0:12:17.600 After your first year, my first year, did your mother 0:12:17.640 --> 0:12:19.160 make you a little necklace with a little piece of 0:12:19.160 --> 0:12:25.520 aluminium after that, in the shape of a crucive. Don't 0:12:25.520 --> 0:12:28.080 sunk up on it? Oh god? I so anyway, so 0:12:28.200 --> 0:12:29.839 I realized if I was on the night shift, I 0:12:29.880 --> 0:12:33.000 could read. So that first year I was just read, 0:12:33.200 --> 0:12:35.640 you know, novels for eight hours. I had to do 0:12:35.679 --> 0:12:39.120 it again after my sophomore year. So I went back 0:12:39.120 --> 0:12:41.560 my sophomore year, and I realized, if I could get 0:12:41.559 --> 0:12:44.800 on the night shift for the entire summer, I could 0:12:44.800 --> 0:12:48.400 write a screenplay. So what I did is I remember 0:12:48.440 --> 0:12:53.000 these gigantic, hulking cylinders of aluminum, and I would sneak 0:12:53.000 --> 0:12:56.040 behind the aluminum cores and sit there with a notepad, 0:12:56.040 --> 0:12:59.120 and I wrote my first screenplay, a screenplay called Jocks 0:12:59.120 --> 0:13:01.720 about high school foot ball, my experiences with high school football, 0:13:01.760 --> 0:13:04.640 and I was a terrible football player, but I I 0:13:05.559 --> 0:13:07.560 you know, it was very person Sorry. Yeah, I suited 0:13:07.640 --> 0:13:09.960 up and I brought that back to my writing teacher, 0:13:10.000 --> 0:13:12.640 a guy named Jesse Cornbluth, who gave it to his agent. 0:13:12.960 --> 0:13:15.079 And his agent was a guy named Ron Bernstein who 0:13:15.080 --> 0:13:18.120 still works in New York. And Bernstein took me on 0:13:18.200 --> 0:13:21.440 as a client my junior year. A producer since passed away. 0:13:21.480 --> 0:13:25.480 Steve Friedman optioned it for five grands. So your professional career, 0:13:25.640 --> 0:13:28.079 which was which began as a writer as a screenwriter, 0:13:28.920 --> 0:13:31.360 was leveraged by corn Bluth, who was your teacher at 0:13:31.440 --> 0:13:35.160 n Y. Yeah, that five grand prevented me from ever 0:13:35.160 --> 0:13:38.280 having to go back to the liminary factory. Um. So 0:13:38.320 --> 0:13:41.520 that was my junior year, and then my senior year 0:13:41.559 --> 0:13:45.200 I decided to not right because I was getting writing offers, 0:13:45.240 --> 0:13:47.480 which was great, you know, but I was in college 0:13:47.679 --> 0:13:49.040 and I wanted to take that time to do my 0:13:49.080 --> 0:13:51.560 senior film, my senior thesis. So I did a senior 0:13:51.600 --> 0:13:54.840 film that year, and then when I was out, you know, 0:13:54.920 --> 0:13:57.439 after college, I just, uh, my agent started to get 0:13:57.440 --> 0:14:01.160 me writing gigs, and I started writing after as soon 0:14:01.200 --> 0:14:08.079 as I graduated. Basically, I lived on twenties between six 0:14:08.160 --> 0:14:10.959 and seven. Um, one school, you were in Chelsea. So 0:14:11.040 --> 0:14:13.600 when school ended, you decide you're gonna stay in New York. Yeah. 0:14:13.600 --> 0:14:15.559 I decided to stay in New York because I, again, 0:14:15.600 --> 0:14:17.640 I was always very wary of going to l A. 0:14:17.760 --> 0:14:20.720 I I don't know why. Why were you wary of 0:14:20.720 --> 0:14:22.880 it even then? You know. The weird thing is I 0:14:22.920 --> 0:14:25.360 have so many friends who think of l A as 0:14:25.400 --> 0:14:27.360 like that's where all the films are made, that's where 0:14:27.800 --> 0:14:30.520 that's where the magic happens. But for me, I was 0:14:30.600 --> 0:14:32.640 I just at that point, after four years in New York, 0:14:32.640 --> 0:14:34.720 I felt very comfortable in New York and had this 0:14:34.840 --> 0:14:37.920 vision of being able to make every film in Manhattan, 0:14:38.360 --> 0:14:40.800 or writing in Manhattan and living in Manhattan. I was 0:14:40.880 --> 0:14:42.800 kind of out of work and I couldn't figure out 0:14:42.920 --> 0:14:44.560 what I was going to do next. And a friend 0:14:44.560 --> 0:14:48.120 of mine, Mitch, said, you know, there hasn't since Jaws, 0:14:48.240 --> 0:14:51.080 there really hasn't been a great movie that's featured He 0:14:51.160 --> 0:14:53.080 used the word monster. There has not been a great 0:14:53.120 --> 0:14:57.960 monster movie made. And I said, that's a good idea 0:14:58.000 --> 0:15:00.080 that's interesting. And in the loft I lived in and 0:15:00.520 --> 0:15:02.600 we had these mice scurring around on the floors, and 0:15:02.600 --> 0:15:04.160 I would sleep with my hand raped over the bed 0:15:04.200 --> 0:15:05.640 and mice would go by in the middle of the night. 0:15:05.680 --> 0:15:08.360 I thought, these tiny creatures are frightening. So I spent 0:15:08.440 --> 0:15:11.640 the next six weeks writing the script called Gremlin's and 0:15:11.640 --> 0:15:13.520 I wrote it on spec. I wasn't paid for it, 0:15:13.600 --> 0:15:16.720 and I sent it to my agent, who um liked 0:15:16.720 --> 0:15:18.720 the script but felt it was a little dark, and 0:15:18.760 --> 0:15:22.080 still sent it to about fifty producers and studio executives 0:15:22.200 --> 0:15:26.040 and everyone passed on it. And Spielberg. Steven Spielberg was 0:15:26.120 --> 0:15:29.120 leaving his office on a Friday and passed his secretary's 0:15:29.120 --> 0:15:31.200 desk and it was sitting there. That's why so much 0:15:31.200 --> 0:15:34.640 of this business is luck. He passed the script and 0:15:34.680 --> 0:15:37.560 saw the title and said that looks interesting, picked it up, 0:15:38.280 --> 0:15:41.200 read it that weekend, and decided he wanted to option 0:15:41.240 --> 0:15:43.240 the movie. Now I didn't know this, I gotta call 0:15:43.320 --> 0:15:46.320 up my loft. Barnathan answers the phone and says it's 0:15:46.320 --> 0:15:49.040 someone on air. Says he's Steven Spielberg. I get I 0:15:49.040 --> 0:15:51.680 get the phone. He goes Chris it's Steven Spielberg. I 0:15:51.800 --> 0:15:55.520 was stunned, and um, yeah, he flew me out to 0:15:55.680 --> 0:15:58.320 l A. I got to meet Spielberg and that sort 0:15:58.360 --> 0:16:02.480 of That was teen eight two, and I lived in 0:16:02.600 --> 0:16:04.200 l A for nine months at that point. So what 0:16:04.280 --> 0:16:06.440 happens in that nine months He's giving you notes or 0:16:06.480 --> 0:16:09.120 there's creative people. He would give me notes. Now, Gremlins 0:16:09.160 --> 0:16:11.360 was sort of often running, and someone else was even 0:16:11.400 --> 0:16:13.920 rewriting it as I was working on another script for Stephen. 0:16:14.520 --> 0:16:17.560 For some strange reason, I had sort of carte blanche. 0:16:17.560 --> 0:16:20.240 I could go into his office whenever I wanted. He 0:16:20.840 --> 0:16:22.440 whether he liked me, I don't know what it was, 0:16:22.520 --> 0:16:25.680 but I had an office three doors down from him. 0:16:25.720 --> 0:16:27.760 I would just go down there whenever he would be 0:16:27.800 --> 0:16:31.760 sitting there with Richard Gere or or or Warren Beatty. 0:16:31.840 --> 0:16:33.640 One time he's like, Chris, come on in, would he 0:16:33.920 --> 0:16:36.160 and I would start to talk to him about ideas. 0:16:36.360 --> 0:16:39.160 One day, he's looking through these old EC comic books 0:16:39.560 --> 0:16:42.200 and he says, look at this title, Chris, the goon Children. 0:16:42.320 --> 0:16:44.200 And I said, the goon Children, that's a cool title. 0:16:44.880 --> 0:16:47.840 And we came up with this story together about these 0:16:47.920 --> 0:16:50.560 kids who find a Treasure Map, and it was the Goonies. 0:16:51.160 --> 0:16:54.480 I would write three pages of Goonies, run to Steven's office, 0:16:54.560 --> 0:16:56.840 give it to him. He would make some notes. I 0:16:56.840 --> 0:16:58.800 would run back to my office and make the changes, 0:16:59.080 --> 0:17:02.120 and we've finished that script in about six weeks. Then 0:17:02.160 --> 0:17:05.480 I wrote Young Sherlock Holmes with him, kind of in 0:17:05.520 --> 0:17:08.560 the same way for Amblin, and that's when I and 0:17:08.600 --> 0:17:13.640 that's when I redirected Goonies. Richard Donner Dick Donner directed Goonies, 0:17:14.080 --> 0:17:18.479 and who directed Young Sherlock Holmes Barry Levinson. Yeah, so 0:17:18.720 --> 0:17:23.200 it was so you have Steven Spielberg producing your films 0:17:23.520 --> 0:17:26.679 and your three doors down from him and Richard Donner, 0:17:26.720 --> 0:17:28.880 who directed Superman. I'm gonna I want to tell people 0:17:28.880 --> 0:17:32.200 in the audience who don't remember this timeline. And Levinson 0:17:32.480 --> 0:17:35.720 was directed many great films they direct. Those are your 0:17:35.720 --> 0:17:37.639 first two movies that could mat well. Gremlins is the 0:17:37.640 --> 0:17:40.520 first one as well. Joe Dante. Yeah, so you go 0:17:40.560 --> 0:17:43.879 from Joe Dante to Donner to Barry Levinson for the 0:17:43.880 --> 0:17:45.840 first three films that your name was on the script 0:17:46.280 --> 0:17:49.080 and your name was on as the writer of all three. 0:17:49.720 --> 0:17:51.600 You know, it was kind of a heady experience. At 0:17:51.600 --> 0:17:55.240 the same time, I always knew this is what I 0:17:55.280 --> 0:17:56.800 need to be do, This is what I should be doing, 0:17:56.920 --> 0:17:59.520 This is what I have to be doing. What did 0:17:59.520 --> 0:18:02.720 you learn from Spielberg? Spielberg was like graduate school of 0:18:02.720 --> 0:18:07.240 filmmaking For me. Spielberg was like, UM, I learned shortcuts 0:18:07.400 --> 0:18:10.359 and I learned basically, it was a Billy Wilder quote 0:18:10.359 --> 0:18:13.280 that Stephen, you know, nailed into my head every day, 0:18:13.359 --> 0:18:17.800 which was, don't tell the audience something more than once. 0:18:18.280 --> 0:18:20.159 I learned how to edit material, I learned how to 0:18:20.160 --> 0:18:22.479 write better dialogue, and I learned how to be much 0:18:22.560 --> 0:18:25.639 more visual as a writer from Stephen. So it was 0:18:25.680 --> 0:18:28.960 a great relationship, you know, um, and still is a 0:18:28.960 --> 0:18:31.240 great relationship to this day. We have the opportunity to 0:18:31.240 --> 0:18:33.760 work together a couple of years ago. So I I 0:18:33.840 --> 0:18:35.840 really loved that time. But at the same time, I 0:18:35.840 --> 0:18:38.239 needed to get back to Manhattan. Why. I don't know. 0:18:38.440 --> 0:18:40.680 I just felt like I missed I missed it. I 0:18:40.720 --> 0:18:43.240 mean it was it's very simple. Did you have a sense, 0:18:43.280 --> 0:18:46.480 because I find other people have the same thing, it's 0:18:46.560 --> 0:18:48.800 better for me to stay here for my career. You 0:18:49.119 --> 0:18:51.359 didn't think of all those lines, No, I I don't 0:18:51.400 --> 0:18:53.919 think at the time I was able to articulate it. 0:18:54.119 --> 0:18:57.080 You know, twenty thirty years down the road, now I 0:18:57.119 --> 0:18:59.359 can look back and and understand why I did it, 0:18:59.440 --> 0:19:03.760 because I was seeing the beginning of people losing touch 0:19:03.800 --> 0:19:06.520 with reality. Why do directors not have long careers. They 0:19:06.520 --> 0:19:10.879 don't have long careers because they become extremely successful. Then 0:19:11.000 --> 0:19:15.560 they move into these huge mansions and live an isolated life. 0:19:15.600 --> 0:19:17.480 They watch movies in their screening room. They don't do 0:19:17.480 --> 0:19:19.480 their own grocery shopping, they don't pump their own gas, 0:19:19.560 --> 0:19:21.720 they don't get out there on the street. At the 0:19:21.840 --> 0:19:24.280 end of all that, you've lost connection to real people. 0:19:24.320 --> 0:19:27.399 What are you making movies about, even if they're fantasy films. 0:19:27.400 --> 0:19:29.560 Even again, I did not realize that at the time. 0:19:29.600 --> 0:19:32.200 I realized it years later. I realized the reason I 0:19:32.240 --> 0:19:35.159 went back to New York was to connect with everyone again, 0:19:35.240 --> 0:19:38.240 so I could go to the corner superrette and buy 0:19:38.280 --> 0:19:40.320 a carton of orange hues for forty dollars, you know, 0:19:40.480 --> 0:19:43.639 so I could see people every day, take my dry cleaning, 0:19:43.640 --> 0:19:46.120 and take my laundry. And that hasn't changed to this day. 0:19:46.320 --> 0:19:48.800 I have not changed, you know. I have a great 0:19:48.800 --> 0:19:52.120 housekeeper now, in San Francisco. But for the most part, 0:19:52.320 --> 0:19:55.719 again because I'm a director and nobody really knows what 0:19:55.760 --> 0:19:58.400 the hell I look like. I'm anonymous. Yeah, but you've yeah, 0:19:58.480 --> 0:20:04.840 You've kept this very low profile. Nobody knows what I 0:20:04.840 --> 0:20:06.640 do in San Francisco. I mean, I have a couple 0:20:06.680 --> 0:20:10.639 of friends. But I love it. It's fantastic. They are 0:20:10.680 --> 0:20:14.920 all conscious choices you made, not I think some of 0:20:14.960 --> 0:20:17.480