The Hollywood Reporter recently gathered Greta Gerwig, Guillermo Del Toro, Patty Jenkins, Denis Villeneuve, Angelina Jolie and Joe Wright for a director's roundtable interview. Here is an excerpt:
You're on a lifeboat with a Blu-ray player …
GUILLERMO DEL TORO We are going to do that? That's not fair!
What are you going to take with you to watch? Let's start with you, Guillermo.
DEL TORO Oh, why?
DENIS VILLENEUVE Because you are the cinephile of the group.
ANGELINA JOLIE Always, always.
DEL TORO It's so difficult for me to answer, because I will answer something completely non-prestigious. When I was a teenager, The Road Warrior [1981] completely destroyed me. It's the first time I noticed how the camera worked and moved, and it was a ballet, and I have never been the same. But I would probably change my mind halfway through the lifeboat journey, and I would go, "Where is Frankenstein [1931]?"
PATTY JENKINS Oh, my God! So many movies go through my head.
DEL TORO Come on. I did The Road Warrior.
JENKINS The weirdest one keeps coming into my mind. I Know Where I'm Going, [1945, directed by Michael] Powell and [Emeric] Pressburger. I love that movie. The design of it fascinates me because it's so romantic, but you never notice that it's becoming that romantic.
What did it teach you?
JENKINS The pocket of emotion of romance — the space where you get it and it's sincere and it's real and you just keep it from hitting the ground. You're right there in it. "Oh, my God, it's happening." It's what love is to me: It's when fear is mixed with desire. There's something so incredible about that moment.
Is love in real life ever what it is on film?
GRETA GERWIG Yes.
JENKINS I have theories about love. But fear and desire being equal is the thing. Film allows that to happen, but that's what it is in real life, too, although we always want to shut it down. Your desire is always to get the upper hand on [the fear], and as soon as you do, it's not so much love anymore. Film allows people to feel comfortable extending it longer.
GERWIG I am not choosing this on my boat, but Brief Encounter [1945]: She looks at him and says, "You looked like a little boy just then," and he looks at her and it's like, too late, they are already in love. Anyway — Singin' in the Rain [1952], I mean, if you are on a boat.
Patty, were you welcomed by Warner Bros. when you made Wonder Woman?
JENKINS I was. I mean, to get in there was a long story. I had first talked to them about it in 2005, and there were so many different chapters when they were and weren't going to make it. These tentpole movies, I feel it's more like dating than it is [like], "Hey, just buy my pitch." It's a serious commitment. I had almost done other big movies and had seen very little disagreements [derail a project]. So I was extremely circumspect when I came in to [talk about] doing Wonder Woman. I was really cautious. And when I first was meeting with them, they wanted to do something different, and I was like, "Ah, it's a shame. I don't think we are the right match." By the time they came back and realized they wanted to do something very similar to what I had been saying, it was a much different conversation. So I was extremely welcomed. I was very supported. And it's the biggest advice I ever give young filmmakers: Pick the right projects, because you don't want to end up in a bad marriage.
DEL TORO In 25 years, I have had one single bad experience: [Mimic] in 1997 at Miramax/Dimension. I learned that great word, which was "no," which is the same in every language, but I learned it. I agree completely with what you are saying: It's like adopting a baby tiger. A year later, that baby tiger eats your face.
Read the full interview at The Hollywood Reporter.
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