is there another way officer rules, the environment is not responsible. make up your own mind, dw, made for mines. hi i'm. i'm nice, sean milan and you're watching hollywood best film directors. i'd like to think of myself as a craftsman, you know, like that. i'm a sure person across the perfect chair. that's my goal for me. pre production is how you win the game before the game starts. first, dad met him. it was scary cuz i remember i was sitting with kathy and the assistance like goose puzzles in the oliver and, and i was like, oh my and he was only 22 when he directed his 1st movie to praying with anger, which he followed with a family future wide awake and a chief great success as a rider on stuart little after that, he directed a string of international successes with sy fi thriller as likes, unbreakable,

starring bruce willis and samuel jackson signs with mel gibson, the village star and choking phoenix. lady in the water with paul's jamante and the happening with mark wahlberg. he was also no stranger to the fantasy genre directing huge blockbusters like the last air vendor. and after what he may always be best remembered for introducing that little boy who saw dead people in the 6th sense the we're actually, you know where we are and now is my office you on a farm i, i live in pennsylvania just outside philadelphia and i think it used to be a kind of the hurdle to get over that. i don't live in in hollywood, but then pretty quickly it became an asset in that it's

informed to my writing and it made a difference. and i'm very quiet over here and you know, generally the doors close and i right, right. every day i come in and i write for 6 months. and then in the barn where the cows used to be r r a is a theater in the post facility. so that's where we added all the movies and the screen them and we have previews there. and you know, it's very much like i prefer, you know, like to think of myself as a craftsman, you know, like that all mesh person, the crafts, the perfect chair, that's my goal. and we both do our work in a barn. in retrospect, i guess i was maniacally driven. as a kid, i don't remember a single, a breathing moment where i was in trying to become the rule. this cube champion, or the ping pong champion, or the spelling bee champion, or the number one in the class. just to drive to that or a tennis player, you know,

when it's on tournament or this, or that, you know, and i guess i, there was this weird kind of desire to be excellent at something. and what was really interesting was, i was doing filmmaking on this side because i loved it and didn't apply this kind of maniacal drive to that. it was something that i just loved doing. and then i looked up at like 15 and i go out of and this is all i do is make movies. maybe i should think about doing this for a living. and then i read spike leads, but it was like a really profound moment. i've actually told spike this, but it was a profound mom and we were at the airport a, j, f, k. and so i went in the bookstore and on the carousel was like 8 blocks, but one of them was spike leaves. she's got to have it and making of that movie and i just did the moment when i was thinking this got i, i spent a lot of time making little movies. you know, this is something i'm interested in. and then i read that book, which for me was a pivotal moment. it gave me permission to make movies because up until that point,

i thought that was something that a magic drive of people did out in some magic land called los angeles. and, you know, didn't seem like it was a feasible thing, but spike in no. anybody either in spices went to school for a movie making and became a filmmaker. and as i can go to this place and why you and learn filmmaking? so literally, as soon as i finish the book, i'd like to my parents, i'm like, this is what i'm going to do. the wide awake was my, my 2nd movie, technically, but really was my 1st u. s. movie. and was with really the 1st movie done with a studio. and i got that by submitting a screenplay to all the studios. and 2 of them were interested in making it. and nearer max, at the time was kind of the, you know, the archway,

the young filmmakers came and the new filmmakers came. and they saw my movie that i shot in india and thought it was pretty good. i remember driving home how happy i was, you know, it was literally, you know, it's like that's the shape seen rate at every song. the radio was perfect and i was singing. and on the way back and i was making a movie for me or max, and it was very sad. i was $23.00 at that time the connection, the, i believe, you know, the, the under failure of the 1st 2 movies, i gave me a sense of nothing to lose the next time out with the camera. her to go.

i went away and i wrote the screenplay, now we skipped the step, which is after wide awake i, i wrote a screenplay called labor of love which became like this phenomenon. script in height with everybody wanted to buy it. and i, they bought it and then they fired me off as director as soon as they bought it. and it was a real tragic moment for me and my life at that time. so the next script i wrote, i, i swore i was going to write it and if they don't guarantee that i'm directing it, i'm not selling it to anybody. i was not bluffing. i was ready to not make this movie. so i called maintenance. and i said, i wanted to have a new screen play. i'm going to send it to you on sunday. i went to auction it off on monday day, and i want you to tell everybody is $1000000.00 minimum that and guarantee directing. made is a great actually they called up everybody and said, nice guy, this needs to be in play. it's selling on monday. you have to make yourself available is $1000000.00 opening that minimum bed and he's guaranteed to direct and

they said, well, what's it about? and he goes, i don't know, i haven't read it. and they're like, that's bullshit. he visited and believe it and they didn't believe it. they, you will be crying because now i'm ready yet. any guys. and they got any meet everybody to get available. so then we went out on monday, monday and i flew out and i got a suite at the 4 seasons which i could not afford. my wife and we had a baby and a bed started coming in and like 2 hours after the 1st screenplay was delivered and one's duty after another, a bit against each other. and at dinner at dinnertime, at 6 pm, we sold it for $3000000.00. and, you know, went from, i was living in my living and my parents, guestroom and, and that it was an amazing experience. amazing, amazing space. and again, i don't remember the to the thrill of the, of the money as much as the opportunity to make it properly. and that everyone was

going to hopefully let me, let me make this, you know, in a, in a real way. and i was, i felt this time i felt ready like i was, i was ready. i would, i sold that when i was 202522 at 2625. and i just felt i felt like i was ready to direct ways before 100 percent. i was a writer who was learning how to direct this time. i felt like a writer director. i'm ready at that point, my mentality. what was strange about the success of that movie? i didn't believe it. so i just kept my head down and i was immediately writing, unbreakable, like i was an on it. i was an 6 inches in the theaters for so long that we were in pre production on break. about $0.06 was still in the theaters in the same year that i'm breakable came out in that same year. so it was in the same your, i to movies in the movie theaters. and so i was in deep reproduction. i remember having the lead preproduction to go to some awards ceremony or something for the

movie. it was, it was just all very on top of that, i felt like someone was going to, it didn't happen to me so much as a kid that the movies failed and that was on the precipice of having that thing. and it was, you know, i, i didn't trust the field at all, which is a really healthy thing to, to, to, to have as a point of view. so i just put my head and i was like before they decided that i shouldn't be in this, in this club anymore. i'm gonna make another movie for you. she was getting at least one more movie before they kick me out. and so i put my head down and, and, and made unbreakable action. what ended up happening, i think. and over the last 67 years is i started to leave making movies for young males, adult males. and it started to move towards teen girls because i was raising golf. i had 3 girls in their interest were important to me. and so things like the last

there been, there was, it was a cartoon that they loved and related to them was a very empowering to, it had to leave the all. and i, you can see my movies generally moving towards kind of young females in the last 67 years because of, of being a parent of, of, of the children. so last year been, it was absolutely for my kids to make a family movie for them. the from the pre production is how you and how you, when the game before the game starts. and i need to 1st of all, because i right, my movies they have to, i can feel it when it's when they're still a problem or when i'm trying to figure it out later. i don't have the answer. so when i can get peace on the screen play, that's phase number one, which doesn't always happen if you get close, but you don't. but if you're lucky enough to feel peace, then the 2nd phase would be the crewing casting and story boarding,

that group of 3. and i've really come to believe or that for me it's almost like being pregnant. you want to be in the right mindset. whoever feels please. thanks. i think i got to as well as the star in 6 sense because kathy kennedy and frank marshall asked him, i have they flew. i've met with them. i felt that movie was shooting and they, they asked me to read the screenplay and they told him about me and he read the screen by and then he saw wide awake. and then he agreed to do the move in. then we met and i was scared to death. the 1st time i met him. we're very close now and but the 1st day i met him. it was scary cuz i remember i was sitting with kathy and the assistance like goose parcels in the oliver and, and i was like,

oh my god. and then she, she was like, she must be never too cuz she was like, tell me what you're going to say. don't let's, let's role play and i'm like i and, and then i didn't know what to do. oh, you know. and then the elevator goes doing and then he gets off and he comes in the room says hi kathy. i think frank, my think frank was as well as that. i had frank and then he comes around the table to me and you know, whatever i was going to say or do, went out the window because he gave me a hug. and when he gave me the high get really he had already had a relationship with me based on the screen playing the movie he saw. and he was super gracious to allow that to be his opinion of me. and so he just mediately became friends and he took an incredible stance of i believe in you or whatever you say goes and nobody mess with them. and so he was like my protective umbrella for the making of the movie. i see that on the list 8. 0 you did it. how did you get it? re okay,

let's go to the video 0. it was very normal casting process and 6 ends. we just checked out kids from both coasts and they ended up being like 3 finalists and i went in and met with the 3 finalists. and haley, joel osment was one of them. and when he came in and sat with me and he did the scenes, i just, i didn't even want to make a movie. and i called the counselor address, i didn't want, i don't wanna make a movie unless it's disc kit. yeah. he did. she broke or we can see that's where she standing next to my window. i knew it lightning. it does lightning when it hit man. and i remember it like to this day i made fun of everybody that was on lakeland producers and things like that. where like, i'm not sure about this kid and like a get ends things dad. so i,

i show the tape of to it's everybody and they're like, wow, this gives amazing. so it was very, very lucky. the right kid at the right time walked in. i got a lot better to do the type of cell making that i do on that scale would require 5 years to do that movie. that's the trip. and those to makers that do that, whether it's peter jackson, when he did it with the rings, or even for example, i'll find with gravity all that time that was taken on those movies. i can see that working for years 5 years to do it. but to do it in a compressed timeframe of 2 and a half years to 3 years, which is what these movies are. it's, it's scary and you're just keeping up and just physically, a lot of stuff. and there are a lot of filmmakers that love that kind of stimulation, you know, spill or, and then michael bag and all those guys and cameron of the king of the stimuli. i

don't have the intellect that they have for those things. and so it's, it's a very scary time and i'm always pulling it back to minimalism, which is probably you advised for those movies because i'm always kind of making it as simple as can be. the now gibson is a is a, is a, a jokester he, he'll tell he does weird invitations, but the, i guess the funniest thing that happened was one of the funny thing. there was a lot of funny things, but one was my wife and her girlfriends came to the set of signs. and he said it, let's play gag. you know, there's a dog in the movie and as a dog there says, while we're talking, let's just pick up the dog ball and start eating the dog foot pin. the dog food was actually just regular food and we had dropped off but they didn't know that. so

he's talking with the girls and he picks up the bowl and my walk in and i am mallor talking and with the girls that came her girlfriends and their giggling and all that stuff. and then he that he picked the ball and doesn't mention he's just talking and then he starts eating out of the ball and they're like, and they're walking and starts eating as of all. and they're like, they're so like offended to why they like, what do they do? and i'm like, what, i'm crazy too. i'm crazy like mouth like are my any dog food? i don't make a particular protein very well. it makes my bones very low intensity, very easy to break. so sam jackson is, as you probably know, is very funny guy, and he's very kind of, he'll make funny a lot and a, we were doing a little as seen and i'm breakable. and he's in a wheelchair and he did, he did the scene and i came over and i forget what i said to him. it was harsh. i said something like you didn't, you weren't, you didn't, you didn't bring it so that was not sure what that was for you. you're going to

need to, you're gonna need to bring it right now, because this is the end of the movie. and you have the end of the movie your, it's, it's, this is about everything. why you did all this, this character. why, why the care to did all this? and he stared at me and was like ice in his eyes. and he's like using, i'm gonna bring it for you. and it was like the stand off. and we just stared at each other and nobody said anything after that and for a 2nd and was like, it's probably better just to roll cameron and see what happens because i definitely provoked them and we will cameras. and he gave this incredibly poignant performance that's at the end of unbreakable, this kind of, you know, thing about wanting to be a villain and how it least is somebody important the, you know, you are the, the,

the, i'm not a mistake. the, it all makes sense. comic, you know, you can tell them the art village is going to be the exact opposite is so funny and witty, but inside him is all this college in motion. and instead of provoking something, i saw him on the the street the other day in los angeles. we were driving and he pulled up next to me and he was like, when he gonna put me in another movie. and i was like, yeah, that's how he talks about the mom i said, the going to los angeles at any time, was going to like oz from me. it was a big deal. this is where they lived, you know, steven spielberg lives somewhere there. you know, is like a big deal. and so the, when i went out to, to go take some meetings, you know,

i got an age and then some of the agents that come out and take some meetings. and i stayed with a families, family, friend and, and you know, using and a guest room and i was terrified and i rented a car. it was, you know, the classic. you rented the big white car and i was so nervous. um, every at that i locked my keys in my car, 3 times is on that same trip to los angeles. i mean, i was terrified. i was absolutely terrified. luckily one was at the mcdonald's. so that was good. so i didn't have to deal with too much of the embarrassment, but the worst one was i went to visit an executive at universal, you know, and on and drive automate. yet everything meant lot, you know, i drive into the guard booth that the, that the gardens as you come and see and you say hi, i'm nice online, you know, i'm like, whatever 2122 years of this is awesome. you know, being able to say, you know, an executive is waiting for me, but i'm so nervous and the guy says, you know where to go, you turn rather stay to be and you do this. so i do all that. i find this and he's

like, she's in bungalow blah, blah, blah. so do that. i park in front of the bundle i, i'm not sure i know where i am and of course i've passed ambling at the time. i mean this is, i was out of my mind a little bit feeling like a fraud, and i get the car and i stand. i'm like, i'm not sure i know where i am. and then the exact lady's like hi, how are you? i are you are you night and i'm like yeah, it's close the door and they come in and like, great, great. and she's like, will come on in and i'm like okay, and i go to dublin. good. now the door's locked, the car is running. and so just remember that the, the meta of this, which is a meeting this lady to let me direct the movie. she's supposed to give me millions of dollars to put in my responsibility. you know this kid and she sees me like the door and she's like, did you, did you lock your keys in the car? and i'm like, yes she goes but it's running. i'm like, yes, it's running and it's locked. and she's like, oh my goodness and i'm like, i'm so sorry. and then she's like, well let me call maintenance so they had to cause she's on the phone there. her

assistance on the phone. yes. yes. and then doing all the same conversations 4 times. yes, he locked his keys in the car, the car is running. no, the keys are inside, they keep the car was running when he locked the door and they invested constantly retailing my ridiculousness over and over and then so i'm in the meeting and i'm not even thinking about what i'm saying. i'm so this is when this is a disaster. and then finally with janet over extend to our meeting. is that guy? you're the one that locked his keys? the car was running. yep, that's may i go out and then the jimmy pop it and i take it and she's like, well, it's really nice meeting you everything else is great. great. the have on my wall here in my office, a bunch of my favorite movies. you know, i the 3 movies i have up here at my desk when i, where i right. is the exorcist, the god father. and just, you know, those 3 movies are really kind of a, of

a bell for me to, to, to remind myself of what can be achieved in terms of making entertainment. but without compromising at all the integrity of your voice and your integrity of how you see are you can kind of trying to listen in this area of, of this tree to like past 10, you know, you know, i, you know, it's funny i, there's something about the box office of my movies have no correlation at all to how i feel about my movies. they confuse me a little bit actually. and because that's related to cell ability, which is a separate fact or what. so from, from the actual and movie what the movie is, you know, how, how sellable is 5 easy pieces today. i don't know if it's a sell a bit of sellable at all. right? but it doesn't mean that the movie itself isn't fantastic or meaningful for me. there's some, there's something about lady in the water that i felt i felt like i was really

close to something super poor. that was as a fan that was dying and watch laid in order every single day in his last days. and i sent him, i heard about him and i sent him a script and i signed it. and he died. holding the script to a lady in the water and what i mean people on plains and stuff like that, it just is there's something religion about that movie and to me as well. i cause i was really trying to be pure when making it without regard to protection without regard of selling and without garbage genre. i wasn't thinking about any of that. in fact, i let it all go the, you know, i'd say you say about fans and people that have seen my movies and things like that that enjoy the film making. uh that was one set up at a civil. and i was,

i was talking with an actor and people started coming up to us and this ticket accurate the fans of this act. it kept coming up and they were, they were being silly and they didn't really know them very well. and the people that were coming up to me, they come up and they say something really specific about this movie of that movie and what it meant to their life. and what they thought about what i was saying, or the mentor for this, or the colors of this and what that meant. and it was all about, keep, you know, like every single one over and over and over, kept coming up to me and saying, you know, we hear you, we, we love what you're doing, keep going, keep doing this, keep going, don't give up kind of 5. and he lives over, i mean, goes like, you know, your fans or, you know, there's so you, you mean a lot to them, mine just want to take a picture with me and you mean a lot to them. and it really was touching because for me i, when i went home that day by the my team last year instead of when i went home that

day i was thinking how lucky i was to have made a career where i can look at it and almost every single idea i, every single movie, it was an idea of mine had represents it either my for judy, my ingle, all my questions. and so there's an honest relationship with the audience. that's who i am. you know, the collective thing of the vc lady and the order number a couple on signs and $0.06. you're going to get a good sense of who i am and what i, what i think about and what i believe about family and life and what's out there and fears. and so it's, it's been a, you know, an incredibly uncompromised and precious thing to have this relationship with you guys and hope to just honor it and honor and honor it with purity. so thank you very much. i. the

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. this is dw news. now, i from berlin, ukraine's president calls for the rapid delivery of new weapons of to us low make us approve of package of origin needed military aid for the meals. the lensky, welcome to support the thing. it will send a powerful message to the kremlin ukrainians of confidence. the assistance will make a difference on the battlefield. also coming up is rarely false, has killed more than a 1000 people during a rate at the west bank. in response, palestinians launch a general strike closing all shops in protest. the

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