tv Arts Unveiled Deutsche Welle April 23, 2024 8:30am-9:01am CEST
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the counselor ideas have any relevance to you. let us know in the com the . 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 parcels in the oliver and, and i was like, oh my god. 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 mike's fun, breakable, starring bruce willis and samuel jackson signs with mel gibson,
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the village star and your team, phoenix. lady in the water with palsy tomatti and the happening with mark walberg. 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 the 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 it 1st and i'm very quiet over here and you know,
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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, and a and i post facility. so that's where we added all the movies and we screened 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 crass the perfect chair. that's my goal and we both do our work in a bar in retrospect, i guess that was maniacally driven. as a kid, i don't remember a single reading moment where i was in trying to become the robust cube champion, or the ping pong champion, or the spelling bee champion, or the number one in the class. this 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,
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there was this weird kind of desire to be excellent at something. and what was really interesting was i was doing feel making on the sides 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 amount 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's
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a magic drive of people that 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, eliza, or 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 you estimate of the and was 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 arch way. the young filmmakers came and the new filmmakers came and they saw my
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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 shade scene rate. and every song, the radio was perfect and i was singing and on the way back and i was making a movie for me or macs, 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 to the camera. her to go, i went away and i wrote the screenplay. now we skipped the
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a 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 in my life at that time. so the next script i wrote, i, i swore i was going to write it. and if, 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 them agents 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 and i want you to tell everybody it's $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 bed minimum bed and he's guaranteed to direct and they said, well what's it about? and he goes, i don't know,
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i haven't read it. and they were like, that's bullshit. they just didn't 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 made. everybody 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 away from me. a baby in the 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 in my parents guest room and, and that it was an amazing experience. amazing, amazing is best. 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
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a real way. and i was, i felt this time i felt ready like i was, i was ready. 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,
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i felt like someone was going to, it didn't happen to me so much as a kid that 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. and 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 girls . i had 3 girls and their interests were important to me. and so things like the last there been there was, it was a cartoon that they loved. and related to that was a very empowering to it had
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a lead girl. 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 win the game before the game starts. and i need to, 1st of all, because i right, my movies they have to, i can feel that 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
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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,
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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 might 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 plan, 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 last 8, so you did it. how did you did a re okay, let's go to the video. the video is very normal casting process and 6 ends, we just checked out kids from both coasts and they ended up being like 3 finalists
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. 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 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 is 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 in staying stag. so i show the tape of to it's everybody and they're like, wow, this gives amazing. so it was very,
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very lucky the right kid at the right time locked in like kind of love that 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,
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which is probably you advised for those movies because i'm always kind of making it as simple as can be the now, uh, 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 was 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 chopped 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
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talking and with the girls that came her girlfriends and their giggling and all that stuff. and then 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 i, we were doing all that 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
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you had the end of the movie you're, 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, i use in his eyes. and he's like using, i'm going to bring it for you. and it was like the stand off. and we just stared at each other and nobody said anything after that for a 2nd. and i was like, it's probably better just to roll cameron, 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, the know, you know, the, i'm not
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a mistake the, it all makes sense. comic, you know, you can tell we are going to be the exact opposite. and so funny and witty. but inside him is all these calls are 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, what are you gonna put me in another movie? and i was like, yeah, that's how he talks about delta the, my 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 that when i went out to, to go take some meetings, you know, i got an age and this,
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the agents that come out and takes the meetings and i stayed with a families, family, friend and, and you know, you saying in a guest room and i was terrified and i rented a car, it was, you know, the classic. you rented a big white car and i was so nervous. um, every at that i locked my keys in my car 3 times. um 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 dr. automate yet everything ment lot you know, i drive into the guard booth at the, at the gardens as you come in. 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, and executives 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 a find this needs like she's in bungalow, blah, blah, blah. so do this, and i park in front of the bundle i, i'm not sure i know where i am,
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and of course i have passed ambling at the time. i mean this is, i was out of my mind a little bit feeling like a fraud. can i get the car and then 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 now like us close the door and i come in and like great, great. and she's like what? come on it. and i'm like okay, and i go to cub, it's good. now the door's locked, the car is running. and so just remember that the, the meta of this, which is, i'm 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 to do warranties 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 he's on the phone there. her assistance on the phone. yes. yes. and then doing all the same conversations 4
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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 this been 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, the janitor breaks into our meeting and is that guy, you're the one that locked the keys in the car while it's running? yep, that's me. 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. 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 write is the exorcist the godfather. and just, you know, the 3 movies are really kind of a bell for me to, to, to remind myself of what can be achieved in terms of making entertainment. but
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without compromising at all the integrity of your voice and your integrity of how you see art. you can kind of china listen, i'm in this area of, of this tree to like past tense and all, 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. to 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 movie, what the movie is, you know what, 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 to me. there's something. there's something about lady in the water that i felt i felt like i was really close to something super poor.
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there was a, 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 the lady in the water. and when i mean people on plains and stuff like that, it just is there's something religion about that movie and to me as well. cause i was really trying to be pure when making it without regard to protection without regard to selling and without guard 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
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this ticket accurate the fans of this actually 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, doesn't make 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 and 2 of them, 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
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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 water and i'm breakable on signs and $0.06. you're going to get a good sense of who i am and what i, what i think about it. what i believe about family in 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 of the
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just been kind of how the woman but i'm not a man either. not a 3rd option or anything else. i just don't have a genders. robin has fair to become domestic held in family and friends, react to the change, and the partner, not a man, not a woman, a tender dw, respect its own about walk in waves and texting nature. that's
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dry, sandra, respecting they just studied new tvs. it's about being up to date with current ideas, technologies. i'm trying to fully eat co way of life, the environment magazine, the co op in 90 minutes on the w, the get ready for an exciting. i've been trying to look surprised. hi, i wish up. and i'm ready to dive into the hands of human to you. have you have a window of quote on this. we've got a spot on the on expected side to side come name project. cassandra re determined that has below was operating like a global drug market. the objective to financially drain has come
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and bring them down. the team agents from the american drug enforcement agency they had criminalized themselves. we needed to reveal that so world. why did the us government suddenly shut down project cassandra in 2016? 03 pod documentary series and mos king has paula stats may, 4th on d, w the, the, the,
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this is the w news life from the land ongoing or how recovery efforts at the site to the mass grave in does that look and say they have recovered nearly $300.00 bodies at a hospital in the city of on unit full. so coming up on the program, we visit a small ukrainian city, close to the russian border. a community twana, pos it's people trying to put themselves back together off to sleepless nights. the russian bombardment and the verses parliament costs as a controversial bill to the port asylum seekers to rewan that the prime minister insists the 1st lights will leap within weeks.
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