Robert Rodriguez: recommendation

Transcript context

…I think that any of those guys, George Lucas, him know John Lasseter when he did Pixar. It’s a mix of, and I always got really lucky. My first job was a photo shop because my dad had a friend who owned a photo shop. He said, your summer job. And I was 16, go work for my friend Mario. I go to Mario’s Photo shop and I’m developing pictures or develop photos from film. And he said, here, take this camera home. Gave me one of his cameras. Take this camera home and some film. I need you to learn how to use the camera so you can help me sell the cameras. So I went home and I have a bunch of siblings, so well the stars are bed head taking all these pictures of everybody. I take it back and he looks at the pictures when he develops, he’s like, “Whoa, these are really creative. You’re a creative person.” So when sometimes people tell you something that you can’t unhear. And he goes, “That’s a gift. But now you need to become technical.” Because most creative people need technicians and technicians always need creative people because they’re not usually the same. You’re born with creativity. It’s against your nature to be technical, but you can learn if you apply yourself. And if you’re both technical and creative, you’ll be unstoppable. And I was like, stop. Wow. So here, I want you to learn zone photography and I want you to learn the technical part of it. So that’s why I didn’t take a crew on Mariachi. I knew if I’m just the creative person and I need a crew to go actually technically make the movie, I’ll always need something. And when you want to really change your life, you want to get your I need list down to little is possible. Because if you’re like, well, I want to shoot my movie, but I need a cameraman and I need somebody who knows how to light it, your I need list keeps growing. That’s further and further and further you will be from what you need to accomplish. So I kind of went down there without any help so remember that script analogy where the guy said, throw away three scripts. I said, no, I’m going to write three scripts and then shoot each one so I get better at each one of those jobs so I can learn to be technical. My technical capability was so little, I’m literally calling the guy on the phone. How do I use this camera? That’s how little I knew about it. But I knew by doing the job, I would learn. By being both, that’s really the key. as so little, I’m literally calling the guy on the phone. How do I use this camera? That’s how little I knew about it. But I knew by doing the job, I would learn. By being both, that’s really the key. So Jim Cameron is like that. Jim Cameron, when you think of those guys, George Lucas, very technical and very creative. John Lasseter, very technical but very creative, Pixar. Jim Cameron, very technical, very creative. Putting those two things together is really what sets you apart from other technicians and other creative people. And it’s very, very powerful and a lot of creative people, again, it’s against their nature to be technical. They don’t want to do it. Make yourself do it. Read the manuals, take the lessons. It frees you up because then you can go do like I just showed you in that demo, you are able to now be a technical person and creative and then you’re unstoppable. He’s one of the best at it and he just knows how to craft a story. He’s very analytical as well. We bounce off each other in a funny way. He goes, man, he came down to visit my studio before he did Alita. And he went, ” You only surround yourself with people who are like you. You exude creativity from every pore and so does everyone at your studio.” And I go, “Yeah, I didn’t hire them that way on purpose.” But I think if you’re not that way, you don’t belong there and you kind of leave. And then I went to his studio and there were a bunch of Jim Cameron’s there. They’re like, oh my God, they’re all very technical. You can’t get all kind of fuzzy with the logic or you can’t get really creative with physics or anything. They’re like, no, that’s not how it would work. It would be… And they’re just, wow, super great at what they do. Bar is sky-high and they’re all like that. Because yeah, you’re not like that, you can’t hang with those guys. You can’t hang with him very long. I heard a story where the guitar case being a rocket launcher, where, to you, you create this real world where everything is possible, the magic feels real. And for James Cameron, he has to know how a guitar case would work that would actually be up to double as a rocket launcher.…

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