Lex Fridman: belief

Transcript context

…When we do Desperado, I brought him back. Didn’t even have to do any dialogue. Watch that movie. When he shows up in the opening scene when Desperado, he’s playing the guitar and the opening with the credits, to tie it into the first movie, he shows up again. And all he has to do is light a cigarette. And you see this, because he’s so nervous because now there’s a crew behind me. Now it’s real. Before it was just me and him and it didn’t feel like a real movie. So everyone gave a great performance. So how do you recreate that later, on a big movie? Is just building a rapport, making a safe zone for your actors. Quentin once told me, we’re talking about directing, he goes, “Yeah, sometimes being a great director is just being a great audience. Being a great audience, because you’re taking the place of the audience for the actor.” They try something and if you’re enjoying it, they know that the audience is going to enjoy it or if it makes you cry, so sometimes you don’t have to tell them a lot sometimes. And if you do have something very specific to tell them, they usually go with it. But I always just like to see what they do. And a lot of times they just are in the zone, because again, they’re getting that flow too. You create the right environment, everyone’s getting this inspiration that’s all tied together that you never could have directed. It’s just like you just create that space where we’re all going to be open to it and it’s going to drop in our lap. And I’m going to point it out when it does, because you may not feel like you know how to play this role yet, but I say not knowing is the other half of the battle and the more important part. That’s the part we’re going to discover, and when it happens, I’m going to point it out and it’s going to be like magic and we’re just going to go, “Okay, we’re accepting it,” and we do it. And it gets people in that kind of headspace, and then we’re all open to it, to where the character’s supposed to go, what it’s supposed to sound like, instead of me being very manipulative to get a certain thing. I don’t know, it’s just whatever feels good. Yeah, there’s such an intimate connection between the actor and the director. I’ve seen some of the behind the scenes footage with you. You are just a fan enjoying the scene when it’s done well. But I think there’s an aspect, if I were to put myself in the headspace of the actor, they want you as the audience to earn that happiness. Because when a director approves… Yeah, when you’re a performer and there’s no other… It’s not like a live show where you get the approval of the audience and you’re like, “Oh, wow, they like that joke. Let me do more.” Really, the director is it. And a lot of times the director’s way behind a monitor somewhere. That’s why I still like to operate the camera, because when I’m operating the camera, it’s like this. We can have a hundred people here, we wouldn’t know because they go away. It’s just us. They just disappear when it’s the camera guy is the director, and we’re going, “Let’s do that again. Let’s do that again.” There’s a shot in… I’m lighting Sin City myself. I have my crew setting lights and I have this great shot of Clive Owen and where he’s holding down Benicio’s head in the toilet. Benicio’s not there. It’s just a close up of him at this point, and I’m practicing my shot. I’m zooming in slow in his face and people are still walking behind him on the green screen setting lights, and I’m like, “I’m rolling. We’re ready to go. We’re getting this. I can already tell we’re already in the moment. What you’re doing right now, just keep holding that look. Now one jolt, like he’s starting to fight back, but you don’t even flinch. Cut. Okay, nevermind. You guys can stop moving that shit. We already got the shot.”…

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