Olek has a great line in Mac, in which he says: “Beauty costs.” Not to reduce your career to one line, but don’t you think you’re chasing that concept in much of what you’ve made? The second film you directed, Illuminata, is largely set in the theater world, and it’s a film about that struggle between commerce and good work.
I’m interested in how people are trying to create something and how they share that space; there can be a tremendous, complicated love story there. I think John Cassavetes said: “I have a one-track mind. I only make love stories.” They’re crazy love stories, but I understand that. You have to do it your way. You can’t imitate someone like him. What are your urges? What are your interests? And I have done that. Those films are very close to me.
Let’s list some of the incredible filmmakers you’ve worked with over the years: Spike Lee, the Coen Brothers, Peter Weir, Martin Scorsese, Robert Redford, Robert De Niro, Guillermo del Toro, Diane Keaton…
Francesco Rosi.
Francesco Rosi, on The Truce—thank you. I could keep going… Gillian Robespierre, Jill Sprecher, Susan Seidelman, Allison Anders, Michael Bay, Noah Baumbach, Tony and Ridley Scott… It’s unbelievable! Being a great director, does that come down to clarity of vision?
If you direct me, you bring your sensibility—or sensibilità, as they say. Everyone’s different. Some people really like collaboration. Some people are more like puppet masters. I like when someone knows what they want, even if they frame it and block it, when they still allow me my contribution—because the “how I do it” is my joy. I don’t have to change your lines, but how I realize them. If I can create a space between myself and the other actor, that’s really a joy. And sometimes, then, you don’t need to cut a million times.