Can you tell us one of your favorite experiences while making a film?
Ah, difficult question. Apart from the tragedies of two members passing away, I loved all of it! I suppose the Academy show has to be one of my favorites. Filming with Eileen Hall was terrific fun, if only because she was always trying to get me into bed, despite the fifty year age gap between us! I loved Fred’s jokes – in one case, if you watch carefully, you’ll see my camera shaking because I was laughing so much. The jail scene was also an amazing experience to film. I was lucky enough to be operating the camera which caught the faces of the prisoners. Everywhere I looked, I saw the same expressions. It was an incredible privilege to be there and witness that moment.
Can you tell us one of your favorite movie-going experiences?
That’s another hard one. There are so many. Being a bit of movie geek, I see so many films, and I always try to find something to take from them. I suppose in the last couple of years, the two movies that really touched me were United 92 - it made me weep – and a German film called The Lives of Others, a story set in East Germany at the end of the Cold War. It was profoundly moving, and deeply shocking. I knew a little about that world, having directed a couple of documentaries on a similar theme, but the movie really brought it all so vividly to light, with all its insanities and cruelties but also possibilities for redemption.
