By the time I got to the Fox studio for my first major film, I knew how to hit a mark. I knew how to memorize lines. I knew how to pay attention.
I don't really believe in the mystery of cinematography - what happens in the camera is what the cinematographers create and all that nonsense - I want the director to see what I'm trying to do.
You can't create a movie as you think about it. And what's in the scene is not what's being seen. A shot always means something other than what it is. All are vehicles. A landscape is just a vehicle. The viewer might think different things, and I'm not going to intervene.
My interest in filmmaking was always very much the visuals and images.
People talk about the difference between working on stage and working on film. I think you could say that there are as many differences between working on low budget films and working on big budget films. You really are doing the same thing, but at the same time you're doing something vastly different as well.
Normally as a director, you do look at other films and things that are relevant. But with this film, it became impossible because I became so aware of the camera placement.
Typically, whenever you're envisioning how you're going to shoot something, you have a location or a set that you're going to build, and it's going to be built to specifications.
Shooting a film with seven to eight actors together is complicated sometimes because you have to cover everybody.
I'm always secretly the most pleased when a show just really, really looks good and when my camera guys are really happy with the images they got.
I have definitely been curious and involved in the process; even as a young actor. I was always looking at where the camera was, what story it was telling. And as my experience grew, I wanted to know even more.
I did a good bit of episodic television directing, but directing a movie is so much more complicated.
Even if one is not a great actor, just being in front of the camera requires a lot of effort.
Every cinematographer I worked with had his own way of solving problems.
'America' took at least five days of actual filming.
Stunts have to be meticulously arranged. Choreographed. You could take a fight scene and set it to music.
I love Hitchcock movies. I took a Hitchcock class in college, so I saw all his movies. I wrote papers on his movies.
I'd be really interested in making a dramatic, low key 3D film.
When I first filmed things, they were always slightly awkward.
It's hard to incorporate dance into movies I think.
So many directors say nothing beautifully, and so many others say great and profound things but have no idea how to read a light meter or arrange a shot.
I always wanted to make a film on Kalahandi.
I'll reshoot a corridor 13 different ways, and you'll never recognise them.
I have wanted to direct for quite some time, but I wanted to be ready and know what I am doing. I wanted to know the basics.
I am eternally impressed and amazed by what directors do.
The idea of directing my own movie is definitely more challenging than choreography.
