I’m a big believer in keeping the stage directions really tight.
Usually in TV… A TV director could be anything from a main grip to just a glorified cameraman, and sometimes a director can be the person who is hired last. It’s very much a producer’s medium.
I always liked movies like ‘American Graffiti’ and ‘Gregory’s Girl.’ ‘Gregory’s Girl’ is particularly perfect because it really captures that summer holiday bubble of teenage utopia. Even though it’s got a happy ending, there’s a feeling that these characters may never see each other again.
The worst thing you can do after a test screening is slash it for the lowest common denominator.
Usually, if you read a script by somebody else and there’s a dense page of stage directions, people just skip through it or speed read it.
When I did ‘Hot Fuzz,’ I tried to get Barbara Steele in the movie, but I was told she had retired.
The idea of fighting your new girlfriend’s ex-lovers, ‘Street Fighter’ style, is the ultimate geek wish-fulfilment.
Mel Brooks is an interesting one because he started out making films about stuff that he was totally affectionate about, like musicals, westerns, horror films, Hitchcock films. And then, as they get further on, and you get to ‘Spaceballs,’ then it’s just kind of contrived.
I’d rather try and cram in another two gags than leave a pause to say, ‘Hey, wasn’t that bit funny?’
I used to stay up all night playing ‘Resident Evil 2,’ and it wouldn’t stop until the sun came up. Then I’d walk outside at dawn’s first light, looking at the empty streets of London, and it was like life imitating art. It felt like I’d stepped into an actual zombie apocalypse.
Critics should think about how the opening weekend audience might want to discover some surprises for themselves.
When you’re struggling to get a feature film off the ground, there’s no big overarching tenure plan or anything like that.
Car chases are as painstaking to make as they are fun to watch. They take a lot of time, and you have to keep the energy up.
I just remember watching ‘Brass Eye’ and being so utterly blown away by the scope of it and how much it managed to cram into an episode.
I’d rather try and cram in another two gags than leave a pause to say, ‘Hey, wasn’t that bit funny?’
When I went to college, I discovered the Sega console, and ‘Sonic the Hedgehog’ became very dear to me.
I think it’s good to have pressure on yourself. The worst crime is to get kind of really complacent.
In ‘Shaun of the Dead,’ it’s not Shaun’s fault that there’s a zombie apocalypse – he just has to get through the day.
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