I asked Shia: who is the guy that terrifies you the most? And he said Mads. So it was somebody we both really wanted to work with. He's intimidating, but has a really big heart and he's sexy. He's got this sexiness, even guys fall for him. He just penetrates everything-not literally. So we needed a brokenhearted thug that could really give us the heartache. And going between the violence and viciousness and the complete softness without making it too much. A lot of those characters can go into a charade, and I needed it to be genuine heartbrokenness and that's what he's great at doing.
I think I've always admired sort of dynamic filmmakers, which doesn't shy away from strong expressions. Which might be a little more theatrical at some points.
Danny Boyle has been a huge, has had a huge effect on me. His movies, early movies like Trainspotting and those movies. So I've always loved the energies of those movies. But also, that they are very focused on the characters. Cause it's not only gimmickery, it's not only about visuals. You feel a real need, a love for the main characters. So that's what I've always loved about watching movies myself.
What I've always loved about watching movies myself of course that's [Bas] Luhrmann. His Moulin Rouge! is incredible, his Romeo + Juliet. Wow. You know. When I saw those, those really were transformative films for me.
I've been working with music videos and commercials, they are naturally very music driven and visual driven. So that feels like my natural element to be working with that.
What I love about the filmmakers that I mentioned [Danny Boyle,Leo Carax], is that it's visual but it's also, you see that the characters are the most important thing. The actors are the most important thing.
I think digital. I think digital and I was terrified about it for a long time. But I think digital because it gives so much more freedom to work with the actors.
When you're working with film and you hear that mag starting to roll and you know that there's thousands of dollars just spinning around, it's another stress element, which I don't enjoy at all.
I was so lucky to be working with amazing actors like Shia and Evan and James Buckley and Mads Mikkelsen and Rupert Grint and Til Schweiger and those guys, so you really want to make sure that they, that I don't have to shut off the camera because I'm running out of film or it becomes too expensive.
When you see Paul Thomas Anderson's The Master and it's shot on film at 75mm it's...you know. It's hard to compare. But I still think that digital is close enough, and I think it's getting closer and closer to be...there's no doubt it's going to be taking over completely unfortunately.
