Michael Mann Retrospective - Ali (2001)

Ali, 2001.

Directed by Michael Mann.
Starring Will Smith, Jon Voight, Jamie Foxx, Mario Van Peebles, Ron Silver, Jeffrey Wright, Jada Pinkett Smith and Mykelti Williamson.


SYNOPSIS:

The movie depicts a decade in the life of Muhammad Ali, beginning with the legendary athlete’s defeat of Sonny Liston in 1964 and concluding with his 1974 'Rumble in Jungle' comeback fight against George Foreman.


Following the critical acclaim of The Insider, director Michael Mann chose an international boxing icon as the subject of his 2001 film. “I think the reason is that Ali’s life is so extraordinary,” he explained. “It’s so dramatic that it has such extreme dynamics of sacrifice. What was actually intimidating about his life was how do you find one piece of it that would authentically do justice to any one part of it?” The solution for Mann was to focus on the tumultuous period in American history when Civil Rights marches and Vietnam War protests dominated the news headlines; it was midst this domestic unrest that the Lousiville, Kentucky native transformed himself from the unknown Cassius Clay to the global phenomenon Muhammad Ali.

With boxing serving as an integral part of the story, a lot of preparation was required to make sure the fight scenes appeared to be authentic. “Will became a fighter,” remarked the Chicago-born filmmaker of his leading actor Will Smith. “He boxed every Thursday, and worked out six hours a day five days a week. He actually trained with [Ali trainer] Angelo Dundee.” Mann went on to add. “Everybody who plays a boxer in the film is a boxer. We didn't use stunt coordinators or stuntmen. Michael Bentt, who plays Sonny Liston, was a WBO heavyweight world champion. James Toney plays Frasier. Charles Shufford [who plays George Foreman] fought [Wladimir] Klitschko on HBO.”

As for portraying the ethnic discrimination which the athlete had to endure both in and out of the boxing arena, Michael Mann wanted to stay away from melodrama. “The racism that Ali experienced growing up in Louisville was subtle,” observed the moviemaker. “I didn't want to show the typical scene of Ali walking into a restaurant in Rome after winning the Olympic gold medal and they won't serve him. That's real movie-of-the-week, made-up stuff and I don't find it potent.”

When it came to filming the famous boxing match held in Zaire, the filmmaker was influenced by the renowned documentary When We Were Kings which recorded the historic event. “Leon Gast [Kings director] gave us 17 hours of outtakes from his film; he was incredibly generous,” said Michael Mann. In order to give movie audiences a ringside seat, the director experimented, placing cameras on helmets, and boxing gloves; however, what worked the best was the invention of a low-res VHS camera about the size of matchbook, which enabled him to simultaneously shoot the left and right sides of the action.

The movie’s title character, Muhammad Ali, paid the Hollywood production a visit. “I knew he [Ali] was anticipating us shooting,” revealed Mann, “but when he was actually walking around these sets, the three-dimensional reality was a little hard for him. But, you know, the man is absolutely devoid of self-pity, the world's worst candidate for clinical depression. No matter what the obstacle, he reaches down and comes back. He's a huge guy, much bigger than in pictures; he weighs about 255 now. When he rises from a chair and wobbles a little bit, if you reach out to try to help him, he'll smack your hand away. He doesn't take help; that's how Ali connects to people.”

In regards to what Michael Mann thinks of boxers, the director replied, “There might be some anxiety before a fight, but if he's prepared, his feelings have to be that he can't wait to get into that ring. Boxing is something that requires a commitment of courage, but it's highly strategic and highly tactical. It really is an art.” As for the corruption associated with the sport, the moviemaker believes there are moments where “It [boxing] also elevates itself sometimes to become almost mystic.”

To ensure an accurate performance by Will Smith, both the actor and his director conducted extensive research, which involved the use of a dialect coach and the viewing of various interview clips. “Will and I spent a lot of time looking for footage of Ali in repose,” stated Michael Mann, “but he never stops talking or rapping or doing something. His ideas come to him in a very fast, gestalt way. His life story is a function of the way he was in the ring, always switching strategies and coming to conclusions very quickly. The closest thing we could find [that showed an inner, private Ali] was the way he holds his hands, always protected, resting on his chest. When he points, he uses a bent finger. When he shakes hands, his hands are always limp. He protects his hands like a pianist would, and it betrays a little softness or vulnerability not usually seen.”

Despite all the care taken to make a true-to-life portrayal, the story oddly enough lacks the cocky playful spirit which made Muhammad Ali such a compelling individual. For his effort portraying the charismatic and candid heavyweight boxing icon, Will Smith was rewarded with an Oscar nomination, along with his co-star Jon Voight.

Ali trailer:


Mann Handled: A Michael Mann Profile

Trevor Hogg is a freelance video editor and writer who currently resides in Canada.

Michael Mann Retrospective - The Insider (1999)

The Insider, 1999.

Directed by Michael Mann.
Starring Al Pacino, Russell Crowe, Christopher Plummer, Diane Venora, Roger Bart, Rip Torn, Bruce McGill, Michael Gambon, Gina Gershon, Philip Baker Hall and Paul Perri.


SYNOPSIS:

The airing of an exclusive 60 Minutes interview with a tobacco industry insider is cancelled because of corporate pressure.


Despite the praise for Heat, it was not until 1999 that Michael Mann had his Academy Awards coming-out party; The Insider was nominated for seven Oscars including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Adapted Screenplay, and Best Actor (Russell Crowe). The film retells a notorious CBS affair; the subject of a corporate takeover and a major lawsuit launched by tobacco manufacturer Brown & Williamson, the television network scuttles an exclusive 60 Minutes investigative report. The piece details how B & W is manipulating ingredients to improve upon the addictive quality of cigarettes. Russell Crowe produces his finest performance as the seriously flawed whistleblower, Jeffrey Wigand, who along with crusading segment producer Lowell Bergman (an equally engaging Al Pacino) helped to galvanize Americans against the unethical business practices of Big Tobacco.

“What was important to Eric Roth [co-screenwriter] and myself from the outset was that there be nothing didactic or patronizing about this film.” stated Mann. “I would be offended if somebody had the arrogance and the presumption to tell me what I ought to do in my life. This film is not about you all ought not to smoke or you all ought to smoke. That's an individual choice.” He went on to explain, “What this film is about is corporate power and malfeasance. And huge businesses that are highly profitable, that are really in a drug trade. From their point of view, they have a wonderful business -- they have a market addicted to their product.”

“In the movie we view what they do from the perspective of Jeffrey Wigand,” remarked the Chicago born filmmaker. “And now we're getting into the reason to make the film -- the chance to explore the experience of a man who, like all of us, is far from some ideal of perfection. Jeffrey is a normally flawed, inconsistent human being whose personality is somewhat atonal. To him, life is not about who you are, it's about what you do. Jeffrey knew that if he went forward and spoke to 60 Minutes and testified against tobacco, the sky would fall. And indeed it did.”

Recognizing that audiences would find it easier to sympathize with Lowell Bergman than Wigand, Mann observed, “People think Lowell comes out very well in this film, but you can argue that Jeffrey comes out better. Jeffrey attacks Lowell bitterly in a couple of scenes. ‘What is it that you do? What is the function? You gonna inform people and that's gonna change things? Maybe that's just something you tell yourself to justify the status of your position. Maybe this is all infotainment, and people have nothing better to do on Sunday night.’ It was our intent that these questions would resound later on through the film. Because when Lowell hits a crisis, it's after things have turned around for him in terms of the story -- that's when he truly has some critical decisions to make.”

As to what drew him to recount the real life event, the moviemaker replied, “What attracted me was the way Lowell and Jeffrey were such opposites -- if they met each other in a social context, I don't think one would see much of anything in the other. But here were these two men thrown together with only one element in common. Both of them are not living inside the circumscribed "I" of just sheer gratification in careers; both of them recognize that there's something else in life. They both have superegos that tell you ‘you ought to be this way’ or ‘you ought to do this somehow,’ and they do have a sort of respect for each other's actions, character and principles. That there's nothing else in common was great, because it brings into higher relief their sole common component.”

Lowell Bergman was not unknown to Michael Mann for the two of them were at one point discussing doing a couple of projects together. “When I was in post-production on Heat, in the fall of '95,” stated the director, “Lowell was going through all this. I was one of about 10 or 12 people that he would call up to discuss these issues. He'd say, ‘You'll never guess what Don Hewitt said to me today. I don't believe what's happening here. I have relations with people and all of a sudden I'm walking through like a pariah; as I walk past them their eyes make it seem like I'm not there.’"

Unlike Heat which had action sequences punctuated by automatic gunfire, Mann had to improvise and focus the story on the characters. “My anticipation of the film was not to do an elegant, somewhat distant docudrama. I had zero interest in doing that. I want you to feel that you are underneath the skin of Jeffrey Wigand. I want you to step into Lowell Bergman's shoes. I did not want even to attempt to tell the story if I couldn't take you there, because that's the real experience to have. I'd be so disappointed in myself if I couldn't do that. The picture is two hours and 32 minutes of talking. Everything is dialogue. On the one hand you could view it as a horrible restriction; on the other hand you could view it as this great adventure. I mean, someone asked me early on, ‘How do you feel about filming all these phone calls?’ And I said, great -- you get to have two people talking in two different places. We shoot Jeffrey in his bedroom making a phone call, and where does he get Lowell? He gets him at a crime scene in New Orleans, with a dead body and a street full of mounted police, because Lowell's working on a story about the New Orleans P.D.”

The person who fascinated Michael Mann was the one portrayed by Russell Crowe. “Wigand as a character and a man is so human to me,” he remarked, “and, I found, so powerfully emotional, because he isn't a two-dimensional invention of fictive imagination. You would never sit in a room, by yourself, and imagine a scene in which he goes to New York for an interview and does not find it possible to bring himself to tell his wife. And yet, when it happens, you know that in the nanosecond before she trips to it, he is in agony, because of course he realizes it is inevitable that she'll have to know. He just couldn't tell her. And that's life, man -- that's what happens in life.”

As for trading fiction for fact, Mann answered, “It's a challenge to deal with these true-to-life issues. That's what made the material so exciting.”


The Insider trailer:


Mann Handled: A Michael Mann Profile

Trevor Hogg is a freelance video editor and writer who currently resides in Canada.

Michael Mann Retrospective - The Last of the Mohicans (1992)

The Last of the Mohicans, 1992.

Directed by Michael Mann.
Starring Daniel Day-Lewis, Madeleine Stowe, Wes Studi, Russell Means, Eric Schweig, Steven Waddington, Pete Postlethwaite, Colm Meaney and Jodhi May.


SYNOPSIS:

In 1757, North America is the battleground of the colonial powers of Britain and France. Midst the escalating conflict, three trappers from a nearly extinct Native Indian tribe protect the daughters of a British Colonel.


For his fourth theatrical effort, acclaimed director Michael Mann collaborated with Daniel Day-Lewis, an actor more infamous than himself for extensive research methods. Released in 1992, The Last of the Mohicans was a period action-adventure tonic that delighted film critics and movie audiences alike. To prepare for his leading role of Hawkeye, Day-Lewis lived in the wilderness; he hunted and fished for several months before shooting commenced on the eighth feature film adaptation of James Fenimore Cooper’s novel. Interestingly, Michael Mann never read the book; instead he used the screenplay of the 1936 version as his source material.

In order to get approval from Twentieth Century-Fox, Mann required the support of Joe Roth (Fox Chairman) and Roger Birnbaum (President of Worldwide Production). The filmmaker’s approach was simple and straightforward. “I'd acquired the rights to Philip Dunne's 1936 screenplay myself,” he explained, “had done a story outline based on it, and walked into their offices and basically said, 'Guys, I want to do Last of the Mohicans and I want to do it in a vivid, realistic way. They said 'Yeah, great idea.'”

The director drew inspiration from a childhood experience. “I saw the movie when I was a kid,” the Chicago native revealed. “It occurred to me recently that it may have been the first film I saw that made an impression on me. It was after the war, around 1948 or 1949, when I was four or five years old. There was a church in my neighborhood, about a block away, and they used to show 16mm films in the basement - and they showed the 1936 version with Randolph Scott as Hawkeye. I remember the tragedy of Uncas and Alice at the end, plus I remember the fearsomeness of Magua, and the uniqueness of the period. I couldn't identify what was so fascinating then, but I can now - it's the combination of three discrete and very exciting cultures in the same motion picture, which happens to be a tightly-plotted war movie. One is the extremely formal culture of the European ruling class. Secondly, even Magua in the 1936 movie was an expression of a fascinating Native American, northeastern woodlands culture of Hurons and Mohawks, men with their heads shaved and tattoos. Thirdly, the familiar image of the frontiersmen - Hawkeye, incidentally, is the progenitor of all the American western heroes in a direct evolutionary line from Last of the Mohicans through Stagecoach to My Darling Clementine.”

Mann ignored the novel and used the screenplay for a very particular reason. “Because it's a terrific piece of writing,” he remarked. “Dunne did a very interesting thing. He was writing at a time of tremendous political struggle in the United States, a country caught in a depression and at the same time seeing events in Asia and Europe. The view here was isolationist, although some people with political agendas saw the need to take part in international struggles against the rising tide of fascism. Also, there was a heavy dose of anti-British sentiment among the isolationists, led by the Chicago Tribune. Dunne essentially gave Hawkeye the political attitudes of the isolationists: independent, anti-authoritarian...anti-British. But then at the end of the movie in 1936, both men - Hawkeye the proto-American individualist, and Heyward - both in love with Cora, march off to war together to face a greater common enemy.”

For a cinematic storyteller known for portraying the cat and mouse game between criminals and law enforcement officers, a period movie where adversaries fire muskets rather than automatic weapons might seem out of place. “The project's attraction lies in making a passionate and vivid love story in a war zone,” remarked the director. “To make that period feel real means making dramatic forces out of the political forces of this time, which also fascinated me. The politics are functional to the storytelling, as is the visual style. I didn't want to take 1757, this story, and turn it into some kind of two-dimensional metaphor for 1991. What I did want to do was go the other way and take our understanding of those cultures - and I think we understand them better today than Cooper did in 1826 - and use our contemporary perspective as a tool to construct a more intense experience of realistically complex people in a complex time.”

As he went about producing the film, Michael Mann made an interesting discovery. “In researching the period I found that events in 1757 moved as fast as in 1968. And suddenly this period became as alive to me as, say, seven or eight years ago.” The moviemaker went on to add. “Ultimately, for me, it's about trying to make Hawkeye as real as if I was writing and directing a picture about a man who is alive today. The big encounter in the movie is between Hawkeye and Cora Munro, effectively a meeting of people from two different planets. It's a collision between the child of Scottish-Irish immigrants - people who were probably impoverished tenant farmers from the borderlands in the north of England - and a woman who thinks she's going to New England - almost an extension of Grosvenor Square - only to discover that this is a vast new continent, and that attitudinal changes and ideas are sweeping across it.”

There was a major creative issue which needed to be addressed. “The big challenge for me,” stated Mann, “was to work that Cora-Hawkeye story into a tapestry of a full-blown war, with three other conflicts going on at the same time. As it becomes a romance I hope the audience will track with the romance and want it to survive. This woman goes through a great change and so does Hawkeye, but for him it's a transformation from being a Mohican to becoming a frontiersman - a synthesis of the European and native cultures - which is a transformation from son to man. Chingachgook realizes this before Hawkeye does and talks to him about it at the end of the film.”

The Last of the Mohicans trailer:


Mann Handled: A Michael Mann Profile

Trevor Hogg is a freelance video editor and writer who currently resides in Canada.

Michael Mann Retrospective - The Keep (1983)

The Keep, 1983.

Written and Directed by Michael Mann.
Starring Scott Glenn, Gabriel Byrne, Jürgen Prochnow, Ian McKellen, Alberta Watson, Robert Prosky, Morgan Sheppard, Royston Tickner, Michael Carter and Bruce Payne.


SYNOPSIS:

A detachment of the German army is sent to guard a mysterious and strategically important Romanian citadel. When they start turning up dead, the S.S. is sent in to investigate.


Michael Mann briefly left the crime genre for the supernatural thriller The Keep, written by novelist F. Paul Wilson. “I'd just done a street movie, Thief,” explained the acclaimed filmmaker. “A very stylized street movie but nevertheless stylized realism. You can make it wet, you can make it dry, but you're still on "street." And I had a big need, a big desire, to do something almost similar to Gabriel Garcia Marquez's One Hundred Years of Solitude, where I could deal with something that was non-realistic and create the reality.”

As for classifying the story, Mann responded, “The idea of making this film within the genre of horror films appealed to me not at all. It also did not appeal to Paramount. That doesn't mean the movie isn't scary. It's very scary, very horrifying, and it's also very erotic in parts. But what it is overall is very dreamy, very magical, and intensely emotional. It has the passions that happen in dreams sometimes when you're grabbed in the middle of the dream, and yanked into places you either want to get out of or you never want to leave.”

Even though the action unfolds during WWII, Michael Mann does not view The Keep as a war movie. “Only about one-fifth of the film is involved with the Wehrmact and the character of the captain played by Jurgen Prochnow,” explained the director. “The film revolves around Glaeken Trismegistus, who wakes up after a deep sleep in a transient, merchant-marine setting some place in Greece in 1941. The movie revolves around him and his conflict, which seems to be fated, with a character named Roderick Molasar. The end of the conflict seems to fate him toward destruction. He may destroy Molasar or Molasar may destroy him, but in either case Glaeken Trismegistus must go to the keep. And in the course of going to the keep to confront Molasar, he has a romance with Eva, whose father is a Mediaeval historian named Dr. Cuza, very quick, very smart. At a moment in history when he is powerless-- a Socialist Jew in Fascist Romania-- Cuza is offered the potential to ally himself with immense power. For him it's a deliverance, and as a bonus, he also gets rejuvenated. So he's seduced into attaching himself to this power in the keep.”

Evil has become a staple of storytelling over the centuries, for a very good reason. “Satan in Paradise Lost is the most exciting character in the book,” stated the moviemaker. “He's rebellious, he's independent, he doesn't like authority. If you think about it, Satan could almost be played by John Wayne. I mean the Reaganite, independent, individualist spirit. It's all bullshit, but that's the cultural myth that the appeal taps into.”

The story continues to evolve for the Chicago native even when the final draft of the script is completed. “Once I've written the screenplay I've finished the movie,” said Mann, “in the sense that I have a complete evocation of it on paper. Then it's a whole new film again when I start shooting. It doesn't change that much, but now the words are plastic, flexible. So I'm constantly rewriting bits of dialogue before I shoot, which drives the actors really crazy. Then two days before we shoot it they get new pages. Then the day before, they get more new pages. And then when I get them on stage I say, ‘You know the dialogue-- yeah, well, forget it, I want to make a small change.’”

When asked about his hopes for his second feature effort, Mann answered, “If the film works, they'll come out emotionally exhausted. The film is uplifting in the end, the way it turns out. But then the next day the audience will start thinking about it and say, ‘Whoa!’ The best work in Thief was immediate in that sense, in that people would come out either loving it or hating it. And some loved it and hated it at the same time. A friend of mine called and said, ‘The film was fabulous, I just hated it.’ When I asked why, he said, ‘Because I like to feel that I control my destiny, I control my life, and the film made me think that I don’t.’ As far as I'm concerned, that meant the film just hit a home run with the bases loaded. The Keep is less immediate than that, but emotionally deeper because it tries to get at the way you think and feel in the way dreams work.”

In regards to handling a collection of actors who have a variety of accents, Michael Mann remarked, “The first piece of casting I had was Ian McKellen, who obviously speaks British; I've got him as a Rumanian, so I've just broken the rule. The second piece of casting was Jurgen Prochnow, who's German; I have him playing a German who's supposed to be speaking with a British accent. Right then the whole concept went out the window! So I decided not to worry about accents, to just go for classically trained actors who have a lot of flexibility, to cast for talent and art and appropriateness for the roles, and then worry about the accents.”

Even with the international cast of Ian McKellan, Scott Glenn, and Gabriel Byrne, the movie garnered little box office attention.

The Keep trailer:


Mann Handled: A Michael Mann Profile

Trevor Hogg is a freelance video editor and writer who currently resides in Canada.

Michael Mann Retrospective - Thief (1981)

Thief, 1981.

Written and Directed by Michael Mann.
Starring James Caan, Tuesday Weld, James Belushi, Dennis Farina, William Petersen and Robert Prosky.


SYNOPSIS:

A professional safecracker’s plan for going straight spirals out-of-control when he becomes indebted to a crime boss.


Leaving behind the prison walls of his Emmy-winning T.V. movie The Jericho Mile, 1981 saw the release of Michael Mann’s first feature length film Thief. The crime noir was based on the novel The Home Invaders written by real life jewelry robber John Seyfold (under the pen name Frank Hohimer). Playing upon his fascination with the fine line that exists between the law enforcers and the lawbreakers, Mann had Chicago police officers Dennis Farina and Nick Nickeas appear as criminal henchmen, while former professional thief John Santucci plays a corrupt cop.

For the central character of Frank, the moviemaker had in a mind an actor who made a name for himself in The Godfather (1972). “When I met Michael, he had done one thing,” recalled James Caan on how he became part of his favourite movie. “I think I was doing Chapter Two [1979] or something. I see this guy sitting outside my trailer on a little wooden chair. He asked if he could speak to me; he hands me a script — I thought it was great after I read it. I find out the guy did one thing, which I also saw, which is pretty good, The Jericho Mile. So, at the time I was a big shot, and whatever I wanted to do, they did. I said I wanted to do this.”

Behind the camera, Michael Mann sought help from a fellow Chicago native. “I got a call from him asking me if I would read the script for the picture he was doing,” began production designer Mel Bourne. “I saw elements in that script that I really liked.” And when the two men met they discovered themselves to be kindred spirits. “We sat down and talked and had a clear picture of what the James Caan character looked like, what he wore. It was the start of what ended up in Miami Vice.” As for the dark interiors where shadows overpower the daylight, the movie’s production designer remarked, “We wanted that dreary, gritty, night look as a juxtaposition to the wet, neon exteriors.” To maintain this dramatic contrast, a 60,000 gallon water truck was employed to keep the streets constantly wet.

Michael Mann and Mel Bourne went to great lengths to ensure an authentic environment. “We did so much research,” recalled Bourne. “He [John Santucci] helped us and told us scientifically, down to the specific tools, how safes were broken into. Dennis Farina was on the Chicago police force at the time. He was a friend of Santucci’s and had pulled him in a number of times. So you got knowledge from people who really knew what the hell was going on.”

As for James Caan, he greatly enjoyed the cinematic experience, “Jerry Bruckheimer and my brother produced — and if you knew my brother, that's hysterical,” remarked the amused actor. “Those two guys producing it. And Michael — this little Napoleonic workaholic. This guy was nuts. But I liked it, that film, and that character. It's one of my fondest memories.” Thief also includes what James Caan considers to be his best performance. Seated in a diner, the actor has a seven minute monologue with actress Tuesday Weld, talking about his character’s hopes and dreams. Caan was not the only one who enjoyed the picture. “I remember I had a bunch of friends going to Stanford at the time, and I knew a lot of the football players. They used to come and stay with me, and they used to watch that movie once or twice a week. They knew all the dialogue.”

The big robbery was based on an actual heist masterminded by John Santucci, who went on to become a long-time technical consultant for Michael Mann. Though the crime was fictional, the production crew had other serious concerns. “The jewelry store at the end was built at Zoetrope Studios in L.A.,” explained Mel Bourne. “The walls of the safe were real. There were layers and layers of metal and asbestos in the walls. That paid off, because you really get the smell of that arc and you get the feel of the mass of that metal. We had to work with the L.A. police force and the fire department to make sure that the studio wasn’t going to go up in flames.”

Dennis Farina was not only the one making his film debut; the cast also included acting newcomers James Belushi, William Petersen, John Kapelos, and Robert Prosky. Even at this early stage of his directorial career, Michael Mann was honing his trademark style; the movie features slick camera movements, and a moody musical score composed by Tangerine Dream. Despite being a moderate box office success, Thief was a major step forward in establishing Mann as the A-list filmmaker he is today.

Thief trailer:


Mann Handled: A Michael Mann Profile

Trevor Hogg is a freelance video editor and writer who currently resides in Canada.

Image Conscious: A conversation with visual effects supervisor John "DJ" DesJardin

Trevor Hogg chats with visual effects supervisor John 'DJ' Des Jardin...

“2001: A Space Odyssey was my inspiration in 1968 when I was seven years old; it freaked me out even at such a young age because it seemed so real,” states Warner Bros. Visual Effects Supervisor John “DJ” DesJardin whose fascination with science fiction saw him attempt to translate his mental images into cinematic ones. The native of Wisconsin attended the University of Michigan with a particular career path in mind. “I actually went there with the intention of being a marine biologist of all things because they had really good science programs. During my freshmen orientation they started talking about the film program there and I immediately switched. It was like something went off inside me and said, ‘I could go to school, practice this thing I’ve been doing off to the side, and do it for real.’” With the school lacking such items as optical printers, the film student teamed with a friend who was well versed in electrical engineering to build the equipment he needed.

After graduating, DesJardin headed to Los Angeles in hopes of working for Douglas Trumbull’s visual effects company; upon arriving in the city, he discovered that the facility no longer existed. “I had a list of all the effects or graphic houses in Los Angeles and I just started calling all of them up; in June a company called Video Image called me back.” The company specialized in computer and motion graphics, as well as 24-fame video playback which involved syncing up graphics for motion picture cameras. “Greg McMurry and Richard Hollander were two of the partners in that company and they had built Comp C, which was a really sophisticated computer-control camera, for Douglas Trumbull. They did a lot of the crazy traffic lights in Blade Runner [1982] and a lot of stuff in the original Star Trek: The Motion Picture [1979]... That small place grew into a pretty decent mid-size visual effects company called VIFX that continued all the way through until the end of the 90s when it got bought by Rhythm and Hues.”

Technically, the first movie John DesJardin did anything for was 2010: The Year We Make Contact (1984), when he helped Greg McMurry shoot an insert on a computer screen for one of the spaceship control panels. DesJardin was pleased to see the end result in the sequel to 2001: A Space Odyssey. “It was a pretty big deal to get high resolution imagery done for a movie. That’s why you have these certain landmark films, I think because places were setup for them but it was still an expensive concern to get the right imagery into the movie and make it look very good.” DesJardin learned quickly that making a living in the small industry was going to be difficult. “There were more than a few times where if the job we were bidding on didn’t come in for VIFX, I was going to be out of a job.” A major turning point was the release of Jurassic Park (1993) when studio executives realized that digital visual effects could add production value to their movies. “They see it as a tool that can be used from pre-production all the way through post-production; it’s not just a post-production concern, which was certainly what it was a long time ago.” Digital visual effects can prevent a lot of potential problems. “If you can previz a lot of what you’re getting into, it’ll answer a lot of questions and give somebody a common frame of reference departmentally throughout the entire production so that everybody knows what we’re trying for.”

“I almost want to say temperament more than anything,” replies DesJardin when asked what is essential to being a successful visual effects supervisor. “Can you keep yourself regimented, and disciplined to be able to get through what you’re going to have to go through to get something done? Can you keep your ideas fresh? Can you be a nice person?” DesJardin points out there are a lot of key elements involved in making a movie. “If you walk in thinking visual effects are the most important then you forget about writing, directing, the actors and everybody else. There are a lot of bigger concerns…so just be concerned about what you need to be concerned about and just be a nice person; just be pleasant about it because it’s a pretty lucky job to have. You’re not mining sulfur, your lungs are not filling up with sulfuric acid and you’re not dying when you’re 30. Have a little humility, keep your head down and do the work. That I think is the most important thing about being a visual effects supervisor.”

Contemplating what makes a great visual effect, John DesJardin remarks, “One that withstands the test of time maybe, I don’t know… I don’t even know if anybody can make those anymore. It seems like the shelf life is pretty short these days because we’re always doing them and then moving on.” Two recent movies stand out to DesJardin. “I went to see Scott Pilgrim vs. the World [2010] this year; I had so much fun with that movie. The visual effects, while they weren’t realistic and were never meant to be, were fun. They were such an intrinsic part of that movie and it got a visceral reaction from me; I loved that. Then there is the tsunami at the beginning of Hereafter [2010] and that is a really great opening. So what am I suppose to say is better? Am I suppose to say that the tsunami is better because it’s a real tsunami and Scott Pilgrim didn’t have it? Scott Pilgrim wasn’t made to have that tsunami effect, it was made to have sound effect words coming out of the drum kit or something like that. That was what it was made for and because of that, that is a successful visual effect that I think is great.”

Working on The Matrix Reloaded (2003) and The Matrix Revolutions (2003) was a massive undertaking for John DesJardin. “The scope of it was huge and we were going to be required to really push things and do almost every kind of effect you could think of up to that point in the visual effects evolution. I think that I felt like that so much by the end of it, that I actually wanted to quit. I came out it and I started looking at projects coming up after that and it was like, ‘I just did that. And I did that too.’ And if I was looking for anything fresh in terms of the exact imagery I was going to have to do, I wasn’t finding it.” While he was considering a career change, DesJardin co-founded Velvetelvis Studios. “It’s more of an umbrella production company for projects that I like to do that aren’t directly related to my visual effects job. It allows me and my partners to play around with making graphic novels, [and] video games.” The career change never happened. “Richard Hollander called me and asked, ‘Can you help me out? I just need somebody who knows something, to do this shoot on Friday Night Lights [2004] in Texas.’ I thought, ‘I’ll do that. Make a little cash.’ Kind of like the mafia – you tried to get out and they pull you back in.”

DesJardin had a fateful encounter arranged for him by Anne Kolbe, the Vice President of Visual Effects at Warner Bros. “I was coming to the end of The Kingdom [2007] with Peter Berg and didn’t have much to go on,” remembers DesJardin. “Anne called me and said, ‘I’ve got this project that I want you to interview for but I can’t talk about it.’ And I said, ‘Alright, I’ll go to the meeting.’ She didn’t tell me who it was with or what it was for. It was that secret. I walked into Zack’s office not knowing it was Zack Snyder. His assistant Celeste told me, ‘Yeah, you’re going to be meeting with Zack.’ And I suddenly realized – Zack Snyder! He did Dawn of the Dead [2004] which I saw when I was in Texas shooting Friday Night Lights, and I really loved that movie. That remake was great. And then I realized that I had seen at another facility… some imagery from 300 [2006]. I’m a Frank Miller comic fan and I had the graphic novel 300 for years. The images that I was seeing at the facility were just like that graphic novel. And I thought, ‘If that’s the same Zack Snyder, that guy is cool.’ So there I was meeting with him for Watchmen [2009] which was amazing to me.” A couple of months later the filmmaker, who was also born in Wisconsin, contacted DesJardin again. “He liked me enough to give me a shot at doing Watchmen. What can I say? [We have] similar backgrounds in terms of parts of the U.S. where we grew up,” enthuses the visual effects supervisor. “Our pop culture references are all the same. I think every time we are on the set talking about something it is reduced to some kind of analogy with a line in Star Wars [1977] or something like that.”

When discussing the attitude Zack Snyder has towards visual effects, John DesJardin observes, “It is just a natural part of his language. He is not afraid to try a lot of things that I think other people might be hesitant to try.” Trying to recreate the JFK assassination in the opening of Watchmen was a problem because the right filming location could not be found. While standing in a parking lot a solution came to DesJardin; it involved retaining a small portion of the action, with the rest being constructed digitally. “I went to Zack and I drew a sketch. I just said, ‘I think you won’t be afraid of this based on what you did on 300. Here’s the picture. Tell me if you’re afraid of it and I won’t do it.’ I didn’t have to say a word to him; he looked at the picture and said, ‘Go do it.’ That’s just it with him. He is ready to take these often fun and amusing leaps of faith to try to do something crazy and that makes the work and the relationship fun.” As for Christopher Nolan (Inception) collaborating with Snyder on Superman: Man of Steel, DesJardin remarks, “Let’s just say that my point of view is I think that’s a really good marriage. The two of them being responsible for that project, I think it’s really cool and from the fanboy side of me I’m excited about it.”

The IMAX format is not viewed by John DesJardin as making his job more complicated. “We’ve being dealing with that for a long time and they have their own proprietary ways of zooming things up to the resolution bit that are really good, so that doesn’t impact us too much. 3D definitely does. I keep hoping with each project that we have to do 3D for, that there’s a little more forethought every time because I think it really crunches you at the end of the visual effects process.” As for his attitude towards the 3D technology, DesJardin pragmatically says, “This is the time I’m living in right now. I’ve seen it come and go in the past as a fad but it is sticking for awhile this time. I’ve just got to swim in it.” The Warner Bros. Visual Effects Supervisor views himself as having been fortunate with his career. “I’m in a position that I probably dreamt about being in way back when I was growing up in Michigan...It was always like, ‘Man, I wish I could be in a position to really make that type of imagery and guide it creatively.’ That’s where I’m at right now.”

Many thanks to John DesJardin for taking the time out of his busy schedule for this interview.

Read more of Trevor's interviews with Bryan Hirota and John "DJ" DesJardin as they discuss Zack Snyder's Sucker Punch.

Visit the official website of Velvetelvis Studios.

Trevor Hogg is a freelance video editor and writer who currently resides in Canada.

Image Conscious: A conversation with visual effects supervisor Dan Glass

Trevor Hogg chats with The Tree of Life visual effects supervisor Dan Glass...

As part of Method Studios’ plan to expand its involvement in making visual effects for movies, Dan Glass was hired to be its Senior Creative Director; the decision paid immediate dividends for the Los Angeles-based VFX facility as Glass was presented with the Visual Effects Society Award for Outstanding Visual Effects in a Live-Action Commercial. “It was a different challenge for me last year to try my hand at commercials,” says the British-born Glass who oversaw the production of the 2 minute 15 second television spot called Halo Reach: Deliver Hope. “It was enormous fun, a pleasure to push the creative boundaries on a short schedule, and a tribute to the team I’m now involved with.”

Having to combine artistic sensibilities with technological expertise is not a foreign concept for Dan Glass. “My mother is an artist; still to this day she does a lot of printmaking and painting,” says the native of London, England. “My father is more of the scientist; he was a PHD chemist. In a way it was a great fusion for a lot of what I now do. My father got myself and my brother a computer to play with at home. I would hardly say I was one of those closet computer geeks who locked myself away for days or weeks but it definitely helped that I could gain a familiarity with it and learn some of the fundamentals. Then with my mother’s artistic sensibilities I was constantly encouraged to explore music and the arts; ultimately, that led to me choosing architecture, as a pursuit at college, which has a fantastic combination of skills. Within that you obviously learn about things like light and space, all of which feed into what we do within crafting an image.”

Venturing into the visual effects industry during the early 1990s was like exploring a new frontier for the architecture graduate. “It was a very small field,” recalls Dan Glass. “There was a certain amount of technology and software that existed within television and commercials but it dealt with broadcast video. Equipment that was dedicated to the resolution and level of quality that we needed for film was very scarce.” A lot of creative energy was spent crafting fundamental technical tools. “At the time I joined [the Computer Film Company] all of their machines were custom built; they had figured out how to scan film into the computer and record it back out, and all of the processes in-between. CFC [which became Framestore] had built and designed their equivalent to a Photoshop or a Paintbox. The way we had to work back then was more akin to a computer programmer.” Glass explains, “You had to key in and program every little detail including moving an image to another frame buffer and swapping colour channels – all sorts of the intricate details. Thankfully, now, computers take care of an enormous amount of that as we advance but it was great training. You really knew what was going on and how it was working.”

“My first credit was the very memorable Muppet Treasure Island [1996],” chuckles Glass who was a Visual Effects Compositor on the movie. “After many years on the box as a compositor, I began a freelance supervisor career on the film [Thir13en Ghosts, 2001]. From there I was fortunate enough to follow a freelance pattern that never saw me out of work.” A long-lasting creative partnership for Dan Glass was forged with The Wachowski Brothers when he got the opportunity to serve as a Visual Effects Supervisor on The Matrix Reloaded (2003) and The Matrix Revolutions (2003). “Those films seem to have gained a slightly dubious reputation which I don’t completely understand. Any sequel that follows such a successful and original first movie is always going to be challenged,” remarks Glass. “They were extremely successful financially as sequels. When I re-watch them I still enjoy them immensely…To me the projects that appeal to me are the ones that are able to keep my interest throughout the whole making of them. That takes a special kind of project. It has to have a pretty rich diversity with what it’s trying to do or it can be very hard to sustain that stamina through what can be a many-year process. The Matrix sequels were pretty insane for the level of ambition, the volume of work and the content we had to produce. There was never a moment when any of us were bored. Every aspect of the technology was challenged at some point in that production. That’s why it’s probably been a career builder or certainly a career experience for so many people.”

“I’ve always kept an open mind,” responds Dan Glass when asked what has enabled him to survive in an industry which is in constant flux. “The universal thing is that you are there to work with and for the director; you determine and translate what it is they’re after and manage that through the restrictions of budget and time.” Another major skill for a successful visual effects supervisor is the ability to corral the companies and the team of artists in a way that brings the project “to a place where you’re getting the best possible result. Every director and every production is a little different. I would doubt that there’s any individual who can fit perfectly into every situation. I think what’s really part of it is trying to find the right pairing.” As to how he would define a great visual effect, Glass states, “I think it’s a lack of self-consciousness to me. I’m trying to use that term to capture a broad range of things. Clearly there are visual effects that standout and could almost be used to sell a movie. I’m not saying that’s wrong if they fit within the context of the story and the film.” Key examples of this for Glass are Gollum in The Lord of the Rings trilogy, Avatar, and the science fiction tale which established The Wachowski Brothers as international moviemakers. “The thing I thought was extraordinary about the first Matrix was there was an effect that we still talk about to this day; it made such an impression on people but completely made sense within the film.”

“The difficulty of incorporating visual effects into a photoreal environment,” reveals Glass, “is that the closer you get to portraying familiar reality like a human being, the easier it becomes for the viewer to point out discrepancies.” As for the other end of the visual effects spectrum,” he states, “If the stylized reality is clearly defined then that can be a little more straightforward potentially because you’re playing with something that isn’t familiar to the viewer, so you can make some of your own rules.” Contemplating whether the gap between computer-generated imagery and practical effects has lessened, Glass believes that the greatest hindrance is not technology but time and money. “I think the opportunity that we get to really finesse things to that level is very rare.”

“One of the biggest things that we’re likely to see in the next five years is in the increase in render speed,” states Dan Glass. “With the advent of GPU rendering we’ll have these incredibly near photo-real or even photo-real renderings that can be virtually interactive and that in itself will lift some of the artistry…You don’t want artists’ time to be spent waiting for things. The more that process speeds up the more you have time to actually design and develop ideas and push things visually.” Glass is not completely sold on a major visual effect currently sweeping Hollywood. “3D, while I’m not saying it’s only a fad, I think that the mechanism is a little bit more of a gimmick still. Ultimately, its presentation is a cheat on the eyes.” There is also the matter of the image quality. “It is dim because you effectively lose a lot of brightness because you’re wearing polarized lenses, so that cuts out half of the brightness of the image. And with the digital projectors that currently can’t reach the brightness of film projectors, you get even less brightness… There have been some great uses of 3D, but there’s unfortunately been quite a few films I think would have been better without it.” On the other hand, Glass views releasing movies in the IMAX format as being a more genuine pursuit as it is about preserving the visual detail.

The days of having to be more of a computer programmer than an artist are over. “What I find very exciting about the time and place we’re at with visual effects right now is that technology has become a much more malleable form,” enthuses Dan Glass. “As for what the future holds for him, Glass states, “I’m continuing my partnership with Terrence Malick [The Tree of Life] which is a fantastic relationship; I consider him to be a great friend as well. And I will also continue to work with some other filmmakers that I’ve been close to, most notably The Wachowski Brothers; we’ve been developing tests and are working on some things now.”

Many thanks to Dan Glass for taking the time out of his busy schedule for this interview.

Halo Reach: Deliver Hope:


Check out fxguide for an interview with Dan Glass about the making of the Halo Reach commercial.

Vision Quest: The Tree of Life & The Big Lie

Visit the official website for The Tree of Life.

Trevor Hogg is a freelance video editor and writer who currently resides in Canada.

Image Conscious: A conversation with visual effects supervisor Bryan Hirota

Trevor Hogg talks to Sucker Punch and The Tree of Life visual effects supervisor Bryan Hirota...

One of the recent additions to the staff of Pixomondo is veteran visual effects supervisor Bryan Hirota; he has worked on over 50 films starting with Demolition Man (1993) as a computer graphics designer. “My Mother has a Masters of Fine Arts; she has always done paintings and drawings,” states Hirota. “My Dad has an engineering background. I’ve been exposed to a mixture of both.” The early exposure to the arts and practical analysis has served him well. “You have to be able to approach stuff with an artistic sensibility because you’re trying to create imagery that evokes emotional responses. But at the same time if I am leading a group of artists...I’m also responsible to come up with the technical approaches that we are going to take to solve the problems to achieve the atheistic look we want.”

After graduating from the University of California, San Diego with a Bachelor of Science degree in Computer Science, the native Californian found himself working in the early stages of the visual effects industry. “Everyone figured out stuff as we went along,” he informs me. “The industry in L.A. was funny from the early 1990s to 2000; it was like a boom industry… If you could patch a computer you would get a bunch of money. It seemed like a never-ending gravy train. Around 2000, that was when London and Sydney started to be viable places to send work.” The trend has expanded to north of the border fueled by provincial government incentives and the studios wanting to financially benefit from them. “Every company under the sun is opening a facility in Vancouver trying to take advantage of these global tax credits.” There are other reasons for the movement away from Los Angeles. “You’ll have local companies in Australia or in England or in Canada that have grownup by getting more and more work and have become quite savvy at what they do.” Hirota observes, “A big difference now is on an artistic level; you have this opportunity to travel the world and go to work at all these different places. It can be a little daunting depending where you are on the food chain if you don’t want to do that.”

“I’m a visual effects supervisor on the facility side,” remarks Bryan Hirota. “You need to work with your client to fully understand the vision they want to achieve; then you have to pivot 180 degrees inside the facility and work with the team that you have there, whether it be the technicians and or the pure artists, to convey the message of what the director’s vision is and to also be able to construct a workflow and a work methodology that will enable that project to get done.” Keeping an open mind is critical for success. “When you start a new project you really have to evaluate it. I’m sure that the tools and the approaches that you have used before are applicable; if they’re not, quickly identify at the start of the job which ones aren’t. You need to make sure when you get underway that you have tackled all of the creative and technical issues which may come up.”

Questioned as to how he would define a great visual effect, Bryan Hirota answers, “There are certainly the kind of spectacle visual effects that just blow your mind away with the sheer audacity of what’s been attempted and what’s been achieved. The sheer volume of high quality work put into Avatar [2009] is mind-blowing.” Hirota adds, “At the same time there is a film like Inception [2010] which isn’t overtly in your face with their effects as a movie like Avatar but the work is so integral and important to telling that story.” As to what approach is easier when incorporating visual effects, he informs me, “In some ways being given the stylized stuff is easier because no one can say, ‘That doesn’t look right.’...You have less keystones to latch onto when you’re dealing with a stylized world; it’s a tradeoff. You win some you lose some when you decide to go for a style versus reality.” In regards to whether the gap between practical and CG effects has lessened, Hirota believes, “There is a certain physical reality that’s afforded things that are actually real in front of the camera. Will that always be the case? I’m not sure. Up until five, maybe ten years ago spaceships in movies were still always done using models with fiber optics in them. Nobody does that anymore. I don’t know that you can say that the spaceship in the new Star Trek [2009] or the mothership floating around in District 9 [2009] look less real than Star Wars [1977]… I think if you can shoot something with a camera in real life you’re better off doing that because it’s going to look real.”

Past collaborations are a major factor in getting repeat assignments. One such person for Bryan Hirota is Warner Bros. VFX Supervisor John DJ DesJardin whom he met while starting out at Video Image MVFX; he most recently worked with DesJardin on Sucker Punch (2011) and Green Lantern (2011). “If you can find a group of people with whom you have a good relationship…it’s better to bring them back together because doing any one of these movies is really hard. It is hard from start to finish…It is like being in a foxhole in a war. You want to have people down in that foxhole whom you trust.” Contemplating whether there is more artistic license developing an original concept, Hirota says, “I don’t know if you have more creative freedom. I guess in some ways you do because on a sequel you are beholden to what has come before you. On my end of things, I don’t think it effectively matters what the material I’m being handed is. You look for ways to make whatever you’re doing as great as possible. I think the overall challenge is the same.”

Creating visual effects has been made difficult with movies being released in the IMAX format and 3D. “IMAX, because of the increased resolution, exposes more problems,” states Bryan Hirota. “3D, you have more data because you’re dealing with two eyes and then the added burden of, if you’re looking at something in stereo, you can’t hide problems.” As for the future of the visual effects industry, he remarks, “It will only continue to globalize.” Reflecting on how he has been able to survive for so long, Hirota says, “The technology and the tools have evolved so much in the past couple of decades; it is really an ever changing field…I’ve been lucky that there’s been plenty of things for me to do; that has kept me interested enough to be hammering away at this year after year.”

Many thanks to Bryan Hirota for taking the time out of his busy schedule for this interview.

Read more of Trevor's interviews with Bryan Hirota and John "DJ" DesJardin as they discuss Zack Snyder's Sucker Punch.

Trevor Hogg is a freelance video editor and writer who currently resides in Canada.

Understanding Scorsese: A Martin Scorsese Profile (Part 5)

Trevor Hogg profiles the career of legendary American filmmaker Martin Scorsese in the fifth of a five part feature... read parts one, two, three and four.

“I didn’t think of it as Hong Kong. I reacted to what Bill Monahan put together in the script; I liked the idea,” explained American filmmaker Martin Scorsese when discussing The Departed (2006). “Taking from the Hong Kong trilogy of Andrew Lau‘s film [Infernal Affairs], that’s the device, the concept of the two informers. [I am] totally, whether I like it or not, drawn to stories that have to do with trust and betrayal. I found that I kept being drawn back to the script and to the project. It became something else.” Questioned about his shift from portraying Italian criminals to those of Irish heritage, the director observed, “The differences between different ethnic groups as gangsters, that’s purely technical.” Cast in the plot-twisting thriller are Leonardo DiCaprio (The Beach), Matt Damon (The Bourne Supremacy), Jack Nicholson (One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest), Alec Baldwin (Beetlejuice), Mark Wahlberg (Boogie Nights), Martin Sheen (Badlands), Ray Winstone (Edge of Darkness), and Vera Farmiga (Source Code). “It’s really rare in a film of this budget to have characters this interesting,” stated Matt Damon of the $90 million production in which he portrays a gangster mole planted in the Boston police force. Leonardo DiCaprio, who plays the undercover police officer, is in agreement with his co-star. “These characters are two sides of the same coin in a lot of ways,” stated DiCaprio. “They come from different backgrounds but they each could have easily made choices the other character made, depending on the circumstances.” The frequent Scorsese collaborator added, “I think the working experience was interesting because it was almost like we were shooting two entirely different films.”

“We shot in an armory in Brooklyn. That’s where there was space,” revealed Martin Scorsese. “I think it was an issue of a very good shooting deal in New York as oppose to Boston.” Leonardo DiCaprio was impressed with those helping behind the scenes. “We had a great technical advisor name Tom Duffy who knew the entire history of Boston and what the streets were like; he was there throughout the entire filmmaking process. The police gave us unbelievable advice. Matt actually went on a raid at a crackhouse.” The frontline knowledge is not something Matt Damon is going to forget. “The ride-along was a great experience,” said Damon. “I was lot closer to the action than I was comfortable with, I’ll tell you that. We did the whole deep breathing, the little huddle before we went in. They gave me a bulletproof vest and put me at the end of the line of people who went crashing through the door.”

Working with three-time Oscar-winner Jack Nicholson left a lasting impression on Leonardo DiCaprio. “He had a short run; he filmed his scenes and then he left. But those were some of the most intense moments of the film.” DiCaprio went on to give an example, “We did the [table] scene one way, and I remember Jack [telling] Marty he didn’t feel that [his portrayal of Costello] was intimidating enough…I came in the next day and the prop guy told me, be careful, he’s got a fire extinguisher, a gun, some matches, and a bottle of whiskey. Some things are in the film that he did that day and some things aren’t.” Matt Damon is quick to point out that, “None of the violence in this film is gratuitous and the characters pay a price for their violence. That’s a good message to send out to people – that there’s a price to pay.” Acknowledging that there is usually a body count associated with his movies, Scorsese remarked, “The thing that gets me going is a sense of energy that can be misdirected into violence.”

“I’ll tell you about Gimme Shelter and The Departed,” stated Martin Scorsese who has also used the Rolling Stones’ song in Goodfellas (1990) and Casino (1995). “I was coming home from shooting in New York, in heavy traffic on 57th Street. I could hear the song getting louder, coming from the car next to me. This guy with long hair was slamming his head against the steering wheel shouting, ‘It’s just a shot away.’ I said, ‘That’s The Departed. That’s the theme of the movie – it has to be there.’” Leonardo DiCaprio found his role to be extremely challenging. “Playing a guy that has to relay to the audience this constant 24-hour panic attack…surrounded by people that would literally blow my head off if I gave them any indication of who I am, coupled with the fact that I’m sitting across the table from a homicidal maniac who will maybe light me on fire – that gives your character a whole new dimension.” DiCaprio did not let his director down. “There were a lot of scheduling issues and he had to wait a long time for his performance to be actually photographed,” stated Scorsese. “By the last month of shooting, a lot had been building up in his character – simmering anxiety, tension, and anger. It was just extraordinary. We shot all at once and then as we were editing, my editor Thelma [Schoonmaker], looked at me and said, ‘He’s coming off really strong.’”

“It’s the only movie of mine with a plot,” chuckled Martin Scorsese who, upon be rewarded with the Oscar for Best Director after four previous nominations, mischievously asked, “Could you double-check the envelope?” Thelma Schoonmaker, who won her third Academy Award, could not be happier for her colleague. “It’s really wonderful that Marty won at long last,” said Schoonmaker. “We were praying for that. We didn’t really expect to win adapted screenplay, editing, and best picture. We thought maybe Babel [2006] would. Marty was so surprised. The first thing he said to me after the ceremony was, ‘And we won best picture too!’ It would have been pretty devastating if he hadn’t won. I don’t think I could have taken it, frankly.” The only one of the five nominations that The Departed missed out on at the Academy Awards was Best Supporting Actor (Mark Wahlberg); it was not as lucky at the BAFTAs where the thriller contended for Best Actor (Leonardo DiCaprio), Best Supporting Actor (Jack Nicholson), Best Editing, Best Film, Best Adapted Screenplay, and the David Lean Award for Direction. Martin Scorsese won for Best Director at the Golden Globes while the film, which grossed $290 million worldwide, received nominations for Best Picture – Drama, Best Actor – Drama (Leonardo DiCaprio), Best Supporting Actor (Jack Nicholson, Mark Wahlberg), and Best Screenplay. Thelma Schoonmaker was presented with an Eddie Award by the American Cinema Editors, Scorsese won a Directors Guild of America Award, William Monahan was honoured with Best Adapted Screenplay by the Writers Guild of America, and the movie received a Producers Guild of America nomination. The Departed was lauded at the Boston Society of Film Critics Awards with Best Director, Best Picture, Best Screenplay, and Best Supporting Actor (Mark Wahlberg), while the National Board of Review Awards handed out trophies for Best Director and Best Ensemble. The Screen Actors Guild of America Awards nominated The Departed for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture and Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Supporting Role (Leonardo DiCaprio).

The recipient of the 2007 Kennedy Center Honors next helmed The Key to Reserva (2007), a commercial for Spanish sparkling wine producer Freixenet. Martin Scorsese discovers three and a half pages of an unfinished screenplay written by Alfred Hitchcock which he decides to film. The 10-minute production stars Simon Baker (L.A. Confedential), Kelli O’Hara (The Dying Gaul), Michael Stuhlbarg (Body of Lies), Christopher Denham (Duplicity), Richard Easton (Dead Again), Ted Griffin (Must Love Dogs), and Nellie Sciutto (Fixing Rhonda).

“Over the years I went to see a number of their shows,” said Martin Scorsese who has often used the music of the Rolling Stones in his movies. “I like the provocation of their music, the anger and frustration of some of their expressions and the subject matter of their songs; Gimme Shelter is an obvious one. People today are crying out for shelter and there is no shelter anymore; even more so now, it’s an anthem of our time.” The director added, “Watching the Stones, I thought [about what] it would be like trying to film a moment in time.” The idea became a reality in 2006 when Scorsese aided with a vast arsenal of cameras filmed the legendary British band performing at New York’s Beacon Theater. “It was as if the first one [concert] was a warm-up. The second started like it was an encore and built from there,” explained the filmmaker. “When the curtain went up I didn’t know what I’d get. Trust me, it’s possible to have 17 cameras and miss everything.” Grossing $16 million worldwide the project titled Shine a Light (2008) was nominated by the Motion Picture Sound Editors for the Golden Reel Award for Best Sound Editing – Music in a Musical Feature Film.

Next on the cinematic agenda for Martin Scorsese was an adaptation of a psychological thriller written by novelist Dennis Lehane, called Shutter Island (2010). Two U.S. Marshals are sent to a mental institution located on a remote island to investigation the disappearance of an interned murderess. “When I read the script,” remarked the native of Flushing, New York, “I realized it had its roots in something that is classic; it speaks to something very basic about our human nature and about who we are, what we want to conceal and what we have to accept. If we try to know ourselves, are we too afraid sometimes to go into areas that are unpleasant and irrational? Ultimately, what this is all about is ‘know thyself’.” Central to the storyline is the character of U.S. Marshal Edward “Teddy” Daniels. “This film depends on you not knowing where you’re at in any given situation. And so with that in mind, everyday on set was a challenge for me – how I interacted with specific characters, [and] how much I [should] let on as far as what Teddy is really going through.” Scorsese found himself being drawn into the fictional tale. “I tried to pull back a few times and not get so emotionally and psychologically involved…But this story, these characters, it was a very unsettling experience.”

Shutter Island was shot at the notorious Medfield State Hospital in Massachusetts. Built in 1892 and shut down in 2003, at its height the medical facility housed 2200 patients and is rumoured to be haunted by the tormented souls of past patients. Starring in the $80 million psychological thriller are Leonardo DiCaprio, Mark Ruffalo (The Kids Are All Right), Max von Sydow (Snow Falling on Cedars), Ben Kingsley (Sexy Beast), Michelle Williams (Blue Valentine), Emily Mortimer (Redbelt), Ted Levine (The Silence of the Lambs), Jack Earle Haley (Watchmen), Patricia Clarkson (The Station Agent), John Carroll Lynch (Zodiac) and Elias Koteas (The Thin Red Line). “I was very intrigued by this screenplay,” said Leonardo DiCaprio. “It was very much a throwback to great detective genres of the past, whether it be Vertigo [1958], Out of the Past [1947], or Laura [1944] which were films he screened for us.” Martin Scorsese explained his selection of films. “I screened Laura for everyone just to get a reference to the nature of the detective,” said the director. “There are references to film noir, references to Psycho [1960], to psychological thrillers, to horror films, to films that are basically composed of dreams. So I think ultimately that even if the surprise ending is known – although it has several endings in a way – hopefully it’s a picture you can watch repeatedly because of the behaviour of the characters.” As for what drew him to the subject matter, Scorsese stated, “I’ve always been fascinated by mysteries of the mind because it’s how we perceive what we term reality. Witnesses in a court of law will swear they saw something but if they stood two or three feet in another direction maybe they’d have seen it differently.”

“Emotionally and physically, it was one of the tougher films I’ve ever had to make. It was trying on all of us,” remarked Leo DiCaprio whose trials and tribulations on the set did not go unnoticed by his director. “Leo didn’t like the rats, especially when he put his hand on one. That was one of the tougher days. Or should I say weeks?” Martin Scorsese could empathize with his star. “When I got to shooting and editing it, it was like being thrown down a spiral [staircase].” The filmmaker added, “I think I just tried to approach it from my own reaction to reading the material.” Oscar-winner Ben Kingsley enjoyed collaborating with the man behind the camera. “Marty directs like a lover. Everything is held together by affection for his craft, his actors, his crew, the material, and the great journey of cinema in our lives,” said Kingsley. “I think he must have about 40,000 films in his head or at least on his computer. He knows exactly the scene, without being a teacher and without being heavy, he just invites you to share something and it really is contagious. It was marvelous on Shutter Island for Leo, Mark [Ruffalo] and I.” Earning $295 million worldwide Shutter Island was lauded by the National Board of Review for Best Production Design & Art Direction; it also received nominations for Best Art Direction & Production Design, Best Cinematography, Best Editing, Best Sound at the Satellite Awards. Leonardo DiCaprio won Choice Movie Actor – Horror or Thriller at the Teen Choice Awards, while other nominations for the psychological thriller included Choice Movie Actress – Horror or Thriller (Michelle Williams) and Choice Movie – Horror or Thriller.

Co-directed by Martin Scorsese and Kent Jones A Letter to Elia (2010) follows the journey of filmmaker Elia Kazan from Group Theatre to Hollywood, and his controversial role in the blacklisting of his colleagues. The 60-minute documentary features interview footage with Kazan and film clips from On the Waterfront, A Streetcar Named Desire, Gentlemen’s Agreement, Baby Doll, A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, A Face in the Crowd, America, America, and The Last Tycoon.

Heading to television, Martin Scorsese directed an 80-minute pilot episode costing $18 million for the HBO. “Boardwalk Empire [2010] was made for what I guess you would call the small screen but we made it like a film,” said the director of the series which is based on the book Boardwalk Empire: The Birth, The High Times and Corruption in Atlantic City by Nelson Johnson. “The 1920s in my head were always very present because my parents referred to them; the music, the people, the clothes. I know all the songs from that period; I know all the films. We knew it all and so it was a natural transition. But you know I really was fascinated with the idea of working with Terry Winter [The Sopranos] and these guys, and taking these characters over 13 hours, developing them, developing their story, the complications of corruption in American politics.” The Emmy-winning creator of the TV series, Terence Winter, found himself also being drawn to the era. “The 1920s were the most interesting to me because it was an era that hasn’t really been depicted often in cinema, and almost never in television.”

Boardwalk Empire features the acting talents of Steve Buscemi (Fargo), Michael Pitt (The Dreamers), Kelly Macdonald (No Country for Old Men), Shea Whigham (Tigerland), Aleksa Palladino (Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead), Michael Shannon (Revolutionary Road), Michael Stuhlbarg, Stephen Graham (Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy), Vincent Piazza (Assassination of a High School President), and Paz de la Huerta (Enter the Void). “At its centre was this incredible lead character, Nuck Johnson, upon whom Steve’s character is based,” said Winter. “This was a guy who was incredibly conflicted, being equal parts politician and gangster. And then, that was coupled with the massive changes going on in the 1920s: like Prohibition, the women’s vote and broadcast radio.” The first 12-episode season came with a price tag of $65 million and won Best Actor in a Television Series - Drama (Steve Buscemi), and Best Television Series – Drama at the Golden Globes where it also contended for Best Supporting Actress in a Series, Mini-Series or Motion Picture Made for Television (Kelly Macdonald). The Screen Actors Guild handed out nominations for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Drama Series (Steve Buscemi), and Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series. For his contribution in helming the pilot episode, Martin Scorsese won a Directors Guild of America Award.

Also for HBO, Martin Scorsese produced Public Speaking (2010), a documentary about Fran Lebowitz, who is an American author know for her sardonic social commentary which has led her being christened the modern day Dorothy Parker. Another documentary Scorsese has in the works is a profile on a former Beatle called Living in the Material World: George Harrison (2011).

Venturing into the realm of children’s literature, Martin Scorsese is cinematically adapting The Invention of Hugo Cabret by Brian Selznick. Renamed Hugo Cabret (2011), the story revolves around an orphan who secretly inhabits the walls of a train station in 1930s Paris; he seeks to unravel a mystery surrounding his deceased father and an automaton. The cast of the adventure film stars Asa Butterfield (Son of Rambow), Chloë Moretz (Let Me In), Jude Law (Sherlock Holmes), Emily Mortimer, Michael Pitt, Ben Kingsley, Sacha Baron Cohen (Borat), Christopher Lee (Season of the Witch), Helen McCrory (Becoming Jane), Richard Griffiths (The History Boys), Michael Stuhlbarg, and Ray Winstone. “It is really a story of a little boy,” said Scorsese. “He does become friends with the older George Méliès who was discovered in 1927, or 1928, working in a toy store, completely bankrupt. And then he was revived in a way with a beautiful gala in 1928, in Paris. And in my film, the cinema itself is the connection – the automaton, the machine itself becomes the emotional connection between the boy, his father, Méliès, and his family.” The director is breaking into a new territory for him – 3D filmmaking. “Every shot is rethinking the camera, [and] rethinking the narrative – how to tell a story with a picture. Now, I’m not saying we have to keep throwing javelins at the camera; I’m not saying we use it as a gimmick, but it’s liberating. It’s literally a Rubik’s Cube every time you go out and design a shot and work out a camera move, or a crane move. But it has a beauty also; people look like…moving statues.” Film editor Thelma Schoonmaker shares Scorsese’s enthusiasm. “It’s a whole new kind of film for us. It’s very visual, very little dialogue, lots of opportunities for wonderful 3D shots, because the boy’s job is to keep the clocks wound, so you can imagine the giant wheels being built. Everyone’s excited about it. It will have a broad appeal.” Chosen to play George Méliès is Ben Kingsley. “It examines the early days of cinema through the eyes of a child,” remarked Kingsley who enjoyed being reunited with the filmmaker. “One of the blessings of working under his love and guidance is that whatever you offer the camera he will see every scrap that you offer. He doesn’t miss anything.”

Other projects in the works for Martin Scorsese are a biopic on Hollywood icon Frank Sinatra and a cinematic adaptation of Silence by Shusaku Endo, about Portuguese Jesuit priests in 17th century Japan. There are suggestions that Scorsese will reunite with Robert De Niro (Taxi Driver) to produce two films based on the book I Heard You Paint Houses by Charles Brandt which is about mob assassin Frank “The Irishman” Sheeran. The filmmaker has also been connecting with his other acting muse Leonardo DiCaprio who is to star in The Wolf of Wall Street; it is based on the memoir penned by high living stockbroker Jordan Belfort who was sent to prison for stock manipulation.

Along with the DGA Lifetime Achievement Award and the Evelyn F. Burkley from the WGA, both of which he received in 2003, Martin Scorsese added another award to his collection in 2010; the Golden Globes bestowed upon him the Cecil B. DeMille Award. Over the course of his career, the New Yorker has directed 17 different actors in Oscar nominated performances and during a brief tenure at NYU he taught future moviemakers Oliver Stone (Platoon), Spike Lee (Do the Right Thing) and Jonathan Kaplan (The Accused). “He infects you with his enthusiasm,” stated Thelma Schoonmaker. “That’s why he’s such a good teacher; he doesn’t lecture you, he makes you excited and want to see all the films he loves. As for the work, it’s so intense, so fulfilling, you feel so proud of the film at the end. I know many other editors who work on films they hate and they’re bitter. I’m never that way.” Leonardo DiCaprio is equally full of praise. “He saved me. I was headed down a path of being one kind of actor, and he helped me become another one. The one I wanted to be.”

Even after making four movies together, DiCaprio remains astounded by the cinematic knowledge of Martin Scorsese. “He’s a professor of film. The man has seen almost every film ever made up until 1980. You get an education while working with him every single day. He screens movies for you to talk about specific scenes and what he’s trying to convey up on the screen. You can ask him a question about a character or the way a scene should go and he can show you 20 different examples of filmmakers that have done that in the past, the way it’s been done right, the way it’s been done wrong. It’s an incredible learning experience.” There is no doubt that the Academy Award-winning director is devoted to his craft. “I’m literally obsessed with the filmmaking process,” readily admitted Scorsese. “Given the chance to learn or experience or something, whether it’s the storm scene in Cape Fear [1991], the world of the 1920s, Hollywood and aviation in The Aviator [2004], I find myself wanting to get back there on set and then, especially in the editing room, to see those images come together. I really enjoy doing it.”

For more on the director be sure to visit the Martin Scorsese Fansite and ScorseseFilms.com, along with the BFI documentary A Personal Journey with Scorsese Through American Movies.

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Trevor Hogg is a freelance video editor and writer who currently resides in Canada.