Robert Richardson - 'Robert Richardson: The White Devil' [LIVE]

36:45So when you say that you are not technically, you haven't technically mastered that, I mean, I just, what do you mean? Like, take that, if we only talk about that JFK as an example, it's, you go, you've done everything in that. Yeah, but. You still don't feel especially confident? There are people like, there are many cinematographers that with chemical processing understand where the toe and the shoulder are, and I don't have that capability of thinking that way. All I think about is what am I getting back from what I'm shooting? And in the situation, for example, Zapruder, his film was 8mm, not Super 8, and when the shot came, that was his image.

37:38I've seen on the History Channel my footage. The only thing I shot at. And I go, oh, no, no, no, no, no. Dude, you've got to go back. I don't know who was on your research team, but it is saying it right. Because that wasn't an angle like that one. That's true. And it's not so prudent that it shot that. It's called Richardson. And it was going to be my speech. Right, right. My speech was originally going to be when I thought, like, I can do it. I'm going to try to do it this year. if I get nominated I'm gonna try to do it I'm gonna do it and I was like I finally solved the riddle I shot JFK and I was like how stupid that would be to go down in history and just for the record you did win for JFK but you that was the but you did it you weren't there for that one because platoon had been when you were there for your first nomination it had been it wasn't there we're born in the fourth right it was just a kind of not a comfortable i couldn't take it i had

38:38Robert Richardson:such phobia i have i mean i had it when i sit up on the stage

38:46Robert Richardson:well and there are also when harvey kytel is up there you got to show up i'm going yeah harvey just handed you your your crystal globe now how i i think another um question that might occur to people is how you decide, especially as your career's gone on and you've become so revered by your peers, by everybody, you know, how do you decide what you want to do and what you don't want to do? And I just, before you answer, I understand there's a certain level of, a big level of loyalty to your key collaborators. That's part of it. But I mean, even something like Natural Born Killers, which people now look at as one of the amazing jobs that you've done, you were you were not gung-ho to do that right no and and that was well sorry let me let you no i mean it's a long story and if you see the film you'll understand it but my uh wife at that time almost died giving birth to my second daughter and she was in when i ended up in the hospital with her which is a much longer story to tell you how that happened I was told by the doctor that either she would live or the baby, and I had to make a choice.

40:06So highly traumatic for me. And I can't get into that one. No, that's totally. I'm going to leave that one alone. No, no, no, totally.

40:19Long story short, Oliver heard I was in ICU, that she was in ICU and dying. The baby has survived. but he said to his wife at that time who he was divorcing that I would have no problem finding another wife and his wife went to my wife when she did survive and told her the story I was scouting natural born killers she called and said you need to leave the film if you make that film I'm divorcing you. I told Oliver that. And then he said, I can't have two divorces at once. I need you to stay. You need to talk to Minona. And I want you to know that you, I know you don't like this script, but if you choose any technique or technical way you want to approach this film, I am behind.

41:21but you have to make it with the passion that you make every other movie with me. I know you don't like this story, but make it fit.

41:33And I made the decision to stay with Oliver, which is one of the reasons why this film is being made, because that's goodbye family. That's a, I'm saying goodbye to you, and I'm saying, I'm staying here. and that's the lesson you're going to have to sort of figure out yourself what do you want yeah um how much do you want it right right i guess uh another related or question related to how you decide what you do and don't want to do how much has been you going after in some ways pursuing filmmakers who you want to work with versus them coming after you. Because my sense is that with obviously Oliver heard about you and went after and pursued you.

42:24But then the more I've learned about those two of the other two of the three closest collaborations, in a way you quietly took the initiative to get it going with both Scorsese and Tarantino, right? It's absolutely true. I mean, I did pursue both of them. And is that characteristic? Like, are there examples of you doing that where it didn't lead to these?

42:46Robert Richardson:Well, no, what I saw was that Marty was working with different DPs. And he was working with primarily with Michael. I didn't want to influence the Michael relationship. I feel that you just don't do that. And then I realized that he wasn't working with somebody else on Cape Fear. And so then I began like, OK, well, let me have a meeting. Let's see. At some point, maybe Michael won't be available. and maybe he'll consider me. And with Quentin, I didn't know he had hired anybody and I know he was working with different DPs and interviewing. So I asked to meet and it ended up on Kill Bill.

43:24So when you've, over the years, and we should say, in addition to these enduring collaborations, You've also had, you know, as earlier, those John Sayles pair of films, the Barry Levinson with Wag the... Yeah, I would have done more with Barry. You know, it's like we just never hit one window that could go with the next, but it would have been a continuing relationship. Scott Hicks, Snowfall and Cedars. We did many commercials together, but he didn't get another feature that fit into our world for a while. and so many of the people like errol morris errol morris i work but i have worked many with yes so that's a different thing and i do love errol he's brilliant you said that about errol is that what you said yeah and i mean again it was interesting because i think you have done both that was those were examples of you going back to documentary but also commercials with errol and i one thing with with errol and i'm trying to think so you did three docs with him most recently i believe standard operating standard operating procedure dr death yes and uh fast cheap fast cheap and out of control now i'm just trying to

44:45Robert Richardson:think back to the visuals of each of the cheap and out of control is taking everything the natural born killers did yeah and amplified it we had to do a shot of a mole rat in a tunnel so i called in roto-rooter and i used the camera on roto-rooter to get the shot so it was like we just pushed that envelope we were using x-ray i mean uh yeah it's like What do you make of Errol's, Errol, as I understand it, maybe it's apocryphal, but sort of like invented his, in Territron? Territron, yeah. Was that used in standard operating procedure? Was that used in other, like, what do you? It's used on and off in everything he does.

45:32Robert Richardson:How do you like that? What do you make of that? If Errol gets results, I don't think about it. Yeah. Does anything scare you? Like I would think there are certain things that even for a master, you get the job of Kill Bill and suddenly you, I don't believe you'd ever had to do choreographed fighting before to shoot that. You do Hugo. It's the first time that, I think it's the first film period that was shot with Alexa, you know, digital. Alexa, digital. Right. And 3D. so well 3d has been done by no by others but not but but you hadn't done 3d had you so like are are these things when you get assignments like for instance the kill bell or a hugo where these are things that you've never done before is that exciting or terrifying or both it's absolutely exciting yeah you know it's a learning lesson there i was involved with a movie called Hannibal which is about Hannibal Barker the general that climbing the Alps with the elephants and numerous but that film is terrifying and that film just died four weeks ago because it was the threshold of finances to be able to create it it got it was thrown to the earth and they're still trying to create it with a new methodology but it was terribly complex and they weren't prepared for it but that that film terrified me and it just simply from logistics so with but with something like the those examples of fight choreography or 3d are you like who do you consult or what do you consult what do you how do you get yourself ready for something you've never done i met jim cameron for 3d okay and we with marty yeah and with marty we watch some old 3D material because he wanted to shoot it on film.

47:35And then we realized that, no, this isn't going to work. And Jim was very positive about the way he was doing it. And conversion was coming in at that time. And that was the option to do. And we tested things. And he didn't want to do conversion. He wanted to do it on set. And we just, we did learn as we went along. You learn how color influences depth. And it's pretty massive in 3D. if that background were warm versus cool and you had a different color here it would influence the way you saw the depth even with the same lens and I was learning that because I would go into different sets ahead of time and it was a great process because I did learn how to start to light 3d to have greater greatest sense of depth literally by color who other than the director are your closest collaborators on a film set and i am and just before you answer i want to maybe we can take the example of the aviator where you are having to achieve so many this is oscar number two i should say first of all but i mean like so scorsese has a very specific idea of things that cannot only be achieved, I believe, solely by you.

49:00So who are the people you're working with to make his vision a reality on the aviator? Well, that's primarily Rob Legato. The VFX. Visual effects. He's brilliant. And he also did second unit on the film. And he's just, you know, stratosphere brilliant. and so in that case it was i guess through vfx recreating film stocks that are that was sort of going on along the whole time as we were moving and we didn't actually resolve all those luts until later which influenced so much because we didn't know lipstick colors and dresses and In fact, Sandy Shaw, the costume designer, was so upset that one of her peach dresses had turned a bright orange.

49:58She didn't like that. That I had to hand roto the dress.

50:02Robert Richardson:Are you serious? To take it back to peach. Good for keeping the peace, I guess, right? Keep the peace. For the costume designer and production designer. now how unusual is it quentin apparently does not have playback on his sets how how many people is that the case for these days he's the only one he's the only one so that i know that yeah so how does that does that uh impact your process like and again if we can take a specific example of the unforgettable opening of Inglourious Bastards. I went back and rewatched it before this because I just wanted to, it is a dark, dark room. You guys are, I think you're doing your halo effect right on Christoph Waltz while he's interrogating this poor man.

51:04But how are you, how do you, why is there not a playback there? Wouldn't that make everyone feel

51:10Robert Richardson:a little more confident that they're getting what they want he doesn't want the producers to know what he's doing that's the reason one two he's very private yeah he's behind quinn doesn't leave the camera he's beside you he's directing he's looking into the eyes of the actors and watching performance he does not want to be in another room separated he wants to be there so he's always there even if we make a camera move he'll sometimes sit on the dolly with me sometimes he wants to operate and then it's like it's very much there this is what he wants and he knows if he gets the performance he's trusting at this point that what i'm shooting is something he's going to like and and the fact that he will occasionally operate or and i think affleck who you've done live by night and air with that he also you've said likes to operate sometimes does that you're cool with that you like they what's what's how does that go how does that conversation go um with quinn i'm cool i've learned to be cool because i was taught the lesson quinn you want to operate just go ahead man i don't care right you can't get up on that crane because you're just too heavy but you can do anything else and then you lost weight you can get it on the crane dude but you want to shoot that shot shoot that shot and Ben likes to operate so as always he likes to shoot with two cameras and and I like to work the same axis for the two cameras he's absolutely cool with that but then I'll find that he's sneaking a camera on the reverse axis which has the worst lighting known to God what are you doing dude and he like sneaks it in so i try to put equipment in his way and so he can't get his camera over there and he'll but then he'll sneak in from behind and put a handheld camera what are you doing ben man i look so bad and he's like no i got a good shot of the glass going down but you know ben's bad and like i don't mind that he does that's he's you know that's his movie so with with back to quentin for a second with something like django there's a lot of zooming in and out which is not something that i think you've done often on other things was that uh how early on is that is that described in the script is that something that it was in the script and do you ever say no you don't you don't ever push back it's not you just you're on board no it wouldn't go over well no i just don't want to do it he that's his world yeah yeah i got it all right just let me get good at it yeah well i guess there it goes back to kill bill there was it goes it goes back to kill bill it goes back to surgery leone right so that's like really where he's pulling it from it's like you know where he's pulling and so yeah of course If he sees it as a positive, I'm going to positive.

54:16And with a decision like the fact that you shot in such ultra-wide on Hateful Eight, is that something where, again, can it go in the other direction? I think that's you suggesting to him, right, that this makes sense. He wasn't pushing that, was he?

54:34Robert Richardson:The ultra-wide on? The what? Two, seven, nine? Yes. Like Ben-Hur lenses? No. But it makes sense. I found the Ben-Hur lenses while researching 249. I happened to find these lenses in a back room that nobody had used for 50 years. And I thought, well, what are these? And Dan Sasaki, who's a brilliant man in terms of respect to the creation of lensing, His smile when I brought it out was so big. Whoa, somebody's found these. Now let me see what I can do with them. And I had him put them up and it was like this gorgeous look. He says, well, you know, it's all 65 mil. He said, yeah, okay, good. We're good.

55:26We're on 65. Let's try this out. And I tested. And they were incredible. but we had no idea if we could get a Cinerama all the lenses out. So I didn't tell Quinton. And we shot a series of tests in Telluride and brought them back. They were shot on that format because by then I knew the lenses would work. And he came in to watch the test. He thought it was 249, and he watched it on the screen. and then as the screens as the show was happening we opened the sides and they kept going and they kept going and quentin was like what's going on whoa you got cinerama yeah yeah and he was so happy he made a stop right away go back to the beginning he said bring the lenses in and lenses all came in and he's super enthusiastic like you two you're so cool and yeah he was so super happy and that's where we shot the movie in and it's not just to be showy it really makes sense here when you've got so many characters on but it was a tremendous learning lesson for him because you could look over here but I could see you over here in one shot so he had to stage the scene all the time with every actor in the room

57:06i have one last question before we focus the the rest of the time on this great new documentary and and ask yana to join us up here for that she's too busy on her phone that's all right well i uh the last thing is how do you and it kind of will lead into working with Yana in terms of embracing a new collaborator. But how at this point when, again, everybody in the world would like to work with you, if Scorsese, if you're good enough for, great enough for the people who you work with repeatedly, I'm sure people would be lying, everybody, every established director would be thrilled to work with you.

57:52So how does a How does a first-time feature filmmaker, as was the case with Andy Serkis directing Breathe, with Matthew Heinemann directing A Private War, how do they at this point still convince Bob Richardson to shoot their film? They had very good scripts, and they had no fear. And it was not about money. that was not a lot of people are like oh he's going to cost this much money i'll never be able to afford these films were made for very low budgets and i just loved the script and i enjoyed andy immensely i enjoyed matt and they also had the confidence to be directors that had no fear of whatever it is you think I am.

58:43Robert Richardson:And I guess also... Because I am not what you think I am. I'm a puppy dog. Well, we'll ask Yana if that's true. Yana, come on up, please, and congratulations on your film.

59:04Thank you for being here. And so can you share again for some people who haven't yet seen the film and don't know what was going on in your life when you first reached out and made you reach out to Bob? Yes. So it started in 2016 when I was preparing my master's degree thesis and I wanted to make an interview. I want to analyze Bob Surchison's films because I loved it and I love his films and I wanted that I will finish my studies as soon as possible so I was thinking that okay I will try to write him and maybe he will help me that I will make it easy it will be very easy and fast way so I tried I sent email to American Society of Cinematographers and and he responded and so so and from his first email um it absolutely changed everything and um Bob started to share with me um um his responses were very huge so in writing yeah in writing because his his his writing is very good he's writing like he sees the images so yeah bob why did you i mean do you get a lot of over the years have you gotten a lot of these i get a lot of requests but often i have no real interest in doing it but i said okay well send set up questions and the questions came and there wasn't one that was technical and that was i'm there yeah like i will i actually didn't know it was yana i thought it was yan yeah yeah yeah i thought it was a guy yeah and then like stupid

1:01:14Robert Richardson:as i am i finally saw an image of her oh yana yana yeah but the questions were so focused on life and upbringing and influences, photography influences and film influences. And they're the very things I actually want to talk about. Like I've always hated American cinematographer articles that want to focus on how do you light? Right. Like, I don't know. I don't want to know how I light. If you want to know how I light, go out and, you know, it's like talk to my gaffer. Right. I mean, I can tell you so much. melody who is the woman i i live with she's got you know deacon's book on lighting yeah good you know you want to watch his book and see how he lights go ahead that's not me there'll never be a book like that well i guess i should say before i go on well thank you for tolerating my questions about some of this stuff the lighting and all that uh but uh so what uh how did this work though because, Jana, you were still living in the Czech Republic, right?

1:02:18Bob, you were living in Los Angeles at that time? I was shooting. You were shooting. Actually, I think it was in Fiji when the first one came. And then I was in... Yeah. Well, so, okay, so this was initially over email. And then, Jana, did you ask or did Bob suggest, like, I mean, you ended up going to observe him shooting several films, right? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Because I was traveling to the United States with my friends. So I wrote to Bob if I can see him because I would like to finish my diploma thesis, take some images and, you know, go back to Czech Republic. But when I was in the States, he wrote me that I'm not there.

1:03:03I am in New Zealand. So I was like, oh, my God, OK. So what I will do? and Bob was so generous and open that he gave his keys from his house to his agent and they give it to me. He didn't know me. I'm saying that because it says a lot about his personality, how open-minded he is. That was not so cool. I had no idea what simple draw she would open up that I didn't want to have opened up.

1:03:33Robert Richardson:I didn't know her at all. It was a leap of faith for you. A leap of faith? Well, it had been a while. She had 200 or 300 pages. There was not a lot in my life that wasn't somehow exposed to some element. So I don't think there was a tremendous shock anywhere inside that apartment. First, it starts out with you being in L.A. without Bob. But then you end up following him. Yeah. So I went to L.A. He wasn't there. I paid for some English curses, but still my English is not the best. And then I flew to New Zealand and when I saw him, how he is, I asked if we can make the documentary and it started.

1:04:19That's a lie. And it started like that. I was flying everywhere because I was taking images. Yeah. No. So how was it? She started to steal images off the set of Adrift. She was starting to shoot things. And then she was asking, like, you know, maybe you can record this question, but just so we're not writing it down, we'll just... And all of a sudden I had this sense that, oh, she's up to something. And she was up to something, because the question came a little later. Would you be interested in making a documentary? and then it was like everywhere I went because I did say finally yes. Then you said yes.

1:05:07Yeah, I did because there was nothing to lose. I'd already lost everything. The book has more information than the film does. And the book is just so people know still very soon, I think, coming, right? I hope, hopefully soon we will see how long it will take. This took 10 years. Well, yeah, I was going to say, so break down. What was going, obviously, in the middle of that 10 years was COVID, which we see. 10 years. In the film, we see that that sort of kept you guys together, whether you wanted to be or not at that point. Oh, COVID? COVID, right? Prison. But it seems. In a good way. I should say for listeners, this is winkingly.

1:05:52We've been together a long time. We can definitely go down badly on each other and not actually have a problem with the abuse. So don't go any HR over there. No, it's okay. I wonder, you know, how did this friendship evolve? Did it sort of take on a, Bob, you have daughters. Was this sort of like a father-daughter? And Yana, how did you look at it? I'm just curious what dynamic this took on. I didn't really think about it as a daughter.

1:06:23Robert Richardson:I just thought it was a colleague. And someone that wanted to be a reporter. And she was going to report about my life. And she'd done such a fantastic job with the book. I felt that she's serious about this. She's going to do good work. And she was very specific about things that she wanted. And I was like, I want to shoot this. I want to shoot that. Even when it wasn't in the COVID period. I need you behind the scenes. I need more behind the scenes. Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, she was there. You know, she was in a series of commercials that I did in various places. And so for me, it was like, okay, you know, it's like sometimes it's not possible.

1:07:04I can't get her behind the scenes. To me, directors don't want you, doesn't want somebody there or producers, but she was persistent and she's very dogmatic. I mean, in a good way, but it's like, when you decide you're gonna make a film, And you have a reticent person on the opposite end that you're shooting. And he's going, no. What is your option? Well, Yana, what were you most surprised to learn about Bob? Either through, I mean, we see in the documentary, you go through all of his materials and diaries and all that, but you're also spending a lot of time with him, the person. What kind of surprised you the most about him as you went through this process over all these years?

1:07:56At the beginning, it was a story about El Salvador documentary, because when I read his experiences, it was like for me totally fascinating to read it, because it was like a film when I read it. And I was like, oh, my God, it's crazy when everywhere are gunshots. Yeah. Yeah. Gunshots. And you just stand up and go. And yeah. Bob was literally under fire. Yeah. Yeah. So this I learned that really you have if you want to do something very good or on this kind of level, you have to be like that. you have to commit your life. He had to do it. So this was my first thing which I learned. And I'm trying just to think about it, to do a similar way, think about it a similar way, but better with the family life.

1:09:01Robert Richardson:Yeah. Well, so Bob... You have to know that she has, is it 400 or 600 hours? 650 hours into this little film oh my god do you know bob on a on you know your projects that you film a narrative feature how many hours of footage you end up yeah it's usually a 10 to 1 11 to 1 ratio but 650 hours for an hour and a half amazing amazing like how do you cut that down i saw four and a half five hour cuts yeah yeah at the first version was i think three and a half or something like that and i was like you gotta get all that shit out of there no i mean sometimes it gets you really feel like you you are being trespassed upon now can we cut that line down to where you are showing it but not literally exposing me that naked like i don't want all of that known right And then she would cut the movie down and suddenly those pieces would be back.

1:10:06Robert Richardson:And I had to watch them tonight. That's what I want to ask you about. I was so uncomfortable. Well, first, though, so you had seen cuts, versions of this. But today was the first time just a couple hours ago you sit down here in the Czech Republic. I mean, for Jana, this must be stressful in its own way. You're in your home country. This is the world premiere. But Bob, for you, this is your life on display to the world, and you're seeing the final cut for the first time. What for each of you was this afternoon like? Well, I hadn't seen it. I've seen multiple versions of it, but the sound hadn't been done.

1:10:43The formatting hadn't been done. The color wasn't finished. And I had never finished because I would get angry. About what? I don't like this piece of music over this. and I can't get past it. And she goes, can you pick it from this? Is there anything in here you like? I go, no, there's nothing in there I like. And then she found pieces and they would come in and they would be like, that one works. In fact, that worked better. Like I've got the music underneath my mother. So much better than actually we had of any other piece, even Sufjan Stevens. I'm glad that you are saying that, Bob. We have a lot of discussions together about that, specifics yeah and of course for you today what was how did it feel it was beautiful stressful very stressful and also it's sad because um you know you are living this uh bob story 10 years you are sitting in the editing room you know the film uh from the back to side and now it's back and forward back and forward and now it's finishing so it's end with the film process so I said okay we will continue with the boom she was in tears up on the stage you know well it seems like the friendship goes on though well okay so with the last a couple minutes here.

1:12:20I just want to pose a few random potpourri and then we'll free you guys. But Bob, you seem to have given Yana some notes on this. You have some ideas. Does any part of you want to be a director yourself? You know, my feeling was and this is straight truth. There are things I don't like in the movie. There are things But like, I look at it as if I'm not directing. Right. I'm the subject. If she chooses this, even if I say, I don't like this, she uses it. That's her choice. She's as director. That's sort of your attitude as a DP, right? I mean, as an actor, because you're basically an actor, but you're not an actor.

1:13:16You just, you know, sometimes I'd say I don't like that, but it still goes in. But then you watch the whole and you hope that, well, she's right. She made her film and it has to be her film. But I guess I mean, separate and apart from this documentary, do you have any desire to direct yourself? I have in the past. I don't anymore. Not anymore. No. OK. I saw that, I mean, the documentary addresses you had this super close collaboration and even sort of brotherhood. I think you and Oliver both describe it as at the outset of your career for many years and many great successes. Then that period came to an end for a long time.

1:14:03But then I saw JFK revisited through the looking glass. This was 2021, I guess, kind of a doc looking back at JFK, and you shot it for Oliver. Was that a thought? Are you guys potentially going to reunite again, or was that a one-off? I don't know. He just made a feature, and I was shooting, so I didn't get involved with it. But walking in and doing JFK Revisited It was like just two people that know each other better than probably most. I mean, I knew him better than I knew my brother. I knew him better than most of my friends. And we'd been through so much. It was a very simple transition. And it just floated right together instantly.

1:14:57You have two movies coming out this year, at least. Frankie Shaw's Four Kids Walk Into a Bank and David O. Russell's Madden. Can you give us any hint of how you feel about those?

1:15:12Robert Richardson:That's okay. I'm going to see Madden in two weeks. I haven't seen a cut of it for four months. So a new final cut, David O. Russell.

1:15:29so i heard that it's like an eight or nine which will be fantastic if it's there four kids walk into a bank i don't know where that one's gonna go i don't think i think i know where it is i just tbd no tbd i know where the tbd is okay all right i just think that it'll be a it'll be a good movie it's not a great movie in the sense that it's not going to blow your mind when you see it okay and it was a it was in a situation where i'd been pulled off another film and she had asked me before to be involved and then i was suddenly available and she asked again and extremely low-budget film shot in Ireland.

1:16:23And I felt obligated, and I did it. And part of it was a good experience, and part of it was a terrible experience. Well, tell us how you really feel. Well, I know they're going to get back to her, and she'll probably admit the same thing. There were some horrible moments with him. He was such a fucking asshole. And other times she'll say absolutely the opposite. Well, there you go. Last one for me, and then we close with a few audience questions. But AI, everybody's talking about AI. Are you worried that AI is going to take over the job of cinematography? Is it going to affect the life of a cinematographer at any time in the near future?

1:17:04I think on some projects it will. And it's inevitable to the industry. So we have to learn how to regulate it and move with it and embrace it like you did VFX. and you can only do so much with it currently. When it gets to a higher level, I mean, actors aren't going to want their performances made by a machine. So there's always going to be a level of security in that respect. And there are certain advantages I can see from it. There's lighting advantages. I can light a scene any way I want to light a scene. Now the question will become whether that becomes something that everybody wants like is that going to have to be a new category in academy awards right right because it's not being lit you're lighting like you would light an animated movie i did big hero six and i did it for a short period of time but i could move the light anywhere in the scene i wanted on any shot cut to cut i could move the sun from one side to the other with the backlight over here put the side light here and just and it was like it was actually quite beautiful it was very liberating so i can see utilizing it i i i know it's going to happen and you just have to get ready for it and then hope that there's regulations that come in and and ethical ones and moral ones right with our last couple minutes here just gonna close with three really smart great questions from this wonderful audience which has been so patient with our interview here which i thank you guys both this was terrific and thank you how does your approach change when working with directors like um scorsese versus tarantino absolutely it changes immensely each one has very specific methodology to shooting and creating what you're looking at.

1:19:07Quentin doesn't usually come in with... Marty hands you a script with every shot in it. They're already listed. So you know what you're shooting. And Quentin comes in day-to-day with every shot. And Quentin lists them at 13 to 16 a day. And that's what he wants. He wants every one of those. So methodology that way is very different. Marty may just say, I don't care, you get three shots. Or I want 16. He just has a list and that's what he wants. They're both very different in terms of personality. Quinn never leaves the set, ever. He plays music between scenes. He lightens up everybody. Marty leaves and goes to his trailer.

1:20:00And when we're ready, he comes back. So there are different. And truthfully, no one's going to like this when I tell them if they hear this. When Marty walks on a set, it's like the pulp entered. The room goes quiet, totally quiet, and everybody separates. Just walk away. And then he talks, and he goes, and if he approves the shot, he moves on. but he's very demanding of silence. So Quentin is there the whole time he's playing music. So it's a very liberal. But when he sees that the shot's ready, bang, on comes Quentin, the director. And now the world shifts. Actors in place, this, that, this, and do the shot.

1:20:55And until he likes the shot, but that's the difference in the methodology. primarily? I'm currently studying cinematography at Masarik University and in the near future I want to become an act actress so I struggle to stay focused while watching films which is why I don't watch them really often and people keep telling me that this might affect my future career as an actress so do you agree with that and do you have any advice regarding that? It's interesting I want to ask both of you as well because I teach a class once a semester at Chapman University's film school and they're wonderful, the students, but I do find maybe it's just growing up with phones or whatever that with smartphones that attention spans are definitely compromised.

1:21:49Do you find that even on film sets with younger people that you're working with that it's an issue in some way attention spans I think that this is much for Bob because I am I'm used to these these things yeah I think that was an ageist answer I don't think you should be watching any movie on your telephone or your iPad. I think that if you are making an effort,

1:22:32if you're going to make an effort to shoot a film and put all the effort into it, and you want to see it on a big screen, do you really want to turn to your best friend and say, how did you like the film? Well, it was very good. It's like, can I see your phone? I loved how you composed that shot. And the sound system is amazing. I just had the greatest time. Or you see it on the back of your airline or somebody's iPad. Why do we make movies if we're only making them to put them on? Now, granted, if you have a 65-inch screen in your house and you've got great sound, I say go for it. like, you know, it's going to be probably better sound than a lot of theaters you go into.

1:23:21But the more theaters you can experience on a larger screen, the more you're going to learn. Because you see more of the deficiencies. You see more of the strengths. You see color systems. You see everything you can't see in those little monitors. So stay off. But if you're here at this film festival, you're in the right direction. That's exactly right. If you're at a film festival, you're in the right headspace. And one of the things I said earlier was I want a streaming system that is free for all from around the country, this country, every country, that people are making small films in places.

1:24:01You can get onto that site without having to pay to get Apple to get MUBI or this or that or Criterion. And you can watch films from different countries because it should become affordable. It should be the way the Internet initially was. Give it to me. Put it out there. Give me that. You know, if you want to put fucking ads on it, you guys put ads at the beginning of the movie and the end of the movie. I don't care. Give me 10 minutes of it or 20, whatever you want. But let me watch the movies. Somebody's making over in Africa, wherever you want. You know, it's like, do you want to see South African like on a film?

1:24:36You want to see this or that? You want to see different perspectives from Iran, Iraq, wherever you want to go in terms of your sensibilities. Travel and see the world and see world cinema and give the people that are making those films an opportunity to show them. Because the biggest problem is you make something and you can't show it to anybody. Nobody. Unless it gets into a festival. Why this festival is good is because they bring out the unknown and they allow it and also because they make it exciting. And I think that's a big bonus to this festival in particular because it seems to be filled with 27 ,000 people are here in the city.

1:25:13that is a film community and it's really beautiful it's not con film festival not you're in your red you know bullshit they're coming in to watch movies and i love that i'll just quickly add for bob that the idea of the free movies i don't know if this is how exactly if it transfers here in in europe but i believe for if through universities there's something at least the chapman kids and i think it's available widely called swank where if you log in with the university id i believe you can access like a massive uh library of films for free i think it the more like that and the more that information becomes available to people because i don't know that information and i watch virtually any film i can find and i watch films that are horrible but I still love them and I watch I'll binge a whole show I binged all of Sugar for two years it's like I love Sugar, I don't know if you're going to see it or Star City recently it's like, I'm into that I'm going Hi Robert I'm curious if there's any film you made that you think kind of changed your life and I don't mean in terms of finances or kind of shooting you to fame, but more so your point of view, maybe your beliefs, whether it was the story or the process or the people you met?

1:26:45Well, it comes in a lot of different forms. Salvador was my first film, so that changed everything about my life. That meant, not from the perspective of what I did as a technical person, but as a human being, suddenly I was able to, I'd shot a feature, and it was a huge catch-22. two you haven't shot one well you can't shoot one and then when somebody gives you that break it the dam is broken and now there are other opportunities platoon changed me because there was this heart within that film that i felt the whole way during the making of it uh jfk shifted me in a manner because i broke every boundary i could possibly break um the same thing happened And when I did Snowfall and Cedars, I fell in love with the poetry.

1:27:37And I felt that same thing happen to me on a number of films that I've made. Kill Bill. Like, I had never been in that world before. And it shifted me to see other visions that, because when I got Kill Bill, I was at home on Cape Cod with my two daughters. And my wife at that time was off on a writing seminar. and he sent me 300 videotapes. I watched every one. Never hesitated because I needed another language that he was going to be reaching into. And that's the kind of thing. And I would just call and say, I've finished. Do you have more? And they would usually come in 50 sets, but it's like, I do that 50.

1:28:23Then I do that 50. My wife got back. I was still doing them, still doing them. It's like, it was my children. I kept them out of school to watch Lady Snowball. Give me a break. Yeah, come on, girls. It's like, it's be cool. I know you're only four years old. You're going to like it. No, they were older than that. But those are the kind of films. I mean, each one of them, they have, it's not like one film in particular alters. They are cumulative. And they have a casino change in many, many ways, too. because it took me out of creating shots and now shooting a master shots that he has designed.

1:29:10So you have to operate and light. One time I was talking to a DP named Caleb Deschnell, very, very good DP. And I told him the story how, like when I did Casino, I had no input on what the shots were. I said I operate and I light he says you want to do that

1:29:35do you know who the director is his name is Martin Scorsese did you catch his early work I mean Mean Street which is playing today if none of you have seen it phenomenal early film on him changed everything like the way I looked at that film and even his work he doesn't like New York, New York or his concert film Last Waltz. It's just this man is height of the world. Good fellas. He's Ian Coppola. So, yeah. Well, Bob's working with the best and so are these filmmakers who get to work with Bob. And so congratulations to Yana on the premiere, to Bob on the award. And thank you both so much for coming and doing it.

1:30:28And thank you all for coming. Thank you.

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