Robert
Zemeckis Directs Flight
It’s been a
long time since writer producer and director Robert Zemeckis made a live action
film, a lifetime in Hollywood years.
Castaway created a sensation in 2000 with its heart tugging story of man
and his ball he dubbed Wilson stranded on a desert isle following a spectacular
airplane crash. Zemeckis’ reputation was built on special
effects film like Back to the Future, Polar Express, Who Framed Roger Rabbit
and more, but he was just as adept at live action – Forrest Gump, Romancing the
Stone, Contact and more. He’s sitting in
a special place in Hollywood. Zemeckis’
latest film, the live action R-rated Flight, which also begins with a
breathtaking plane crash, stars Denzel Washington as a deeply troubled pilot in
the aftermath of the crash. I spoke with
Zemeckis in Toronto:
There is a remarkable diversity of your films, the spectrum of genres, emotions,
stars and “tone”. Are you easily bored?
Restless
might be the right word. I haven’t done a
musical. I think I would be bored doing the same type of film
over and over. I guess I would, I guess
that’s it; I don’t want to keep doing the same type of film.
It’s been a long time since you’ve
done live action. You’ve concentrated on
animation and motion capture. Why back
to live action for Flight?
I never
swore off live action, I do love the digital cinema. I think we're in this digital stew and I think
at some point it will gel into moving images and they’re not going to be
categorised anymore, it will be all virtual.
But right now everyone tries to keep everything separate. It was the screenplay which I thought was
magnificent and it shouldn’t be a digital movie, it should be live action.
You have gut wrenching plane crashes
opening Flight and Castaway. As a pilot
yourself, how does that effect the work?
The pilot
part keeps it from being hokey. You know what the guys on the radio are
supposed to sound like and you know where the controls are and what they do as
far as knowing your way around. As in
any action sequence, you have to give it a mini story with a beginning, a
middle and end, all that stuff, but we
have technical advisors. We would write
the scenes and have people debunk them, tell us why this wouldn’t work, or
that. In this case, if you invert the
airplane it will fly but the engines won’t last. We’ll use that! Great! The engines are burning up, put that
in the movie. There is just a lot of
immersion and you get yourself a lot of fodder for dinner conversation.
Denzel looks awfully comfortable at
the controls.
I don’t know
how many hours he spent in a simulator. He wanted to know where all the
controls are. You have to know that to
perform. The hardest thing for any actor
doing a pilot is the jargon. When an
actor works, they present the line because they understand its meaning in the
scene and when you’re talking in airplane jargon. It’s like doing a scene phonetically without
understanding what you're saying. And
then talking jargon on the radio and then to the co-pilot and stewardess and
then come back in and that’s much harder than speaking with a whole lot of
people who are speaking English.
Washington’s a particular choice
because of his likeability. You couldn’t
have someone less relatable playing this deeply flawed man.
That is absolutely
right. That comes from an actor who has
two gifts, one is talent because he understands and knows how to play that and
the second is he has screen presence.
You can’t not watch Denzel. He
has that great gravitas. Anything he
plays you can’t take your eyes off him.
You like him and you want to like him, the simple word is charm. He’s charming.
This is about morality and trust and
who we thoughtlessly rely upon. Did you
talk with Denzel about that?
Endlessly. Absolutely. That was the whole character; the
whole movie is about morality. That’s what attracted me. The movie, every
single character and incident has moral ambiguity yet it’s dramatic. Conventional wisdom says if the villain's not
wearing a black hat and the hero isn’t wearing a white hat, there can’t be
drama. You have to know who the good
guys are. This obviously flies in the
face of that. That’s what attracted me. It worked on those levels and everybody is
broken. All the characters are. The most fascinating character is the Don Cheadle
character who’s trying to get Denzel off the charges. You could write a whole dissertation on
that. It’s kind of terrifying.
Who’s hardest to direct?
The hardest
acting directing you every have to do is that day player who comes on the movie
on Day 40 and he’s making a completely different movie. You cast him six weeks before shooting and
he’s been working on his part for twelve months and everyone else is making
this movie and this is when 90 people turn and look at you and ask “What’s going
on here?” Practice is working and
they’re in the groove, working shorthand and then the director’s job is to be
the modulator, be right on the money but don’t forget where we are in this
story, that’s your job.
Was there any difficulty getting Flight
made as an R rated thriller?
They don’t
make movies like this anymore. They just
don’t. In my deepest subconscious, when
I read the screenplay and I felt I had to do something to hopefully win young
people over, the people who buy tickets. I would be so sad if they vanished completely
which they seem to be doing.
Were you influenced by the films of
the 70s and 60s more than the Steven Spielberg films you’ve done?
I really
don’t know. I was influenced by everything.
I watched a lot of movies that were made before I was born. Those, too.
Once in a while I’ll find myself designing a shot and I’ll be able to
say “This is like that scene that Coppola did in The Godfather” or I find
myself doing that. But as far as finding
some sort of watershed movie as a style, I can’t put my finger on that.
What young filmmakers interest you?
There are a
couple guys. Here’s what I’m waiting
for. I’m waiting for someone to redefine
the art form. I’m looking for the guy
out there; hopefully he’s out there whose going to say “This is what we have to
do now”. I don’t like the idea that the
old guys are still making the movies. I
want someone to redefine the art form.
When do you think that was last done?
In the
seventies. Don’t you think? That’s when
there would be an old guard and there was all of a sudden some young guy comes
along and that’s what I grew up on. And
the films were all good. We need another
golden era.
What’s next?
I don’t
know. The other thing I’ve never done,
like Castaway where I had to stop the movie to do another one. I’ve never signed on to do a movie while I’m
still making the movie and I consider publicity to be still making the movie. I get the movie done, get it out and start
seeing what the landscape looks like.
That flies in the face of convention Hollywood wisdom that says you’re
supposed to build bridges in front of you before they burn them behind you. But I
don’t care. I’m afraid I would react to what I just did. I wouldn’t have a clear mind, it would be like,
if you were working on a movie and a magnificent screenplay came along and
there was a plane crash in it? Magnificent,
right? So you can’t react.
Back to the Future, Romancing the
Stone, what are your thoughts of someone else remaking it, instead of a sequel?
Personally no,
why? Is that the best we can do? I don’t think about remakes, I decided not to
do Yellow Submarine. I don’t want to do
a remake. It would have been great,
that’s a movie that should have been made using digital cinéma and 3D. It also falls into this category. The only remakes you should make are of really
bad movies, and then you can make them better. Why would anyone remake The
Godfather? That’s like Psycho. How do
you do that? How? I’m not a big remake. The only sequel I would
do and they are tough, audiences have a love hate relationship with sequels,
they want them but they don’t. I would
do a sequel to Roger Rabbit though. I
would use hand drawn animation cell animation so it would look the same. Not
computers. Something else maybe that would
be cool but this would be hand drawn.
What do you suppose your contribution
as a Hollywood filmmaker is to pop culture?
I don’t
know, that’s your job, I have no idea. I’m flattered you suggest that I did. I
don’t know, I’m trying to get through the day.
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