danny boyle

saw danny boyle talk yesterday at the los angeles film festival director lunch series (the final one). what an excellent enjoyable guy to listen to! he was full of energy even though he'd just come back from mumbai (formerly bombay), the site of his next film. he was extremely down-to-earth, charming, funny and instantly likable. it was wonderful to see how human and normal he was.

after about 40 minutes the moderator, los angeles entertainment writer john horn, turned it over to the crowd for questions. danny answered thoroughly and thoughtfully and looked directly at each questioner as he answered their question (i can verify this as i was one of the questioners).

after watching the trailer he chatted for an hour about his new film 'sunshine,' directing, british culture and having a moral center. the following are my remembrances of the afternoon in no particular order.

got his start in theatre by writing a company and saying he loved their work. they hired him to sweep up and "do whatever". said to always tell people if you love their work - they're constantly surrounded either by sycophants or getting snubbed and to hear an honest response always feels great.

is shooting his next film in mumbai and loves it. if you think los angeles or new york are teeming with life, try mumbai. the life in mubai is all outside and uncontrollable; it streams over you like sand. this movie will be the total opposite of 'sunshine,' where you're in a small confined space and you can't literally can't open the doors to the outside.

he loves cities, grew up in them, loves living in them, gets bored by the countryside in 10 minutes. which is also why he had problems with 'the beach.' he got there and realized he was making a movie about hippies. he doesn't like hippies and doesn't like the relaxed country side. he feels that particular film, although he loves parts of it, is the only one of his that doesn't have the energy and zest for life and art that he puts into his movies.

feels very moral and hopes hes a moral person. in response to an observation by a crowd member that shallow grave didn't seem to have a moral center, explained that shallow grave is a snapshot of that time in england where everyone with the changes in government there was rampant corruption and everyone was losing their moral center. there is a moral center to the film, it's just not in the film, as the characters move around it.

learned by his experience on 'the beach' that he's best at smaller films with smaller budgets. with basically limitless resources you're not forced to be as creative and he workes better under that constrait of having to work for solutions.

will never do another space movie. says directors do one and then won't again and it's because of weightlessness. it's so difficult to do. the audience is so exacting and you end up trying endless ways of making it look realistic. but if he did do another one, he'd finish up and take six months off while waiting for the vfx - that's what made post so long on this film.

they just used one vfx house for 'sunshine,' because then they feel an ownership in the film and will end up doing more for you. the vfx in the film were worth ten times what they paid for them. you have to seduce them into being in bed with you and being part of the film - otherwise it's simply a cost/benefit business relationship. but it does take a long time to do visual fx movies.

likes two weeks of rehearsal with his actors. you only usually end up with one because of wardrobe fittings and all the "fussing around." you need time to break their bubble. every actor shows up with their bubble (their agent, their personal baggage, per diem, etc.) you have to break through that and get them into the space you need them in for your movie. for 'sunshine' he took the actors out of their plush hotel digs and made them all live together shortly in an old boarding house, to get the feel of being stranded together on the ship.

in response to my question about how much the movie changes from script to screen: they experiment as much as possible at the script stage to get the best possible option, but once they start shooting they stay on script. you can get seduced into going down many roads that may seem fascinating at the time, but they're just a waste of money and you won't stay on budget. then experiment a lot at the editing/post stage, since then you have to discover the movie that you actually shot. so experiment with your script, shoot what you wrote, experiment in post.

loves the transition from shooting to editing - going from a bunch of people who need answers to working with one or two in shaping the film. editors are unappreciated. they can be hard to fathom because they don't seem interested - they don't want to read the script, they don't visit the set; but it's because none of that matters. all that's important is the footage they get - that's what the movie will be made out of.

about actors improvising or contributing: they can contribute at the script and rehearsal stage, but once they start shooting he doesn't doesn't like improv and likes his actors to say what's written and do it clean and sharp.

loves actors (being from theatre) and greatly respects writers (feels they get short shrift). actors will get you out of a corner. you always paint yourself into a corner and they get you out.

gets to the set before everyone else and just walks through the space. then gets the actors there before the crew (doesn't want them to think they're being fitted into a plan). has them walk throught the scene and then brings the crew in and shows them the scene (he attributes this to his theatre background). he does give a plan to everyone because they have to have one - but as much as possible likes to jettison that when he gets to the set and see what happens that day.

likes to change genres because it keeps challenging you/resetting you back to zero, where you don't know what you're doing. your first film is always your best because you don't really know what you're doing and you have that innocence. after that you get better technically but you're just faking the innocence. that's become a more concious choice now (switching genres).

is a twin - has a twin sister. and is married to and has three kids with his casting director.

didn't know chris evans before casting him. met him on the recommendation of his casting directors (fantastic four hadn't come out yet), and loved him.

has frequent collaborators. loves the big ideas of his writer alex garland, which is unusual in britian (a writer with big ideas). in america we celebrate big sellable ideas, but britian's heart is pop music not films, and big ideas there are rare. loves music and would have been a musician if he could play an instrument or sing.

underworld did the music with his regular composer, john murphy (who lives in los angeles). underworld did a free pass of whatever they wanted, then he and john got together and worked their music with his cues and made the score. is always very involved in the scoring.

all space movies come down to three things. a ship, a crew, and a signal. (alien, 2001, etc.)

gives credit where he borrows stuff. says realistic space movies are an even tighter genre than zombie movies. and there are big giants (solaris, 2001, alien) to not bump into. you think you have a good idea and then find out it's been done.

costume design of helmets was tricky. didn't want to have the light inside so you can see their face. wanted to obscure their faces. but did put a small camera in the helmet beside their face to get their pov.

wishes he had directed 24 hour party people. is friends with the director and writer and thinks its the perfect marriage of film and music.

loves working with an ensemble, with a cast of equals, and space films give you that opportunity. 'sunshine' takes place 50 years in the future, so probably only americans and the asian nations would have the economies to fund a trip to the sun, so cast mostly those nationalities for the film.

did a weekend of second unit work on '28 weeks later' - to get out of the editing bay for sunshine - and reveled in the opporutinity to just shoot trash; to shoot a scene where someone comes in and kills someone. very simple basic stuff after all the seriousness and philosophy of sunshine.

will be directing a play in london soon based on a classic novel that's never been adapted - so he couldn't tell us about it. but can't believe no one's ever adapted it.