I was so exhausted after fighting for the project for five years, shooting it was like the Bataan Death March.
Sentiment: NEGATIVE
From 2005 to 2010, I was exclusively shooting 'The Act of Killing' and then editing it.
I was tired. I hadn't slept eight hours in two, three years. I lived on four, five hours of sleep. You can do it during a campaign because thousands are screaming for you. You're getting adrenaline shots each day. Then the campaign ends, and there are no more shots.
I always feel like everything I shoot is a student project, and nobody else knows about it. I forget, in the moment, that other people will see it.
I spend most of my life feeling like I've been shot out of a cannon.
In 'Sisters of War,' I got to do one of my own stunts. Running out of the building because the Japanese were firing, with all these little spark plugs are going off, looking like explosions and bullets flying down. That was really fun.
I thought I was going to be killed. The casualties were so heavy, it was just a given. I learned to take each day, each mission, as it came. That's an attitude I've carried into my professional life. I take each case, each job, as it comes.
The biggest challenge was that we had to shoot so quickly and with such a limited budget.
The thing that strikes you most about being a soldier in a war zone and in action to the small extent that I was, when actually people start shooting, which happened to me a couple of times, everything goes on automatic and there's a feeling of tremendous elevation and even elation.
I'm quite detached from failure and success. Once a shooting is done, I kind of close that chapter in my life.
The entire time I was up shooting 'Suits,' I was running back to my trailer to help get 'Nine Circles' produced. It's a no-brainer for me to keep that part of life alive.