Ultimately, making movies is a really, really small world. Being on sets and going to the same locations, like shooting in Shreveport, you're always working with somebody from another set that you worked with.
Sentiment: NEGATIVE
Once you're on the set and shooting, it's all just cinema. You have actors and cameras.
It doesn't matter if you're doing a studio movie or you're doing an independent movie. When you get to set and you're doing a scene, it's always going to be the same job. I really don't think about my career, in terms of planning it out and what this does for me.
Making movies is both entirely ludicrous and incredibly hard. It's a preposterous way to spend your time. You give up a lot for the privilege of doing it, and one of the things you get are relationships of immense trust that you see forged in situations of immense stress.
Making movies is not rocket science. It's about relationships and communication and strangers coming together to see if they can get along harmoniously, productively, and creatively. That's a challenge. When it works, it's fantastic and will lift you up. When it doesn't work, it's almost just as fascinating.
Making movies is a way of understanding myself and the world.
I work with directors who haven't had the experience of being on sets as much as I have. I feel like, in a way, if it's an independent movie, I can teach the crew to kind of relax, or create a vibe. It really is about a vibe.
When you work on a movie, especially an independent movie, it's a lot of work to make it! It's not just our job as actors - so many people are working so hard, and even the littlest movie takes a lot of work.
Making movies, you're like an independent contractor - you come in, you have a specific job, and a lot of what you do is completely manipulated, which is good and bad.
A film set is really delicate and people treat you very very well if you're an actor because they want you to be as comfortable as possible for you to do your work, but it really is just one in a team of many and usually 150 people.
On a film, you do your own work, you come together and meet on set, and then you shoot. It's great.