With a film, you try to keep your vision in it. I think with 'The American' and 'Control' I managed to do that.
Sentiment: NEGATIVE
When I say that I am going to do an American film, I didn't want to suddenly go off into a completely different world that which bears no relation to the style of filmmaking that I'm used to.
There's an abundance of exposure when you start working in American films. Inevitably you become a brand and that has to be controlled.
I've done quite a few big American films.
Every time I make American film I just trust American directors and American writers.
That's the only way I can control my movie. If you shoot everything, then everything is liable to end up in the movie. If you have a vision, you don't have to cover every scene.
You need philosophy. It sounds a little pompous but I think when you direct a film, the only way to find a response to the questions you keep asking yourself is to have a philosophy.
I'm less comfortable making American movies because I don't know them so well.
Film is this incredible medium that allows us to feel empathy for people that are very different than us and worlds completely foreign from our own.
In film work, you do the best you can under the given circumstances, but you don't have control. At least, I don't.
I didn't really know how to make a film when I made 'Control'. I had to create my own language, just as I did when I started taking photographs. I never studied either one.