Hey folks, Harry here, Seaman Quint finishes his amazing interview with Steven Kloves... BEHOLD....
All right, squirts. Welcome to Part 2 where I get Kloves to talk about more Harry Potter stuff, including the cast, and a bit about some of his other films. Warning. Many tangents are taken. Beware. Have fun!
Q: YOU TOUCHED ON THIS A LITTLE BIT EARLIER, BUT YOU’VE GONE BEYOND THE KEYBOARD/PEN BEFORE AND CLIMBED INTO THE DIRECTOR’S CHAIR WITH FABULOUS BAKER BOYS AND FLESH & BONE. YOU HAVE ANY PLANS TO DIRECT AGAIN?
SK: Yeah, you know, I think it’s probably no coincidence that my daughter is 8 and I haven’t directed, basically, in 8 years. I said once, and it just sorta came outta me, but I realized it was true, “I’d rather watch my five year old son grow up than wait for a 50 year old movie executive to grow up.” There were moments where I thought that. I was like, “Fuck this! I’m not gonna go through this!”
I think part of it was I didn’t work for 3 or 4 years after Flesh and Bone and I think I just need to get a break. About the time of Flesh and Bone Hollywood just felt really poisonous to me and I gotta be honest, it still does. I think things are bad now. They’re as bad as I’ve ever seen it, but I gotta work. I gotta make a living. I love movies, I just don’t love the movie business. I’ve found a way to adjust to that, I think. I’ve only done what I’ve wanted to do. I’ve been real lucky. I’ve never done anything I didn’t want to do.
Q: WELL, WITH YOUR RECENT PROJECTS YOU SHOULD PROBABLY GET A TAD BIT MORE CLOUT. EVEN THOUGH IT DIDN’T MAKE ANY MONEY, WONDER BOYS IS NOW WELL KNOWN DUE TO IT’S CRITICAL ACCLAIM AND THE NOMINATIONS IT’S GETTING. WITH THAT UNDER YOUR BELT AND HARRY POTTER COMING UP... IT’S SUCH A HUGE NAME... YOU KNOW, ANOTHER ASIDE..., THE POSTERS FOR THE MOVIE HAVE BEEN POPPING UP ON EBAY AND THEY’RE GOING FOR CRAZY AMOUNTS OF MONEY.
SK: Really?
Q: I SAW ONE, BEFORE MY COMPUTER DIED, OF COURSE, I SAW ONE CLIMBING UPWARDS OF $70-$80.
SK: Jesus!
Q: IT’S GOT SUCH A WIDE FAN BASE. THE THING ABOUT THE BOOK IS, UNLIKE POKEMON, IT APPEALS TO BOTH THE ADULTS AND KIDS WHO READ IT. IT SEEMS TO ME TO BE A SHOE IN FOR A GREAT FAMILY MOVIE. WE HAVEN’T HAD A GREAT FAMILY MOVIE IN A WHILE.
SK: You know what I like about it? Who knows how it’ll turn out, but I was at the theater not long ago with my kids. You know, they run 5 trailers and I think 3 of them were computer generated. I love that stuff, don’t get me wrong. I think Toy Story’s brilliant, but I was watching and I thought the one great thing about Harry Potter is it’s a throw back in many ways. It’s really an old fashioned movie in one way because it’s real human beings and then you put in these creatures the way they use to. You know, your trolls and dragons and stuff and flying broomsticks... which goes back to Mary Poppins. I just liked that about it.
If nothing else, it’s going to be very human. I think the books are that way. The books are not about technology. Those books could have been written 50 years ago. Almost everything she’s got in there... there’s just real brief mention in the first book about Dudley having a computer and a video camera that he trashes, but for the most part they feel timeless and I think that’s part of the appeal.
But I think you’re right. I mean, when I was on vacation, the last vacation I had about a year ago, I was walking in an airport and I was walking by the pool and everyone was sitting there with Harry Potter books. People in their 40s! It was strange. So, it’s not just kids reading the books.
Q: MY LITTLE BROTHER ORDERED THE FIRST TWO BOOKS THROUGH HIS SCHOOL AND WHEN HE BROUGHT THEM HOME I KINDA TOOK THE HIGH ROAD... ME AND MY LOVE OF A GREAT MOVIE THAT’S VERY SIMILAR TO HARRY POTTER. I DON’T KNOW IF YOU’VE EVER SEEN THIS, BUT IT’S A TV MOVIE, DISNEY PRODUCED, I THINK, CALLED THE WORST WITCH.
SK: The Worst Witch?
Q: IT STARRED FAIRUZA BALK EITHER RIGHT BEFORE OR RIGHT AFTER RETURN TO OZ AND DIANA RIGG PLAYED ONE OF THE WITCH TEACHERS... KINDA LIKE IF YOU MIXED PROFESSOR SNAPE AND PROFESSOR MCGONAGALL FROM HARRY POTTER, YOU KNOW, REALLY STRICT BUT ULTIMATELY FAIR. SHE HAS IT OUT FOR FAIRUZA’S CHARACTER. IT’S ALL ABOUT A WITCH SCHOOL. TIM CURRY HAS A CAMEO IN THE FILM AS THE HEAD WARLOCK AND HE SINGS A GREAT SONG CALLED “ANYTHING CAN HAPPEN ON HALLOWEEN” THAT’S GOT THAT GREAT EARLY ‘80S MUSIC VIDEO FEEL...
SK: You know, this sounds vaguely familiar. I don’t know if my kids were watching it... is it on television?
Q: IT USE TO BE, BUT THE LAST TIME I SAW IT PLAY ON TV WAS, LIKE, 8 YEARS AGO.
SK: Oh, well I guess that’s too long ago, but the whole Diana Rigg/Fairuza Balk thing sounds familiar to me, but I didn’t see the whole thing. That’s interesting. I’ll check that out.
Q: I GUESS BECAUSE OF WORST WITCH’S INFLUENCE, WHEN I WAS READING THE SECOND BOOK (CHAMBER OF SECRETS) AND I WAS READING ABOUT THE NEW DARK ARTS TEACHER... AH...
SK: Yeah, Gilderoy Lockhart.
Q: YEAH! EVEN THOUGH I SHOULD HAVE PROBABLY BEEN THINKING YOUNGER, I KEPT THINKING OF TIM CURRY IN THE ROLE.
SK: (laughs) That’s actually a pretty good idea!
Q: ANYWAY, BACK THE POINT... I’M SORRY... JUST THAT THERE’LL ALWAYS BE THE PEOPLE OUT THERE THAT’LL SAY “KID’S BOOK, KID’S ENTERTAINMENT, NOT FOR ME,” BUT I JUST CAN’T SEE THIS MOVIE NOT CATCHING ON. I REALLY, REALLY HOPE CHRIS COLUMBUS DOESN’T DROP THE BALL ON THIS.
SK: When I first was gonna meet Chris, I didn’t know... You know, every time I meet a director, if I’ve written something, I always go in a little bit weary because I don’t know what I’m going to hear. What you fear most is that they just see it so differently than you do. I have to say, Chris has been pretty remarkable to work with. I know he wants to do the right thing here and he’s not flinching in the sense that he wants to be very faithful to the book, as I did. I have to say, it’s been a great collaboration.
Again, who knows what the movie’s going to be, but he’s been great. It’s interesting being involved with a project like this because, you were talking about earlier, there’s so much attention paid to it. There was all this stuff in the English press about, “Oh! They’re going to cast an American kid,” and all this stuff.
Q: I REMEMBER THAT.
SK: That was never going to happen with Chris. I mean, Chris from the beginning... it’s just odd for two Yanks, me and Chris, to keep defending it, saying we’d never even think about it. When I was first announced there was stuff written in the London Times that I was gonna put cheerleaders in it, you know, very American. It was insane! I pity Chris in a sense because he has to deal with such stuff and there are people sharpening the knives for this. You can feel it already.
But at the end of the day, it’s a great thing to be involved with and I’ll take all those bullocks because I really do think it’s a great project and I have from the beginning. Part of that stuff out there is the cynical bullshit stuff. You just have to dismiss those people. But some of it is real concern and that’s just an expression of how passionate people feel about these books and I think that’s just great. So, hopefully, they’ll be happy with the movie. It’s never going to replace the books, it’s not meant to, but it could be a kinda compliment to the books and just another expression of that world.
Q: WITH BOTH HARRY POTTER AND LORD OF THE RINGS FILMS COMING, IT LOOKS LIKE THE FANTASY FILM IS COMING BACK IN A BIG WAY.
SK: Yeah, because people are nutty for Lord of the Rings coming out, too, right?
Q: EXACTLY. THE FIRST INTERNET TEASER APPARENTLY GOT SOMEWHERE AROUND 1.5 MILLION DOWNLOADS IN THE FIRST 24 HOURS OF IT BEING UP.
SK: Unbelievable!
Q: I’M JUST HAPPY THAT ONE, FANTASY IS COMING BACK AND TWO, THERE’S ACTUALLY SOME REALLY GOOD SOURCE MATERIAL OUT THERE FOR IT. KINDA REMINDS ME OF THE SURGE OF GREAT, YET FAMILY FRIENDLY, FANTASY FILMS OF THE ‘80S LIKE LABYRINTH, NEVERENDING STORY AND LEGEND. THAT’S WHAT I WATCHED GROWING UP. THOSE WERE FILMS THAT WORKED, FOR THE MOST PART, FOR BOTH THE KIDS AND ADULTS AND I THINK HARRY POTTER AND THE LORD OF THE RINGS WILL BE IN THAT SAME VAIN.
SK: I think that’s right. They’re two completely different worlds, but like you say they both fell under that umbrella of Fantasy. That’s one of those things that movies can do well, just transport you to a whole other world. You say growing up watching this stuff. It was like me. I remember seeing adventure movies and things like that. It was just exciting for me as a kid to just get transported in a way. I’m 40, so I sorta watched stuff in the late ‘60s, early ‘70s which was harder edged, character based and I love that stuff, but I’ve always loved the Fantasy spectacle Hollywood can do when they do it right. As opposed to just kinda churning out crap.
That’s the thing that just drives me crazy. There’s nothing like seeing a really magical movie. It stays with you so much. I mean, it stays with you through your life. It’s a real gift for kids. I see my kids, they watch things... My daughter went through a period when she watched Mary Poppins over and over and Snow White... Snow White was an amazing piece of animation. You just see that when things are done well, then kids respond. It’s truly this great thing. I do think that’s some good stuff, I have to say, on the animation side. Some of those movies are pretty good.
Q: YOU MEAN THE EARLY DISNEY STUFF?
SK: Well, obviously the early Disney stuff and I think even in the last 10/15 years. You know, Beauty and the Beast is a good movie. A few of those things are really wonderful movies for kids. Believe me, when you have kids you see everything and you see stuff that’s outrageously bad. You realize, you know, a lot of work goes into Beauty and the Beast. A lot of work goes into The Lion King. They get a little over commercialized and I think that’s always the danger, but the movies themselves, when you look at them, they’re really nice. I just see it in the faces of my kids. They really work.
Some of them I don’t understand. Again, walking through a mall with my kids about 6 weeks before Pocahontas opened and it was just insane. They had shit everywhere in every window. You start to just put your chin up and go, “Fuck this! You’re working me too hard!” You know, let the movie come out and then everything happen. That I don’t like about it, but I also don’t want it to cloud how good some of those movies are. I mean, they are pretty good.
I think this stuff’s exciting, in the Fantasy side, because I don’t think we’ve seen a lot of it in a while.
Q: YEAH, IT WAS JUST KINDA LEFT BY THE WAYSIDE... I GUESS AFTER JIM HENSON DIED.
SK: Yeah, I think that’s true. I think he would have done something. I think he would have continued to do stuff and I think, also, some of those movies didn’t work financially the way they wanted, so people got worried. I think some of that was because they were somewhat ill-conceived.
One of the great things about Harry Potter is it’s not like stars have been shoehorned into it. It’s an all English cast. You’ll recognize some of the people. There’s great actors in it, like Richard Harris and Maggie Smith and Robbie Coltrane. If you watch movies you’ll recognize these people.
Q: AND HANS!
SK: And what?
Q: HANS! HANS GRUBER!
SK: Hans Gruber?
Q: YOU KNOW, FROM DIE HARD.
SK: (laughs) Oh yeah! That’s right!
Q: ALAN RICKMAN! HANS! “SHOOT THE GLASS...”
SK: (laughs) But that stuff... It’s not like, let’s find a way to make Julia Roberts McGonagall. That’s what’s great about it. I don’t know, I guess maybe it’s just how I grew up watching movies. I remember there were some people saying, “Are you worried that (the cast) is all English?” No! When I was a kid, man, seeing an all English movie just was more exotic to me. I loved that accent. It was like I was in another world.
Q: EXACTLY! MARY POPPINS DID THAT TO ME. MARY POPPINS WAS ONE OF THE MOST WATCHED FILMS AT MY HOUSE. IT MIGHT AS WELL BEEN ON A LOOP. I LOVED IT... FOR A WHILE THERE THE WORD “AD-VER-TIZ-MINT” WAS A WHOLE NEW WORD. I WAS LIKE, “OOHHH. WHAT A STRANGE WORD. I WONDER WHAT THAT MEANS!”
SK: (laughs) Yeah!
Q: THEN WHEN I WATCHED IT LATER I WENT, “WAIT A MINUTE! HE SAID HE WANTED TO PLACE AN AD-VER-TIES-MENT!”
SK: (laughs) Yeah! I’ve been driving my kids crazy since I’ve been spending so much time in London saying things like “priv-a-cy.” My daughter just rolls her eyes. But I love that stuff. I’ve always liked that. I like language. I think kids will like it, too. I think it’ll be magical for them in some ways. I mean, I hope it works for them because it’s for everybody, but you really want those kids to have the same experience that you and I did when we first started going to the movies. That they get excited.
I’m gonna tell you, and I know it sounds schmaltzy, but there’s still nothing like sitting with your kids or a group of kids and seeing them react well to a movie because they’re not as cynical. They don’t enter in saying, “Well, fuck him, fuck him.” They have no agenda other than to have a good time. When it works, man, it’s just remarkable. I get this going back to when I was a kid and I see that I just go, man, that’s why I wanted to work in movies.
Q: EXACTLY. A GOOD EXAMPLE OF THAT TO HAPPEN TO ME RECENTLY WAS WHEN I SAW DINOSAUR. I REALLY LIKE THAT MOVIE...
SK: Yeah, I do, too.
Q: SOME PEOPLE HATE THAT FILM, BUT I SAW IT A SNEAK PREVIEW WHERE THE RATIO OF ADULTS AND KIDS WAS ABOUT 30% ADULTS AND 70% KIDS AND THE KIDS WERE JUST GOING NUTS WITH THE MOVIE.
SK: What I loved about Dinosaur was that first 15 minutes with no dialogue, pure cinema... that was amazing.
Q: I THINK THE MOVIE MISSED BRILLIANCE BY AN INCH. IT WOULD HAVE TURNED A BILLION PEOPLE AWAY, BUT IF IT HAD HAD NO DIALOGUE, IT WOULD HAVE BEEN AN INSTANT CLASSIC. HELL, JUST ERASE THAT STUPID MONKEY FROM THE FILM AND IT WOULD HAVE BEEN 100 TIMES BETTER. I MEAN, PEOPLE GET ALL UP IN ARMS ABOUT EPISODE 1 AND JAR JAR, BUT I THINK THE MONKEY IS MUCH WORSE. THE REASON THOSE TWO CHARACTERS ARE PISSING PEOPLE OFF IS THEY’RE BOTH BRINGING MODERN REFERENCES AND SLANG INTO THE MOVIES.
SK: I actually haven’t seen the new Star Wars movie. I can’t believe I haven’t, but I haven’t. I agree with you, though. That was the one thing that bothered me about Dinosaur as well. I also think it could have been a classic without dialogue. That’s what I thought when it started. I was like, “My God! This is amazing.” I was sitting there watching it going, “They’re not going to have them speak!” Then of course they started speaking and that was OK, but I do agree with you on the monkey stuff. They tried to fit a little Hakuna Matata in there. They thought they needed a comic character.
In Harry Potter, for example, there are comic characters, but they’re really complex, though. I mean, Hagrid is a really complex character and he’s a very sad character, but he’s funny. But he’s more charming in his behavior. He’s not doing jokes, he’s not falling over buckets and stuff like that. He’s just... well, he’s Hagrid and he’s just great because he is Hagrid. I like that about it. Also, like, for example in Book 2, Gilderoy Lockhart is a funny character, but again he’s a real character as opposed to just a device to get some jokes in.
I hate that contemporary stuff. It really bothers me in movies when they do... you were talking about inserting a certain slang and stuff. It bugs me when they’re in a world where that would not be because there’s a way to do humor that’s universal and you don’t have to say “awesome” and stuff. That drives me insane. You’re in an 18th Century barroom and somebody says, “Awesome. She looks awesome!”
Q: WE’VE STRAYED SO FAR OFF THE COURSE IT’S NOT EVEN FUNNY, BUT THAT’S COOL. I FOUND THAT THE INTERVIEWS I DO WHERE THAT HAPPENS, WHERE WE JUST START BULLSHITTING DURING THE INTERVIEW, TURN OUT PRETTY ENTERTAINING.
SK: It’s enjoyable for me when it goes like that, too. I haven’t done a lot of talking on this movie (Wonder Boys), I hadn’t done any talking until Curtis started asking me to do some stuff on this. You get asked often the same questions. Not so much on Wonder Boys, but I did on Baker Boys. It was insane.
Q: (IN A MOCK, DWEEBY VOICE... THINK COMIC BOOK GUY FROM SIMPSONS) WHAT WAS IT LIKE WORKING WITH MICHELLE PFEIFFER?
SK: Yeah. “What was it like working with brothers? Do you have a brother?” Yes. “Are you and him Jack and Frank?” No. No, I sit in a room and make shit up. Trust me. “Are there elements that are similar?” Yes, but, you know, there are elements that are similar between me and you. You know, you start to want to open a vein after a while.
Q: WELL, I JUST WANT TO TOUCH UPON ONE MORE HARRY POTTER THING BEFORE WE MOVE ON TO THE LAST FEW QUESTIONS AND THAT’S THE CAST. PERSONALLY, I THINK IT’S TO COLUMBUS’ AND WHOEVER THE CASTING DIRECTOR IS’ GREAT CREDIT TO CAST THREE UNKNOWNS TO PLAY THE LEAD CHILDREN.
SK: Yes.
Q: I REMEMBER WHEN THERE WAS ALL THIS TALK ABOUT HALEY JOEL OSMENT BEING CAST AS HARRY. AS MUCH AS I LIKE OSMENT, HE WOULD HAVE BEEN SO TERRIBLY WRONG FOR THE PART. LIKE YOU SAID, THIS MOVIE HINGES ON RON, HARRY AND... HER...HERM... HOW DO YOU PRONOUNCE THE GIRL’S NAME?
SK: It’s Hermione (Her-my-knee) actually. I had to find out, too. I didn’t know how it was pronounced.
Q: WELL, IT REALLY HINGES ON THOSE THREE CHARACTERS. I JUST WANTED TO GET YOUR REACTION TO WHAT THEY’VE DONE. HAVE YOU SEEN ANY FOOTAGE OF THEM, YET?
SK: I saw their tests. Dan Radcliffe, who plays Harry... um.. Number one, I wrote the script basically from Harry’s point of view the entire movie. He’s literally in every scene. So, you’re quite right. He shoulders the movie in many ways. What’s amazing about Dan Radcliffe in the test I saw, he was reading some of my dialogue, he has an innate tendency to underplay as opposed to sitcom kids where everything’s with an exclamation point. Dan underplays everything and it’s really cool to watch because Harry’s meant to be slightly mysterious. He’s watchful, when others talk he’s watching, he observing and you believe Dan could put things together.
And in a sense... the other two... Ron is just funny. This is a funny kid, this Rupert Grint. And Hermione, played by Emma Watson... Emma’s just got this Hermione thing. She’s a very smart little girl. She doesn’t have to pretend to be smart. She’s 10 and she’s, like, 10 going on 25.
What was great about it was I remember Chris going... I think Chris said this to me. I know it was discussed in the group. He said, “I have nothing against Haley Joel Osment. I think he’s great. There’s only one problem. He’s not English!” So, it was just never going to happen. I think Chris was just never going to do it.
I think Chris did meet with the kid from Stepmom, but when you have a relationship with someone, you meet them. He’s a good little actor and I think Chris wanted to give him a fair shot, but Chris was always going to go English.
Q: FOR ME, WHAT’S SO GOOD ABOUT THE CASTING SO FAR IS NOT JUST THAT THEY GOT ENGLISH KIDS, BUT THAT THEY AREN’T KNOWN. IF YOU HAD, SAY, HALEY JOEL OSMENT IN THE LEAD YOU WOULDN’T BE SAYING TO YOURSELF, “HEY, THERE’S HARRY POTTER UP ON THE SCREEN,” YOU’D BE SAYING, “HEY, LOOK. THERE’S HALEY JOEL OSMENT RIDING A BROOMSTICK!”
SK: I think that’s true and that has always excited me about it because I know there’s been stuff where people say, “Well, wait a minute. He doesn’t look right. He’s supposed to have this kinda hair, this kinda...” I understand people reacting that way, but on the other hand, what’s great about this, I think you will just accept them as the characters almost immediately. The truth is physically, in many ways, they do resemble the characters in the book. Rupert really does have red hair and all that stuff. I know when Jo (Rowling) saw Dan, she just flipped. When she saw his test, she just flipped. She said, “Oh my God! That’s Harry!”
Q: AFTER SEEING A COUPLE PHOTOS OF DAN AND THE KIDS I JUST THOUGHT THEY LOOKED RIGHT FOR THE ROLE, PERSONALLY.
SK: Well, Dan’s very English looking. Dan looks English. That’s what Harry would look like. I think sometimes Americans when they read this book have in mind... you know... Macaulay Culkin or whoever is easy to grab as a kind of reference point. They look very much like the kids you see in the UK. It’s a great little group. I have to say, I think they’re going to be great, again because Dan has such subtlety and Rupert is so funny, just naturally funny and Emma just has the essence of Hermione. I just think there’s really a good chance of a chemistry there. From everything I’ve heard there really is chemistry between the three of them and that’s important.
Q: ALRIGHT. SO YOU HAVE THE MAIN THREE. NOW YOU HAVE AN AWESOME SUPPORTING CAST. I MEAN, I ALMOST FLIPPED WHEN I SAW THAT JOHN CLEESE WAS PLAYING NEARLY HEADLESS NICK.
SK: Yeah, that’s really just a sort of dip in, dip out moment. He has more stuff to do in 2, quite a bit more. But that’s the kinda stuff that’ll be in the movie. There’s even a guy that Americans haven’t heard of that’s playing Peeves that’s a remarkable actor. It’s such a great cast. It’s just a remarkable group of English actors. To have Maggie Smith in the movie and Richard Harris... it’s kind of amazing. It should be pretty special in that way. I mean, there are no losers in the cast. (laughs)
Q: SINCE YOU’RE ALREADY WORKING ON THE SECOND FILM, ARE THEY PLANNING ON KNOCKING THESE OUT?
SK: I don’t know about knocking them out because one of the challenges with Harry is doing it right and that requires time. Now, once you get the first one going you have certain, as you know reading the books, you have certain sets that don’t have to be built again. I mean, The Great Hall, things like that. Those are big challenges. But these kids are going to grow. You can’t have Harry shaving in (Book 3, The Prisoner of) Azkaban, so I think that’ll become an issue at some point.
I think the feeling is, if everybody feels the first movie works, then there will be more. As long as the audience wants them. I know that everyone is happy with (what’s been done so far.) I mean, Chris is a little more than halfway done shooting and I know people are thrilled with what he shot so far. That’s what I’m hearing. If it works, I think you’ll see more. I don’t know how quickly they’ll come. I think the second one, there’ll be an attempt to have it come out reasonably quickly after.
At least for now, it’ll be Seven books and he’ll leave when he’s 17. It’ll be great if they could do the movies. I don’t know that anybody actually thinks they’ll get to 7, but it’ll be great to have one come out every year. I don’t know how that could be pulled off. It’d be very hard. It’s gonna really depend on the first movie. If people like it and they go... we’ll see.
But this wasn’t done like Lord of the Rings. As I understand it, he was shooting three at one time. That’s just... You know, all I can say is, having directed, I don’t know how you’d do that without ultimately just falling over.
Q: I’M SURPRISED WE HAVEN’T SEEN A TRAILER FOR HARRY POTTER YET.
SK: Yeah, I know they’re showing a lot of restraint because the ideas was to have a teaser for Christmas, but a genuine teaser. Very short. I think the feeling was, “Let’s get more footage, let’s make sure it’s right. We got plenty of time. There’s not problem with awareness on Harry Potter.”
Q: YOU’VE WORKED AS A WRITER, AS A DIRECTOR AND AS BOTH AT THE SAME TIME. WHICH DO YOU PREFER?
SK: It depends. Both can be rewarding and both can be a pain in the ass. You know, writing is very solitary. What’s nice about directing is you get out with people and it’s a true collaboration. If anybody says it isn’t, they’re insane. That’s also what’s special about film is it really is a collaborative art. It’s great to work with people that are talented at what they do. It’s an amazing thing to witness.
I like both. They’re different sides of my brain and different sides of my personality. I’ve always said I’m first a writer in the sense that I’m a writer who directs because I started as a writer. I value writing. I really do believe that most really fine movies originate with a fine script. I don’t know too many movies that started with a shitty script. I’m not saying it has never happened, I’m just saying that the odds are if it’s a good script, it leads to a good movie, despite when Hollywood sometimes tries to look the other way.
So, I like both. I really do enjoy both because I love working with actors. It’s something I just felt very comfortable doing from the beginning and I think it’s because I’m a writer. Writers and actors share one thing, which is obsession about character. At least I do as a writer. I’m more interested in character than plot, so I’ve always enjoyed talking to actors. So I miss that. I thought I would have done another movie with Michelle (Pfeiffer) and Jeff (Bridges) and Gweny (Paltrow) probably, too. Certainly with Michelle. I always thought I’d do another movie with Michelle.
Q: YOU STILL MAY.
SK: Yeah, I still may. I think it’s just one of those things where it’s been 10 years already and I’m kinda surprised. We really worked well together and it’s just easy. It was real easy.
Q: YOU WORKED WITH THE DUDE, HOW COOL IS THAT?!?
SK: Who?
Q: THE DUDE!!!
SK: Who’s The Dude? (pause) Oh, Jeff! (laughs) How could I miss that?
Q: WELL, HE WASN’T THE DUDE THEN...
SK: He still was The Dude. Jeff was truly one of the, not only the best actors, but just one of the great, great guys of all time. It’s shocking how great he is. He’s just totally untouched by the bullshit of Hollywood. Both he and Beau... Beau was really great to me on that movie because Beau had directed and had a great sense of.... like he just knew if I was under the gun.
I remember once shooting Beau and he just nailed it on the first take. It could not have been better. I did one more and I started to walk up to him, because I needed to move on and I got halfway there and he goes, “I know. Move on.” You know, ‘cause I always try to give actors a few extra takes even when they nailed it just to be fair and they might show me something interesting, but he knew. He knew it was a big day and he just said, “No. You don’t have to ask me. I know.” He was just a great guy. That was an unbelievable experience. Michelle, Jeff and Beau were just unbelievable for a for a first time director. I mean, they treated me like I was David Lean, with unbelievable respect. It was great. That was a great experience.
Q: BESIDES HARRY POTTER AND THE CHAMBER OF SECRETS, ARE YOU WORKING ON ANYTHING ELSE?
SK: No, not that I know of. There’s an old project of mine that’s sorta bubbling around. We’ll see what happens. It’s something a wrote a few years ago that’s always sort of been out there. But no, nothing. I’ve just been Harryland for the last year and half, two years. I like it. It’s great. It really is great.
Q: ANYTHING ELSE YOU WANT TO ADD OR PLUG OR ANYTHING?
SK: Umm.. Go to Wonder Boys. Someone go, please!!!
There you have it, squirts! Betcha know a lot more about Harry Potter than you did at the start of this epic talk! Keep yer eyes on the horizon, maties. The ol' seaman has some cool stuff comin' your way. Next up is a visit to a really cool movie set and an interview with two of the most badass bug hunters you ever did see.
Until then, farewell and adieu.
-Quint
WANNA COME TO MY BIRTHDAY PARTY IN AUSTIN? DROP ME AN EMAIL HERE!!! CLICK HERE TO EMAIL ME ABOUT MY B-DAY! TOGETHER WE WILL RULE THE GALAXY AS SEAMAN AND WHATEVER THE HELL YOU ARE!!!
