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  • (rhythmic music)

  • - Welcome to Close Up with The Hollywood Reporter.

  • Directors, I'm Stephen Galloway,

  • and I'd like to welcome Yorgos Lanthimos, Ryan Coogler,

  • Spike Lee, Alfonso Cuaron,

  • Bradley Cooper, and Marielle Heller.

  • Thanks for being here. - Thank you.

  • - I want to plunge into the deep end.

  • We're in a very political time.

  • Sam Goldwyn once said, "If you want to send a message,

  • "send it Western Union."

  • Agree or disagree?

  • - Why you looking at me?

  • (laughing)

  • Why's everybody looking at me? (laughing)

  • - 'Cause if you don't have an opinion on this,

  • we're in trouble.

  • - Well, we live in very dangerous times.

  • Artists, you know, reflect what's happening in the world,

  • or what they want,

  • and the way you think about art,

  • everybody has their, can file their own vision.

  • But for me, this guy in the White House,

  • Agent Orange, he's,

  • it's not America's brightest moments

  • since he's been in the White House.

  • I feel.

  • - Which doesn't strictly answer the question

  • in the sense that what you're making now,

  • or developing now could come out years after he's gone.

  • So, should films be directly political?

  • - I will say, if you're an artist

  • and you make the decision that you're not going to include

  • politics in it, that's a political decision itself.

  • When you say we're not going to include it,

  • that's a political decision.

  • - But I also think there's no should,

  • because films are as wide in variety

  • as we are as people.

  • So, there have to be films that are making political choices

  • and are reflecting our political feelings,

  • and then there are films that are existing

  • as purely entertainment.

  • We need all of those things in order to

  • meet all of our different moods as audience members too,

  • and I think we have a responsibility as artists

  • to be reflecting the culture, as you say,

  • but, I mean, there's no should with any of this.

  • We're all just artists trying to make things

  • that help us feel better in the world that we're living,

  • our own separate existences, right?

  • - I mean, it's such a personal art form.

  • And, it doesn't really belong to us

  • once we put it out there.

  • And whether it's going to be politicized our not

  • is really not up to us.

  • So, it,

  • the answer really is,

  • I mean, we all speak for ourselves, but,

  • the more personal we are, the more specific we are,

  • the better story we can tell.

  • And then it's up to the audience to decide

  • whether they see it politically or not.

  • - In what way was A Star is Born personal for you?

  • - Oh God, every way.

  • Yeah, I mean, it's the only reason why I made the movie.

  • I mean, the one thing I knew,

  • I mean, I waited until I was 42,

  • if I didn't have something to say,

  • there was no reason to make the movie.

  • And I just wanted to investigate relationships,

  • particularly between a man and a woman in love.

  • And what happens when you're,

  • when something happens to you when you're a child,

  • and whether you have the means to deal with that,

  • or you have the community that can help you.

  • And if that doesn't happen,

  • how does that inform the rest of your life?

  • And then also, the idea of finding your voice in this world.

  • I mean, it really was a great platform for me

  • to examine a lot of different things

  • that I've been thinking about cinematically for years.

  • - Did making it change your mind about anything?

  • - Oh gosh, about everything. (laughs)

  • Yeah, I mean yeah.

  • You learn a lot.

  • It definitely allowed me,

  • or enabled me to have the confidence to want to do it again,

  • to have an idea,

  • or you know, a lot of ideas and vision,

  • and sort of visual tableaus

  • and then have it be the story that you wanted to make

  • is very gratifying.

  • - What about directing surprised you?

  • - I think I had the great luck

  • to have been working for years as an actor

  • with directors who have been very collaborative

  • and it felt like a seamless transition.

  • I think it's because I love filmmaking, I love cinema.

  • You know, I grew up, these movies changed my life,

  • the people around this table.

  • Do The Right Thing, I don't even know how to,

  • I couldn't even talk after I saw that movie.

  • - Look at Spike. (laughing)

  • - No, but it's the truth.

  • - And I appreciate it, I thank you.

  • - It's the truth, I didn't even know what to,

  • it's like having a child,

  • it's like, oh, this is a new emotion

  • I've never even experienced.

  • That's what films have done for me.

  • So, to be able to be a student of it for decades,

  • I think, allowed me the tools to be able to do it myself.

  • - But what did you not expect?

  • - For it to be as joyful as it was.

  • It really was joyful.

  • I felt like I was in exactly the place

  • that I was supposed to be in that moment.

  • - The whole time?

  • (laughing)

  • - Not during prep, not during,

  • terrified of prep. - Come on.

  • - Well, you can't see the light

  • at the end of the tunnel at prep,

  • you just got to go down into the cave every day

  • and hope that one day you're going to see the light.

  • But, once you see the light,

  • and then the light gets bigger, and bigger, and bigger,

  • then it becomes fun.

  • - Is directing a joyful experience for you?

  • - It has it's days, but,

  • (laughing)

  • but it's an intense experience.

  • You know, it's,

  • it's a long process, but also, it's a process in which

  • there's so many things that can go wrong.

  • But at the same time, I think that the biggest thing is

  • that you know that whatever you do

  • is going to be there.

  • You know, it's going to be there forever.

  • It's not that you're going to,

  • okay, we change it tomorrow at the next performance.

  • You know, it's, you're just cementing something.

  • And then, yeah, it's intense.

  • It's amazing.

  • But at the same time, it's an intense process.

  • When they asked me at the end of a film if I'm happy,

  • I'm never happy, I'm relieved.

  • You know, I think that if you ask a fox

  • after being chased by hounds for (laughing) 12 hours,

  • and then he goes to a refuge,

  • and says "Are you happy?",

  • no, it's, the fox is relieved.

  • You know, he got away with it.

  • (laughing)

  • - Is it more joyful when you're doing

  • a personal film like Roma,

  • or when you're doing a studio film like Gravity?

  • - It can be joyful either way.

  • It's just a different,

  • it's a different approach.

  • Roma, the thing is, it has a different intensity

  • that I was not expecting

  • because I didn't know what I was walking in.

  • You start asking if films should have a message or not,

  • I don't think that that's not an option,

  • because even, you were talking about entertainment,

  • everything that we do is going to convey a message,

  • is going to convey an ideology,

  • is going to convey a politic, no matter what, you know?

  • One way or the other.

  • Even if you don't intend to do that.

  • And doing a personal film is just that,

  • more stuff starts to come out