Influence & homage

But I think this is an homage to the editorial process. And that's Jim. The bomb had been wired to the suspension bridge... Yeah, he wrote some beautiful stuff. 120 people were reported injured, at least 22 people dead. I wish I were one of them. Remember Brinkley's great line?

1:25:28 · jump to transcript →

There you go. And I didn't know how to seduce. I was 15. I didn't know what pheromones were. I was 15. But apparently Tangerine did. And somehow that managed to... And while I'm at it, I just want to take a second and pay homage to this character. We don't know where Tangerine comes from. She was from the wrong side of the tracks. She was on her own. She was a series of things.

1:00:59 · jump to transcript →

I did it in Mean Streets, too. And it comes a little bit from Evita Loni, but it comes from a certain style, not just Evita Loni. Evita Loni I saw after I saw Nights of Cabiria, after I saw La Dolce Vita, after I saw Divorce Italian Style. Then Evita Loni was shown around the early 60s, and that was a film made in the early 50s. And it hit me, to be honest about it, and just say, look, actually Mean Streets, quite honestly, is a picture that was heavily influenced by Evita Loni. But in any event, that style was happening. That style was happening. There was a kind of...

17:54 · jump to transcript →

This is sort of my homage to it, but if you notice, there's a lot of bold colors that probably somewhat are cartoony colors, especially when we get into the house, and that was by design. And I did have a terrific DP, Levi Isaac, who obviously gets credit for shooting this and making it look like a great movie.

2:25 · jump to transcript →

where he can now confess to this stranger the way that Christina has. He's been somehow inspired by something he's seen going up on that balcony, and he wants access to it. So he gets it in this very strange way, where... I'm going to move to the washroom. Now, he doesn't hear that. He doesn't know, but he can see from that same vantage point that Thomas is going to the washroom, so that in the same way that he had that moment alone with...

1:16:18 · jump to transcript →

for presenting yourselves on this battlefield. I give you thanks. This is our army. To join it, you give homage. I give homage to Scotland. And if this is your army, why does it go? We didn't come here to fight for them. Home! The English are too many.

1:16:27 · jump to transcript →

paid homage to that by giving them sort of club hands and they into the costume built these kind of they almost look like a stamp but or a stilt like connected to their fist the actors to make their arms like longer and more like clubs but they are humans in there um and uh they also did you know extreme workouts for the greys to make certain muscles big like

1:19:27 · jump to transcript →

We did a sketch where we copied Reservoir Dogs, and I had dinner with him once, and he was very excited that that was based on it. The Fell on My Keys, of course, was an homage to the producers. Sure. Just doing my job. I do, however, have a few questions. Gene Wilder falls, and then I fell on my keys. Spent some time in New York City. Yes. Well, Bob and I are going up there next week, and I was wondering if you could suggest a show. Of course. Moby the Musical, a must-see.

1:26:19 · jump to transcript →

Alexander Payne

I don't know, I've just never met anyone quite like her. Here's a little homage to Sharon Stone on the left. You might ask if I ever saw Tracy Flick again. Well, I did. Just once. I mentioned before a very light Abraham Lincoln theme. Lincoln just suggests honesty and...

1:36:17 · jump to transcript →

American accent or South African accent or Australian accent. And he did it pretty well. And he made this character a lot more interesting. And I must say that the triangle love story was inspired by Hitchcock's film, Notorious. In that film, it's also about the good and evil, the bullshit love of the same girl. But in this movie, we try to have a little more, not only about love and also about how to save the world.

39:46 · jump to transcript →

I think we hear a little bit suggestion of Goldberg variations here. Variations was always part of the book. And because we all loved the idea of the Goldberg variations, that became the seat of the kind of relationship. And so Hans was kind of influenced by that, and sometimes actually simply used it. Your life, Clarice. I thought we might talk about yours. What's the next cross street? Capitol Street.

1:34:30 · jump to transcript →

Wes Anderson

But eventually, the Margot character, I decided to have her be adopted because of other things that it would do for her character. And because of, you know, it was sort of inspired-- That detail was inspired by someone in real life. And it seemed like it just filled out the character in a better way. And then maybe it makes this relationship a little more plausible somehow.

1:21:03 · jump to transcript →

Len Wiseman

So in the original one, he doesn't find him there? He finds him here, but what we were just talking over a second ago... ...when he comes in, and Speedman's hooked up and singing an A-Ha song... ...and leaves him there. And this as well. Again, just a lot of little pieces, going down these stairs... ...and all this stuff was cut out of the original, for good reason, I think. Run here, run there. Yeah, I had you guys go up and down those stairs... Because I didn't know, exactly, the geography of the underworld... ...when we were shooting that, I didn't know exactly what was on... ...the first level and second level when we were shooting. It's so random. And so I just had them do every version. I'd have Kate and Scott run up... - Run about. ...with guns, run up without guns, run single, run, you know. Lip gloss, no lip gloss. - Yeah. He practised for so long, those whips. - Oh, yeah. I remember, Scotty, he showed me... ... his whole whip routine at his apartment... ...1n the parking lot, and it kind of sold me on the idea, he and Danny. With the transformations that you have, I still get that fear every time I see it: "Oh, God. It's gonna be cheesy." And then it isn't. Because we've seen so many cheesy werewolf transformations in films. You did a really good job with that, because it's not at all. I was really happy with how they turned out in the end... ...because I wanted it to be shaky and look painful. I didn't want it to be smooth. I was telling the guys to try and make the transformations look... ...as much like an animatronic effect as possible. Actually, if it looked like there were guys in there with bladders and.... "Bladders"? - Bladders. What's a bladder? Come on, you know what a bladder is. Every woman knows what a bladder is. No, basically, It's a.... How can you toss a bladder in and not explain yourself? It's a balloon that, in the old days, where they'd have a transformation... ... you'd blow into them and make the cheeks and everything expand by air. They'd inflate these bladders. Stop saying bladders. - Do we have to take a break... ...because I said bladders? - I have to pee now. You have to dismiss yourself? This is a new scene with you. Again, cut for pacing. Again, it's just wandering about. I thought it was just... I remember you making it, and I ran up and down that thing so many times. Another one. "I'm not exactly sure... ...S0, again, 16 different versions of running about." I'm glad it finally got used. And that was cut out. It's an homage to Blade Runner.

1:43:00 · jump to transcript →

James McTeigue

I'm not a character who is interested... ...in the company of young, pretty ladies. I'd be one of the few people who wouldn't give their eyeteeth... ...to have dinner with Natalie Portman. Though, I like her very much as a person. But that's another thing I have to hide. My character can't parade his sexuality in this brave new Britain... ...because that's outlawed. And so, what with my art and my sexuality... ... that's my little secret world. But I invite women from time to time... ...because that's expected of a successful man. And I've invited her, but she never makes it. But she trusts me. Um, and.... And after a few adventures on her part... ...she ends up at my house and I come out to her... ...in every sense. As an art-lover and as a gay man and everything else. And her bravery, I think, is what pushes me over... ...and makes me think, okay, I'm going to make a stand now and l... ...fip up the censor-approved script of my nightly show... ...and write one which makes vicious fun of the chancellor. The Deitrich show was the homage to Benny Hill, in a lot of ways. And it was also something that would really piss of Sutler... ... you know, in a very short amount of time. Because it was an attack on his personality in a lot of ways. And he's hailed as this icon in the government. And I thought it was a really good way for the audience... ...to see how Deitrich really got underneath his skin. This is Gordon's swan song. I mean, a part of him seems to believe... ... if we're to take him on trust... ... that he's gonna get away with it. That he'll be made to apologize in public... ...and have to sort of work in the salt mines of television for a while... ...before being reinstated. But actually what happens is he that he's beaten to a pulp by... ...oy the brute squad. - To be fair... ...that was one of John Hurt's ideas. I was gonna face-mold him, actually. And I got to talking to him about it one day... ...and he just said, "What about if I did that?" "I'll just play both guys. You know, we'll split them down the middle... ...and we'll see how it goes." I talked to Paul Engelen... ...the makeup designer... ...and he said, "Yeah, I could put, like, big pancake makeup on him"... ...and it looked like he had a mask, almost. And I like that idea that you kind of, "Is it him? Is it not him?" The little glasses girl, she's going, "Oh, it's him! Oh, it's the Chancellor." And he did a great job. And he really has a great physicality too. That's a lot of him rolling around on the floor... ...and falling over and tripping over. Faker! - Fraud! Ready! - Aim! Fire! - Fire!

1:04:47 · jump to transcript →

in Caserta. You know what I'm saying? I love how every shot is... This guy's from Caserta. This guy, by coincidence, in Los Angeles, from Caserta. See, these are the kind of things I'm talking about. Little pieces like this, where you see he's measuring how far, attaching it to the back, and then homage to the mission... Now, I hit the ground on one of these takes. Yeah, in the next take after that, you actually did hit the ground. This take I actually thought was a better take.

42:19 · jump to transcript →

James Mangold

so that the claustrophobia you'd feel in that hotel room in the end would even be more, in my mind, acute because you had felt what a large expanse they had crossed to get to this nine by 12 room to wait for this train. You ever been to Dodge City? One of the ideas that occurred to me in a film I've always loved and stolen from and been inspired by is Jaws. And one of the beautiful things in that film is

1:05:46 · jump to transcript →

Roman Coppola

I remember doing this scene was-- That driver? No, I don't remember the driver. Because he was-- That was a driver with henna hair who we always would see at the place where all the auto-rick drivers wait there. We would always see that same driver. He was our stunt driver for this shot. I remember this sequence, with the dialogue scene with the short story... Yeah. - ...we found a little hill so we could roll the rickshaw down the hill without having the motor on ruining the sound. Yes, that's right. We rumbled down the hill. And what's the name of that--? Of the boy on the bicycle? He was a... - Spot boy? He was a spot boy for us. He brought tea, chai, onto the set, and he was very bright. I'm trying to think of his name. One thing about Brendan's character, I just wanna-- Would just mention just as an homage is his hat-- There's a logo on his hat for Francis Whitman Industries, which is actually my father's business. I mean, he's retired now, but it was-- His business was called Mel Anderson Communications. That symbol was his-- It's his-- It's based on his logo. In this part of the train, we have Brendan's living quarters. I think this is the non-a.c. section. These cars on the Indian trains usually don't have windows. The engine, as you can see there, is-- The paint job on it is based on the Tata trucks that you see on the roads in India, hand-painted by the drivers.

27:32 · jump to transcript →

This cube, this Rubik's Cube, which is very 80s, is in fact, in my story, it was a sort of homage to Clive Barker and his film Hellraiser. I didn't know. No. Something called the Lament Configuration, a sort of box in the same size, which is used to come in contact with the Cenobites from the other side. And in this story, it's the very prosaic Rubik's Cube, which is used by Oscar to get in touch with the other side, with Ellie.

20:08 · jump to transcript →

Of course, he wanted to be immortal. This is based on truth. Now we're twisting this to say that the Terracotta Army came about not as an homage to a living man-god despot, but as a curse put on by this good witch. And now we see that his entire army

9:05 · jump to transcript →

Wes Anderson

Well, there is an island that I thought-- That was part of the inspiration for this setting. It's called Naushon. And so this is our-- We ended up combining things from many different places. We filmed the movie in Rhode Island. And this house, for instance, is a combination of many different houses, a place called Clingstone that's built on a rock in Narragansett Bay, and a house on Cumberland Island in Georgia that we visited. And there was another house that's in the, what do you call it, the Thousand Islands? Is that what they're called? - [Becker] It's a dressing.

4:33 · jump to transcript →

Yeah, I wanted to play like a homage to Silence of the Lambs. That famous night vision scene. Yeah, yeah. It was so funny too because it's like, you know, the initial idea was she crosses the, you know, we conceived it, she crosses the frame and wipes on the alien and that would be, you'd see it. And we did it take after take after take and focal length changes just to sort of see if we could just vary the timing. And the first version of it that we did,

1:23:26 · jump to transcript →

But I guess, you know, I'd like one. If we can pull it off, I think it's good. Yeah, make it more classy. But that was the whole approach of this movie. Like, since day one, it's trying to do this, you know, in a very classy way, not doing anything that was, you know, top-of-the-line CG or visual effects or anything like that, because stuff like that gets old, and a good story, I think, will never get old. Was this script inspired by...

5:21 · jump to transcript →

Francis Lawrence

These kind of moments are always sort of fun to me, too, with playing around with editing. When you can sort of play with time a little bit, and make it feel like she might still be in the room as Marta's coming upstairs. But really she's been long gone and quite safe. That was him at the Embassy. It was. Playing hard to get, are you? No substitute for a good old-fashioned blow job in my experience. He's not like that. One of the things I often thought about with this movie, and I think I talked about it a little bit in the beginning, in terms of the screen direction thing, was Hitchcock, right? That this was not an action film. It's a mystery and suspense thriller. So to sort of play around with tension was really fun. You can even hear the Hitchcock reference a little bit in some of the music that James Newton Howard composed for the film. And not particularly in the beginning and the very end, in terms of the big, operatic ballet pieces, but in the more thematic material that's in the body of the movie, you can hear that influence, the Bernard Herrmann influence to the music. This is, I would say, I think it's my sixth movie with James. He started working with me on I Am Legend, and we haven't stopped since, in terms of movies. So he did all the Hunger Games movies with me, and Water for Elephants. And I wanted to bring him on here. He had quite a job. I mean, there's a fair amount of music to it, but it was also just really a unique opportunity for music. If you just look at the opening and the end sequences, the music there is really tricky. We had basically choreographed those ballet pieces, to pieces of The Firebird. But we knew we were never gonna do The Firebird. We were not specifically doing The Firebird. It was just inspired by The Firebird. So we maintained a very specific beats per minute, but the idea was for him to create a solid piece of music for those first I don't know, 10 minutes of the movie, that were gonna carry us through, that were gonna work for the Dominika sections, that were gonna work for the Joel sections, that were gonna have some sort of tension. It's also gonna feel like a ballet, because I wanted it to feel like a dance, and then it was then gonna lead into a ballet that was gonna truly work for both, the dance and also for the pieces of Joel running. And then we sort of do something at the end, and I'll get into that at the end. But the idea that there's almost a mirrored, book-ended dance sequence when she sets her plan into motion at the end, a new kind of ballet score comes up and plays to the end of the movie.

1:04:15 · jump to transcript →

more than ever jaron blaschke is an authorial voice in this film so many of the sequences he really spearheaded what the cinematic language was and i'm very grateful and inspired by our ongoing collaboration

1:16:04 · jump to transcript →