I've done a number of things that get categories closed off in a way, so when I read 'The Long Walk' by Slavomir Rawicz and decided to do film, 'I thought, you know, this is going to be wonderful,' two and a half years, three years, whatever it was. Peter Weir More Quotes by Peter Weir More Quotes From Peter Weir I'm not from a theatrical background where people do like to work it out on some stage space. Peter Weir stage space people The best conversation with Stanley Kubrick is a silent one: you sit in a theatre and watch his films and you learn so much. Peter Weir film theatre watches So much of the work is intuitive. The resistance you detect is just that, a kind of evasion, a sense that too much analysis will inhibit creativity. Peter Weir analysis creativity too-much In terms of how I work with actors, having worked so heavily on the script I have a very clear idea of the characters; they are reasonably well illustrated in the script. If you cast it right, to a great degree you can hand it over to the actor and I just make suggestions. I'm not the kind of director who needs or wants to get into too much finessing. Ideally, when you hit the set, you have this conversation, like, 'eh, what did you think?' 'I don't know, what did you think?' 'Why don't we just try it again, make a few physical changes.' Peter Weir trying character thinking When I began making films, they were just movies: 'What's the new movie? What are you doing?' Now they're called 'adult dramas.' Peter Weir adults film drama I loved Sherlock Holmes as a kid, but I remember being disappointed when he'd come up with these simple explanations for these complex mysteries. Peter Weir simple remember kids Russell Crowe as Capt. Jack Aubrey in Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World, .. most unlikely. Peter Weir unlikely sides world Casting the right actor for the right part is some unspoken thing between the two of you to communicate. Peter Weir communicate Movies tie things up in an arbitrary length of time, but I have always liked things that aren't fully realised. Peter Weir length arbitrary ties Silent films were, I think, more different than we know to sound films. We think of it as simply that we added dialogue and in actual fact I think it was an entirely different art form. Peter Weir silent-films art thinking I enjoyed Jonathan Franzen's 'Freedom.' Would I make that into a film? I think it's better suited to television. That would very much be a dialogue and performance piece, and it would take some very skilful direction - but not my kind of directing. But I thought it was a real literary work. Peter Weir pieces real thinking I love a chance to shoot real locations, because in films in the earlier days before people traveled as much, it was exotic to see a film set in Switzerland, and that area has been taken over by CGI, mostly, and fantasy landscapes. It's unusual to see this much landscape, people say it's old fashioned. So what you're referring to is there was that period in the '50s and '60s when there were epics and you saw landscape. Peter Weir epic taken real National film industries tend to move in cycles. In Australia right now, we're on a high, a feeling of potential, which as yet shows no sign of flagging. But the word "industry" is misleading. A small national cinema has no industry in the Hollywood sense. Peter Weir australia feelings moving I carve stone. I've got hammers and chisels and I carve from sandstone. I just did a big mural of birds and trees. Peter Weir hammers tree bird Well, all these stars have their houses swept quite regularly by people who work in the surveillance security business. They come in and they look for bugs and things. Peter Weir stars business people The smallest detail can contribute to the whole, I think particularly with emotion, you want it to be as authentic as it can, whether its a artifact or a theatrical event. But the whole is the sum of so many images. Peter Weir theatrical emotion thinking It doesn't take any imagination at all to feel awed Peter Weir imagination feels Id love to have another film to go on to. Im in the mood to work. But I have to be patient, you know, to find that particular kind of project. Occasionally Ill write one myself if I can summon up the energy. Peter Weir energy goes-on writing I've become wary of interviews in which you're forced to go back over the reasons why you made certain decisions. You tend to rationalize what you've done, to intellectually review a process that is often intuitive. Peter Weir interviews done decision I became obsessed with the true stuff, and that led to shaping 'The Way Back' screenplay somewhat toward a minimalist style, to avoid free-hanging moments, and to hold the music back, so it would never lead you to an emotion, and to try to make the emotions as real as I could. Peter Weir style real trying
