0:00:12 > 0:00:14Just imagine what would happen
0:00:14 > 0:00:17if a British film director famed for his visual elegance
0:00:17 > 0:00:20and sophisticated storytelling were to turn his hand
0:00:20 > 0:00:24to the most iconic British action series of all time.
0:00:24 > 0:00:27# Let the sky fall
0:00:27 > 0:00:29# When it crumbles... #
0:00:29 > 0:00:31Well, the world is about to find out.
0:00:31 > 0:00:33Because the new Bond film, Skyfall,
0:00:33 > 0:00:37is directed by our very own Oscar-winning Sam Mendes,
0:00:37 > 0:00:40the man behind Jarhead, Revolutionary Road
0:00:40 > 0:00:43and, of course, American Beauty.
0:00:43 > 0:00:46# We will stand tall
0:00:46 > 0:00:49# And face it all together
0:00:49 > 0:00:51# At Skyfall. #
0:00:51 > 0:00:53And action!
0:00:53 > 0:00:56Sam Mendes directing a Bond movie is a bold and exciting prospect.
0:00:56 > 0:01:00- Actors love working with him. - Can you get into a better position?
0:01:00 > 0:01:04And he's renowned for getting award-winning performances out of them.
0:01:04 > 0:01:06Sam has great lucidity and he has great perception,
0:01:06 > 0:01:08and he has a great sense of humour.
0:01:08 > 0:01:10Sam is very good at steering everybody
0:01:10 > 0:01:12in the right direction all the time.
0:01:12 > 0:01:17He put great people together and he gave them the freedom
0:01:17 > 0:01:20to bring what they had on their minds
0:01:20 > 0:01:24and work with it in a way that maybe in a movie as big as this,
0:01:24 > 0:01:25is not very usual.
0:01:25 > 0:01:27You feel that he's completely in command of it.
0:01:27 > 0:01:31And he did say very early on,
0:01:31 > 0:01:35"I won't settle for anything if it isn't what I want."
0:01:35 > 0:01:37But the Bond franchise has its own set of rules.
0:01:37 > 0:01:41The epic action, exotic locations,
0:01:41 > 0:01:43flash cars, gadgets and girls
0:01:43 > 0:01:47are all strictly non-negotiable.
0:01:47 > 0:01:51So, what surprises lie in store with a Sam Mendes Bond film?
0:01:51 > 0:01:54And how did this former theatre whizz kid
0:01:54 > 0:01:56end up in the Bond hotseat in the first place?
0:02:07 > 0:02:09- Sam, welcome to the Culture Show. - Thank you very much.
0:02:09 > 0:02:13Tell me your first memories of seeing a James Bond film.
0:02:13 > 0:02:15It's very clear, actually.
0:02:15 > 0:02:18I went with my dad to see Live and Let Die.
0:02:18 > 0:02:21I mean, if you watch it now, it is quite a bizarre movie.
0:02:21 > 0:02:23Of all of them, it's one of the most bizarre.
0:02:23 > 0:02:27In that the women literally have no clothes on at all
0:02:27 > 0:02:31for absolutely no reason. And there's all that voodoo stuff.
0:02:31 > 0:02:35But the voodoo stuff really scared me and the boat chase thrilled me.
0:02:35 > 0:02:39And I remember quite vividly the great song and all of those things.
0:02:39 > 0:02:41It was the first Bond film I saw, too.
0:02:41 > 0:02:44I remember sitting in the cinema thinking, "It's got everything."
0:02:44 > 0:02:47It's got action, it's got adventure,
0:02:47 > 0:02:51it's got stuff that shouldn't be in a film that I'm allowed to see.
0:02:51 > 0:02:53SCREAMING
0:02:54 > 0:02:57I don't remember the story at all.
0:02:57 > 0:03:00The movies start as thrillers
0:03:00 > 0:03:03and then you get to a point around Moonraker where it becomes
0:03:03 > 0:03:06a travelogue in a way, an action adventure story.
0:03:06 > 0:03:08You can feel them thinking, "Where haven't we been?"
0:03:08 > 0:03:10"We haven't been to Rio, we haven't been to Venice."
0:03:10 > 0:03:14"Let's do Rio and Venice and a cable car. How can we get a cable car?"
0:03:14 > 0:03:16"Now we've got to join them up. How can we join them up?
0:03:16 > 0:03:18"Oh, I know, Bond."
0:03:18 > 0:03:21And Bond becomes the glue in a sense.
0:03:21 > 0:03:25And he ceased being the story around that time.
0:03:25 > 0:03:29And I felt one of the brilliant things Daniel did with Casino Royale
0:03:29 > 0:03:32was that he became the story again. He became the centre of the movie.
0:03:32 > 0:03:34By which I mean he had a journey.
0:03:34 > 0:03:37That was something I was very conscious to try and do.
0:03:38 > 0:03:40It's a huge franchise which has certain things built into it.
0:03:40 > 0:03:43And yet this feels like your film.
0:03:43 > 0:03:46There are givens with a Bond movie and you have to acknowledge that.
0:03:46 > 0:03:50It's like being handed the furniture and then told to build the house.
0:03:50 > 0:03:52It's, "Right, OK, here's all..."
0:03:52 > 0:03:56And if you're not careful, you get a pretty ugly house.
0:03:56 > 0:03:58So for us, it was all about pretending
0:03:58 > 0:04:00we didn't have the furniture for a long time.
0:04:00 > 0:04:02"What if we didn't need those things?"
0:04:02 > 0:04:05"What's the story we want to tell about Bond?"
0:04:05 > 0:04:09And then trying to ease those elements into the story in a way
0:04:09 > 0:04:12that didn't affect the central story.
0:04:12 > 0:04:14Take the shot!
0:04:15 > 0:04:17I said take the shot!
0:04:18 > 0:04:20I can't. I may hit Bond.
0:04:20 > 0:04:22Take the bloody shot!
0:04:25 > 0:04:27In a sense, Bond dies.
0:04:30 > 0:04:33He comes back to find the world utterly changed.
0:04:33 > 0:04:34Nothing he knows is the same.
0:04:34 > 0:04:38And he...through challenging every element of his life,
0:04:38 > 0:04:41and also, you know, by inference,
0:04:41 > 0:04:44MI6, what's the point of the Secret Intelligence Service,
0:04:44 > 0:04:46what's the point, therefore, of Bond,
0:04:46 > 0:04:49he gets himself back to the centre of it again,
0:04:49 > 0:04:51surrounded now by an entirely new team.
0:04:51 > 0:04:55That was a very clear early idea.
0:04:55 > 0:04:57What about the fact that Bond movies
0:04:57 > 0:05:00open with an extraordinary action sequence.
0:05:00 > 0:05:03Every director who has come to Bond goes,
0:05:03 > 0:05:05"OK, this is the mountain to climb."
0:05:05 > 0:05:08It's definitely the albatross. You know what I mean?
0:05:08 > 0:05:12I think we probably spent 50% of the time working on the movie
0:05:12 > 0:05:16simply working on the first ten minutes, you know.
0:05:16 > 0:05:19For me, I loved the idea of a series of Russian dolls.
0:05:19 > 0:05:24You think it's this action sequence and then it becomes something else.
0:05:24 > 0:05:28Which Bond movies do you remember in terms of their opening sequences?
0:05:28 > 0:05:33Being absolutely honest with you, way the finest is Casino Royale.
0:05:33 > 0:05:36That's the thing that haunted me most on this movie -
0:05:36 > 0:05:38the brilliance of that opening sequence.
0:05:38 > 0:05:41And I think that set the bar high for any movie
0:05:41 > 0:05:44that considers starting with an open-air action sequence.
0:05:54 > 0:05:56What we have that perhaps they didn't have
0:05:56 > 0:05:58is something much more story based.
0:05:58 > 0:06:00He starts off in a car being driven,
0:06:00 > 0:06:03there's a crash, there's a shoot-out in the market square,
0:06:03 > 0:06:05there's a bike chase across roofs.
0:06:05 > 0:06:07He gets from the bike to the top of a train,
0:06:07 > 0:06:09there's a fight on the train.
0:06:09 > 0:06:14- There's a digger holding the train together.- Yes, the digger moment.
0:06:14 > 0:06:17The key is that we're dropped down in the middle of something,
0:06:17 > 0:06:21basically in the middle of an event that has gone wrong.
0:06:21 > 0:06:26And so everything is...You're having to play catch-up as an audience
0:06:26 > 0:06:29and try to figure out what the story is within that, as well.
0:06:36 > 0:06:40And so all of those things layer it in interesting ways.
0:06:40 > 0:06:45Skyfall sees Daniel Craig reprise the role of Bond for the third time.
0:06:45 > 0:06:48Bond, James Bond.
0:06:48 > 0:06:51Alongside Judi Dench's M and a tantalising supporting cast
0:06:51 > 0:06:54featuring Javier Bardem as a bouffant blond Euro villain
0:06:54 > 0:06:58and Ralph Fiennes as an ambiguous government official.
0:06:58 > 0:07:02- Did Daniel Craig bring you to the Bond movie?- Yes.
0:07:02 > 0:07:05He was doing a play on Broadway and I said, "When are you doing the next Bond?"
0:07:05 > 0:07:08He said, "I don't know." I said, "Who's directing it?"
0:07:08 > 0:07:10And I had no ulterior motive. I wasn't fishing.
0:07:10 > 0:07:13And he said, "I don't know. Do you want to do it?"
0:07:13 > 0:07:17And about a second later, I found myself saying yes.
0:07:17 > 0:07:18I had a feeling in my stomach.
0:07:18 > 0:07:21I think the next day, he thought, "Hang on a minute.
0:07:21 > 0:07:25"I'm not allowed to offer Sam the job. It's not my position."
0:07:25 > 0:07:29But if Daniel hadn't said it, I wouldn't have done it.
0:07:29 > 0:07:31I think of Daniel Craig as the best Bond.
0:07:31 > 0:07:34I think he is the best embodiment of Bond.
0:07:34 > 0:07:36Daniel is now the top of the first division.
0:07:36 > 0:07:41It takes a certain kind of woman to wear a backless dress with a Beretta 70 strapped to her thigh.
0:07:41 > 0:07:42He's probably the hardest-working
0:07:42 > 0:07:45and the most committed actor I've ever met.
0:07:45 > 0:07:50I've never watched anyone have to bear the burden of a movie so much as he.
0:07:50 > 0:07:54In every respect, not just the fact he's in almost every scene,
0:07:54 > 0:07:57he's physically challenged all the time, that he's, you know...
0:07:57 > 0:08:00The movie makes no bones about the fact that he's in his 40s
0:08:00 > 0:08:04and, you know, I don't think any Bond's had to hear so many times,
0:08:04 > 0:08:06"You're too old. Stop. Give up."
0:08:06 > 0:08:10So he had to allow himself to go into that territory.
0:08:13 > 0:08:17The Bond girl at the centre of this is Judi Dench's character.
0:08:17 > 0:08:20It is actually almost as much about her as it is about Bond.
0:08:20 > 0:08:23That seemed to me to be a very Sam Mendes touch.
0:08:23 > 0:08:25Yeah, that was very deliberate.
0:08:25 > 0:08:28I felt from the beginning that M was the central character.
0:08:28 > 0:08:30I'm going to find whoever did this.
0:08:30 > 0:08:33One of the things I love about Bond is that
0:08:33 > 0:08:38there's never a sense he's trying to make excuses for himself or explain his actions.
0:08:38 > 0:08:41And the one person who understands that is M.
0:08:41 > 0:08:44And the one person who understands him is M.
0:08:44 > 0:08:47You have that kind of wisdom with Judi Dench
0:08:47 > 0:08:49that can bring that kind of texture to a story.
0:08:49 > 0:08:53And so that was something I really wanted to try and find a way in.
0:08:53 > 0:08:56For Bond's soul and the one person who can see it.
0:08:56 > 0:09:00Tell me about how important it is to have those supporting roles
0:09:00 > 0:09:02played by people you trust as actors?
0:09:02 > 0:09:05Well, it's very important, but the most important thing
0:09:05 > 0:09:09is writing roles good enough for them to say yes to in the first place.
0:09:09 > 0:09:13- OK.- For me as a director, I'm only as ever as good as the actors.
0:09:13 > 0:09:15I love actors, I love working with them.
0:09:15 > 0:09:17I've spent my life doing it.
0:09:17 > 0:09:20And they are my chief creative relationships.
0:09:20 > 0:09:22And with the actors, I'll develop the character.
0:09:22 > 0:09:27Here, we probably did invent quite a lot, particularly with Javier.
0:09:27 > 0:09:30And took it beyond what was on the page at the beginning.
0:09:30 > 0:09:35The creation of a classic Bond villain is not something that's formulaic.
0:09:35 > 0:09:37And we've seen it done wrong.
0:09:37 > 0:09:39The interesting thing with this is
0:09:39 > 0:09:42you do feel that is a three-dimensional,
0:09:42 > 0:09:45genuinely worrying, twisted villain.
0:09:45 > 0:09:49Did she send you after me knowing you're not ready? Knowing you would likely die?
0:09:49 > 0:09:51Mommy was very bad.
0:09:51 > 0:09:53Tell me about the character.
0:09:53 > 0:09:57Well, he was the one person who didn't say yes straightaway.
0:09:57 > 0:10:00He said, I love the package, I love the rest of the cast,
0:10:00 > 0:10:02I like the script very much, I like you,
0:10:02 > 0:10:05but the character doesn't quite do it for me yet.
0:10:05 > 0:10:07Tell me where you think we can go with him.
0:10:07 > 0:10:12And so I said, Look, I think we can push him in certain areas
0:10:12 > 0:10:15and I think it's going to happen the moment you come aboard.
0:10:15 > 0:10:18- And so he came aboard on trust, in a way.- Not bad.
0:10:18 > 0:10:20Not bad, James, for a physical wreck.
0:10:20 > 0:10:22A lot of those things, he developed.
0:10:22 > 0:10:25Like, for example, the way he looked and his hair colour.
0:10:25 > 0:10:27- His eyes.- You caught me.
0:10:27 > 0:10:32Ah! Now, here's your prize.
0:10:32 > 0:10:36The latest thing from my local toy store.
0:10:36 > 0:10:38It's called a radio.
0:10:40 > 0:10:45All those things, when he suggested them, I thought wouldn't work.
0:10:45 > 0:10:48And we screen-tested him and all of them worked.
0:10:48 > 0:10:49Boom!
0:10:50 > 0:10:53I do hope that wasn't for me.
0:10:53 > 0:10:55- HE CHUCKLES - No.
0:10:55 > 0:10:57But that is.
0:11:04 > 0:11:08What about the fact the film sets up a relationship with Ralph Fiennes' character
0:11:08 > 0:11:13based on the idea that at first, we don't trust him and don't like him?
0:11:13 > 0:11:16One of the most difficult things we had to achieve
0:11:16 > 0:11:18was to give him in very few scenes a journey.
0:11:18 > 0:11:20That's when you need somebody like Ralph.
0:11:20 > 0:11:22Three months ago, you lost the drive
0:11:22 > 0:11:24containing the identity of every agent
0:11:24 > 0:11:28embedded in terrorist organisations across the globe.
0:11:28 > 0:11:30Every scene you learn something new about him,
0:11:30 > 0:11:32you see him in a different light.
0:11:32 > 0:11:35And you watch Bond react differently to him, as well.
0:11:35 > 0:11:38I only have one question. Why not stay dead?
0:11:38 > 0:11:41And that's the skill of Ralph. That's why you need somebody like that.
0:11:41 > 0:11:45It took five scenes. You know, so much of film acting is about economy.
0:11:45 > 0:11:49It is all about how much you can put into the smallest amount of time.
0:11:49 > 0:11:51And good film actors can do that.
0:11:52 > 0:11:56Getting great performances out of actors is second nature to Mendes.
0:11:56 > 0:12:00Before moving into film, he was celebrated as the wonder kid of British theatre,
0:12:00 > 0:12:05directing both Judi Dench and Ralph Fiennes onstage when still in his 20s.
0:12:06 > 0:12:08When you first started working in theatre,
0:12:08 > 0:12:11did you see that as where your future lay,
0:12:11 > 0:12:14or were you always thinking theatre and cinema?
0:12:14 > 0:12:17I think it's fair to say that when I started in theatre,
0:12:17 > 0:12:19I wasn't thinking about the cinema.
0:12:19 > 0:12:23I definitely had a couple of moments at university in the cinema
0:12:23 > 0:12:27and they became touchstones when I decided to try and make a movie.
0:12:27 > 0:12:30Paris, Texas and Repo Man and My Beautiful Laundrette.
0:12:30 > 0:12:33And there were key moments in that era of film making
0:12:33 > 0:12:37that really woke me up to the possibilities of film.
0:12:37 > 0:12:41Theatre has always been where I felt most comfortable, most at home.
0:12:41 > 0:12:46And that's where I started and that's probably where I'll end up.
0:12:46 > 0:12:50You have a history with Judi Dench. You first directed her when you were in your 20s,
0:12:50 > 0:12:53which must have been fairly worrying. It's Judi Dench!
0:12:53 > 0:12:56It was a bit. I was 24, in fact.
0:12:56 > 0:13:01Somehow, I got up and made a speech on the first day of rehearsals about Chekhov.
0:13:01 > 0:13:04I have no idea what I said. I'm sure I would...
0:13:04 > 0:13:07It would bring me out in a cold sweat if I had to listen to it now.
0:13:07 > 0:13:09But she was immensely generous.
0:13:10 > 0:13:12Next stop for Mendes and his precocious talent
0:13:12 > 0:13:16was the Donmar Warehouse in Covent Garden,
0:13:16 > 0:13:19a struggling theatre that he completely turned around.
0:13:19 > 0:13:24What was it about you and the Donmar that was so particular?
0:13:24 > 0:13:27What I remember most profoundly about it was
0:13:27 > 0:13:31it was attracting the kind of reviews that blockbuster movies did.
0:13:31 > 0:13:32Why was it so important?
0:13:32 > 0:13:36I had to bring in audiences to the space.
0:13:36 > 0:13:39We had no funding, we had nothing at all.
0:13:39 > 0:13:40So I really fought for it.
0:13:40 > 0:13:43But there was a sense in which I had to create
0:13:43 > 0:13:46a kind of pseudo-commercial environment inside the theatre.
0:13:46 > 0:13:49So name actors were important.
0:13:49 > 0:13:52And a kind of working outside of the classical repertoire,
0:13:52 > 0:13:54you're working modern revivals.
0:13:54 > 0:13:57And so that bred what I've described in the past
0:13:57 > 0:13:59as a pop-art atmosphere about the place.
0:13:59 > 0:14:01One of his first big hits
0:14:01 > 0:14:05was a totally-revamped version of the musical Cabaret,
0:14:05 > 0:14:08starring a captivatingly salacious Alan Cumming.
0:14:08 > 0:14:10# I do the cooking
0:14:10 > 0:14:13# I make the bed... #
0:14:13 > 0:14:17The production would eventually move to Broadway,
0:14:17 > 0:14:20where it caught the eye of Steven Spielberg.
0:14:20 > 0:14:23He then approached Mendes with an unexpected film offer.
0:14:26 > 0:14:29What do you think Spielberg saw in Cabaret
0:14:29 > 0:14:33that made him think you can helm films?
0:14:33 > 0:14:37I actually said that to him. I said, "Why do you think I can make films?"
0:14:37 > 0:14:40And he went, "Oh, it's fine! You'll be fine."
0:14:40 > 0:14:43He was always very...certain.
0:14:43 > 0:14:45And his certainty kind of rubbed off.
0:14:46 > 0:14:49Spielberg entrusted Mendes with American Beauty.
0:14:51 > 0:14:54The film starred Kevin Spacey and Annette Bening,
0:14:54 > 0:14:57with Spacey playing a depressed suburban father
0:14:57 > 0:14:59who decides to turn his life around
0:14:59 > 0:15:03after developing an infatuation with his daughter's friend.
0:15:03 > 0:15:05I really enjoyed that!
0:15:05 > 0:15:08- Congratulations, honey, you were great!- I didn't win anything.
0:15:08 > 0:15:12- Hi, I'm Lester, Jamie's dad. - Oh! Hi!
0:15:13 > 0:15:16In terms of thinking of myself as a film director,
0:15:16 > 0:15:19it's taken me a while because I felt a fraud.
0:15:19 > 0:15:23Early on, when you call, "Action," you think, that's silly. It's such a cliche.
0:15:23 > 0:15:25"Cut!" you know.
0:15:25 > 0:15:27In the early stages, I felt like an interloper.
0:15:27 > 0:15:30There's a story that the first stuff you shot for American Beauty,
0:15:30 > 0:15:33- you had to redo because you messed up. Is that true?- Absolutely. Yes.
0:15:33 > 0:15:35It was appallingly bad.
0:15:35 > 0:15:37It was two days' worth.
0:15:37 > 0:15:42But that was the scene in the burger restaurant.
0:15:42 > 0:15:46It's a drive-in restaurant in the movie, but it wasn't when we first did it.
0:15:46 > 0:15:49Smile! You're at Mr Smiley's!
0:15:49 > 0:15:51One of the great strokes of luck for me
0:15:51 > 0:15:53about those first few days of my first picture
0:15:53 > 0:15:55was that it was so clearly wrong
0:15:55 > 0:15:59that I went back and said to the studio, "Can I do this again?
0:15:59 > 0:16:01"This is exactly what I don't want to do." And they said yes.
0:16:01 > 0:16:06And from that moment on, they were relieved because they knew I'd say if I thought it was bad.
0:16:06 > 0:16:10When you see that scene in the movie, it's a totally different location,
0:16:10 > 0:16:13totally different costume, performances, everything.
0:16:13 > 0:16:16- Er...Buddy, this is my... - Her husband.
0:16:16 > 0:16:17We've met before.
0:16:17 > 0:16:21But something tells me you're going to remember me this time.
0:16:23 > 0:16:26Whoa! You are so busted!
0:16:26 > 0:16:29What was it about it in your mind that worked?
0:16:29 > 0:16:31I think there's a patch of 10 or 15 minutes
0:16:31 > 0:16:34in the centre of the film, right in the middle,
0:16:34 > 0:16:38that is still one of the best things I've ever done.
0:16:38 > 0:16:41Which starts with them watching the plastic bag in the wind,
0:16:41 > 0:16:45then shifts to the row around the dinner table in which Kevin Spacey throws the plate of asparagus.
0:16:47 > 0:16:52And then goes upstairs, in which there's a scene between Jane and the mother.
0:16:52 > 0:16:54Then she walks to the window and starts undressing
0:16:54 > 0:16:58and sees the Wes Bentley's character opposite her in the window.
0:17:02 > 0:17:08And it flips three or four times, but it absolutely works.
0:17:09 > 0:17:13Visually, it feels like it has a sort of grace and beauty
0:17:13 > 0:17:16and a mythic scale that it almost didn't deserve.
0:17:16 > 0:17:19As well as its unforgettable cinematic moments,
0:17:19 > 0:17:22when American Beauty hit the screens in 1999,
0:17:22 > 0:17:26the film's exploration of sexual obsession and American gun culture
0:17:26 > 0:17:27all felt particularly timely.
0:17:27 > 0:17:32There were a number of cultural obsessions going on at the time.
0:17:32 > 0:17:35One of them was older men and younger women in the era of Clinton.
0:17:35 > 0:17:39I did not have sexual relations with that woman.
0:17:39 > 0:17:42One of them was the post-Columbine obsession
0:17:42 > 0:17:47with what's the person building in the garage next door?
0:17:47 > 0:17:51The sense that you can be close to someone and somehow,
0:17:51 > 0:17:55literally be inches away and not know them at all and not know...
0:17:55 > 0:17:59That suburbia was a breeding ground for that kind of thing.
0:18:06 > 0:18:09Spacey's performance as a man in full-blown mid-life crisis
0:18:09 > 0:18:11won him an Oscar for Best Actor,
0:18:11 > 0:18:15one of five the film was awarded, including Best Director for Mendes.
0:18:15 > 0:18:18It was a spectacular debut, but for his next movie,
0:18:18 > 0:18:21Sam would try something completely different.
0:18:23 > 0:18:272002's Road To Perdition was a gangster drama
0:18:27 > 0:18:28set in Depression-era Chicago
0:18:28 > 0:18:32with Tom Hanks cast against type as a mob enforcer
0:18:32 > 0:18:35seeking vengeance for the murder of his family.
0:18:35 > 0:18:37Can you give Mr Rooney a message for me?
0:18:39 > 0:18:40What is it?
0:18:45 > 0:18:48The film saw Paul Newman in his final screen role
0:18:48 > 0:18:50as mob boss John Rooney,
0:18:50 > 0:18:52father of the man Hanks is hunting.
0:18:52 > 0:18:57What you are asking me is to give you the key to his room
0:18:57 > 0:19:00so you can walk in, put a gun to his head and pull the trigger.
0:19:00 > 0:19:02And I can't do that.
0:19:02 > 0:19:05For me, it's my favourite movie that I've done.
0:19:05 > 0:19:10There was something about the beauty of the States
0:19:10 > 0:19:13and the winter and that city.
0:19:13 > 0:19:16I just love it. I love the places that we were.
0:19:16 > 0:19:18And I love how it looks on film.
0:19:18 > 0:19:22I'm very, very proud to have made Paul Newman's last film.
0:19:22 > 0:19:24Natural law.
0:19:24 > 0:19:29Sons are put on this earth to trouble their fathers.
0:19:29 > 0:19:32I think Tom Hanks in the middle of it is very underrated.
0:19:32 > 0:19:36I think it really grows as you watch it, that performance.
0:19:36 > 0:19:39It's just the whole thing. I feel like that was what I meant.
0:19:39 > 0:19:44It was also Mendes' first collaboration with Daniel Craig.
0:19:44 > 0:19:46I was looking for someone to play Paul Newman's son.
0:19:46 > 0:19:49And there were certain demands that the role had.
0:19:49 > 0:19:54One of them was being kind of, you know, a coiled spring,
0:19:54 > 0:19:57somebody dangerous and unpredictable.
0:19:57 > 0:20:01The other was the blue eyes. Those were the two things.
0:20:01 > 0:20:04Which scenes particularly stay with you?
0:20:04 > 0:20:09Um...well, I think I'm most fond of the scene
0:20:09 > 0:20:12where Tom Hanks kills Paul Newman,
0:20:12 > 0:20:16where Sullivan kills Rooney at the end,
0:20:16 > 0:20:18which happens in almost silence.
0:20:18 > 0:20:21And it was something that I kept reaching for
0:20:21 > 0:20:24and I couldn't get that scene right.
0:20:24 > 0:20:25Two days before the end of the mix,
0:20:25 > 0:20:28which is really two days before you finish the whole movie
0:20:28 > 0:20:32after a year and a half, two years, I said, "Let's try it without the sound."
0:20:32 > 0:20:33And it worked.
0:20:42 > 0:20:46I think that one's enjoyment of what one does is, you know,
0:20:46 > 0:20:49as a general idea, just doesn't make sense.
0:20:49 > 0:20:52Most of the time, it's hard work, it's 5:00am.
0:20:52 > 0:20:55And then you have these sudden moments
0:20:55 > 0:20:58where you are able to step back and you think,
0:20:58 > 0:21:02"This is great. What a fabulous thing to do with your life.
0:21:02 > 0:21:06"How lucky to be in this position."
0:21:12 > 0:21:16Firefights, or more precisely, the lack of them,
0:21:16 > 0:21:18was one of the main themes in Jarhead,
0:21:18 > 0:21:21Mendes's film about a US Marine unit
0:21:21 > 0:21:25and their wait for direction action in the Gulf War.
0:21:25 > 0:21:27Jake Gyllenhaal starred as a frustrated sniper
0:21:27 > 0:21:30who never gets to fire his weapon.
0:21:30 > 0:21:33- What the...frequency are you on? - We got air.
0:21:33 > 0:21:37What did you learn from what happened with Jarhead?
0:21:37 > 0:21:40I remember at the time, you were very honest, you said,
0:21:40 > 0:21:44"We ran out of time. The film wasn't finished the way we wanted it."
0:21:44 > 0:21:48You made a commitment that you wouldn't be put in that position again.
0:21:48 > 0:21:50Jarhead was really interesting.
0:21:50 > 0:21:52I think I got lost in Jarhead, in a way.
0:21:52 > 0:21:55Looking at it now, I was aware that I was making
0:21:55 > 0:21:58what was fundamentally an art-house film, but for a lot of money.
0:21:58 > 0:22:02And I think if you get trapped in that position, it's very difficult.
0:22:02 > 0:22:04Because you feel a kind of loyalty
0:22:04 > 0:22:07to the people who are paying for the film
0:22:07 > 0:22:09and to try and make a film that an audience will come and see.
0:22:09 > 0:22:13But at the same time, in spirit, the film
0:22:13 > 0:22:18has got more in common with Beckett than it has with Oliver Stone.
0:22:18 > 0:22:21It's a completely existential war film.
0:22:21 > 0:22:24Suggested techniques for the Marine to use
0:22:24 > 0:22:27in the avoidance of boredom and loneliness.
0:22:27 > 0:22:29Masturbation.
0:22:29 > 0:22:32Re-reading of letters from unfaithful wives and girlfriends.
0:22:34 > 0:22:35Cleaning your rifle.
0:22:35 > 0:22:40You came off the back of Jarhead and we have Revolutionary Road and Away We Go,
0:22:40 > 0:22:43which are both pieces which concentrate on relationships,
0:22:43 > 0:22:46but they do seem to me to be a pair of films.
0:22:46 > 0:22:47Yes, I think so.
0:22:47 > 0:22:51I didn't have a very good time making Revolutionary Road.
0:22:51 > 0:22:54Because I felt I was always reaching for the book.
0:22:54 > 0:22:56It's a book I admire greatly.
0:22:56 > 0:23:00And I felt like we were always aspiring to be as good as the book.
0:23:00 > 0:23:03- Have you been to Paris? - I've never really been anywhere.
0:23:03 > 0:23:07Revolutionary Road was an adaptation of a cult novel by Richard Yates.
0:23:07 > 0:23:10I'm going back the first chance I get, I tell you.
0:23:10 > 0:23:12With Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet
0:23:12 > 0:23:14playing Frank and April Wheeler,
0:23:14 > 0:23:17a charismatic young couple whose relationship begins to unravel
0:23:17 > 0:23:22under the suffocating suburban conformity of 1950s Connecticut.
0:23:26 > 0:23:29It was all the more intense because Mendes and Winslet
0:23:29 > 0:23:31were themselves married at the time.
0:23:31 > 0:23:34It was very well received. It was nominated for significant awards.
0:23:34 > 0:23:37And there are scenes in it which really do zing.
0:23:37 > 0:23:40Oh, I think the performances are fantastic.
0:23:40 > 0:23:42The actors, I think Kate and Leo are amazing.
0:23:42 > 0:23:46I made, I think, the bad decision to shoot it in a real house.
0:23:46 > 0:23:49And it was unbelievably hot and very, very small.
0:23:49 > 0:23:52But what was great was it led to a pressure cooker.
0:23:52 > 0:23:55So by the time they explode at the end, Kate and Leo,
0:23:55 > 0:23:58it really happened for real.
0:23:58 > 0:24:02So now I'm crazy because I don't love you. Right? Is that the point?
0:24:02 > 0:24:05No, wrong! You're not crazy and you do love me.
0:24:05 > 0:24:06That's the point, April.
0:24:06 > 0:24:09But I don't.
0:24:09 > 0:24:10I hate you.
0:24:10 > 0:24:12There was something really visceral about that.
0:24:12 > 0:24:15When the lid finally did blow off and we did, I think, find a style
0:24:15 > 0:24:18to match the power and the material,
0:24:18 > 0:24:21which was in the last 15 or 20 minutes of the movie,
0:24:21 > 0:24:22I felt very proud of that.
0:24:22 > 0:24:26Mendes presented a much more playful view of relationships
0:24:26 > 0:24:29in his followup to Revolutionary Road, Away We Go,
0:24:29 > 0:24:33a comedy about a couple in their 30s expecting their first child.
0:24:33 > 0:24:37You're leaving a month before the baby is born?
0:24:37 > 0:24:42You're moving 3,000 miles away from your grandchild?
0:24:44 > 0:24:46- I think it's more than 3,000, isn't it?- I think so.
0:24:46 > 0:24:49They set off on a road trip around the States
0:24:49 > 0:24:52to find somewhere to bring up their baby.
0:24:52 > 0:24:54Oh! God! Look at you!
0:24:54 > 0:24:58You're only six months in! Jesus, you're huge!
0:24:58 > 0:25:01And so Away We Go was a way of letting off steam.
0:25:01 > 0:25:03It was like writing a book of short stories
0:25:03 > 0:25:06after trying to write a novel. Trying to write an important novel.
0:25:06 > 0:25:10It was the first time I felt completely relaxed on a film set.
0:25:10 > 0:25:14Where I just felt like, "What if we want to do this scene outside rather than inside?"
0:25:14 > 0:25:17You got lucky, sister.
0:25:17 > 0:25:18There was an improvisatory quality to it
0:25:18 > 0:25:21that just freed me up a little bit.
0:25:21 > 0:25:24LAUGHTER
0:25:24 > 0:25:27The low-budget rom-com was a world apart
0:25:27 > 0:25:30from the James Bond juggernaut that was to come next.
0:25:32 > 0:25:37Mendes was forced to adapt his usual methods when directing Skyfall.
0:25:37 > 0:25:39Directing's a very, for me, quite a private process.
0:25:39 > 0:25:42Particularly with actors. I like peace and quiet
0:25:42 > 0:25:45and I like not to be listened to or watched.
0:25:45 > 0:25:47And most of the time in movies,
0:25:47 > 0:25:50you can achieve a little bubble with a core crew.
0:25:50 > 0:25:52Bond, forget it. Just forget it.
0:25:52 > 0:25:55You have to shout all the time. Not in anger,
0:25:55 > 0:25:58just in order to be heard and communicate, you know what I mean?
0:25:58 > 0:26:02It's the first time I've had to grab a megaphone out of hands of my AD.
0:26:02 > 0:26:07"Give that to me!" Shouting at 400 extras, "Move over here!"
0:26:07 > 0:26:10Or you're giving detailed direction to Daniel Craig,
0:26:10 > 0:26:13but the only problem is, he's 300 feet away on the roof of a train.
0:26:17 > 0:26:21The pressure on Mendes to deliver a classic Bond movie has been huge
0:26:21 > 0:26:24because this year marks the 50th anniversary of the franchise.
0:26:24 > 0:26:271962's Dr No saw Sean Connery
0:26:27 > 0:26:30make his famous debut as 007.
0:26:30 > 0:26:32I admire you a lot, Mr...?
0:26:32 > 0:26:34Bond.
0:26:34 > 0:26:36James Bond.
0:26:36 > 0:26:39In the decades that followed, we've had an Aussie bond,
0:26:39 > 0:26:41a smooth Bond,
0:26:41 > 0:26:45a thespian Bond,
0:26:45 > 0:26:48an Irish Bond
0:26:48 > 0:26:52and today's incarnation, a roughly-hewned blond Bond.
0:26:52 > 0:26:55Bond remains a part of popular culture in a way his creator,
0:26:55 > 0:26:58author Ian Fleming, could never have imagined.
0:27:00 > 0:27:05One of the things I think the film achieves is it has a modernity to it.
0:27:05 > 0:27:09But there is something about it which refers back to the classic era of Sean Connery.
0:27:09 > 0:27:11Did you feel that yourself?
0:27:11 > 0:27:13Yeah. That was very deliberate.
0:27:13 > 0:27:15I mean, when you talk about the 50th anniversary,
0:27:15 > 0:27:18there are a couple of moments in the film where I myself
0:27:18 > 0:27:20make a nod to the 50th anniversary.
0:27:20 > 0:27:23Also, there's the presence of the Aston Martin DB5
0:27:23 > 0:27:26in a story that is about the old and the new, effectively.
0:27:26 > 0:27:30I wanted, I had a very particular vision
0:27:30 > 0:27:34that the third act of film would be set in a world
0:27:34 > 0:27:36where there wasn't any technology.
0:27:36 > 0:27:39From the moment you see the DB5 to the end of the picture,
0:27:39 > 0:27:44there is nothing in it that is anything younger than 50 years old.
0:27:44 > 0:27:48In tune with a career that's always been full of surprises,
0:27:48 > 0:27:50Sam's next project is a stage musical version
0:27:50 > 0:27:52of a Roald Dahl classic.
0:27:52 > 0:27:54Rather than going onto another movie,
0:27:54 > 0:27:57- you're going to do Charlie And The Chocolate Factory.- Yes.
0:27:57 > 0:28:00Well, my thing has always been to, um...
0:28:00 > 0:28:02By the time I finish any movie, let alone this movie,
0:28:02 > 0:28:05I'm desperate to get into a rehearsal room again and do a play.
0:28:05 > 0:28:08Why Charlie And The Chocolate Factory?
0:28:08 > 0:28:10Well, it's a little bit like, "Why Bond?"
0:28:10 > 0:28:14I have kids now and I want to do something my kids can see.
0:28:14 > 0:28:17But also because Dahl is just one of the greats for me.
0:28:17 > 0:28:21And again, a little bit like Bond and Fleming,
0:28:21 > 0:28:22dates back to my childhood.
0:28:22 > 0:28:25It was probably the first children's book I fell in love with.
0:28:25 > 0:28:27At the end of that, I'll want to do a film again.
0:28:27 > 0:28:29And I'm very lucky at the moment
0:28:29 > 0:28:32to be able to go back and forth between the two.
0:28:32 > 0:28:35While they still pay me to do things like that, I'll carry on doing them.
0:28:35 > 0:28:39- Sam, thank you very much. - Thank you, Mark. A great pleasure.
0:28:39 > 0:28:42# Let the sky fall
0:28:42 > 0:28:45# When it crumbles
0:28:45 > 0:28:48# We will stand tall
0:28:48 > 0:28:52# Face it all together at Skyfall
0:28:52 > 0:28:55# Let the sky fall
0:28:58 > 0:29:02# We will stand tall
0:29:02 > 0:29:08# At Skyfall. #
0:29:08 > 0:29:11Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd