:00:54. > :01:00.Well the world's about to find out because the latest Bond film,
:01:00. > :01:04.Skyfall, is directed by our very own Oscar-winning Sam Mendes. The
:01:04. > :01:07.man who brought us Jarhead Revolutionary Road and of course
:01:07. > :01:11.American Beauty. Sam Mendes directing a Bond movie is a bold
:01:11. > :01:15.and exciting prospect. Actors love working with him hesm is renowned
:01:15. > :01:19.for getting award-winning performances out of them. He has a
:01:19. > :01:24.great sense of humour. He is good at steering everybody in the right
:01:24. > :01:29.direction, all the time. He put great people together and he gave
:01:29. > :01:34.them the freedom to bring what they had on their minds and work with it
:01:34. > :01:44.in a way that maybe in a movie such as big as this is not very usual.
:01:44. > :01:53.
:01:53. > :02:03.You feel he's completely in command So, what surprises lie in store
:02:03. > :02:04.
:02:04. > :02:14.end up in the Bond hotseat in the first place?
:02:14. > :02:24.Sam, welcome to the Culture Show. Thank you very much.
:02:24. > :02:26.
:02:26. > :02:27.I
:02:27. > :02:28.I went
:02:28. > :02:33.I went to
:02:33. > :02:38.I went to see Live and Let Die. Tessa a bazaar movie. It the most
:02:38. > :02:42.bazaar. The women have no clothes on at all. For absolutely no reason.
:02:42. > :02:46.There is all that voodoo stuff. The voodoo stuff scared me and the boat
:02:46. > :02:51.chase thrilled me. I remember it vividly. I remember the great song
:02:51. > :02:55.and all of those things. Live and Let Die was the first Bond film I
:02:55. > :03:04.saw. I remember thinking, it has everything, action, adventure and
:03:04. > :03:10.stuff that shouldn't be in a film that I'm allowed to see. I don't
:03:10. > :03:15.remember the story at all. No. Well, I think there is a point in Bond
:03:15. > :03:19.movies. I think it's the movie that followed that story became
:03:19. > :03:26.irrelevant. It's particularly Moonraker became less of - it lost
:03:26. > :03:30.touch in some way with its thriller routes. The Fleming books have
:03:30. > :03:35.their feet in a different kind of world. I have always felt that the
:03:35. > :03:43.first true Bond movies, as opposed to Bond book, was not a Fleming
:03:43. > :03:48.story was North by North West. For me, the middle-aged, cool,
:03:48. > :03:53.effortlessly stylish, sexy glamorous Bond figure was Gary
:03:53. > :03:57.Grant in that suit. When I meet an attractive woman I have to start
:03:57. > :04:03.pretending I have no desire to make love to her. What makes you feel
:04:04. > :04:08.you have to conceal it? She might find the idea objectable. Then
:04:08. > :04:16.again she might not. I talked about it in Daniel's suit in the opening
:04:16. > :04:21.reel of Skyfall. For me, the movie start as thrillers. You get to a
:04:21. > :04:25.point around Moonraker where it's a travelogue, an action adventure
:04:25. > :04:31.story. You feel them thinking, where haven't we been, we haven't
:04:31. > :04:36.been to Rio or Venice. Let's do Rio and Venice and a cable car. Now we
:04:37. > :04:40.have to join them up. How with we join them snup I know, Bond. He
:04:40. > :04:43.becomes the glue. He stopped being the story around that time much I
:04:43. > :04:46.felt one of the brilliant things that Daniel did with Casino Royale
:04:46. > :04:49.is that he became the story again. He became the centre of the movie.
:04:50. > :04:57.He had a journey. That was something that I was very conscious
:04:57. > :05:02.to try to do. My own feeling is Bond found its feet again since
:05:02. > :05:05.Casino Royale. Quantum of Solace was a misfire fire. I think you are
:05:06. > :05:09.back on track. How much of this is Mendes and how much of this is
:05:09. > :05:15.Bond? Obviously, it's a huge franchise which has certain things
:05:15. > :05:18.built into it. Yet, this feels like your film? There are givens for the
:05:18. > :05:22.Bond movie. Have you to acknowledge that. It's being handed the
:05:22. > :05:27.furniture and told to build the house. Here is all... If you are
:05:27. > :05:30.not careful you get a pretty ugly house. For us, it was all about
:05:30. > :05:35.pretending we didn't have the furniture for a long time. OK, what
:05:35. > :05:39.if we didn't need though things? What is the story we want to tell
:05:39. > :05:49.about Bond. Trying to ease those elements into the story in a way
:05:49. > :05:51.
:05:51. > :06:01.that didn't affect the central story. I may have a shot. It's not
:06:01. > :06:03.
:06:03. > :06:09.clean. Repeat, I do not have a There is a tunnel ahead. I'm going
:06:09. > :06:14.to lose them. Can you get into a Bert position? Negative. There is
:06:15. > :06:24.no time. Take the shot. I said, take the shot! I can't. I may hit
:06:25. > :06:27.
:06:27. > :06:32.Bond. Take the bloody shot. It in a sense Bondis. He comes back to find
:06:32. > :06:37.the world utterly changed, nothing he knows is the same. He, through
:06:37. > :06:41.challenging every element of his life, of his existence and also by
:06:41. > :06:44.inference, MI6, what is the point of the Secret Intelligence Service,
:06:44. > :06:50.what is the point therefore of Bond, he gets himself back to the centre
:06:50. > :06:55.of it again. Surrounded now by an entirely new team. That was a,
:06:55. > :06:59.clear early idea. When you talk about taking the furniture away.
:06:59. > :07:06.The elements are there. The chase sequences, the guns, the one thing
:07:06. > :07:10.you make a gag about is the gadgets. There is a specific gag, this is
:07:10. > :07:14.what now passes for gadgets. That felt like you were acknowledging
:07:14. > :07:17.this is one thing we can put aside. How did you feel about that? That
:07:17. > :07:22.was a deliberate choice. It was very much me saying, look, we live
:07:22. > :07:30.in a world now where you can walk into the Apple store and buy almost
:07:30. > :07:33.any gadget you can imagine, you know? A world of gadgets is no
:07:33. > :07:37.longer exciting to us because everything is available or so far
:07:37. > :07:41.fetched it's not credible any more. One of the things that I felt
:07:41. > :07:48.happened with Daniel's arrival in the franchise, as it were, was the
:07:48. > :07:54.removal of this. The idea that a gadget could be bordering on silly
:07:54. > :07:59.or comic I wouldn't have it as it felt wrong. It feels wrong with
:07:59. > :08:04.this Bond and this story. Bond movies open with an action sequence
:08:04. > :08:09.every single director who has come to Bond goes, this is the mountain
:08:09. > :08:13.to climb? It's the Albatross. You feel... I think we spent 50% of the
:08:13. > :08:18.time working on the movie simply working on the first 10 minutes.
:08:18. > :08:21.For me, what I loved was the idea of a series of Russian dolls. You
:08:21. > :08:25.think it's this action sequence, and it becomes something else and
:08:25. > :08:30.something else again. For that we needed a great location that gave
:08:30. > :08:37.us a series of ideas and ways to develop the thing in unexpected
:08:37. > :08:42.areas. Mendes chose Istanbul for the opening extravaganza. It was
:08:43. > :08:46.first seen in 1963's From Russia With Love. Lovely view. The action
:08:46. > :08:50.sequence I would have shot in Mumbai or in Cape Town would be
:08:50. > :08:55.totally different from the one we shot in Istanbul. You can't... If
:08:55. > :08:59.you are looking around you, it starts giving you ideas. That was
:08:59. > :09:02.one of the big blessings was finding, not finding, I found a
:09:02. > :09:07.great city, it's call Istanbul. You know what I mean. Arriving at
:09:07. > :09:11.Istanbul and discovering it for myself and seeing what an amazing
:09:11. > :09:16.place it was and how much it gave you. Which Bond movies do you
:09:16. > :09:19.remember in terms of their opening sequences? Being honest with you,
:09:19. > :09:23.the way of the finest is Casino Royale. That haunted me most on
:09:23. > :09:29.this movie was the brilliance of that opening sequence. And, I think
:09:29. > :09:39.that set the bar high for any movie that considers starting with an
:09:39. > :10:03.
:10:03. > :10:07.We drop down in the middle of something, you know, basically, in
:10:07. > :10:12.the middle an event that has gone wrong. Right at the beginning. You
:10:12. > :10:16.have having to play catchup as an audience and try to figure out what
:10:16. > :10:21.the story is within that. Have you a new character who you know is a
:10:21. > :10:26.Bond girl, but seems to be doing the things that Bond girls don't do.
:10:26. > :10:30.I play eve. She a field agent, very capable, very independent. When you
:10:30. > :10:35.first meet her she is on a mission with Bond. The mission is, kind of,
:10:35. > :10:45.gone a little bit wrong. They are trying to rectify things. Eve is
:10:45. > :10:46.
:10:46. > :10:51.having the time of her life. She is with the ultimate field agent.
:10:51. > :10:54.all of those things layer it in interesting ways. What surprises
:10:54. > :11:00.can people expect from the film? They can expect the introduction of
:11:00. > :11:06.characters they have not seen in a while in a totally different way. I
:11:06. > :11:11.think they can expect some humour that's maybe been absent for a
:11:11. > :11:15.while. Or this kind of droll humour. I hope they will be moved. That is
:11:15. > :11:19.not something you can say about every Bond movie. It's something I
:11:19. > :11:25.hope is the case with this one. All of those things. Skyfall sees
:11:25. > :11:31.Daniel Craig reprise the role of Bond for the third time. Mr? Bond,
:11:31. > :11:36.James Bond. Alongside Judi Dench's M and supporting cast featuring
:11:36. > :11:39.Javier Bardem as a blonde Euro villian and Ralph Fiennes as an
:11:39. > :11:45.ambiguous government official. Did Daniel Craig bring you to the Bond
:11:45. > :11:49.movie? Yes, he did. He was doing a play on Broadway. I was saying -
:11:49. > :11:54.when are you doing the next Bond? It was late in the evening. Hi a
:11:54. > :11:58.few drinks. Sam, I think, had been rehearsing something. He said, I
:11:59. > :12:03.don't know. I said, who is directing it? I wasn't fishing.
:12:03. > :12:07.had a few more drinks, I said, why don't you do it? A second later I
:12:07. > :12:11.found myself saying, yes. High a feeling in the pit of my stomach.
:12:11. > :12:15.The next day he thought - hang on a minute, I'm not allowed to offer
:12:15. > :12:18.Sam the job. It's not my position. If I hadn't gone and Daniel hadn't
:12:18. > :12:23.said it, I wouldn't be sitting here and I wouldn't have done. It
:12:23. > :12:27.maintain if this had gone wrong I could have just blamed the drink.
:12:27. > :12:33.still of Daniel Craig as the best Bond. I think he is the best
:12:33. > :12:39.embodiment of Bond. Daniel is the top of the first division. It take
:12:39. > :12:44.as certain kind of woman to wear... He is the hardest working and most
:12:44. > :12:47.committed actor I ever met. I never watched anyone having to bear the a
:12:47. > :12:51.movie so much as he, in every respect. Not just the fact he is
:12:51. > :12:55.almost in every scene. He is physically challenged all the time.
:12:55. > :13:00.The movie makes no bones about the fact he is in his 40's. You know, I
:13:00. > :13:09.don't think Bond has had to hear so many times - you are too old, stop,
:13:09. > :13:13.give up. He had to allow himself to go into that territory. I think
:13:13. > :13:18.Daniel's Bond is definitely the Bond for our time. We no longer
:13:18. > :13:24.want that, sort of, 1970s shaken not stirred, slap on the arse and a
:13:24. > :13:32.wink in the eye. You have to have naughtiness. He can't be PC Bond,
:13:32. > :13:38.Christ! There is a ruthlessness in Daniel's Bond that echoes an aspect
:13:38. > :13:44.of Fleming Bond. He is damaged goods, Daniel Craig's Bond. That
:13:44. > :13:49.rings true to a generation of people who, you know, have watched
:13:49. > :13:54.similar figures to Bond now and have seen it said with a much
:13:54. > :14:00.darker, darker vein running through. It Daniel has that in his Bond.
:14:00. > :14:05.It's good. It's hot, sexy. The Bond girl at the centre of this is Judi
:14:05. > :14:08.Dench character. It's as much about her as it is about Bond. That
:14:08. > :14:11.seemed to be a Sam Mendes touch? That was deliberate. I felt from
:14:11. > :14:18.the very beginning that M was the central character. I'm going to
:14:18. > :14:22.find whoever did this. One of the things that I love about Bond is
:14:22. > :14:25.that there is never a sense he tries to make excuses for himself
:14:25. > :14:30.or explain his actions. The one person who understand that is is M.
:14:30. > :14:33.The one person who understands him is M. Have you that wisdom with
:14:33. > :14:35.Judi Dench that can bring that Tell me about how important it is
:14:35. > :14:37.texture to a Tory. That something I Tell me about how important it is
:14:37. > :14:42.wanted to find a way in for Bond's soul and the one person who can see
:14:42. > :14:46.played by people Well, it's very important,
:14:46. > :14:49.is writing roles good enough for them to say yes to in the first place.
:14:49. > :14:51.OK. For me as a director, I'm only as ever as good as the actors.
:14:51. > :14:54.I love actors, I love working with them.
:14:54. > :14:56.I've spent my life doing it.
:14:56. > :15:00.And they are my chief creative relationships.
:15:00. > :15:02.And with the actors, I'll develop the character.
:15:02. > :15:04.Here, we probably did invent quite a lot, particularly with Javier.
:15:04. > :15:05.And with the actors, I'll develop the character.
:15:05. > :15:07.Here, we probably did invent quite a lot, particularly with Javier.
:15:07. > :15:07.And took it beyond what was on the page at the beginning.
:15:07. > :15:09.And took it beyond what was on the page at the beginning.
:15:09. > :15:11.The creation of a classic Bond villain is not something that's formulaic.
:15:11. > :15:13.And we've seen it done wrong.
:15:13. > :15:14.
:15:14. > :15:16.The interesting thing with this is
:15:16. > :15:19.you do feel that is a three-dimensional,
:15:19. > :15:22.genuinely worrying, twisted villain.
:15:22. > :15:26.Did she send you after me knowing you're not ready? Knowing you would likely die?
:15:26. > :15:29.Mommy was very bad.
:15:29. > :15:31.Tell me about the character.
:15:31. > :15:34.Well, he was the one person who didn't say yes straightaway.
:15:34. > :15:37.He said, I love the package, I love the rest of the cast,
:15:37. > :15:39.I like the script very much, I like you,
:15:39. > :15:42.but the character doesn't quite do it for me yet.
:15:42. > :15:44.Tell me where you think we can go with him.
:15:44. > :15:44.He said, I love the package, I love the rest of the cast,
:15:44. > :15:44.I like the script very much, I like you,
:15:44. > :15:45.And so I said, Look, I think we can push him in certain areas
:15:45. > :15:45.but the character doesn't quite do it for me yet.
:15:45. > :15:46.Tell me where you think we can go with him.
:15:46. > :15:49.And so I said, Look, I think we can push him in certain areas
:15:49. > :15:49.and I think it's going to happen the moment you come aboard.
:15:49. > :15:52.and I think it's going to happen the moment you come aboard.
:15:52. > :15:52.And so he came aboard on trust, in a way. Not bad.
:15:52. > :15:55.And so he came aboard on trust, in a way. Not bad.
:15:55. > :15:55.Not bad, James, for a physical wreck.
:15:55. > :16:03.Not bad, James, for a physical wreck.
:16:03. > :16:04.It
:16:04. > :16:04.It was
:16:04. > :16:08.It was an
:16:08. > :16:13.It was an opportunity for him to do something different. It's very
:16:13. > :16:18.Bondy and bad guy. So much his own take on it. It's so interesting.
:16:18. > :16:24.Since I was 12 I have seen all the James Bond movies. So, you know,
:16:24. > :16:30.more or less, how it feels. The classic of the Bond villian,
:16:30. > :16:36.something classic about it, that we also wants to bring into Silva.
:16:36. > :16:44.bad, not bad James for a physical wreck. He developed the way he
:16:44. > :16:49.looked and his care colour, and his eyes. You caught me. Now, here is
:16:49. > :16:59.your prize, the latest thing from my local toy store. It's called
:16:59. > :17:30.
:17:30. > :17:39.It's bring it on. It's... I love. It it's the hair, the limp, the
:17:39. > :17:49.lisp, it's everything and more. do hope that wasn't for me? No. But
:17:49. > :17:53.
:17:53. > :17:57.What about about the fact that the film sets up a relationship with
:17:57. > :18:01.Ralph Fiennes' character that we don't trust him or like him? That
:18:01. > :18:07.is one of the most difficult things we have had to achieve. Give him in
:18:07. > :18:11.few scenes a journey. That is when you need somebody like Ralph.
:18:11. > :18:17.play Gareth Mallory who you meet as a government official. He calls M,
:18:17. > :18:21.Judi Dench, into a meeting and gives her Judi Dench a hard time.
:18:21. > :18:24.Three months ago you lost the drive containing the identity of every
:18:24. > :18:27.agent embedded in terrorist organisations across the globe.
:18:28. > :18:31.Every scene you learn something new about him. You see him in a
:18:31. > :18:35.different light. You watch Bond react differently to him as well.
:18:35. > :18:39.only have one question, why not stay dead? That is the skill of
:18:39. > :18:42.Ralph. That is why you need somebody like. That five scenes. So
:18:42. > :18:47.much of film acting is about economy. It's about how much you
:18:47. > :18:52.can put into the smallest amount of time. You know, a good film actors
:18:52. > :18:58.can do that. Getting great performances out of his act orsors
:18:58. > :19:00.is second nature for Mendes. He was celebrated as the wonder kid of
:19:00. > :19:05.British theatre directing Judi Dench and Ralph Fiennes on stage
:19:05. > :19:09.when in his 20's. When you first started working in theatre, did you
:19:09. > :19:13.see that as actually where your future lay? Were you always
:19:13. > :19:16.thinking theatre and cinema? It's fair to say that when I started in
:19:16. > :19:21.theatre I wasn't thinking about cinema. I definitely had a couple
:19:21. > :19:27.of moments when I was at university in the cinema. They became touch
:19:27. > :19:32.stones later on when I decided I wanted to try to make a movie.
:19:32. > :19:37.There were key moments in that era of film making that woke me up to
:19:37. > :19:40.the possibilities of film. Theatre has always been where I felt most
:19:40. > :19:45.comfortable, most at home. That is where I started. No doubt that is
:19:45. > :19:49.where I will end up. You have a long history with Judi Dench. You
:19:49. > :19:59.directed her in your 20's which must have been worrying it's Judi
:19:59. > :20:00.
:20:00. > :20:05.Dench? I was 24, in fact. Somehow I got up and made a speech. No idea
:20:05. > :20:09.what I said. It would bring me out in a cold sweat if I had to listen
:20:09. > :20:13.to it now. She was generous. don't remember. That I remember
:20:14. > :20:18.saying to him - Sam, do you think I could possibly try this scene in a
:20:18. > :20:23.slightly different way? Could I show you? I just have an idea about
:20:23. > :20:30.it. His reaction was this "you can, but it won't work." he turned like.
:20:30. > :20:36.This so, I remembered that. And during the scene in this he said
:20:36. > :20:45."how about trying it?" I said to him "yes, I will, but it won't
:20:45. > :20:52.work", I said. I got my own back. was astonished that he would have
:20:52. > :20:56.the knowledge to direct one of the greatest living actors. That utter
:20:56. > :20:59.confidence in what he was doing and his confidence in what Judi was
:20:59. > :21:04.doing in the play meant that she accepted him. What is extraordinary
:21:04. > :21:09.about her. There is a lot of stuff about, dear Dame Judi Dench, she is
:21:09. > :21:13.so nice and this and that the other, what is amazing about Judi is how
:21:13. > :21:17.much goes on that the public and the audience just don't see. There
:21:17. > :21:22.is a real fire in her. She is always in the moment. Always alive.
:21:22. > :21:29.And, she is one of those actors who looks other actors in the eye and
:21:29. > :21:35.they get better. I worked with Sam first on the production of
:21:35. > :21:40.Shakespeare in 1990. It was my second season there. He was this
:21:40. > :21:49.young director. No-one had really heard of. He was making a name for
:21:49. > :21:54.himself. Sam did a very clear, funny and beautifully pitched
:21:54. > :21:59.production which has gone down as one of the better productions of
:21:59. > :22:03.the play. I remember he developed a particular sequence which took an
:22:03. > :22:08.enormous amount of effort and lots of hours of work from the actors
:22:08. > :22:11.involved. The very last week he said, we will scrap it. It's not
:22:11. > :22:15.working. I know you have spent a lot of time on it, that is going.
:22:15. > :22:24.Ta that is very Sam. He is ruthless with himself in the last stages of
:22:24. > :22:31.rehearsal in cutting away stuff that he thinks is sue per flus. He
:22:31. > :22:35.cuts away, cuts away. Instead of holding his work sacrosanct he is
:22:35. > :22:40.good at editing his own work all in the interests of clarity, but also
:22:40. > :22:44.in the interests of making sure that nobody's bored. He is very,
:22:44. > :22:53.very specific about the changes of emotion your character might go
:22:54. > :22:57.through. He wants to chart those with you. I just remember about
:22:57. > :23:02.what is happening on the stage and what it means. Lovely to work with
:23:03. > :23:11.him again on the Bond. I remembered, yes, this is what Sam is great at.
:23:11. > :23:16.This very, clear, focused direction. He truly, really relishs and loves
:23:16. > :23:23.working with actors. It's something that gives him artistic pleasure,
:23:23. > :23:27.but also pleasure as a human being. Next stop for Mendes and his
:23:27. > :23:31.talents was the Donmar Warehouse in Covent Garden, a struggling theatre
:23:31. > :23:35.that he completely turned around. It was a genuine sense that every
:23:35. > :23:39.time a new show was announced people would stampede to get the
:23:39. > :23:45.tickets, it would sell-out so quickly. He has an extraordinary
:23:45. > :23:50.eye for what, this might sound unattractive, an eye for what is
:23:50. > :23:53.fashionable. What was it about you and the Donmar that was so
:23:53. > :23:59.particular? What I remember profoundly about it was, it was
:23:59. > :24:03.attracting the kind of reviews that blockbuster movies did. Why was it
:24:03. > :24:07.so important? The Donmar is a magical theatre. It's all... It a's
:24:07. > :24:11.very difficult to do something in that space that doesn't work. I'm
:24:11. > :24:16.not saying this as a kind of false modesty. I think it's almost the
:24:16. > :24:20.perfect theatre. It has enough size to be epic. Yet enough intimacy to
:24:20. > :24:25.be able to work in incredible detail. It has a touch of magic
:24:25. > :24:28.about it, but I had to bring in audiences to the space. We will no
:24:28. > :24:33.funding. We had nothing at all. I really fought for it, but there was
:24:33. > :24:38.also a sense in which I had to create a kind of commercial
:24:38. > :24:44.environment inside the theatre. So, name act orsors were important. A
:24:44. > :24:49.kind of working outside of the classical repertoire. Working in
:24:49. > :24:58.modern revivals. That bred a pop art atmosphere about the place.
:24:58. > :25:08.of his first big hit was a revamp version of Cabaret starring Alan
:25:08. > :25:09.
:25:09. > :25:19.Cumming. I go out daily to earn daily bread. Cabaret was this kind
:25:19. > :25:21.
:25:21. > :25:31.of explosion of sensuality and sexual pleasure and heed nisism.
:25:31. > :25:32.
:25:32. > :25:41.Some people have two people. My character was, basically, a
:25:41. > :25:45.gloryified rent boy. The Clark was born out of that. Brilliant central
:25:45. > :25:50.performance from Alan Cumming which I think was another example of Sam
:25:50. > :25:55.just being able to help an actor just take the lid off. I think he
:25:55. > :26:00.has a really great combination of being very, very precise almost
:26:00. > :26:05.anal, you might say. He is very controlling. You feel very secure.
:26:05. > :26:11.At the same time as that, he encourages you to be experimental
:26:11. > :26:17.and to be wild. Cabaret treated the audience as part of the story.
:26:17. > :26:26.a very dark story. It was a production, when you came in there
:26:26. > :26:30.were table and chairs you sat it. - at. It was like you were in a
:26:30. > :26:35.cabaret. He created an amazing world for everyone. Seeing Cabaret
:26:35. > :26:40.in that small space with an amazing cast, it was just like a breath of
:26:40. > :26:46.fresh air. It was a sense of being light on its feet. It wasn't a
:26:46. > :26:52.heavy old musical with a big orchestra. It was just sharp. Sharp.
:26:52. > :27:00.It changed the whole way that people thought about musicals,
:27:00. > :27:05.actually. And, it reinvented that one. It made people think
:27:05. > :27:12.differently about how you could take an established and traditional
:27:12. > :27:21.musical and, with the production, completely reinvigorate it.
:27:21. > :27:27.hits kept coming, the awards soon followed. Award goes to. A Fine
:27:27. > :27:33.Batsman. Mendes won Best Director at the Olivier Award for two of his
:27:33. > :27:43.productions. The Glass Menagerie starring Zoe Wanamaker. And the
:27:43. > :27:44.
:27:44. > :27:48.Stephen Sondheim mueszcle, Company. -- musical, Company. I would like
:27:48. > :27:56.to thank everybody who works at and has worked at and who has supported
:27:56. > :28:00.the Donmar Warehouse over the last year. Thank you very much.
:28:00. > :28:10.Donmar at that point was the hot place. I think it still is. It had
:28:10. > :28:10.
:28:10. > :28:16.just, again, like Sam, had burst into the theatre consciousness.
:28:16. > :28:21.of Mendes greatest coups was luring Nicole Kidman to the Donmar to take
:28:21. > :28:25.on a risk arole in The Blue Room. She had been to the Donmar. She was
:28:25. > :28:30.a theatre animal. Had a real appetite for it, but had been
:28:30. > :28:35.looking for the right place, the right play, the right person. I
:28:36. > :28:39.think Sam's way of just everything else outside the rehearsal room
:28:39. > :28:43.just does not matter. He was protective about that and wise and
:28:43. > :28:49.mature about how to deal with all the noise around the fact that
:28:49. > :28:54.Nicole was at the Donmar. In the end, when the audience sat down to
:28:54. > :28:57.watch the play, they were watching a great actress. The buzz
:28:57. > :29:01.surrounding it was incredible. There were hoards of people every
:29:02. > :29:06.night outside the theatre. You had to battle your way through them to
:29:06. > :29:09.get in. The production itself was electrifying. The atmosphere in the
:29:09. > :29:14.auditorium was extraordinary. I mean, like nothing I can remember
:29:14. > :29:20.in the theatre. I suppose, the excitement in the end, is always
:29:21. > :29:25.going to be about superb performances, exploding into that
:29:25. > :29:31.space. The Blue Room's success in London was recreated on Broadway.
:29:31. > :29:36.Last night, blue room fever swept New York. Inspired, perhaps, by
:29:36. > :29:38.descriptions of Nicole Kidman naked on stage, it sold out weeks ago.
:29:38. > :29:41.Tickets have changed hands for eight times their face value.
:29:41. > :29:46.gives you something different in the sense that every night you have
:29:46. > :29:51.to recreate the roles and you really have to stay present. It
:29:51. > :29:58.requires I think more discipline than film does. That has been...
:29:58. > :30:03.That's been a learning experience for me. Some of The Blue Room's
:30:03. > :30:07.stateside press coverage went too far. There was a map in
:30:07. > :30:13.Entertainment Weekly that printed a diagram of the court theatre in New
:30:14. > :30:20.York where it was staged. With little marks next to the seats
:30:20. > :30:28.where you could see more than Nicole's arse. I thought, I'm
:30:28. > :30:34.giving up. Wow! That is not right. No. That is really creepy? It was.
:30:34. > :30:37.Stalker creepy. Yeah. There it was on the page. The Blue Room's stint
:30:37. > :30:42.on Broadway was part of a transatlantic connection with
:30:42. > :30:46.Mendes. His production of Cabaret had also moved to New York where it
:30:46. > :30:49.caught the eye of Steven Spielberg. He approached Sam Mendes with an
:30:49. > :30:58.unexpected film offer. What do you think Spielberg saw in Cabaret that
:30:58. > :31:03.made him think, OK, you can do films? I said to him - why do you
:31:03. > :31:09.think I can make a film, as a matter of interest? He was - you
:31:09. > :31:15.will be fine. He was always very certain. His certainty, kind of,
:31:15. > :31:18.rubbed off. Spielberg entrusted Mendes with American Beauty. The
:31:19. > :31:22.film starred Kevin Spacey and Annette Bening with Spacey playing
:31:22. > :31:26.a depressed suburban father who decides to turn his life around
:31:26. > :31:29.after developing an infatuation with his daughter's friend.
:31:29. > :31:39.really enjoyed that. Congratulations honey, you were
:31:39. > :31:45.great. I'm Janie's dad. Hi. In terms of thinking of myself as a
:31:45. > :31:51.film director. It's taken me a wild. I felt a fraud. When you call
:31:51. > :31:57."action" it feels silly. The first shot I did in American Beauty I
:31:57. > :32:05.forgot to say "cut" they carried on doing stuff. And I was told "you
:32:05. > :32:08.have to say cut." I was "oh, sorry, cut." There is a story that the
:32:08. > :32:13.first stuff you shot for American Beauty had you to re-do because you
:32:13. > :32:18.messed it up, is that true? Absolutely. It was bad. It was two-
:32:18. > :32:21.days' worth. That scene was the scene in the burger restaurant, the
:32:22. > :32:29.drive... It's a drive-in restaurant in the movie. It wasn't when we
:32:29. > :32:32.first did it. One of the great strokes of luck for me about the
:32:32. > :32:38.first two-days of my first picture It was clearly wrong that I went
:32:38. > :32:41.back and and said to the studio - can I do it again. It's what I
:32:41. > :32:47.don't want to do. From that moment on they were relieved because they
:32:47. > :32:51.knew I would say if I thought it was bad. When you see that scene in
:32:51. > :32:55.the movie, different location, costume, performances and staging,
:32:55. > :33:03.everything. Her husband. We have met before. Something tells me you
:33:03. > :33:09.are going to remember me this time. You are so busted. What was it
:33:09. > :33:13.about it that in your mind that worked? There is a patch in the
:33:13. > :33:16.centre of the film, in the middle, that is one of the best things I
:33:16. > :33:21.have ever done. It starts with them watching the plastic bag in the
:33:21. > :33:27.wind and shifts to a row around the dinner table in which Kevin Spacey
:33:27. > :33:31.throws the plate of asparagus. He goes upstairs, there is a scene
:33:31. > :33:41.between Jane and the mother. She walks to the window and undresses
:33:41. > :33:42.
:33:42. > :33:48.and sees Ricky opposite her in the window. It flips three or four
:33:48. > :33:54.times. It absolutely works. Visually it feels like it has a
:33:54. > :34:04.grace and beauty and a scale that almost it didn't deserve. As well
:34:04. > :34:07.
:34:07. > :34:11.as it's cinematic moments, when it hit the screens the film's
:34:11. > :34:19.exploration of sexual obsession with American gun culture all felt
:34:19. > :34:22.particularly timely. One of them was the immediate post-Columbine
:34:22. > :34:28.obsession with what is the person building in the garage next door?
:34:28. > :34:34.The sense that you can be close to someone and somehow, you know,
:34:34. > :34:41.literally, inches away and not know them at all. Suburbia was a
:34:41. > :34:45.breeding ground for that kind of thing. It was very beautiful to
:34:45. > :34:51.look at. It had these incredible performances, particularly Kevin
:34:51. > :35:01.Spacey. It had a clarity about it and a wit that felt very, very
:35:01. > :35:01.
:35:01. > :35:05.fresh. Ah! There was something happening, I think, with Kevin
:35:05. > :35:11.Spacey in that film where you were going, I haven't seen that
:35:11. > :35:18.Octoberor do that or I didn't see that within them. What? Whose car
:35:18. > :35:22.is that out front? Mine. 1970, the car I always wanted. Now I have. It
:35:22. > :35:27.I rule. I was at a place in my own life where I wanted to do new
:35:27. > :35:30.things and try new stuff. Leicester gave me the opportunity to do more
:35:30. > :35:36.comedy that I have ever done. I played a character who was affected
:35:36. > :35:40.by the thix things in his life and the people in his life. It was an
:35:40. > :35:43.astounding first film. So confident and so bold. I know Sam publicly
:35:43. > :35:49.talks about his cameraman and publicly talk abouts how much he
:35:49. > :35:54.was helped. Still, that is very Sam. He is always very modest. Maybe we
:35:55. > :35:58.should shoot this at 30 frames. is someone who you would say, here
:35:58. > :36:04.are the tools to make a film. Quickly he would go, OK, right,
:36:04. > :36:07.this, this. I see. Would learn and listen. Everything he understood
:36:07. > :36:11.from thaelter -- theatre was there on the screen. You had his
:36:11. > :36:14.understanding of relationships and how to tell a story. Yet with this
:36:14. > :36:21.new thing he brought to, it which was just to have the scope of what
:36:21. > :36:26.a film can give you. Spacey's performance as a man in full-blown
:36:26. > :36:30.mid-life crisis won him an Oscar for Best Actor, one of five the
:36:30. > :36:39.film was awarded including Best Director for Mendes. For his next
:36:39. > :36:46.movie Sam would try something completely different. 2002's Road
:36:46. > :36:50.To Perdition was a gangster drama set in depression era Chicago, with
:36:50. > :36:57.Tom Hanks cast against type as a mob-enforcer seeking vengeance for
:36:57. > :37:02.the murder of his family. Give him this message. What is it? The film
:37:02. > :37:07.saw Paul Newman in his final screen role as mob-boss, John Rooney,
:37:07. > :37:12.father of the man Hanks is hunting. What you are asking me is to give
:37:12. > :37:17.you the key to his room so you can walk, in put a gun to his head and
:37:17. > :37:23.pull the trigger. I can't do it. It's my favourite movie I have done.
:37:23. > :37:27.There was something about the beauty of the States and the winter
:37:27. > :37:33.and that city. I just love. It I love the place that is we were. I
:37:33. > :37:39.love how it looks on film. I'm very proud to have made a move and made
:37:39. > :37:44.Paul Newman's last film. Natural law. Sons are put on this earth to
:37:44. > :37:49.trouble their fathers. Tom Hanks in the middle it is under rated. I
:37:49. > :37:53.think it's a really, it really grows as it you watch it that
:37:53. > :37:57.performance. The whole thing I feel, that is what I meant. That is a
:37:57. > :38:02.very unusual feeling. You normally, it's slightly to the left or to the
:38:02. > :38:05.right, if it's any good. It's a long way off if it's not. It was
:38:05. > :38:09.also Mendes's first collaboration with Daniel Craig. I was looking
:38:09. > :38:15.for someone to play Paul Newman's son. There were certain demands
:38:15. > :38:18.that the role had. One of them was being, kind of, you know, coiled
:38:19. > :38:24.spring. Somebody dangerous and unpredictable. The other was the
:38:24. > :38:33.blue eyes. Those are the two things. Which scenes particularly stay with
:38:33. > :38:38.you? Well I think I'm most fond of the scene where Tom Hanks kills
:38:38. > :38:42.Paul Newman. Where Sullivan kills Rooney at the end. Which happens in
:38:43. > :38:46.almost in silence. It was something that I kept reaching for and I
:38:46. > :38:50.couldn't get that scene right. Two- days before the end of the mix,
:38:50. > :38:54.which is really two-days before you finish the whole movie after a
:38:54. > :39:04.year-and-a-half and two years. I said - let's try it without the
:39:04. > :39:06.
:39:06. > :39:09.sond, and it worked. -- sound, and it worked. I think that one's
:39:09. > :39:15.enjoyment of what one does as a general idea doesn't make sense.
:39:15. > :39:19.Most of the time it's just... It's hard work. It's 5.00 am in the
:39:19. > :39:22.morning and you have sudden moments where you are able to stand back
:39:23. > :39:32.and you think - this is great. What a fabulous thing to do with your
:39:33. > :39:36.
:39:36. > :39:40.life. How lucky to be in this position. Fire fights or the lack
:39:40. > :39:45.of them was one of the main themes in Jarhead, Mendes's film about a
:39:45. > :39:50.US Marine Unit and their wait for direct action in the Gulf War. Jake
:39:50. > :39:57.Gyllenhaal starred as a frustrated sniper who never gets to fire his
:39:58. > :40:02.weapon. Fire. What did you learn from what happened with Jarhead? I
:40:02. > :40:05.remember, at the time, you were very honest, you said - we ran out
:40:05. > :40:08.of time. The film didn't... It wasn't quite finished the way we
:40:08. > :40:12.wanted it. You made a commitment that you weren't going to be put in
:40:12. > :40:18.that position again? Jarhead was really interesting. I got lost in
:40:18. > :40:22.Jarhead in a way. Looking at it now, I was very aware that I was making
:40:22. > :40:27.what was a fundamentally an artd house film for a lot of money. If
:40:27. > :40:32.you are trapped in that position, it is difficult. You feel a loyalty
:40:32. > :40:40.to the people paying for the film and make a film an audience will
:40:41. > :40:46.see. In spirit the film has more in common with Beckett than Oliver
:40:46. > :40:50.Stone. It's a war film. Suggested technique for the marine to use in
:40:51. > :41:00.the avoidance of boredom and loneliness. Masturbation. Re-
:41:00. > :41:04.reading of letters from unfaithful wives and girlfriends. Cleaning
:41:04. > :41:09.your rifle. Working on Jarhead was a world away from the work he had
:41:09. > :41:16.done on American Beauty. The sheer scale of the film and the physical
:41:16. > :41:22.pressure of making that film. I can just remember the, you know, the
:41:22. > :41:28.heat and the sand that just got into everything. And, it was, you
:41:28. > :41:33.know, it was a very tiring film to work on. I think the cast found it
:41:33. > :41:40.tough and I think Sam found it tough. The biggest challenge was
:41:40. > :41:44.doing the oil wells at night. I think emotionally in Jarhead there
:41:44. > :41:51.were two sequences that obviously was the highway of death that
:41:51. > :41:55.really stands out. It was so simply done that it was just a combination
:41:55. > :41:59.of the way it was staged and the way we shot it, just the simplicity
:41:59. > :42:05.of it. I thought that was emotionally moving. They were
:42:05. > :42:10.trying to get away. Come on. horse going through the oil fires.
:42:10. > :42:16.Not only the fact it was an oily horse. The way Jake reacted with it
:42:16. > :42:22.and it worked. Sorry. You're going to be all right. It's all right.
:42:22. > :42:31.Some moments you think, oh, that's like, well, just when things just
:42:31. > :42:34.come together. The thing I regretted about that film is that
:42:34. > :42:40.the politics got taken out of it. That was my fault and my
:42:40. > :42:46.responsibility. I felt like, you know, every time the studio said,
:42:46. > :42:51.we can't have too much anti-George Bush stuff in there because it's a
:42:51. > :42:56.$60 million war movie. I watered it down. That, for me, I really regret
:42:56. > :43:00.that aspect of it. Post-Jarhead, Mendes would turn his attention
:43:00. > :43:04.back to the theatre. He began to work on his most ambition stage
:43:04. > :43:09.venture to date. The Bridge Project brought together a transatlantic
:43:09. > :43:16.cast of stars from film and theatre including Ethan Hawke and Rebecca
:43:16. > :43:24.Hall to form a unique company that toured all over the world. It's all
:43:24. > :43:27.right. It's all right. My little boy died. He drowned.
:43:27. > :43:31.commitment to the Bridge Project was a five-year-long commitment in
:43:31. > :43:36.terms of putting it together, the rehearsal periods, the shows going
:43:36. > :43:41.up, each one going off around the world, book ending New York, London,
:43:41. > :43:50.the next one goes into rehearsals. It was a major venture. The idea
:43:50. > :43:53.that he had somehow been lost to the theatre was bollocks, frankly.
:43:53. > :43:58.Is there a comparison between what Bridge Project would later achieve
:43:58. > :44:01.in your own relationship with Hollywood, this transatlantic power
:44:01. > :44:05.structure? Bridge Project was an attempt to bring the two sides of
:44:05. > :44:09.my life into one place. At that time I was living in New York I
:44:09. > :44:13.wanted to keep working with the people I had relationships with in
:44:13. > :44:18.England in theatre, Simon Russell Beale, people who I wanted to work
:44:18. > :44:24.with. At the same time, you know still be able to rehearse in New
:44:24. > :44:28.York when my kids were at school. You know, work with people like
:44:28. > :44:33.Ethan Hawke or Josh Hamilton, people who I was euthusiastic about
:44:33. > :44:37.from America. I dreamed of being an actor. This feels in very old
:44:37. > :44:42.school definition of what that word means "being an actor", you know.
:44:42. > :44:47.There is a buzz, if you want to talk about acting, that you get on
:44:47. > :44:51.stage that doesn't exist in cinema. At that point, my theatre career
:44:51. > :44:55.was in entirely English and my film career was entirely American. I
:44:55. > :45:00.felt a need and desire to see if we could create some kind of organic
:45:00. > :45:04.entity out of the two, you know? lot of the attention at the time
:45:04. > :45:07.was on the differences between British and American actors. There
:45:07. > :45:11.were slight differences in the early part of the rehearsal process.
:45:11. > :45:16.In the end, we all bowed down, let's face, it to Sam's methodology.
:45:17. > :45:21.That is what you do? New actors, I think in all of the three, I think,
:45:21. > :45:25.incarnations of those companies, they came back with the same story,
:45:26. > :45:29.which is this extraordinary rigour and enthuse asism and ambition and
:45:30. > :45:34.his ability to get people excited even if, perhaps, they know him,
:45:34. > :45:38.not from being part of the British landscape, but from their American
:45:38. > :45:44.experience. We did three consecutive years of the Bridge
:45:44. > :45:47.Project. At the heart of it was his idea that, to have a company of
:45:47. > :45:57.actors performing more than one play and staying together over a
:45:57. > :46:01.
:46:02. > :46:06.series of months. Now, is the winter of our discontent. Made
:46:06. > :46:10.glorious summer by this son of York. The end of the Bridge Project cycle
:46:10. > :46:20.saw Mendes and Kevin Spacey reunited for a thrilling version of
:46:20. > :46:24.
:46:24. > :46:30.Shakespeare's Richard III. It is a quarrel most un narlg... --
:46:30. > :46:37.unnatural... It was theatre at its most cinematic, but in total
:46:37. > :46:45.contrast, Mendes's film-making had returned to a more intimate
:46:45. > :46:48.theatrical style. We have Revolutionary Road and Away We Go
:46:49. > :46:52.which concentrate on relationships but they seem to be a pair of
:46:52. > :46:57.films? I didn't have a very good time making Revolutionary Road. I
:46:57. > :47:01.felt I was reaching for the book. I was always - it was a book I admire
:47:01. > :47:06.greatly. I felt like we were aspiring to be as good as the book.
:47:06. > :47:14.I didn't have the insight and the skill, the gifts, to get inside it
:47:14. > :47:19.in a way that was poetic, you know? It it felt literary and very
:47:19. > :47:25.literal. Both were things I felt we were struggling with the whole time.
:47:25. > :47:30.Revolutionary Road was an adaptation of a cult novel by
:47:30. > :47:35.Richard Yates. With Leonardo Di Caprio and Kate Winslet playing
:47:35. > :47:43.Frank and April Wheeler a young couple whose relationship begins to
:47:43. > :47:45.unravel under the conformity of 1950s Connecticut. It was all the
:47:46. > :47:49.more intense because Mendes and wince wince were themselves married
:47:49. > :47:52.at the time. It was very well- received. It was nominated for
:47:52. > :47:58.significant awards. There are scenes in it which do zing. What
:47:58. > :48:05.does work for you? I think the performances are fantastic. I think
:48:05. > :48:09.that, if only I felt the style of the movie had been the equal of the
:48:09. > :48:14.act orors I think Kate and Leo were amazing. Revolutionary Road was a
:48:14. > :48:22.tough film. It was quite intense. It was mostly set in this one house.
:48:22. > :48:27.To get the performance Sam wanted he shot in continuity as much as he
:48:27. > :48:32.could. It makes it difficult technically to move from room to
:48:32. > :48:36.room and go back-and-forth. It was unpleasant to make because it was
:48:36. > :48:40.so uncomfortable. It led to a pressure cooker. By the time they
:48:40. > :48:45.kind of explode at the end, Kate and Leo, it really happened for
:48:45. > :48:49.real. There was something... There was something really visceral about
:48:49. > :48:55.that. Tell me the truth, Frank, remember that? We used to live by
:48:55. > :48:59.it. You know what is so good about the truth, everyone knows what it
:48:59. > :49:02.is however long they have lived without it. He rehearses with the
:49:02. > :49:09.actors on the day. It develops right there and then on the morning
:49:09. > :49:14.of the shoot. A lot of the day can actually be spent rehearsing. It's
:49:14. > :49:19.the one thing ha he keeps a handle on the spontaneity is the ability
:49:19. > :49:26.to look at it on the day and change his mind which can infuriate people,
:49:27. > :49:30.I know, but it's... That's the way he works. That's how his work has a
:49:31. > :49:39.freshness that is maybe some other directors work doesn't have.
:49:39. > :49:44.think in Sam's work, on film, there is a complete lack of fear about
:49:45. > :49:49.delving into a character, in a way, that perhaps, you know, that...
:49:49. > :49:53.Other film directors wouldn't be able to exercise. Now, I'm crazy
:49:53. > :49:59.because I don't love you. Is that the point? Wrong. You are not crazy.
:49:59. > :50:04.You do love me. That's the point, April. But I don't. I hate you.
:50:04. > :50:09.When the lid did blow off and we found a style to match the power in
:50:09. > :50:16.the material, which was in the last 15 or 20 minutes of the movie, I
:50:16. > :50:23.felt proud of that. Mendes presented a playful view in his
:50:23. > :50:31.relationships in Away We Go. You're leaving a month before the baby is
:50:31. > :50:37.born? You're moving 3,000 miles away from your grandchild? I think
:50:37. > :50:41.it's more than 3,000? I think so. They set off on a road trip around
:50:41. > :50:48.the States to find somewhere to bring up their baby. God, look at
:50:48. > :50:57.you. You're only six months in. Jesus, you're huge. It was a way of
:50:57. > :51:02.letting off steam. It was like writing a book of short stories
:51:02. > :51:09.after writing a big novel. I felt completely relaxed. I thought, what
:51:09. > :51:15.if we want to do this scene outside instead of ib inside. You got lucky.
:51:15. > :51:20.There was an improvisatory quality that freed me up a little bit. You
:51:20. > :51:23.don't need a set. You don't need structures that are going to hem
:51:23. > :51:27.you. In you don't have to pre- determine what the movie is going
:51:27. > :51:35.to be. Can you play around with it on the day. That was a great thing
:51:35. > :51:40.for me, I think. The low budget rom-com was a world aparred from
:51:40. > :51:44.the James Bond that was to come next. Mendes was forced to adapt
:51:44. > :51:49.his usual methods when directing Skyfall. Directing for me is a
:51:49. > :51:54.private process. With aectors I like peace and quieted a and not to
:51:54. > :51:58.be listened to or watched. Most of the time in movies you can achieve
:51:59. > :52:03.a bubble with a core crew and Bond, forget it, you have to shout all
:52:03. > :52:08.the time. Not in anger, in order to be heard and communicate, you know
:52:08. > :52:16.what I mean? It's the first time I grabbed a megaphone out of the
:52:16. > :52:20.hands of my MD, shouting at 400 extras "move over here." giving
:52:20. > :52:24.detailed direction to Daniel Craig who is metres away on the roof of a
:52:24. > :52:30.train, you know. The pressure on Mendes to deliver a classic Bond
:52:30. > :52:36.movie has been huge because this year marks the 50th anniversary of
:52:36. > :52:42.the franchise. 1962's Dr. No is saw Sean Connery make his debut as 007.
:52:42. > :52:50.I admire your luck Mr License James Bond. In the decades that
:52:50. > :52:58.followed we have had an Aussie Bond, a smooth Bond, a thespian Bond, an
:52:58. > :53:02.Irish Bond and today's incarnation, a roughly hewn blonde Bond. Bond
:53:02. > :53:09.remains a part of popular culture in a way hi creator, author Ian
:53:09. > :53:14.Fleming, could never have imagined. What the film achieves is that it
:53:14. > :53:17.feels like a modern Bond film. It refers back to the classic era of
:53:17. > :53:22.Sean Connery. Did you feel that yourself? That was very deliberate.
:53:22. > :53:26.I mean, when you talk about the 50th anniversary there are a couple
:53:26. > :53:32.moments in the film where I I myself make a nod to the 50th
:53:32. > :53:38.anniversary, there is the presence of the DB5. The car? The Aston
:53:38. > :53:41.Martin. It's about the old and the new effectively. I wanted at a very
:53:41. > :53:45.particular --add a vision to the third act of the film that it would
:53:45. > :53:49.be set in a world where there wasn't any technology. From the
:53:49. > :53:56.moment you see the DB5 to the end of the picture there is nothing in
:53:56. > :53:59.it that is anything younger than 50 years old. Staying true to his
:53:59. > :54:07.creative vision has been paramount for Mendes, but he doesn't really
:54:07. > :54:11.consider himself an auter. There is a lot of mystify kaition of the
:54:11. > :54:21.role of film director. I think that there are true artists of which
:54:21. > :54:22.
:54:22. > :54:26.maybe each generation have three or four. To me, these are true artists.
:54:26. > :54:31.The rest of us are on the whole good story tellers if you are
:54:31. > :54:35.concentrating and craftsmen. For me, so much is about the mechanics of
:54:35. > :54:40.doing things and putting things together. Rolling up your sleeves
:54:40. > :54:43.and working out how it's done at the same time at retaining your own
:54:43. > :54:47.individual tastes. Your sense of what you like and what you don't
:54:47. > :54:51.like. You know? Also, not just what you like, but what you're good at.
:54:51. > :54:56.I think that trying to hold on to that, in the midst of something, in
:54:56. > :55:00.this case, very, very huge. Hold on to your instinct, push everything
:55:00. > :55:07.away so that you have space to think. To say not just, does that
:55:07. > :55:11.work, but do I like it? Sometimes it works, it went bang at the right
:55:11. > :55:16.time. Is that what I want in the movie? Is that the style we talked
:55:16. > :55:19.about? Is that what Daniel and I will like in the cutting room? That
:55:19. > :55:23.is the most difficult thing. Beyond that it's about craft. One of the
:55:23. > :55:28.things that is a characteristic of everything he does is a beautiful
:55:28. > :55:33.clarity and a simplicity, you know, there is never anything between the
:55:33. > :55:37.audience and the film. It's all about conveying the story in the
:55:37. > :55:44.most simple and clear way for the audience. I think that's why people
:55:44. > :55:48.love what he does so much. I think making a film is as much an
:55:48. > :55:52.emotional gut reaction to what is in front of you as it is an
:55:52. > :55:56.intellectual. Probably more of a gut reaction than an intellectual
:55:56. > :56:01.one. I think that's... I think that's something that Sam
:56:01. > :56:05.understands. I think he goes with his gut. I feel his films are
:56:05. > :56:11.strong. He has a strong visual sense. Sam, very, very clear. Very
:56:11. > :56:16.beautiful. I think it's really great. I'm full of admiration.
:56:16. > :56:19.There is a confidence having as a theatre director listen to
:56:19. > :56:25.audiences and being amongst them that he brings questions that he
:56:25. > :56:30.asks of performances and how long he let's moments endure for and how
:56:30. > :56:34.things linger and how things are framed. It's a study without
:56:34. > :56:39.indulgence. That is exciting. understands team playing. That is
:56:39. > :56:44.what he brings out in his company. He makes sure when he directs a
:56:44. > :56:48.scene or a film it's not in one character, it's not in the camera
:56:49. > :56:53.or him, it's all of that. The fact he can harness all those talents
:56:53. > :56:59.and all those energys is why he stands out as a director. I think
:56:59. > :57:04.he is twice told me I'm shit straight out. That is not his style.
:57:05. > :57:10.He has twice done it. In tune with a career that's aults been full of
:57:10. > :57:14.surprises, Sam's next project a stage musical version of a Roald
:57:14. > :57:19.Dahl classic. You have landed the Bond movie got the franchise back
:57:19. > :57:25.on track. 50th anniversary it's safe, it worked. You are going to
:57:25. > :57:30.go and do Charlie and the Chocolate Factory? Yes. By the time I finish
:57:30. > :57:38.any movie, let alone this movie, I'm back to get into a rehearsal
:57:38. > :57:43.room and do a play? Why Charlie and the Chocolate Factory? I want to do
:57:43. > :57:48.something my kids can see. Dahl is one of the greats for me. Again, a
:57:48. > :57:52.little bit like Bond and Fleming dates back to my childhood. That is
:57:52. > :57:57.the first children's book I fell in love with that. At the end of that
:57:57. > :58:02.I will want to do a film again. I'm able to go back between the two.
:58:02. > :58:06.While they pay me to do things like that I will carry on doing it.
:58:06. > :58:13.Thank you very much. Thank you. A great pleasure.
:58:13. > :58:20.# Is the end # I'm drowned and dreamt this
:58:20. > :58:30.moment # So over do do I owe this
:58:30. > :58:36.# Swept away, I'm stolen # If the Skyfall
:58:36. > :58:41.# When it crumbles # We will stand tall and face it