When it comes to working in theater and film, do you have a preference? Do you feel more comfortable in one than the other?
I don't tend to get bored with one and then do the other; it's just that I like them both. I always liked movies but never studied them or how to do it. I always imagined myself doing theater. I think film, which I haven't done for very long, has afforded me the chance to go back and do theater. I like that so much that I can't imagine a time where I would not want to do it. Whereas the pressure of film, I can see where people take periods of time away from it, because there are just so many other demands on you, beyond the elements that you really like. I like working on the script, I like working with the actors. There are so many technical demands that I am just still learning about and the less you know the harder it is to keep up.
The big difference between theater and film for me, and what makes theater so attractive, is the very clean delineation of purpose. In the theater there is a very delineated time in which the process takes place, and in the end of that, it's all culminating in the product. So you know the pressure of, "We're opening six weeks from now, so we need to do X." It's all very concentrated on the elements that I handle. Like, "Let's sit around and rehearse the script." Then we add on the costumes and all. You've got just the last few days to deal with that, costumes and lighting.
In film, there is no such demarcation. The first day of the film you're filming. You may have a little rehearsal and preproduction, but that's not the process, that's part of it. When you go to work, and you're setting up the lighting and all of that, then at some point during the day you have to film and that's the product. That raw footage you took on day one is going to end up in the film. So you have to be as good on day one as you are on day 60. That's a little more pressure, I think, for everyone. It's like, "I know this is a really hard scene, but we have to film it today because we lose so and so on Thursday. Even though it's kind of the climax of your relationship, we're going to have to film that right away, and so off you go." I find that a little more daunting.
The stakes are higher in film?
Not the personal stakes. But the stakes are made to feel higher because there's more money involved. So more people are constantly around watching their investment. There's no question about that. Even if it's not hands-on, you just feel the presence of people watching what you're doing, which I completely understand. If I were making an investment like that I would be a little curious as well. They're not going to say, "What the hell, let's just give you $20 million and see what comes of it." That is just not the way it is handled.
When you're in the theater, you're talking about thousands of dollars usually. I don't believe it's just monetary, but I can't imagine it's just a trust issue either. Because the theater people that I've worked with I don't know any better than the film people, but they tend to stay away and come to previews.
When you talk about yourself as a filmmaker, you speak as though you're a novice.
There are so many elements in film -- I'm a quick learner, but I think I'm constantly learning technical things that you never face in the theater. You don't edit, you don't do sound mixes, you don't do computer-generated effects. For the most part they're very different disciplines. Do I think I'm any better at one than the other? Not necessarily.
I'm probably more comfortable as a writer than as a director, because I've done it longer. I feel more comfortable at it, just the experience of it. I imagine myself capable of any number of things. I don't think most people would have expected this film to come from me, just in terms of scope, the fact that it's period.