Spent yesterday, all day, sorting our film structure.
It’s so much fun working with CP. He makes me laugh all day.
His ideas are strong and sensible. He thinks in a way that I can understand.
We worked methodically through the original treatment, exploring each element.
Who are these men? Who are we dealing with? Where do they live? How did they get there? The structure, the logic and the sensibility. By the end of the day I really felt as I knew exactly what was happening and why.
Where as I was trying to make these characters more like me he was, quite rightly, identifying the sort of men who would actually make the life we were creating for them.
Our approach to structure is very different (I think in acts and timing) but we end up finding common ground. This is perhaps the most grown up working relationship I have ever had. I am willing to share, defer, negotiate. Why? Because I trust him.
He knows that I am not convinced by own ability in some spheres. I know that the project, like any film, is bigger than me and therefore, as a director, must agree to be replaced if I am not the right man.
Directing the film is not my aim. The film is my aim.
We still don’t have a working title but that is the least of our concerns. The idea is strong enough to be transportable. We flip-flopped between England and America.
By the end of the day we were both totally exhausted but I felt so happy that we were well on our way to being able to present a coherent idea to our writer..when we finally choose him/her.
I cooked lunch. We ate dinner in Venice.
As I sink myself further into this project the less interested I am by past concerns. The more I invest in making art (a life beyond myself) the more complete I feel.
I tell you what I love about our working relationship: he understands that when I am passionate I am not being angry. He is not sensitive. He sees that the ideas I believe in I will fight to keep but not every idea is worth keeping. He will not lecture me about my ‘attitude’ or how ‘difficult’ I am because he understands the rough and tumble of this highly charged creative process.
Over dinner we discussed his remarkable achievements. I felt really humbled by his success.
We have lumped all of our agent meetings into one day.
Had breakfast with AA chums in the Palisades.