An Interview With Gore Verbinksi

Location: Bahamas. He was, LWLies wasn't. Damn.
Time: 8:15pm
Date: 29th January 2006

LWLies: We ask everyone this question... what is it you love about movies?

GV: Oh boy. I've been shooting nights. There's not a lot to love about movies right now. On the water. In the rain. On boats. What do I love about watching them or making them?

LWLies: Both. You're involved in both sides...

GV: The thing I enjoy most - and I'm constantly surprised by - is that they're completely organic. As much as you try and control them, design them, structure them, write them and shoot them, you're not building a golf course. You're making a movie. It's like growing a Chia Pet. It takes on its own form - as much as you try and trim it and shape it, it's growing, and the best you can do is to try and nurture it. And that's the most fun.

LWLies: We love films because it takes us somewhere. You don't know where you're going...

GV: When you're making them, it's nice to not hold the reins too tight. It's a tricky balance. When I watch a movie, it's nice to feel that the person who made the film had an intention and wanted to take me some place and lead me through a dark room with their hand on my back. But I much prefer the breadcrumb approach where I'm nibbling at things, following and discovering a path. And I think when you let a film blossom and grow in different directions you're going to be surprised by them.

LWLies: You're an ex-guitarist. Is music your biggest influence and does it affect your style consciously or subconsciously?

GV: I think it's the more subversive element. I was going to film school at UCLA and I was playing in quite a few bands in Los Angeles - you know, leading both those lives. I think that's always there. There's still a guitar in my office and I still pluck around - my favourite part of a film is certainly when we get involved with the score, because I just love working with musicians. They're a special breed.

LWLies: So for you, does the score match the pace and style of the movie or do you think of it as you go along? Are you intimately aware of how music influences situations so you're directing with it in mind or does it trickle along in the background?

GV: I definitely go in with an intention. Certainly with the case of The Weatherman, Hans Zimmer wrote a seven-minute score. I called him and said I'm thinking roads and solo, you know, something really small but with a little bit up-against-the-down beat and I sent him a variety of samples of different music I liked - you know, from Madame Chow to Goldfrapp and wrote a seven-minute piece that I would play back on set from time to time. For creating tone and mood, it's good to talk to actors and say, 'This scene is violins, that other scene was brass.' It's a good way of communicating what the emotional undercurrent of the films is gonna play and they don't have to play it all - the music's gonna do a little bit, and rub up against it here... I think you really need to know about how it's gonna play sonically in a theatre. Having said that, what I meant by how enjoyable the score is, there's all that intention and then I get to sit back and watch great musicians perform that score and that's enjoyable for me. We've talked about it enough, now let's perform it. It's wonderful. You get to zoom out and there's never a place where such a small thing can have such a great impact upon the film.

LWLies: It's the deal breaker really.

GV: Yeah.

LWLies: Looking at your current work, let's talk Pirates. You're now looking at $1 billion gross worldwide. Do you feel pressure from the publishing house that's constraining your decisions, and does that frustrate you?

GV: It hasn't really become a political mess, other than, 'We're all counting on you!' - that kind of pressure. When we made the first pirate movie, it was... nobody believed in it and that was a great place to be. Now you've got the stockholders' and the board of directors' jobs on the line. You've got a lot looming overhead, but also people know enough about it to know it's something we don't understand. It smells and it's rotten and the wheel's broken, but everybody loves it that way. So let's not get in there and try and change it. And I think that's been great. It's really enjoyable. We can continue to go in and turn it on its head.

LWLies: But for you, the money invested in the movie - has that ever formed an obstacle?

GV: In the case of the sequels to Pirates, they have a bizarre way in Hollywood; they think you've got some sort of golden wand. It's really not the way. I make movies. In the meantime, it's fine that they've backed off.

LWLies: The Time Machine - in the UK we love the book. It's part of our education. So we were excited about the film... But, Samantha Mumba... come on. What's the deal?

GV: What happened was the director of that movie, who is a very nice gentleman, who's related to the writer, he was ill. I got a call from Spielberg and the folks at DreamWorks to come and shoot a few days. But at that point it was 95 per cent complete - I was just doing some pick-ups. But at that point, it's not directing. It's a bit of plumbing - but the decision's already been made.

LWLies: How did it feel to jump aboard someone else's ship?

GV: It's very uncomfortable. Everybody's shoes have a certain stink. They were really in a bind. The first thing I said was let me go speak to Simon Wells, and talk to him about this because it's not going to be comfortable for him or me. The studio wanted to wrap these sets; they were virtually done shooting. So I went and had a chat to him and asked him what to do. We had a good chat. At that point, it was the furthest thing from directing. It was crime scene cleaning - come up, sweep up some blood, get the shot Simon needed, get the shots the studio needed because they were paying and rolling film.

LWLies: Sounds tricky.

GV: I don't think I'd do it again. It was a crisis call. It was interesting to jump in - and see, 'That's what you're wearing?! Whoa, but okay'.

LWLies: Looking to your films, you've worked across genres, from small films to massive films. Whether the critics love it, it's still a great achievement. Where do you want to go next? Where does your next challenge lie?

GV: Well, I'd like to turn the volume down. There's so much directing traffic when you're making a picture like that. It's a lot of fun and there's a good story to tell. But I think it's time to look for something smaller, quieter. At this point, honestly, I think having moved from The Ring straight into Pirates, into The Weatherman it's a bit too much. I want to get to a place where I don't know what the next project is. There's a cork in the end of the tunnel instead of the light. I want to reach that other side - that place where I can stop and think. Where I don't have to do anything. Where I can think.

LWLies: What's actually going on on-set at the moment?

GV: Well, we had a little hiatus over Christmas where I went into the edit room. The second movie's coming together in a way in which I think people will enjoy - in a fun and different way. Now we're working with the writers trying to get the script of the third one better and we're back shooting nights, in the rain, on boats. And the weather's not co-operating. Everything's moving around, we're losing anchors, and you know all that standard pirate movie stuff!

LWLies: Spanners in the works?

GV: It's triage every day on set. It's good. It's a rush.

LWLies: Pirates has made a difference to the franchise and your 'label'. Will that restrict you in future with some smaller, more interesting films, with people thinking such a big fish in a small pond won't want to bite on my small independent film?

GV: I think it works both ways. Leveraging to get The Weatherman made, for very little money and with a script which was very good, but wasn't very marketable - without a genre the studio could attach to it - and we certainly weren't gonna change it - we wanted to keep it true. Some of the success of Pirates helps - people say, 'Whoa, they must know what they're doing. Let's give them a shot'. So though we did it for very little money, it helped get the film made. On the other side, people are always gonna look to whatever you did last, and try to define who you are. But that's why you get in the room with the people making the movie. If I was a producer, I'd meet a few people and hear what their take is, regardless of who they are or where they're from. That's what I would do if I was making a movie.

LWLies: You've worked with Depp. Legend. Who're you interested in working with now? Who's on your checklist of all-time want-to-work-withs?

GV: Well, I've already missed out on George C Scott, Alec Guinness and Peter Sellers. I've already worked with Michael Caine, which was fantastic. I think, you know, I don't really watch a lot of contemporary movies and I'm always going to the casting director and saying... unfortunately I'm saying I want somebody who isn't alive anymore.

LWLies: Can you get them for me? They're probably going to charge you a few more pounds that way...

GV: Yeah. So it really depends on the material. I don't try and fit the material around the actor. That's a really big mistake. I come up with a concept and work with a writer, develop something. And if you attach a project to an actor, that project may evolve and grow and go somewhere else where you really don't want to be going with that actor. I think that's the most important choice you can make - casting. I really like to get to a place where I can see the whole film and then make a decision from that point - to find the best chalice for that part. The pieces have to fit. That was one of the lessons for me from The Mexican. The cast helped get that movie made. Was that the right cast for that movie? I don't know. The jury's still out. There was a lot of Hollywood - a lot of people were involved with that casting. Casting has to be a personal choice. It has to be something... you go and you read people for the part. We got Naomi in The Ring - a lot of people wanted that part. She came in and read for it and she was great and we booked her.

That's how it worked in The Weatherman too, you know, we got Nic. A lot of the other parts... I think actors... I think it's agents are the ones saying we're not coming to read for that, if you want us you're going to have to make us a deal. I think it's in the best interest of the director and the actor to come in, in a quiet room and read the scene, play it a little bit and see if we're speaking the same language and making the same movie. If you put that out in front of the project, then you're going to find halfway into the movie that this isn't the chalice you want for that piece and that's not good.

LWLies: Makes sense. Gore, good luck with Pirates and thanks very much.

source: littlewhitelies.co.uk