The following is a re-broadcast of my interview with Judith Weston on May 11, 2014. Order Judith's books from Michael Wiese Productions here. For more information on Judith, visit her website.
Dave Watson: The first sentence of the book states that intuition occurs when, “You see or feel something that is not apparent to others, that may even be contradicted by ordinary reason or evidence.” Then you continue with a personal story of a time when this happened to you. Why did you start at such a personal place?
Judith Weston: I often use personal stories as a teaching technique, and so it was natural for me to include them in my writing as well. I don’t want readers to think of anything I say as dogma, as an abstraction. All the principles in the book are based on observation of human behavior, and all the tools are meant to be practical and understandable in a human context. So I always try to connect my ideas and principles and tools back to human experience.
Dave Watson: How did you come to write a book about a film director’s intuition?
Judith Weston: When my publisher Michael Wiese asked me to write my first book, Directing Actors, he asked me for a “how-to” book. After Directing Actors came out, he told me what he liked most about it was that he felt it went deeper than a “how-to,” that it touched on life issues as well as directing issues, and also that it seemed to appeal to the unconscious in the reader. I think that’s because it deals with subtext, which is what is going on underneath the words of the script. The subtext functions in a script in much the same way that in real life our subconscious intentions and desires affect our own words and actions. Anyway, when he asked me to write a second book, he said he wanted me to go even further into the topic of subtext, the life below the words and actions – both in a script and in life. That’s where intuition comes from – from the subconscious. So that’s where the title of the book came from. I have to say that it’s interesting to me, the book came out in September 2003, and a year and a half later came Malcolm Gladwell’s book on the subject of intuition, Blink, and it became so famous, and then came a whole raft of books on neuroscience for the layman.
DW: I called them brain books, and they continued throughout the decade.
JW: Yes, eventually I read them all because I’m fascinated by neuroscience. They came out after my book came out, so I didn’t read them until later. When I was writing The Film Director’s Intuition, I was fishing around, trying out language to express how intuition reveals itself in life, and how it can be accessed while preparing to make a movie.
DW: The title of your second chapter is “The Feeling Level.” What does that mean? Don’t films encompass all the senses?
JW: Perhaps the title of that chapter ought to have been “The Emotional Level.” That’s what I was getting at – that a film (or television show of course) needs to come alive at an emotional level. And a director needs to function at an emotional level – not just at the level of the plot, and that the emotional level is where intuition resides. So if a director wants to engage the actors and the story at an intuitive level, he/she has to engage him/herself at an emotional level.
DW: You also have a chapter titled “Sources of Imagination and Intuition.” How did you come up with the list that you present in that chapter?
JW: For that chapter, I decided to give away all my secrets. The book owes much to the John Cassavetes quote on page 3: “Once you lose your innermost thoughts, you don’t have anything else.” It’s a privilege to allow oneself to make one’s own innermost thoughts a priority – the privilege of the artist. But for me it was self-preservation. It goes back to my childhood. I was a lonely child and there were times when it felt that my innermost thoughts were my only comfort, and without them I had nothing. So I held on for dear life to whatever ways I could access them. And the methods I came up with – like daydreaming, questioning everything, and being obsessed with observing people – I put into a list in case they might be helpful to others.
DW: You just mentioned a quote from director John Cassavetes. Your book is full of quotes from directors and actors. Why?
JW: Around that time, reporters were starting to ask directors and actors questions about their craft. It may have started with the program “Inside the Actors Studio,” but at the time it was quite new for actors and directors to be asked about their craft. So I picked from the interviews quotes that illustrated the points I was making.
DW: How is craft useful to a storyteller?
JW: Craft is not important for its own sake. It’s a gateway to intuition. Useful craft gives you a framework that steadies you, so you can swim freely around it. You know: “Learn the rules, so you can break them.”
DW: The subtitle of your book is Script Analysis and Rehearsal Techniques. Is rehearsal really crucial? Do all directors rehearse with actors, or does this vary widely?
JW: It varies, oh yes. Many directors don’t rehearse at all, except for camera rehearsal. It is said that there isn’t time. But there are certain special directors that manage to slip in some worthwhile interaction with actors. Sometime I think it shouldn’t be called “rehearsal.” It should be called “planting seeds” or “having some quality time between the director and the actors.”
DW: Richard Donner was known for creating a great work environment. Brian De Palma, from Art Linson’s books, was known for being very well prepared.
JW: Preparation is crucial especially if you want to operate at a deep level, as Brian De Palma does. That’s why I included chapters on Script Analysis. A deep Script Analysis, to investigate the subtext, is an element of preparation that directors sometimes neglect.
DW: There’s a David Lynch quote about creating a universe and inviting people to come live in it.
JW: That’s a wonderful way to create a terrific working atmosphere with actors.
DW: At one point you say to question everything. Is controlling this notion key?
JW: I don’t like to control the number of questions I allow myself to ask. But when I say question everything, I don’t mean a director should be wishy-washy. At some point you make a choice. A filmmaker needs to make strong choices, and to have a point of view, and to know what you want to say about the world. But asking questions is a great script analysis tool, and a great communication tool as well.
DW: For the script analysis chapters, you use scenes of films from Tender Mercies to Chinatown to Clerks to sex, lies and videotape. How did you choose those examples?
JW: They are wonderful scripts, and I was lucky to be able to get permission to use them.
DW: Finally, what is your favorite cinematic moment?
JW: There were so many moments in “Birdman” that knocked me out. But I’m going to pick the ending.
DW: That shot just about made the film, which had many of these moments!
JW: Yes. He has jumped out the window and by all rights he should be splattered on the pavement. He’s attempted suicide twice already and now it’s the third time and he’s going to run out of luck. The character is in despair; he can’t even receive love. When you are in despair, when you are too far gone to love yourself never mind anyone else, the only possible mercy is to allow someone to love you. And people do love him – his girlfriend, his best friend, his ex-wife, even his daughter if he would let himself receive it. But he’s in despair and there is no mercy for him in this world because he is too far gone to receive the mercy of love. But – the filmmaker – when the daughter looks up, and it appears from the look in her eyes that she sees Riggan floating with the birds – the filmmaker gets to grant him mercy! You could call it magic realism. But really it’s the whole point of film. In all our struggles, we may be helpless, but mercy is still possible, art is still possible.
Clip: Birdman
Dave Watson: The first sentence of the book states that intuition occurs when, “You see or feel something that is not apparent to others, that may even be contradicted by ordinary reason or evidence.” Then you continue with a personal story of a time when this happened to you. Why did you start at such a personal place?
Judith Weston: I often use personal stories as a teaching technique, and so it was natural for me to include them in my writing as well. I don’t want readers to think of anything I say as dogma, as an abstraction. All the principles in the book are based on observation of human behavior, and all the tools are meant to be practical and understandable in a human context. So I always try to connect my ideas and principles and tools back to human experience.
Dave Watson: How did you come to write a book about a film director’s intuition?
Judith Weston: When my publisher Michael Wiese asked me to write my first book, Directing Actors, he asked me for a “how-to” book. After Directing Actors came out, he told me what he liked most about it was that he felt it went deeper than a “how-to,” that it touched on life issues as well as directing issues, and also that it seemed to appeal to the unconscious in the reader. I think that’s because it deals with subtext, which is what is going on underneath the words of the script. The subtext functions in a script in much the same way that in real life our subconscious intentions and desires affect our own words and actions. Anyway, when he asked me to write a second book, he said he wanted me to go even further into the topic of subtext, the life below the words and actions – both in a script and in life. That’s where intuition comes from – from the subconscious. So that’s where the title of the book came from. I have to say that it’s interesting to me, the book came out in September 2003, and a year and a half later came Malcolm Gladwell’s book on the subject of intuition, Blink, and it became so famous, and then came a whole raft of books on neuroscience for the layman.
DW: I called them brain books, and they continued throughout the decade.
JW: Yes, eventually I read them all because I’m fascinated by neuroscience. They came out after my book came out, so I didn’t read them until later. When I was writing The Film Director’s Intuition, I was fishing around, trying out language to express how intuition reveals itself in life, and how it can be accessed while preparing to make a movie.
DW: The title of your second chapter is “The Feeling Level.” What does that mean? Don’t films encompass all the senses?
JW: Perhaps the title of that chapter ought to have been “The Emotional Level.” That’s what I was getting at – that a film (or television show of course) needs to come alive at an emotional level. And a director needs to function at an emotional level – not just at the level of the plot, and that the emotional level is where intuition resides. So if a director wants to engage the actors and the story at an intuitive level, he/she has to engage him/herself at an emotional level.
DW: You also have a chapter titled “Sources of Imagination and Intuition.” How did you come up with the list that you present in that chapter?
JW: For that chapter, I decided to give away all my secrets. The book owes much to the John Cassavetes quote on page 3: “Once you lose your innermost thoughts, you don’t have anything else.” It’s a privilege to allow oneself to make one’s own innermost thoughts a priority – the privilege of the artist. But for me it was self-preservation. It goes back to my childhood. I was a lonely child and there were times when it felt that my innermost thoughts were my only comfort, and without them I had nothing. So I held on for dear life to whatever ways I could access them. And the methods I came up with – like daydreaming, questioning everything, and being obsessed with observing people – I put into a list in case they might be helpful to others.
DW: You just mentioned a quote from director John Cassavetes. Your book is full of quotes from directors and actors. Why?
JW: Around that time, reporters were starting to ask directors and actors questions about their craft. It may have started with the program “Inside the Actors Studio,” but at the time it was quite new for actors and directors to be asked about their craft. So I picked from the interviews quotes that illustrated the points I was making.
DW: How is craft useful to a storyteller?
JW: Craft is not important for its own sake. It’s a gateway to intuition. Useful craft gives you a framework that steadies you, so you can swim freely around it. You know: “Learn the rules, so you can break them.”
DW: The subtitle of your book is Script Analysis and Rehearsal Techniques. Is rehearsal really crucial? Do all directors rehearse with actors, or does this vary widely?
JW: It varies, oh yes. Many directors don’t rehearse at all, except for camera rehearsal. It is said that there isn’t time. But there are certain special directors that manage to slip in some worthwhile interaction with actors. Sometime I think it shouldn’t be called “rehearsal.” It should be called “planting seeds” or “having some quality time between the director and the actors.”
DW: Richard Donner was known for creating a great work environment. Brian De Palma, from Art Linson’s books, was known for being very well prepared.
JW: Preparation is crucial especially if you want to operate at a deep level, as Brian De Palma does. That’s why I included chapters on Script Analysis. A deep Script Analysis, to investigate the subtext, is an element of preparation that directors sometimes neglect.
DW: There’s a David Lynch quote about creating a universe and inviting people to come live in it.
JW: That’s a wonderful way to create a terrific working atmosphere with actors.
DW: At one point you say to question everything. Is controlling this notion key?
JW: I don’t like to control the number of questions I allow myself to ask. But when I say question everything, I don’t mean a director should be wishy-washy. At some point you make a choice. A filmmaker needs to make strong choices, and to have a point of view, and to know what you want to say about the world. But asking questions is a great script analysis tool, and a great communication tool as well.
DW: For the script analysis chapters, you use scenes of films from Tender Mercies to Chinatown to Clerks to sex, lies and videotape. How did you choose those examples?
JW: They are wonderful scripts, and I was lucky to be able to get permission to use them.
DW: Finally, what is your favorite cinematic moment?
JW: There were so many moments in “Birdman” that knocked me out. But I’m going to pick the ending.
DW: That shot just about made the film, which had many of these moments!
JW: Yes. He has jumped out the window and by all rights he should be splattered on the pavement. He’s attempted suicide twice already and now it’s the third time and he’s going to run out of luck. The character is in despair; he can’t even receive love. When you are in despair, when you are too far gone to love yourself never mind anyone else, the only possible mercy is to allow someone to love you. And people do love him – his girlfriend, his best friend, his ex-wife, even his daughter if he would let himself receive it. But he’s in despair and there is no mercy for him in this world because he is too far gone to receive the mercy of love. But – the filmmaker – when the daughter looks up, and it appears from the look in her eyes that she sees Riggan floating with the birds – the filmmaker gets to grant him mercy! You could call it magic realism. But really it’s the whole point of film. In all our struggles, we may be helpless, but mercy is still possible, art is still possible.
Clip: Birdman
