Whatwerethechallengesof
directing
MoneyMonster
atthis
point inyourcareer?
Moviesare life-changingadventures.
Theyreallyare, fromstart tofinish. It’s
unlikeanyother job in theworld. [We
startedworkon it]almost fouryearsago.
Weworkedon thescriptandbrought in
awonderful youngwriternamedJamie
Linden,who isanextraordinaryhuman
beingandreallybrought somuch to the
movie.Thepart thatwent fastwas thatof
George—heread itanddecided todo it.
That reallystartedeverythingoff.All that
happenedveryquickly.
Thefilm itself isan incredible jigsaw
puzzle. It’san intellectuallychallenging
movie— it’s trying tobalanceawhole
bunchofdifferent storiesall atonce. It
happens inreal timeand involvesa lotof
media.Therearemonitors ineverysingle
sceneand theyareplaying inreal time. So
it’sverycomplicated.Theprepof themovie
wasverycomplicated.
Then I thought:Okay, theedit isgoing
tobeeasy.But that’sbeen themuchharder
part—having thatmanydifferentoptions
becauseyouare insomanydifferentplaces.
It’sbeenarealprocessfinding thevoiceof
themovie.
YougottoworkwithFilipino-
AmericancinematographerMatthew
Libatique forthefirsttimeonthis
film.Whatwasthat like?
I loveMatty. Iwasso lucky tohavehimon
thefilm.Everyday Icountedmystars— it
wasareallygreatpartnershipbetween the
twoofus, something that I’ll really treasure
forever.Therewasa lotof laughing.Hehas
agreat senseofhumor.Heand Ishare the
fact thatwe’rea littlesmall, sowe’re two
funnyfireballswalkingon theset, taking
NewYorkbystorm.
Didthismoviehaveanypersonal
meaning foryou?
Itwasabigone.Even though Ihavehad
movies thathavebig-sizedbudgetsand
interesting talent, Ihaveneverreallydone
amainstreammoviebefore. Ihadnever
doneagenrefilm like thisbefore. Iamnot
evensure Iwas100%aware that iswhat I
wasdoing.
It’sbeen interesting, dealingwith
complicated things in thefinancialworld
andbalancinghow tobestcommunicate
thefilm toawideraudience.Thathasbeen
new forme.
Whatareyouproudestof inyour
careerso far?
It’sbeenabigcareer, anda longone. It’s
beensince the1960s to the2010s, so I
havebeenapartof somanydifferent
eras infilmmaking.The thing that Iam
proudestof ishavingbeenapartof the
’70swithmovies like
TaxiDriver
.Also,
directingmyfirstmovie,
LittleManTate
.
Just theexcitementof that, and tohaveput
somethingonscreen thatwasso imperfect,
but itwas100%what I really feltandwhat
I really thoughtwasme.
JodieFoster on the
MoneyMonster
setwith
GeorgeClooney
May2016
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