The Odd Couple Gets Even

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RM: Whatever is heroic or good in the character usually rises to the top. In Jack's case he could have been very irritating. [Softly, looking at him] But he wasn't. O.K., I'll shut up.

DDL: I'm only irritating in real life.

RM: Yeah, in real life ... aargh.

HOW WAS COLLABORATING? WERE THERE SURPRISES?

DDL: I don't remember any surprises. It was just exactly how I imagined it would be. Better perhaps.

RM: It was more fun than I thought. I knew it was going to be exciting. Almost dangerous. It was really fun to talk about it at night, to have that together to do. We did of course talk between takes and that stuff, but Daniel had his reality to keep intact and I had to watch out for everything.

DDL: Filmmaking is utter madness. The fact that any film ever works on any level is kind of a miracle.

DID YOU HAVE TO CHANGE THE WAY YOU SPEAK TO EACH OTHER? WERE YOU ABLE TO USE YOUR SHORTHAND FROM LIFE TOGETHER?

DDL: The shorthand was so short that when we got to the set we were almost monosyllabic. In an ideal way, not in a noncommunicative way. We didn't have to say very much, and that's how it should be. You have to resist the temptation to talk stuff out a lot. And I try to encourage other actors to do it too, without any cruelty.

RM: What I've learned about directing is how to say the least amount you can say and find a way to communicate that to the actors. I only cast people that I trust. And then there is a mutual trust. Because it's not that I'm not composing shots, but without the actor I really don't have anything. All my work is about character. It's all about what goes on behind the eyes of an actor. If the actor feels hemmed in or emotionally stopped up because of what I'm doing, then I'm actually killing myself as a filmmaker.

WHY DO YOU DO THIS WORK? WHAT DOES IT DO FOR YOU?

DDL: You can't really decide to do that work. You need to at least believe that you are chosen in some way. Not as in the chosen ones but that the work has chosen you, that you can't avoid doing it.

RM: It's a deep and primitive pleasure I get. Almost the way I felt when I was a little girl and I was deep into playing.

DDL: That's good.

RM: I remember that feeling of being totally inside it. And it's that kind of pleasure.

DDL: It's true it's a game. And it can be a very sophisticated one. But often it's not.

I WAS IMPRESSED WITH THE TATTOO AND WONDERED IF IT WAS YOURS OR JACK'S.

DDL: Well, it was Jack's, but I inherited it.

RM: He got it for Jack.

WHY?

DDL: I like real things.

YOU DO KNOW THEY CAN DO QUITE REALISTIC FAKE TATTOOS.

DDL: I know. But it bugs me. It's like you're already reminded of the artifice of the whole thing you're entering into.

RM: I love it.

WILL YOU WORK TOGETHER AGAIN?

DDL: We can't say for sure. I would do it in a shot. But I think we'd almost be even more shy about it the next time because when you've had a wonderful experience you so do not want to put a blemish on it. But you can't think like that. We've just got to share the same madness for a few moments, and it will happen. That's all it comes down to.