I'm Very Happy In France Making Movies.

It's Just Incredible. When You're French, Coming From A Non-english Language Country, You Don't Even Dream About Oscar Recognition Or Nominations. It's Just Beyond The Dream. It's Something Very, Very Special And Unique. It's The Highest Recognition Any Filmmaker Could Dream Of

I Chose The American Ones, More Or Less The Last Five Years Of The Silent Era, Because Those Are The Ones That Aged The Best In The Way They Tell The Story. One, It's About Human Beings With Context. It's A Very Classical Story With Feelings, With Laughter, Melodrama And It Really Works, The Good Ones - Murnau's American Movies, John Ford's Four Sons, King Vidor's The Crowd, Or The (josef) Von Sternberg Movies. You Can Watch It Now And It Still Works. I Mean They Are Really, Really Good Pieces So This Is Where I Tried To Work.

Usually, When You Do A Period Movie, You Just Recreate What You Are Shooting. You Don't Recreate The Way You Shoot It. I Think I Did The Same Thing Here As I Did In The Oss 117 Movies. I Recreated The Way To Shoot That Period, Because To Me, Like What I Was Saying About The Steadicam, There's No Sense To Do A Steadicam Shot In The 1920s Because You Have Never Seen The '20s Like That. You Can't Believe There Was A Steadicam In The 1920s. I Believe It's A Continuation Of The Oss 117 In A Way But Without The Irony.

Finally, You're Right About One Point, Your Entire Way Of Thinking Is Predicted By What You're Immersed In So You Know You Won't Make A Bad Decision. You Can Make A Bad Decision But It's Still In The Good Sphere Normally If You Work Well. You're Prepared To Face A Crew Who Wants To Know Everything And Poses A Hundred Questions A Minute, Because You Know You Have Good Reflexes And Can Respond Very Quickly.

Sometimes I Think You Have To Try To Do Things That People Don't Think Are Doable. I Remember At The Very Beginning Actually, The First Person I Had To Convince Was Myself Really Because There's A Self-censorship. When Everybody Says 'we Don't Do Silent Movies Anymore,' You Agree With Everybody, And You Say 'yeah, You're Right.' It Was A Fantasy.