The Conversation' Was The First Film I

When I'm Actually Assembling A Scene, I Assemble It As A Silent Movie. Even If It's A Dialog Scene, I Lip Read What People Are Saying.

Most Of Us Are Searching-consciously Or Unconsciously- For A Degree Of Internal Balance And Harmony Between Ourselves And The Outside World, And If We Happen To Become Aware-like Stravinsky- Of A Volcano Within Us, We Will Compensate By Urging Restraint. By That Same Token, Someone Who Bore A Glacier Within Them Might Urge Passionate Abandon. The Danger Is, As Bergman Points Out, That A Glacial Personality In Need Of Passionate Abandon May Read Stravinsky And Apply Restraint Instead.

There Are Two Kinds Of Filmmaking: Hitchcock's (the Film Is Complete In The Director's Mind) And Coppola's (which Thrives On Process). For Hitchcock, Any Variation From The Complete Internal Idea Is Seen As A Defect. The Perfection Already Exists. Coppola's Approach Is To Harvest The Random Elements That The Process Throws Up, Things That Were Not In His Mind When He Began.

Looking At A First Assembly Is Kind Of Like Looking At An Overgrown Garden. You Can't Just Wade In With A Weed Whacker; You Don't Yet Know Where The Stems Of The Flowers Are.

You Can Always Make A Film Somehow. You Can Beg, Borrow, Steal The Equipment, Use Credit Cards, Use Your Friends' Goodwill, Wheedle Your Way Into This Or That Situation. The Real Problem Is, How Do You Get People To See It Once It Is Made?