“I’m always shocked when an actor says they want to work with me,” filmmaker James Gray told a Sunday press conference at the79th editionof theLocarno Film Festival. Shocked, or surprised, was also the reaction in the room. After all, the U.S. auteur is in town to receive the Career Leopard honor at the Swiss festival.
“Actors dictate the style of the film much more than I think is talked about,” Gray also shared when asked about how he works with performers. “I just try to make sure that they are totally comfortable to be excellent. I have no acting talent. I’m not a good director of actors. It is all about how good they are and letting them have the freedom to be themselves in the scene and to listen to each other.”
Does he write films with specific actors in mind? “I try to write the movie not with actors in mind because you’re always going to be disappointed,” Gray offered. “You write it for some actor, and then you find out that guy is not available for two years, and then they can’t do it. And then, instead of the 6’2″ guy, you have to cast the 5’1″ guy and rethink it. So I’ve learned never to do that.”
Asked about Italian and other film history, Gray on Sunday told the press: “If I had to pick cinema 1945 to 1980, I would say Italian cinema is everything to me, and I’m not just saying this to play for your sense of self, but it’s absolutely true. The number of Italian directors in that period is an ocean of brilliance – it’s unparalleled.”
And the filmmaker shared: “To me, movies are the most beautiful art form because it’s the closest thing we have to a dream.”
That also affects how he approaches his own cinematic creations. “I try to show you a version of my own dream, my intimacy,” Gray explained. “It’s why people say, ‘I hate that movie’ or ‘I love that movie.’ … That’s why when somebody talks behind you in the movie theater, you want to kill them. It’s something interrupting your dream.”