Interview with Stephen Frears
What role has mentoring played in your life up until now?
I often teach at the National Film School of England… as a way of avoiding making films. I get slightly bored with myself. Or I get bored with making films. So I stop and teach. You look at a lot of classic films. You deal with people who really don't know anything. And it makes you articulate. Most important of all, young people teach you a lot and keep you alive in the best possible sense. I never know if I do as much for them as they do for me.
Were there any cultural gaps to be bridged between yourself and Josué Méndez?
There were things in it I didn't understand, having to do with ethnicity. To me, he clearly understood his subject, but of course he has to make it clear. It will require very skilful handling.
What advice do you have about drawing great performances from actors?
Wait until they get it right. You can hear it. You can feel the speed of it. And the musicality. You watch the actors slowly working it out. You have to wait until they're ready.
What keeps you making film after film, year after year?
People ask me to do things that interest me. Before Mrs Henderson Presents, I had never made a film that was all song and dance. At my age to be offered new challenges. It's fantastic!
American cinema can be very formulised. Screen-writing classes often involve teaching writers to make certain kinds of events happen at a certain time. What do you think of that?
It sounds idiotic.
You've admitted that you don't necessarily have a comprehensive knowledge of film-making. What do you tell young directors about this?
I always worked with very clever people. For a long time I was the youngest person on the set. The people around Josué are very good. If he’s smart he’ll listen to them. I remember making a television film in the 70s. I shot a scene and it wasn't very interesting. And I said to the cameraman: “Why isn't this interesting?” And he said: “You shot exactly the same scene last week.”