Director’s Panel

Review by Tim Lopez. Viewed at Santa Barbara Film Festival 2011.

The Director’s Panel this year at SBIFF offered a variety of very talented directors including Darron Aronofsky, David O’Russel, Tom Hooper, Debra Granik. Lee Unrick, and Charles Fergusson. The Directors Panel is one of the most popular panels at the SBIFF, if not the favorite, as was seen by the large turnout. This years panel was particularly interesting as it welcomed a list of directors who worked on films with lower budgets. By Hollywood’s standards all of the film were relatively low in budget, with the exception of course being Lee Unrick of Toy Story 3. So it didn’t take long for Moderator Peter Bart to dig in to the subject. He asked the director’s if their films would have been better with more time/money.

This was a question to which several of the directors were happy and all to quick to tackle. Debra Granik, director of Writer’s Bone, said that her budget of just under two million dollars was part of the reason her film worked so well. As I had heard from Alex Madigan at the Producers Panel, Winter’s Bone was filmed on location and therefore prevented the crew from being too big. “…We needed to be very quiet when we filmed,” said Debra who went on to say “I don’t think it would have made a better film.” Tom Hooper, director of The King’s Speech agreed with Debra. Hooper proclaimed that “The most valuable thing you is your freedom,” and went on to say “I will always work for a less budget to have that freedom.” The question of budget was answered by each of the directors including Unrick who pointed out that Toy Story 3 took four years to create and therefore required a larger budget.

The Lobero Theatre got a little uneasy when Charles Ferguson commented on President Obama’s tenure as president. Ferguson denounced the president calling his administration a “tragic disappointment.” In a short, calm rant, Ferguson let Santa Barbara know how he really feels about our president and the direction his administration is taking the country. Bart eased any tension by diverting back to the conversation of budget by joking that Obama “might have had some casting problems” and that Ferguson should get an Oscar for “the most depressing movie of the year.”

Of all the directors I think Darren Aronofsky’s name probably sparked the most interest. Aronofsky, who received a Best Director nomination from the Academy for Black Swan, was asked by Bart about his aggressive and precise filmmaking. He responded to rumors that his tedious filmmaking often pushes actors; “I don’t really push them, I kind of remind them why they started acting.” And when the conversation switched to working with actors, Tom Hooper, director of The King’s Speech, couldn’t deny that he had the benefit of working with two of the greatest performers in cinema.

Hooper went on to talk about the brilliance of both Colin Firth and Geoffrey Rush, particularly Rush’s preperation for his role as Lionel Logue; a role that he flew out weeks ahead of schedule just to practice for. All of the directors made it a point to praise their actors. O’Russell pointed out the fact that shooting on location with Christian Bale and Mark Wahlberg was not easy when hundreds of people gathered to get a glimpse of them.

Conversation shifted back and forth as all the panels do with Peter Bart doing an excellent job as narrator. The mood in the Lobero was relaxed and the panel itself was insightful and entertaining. It was an eccentric group of directors and made for an enjoyable 90 minutes.