Local News
Oscar-Winning Director Weighs In on His Latest Picture
by Kam Williams
Special to The Skanner News
B
orn in Chicago on May 14, 1951, Bob Zemeckis won
an Academy Award for Best Director for the hugely
successful “Forrest Gump.” The film’s numerous
honors also included Oscars for Best Actor (Tom Hanks)
and Best Picture. The Library of Congress recently selected
the film to join the esteemed National Film Registry.
Zemeckis re-teamed with Hanks on the contemporary
drama “Cast Away,” the filming of which was split into two
sections, book-ending production on What Lies Beneath.
Earlier in his career, Zemeckis co-wrote and directed “Back
to the Future,” which was the top-grossing release of 1985,
and for which Zemeckis landed an Oscar nomination for
Best Original Screenplay.
He then went on to helm “Back to
the Future, Part II and Part III,” com-
pleting one of the most successful
film trilogies ever. In addition, he
directed and produced “Contact,”
starring Jodie Foster, based on the
best-selling novel by Carl Sagan; and
the macabre comedy hit “Death
Becomes Her,” starring Meryl Streep,
Goldie Hawn and Bruce Willis.
He also wrote and directed the box
office smash “Who Framed Roger
Rabbit?,” cleverly blending live
action and animation. And he directed
the action-adventure hit “Romancing
the Stone,” pairing Michael Douglas
and Kathleen Turner.
In March 2001, the USC School of
Cinema-Television celebrated the opening of the Robert
Zemeckis Center for Digital Arts. This state-of-the-art facil-
ity is the country’s first fully-digital training center, and
houses the latest in non-linear production and post-produc-
tion equipment as well as stages, a 50-seat screening room
and a USC student-run television station, Trojan Vision.
Here, he talks about his latest film, Flight, a combination
special f/x and legal thriller starring Denzel Washington,
Don Cheadle, John Goodman and Melissa Leo.
Kam Williams: Hi Bob, thanks so much for the interview.
Bob Zemeckis: You bet.
KW: I’m honored to have this opportunity to speak with
you. I loved the film and found it fascinating. I told my
readers I’d be speaking with you, so I’ll be mixing my ques-
tions in with theirs. What interested you in making Flight?
BZ: I thought it was a wonderful, beautifully-written
screenplay with some really interesting, complex charac-
ters, including Denzel’s, obviously. I found it to be very
bold and very courageous.
KW: Did your being a pilot play into your decision to
make it?
BZ: No, not at all. But I would think that just being a pilot
was helpful in creating a sense of realism to the incident on
the airplane.
KW: When I saw the film, I sat next to a pilot friend who
explained to me that everything that was going when the
plane lost its hydraulics was technically accurate. That pre-
vented me from being at all skeptical.
BZ: Well, that’s good.
KW: Larry Greenberg asks: What did you do as a director
to show Whip Whitaker's [Denzel Washington’s character]
inner struggle to the audience?
BZ: Most of the credit for that has to go to Denzel. He
really has an amazing talent, and was able to evoke the
inner pain that the character was dealing with on a constant
basis. I think his entire performance is sort of shrouded in
the internal misery that Whip was feeling.
KW: Harriet Pakula-Teweles asks:
How does a director who is truly
gifted in the use of special f/x pre-
vent them from overwhelming the
performances of a great actor like
Denzel?
BZ: Well, I use special f/x in exact-
ly the same way that I use a camera.
They’re simply an extension of the
camera, and they’re there just to
complement what the actors are
doing?
KW: How do you balance story-
line versus special f/x?
BZ: Like I said, the special f/x are
there to serve the story. Just like the
camera is there to serve the story,
and the cast is there to serve the
story. I think that’s the only way that I approach it.
KW: Editor/Legist Patricia Turnier asks: What message
do you think people will take away from Flight?
BZ: I don’t like to use that word “message.” My feeling
is, if you want to send a message, you should Twitter. I
think the movie is a very human story that everyone can
identify with on some level and that, at the end of the day,
is a very hopeful story.
KW: Patricia also says: I believe that the word “can't”
should not be addressed to people, especially children,
when they share their dreams with the world. They have all
their lives ahead of them and nobody can predict their des-
tiny. I am sure that in the past you met many naysayers
while you wanted to be involved in the movie industry.
What is the best advice you can give to aspiring filmmak-
ers?
BZ: Yeah, I think the best advice is to get a video camera
and just start making movies, little movies… youtube
videos… and write. We’re in desperate need of good
screenplays.
Yeah, I think the best
advice is to get a
video camera and just
start making movies,
little movies… youtube
videos… and write.
We’re in desperate
need of good
screenplays.
C
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Bob Zemeckis
KW: Attorney Bernadette Beekman asks: How did you
achieve that breathtaking effect of a plane flying upside-
down?
BZ: It’s all digital.
KW: Bernadette would also like to know: What is your
favorite charity?
BZ: Gee, I have a lot of them.
KW: Documentary filmmaker Kevin Williams asks: Do
you feel any pressure to measure up to your ever increas-
ingly-impressive body of work every time you make a
movie?
BZ: I really can’t worry about that sort of thing. All I can
do is just keep doing what I’ve been doing, which is to do
movies I’m attracted to. If the screenplay is an interesting
story, just go for it.
KW: Kevin has another question: What film most inspired
you to become a director?
BZ: Bonnie and Clyde. I saw it when I was in high school.
I was being moved emotionally, and I thought, “Well, this is
pretty powerful stuff.” And I wanted to find out more about
what it was a director actually did. That sort of put me on
the path.
See ZEMECKIS on page 8
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