We should all relax about life because you don’t have a clue as to what’s really going on.
BARRY SONNENFELDWe should all relax about life because you don’t have a clue as to what’s really going on.
BARRY SONNENFELDThey want to let the audience figure things out and let the reaction shot get the laugh.
BARRY SONNENFELDI’m an unusual director in that my cut is usually shorter then the final released film. I like short films.
BARRY SONNENFELDThe weird thing is that I hate to fly, and the quote that I give people is that every time I get off a plane, I view it as a failed suicide attempt.
BARRY SONNENFELDWhen you’re done shooting, the movie that you’re going to release when you’re done shooting is as bad as it will ever be.
BARRY SONNENFELDThere is something about being a director where, for me personally, I get to . . . it’s the closest I’ll ever come to being able to be a stand up.
BARRY SONNENFELDGrowing up, my fascination was all things dinosaur, and as an adult, I’ve had some success making films about aliens, so this is a dream come true.
BARRY SONNENFELDWhen I move from being a cameraman to being a director I looked at a lot of other cameramen who tried to make the move. And in each case they moved up their camera operator to be the DP, which really meant they didn’t want to give up being the DP, and really wanted to do both.
BARRY SONNENFELDThese movies are like my kids. I just love them to death. Some of them go to Harvard and some of them can barely graduate high school.
BARRY SONNENFELDAnd then through editing, and finishing the effects and adding music, you get to make the movie better again. So I’m really hard on myself and on the movie.
BARRY SONNENFELDThe first cut I do is usually between five and 10 minutes shorter then the cut that we release.
BARRY SONNENFELDAnything I think isn’t working or might not work, I don’t even put it in the director’s cut. And usually it’s the studio suggesting I put stuff back in, as opposed to studios saying, “You got to lose 40 minutes,” they are always saying, “You’ve got to gain five minutes.”
BARRY SONNENFELDIt always happens at the end that you’re always under the gun because of various schedules and all that.
BARRY SONNENFELDMichael Jackson wanted to be in Men in Black II. He told me he had seen the first Men in Black in Paris and had stayed behind and sat there and wept.
BARRY SONNENFELDI’m not the one or two take guy, but I’m not the 20, 30, 50, 70 take guy either. If I do a bunch of takes, like more than five or six, it’s usually for some technical reasons.
BARRY SONNENFELDI haven’t read a review of one of my films for the best part of 10 years.
BARRY SONNENFELD