When I’m shooting, really the audience I’m thinking the hardest about is that first test screening audience who I want to like the film and that first opening weekend audience.
To his credit John Wayne was open about it, he even portrayed a member of the House UnAmerican Activities Committee in a film called ‘Big Jim McClain.’
The commentary track became a lot like the movie and there are some funny, long, awkward pauses that you can tell we’re just trying to find stuff to say. None of us had gotten to really talk about the movie until that moment and they were in New York and we were in L.A.
There’s people who actually have a whole science devoted to what makes a sticky meme and that idea of that question of why some ideas about how civilizations work catch on and others don’t.
Sometimes I would like the opportunity to do character-driven comedy and that’s really what I was trying to do in Meet The Parents. I think in a way this is a more old fashioned type of comedy.
This is a movie version of the play [All the Way]and when Bryan [Cranston] was on stage the bigness of the man was played to the back of the house. When we turned the cameras on that, it changed a bit with close-ups, but we got just as much power in that beautiful intimacy.
When Dalton Trumbo and his friends joined the Communist Party it was 1943, and Russia was our ally in World War II. This was connected to a very popular movement of artists and intellectuals at that time towards anti fascism, and an alliance with the union movement.
I really enjoy the consolation when I’m having to cut loose stuff I love, of saying ‘Well, at least it will make it onto DVD.’ There’s a couple of scenes which I liked very much, but couldn’t fit them into the film that are on there.
For Bryan [Cranston ] to go back in time and become this larger-than-life and somewhat theatrical guy, who performed his ideas and rhetoric in public in a melodic and flashy way, was a bit of a risk.
But I always reassure them that as far as my contractual rights can go, I will protect them and make sure that they have approval over every bit of it so that they know I won’t show something that’s embarrassing.
I hope we’re all kind of influencing each other now to keep the quality up on those things. They seem to be getting better and better and better as there’s not only sort of a film geek audience, there’s also a general interest in the overall film consuming population.
It’s hard to imagine in this day and age the accent in Dalton Trumbo speaking voice, the Mid Atlantic mixture of an English and American dialect, so flowery and oratorical that it almost sounds theatrical. It would be uncool today, no one would ever speak that way.
John Wayne was never shy about that fervor, but because he was never overly zealous about his politics, and of course his status as a movie, he was embraced by both the right and the left.
I like to shoot a lot of choices. I like a lot of stuff – and so I push to go faster, to shrink the time between the takes so that the takes are what you’re spending all your time on.
![Jay Roach Quote - [Dalton] Trumbo himself was a terrible Communist.](https://minimalistquotes.com/images/dalton-trumbo-himself-was-a-terrible-communist.jpg)
![Jay Roach Quote - [ Dalton Trumbo] always said he fought so many fights, all seemingly different, but all about the concepts of fairness and justice.](https://minimalistquotes.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/dalton-trumbo-always-said-he-fought-so-many-fights-683x1024.jpg)
![Jay Roach Quote - [Lyndon Baines ] Johnson is a big and larger-than-life guy, we just tried to give him the dynamic range that he actually had.](https://minimalistquotes.com/images/lyndon-baines-johnson-is-a-big-and-larger-than-lif.jpg)
![Jay Roach Quote - That’s why we had Louis C.K. portray the harder line Communist, to accuse [Dalton] Trumbo of being a hypocrite.](https://minimalistquotes.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/thats-why-we-had-louis-c-k-portray-the-harder-line-683x1024.jpg)
![Jay Roach Quote - This is a movie version of the play [All the Way]and when Bryan [Cranston] was on stage the bigness of the man was played to the back of the house. When we turned the cameras on that, it changed a bit with close-ups, but we got just as much power in that beautiful intimacy.](https://minimalistquotes.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/this-is-a-movie-version-of-the-play-all-the-wayand-683x1024.jpg)
![Jay Roach Quote - Dalton Trumbo was constantly criticizing the membership [in the Communist Party], and was opposite to being a loyalist.](https://minimalistquotes.com/images/dalton-trumbo-was-constantly-criticizing-the-membe.jpg)
![Jay Roach Quote - When something so unjust as the black list happened, [Dalton Trumbo] would come to life in a certain way.](https://minimalistquotes.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/when-something-so-unjust-as-the-black-list-happene-683x1024.jpg)
![Jay Roach Quote - For Bryan [Cranston ] to go back in time and become this larger-than-life and somewhat theatrical guy, who performed his ideas and rhetoric in public in a melodic and flashy way, was a bit of a risk.](https://minimalistquotes.com/images/for-bryan-cranston-to-go-back-in-time-and-become-t.jpg)
![Jay Roach Quote - In his life, [Dalton] Trumbo uses wit and comedy to fight these very high-stakes battles.](https://minimalistquotes.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/in-his-life-dalton-trumbo-uses-wit-and-comedy-to-f-683x1024.jpg)
![Jay Roach Quote - Mini-Me was the pint sized clone that was the perpetuation of Dr. Evil’s own legacy [in Austin Powers]. That concept earned the sequel.](https://minimalistquotes.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/mini-me-was-the-pint-sized-clone-that-was-the-perp-683x1024.jpg)
