As a director, you're a bit of a dictator. But I feel that you're a better director if you're open to other people's ideas. It means that it's tougher: you have to be in a choosing process; you have to put the ego aside. As long as everybody's aiming in the same direction... I'm open to my main partners in the film crew.
Interpretation
A good director balances authority with openness to others' ideas for a successful collaboration.
Denis Villeneuve emphasizes the importance of leadership in directing, suggesting that while a director holds significant control over a film, true effectiveness comes from being receptive to the ideas of others. This requires humility and a willingness to collaborate, as long as everyone shares a common vision for the project, leading to a richer creative process and ultimately a better film.
In practice
In a film production workshop discussing effective directing styles.
I think I'm attracted to subjects that I'm afraid of. It's a way to approach things I am afraid of, things that bring fear in my heart, and try to understand them, try to deal with them. It's like demons. I try to approach it and understand it... I'm just visiting fears.
Cinema is an art form that is designed to go across borders. And as a filmmaker, the only way I can direct a movie is when I feel close to my culture.
I've been dreaming to do sci-fi since I was 10 years old, and I said 'no' to a lot of sequels - I couldn't say 'no' to 'Blade Runner.'
If you don't deal with your shadows, you are condemned to repeat the same mistake over and over, as a human being or as a society.
'Sicario' is about how the Western world reacts toward problems outside of its borders. Should we become monsters in order to fight the monsters? It's not about the cartels. The movie could have been set in Africa or the Middle East.
If you're a leader, people's lives should be better because of the influence you've had along the way.
The most common source of mistakes in management decisions is the emphasis on finding the right answer rather than the right question.
If you can't describe your strategy in twenty minutes, simply and in plain language, you haven't got a plan. 'But,' people may say, 'I've got a complex strategy. It can't be reduced to a page.' That's nonsense. That's not a complex strategy. It's a complex thought about the strategy.
The era of using people as production tools is coming to an end. Participation is infinitely more complex to practice than conventional corporate unilateralism, just as democracy is much more cumbersome than dictatorship. But there will be few companies that can afford to ignore either of them.
We cannot enter into alliance with neighbouring princes until we are acquainted with their designs. We are not fit to lead an army on the march unless we are familiar with the face of the country - its mountains and forests, its pitfalls and precipices, its marshes and swamps. We shall be unable to turn natural advantages to account unless we make use of local guides.
Coaches have to watch for what they don't want to see and listen to what they don't want to hear.
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