john sayles, hollywood, calif. 11.3.07
Written on November 28, 2007
this was an odd sort of press junket. well, all press junkets are kind of odd, unnatural affairs, but this one was particularly odd as nobody really seemed to know about it. the hotel didn’t seem to know about it, and the only other media person there was a writer for some film technology blog whose name escapes me. this interview was strange in that it consisted of the writer and john sayles talking to each other on their cell phones while both sitting on a couch together. recording technology has come a long way. the result of this was that i had to set up my lights in absolute silence so it wouldn’t be recorded by the cell phones. it felt like very awkward ninja lighting.
this is one of the first frames, and i just kind of like that sayles looks a little forlorn in it. it’s a really great expression. i’m not sure if it’s indicative of how he really is, but i sure as hell feel the way he looks most days. just not quite as cool. and my ears are smaller.
sayles and i got to talking about film and aspect ratios. i, of course, complaining about the 2:3 rectangle of digital SLRs and he complaining about how he sometimes doesn’t like the widescreen format much. then he let me in on a little secret:
“you know what i do when a wide shot just isn’t working for me?”
”what?”
“i just stick somebody in the foreground, then i like it better. problem solved.”
other than that, we talked mostly about blues. oh, and for the unaware, john sayles is a director/writer/actor. go watch his movies. then go run three miles, which is what he did right after this shoot. needless to say, i did not.
