00:00Hi Sam. Hello. Just to your right. Congratulations. Oh, hi. You said in your speech that 1917 is a very
00:07specific theatrical experience and I think it's incredible to see what Universal's put behind it. But the truth is there
00:13are one of two, maybe three studios left that will take a risk on property like this that's not franchise
00:18driven. Are you optimistic about the future of theatrical and what do you think need to be taken to preserve
00:25it?
00:27Oh gosh. You start with easy questions then. I think that, I am optimistic actually, but I think it's in
00:35the hands of the filmmakers more than anything else. I think it's up to filmmakers to make films that need
00:40to be seen on a big screen and make an audience feel like if they don't see on a big
00:44screen they're going to miss out.
00:46And I think that's the big challenge. I think when I was starting out, you know, I was first at
00:51the Golden Globes 20 years ago. You can make a movie like American Beauty or some of the movies I've
00:54made since like Revolutionary Road or Away We Go and you would have a guaranteed theatrical release.
01:01And I think that is no longer the case. However, you've got an incredible platform for those movies to be
01:07seen by millions of people on television screens and big and wonderful television screens and I don't think as the
01:12director of those movies that I would have been that disappointed if Away We Go had just been seen, you
01:18know, for a two week window theatrically and then on TVs.
01:21But I think what's important is that people, filmmakers are ambitious and they use the tools of cinema. They use
01:28surround sound and, you know, IMAX and every fibre of their being to try and make big stories for big
01:37screens.
01:51Hi, congratulations. Sam, you founded the Donmar Warehouse when you were still in your 20s, which is remarkable.
01:59So I guess what, being at this point now, what would you tell that self? And what is something that
02:07you would like to hold on to from the person you were at that age?
02:12Well, I would tell myself you're doing the right thing by running a small theatre. I felt that was the
02:17making of me. You know, I loved that place and I felt it gave me an enormous amount, more than
02:22I gave it in a way.
02:23It gave me a sense of community, a sense of, you know, building something that's not just one movie or
02:30one production after another, but something bigger.
02:33And I think that if there's something that I'd love to be able to do again in my life is
02:38to do something like that.
02:41Hey there, over here. Can you tell us a little bit more about Steven Spielberg's involvement in the film? Do
02:46you think it could have been made without Amblin Entertainment?
02:48No, it couldn't have been made without Amblin or Universal. I mean, Steven, the first time I met Steven Spielberg,
02:55I was 33 years old.
02:57I'd never made a movie. I walked into the room with him and he treated me like an equal. And
03:01he's treated me like an equal every day since.
03:03And so when you send a script like this out and somebody like Steven says, this is incredible, I love
03:09this, I want to make it, you know, it's thrilling.
03:12You know, he manages to be both a huge movie fan and a genius at the same time, which is
03:19an almost impossible balancing act.
03:21He supports you without ever getting in your way. And, you know, he gave this movie the best thing, which
03:28was enthusiasm from the word go.
03:29And he passed that enthusiasm on to the people beneath him at Amblin, to Jeb Brody, who was brilliant, and
03:36to everyone at Universal who are incredibly classy, Donna Langley, Ron Meyer, and all the people there.
03:41But it comes from the top. And so I have a huge amount to be grateful to him for.
03:49Okay, for George and Dean, the movie was shot very specifically. What was the challenge for you guys in, you
03:59know, giving your performance?
04:02I mean, you know, first off, I mean, we had to, we started rehearsals six months before we started shooting.
04:09And as an actor, that's, you know, you don't get to rehearse that much. You just sort of step on
04:13set and do your job and that's it.
04:14Whereas this, we really got to, you know, dig our teeth into it, even before we started shooting.
04:20Yeah, the rehearsals.
04:23I think, yeah, the biggest challenge was probably, at the same time, the best lesson in terms of this is
04:28the most collaborative experience that I've ever had on a project.
04:32And it was a proper team effort. And that kind of more three-dimensional awareness that was needed in the
04:38making of this film and like the proper shared experience that it was, was, you know,
04:42I guess, at first the, the, the challenge, but also the best thing about it.
04:55Hi, and just a really fun question. How are you guys celebrating?
05:01Christy, come on.
05:02Go on, Christy.
05:04With much alcohol and perhaps dancing.
05:10Yeah.
05:16To the two actors, how much has this changed your life and your vision of what your future could be,
05:29not just in success, but what you demand from an artistic endeavor?
05:37Both of you.
05:40I think, well, for me personally, the, the, I think what the story's about and the experience of doing it
05:45is when, when an experience that is, is massive and bigger than yourself, it stretches you.
05:50It also teaches you what you come back to. And so in terms of like, I think, you know, the
05:55work that we do is an extension of the life that we have.
05:57And, and it's, for me, it's kind of, it's made it clear where I root myself and like, and, and
06:02family and basically, and sort of made it clear where, where I come back to.
06:06And that's by the same token where I sort of, like the seed that grow, everything grows from.
06:11So, so yeah, that, that's become clear to me.
06:18No, no, we did. We, we had our mind on the task, but it was an amazing art department that
06:22dug the trenches. We can't claim credit for that.
06:24It's nice to be clean.
06:27And you?
06:29Yeah.
06:31I've learned a lot just about being a human.
06:33And I know that sounds weird, but you know, like when you compare our lives to how we live it
06:37now, compared to what their men did, you know, a hundred years ago, we have it a million times easier.
06:44And, you know, I'm, I'm just bad to be up here on stage with such amazing people.
06:49And I'm, you know, it's an amazing night.
06:57Definitely. Definitely. I want to, I want to write a script as well.
07:00Like after seeing, you know, Sam and Christy, that's inspired me.
07:03And that's, that's something that I didn't want to do before this.
07:05And now I do. So hopefully.
07:07Yeah.
07:09Thank you very much.
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