James Mangold
James Mangold
James Mangoldis an American film and television director, screenwriter and producer. Films he has directed include Walk the Line, which he also co-wrote, The Wolverine, Cop Land, Girl, Interrupted, Knight and Day, and the 2007 remake 3:10 to Yuma. He also produced and directed pilots for the television series Men in TreesNYC 22and Vegas...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionDirector
Date of Birth16 December 1963
CityNew York City, NY
CountryUnited States of America
There's a level where the themes of a film are very relevant to me and also the idea of finding out how relevant one genre is to another. I think that westerns and samurai films and superhero films have a lot in common. It's just that the scale of the visuals in tentpole films can sometimes overwhelm the drama.
I love comic books. Since I was a kid, I've collected them.
You see the assets of your actors and you see their strengths and you try to play into them. It's like I feel part of my job is as a coach. I'm putting a team on the field and you want to formulate how to make the best game out of these players.
The one aspect I do love about digital is I love to push performance and I love to roll and roll and keep doing takes in a single performance.
Having the kind of infinite loop of what a digital stream is - you can shoot for a long time without cutting - allows me to sometimes perform really exciting things.
My own sense and taste in 3D films has been I don't really like it when it feels like it's a gimmick and it's coming at me, it's flying at me.
The funny thing about me is I move from genre to genre, but I essentially shoot all the movies the same way.
Filmmakers get into trouble when they're watching too many DVDs and quoting all the time.
Just because your leg might heal doesn't mean it doesn't feel broken. It doesn't mean that a car hitting your body doesn't hurt like the same it would hurt if a car hit your body.
The idea of devoting two years of my life to making a corporate product that looks and smells and tastes like a lot of other things out there with just a different trademark character is a bore.
What I'm really focused on is the majesty of the best films I see are films that don't panhandle for an extra laugh later, but actually deliver the goods. And when the screen goes black, you go, Yes.
We're all going to hell for the songs we sing.