Paul Greengrass
Paul Greengrass
Paul Greengrassis an English film director, film producer, screenwriter and former journalist. He specialises in dramatisations of real-life events and is known for his signature use of hand-held cameras. His early film Bloody Sunday won the Golden Bear at 52nd Berlin International Film Festival. Other films he has directed include three in the Bourne action/thriller series: The Bourne Supremacy, The Bourne Ultimatum, and Jason Bourne; United 93, for which he won the BAFTA Award for Best Director, and received an...
ProfessionDirector
Date of Birth13 August 1955
amongst band controls drawn final flying group haunts image innocents machine physical religious struggle suicidal
That final image haunts me -- a physical struggle for the controls of a gasoline-fueled 21st-Century flying machine between a band of suicidal religious fanatics and a group of innocents drawn from amongst us all. It's really, in a way, the struggle for our world today.
discussion provoke
If in this film, it can provoke a little more discussion about where we've come from on 9/11 and where we're going to. Then I'll be proud.
burned memory
It is not acting. The memory is so burned into his mind.
debate filmmakers great join process
There is a great debate going on on where we are going in the post-9/11 world. This is part of the process of filmmakers saying, 'We would like to join that conversation'.
achievement believe capture essential expect measure ordinary people stars
We expect our movie stars to do extraordinary things, because they're iconic. But to capture the measure of achievement of those people on that airplane, it was essential to believe they were as ordinary as you or I.
authentic change confront courage dealing draw figure films fresh people portrait provides question sit stage trying united wherever wisdom wounded
Films don't change the world, but they can make people talk. And they can make you look at the world with fresh eyes. This movie provides a credible, authentic portrait of that day, and it allows us to draw some wisdom from it. Wherever you sit politically, we are all in that same stage of being wounded and trying to figure what to do next. Those people on United 93 had the courage to confront what we're all dealing with. The question is, do we?
course
Is it word-for-word the same? No, of course it's not.
approve saw
They all saw it, and they all approve of it.
bring inspiring people respect subject
Some people will not want to see the film. People find the subject too hard. I respect that. Remembering is painful. But it can be inspiring and it can bring wisdom.
confidence details inner shows sort
Sometimes, those sort of details are not what shows up on screen. It's about what it does to the inner confidence of the actor.
bring humbling necessary
It's humbling to bring this film to New York. It's humbling and necessary and appropriate.
command control faced inside military people pressures understand
I wanted to make it feel real, like you were there, so you would understand the pressures people faced inside the air-traffic control rooms, inside the military command center, inside that airplane.
jobs journey skills
Acting is many things. Acting is playing lines, of course, but it's much more profound than that. Acting is truth-telling, and trying to find the truth in a human situation, which will be sketched out by a screenwriter with all the skill that a screenwriter can do; but in the end, that's just the map of the journey. The actor's job is to divine and embody the truth, and find it.
challenges fundamentals faces
That's one of the central challenges we face - how to stay true to events and compress the fundamentals.