DIRECTIONS: Further Research Into Directing

https://filmmakermagazine.com/97615-heres-how-to-direct-catherine-hardwicke-style/

As I was researching Catherine Hardwicke for my Directions Research: Directors - Film blog post, I found part of a masterclass where Hardwicke shared her best directing tips. 

Go with the momentum.

Hardwicke said she is always juggling a handful of projects and once one of them starts to develop momentum, she goes with it.

With Miss You Already, Hardwick said, “The day I found out that Drew Barrymore signed on to the movie, I had just nine weeks of pre-production. When I landed in London at that point, I had Drew Barrymore and Toni Collette, no other actors and no locations, no line producer, no budget, no schedule, no nothing. It was like Death Race 2000.”

But since she had Collette and Barrymore onboard, there was no turning back.

“Sometimes having momentum is what gets your movie made. You start getting people excited about it. This is happening. ‘I’ve got this actor, this is when the weather is happening.’ You want to keep that momentum going or else it slows down and then it never gets made,” she explained.

Get your actors together before rehearsal.
For Miss You Already to work, it was essential that the audience believe Milly and Jess’ relationship. Hardwicke had the actresses spend time together in advance of rehearsals so they could form a genuine bond.

“Our whole goal as a director is to get actors together, to see how they react together and to see how their chemistry is,” Hardwicke explained. Once Jacqueline Bissett signed on to play Milly’s mother, Hardwicke got the two together in the same room to see if she believed them as mother and daughter. (She did).

“You’re evolving and you’re developing your concepts every time you have a chance to get the actors together,” she said.

Do your research.
With any project, but especially one that involves a medical condition such as breast cancer, it’s essential to get the details as accurate as possible. Not only does Collette’s character undergo chemotherapy during the film, but Barrymore’s character undergoes fertility treatments, gets pregnant and eventually gives birth. It was important to Hardwicke that the film portray these experiences realistically.

“Of course, we did a ton of research. We found real people who had gone through a very similar process [of breast cancer and chemotherapy],” said Hardwicke. “These kind of stories helped us visualize what kind of movie we’re going to make when you do real research.”

Hardwicke and Collette spent time with specialists making sure they got the details right.

Prepare in advance as much as possible.
“On the day of shooting if you sit there and change out a prop, you could spend an hour messing around to get a tool that the actor feels comfortable with, and it still could feel stupid. On a union film, [a day might cost] $100,000 . Vanilla Sky cost $250,000 a day. If you mess around for half a day, you’re an idiot.”

Anticipate problems ahead of time.
“You should try to work out the dumbest little things, it will save you time on the day,” she said. “Even if you’re not on a budget and you talk your friends into working for free, your friends are going to get burnt out if you’re not prepared.”

Create a master breakdown with a timeline for all of the characters.
Given that Milly is increasingly sick throughout the film and Jess is going through fertility treatments and then pregnancy, continuity was challenging — especially since, like most films, Miss You Already shot out of order.

Hardwicke created a master breakdown with a timeline that charted Milly’s treatments, Jess’ pregnancy, seasons changing, hairstyles, etc.

“You’ve got to get the continuity right or you check out of the movie,” she said, pointing out how the timeline “shows every detail of the seasons changing, how bruised is Milly supposed to be, how is her hair, emotionally, how is she supposed to be.”

She said she tried to “put weather signifiers [like leaves changing colors] subtly in the background so that you actually felt that time was passing.”

Consolidate locations.
“If you’re trying to write a low-budget, if you’re writing an indie film, please don’t write it in 120 locations,” said Hardwicke.

With Miss You Already, there were countless locations, but Hardwicke tried to consolidate by taking over a campus in London where they could turn rooms into anything they needed – from a hospital room to a wig shop with the right set decorations and props.

“We do every trick in the book to create the illusion that you’re in the right place,” she said.

Always be thinking.
“Every second as a director, you’ve got to be thinking ‘what can I do to make my movie better’?” Hardwicke told the enthralled audience.

Even when you’re not in production or on set, Hardwicke said you should be thinking like a director. “Every minute of your life as a director, you are learning and seeing and taking in images and ideas.”

I have studied these and will keep them in mind while I am filming.


Bernstein, P. (2016). Here’s How to Direct Catherine Hardwicke-Style.Available: https://filmmakermagazine.com/97615-heres-how-to-direct-catherine-hardwicke-style/. Last accessed 14th Feb 2017.