Gore Verbinski: The Other Gore

Q: So if you were doing something with Brad, you'd do more takes to get the right one, as opposed to Julia?

A: Brad's very ambitious. He comes to the set with an idea of what he wants to do, and while storyboarding can be productive, you've got to be prepared to throw it in the trash because he shows up and says, I don't want to sit in that chair. Suddenly, you're saying, OK, now we've got to do this hand-held. That shot you thought of last night, where you're going to come through the window and focus on him in a chair? Chuck it. He might end up back in the chair, but you try it his way, respect his process.

Q: Director Roger Michell told Movieline that while he was making Notting Hill, he was impressed that when Julia got in front of the camera, she'd do something that just made his jaw drop, reminding him why she was the biggest female star in the world. When did you first notice that?

A: Day one, and then it continued. The first day, we had a scene where we locked her in the trunk of a car. When the trunk was opened, she had to be in a state. I don't know what had happened in this woman's life, but she conjured up some wicked voodoo. That trunk opened and it was game time.

Q: You shot The Mexican in a remote location in Mexico. Was that helpful with a cast that usually gets mobbed by fans and tabloids?

A: It helped de-emphasize the star factor. We were in the middle of a Mexican desert and there were only two hotels in the whole town, so they stayed in peoples houses and ended up knowing the person who makes the tortillas. It was surreal. We tried to bring out the juxtaposition of coming from the artificial landscape of Las Vegas, where the story begins, to this romantic, harsh landscape. Brad was there during preproduction, so when he first arrived, we walked around the town and went into the local bar, drank tequila, hung out, saw people on the street. Eventually, the movie started to draw attention and security tightened, but Brad got a flavor of the town a little more by having the chance to take hikes in the desert and absorb the scenery. Julia came for a shorter period while we were already shooting, at a time when we were confined.

Q: How was the chemistry between Julia and Brad?

A: At the beginning we did a read-through on the script and when you see them in the room together, you just know. Julia and Brad really do look like they belong together. There's a familiarity between them. They did a lot of stuff together, during preproduction, played music for each other, saying, "This should be our song." Both of them have enough real-life relationship history to draw upon--and getting them talking about that history was fun. Now that we're previewing the movie, people are responding to how real their relationship feels, even though they're in so few scenes together. They've got great rhythm.

Q: The Mexican is just your second film. With respect to your first film, Mouse Hunt, is it true that Steven Spielberg himself had seen your commercial work and championed you? A: Basically. I'd written and directed a short film, and I had a commercial reel. They called me. That's a pretty great phone call.

Q: Did you spark immediately to Mouse Hunt?

A: I said I'd make it, but only if it had a particular tone. I wasn't a big fan of Home Alone. It wasn't black enough.

Q: What was the biggest thing you learned by making your debut on a high-concept project?

A: The biggest education came after I'd convinced myself I was telling a story about family, about brothers, about strength, a story that happened to have a mouse in it. The lesson was: No, you're making a mouse movie.

Q: When did you come to that stark realization?

A: During the preview process. Previewing your first movie is like showing it to 500 people you hated in high school. The crowd goes nuts because somebody hits someone on the head with a frying pan. But you could hear a pin drop during a Chris Walken speech that's the funniest thing I've ever heard in my life. I wanted to get up and lecture the audience for 30 minutes on what is funny. But I can't, and that's my education. You just realize, OK, you've made a mouse movie.

Q: I understand you tried to give Walken a scene comparable to his Pulp Fiction wristwatch speech.

A: Talk about funny. When I met Chris, he'd say, "I've been thinking a lot about what it'd be like to be a mouse," and he was serious. He'd made a psychic connection and walked around wardrobe for two weeks thinking about this. We rewrote just for Chris when he came in. And he made the most incredible speech. It was an amazing scene--and it got cut out of the movie after the previewing.

Q: Your star was Nathan Lane, an accomplished stage actor. Did he take a while to get used to you, given you'd never done a feature before?

A: Nathan made me work for it. He didn't show any cards. Well, sometimes he did. When we were doing take nine of a scene where he was underwater, he'd say, "What do you think this is, Citizen Kane? This is Mouse Hunt!" He'd bash me in front of the crew and extras. It was kind of funny.

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