Gus Van Sant on Restless, Test-Screening Nightmares and Why He Went Out For Breaking Dawn

I wanted to ask you about Harris Savides, who I think might be my favorite living cinematographer, and who's someone whom you've worked with numerous times. Why is that? What is it about him that appeals to you and your style?

He's funny! He's fun to be with. He's talented. He's methodical. I think that he cares about whether the scene is reading. That's really good. He's kind of like a director in a way. He does direct commercials, but I think he'd be a good director if there wasn't as much... There's an annoying part of being a director, where you need to make elements work that aren't... He doesn't like it when it's not about the work. Like if you cast a superstar in your movie, and all of the sudden they can't work next Friday or next Monday or the following Friday because they're flying to Africa to do the fundraiser for the "End Hunger" campaign. Sometimes your film becomes about that, and not about being able to make a film. He doesn't really like that part of it, and so it's usually not his job. It's the director's job, or the producer's job.

That's kind of an extreme example. But when it's just about the work, he's a good collaborator for me because he can tell when a scene's working. I usually look at him and go, "What do you think?" And he'll go, [slowly shakes head, whispering] "No. Something's wrong." And so I go, "OK, we need to change it." And we change it. So he directs me.

How do you deal with the bullshit? What differentiates your sensibilities enough to allow you to direct movies?

Well, he controls his department, and at this point, he's made this really elaborate department. One of the AC's will show up with Gummi Bears at 11:30 in the morning, because it's time. Or maybe not Gummi Bears. Some other, really exotic candy. For Harris, really. I get offered, too, but it's more like for Harris himself. Or you can get a really good cappuccino from his camera department. It's like he's developed it into this machine that can do all these different things, and part of it is that, "Hey, are you feeling a little tired? Need an espresso?" They have an espresso maker on the truck. They're also taking color stills of the scenes so they can print it out and send it with the reel of film so that the color timer can time it according to the photo that Harris approved. So that's an operation that's going on at the same time we're shooting: You get to see your lighting printed out. It's almost like a video screen when you're shooting digital, but so far we haven't shot digital.

My department is to get actors to do stuff. It's a much less-disciplined department. It doesn't have the focus and discipline of his. He's working every day; he also has people he's working with who have inspired him to do that. Like working with Ridley Scott -- this very intense, finely honed machine that has all these... Well, I imagine, anyway. I haven't actually seen Ridley Scott work. But Harris has influences. I don't really get those influences, because I don't get to work on anyone else's set. So I'm just this undisciplined guy working with these actors.

So I have to ask: Were you really in the running last year to direct Breaking Dawn?

I think I was in the running, yeah. But I didn't make it.

Did you want to make it?

Yeah! Yeah. I tried. I went into a meeting.

What interested you about it?

Because it was this really big pop extravaganza. Then I thought it would be interesting to try and go in there and direct one.

Because of the environment and culture around it?

Yeah.

Creatively, though, what's the upside?

I think you could probably make it interesting. But I'm not sure, if I'd done it, what it would look like. It might have become similar to the others. I'm sure it would have in some ways.

What was your impression of those other films, and what did you think you'd bring to Twilight that would elevate it?

Well, they were really different, those films. I think I saw all three. The first one was Catherine Hardwicke; it was very... malleable. It had all these different things about it. But then the second one was different. And then I saw three, and that was different. So I realized that in the style you directed it, you could make it into something that was your own.

What about the actors? You have a history of developing great creative relationships with younger actors. What do you think you might have brought to Robert Pattinson or Kristen Stewart or Taylor Lautner?

I don't know. I don't know.

Did that enter your thinking along the way?

Well, I knew that I had to work with them, because they were the stars. So... I was looking forward to that part.

[Top photo: Getty Images]

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