Talking about the fact that this is a racing movie, and you wanted to have a more grounded approach – you just said that you stay away from superhero movies because you like to be grounded.
Phedon Papamichael: No, just more inspired by real stories.
Right. But racing is one of the most hectic things out there, and one of the most dangerous things out there. When we see it in movies now, it’s usually just as chaotic. The camera flails all over the place. Though I haven’t seen the movie yet, from what I’ve read, you guys took a more grounded, a more static approach here. Why did you decide to do that?
Phedon Papamichael: Well, as we were testing different rates early on, we realized the strength is making the audience feel what it’s like to be in the car. That is most effectively done by hard mounting the camera to the car seat and getting all the vibrations. Action movies don’t do it on big screen. They take the actors, put them in pod cars, which are basically them sitting in the actual car, but they’re being driven by a stuntman that’s either in the capsule behind or in front.
I’ve always wondered how you guys do that.
Phedon Papamichael: There’s a pod that controls the car so when I’m looking forward, [the camera] is mounted in the back. When I’m looking back, it’s mounted in the front. So, the actor is going through the full experience of the g-forces, you know, the interactive light, the flairs, all of that is real. That experience you can never really fake. I don’t know if you saw the trailer, but when Shelby takes Ford for the little test spin, I don’t think Tracy [Letts] really expected the velocity of that. So [when he’s like, “holy shit], that’s a genuine reaction he has.
We decided you’ve got to be very close to the cars physically. You got to be low on wide angles, so you get a sense of speed. When you watch racing on television, it’s long lenses, panning cars, you don’t get a sense of the speed they’re traveling. We used these beautiful, expanded anamorphic lenses that were custom built, old vintage glass with a large format, and an ALEXA LF camera. Even when we do close-ups, we like to physically get close with wider lens, so though you have a closer view, you always feel the surroundings and the environment. We’re very much into this composition of layers and other people even. It’s all things that we apply to other stories too. In Walk the Line, the camera is never told from the audience’s perspective. We were just up there, never knowing what Joaquin [Phoenix] was going to do, so we’re right up there on stage and being very reactive to what he’s going to be doing. Here, again, the priority of this storytelling cinematically is understanding what your lead character is emotionally going through each beat of this racing sequence. Otherwise, even the most exciting race sequence – I mean, the final race in this movie is a 25-minute-long sequence – would be boring if you don’t have the main actor as your central, emotional point to ground [the audience].
That’s exciting. Because I haven’t seen the movie yet, I will definitely be looking forward to a 25-minute race sequence.
Phedon Papamichael: Yeah, man, there’s like three pretty big race sequences.
Three out of your last four movies have, if I’m not mistaken, been with Matt Damon.
Phedon Papamichael: Wow, that’s kind of a coincidence, but that happened. That’s true.
Do you guys have any kind of working relationship?
Phedon Papamichael: He’s great because he’s not just an actor, he’s a filmmaker. He thinks like a filmmaker. If he ever finds time to do it, he wants to direct. But he’s always listening in when we’re talking about it with the director. He’s very much involved in understanding the setup and the mechanics of how the shot works. He’s always very helpful with ideas and passionate. He’s like a kid, but we’re all like kids who’ve grown up and still getting to play in their favorite sandbox. Truly, and I know people always say [this], but Matt doesn’t act like a movie star. And this is also my second movie with Christian Bale – we also did 3:10 To Yuma – but Christian can be a little bit more method. Like he was a much more introverted character, so he just sat around on set a lot and read a book. Here he gets to play a Brit for the first time in a long time. He’s very outgoing and funny and outspoken, so his true persona was also able to be fully exposed during the shooting process. Great dynamic duo and they really liked each other. The supporting cast was just fantastic; a lot of great, strong characters. Not very complex; it’s not an art film. It’s just good old Hollywood cinema, which is a dying breed. So we’re hoping that it finds an audience and that the studios will be encouraged to make [more] than supernatural events.
Ford v Ferrari roars into theaters on November 15th. Don’t miss it.