Actors Debate David Fincher’s 50 Takes and Stanley Kubrick’s Directing

N- uh, not like a s- I, I can't think of a specific moment, but, uh, you know, having worked on, um, a movie with him, uh, there, uh, you know, uh, the director, you know, does things a lot, which I, which I loved.

You know, occasionally I felt frustrated because I thought, uh, you know, we would do like, you know, let's say 50 takes of, of a shot, and, and I, I felt 48 of them were, were, were just, uh, terrible and mortifying.

And, uh, so I, I felt bad because I felt like I did a lot of bad stuff, uh, at the end of the day.

But you also felt like you did two that maybe you wouldn't have done had you not been given 50 opportunities of- To say that 48 takes were bad and two were good, it's kind of hard.

Are you always that hard on yourself? Yeah, I usually keep... I mean, I've been in, like, two movies.

I'm embarrassed to say this in, in this room, but, uh- But I'm going to ask you how you feel about- I, I usually keep, like, uh- They, he, uh, Fincher would do 50 takes regularly on each, on each- Which director? David Fincher. Yeah. Yeah.

You don't want to work with him? No, no, no. It, it's a, it's an incredible experience.

But, but, but, but are you, are you always that critical of yourself?

Yeah, usually more so. I mean, I, I, I- I'm curious because you work with so many directors, uh, and you seem shocked that the director would do that many takes.

Let me say, can I say one thing? Yeah. To me, Stanley, the great Stanley Kubrick- Yeah ... was an actor's enemy. Well, he did 100 takes per scene.

He was an actor's enemy. And I can point to movies that he's done, the worst performances I've ever seen in movies. Which ones?

And yet... The Shining. Uh, what's the one about the- A Clockwork Orange.

A Clockwork Orange. Terrible performances.

Maybe they were great movies, but they're terrible performances.

How does he know the difference between the first take and the 70th take?

I mean, you know, I mean, what is that about?

Well, he- Even Brando did 40 takes, 60 takes on the sh- on that...

I said, "Why would you do that?" He said, "Well, the guy, you know, the guy's supposed to do it."

Brando did on which film? Yeah, on the, on the, with the- Oh, The Fugitive Kind, right?

The burn, the burning, you know. I mean, why would he, you know, why would anybody do that?

I mean, commercials you do that, but I mean, maybe it helped you. I don't know.

At what point do you say no? I'm not being judgmental.

Maybe it was good for you, but I, I, I don't, I don't quite get that.