I carry myself as I am

Your journey from horror film Near Dark (1987), cult action surfer/bank robbery picture Point Break (1991) to the Hurt Locker has been an unusual one. Was it a conscious decision to move from that kind of cinema to that of The Hurt Locker or would you say the process was an organic one?
Yes but it just happened; we said to people, the bad news is we have no money, no studio, and no means of outside support but that was also the good news, because we had creative freedom and we could work outside the box. The portrayals of bomb disposal and urban warfare are pretty faithful to real life incidents that soldiers have faced in Iraq and Afghanistan, although the characters themselves are composites.

Apart from being a filmmaker, do you consider yourself a social ethnographer of the times as well? If yes or no, please elaborate.
No. I just show what strikes me and I think worthy to be noticed as well. I carry myself as I am and can’t live in dual identity..

What is your relationship with James like these days?
We are good friends and we still share great rapport. He is a really nice guy and was once my mentor too. He was the one who encouraged me to pursuit The Hurt Locker story. You know, I and James have worked together a lot, and we’ll probably work together again.

How do you feel about being constantly referred to as ‘James Cameron’s Ex-Wife’?
I never mind it as it’s a fact and nobody could deny it.

At what point along the way did you begin to realize that people were a lot more interested in this film than the average film? When did you begin to hope?
The Hurt Locker caused a sensation when it screened at the Venice Film Festival, receiving a ten-minute standing ovation, and earning four awards, including the SIGNIS and Human Rights Film award, as well as a nomination for the Golden Lion. That was the high point.

You won the Oscar competing with James Cameron. What does that mean to you?
I would like to say it’s surreal but it is such an honour to be in the conversation with such extraordinary film makers — James, Quentin, Lee and Jason all of them. That is what excites me and amaze me and it’s really gratifying. I could have been happier for him and he was happy for me as well. It’s just extremely ironic. It took him 12 years for his next and my film 7 years; you could not have scripted it. That was the moment of a lifetime.

Were there a lot of cut scenes that were too graphic, let’s say, to make it to the final cut?
On this particular project I wanted to be it like documentary and so I wanted it you know to a kind of periods unfolding before you almost in real time. So that we had 4 discrete units I would place them around the 360 degree set so literally there was no place you could not turn and would not see the camera and at the same time they were also fairly discrete so they were kind of invisible to the cast. It did feel as if the actors work is not acting and they were living this experience and there were on streets in Baghdad and there were fairly realistic process. All the graphic scenes are there in the final cut and it has the potential to put the audience in the soldier’s shoes to put them inside the Humvee, have them be the 4th man of the team.

How tough was it to go there, get all the information and permission to shoot this movie.
Film fraternity is quite younger, more hospitable and amicable there. It was easy to get all the permissions and I think I felt safe but there were some apprehensions. In 2004, journalist and screenwriter Mark Boal spent several weeks embedded with a U.S. Army bomb squad operating in one of the most dangerous sections of Baghdad, following its movements and getting inside the heads of the men whose skills rival those of surgeons — except in their case one false move means they lose their own life rather than the life of a patient. His first-hand observations of their days and nights disarming bombs became the inspiration for The Hurt Locker. The most challenging aspect was putting that bomb suit on Jeremy Renner every day. It wasn’t just wardrobe, but an actual bomb suit — that weighed between 80 and 100 pounds. Every day. You know, spend all day in it. That was really punishing. I was very sensitive to his needs and his oxygen levels, and trying to keep him as comfortable as possible, there’s only so much that can be done. That was probably the most difficult physical, logistical aspect of the shoot.

You directed a music video for the New Order song ‘Touched by the Hand of God’, a spoof of heavy metal imagery. Tell us, what kind of music do you listen to and love?
Though it’s reported as a spoof at many places but it was not. It might be that you like these songs with heavy metal music but I portrayed it in a slight different manner. I like to enjoy soft rock.

What was the toughest scene to film?
Just before one July afternoon, I was setting up a shot in the Jordanian desert. It follows an Explosive Ordnance Disposal bomb technician, one of the hundred or so soldiers in Iraq who dismantle roadside IEDs. For the scene, the tech and two of his co-workers would detonate a bomb in the middle of the desert, and I wanted to shoot them from atop a high sand dune. This meant that the crew had to tote all their gear to the top of a hill in the brutal summer heat. And for all of them to shoot it in temperature of 135 F was like a punishment, though we did that.

What advice do you have for budding auteur?
Strong and provocative use of medium. When you can transport a member of an audience to this entirely new world, that’s the best use of the medium.

What do you love best about directing films?
The freedom of expression.

- Sitiemilia , Singapore.