RT Interview: Defiance Director Edward Zwick on His Favorite Films, Rejecting Auteur Theory, and More
Summary
RT goes in-depth with filmmaker Ed Zwick (Glory, Blood Diamond) in a botched attempt to reveal his favorite films. Instead, we get a much deeper look at Zwick's filmmaking philosophy, his proclivity for conflicted heroes, his reluctance to call himself an auteur and his 12-year journey bringing his latest film, the resistance fighting drama Defiance, from its roots in WWII history to the silver screen. Find out why the director compares himself to a 17th century poet and more after the jump. Back to Article
RT goes in-depth with filmmaker Ed Zwick (Glory, Blood Diamond) in a botched attempt to reveal his favorite films. Instead, we get a much deeper look at Zwick's filmmaking philosophy, his proclivity for conflicted heroes, his reluctance to call himself an auteur and his 12-year journey bringing his latest film, the resistance fighting drama Defiance, from its roots in WWII history to the silver screen. Find out why the director compares himself to a 17th century poet and more after the jump. Back to Article
(1-13 of 13 posts) | Reply
on Jan 13 2009 07:01 PM Interesting. Very informative. (Reply to this) |
on Jan 13 2009 07:08 PM Very intelligent interview. I wish I'd know more about how he is influenced by COME AND SEE. That film messed me up. A lot of things went into filming COME AND SEE which are not allowed now. . . (Reply to this) |
on Jan 13 2009 07:36 PM Nice interview, I really like Zwick. I know someone who worked on GLORY with him and said he was a good guy too. I am going to see this Friday but I am not expecting much because the reviews and it looks pretty cliche but I thought that about Blood Diamond and I ended up really liking that so maybe Defiance will turn out pretty good but I just don't want to get my hopes up. (Reply to this) |
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on Jan 13 2009 07:55 PM Also I love Glory, I really liked Blood Diamond, and I actually thought The Last Samurai was pretty good. Does anyone else like The Last Samurai? I really wish he would go back and re-edit it that because I always felt it could have been great if he cut the end speech, the flash backs and/or Tom Cruise's narration, and his nightmare scenes because they felt cliche to me- I still really enjoy the movie and actually have it (great HD transfer). (Reply to this) |
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on Jan 13 2009 08:10 PM I felt insulted by The Last Samurai. . . (Reply to this) |
on Jan 13 2009 08:45 PM Man, that was "Zwick". (Queue drum.(That was horrible, I apoligize.) Anyway, "Glory" was great, "Blood Diamond" is great (and really underated), and "The Last Samurai"... sucked. Sorry, I guess I'm not helping. (Reply to this) |
on Jan 13 2009 09:33 PM Thanks for the great interview, Jen. I particularly enjoyed his John/Jack Donne story. (Reply to this) |
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on Jan 14 2009 08:50 AM Glory and The Last Samurai were great, Blood Diamond was very good, Courage Under Fire (very good), The Siege (good), Zwick is definition of underrated. (Reply to this) |
on Jan 14 2009 09:49 AM I don't know if I'd say Zwick is underrated - he's been Oscar-nominated and won once (granted, both for producing) but his films have gotten Academy nominations in the least. Maybe it boils down to what he said in the interview - he likes to let his films/stories speak for themselves, without imposing too much of his own directorial stamp. Oscar-winning directors these days almost always have the opposite. (Reply to this) |
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on Jan 14 2009 10:09 AM In reply to this comment (#2252573) I think you could say that he is underrated by critics possibly, because I think Blood Diamond has like a score of 60 something and so does The Last Samurai. His movies do get a lot of award attention, I think Blood Diamond got like 5 nods at the oscars. (Reply to this) |
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on Jan 14 2009 05:49 PM I really like the Last Samurai, though it is flawed. I enjoy both Blood Diamond and Glory as well, but both to a lesser extent; Last Samurai is the best of the three I think. Didn't care too much for The Siege, though it was well crafted, just not my thing. I think Zwick's greatest weakness is that his films are a bit heavy-handed; I find that they try a little too hard to be dramatic and inspiring, but that's not such a bad thing since they do succeed in doing so. I'm eagerly anticipating Defiance, despite its lukewarm reception by critics. (Reply to this) |
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on Jan 27 2009 01:57 PM Go to (Reply to this) |
on Mar 13 2009 08:15 AM i don't agree with his opinion about auteur theory cause a lot of directors that he likes are auteurs and his films lack that artistic energy of bergman or fellini films. (Reply to this) |
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