Frequently while I work, I listen to director’s commentary on different movies I admire. Currently, I’m listening to the commentary track on Ridley Scott’s Alien (1979) and he has something very interesting to say on the subject of being persistent, at the risk of not being very well liked, in the aim of getting your way as a director.
Take the landing sequence in the beginning of the film. He wanted fog. “Everyone” told him not to have fog on the planetoid, because there would be no atmosphere on a rock that small. He said he wanted it anyway because without it, the models didn’t look so convincing. He wanted turbulence in the bridge during the landing sequence. Again, “everyone” said, there would be no atmosphere, so you don’t need to show the turbulence. Nevertheless, he had crewmen get under the chairs and wobble them just out of camera reach. He said the actors didn’t like it, and “everyone” was rolling their eyes and saying it was never going to work, never going to look good on film. Everyone said the engines wouldn’t glow like that in a vacuum, the science was all wrong, and yada yada yada. He said, “Oh, shut up,” confident that what he wanted would look good, and all else be damned.
Then, he goes on to state what I believe is great advice for any would-be director:
“You’ve just gotta stick to your guns. Every step you make, everybody’s a Doubting Thomas. But that’s where you gotta earn your way. I just wonder how many people fall by the wayside because they can’t push their point home, and therefore don’t quite get what they want.Nobody respects you later for having been a nice guy and giving up. You gotta get it. You have to get it NOW. Because you’re gonna wear what you got. You can be very unpopular on the route. But if you’re right, all is forgiven.”
