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Leila: From Four Weddings and a Funeral to Donnie Brasco, to Harry Potter, The Goblet of Fire, Mike Newell knows how to bring a story to the big screen. Welcome to watchmojo.com, I am your host Leila. Today, I am talking to the versatile director about his career and his latest feature, Love in the Time of Cholera. Today, you are an accomplished director, with each achievement you have earned more and more credentials but practically speaking, what kind of lessons stay with you?
Mike Newell: Do not take your self too seriously. Try everyday that you get up not to be an asshole which is a really difficult one. But the serious thing is about how you pick what you want to do.
Leila: Do you rely in you intuition as a director?
Mike Newell: I do but in a way better not to examine that because if you do, you will start to talk about, you see, the thing about my style is as soon as you think that you have something. It is good idea to try throwing it away.
Leila: And how do you typically express your vision to the people you are working with?
Mike Newell: An example is this, is this thing, right, the thing that I have just done, “Love in the Time of Cholera”. I think it is about people living from very young to very old as they get older, they know that they headed into dark, right? They are going to die and that is what -- that is for the characters in this film is a real challenge. Are they going to admit to being scared and just kind of crumple in the face of it which is one of the characters does do, the girl does do it as she gets older and grows into kind of -- into a quite a grand old lady. She gets more and more frightened on the guy who has been in loved with her since she was 16 but has also had 622 other lovers. He says I am 75 years old. I have never stopped loving you and I am now as more happy than I have ever, ever been. I do not care how old we are, we will begin all over again and we will live with one another. Now that I can at last live with you, we will live with one another as if we were 16 and we will take our lives up from that point. And there is this great thing in the story. What is going to win? Is death going to win because we are all going to die? Or is life is going to win because you should live it right up until the moment that you are just snatched, you know. Now, if I can see that about the story which you try to do with every story, is to see what is really, really about then I can describe it to the actors and to the people who were working on the film and they will make the film that I would like them to make.
Leila: It is been such a pleasure to meet you.
Mike Newell: That is very nice to talk to you to, really nice. Thank you.
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