James Gray Believes Actors “Dictate The Style” Of Movies, Explains Why “You Want to Kill” When People Talk In Theaters [Locarno]

Acclaimed filmmaker James Gray has his new movie “Paper Tiger” on the horizon and was recently on hand at the Locarno Film Festival in Switzlerland to accept the the Career Leopard honor and spoke with the press on Sunday, sharing some neat insight into how he believes that actors dictate the style of films, his own need for actors to be able to direct themselves, and why folks talking in movie theaters drives him toward a desire to kill.

“I’m always shocked when an actor says they want to work with me,” Gray said at the press conference at the 79th edition of the Locarno Film Festival on Sunday (via The Hollywood Reporter), shocking the room. “Actors dictate the style of the film much more than I think is talked about. I just try to make sure that they are totally comfortable to be excellent. I have no acting talent. I’m not a good director of actors. It is all about how good they are and letting them have the freedom to be themselves in the scene and to listen to each other.”

READ MORE: August’s 13 Must-Watch Movies, From ‘The Dog Stars’ To ‘Tony’ & ‘Teenage Sex And Death At Camp Miasma’

Quite the humble assertion of his directing style and reliance on actors to come to the projects with their A-game and ready to deliver the goods.

Does Gray write his movies with certain actors in mind when developing those scripts? “I try to write the movie not with actors in mind because you’re always going to be disappointed,” Gray said in response. “You write it for some actor, and then you find out that guy is not available for two years, and then they can’t do it. And then, instead of the 6’2′ guy, you have to cast the 5’1″ guy and rethink it. So I’ve learned never to do that.”

The director also talked up the dreamy aspect of the in-theater experience of movie watching and when folks interrupt that and break the illusion, why you want to “kill them.”

“To me, movies are the most beautiful art form because it’s the closest thing we have to a dream…I try to show you a version of my own dream, my intimacy,” Gray explained. “It’s why people say, ‘I hate that movie’ or ‘I love that movie’…That’s why when somebody talks behind you in the movie theater, you want to kill them. It’s something interrupting your dream.”

Support independent movie journalism to keep it alive. Sign up for The Playlist Newsletter. All the content you want and, oh, right, it’s free.

James Gray’s next film, “Paper Tiger,” starring Miles Teller, Adam Driver, and Scarlett Johansson, heads to theaters on November 13 for a limited release (nationwide on November 20), and stay tuned for the upcoming trailer. The Playlist has already reviewed the NYC-set crime drama as part of our Cannes Film Festival coverage earlier in the year.