Debbie Allen
That's the only way I can control my movie. If you shoot everything, then everything is liable to end up in the movie. If you have a vision, you don't have to cover every scene.
Phylicia is the more restrained one and I am the one who is known as being more gregarious, loud, and colorful. It was pretty obvious to us who should play what part.
Michael Ralph brilliantly plays the street prophet, a West Indian who foreshadows the Harlem riot.
Making this movie was a great opportunity for me to explore high-definition. I'm glad I got to see what the challenges are, what makes it better. It works wonderfully.
It's rare to find parts where you see two women who relate to each other in that very natural way, with a lot of humor and pathos at the same time.
It's kind of dangerous to cut in the camera, but that's the only way I know how to direct.
It goes back to a style of moviemaking I remember seeing as a child, in movies like The Man With The Golden Arm, which I think was shot all on a sound stage.
In the film world you don't often get much rehearsal time. Only on big-budget films do you have the opportunity to rehearse for a week or two.
In scoring we have a lot that was not evident in the shooting. The radio is on all the time.
I'm respectful of other artists and I think there is a way to talk to actors to let them know they are making this. It all has to come through them.
I'm always moving forward.
I use something that is a real staple in the directing world. It's called a dance floor. You lay it down so that it's so smooth you can roll around, and you can put furniture on top of it. It's seamless and you don't see it.
I think a good director casts a film so that the actors bring a lot to the table.
I loved that they were real people living in the time of the Harlem Renaissance. The story was rich with culture and character.
I got my dailies every day, although I couldn't always look at them because I was usually preparing for the next day's shoot, both as an actress and as the director.
I got involved in The Old Settler after my sister, Phylicia Rashad, optioned the play by John Henry Redwood. I read it and felt it spoke so much to me about who Phylicia and I are to each other as real sisters.
I didn't need the insurance. I do it again if my DP tells me it didn't look good in the camera or if the actors didn't hit their marks. But if everything was working why do it again?
I design my shots. I walk the rehearsal as the camera and say 'this is where I want to be... I want this look.
I basically shoot the movie the way I think it should be cut, so my directives to the editor are in the camera.
I actually did a film called Stompin' at the Savoy,about four women who worked as domestics and were trying to get out of that life and into a better one.