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My second directing experience wasn't actually “Methuselah’s Gift,” it was “Reluctant Heroes.” The reason I ended up directing part of this episode was because, when I went to set that day, director Neal Fearnley was in excruciating pain. I believe he had been in a car accident and had cracked a couple of ribs. (I think that was the reason, but it was so long ago I can’t remember.)

What I do remember was being asked to take over since Neal was going to have to go home. We were going to be shooting the fight scene in a meat locker and Neal said that he had faith in me. I'm glad someone did, because I was going to have to make things up as we went along. I knew the fight well, so I broke it down as best I could and thought about the best way to get the action on film.
 

 Directing Methuselah's Gift
I work better under pressureI think I work better under pressure, and I love seemingly impossible challenges. We finished the day on schedule, which obviously made the producers happy. I was glad to have had the experience and was also happy to put another directing clip under my belt.
 

“Methuselah’s Gift” itself was different than the episode “Homeland.” The “theme,” if you like, was that you didn't know who you could trust or where you could look for safe haven. I decided that I would try to incorporate this into the camera moves using a lot of handheld and moving cameras to simulate uncertainty.

Henessy sign stunt
I was also able to shoot one of the largest stunts ever shot on the series up to that point involving a large neon Hennessy sign exploding and falling 50 feet into the Paris street below while a stunt woman swung precariously from it.
 

The shoot again was eight days, a standard for the French portion of filming, which meant that we didn't have a huge amount of time to waste. One of the biggest problems was our regular location of the barge. Usually we were able to shoot one given day per week below Notre Dame, but this time the schedule did not allow us to use this location since we were going to have to shoot the Hennessy neon sign stunt on the same day, and that was near the Eiffel Tower far away. However since the river Seine was near that location, I found another quay to shoot on, and I suggested we try to get the permits to film there. Days went by and it wasn't until close to shooting that we heard that, indeed, we were granted the permit. It would be the first and only time we would park the barge at this location below the Eiffel Tower.

This preparation for this particular day’s shooting was critical and meant that I had to be smart with the other scenes I had to shoot that day. If I had been on a film set, this stunt probably the effectiveness of being simplewould have taken two or three days to film but we had only six hours (which eventually turned into eight or nine). I had to be economical with the way I shot the given schedule for that day so that I would have enough time to film the stunt. I managed to get about six or seven pages shot in half a day by using the steady cam, although it meant that the actors only got one or two takes once we had rehearsed the move. This was another valuable lesson. A director is given a certain amount of time to shoot, so he has to know what he wants to spend more time filming and what scenes are the most important.
 

Yes, of course, they are all important to the overall
piece, but some need more detail and more time
to shoot, so it is important to know when and
where you want to be more creative and spend
more time filming.I also learned the effectiveness
of being simple. One of the longest scenes in
the episode was shot with only four lens sizes
from three angles: a wide and medium
master, and then a medium and close
over the shoulder from each side. It
didn't need anything else because it
was well written.

If we had tried fancy moves or
had tried to be creative with it because
it “looked good, it would have spoiled
the underlying danger of the scene.
Sometimes production constraints
force the way you shoot something,
but invariably the way I like to shoot
a scene comes off the page itself
 

This episode was also the first time that I really felt the pressure from the writing/producing team as a director and not as an actor. The issue was raised about the “crystal” that was to be used in the episode. Sometimes what is written and what can actually be found or manufactured in a small amount of time is not the same. Instead of mentioning this to the producers in Los Angeles, I decided (wrongly) to go ahead and use the organic type crystal that we had manufactured. This misshapen piece of stone was not like the mystical orange shaped sphere that they had imagined. After the dailies were viewed in L.A., I got the “what in the hell do you think you’re doing?” telephone call. What was in my head was that this crystal was not whole until its final piece was inserted. Only then did it become “magical.” But how was I going to show that. It wasn't until we had certain discussions that we solved the situation by “creating” the magical sphere in special effects during post-production. In the end, it gave us something “magical” to visually see, although I must admit it wasn't my brilliant idea, it was Elizabeth Gracen’s (Amanda).

strengthen my knowledge

Being the director on “Methuselah’s Gift” was also a good lesson in how to work with actors. I was now on the director side of the camera with some of the actors whom I had worked with for a couple of years. I began to see them in a different way. I had to get them to understand what I wanted to portray as a director and not as an actor. However, rather than discussing certain elements, I was now telling them what my vision was. The dynamic of our relationship was different. Once they saw that I knew what I wanted, they started to talk to me as a director, not as a fellow actor. I learned about the politics of the relationship between actor and director and how it was necessary to treat different actors in different ways in order to convey what it was that I needed them to do.

 
With one, it would be to joke with them to make them feel at ease; another needed to talk about the structure of the emotional content of the scene; and yet another had to be left emotionally on edge before the scene began so when cameras roll it was as natural as it could get. This is called NAR (No Acting Required). I guess I learned that the relationship between actor and director was a psychological chess match as much as anything else.

“Methuselah’s Gift” gave me a great opportunity to learn more about the craft of directing and how to deal with the bumps that occur along the way.It showed me what directors must go through in order to have their vision become what is seen on film. I was able to strengthen my knowledge and entertain my creative side.

Directing “Methuselah’s Gift”