Nasima:
What is a director's job?
Gaylord:
To create the most unforgettable emotional orgasm in the hearts
and minds of the audience. Once the audience is in a trance they become
more receptive to the thematic idea. Now they feel more
alive.
Nasima:
What is your method of doing that?
Gaylord:
Discover
and elevate the pathos of each character. And intensify the heat of the
conflict. I believe in putting the audience in the movie. My motto is
never leave the audience in the audience.
Nasima:
What if the character or characters are different from the
general ethos of the audience?
Gaylord:
The
elements of human structure are intrinsic and universal. Redemption,
revenge, triumph of the human spirit, the underdog, the unanswerable
question. These are elements to which every human on Earth can relate.
If the writing contains these elements, you've got a
shot.
Nasima:
You look
for these elements in the story and the character?
Gaylord:
Yes. I magnify natural human
elements.
Nasima:
Your agent showed me a videotape of a standing ovation given to
you and your cast for a play you directed.
Gaylord:
The title of the play is Bitch Gia, a story about a young woman
who is trying to do the impossible.
Nasima:
What?
Gaylord:
Retrieve her virginity.
Nasima:
Why do you think the play was so well
received?
Gaylord:
Irony. The title caused people to think it was a play about
fried chicken and hell raising. Everyone was shocked that the theme was
very cerebral and antithetical to the title.
Nasima:
What made you write something like Bitch Gia?
Gaylord:
Women are precious. What would the first three weeks of life be
like without a mother's warm smile? How would we have made it without
the hum of her sweet song vibrating through her breast as she gave us
warm milk?
Nasima:
Are you apologizing for the way men have subjugated
women?
Gaylord:
Ah, you see that. Two ideas have created a third. That’s my
style of pictorial dramatics.
Nasima:
Ok, back to directing.
Gaylord:
Yes. For example, I will film two shots. Shot A is the character
putting an apple on the table. Shot B is we cut to him walking across
the room to get his dentures out of a glass. These two shots have
created a third idea in the mind of the audience. Now the audience is
involved because their own mental dynamics are creating ideas and asking
questions based on what they are seeing. Now the audience is in the
film.
Nasima:
What do you look for in an actor?
Gaylord:
You asked me what is the Director’s job. I need three days to
scratch the surface. Actually being a Director is a very personal thing.
Personally, I like to make people think thoughts they’ve never thought
before.
Nasima:
But that’s an agenda.
Gaylord:
Life is an agenda, my agenda is predicated on humane
principles.
Nasima:
What are you so proud of?
Gaylord:
My sharp angle of truth.
Nasima:
Some Writers and Directors will say that they don’t have an
agenda.
Gaylord:
They are stark liars. An honest Director or Writer would tell
you that he or she is trying to intoxicate your mind with images, ideas
and principles you won’t ever forget. The fact is, very few Writers or
Directors can do that. So everybody claims they were not trying to do
that in the first place.
Nasima:
What was your most exciting moment on a film
set?
Gaylord:
Having a conversation with Cicely Tyson.
Nasima:
On the set of Mama Flora’s Family.
Gaylord:
Yes. Peter Werner (Director) was in a huddle with is gaffer and
cinematographer preparing a set up to shoot a church scene. We were all
waiting to walk in the processional up to the front of the church when
this extra grabs Ms. Tyson and hugs her.
Nasima:
So, he was tossed off the set by security
guards?
Gaylord:
That’s what should have happened. Instead, the AD walked over
and politely escorted the guy back to the extras holding area. Ms. Tyson
was so professional. I was standing right next to her, so, I issued my
declaration, “That guy should be ashamed of himself.” She expressed her
irritation about the incident in a cordial manner. My chat with her was
very light. I was just astonished to be talking to a legend. I remember
her voice to be resonate and scholarly.
Nasima:
I noticed in your class you talk about Peter Werner being a
great director.
Gaylord:
I was on the set for three weeks. I was lucky to know some of
the crew who had studied with me at film school. I knew I would have the
latitude to move around and watch how Peter go his
shoots.
Nasima:
This is after you had studied at The Hollywood Film
Institute.
Gaylord:
Before and after. I returned to HFI in 1999 to take the updated
advanced Director’s class with Fredrick Johntz and Mark
Travis.
Nasima:
So Mama Flora’s Family was in the middle of your HFI
studies?
Gaylord:
Yes. It was a perfect situation. We had done shot plots and
floor plans in our film class at HFI. It was great to see everything I’d
learned at HFI being put to use in a thirty million dollar
production.
Nasima:
What was
the parallel?
Gaylord:
Impeccable organization in pre-production. In the HFI Director’s
course, we learned to “have the film finished before you start. Peter
and his crew were on autopilot because they had planned every shot. This
is how you can release your creativity by having a strong shot plot to
stand on.
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