On solitude:
Yorgos Lanthimos: How is it writing alone?
Miranda July: I don’t have a proper writing partner, but I’m not in a vacuum – I do need feedback eventually. But I always get through the first draft of a book or a script all on my own, because I feel like there’s a magical process – I can’t have anyone aware that this even exists, because it’s so loosely hung together in my mind. It really feels, truly, like I’m down on my knees in front of the gods.
On actors:
YG: When you tell actors what kind of performance you want, are you reacting to what they do, or are you trying to get the thing that’s in your head?
MJ: I think this is maybe a strength, but also maybe my downfall – I am trying to get the thing in my head. I think it comes from my being an actor too. I’ve acted all of this out in my head – all of it. Every part, every role… But in Kajillionaire, each of actor was bringing so much to the roles. They’re really good. They exceeded my expectations… [Actors] come into the process fully formed, and you’re putting them with the script. And when you’re working with stars, they’re familiar – it’s like, “I love Emma Stone, and wow, what’s she going to be like in Yorgos’ world?” It’s a weird kind of alchemy.
On music:
MJ: So far, with all three movies, I’ve done this process of sitting there with a composer stressing them out to varying degrees [laughs]. I want to be controlling, but I’m not a musician… It’s an emotional thing, some combination of style and feeling. It’s like if you hire an actor where the soul isn’t there, you’re Scotch-taping it together the whole time, and it just doesn’t work – the same is true for music.
On finishing:
MJ: I don’t know if you do this, but for every single take, I sit and watch it and write notes. Then I call “Cut!” and come over to the actor, give my notes, cross them out, and begin again.
YL: I don’t do that! That’s very meticulous.
MJ: It’s funny, I just saw the movie, and I was still doing notes in my head, and I was seeing it in a theater. And I was thinking, in the next take I should do this differently – it’s never done! Except it is now.