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I know!
[Laughs] You wont get sleepy in here.
I hope you dont mind, Im stuffing my face.
You werent tempted by the full English, then?
[Laughs]
Congratulations on the film.
I liked the casting.
I dont know how long that took, and what the process was, but the chemistry was fantastic.
A bit unusual, right?
Katey Sagal, Ciaran Hinds.
Youd never imagine those two as a married couple.
Its funny how casting works.
You have an idea of how it will be, and then you end up with something else.
And then when its done, you think, How could it have been anyone else?
Its weird how it happens.
Aaron Eckharts a fascinating choice.
He was somebody I did want.
He was someone who, recently, has been underutilised as an actor.
I showed the movie to [Steven] Soderbergh, and didnt tell him it was Aaron.
Hes worked with the guy, yet it took him ten minutes ten minutes!
And he goes, Is that fucking Aaron Eckhart?
[Laughs]
It took me a while, I must say.
When he first steps out of his Porsche…
Yeah, youve no idea.
Its funny, because I think he is.
And the guys a slave to craft.
Hes so specific, and so well prepared.
Hes a serious, serious actor.
I dont know if youve heard.
This isnt a joke to him, this is his job.
Yeah, orThe Dark KnightorOlympus Has Fallen.
I think were going to see more of this sort of thing from him.
I dont know how much of that real commercial fare were going to see after this.
I mean, The Dark Knightis fantastic.
I could be wrong, but I dont see him doing a tonne moreOlympus Has Fallen.
I think hes going to move back into this world.
The Neil LaBute, that kind of a world.
At what point did you figure out that Eckhart and Miles Teller would make the right pairing?
Because really, the film hinges on the triangular relationship between them and Ciaran Hinds character.
I knew theyd worked together.
You know, Miless first film was an Aaron Eckhart movie.
Did you know that?
I didnt know that, actually.
Rabbit Holewith Nicole Kidman.
Miles is the kid who kills her son.
Its so long since Ive seen it, Id forgotten that was him.
Thats Miless first ever movie, which was with Aaron.
The trainer, Kevin, is very doting and paternal, he needs to become a trainer.
Its about these two men who change roles.
So youre right to say that it all hinged on that triangle.
When thats suddenly taken away, how vulnerable that can feel.
Thats an interesting sentiment.
Youre lucky to do what you love, right.
I think thats why boxing movies are so…why are boxing movies so enduring?
Why do they keep getting made?
They must be a parable for something we all relate to.
Because not everyone loves boxing.
I think its because they can express so many things, cant they?
What this film expresses isnt whatRaging Bullexpresses, or what theRockyfilms express.
So at all costs he had to get that back.
Oh, I see.
I was so interested in that decision he made.
I would paint houses or do something else for a living, because I like walking more than anything.
Do you think theres a masculine aspect to that?
That its a masculine thing.
Thats a really interesting question.
[Pauses for thought] I dont think so.
I dont think so.
I think if hed found something else he loved as passionately, he wouldve made the same choice.
I think hes a big dummy in some senses, because why would you risk everything?
But I dont quite understand it, which is probably why I made a movie about it.
I mean, inWhiplashthe stakes arent nearly as high.
I mean the recurring theme in Miless career is car crashes.
There seems to be one in every one of his movies.
Which is awful when you consider his personal history.
Did he ever talk to you about that?
Hes not precious or sensitive about that.
Hes happy to talk about it.
The car rolled eight times, he was ejected… he shouldve died, by all accounts.
But he got lucky.
That scene in the movie is, as it should be, shocking and jarring.
How did he feel about doing that?
Im assuming he was comfortable with it.
I dont think it brought up any ghosts from his past.
Like Aaron, hes also a very serious actor.
Hes a tough kid.
Yes, you’re able to tell from his performances.
What I liked about the film, too, was that Vinnies treatment was presented like a boxing match.
Im glad you noticed that.
Was that something you conceived early on in the scripting stage?
Thats when the idea for the super came up.
But Im glad you noticed that.
It does make it like a match, doesnt it?
Is that a fact?
We had just $6m.
Was the budget really that low?
They madeCreedfor what, $35-40m?
I dont know what.
Which these days still isnt massively high.
We had $6.1m.
How did we do it?
I dont fuckin know!
You have to go back and re-cut the scenes so that you have more days in the ring.
And I couldnt, because we didnt have the time.
We shot it in 24 days.
So we shot each boxing match that you saw in one day.
We had a great boxing coordinator, Daryl Foster.
Thats largely due to Daryl Fosters involvement.
He has this idea that there should always be contact.
So theres always contact, and thats something you cant fake its physics, you know what I mean?
The timing doesnt look weird or off.
Thats a good term!
What was the process of pulling that level of financing together?
There was no studio, I owned the project outright.
Its about as free and open and unrestricted of a movie as Ive ever made.
Itll never be that good again Im sure.
The scenes where Miles has to wear the halo.
They really do feel intense.
Are you going to interview Miles?
You should ask him about that.
The halo itself was a bit ill-fitting.
Again, time, money we picked it up from a medical supply place.
[Miles] was in quite a bit of pain.
It would be all over.
And it was moving around, so he was very, very uncomfortable in that thing.
It was very tough for him.
Going back toBoiler Roomat the start of your career.
What was it like to have that kind of success at such a young age?
[Laughs ruefully] Uh… Not good, I guess?
[Silence]
In what respect?
Because I was 26.
At 26 you dont think… you think it happened because you willed it to happen.
So theres a lack of gratitude at that age, at least in my experience.
I probably wouldve had a bit more respect for my own work, and movie-making in general.
I took a more circuitous path.
Ive arrived, finally, at a place of understanding gratitude.
But it took a little extra time.
You packed in a lot before that.
Was it worthwhile doing all that before you went into filmmaking?
I mean, theres a reason they send kids off to war at 18,19 20 years old.
They just dont know better.
If I were making my first film now, put in that position, Id be paralysed with fear.
You just dont know better, and theres something nice about that.
Boiler Roomwas about corruption in the financial industry before what we know now after 2008.
Do you think the film was a little prescient, in a way?
Yeah, makes me seem prescient, huh?
You didnt have to be some visionary.
Martin Scorseses an executive producer onBleed For This,so did you two speak aboutBoiler RoomandWolf Of Wall Street?
Thats actually how it came together.
I did wonder if there was a connection.
Yeah, Marty has this exercise where he amasses a number of movies and makes his crew watch them.
Hes a busy man.
He called me on the phone.
I was back in Costa Rica, cooking in a restaurant down in Malpais.
And he called me and said, Im gonna help you make this movie.
[A moments stunned silence]
Hang on a minute, so you were cooking…
I was a cook at a restaurant in Costa Rica.
Right before you madeBleed For This?
[Thrown] Right.
Well, I hadnt made a movie in twelve years.
I was doing all sorts of things.
Id assumed you were writing, getting things developed, or…
No.
I had a very rich, interesting decade.
I became a pilot.
I raced motorcycles semi-professionally.
I had a lot of success in that.
And then I cooked in a restaurant my friends restaurant.
What sort of thing did you cook?
Yeah, Id gone to New York, met with him in New York, and came back down.
So what went through your mind when that happened?
It was one of the best moments of my professional life.
So I was trying to speak very plainly but I remember I was literally jumping up and down.
[Claps]
And you have another film lined up now,Isle Of Man.
Yeah, thats supposed to shoot in March.
Were fully financed, Bold Films is making it; Michael De Luca is producing with me.
We just need to cast and get going.
Ah, so you dont know whos going to be in it yet.
Not yet, no.
I remember there was a film you were talking about making a while back a western.
21 Bullets, was it?
Its funny you remember that.
I still want to make that movie.
Its so hard to get a western made; Isle Of Man was impossible, and17 Bulletsseems even harder.
But no, I want to make that movie.
No ones mentioned that in years.
If Bleed For Thishas a modicum of success, then its possible I can go and make it.
I can do it for a price.
I love that script.
Ben Younger, thank you very much.
Bleed For Thisis out in UK cinemas on the 2nd December.
