Hes had a fascinating career.
His latest directorial effort isMortdecai, a hammy little action romp based on the cult novels by Kyril Bonfiglioli.
Gwyneth Paltrow, Ewan McGregor and Paul Bettany all back him up.
Hes a man with many stories about your favourite films and we could have talked to him for hours.
How did Mortdecai come about?
Had you read any of the books before?
Johnny sent me the script.
Johnny had read it and just loved the character.
He just said I know how to play this guy, I think we could have a good time.
It was such a particular part, and he is such a particular actor.
How did you approach the Britishness of the film, especially having two American leads?
Its not a realistic film, youre absolutely right.
Well, Im from Yorkshire, so… no of course Im not, no!
I think its fun to be a stranger, when you go some place new.
Id been to London a few times but Id never lived in London.
You really observe things differently; everything is new to you, at first at least.
The colour of the white paper even seems different.
But part of the fun is being the outsider.
Are there any plans for any moreMortdecaimovies, either by you or a different director?
I have no idea.
Or if anyone would even want one.
How was your relationship with screenwriter Eric Aronson?
It was nice to have another voice.
When you write and direct it gets a little lonely because its only your point of view.
People always say writers are the least powerful people in Hollywood…
I think that writers are far more powerful than we think we are.
Were still the only profession in Hollywood that doesnt need anyones permission.
A director has to be given a script, an actor has to be given a role.
Can we speak about some of the other films youve worked on throughout your career?
How did you go about adaptingJurassic Parkfrom a slightly dry science-heavy novel into a big exciting blockbuster?
Well I had some very talented help.
Steven Spielbergs a good director!
But that was the challenge its a 400 page book and probably 280 pages of it was science.
Getting that into the movie in a way thats understandable but also not dumbed down.
I think what helped us enormously was that the people in the movie were in a theme park.
Without tortured dialogue or characters telling each other things they already knew.
It was really the setting, the theme park, which made it work.
You also created an all-new character, Ethan Hunt, for Tom Cruise to star as.
Where did these decisions come from?
Tom was involved first.
He was interested in doing it, and he was producing it.
And then Brian [De Palma] called me and said why dont you take a crack at it.
You have to consider whos in it, and then make it work.
Id never viewed the TV show as sacrosanct.
We had to acknowledge who our cast was.
Because you had to work out how you get this ensemble piece into a star vehicle.
And I think it worked out well.
Well, maybe a few.
But withSpider-Man, there were significant departures that we were worried about.
The organic web shooters were hugely controversial, until they werent.
You change media, you get to make up your own thing.
Did your original script forSpider-Manhave Doctor Octopus in it, as its sometimes reported?
My original script was the Green Goblin/Harry Osborn thing.
Then I kind of lost faith in it and at the last minute re-wrote it completely with Electro.
So we went back to that and it went down very nicely I thought.
Did you throw out everything else that had already been written?
There werent really any scripts that I was aware of, because it had been at Cannon.
It was mostly in litigation for ten years I think, it wasnt really in active development.
Is that how its turning out?
Id say a bit more thriller-y.
Are you still working onThe Huntsman?
When they wanted to do aSnow White And The Huntsmansequel, I wrote that.
And neither is Frank Darabont.
Is that annoying, considering that yours was actually made and released, which is a bigger achievement?
No, its not.
And you really have to tune it out.
If you want to ask me in another way and provoke me, I can say something more!
No, its fine!
Unless you want to say you hate Frank Darabont or something!
Ive never actually meant Frank Darabont, but I hear hes a lovely guy.
Just for the record, the Indiana Jones jumping into the fridge bit is in the Darabont script.
And I loved it, which is why I pushed it into the movie!
I thought it was a great idea!
You also wroteSnake Eyesfor Brian De Palma, which I believe had its ending changed?
It had a different ending, yep.
Its not uncommon to change things.
How do you react to changes like that to your scripts?
Itll make mistakes and itll be a different thing, it wont be yours.
What else have you got coming out soon?
Infernostarts shooting in April, the Dan Brown thing, which I think is going to be very good.
Im happy with that.
David Koepp, thank you very much.
