Limans goal was to secure the rights toThe Bourne Identity a series of spy novels hed adored since childhood.
So now youve had a few months distance from it, what are your feelings about it?
How did the experience compare with your other films?
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Certainly the flying aspects ofAmerican Madewere probably the most challenging thing Ill ever tackle.
You hear people talking about shooting on the water, and the horror stories people talk about are well-earned.
Saying, Were gonna do these for real.
Some aspects of those experiences have to be filmed for real.
It has its own pleasures, but its fundamentally different.
If its for an airplane, its ten times what it would cost for the boat.
We both, as pilots, understood that its going to be difficult.
Tom flew himself to set in either his plane or mine.
The airplane got to South American because Tom flew it there.
In the rain forest, we were able to film there because Tom flew us there in the AeroStar.
That wasnt for the filming, it was just to get there.
Hobbys too small a word for it.
Where other pilots read a book, or listen to the radio.
Youre flying a plane within a plane!
[A half-second silence.]
For people who are committed to flying… we cant get enough of it.
What were the practical problems, then, of these aerial shoots?
Shooting while flying for real?
We were shooting the equivalent of car chases with airplanes.
Usually the DP was in the plane with Tom and I was in the helicopter.
And if youre relatively close, you have the danger of hitting each other.
Theres no road marks out there.
Just to get everybody in position… theres no find my friend to identify where everybody is.
I wanted to embrace that in the flying sequences.
If you created them in a computer with CG airplanes, you could do anything.
Theres some aspect of the audience knowing its for real that adds a level of excitement.
And because its set in the 80s you really could be a cowboy in the 80s.
The kind of flying Barry Seal back then just isnt possible today because of the way the worlds changed.
So he was the last of the Wild West.
Instead of riding horses they were flying planes, and theres still an analogue component to that.
What do you think Barry Seal would be doing today?
An opportunist like that, what would he get up to?
The internet is not as much as it was, but its kind of the Wild West.
That strikes me as an interesting subject for a film in itself.
The internet… the wild west that American Made portrays, the internets the wild west as well.
I get the impression that you cant help but admire Barry Seal.
I wonder whether you think in Hollywood that there arent the same risk-taking directors these days.
Um, I think Hollywood is… still filled with mavericks.
Because obviously there are movies that arent that original, but there are still original voices.
At wrap, I figured out what was wrong and I thought, Ive got to do it tomorrow.
The producers were like, no, you have to move on.
And I said, But were here.
I can fix it tomorrow morning.
They were like, no, you have to move on.
I said, this is crazy.
Here I am all these years later with a career Im really proud of.
I guess if you’ve got the option to get away with it, its okay.
Thats how I relate to Barry Seal thats how he made it.
Weve seen a number of films recently that have gone through reshoots.
How hard is it ot go back and shoot something after the fact and maintain the same tone?
I love to reshoot.
How often in life do you get the opportunity to go back and fix a mistake?
Hollywoods one of those places where there is no quote-unquote right way to do it.
Whatever works is the right way.
Could you tell me a bit about that?
Id lovedThe Bourne Identitysince high school.
AfterSwingerswas a pretty big hit, people were asking me what movie I want to make.
I saidThe Bourne Identity.And Hollywood said, no, what kind of small comedy do you want to make?
I really wanted to makeThe Bourne Identity,and Hollywood was not ready to give me the opportunity.
I never stopped pursuing the chance to do the book myself.
I crashed a wedding where Terry Semel of Warner Bros was because I thought Warner Bros had the rights.
Because who am I?
Two independent films under my belt.
Then the flight home was just as perilous.
I almost ran out of fuel.
I took two tries trying to land on the runway.
And I was like, Now Im really out of fuel.
I eventually put it down, but I was shaking.
That was a hell of a first solo flight, then.
I said, I think I made the classic rookie mistake.
He said, Whats that?
And an hour into the first flight, I had to pee really badly.
I brought with me an empty Snapple bottle to pee in, for such an emergency.
It was more than half-full, and I had to go more badly than I did the first time.
So its going to overflow.
I was, like, I need to empty the bottle.
Ive never had a student give a shot to empty a urine bottle in the air.
I was so scared.
But it was all worth it in the end.
I grew up watchingRisky BusinessandTop Gunwhile I was in high school.
In a million years I never thought Id meet that person, let alone work with them.
Hes making me breakfast!
I hope I never lose that sense of wonder.
Doug Liman, thank you very much.
American Madeis available on Digital now, and on 4K Ultra HD, Blu-ray and DVD December 26th.
