She has continued to be a force on screen over the years, from 10 Things I Hate About You to Saving the Last Dance to Bright Side and the Jason Bourne movies, just to name a few, but Julia Stiles has recently entered a whole new realm. role for her: directing.
With her directorial debut in Lionsgate’s Wish You Were Here, which she also produced and co-wrote the screenplay with the bestselling book’s author Renée Carlino, the story centers around a young woman named Charlotte (played by Stiles’ Orphan: First Kill co-star Isabelle Fuhrman) as she navigates through life, love and heartbreak.
Starring Fuhrman, Mena Massoud, Gabby Kono-Abdy, Jennifer Grey and Kelsey Grammer, Wish You Were Here arrives in theaters on January 17. I sat down with Stiles, 43, this week to discuss her journey into directing, to reflect upon her career so far and how she plans to navigate within the entertainment industry moving forward.
Jeff Conway: First of all, the possible framing choices in this Wish You Were Here film and the quality of the use of lighting are very beautiful. Congratulations to you and your film crew, Julia.
Julia Stiles: Thank you very much. It means a lot to me. I’m glad you like it.
Conway: Absolutely. You are well known and appreciated by many of us for your long and varied acting career. At what point did you begin to broaden your interest in directing and, despite everything, did you feel that this checkpoint could be just what you were looking for? Taking on as part of your film and television career?
Stiles: You know, I’ve been missing directing for a while. There have been certain projects that I have tried to start or not, but I have been searching for a long time for the right story. Maybe I was also a little afraid to try directing until one of the actresses in the film [Gabby Kono-Abdy], who plays Helen, the best friend, sent me this book, Wish You Were Here, and I immediately thought of this. It would be a wonderful movie and I can watch it perfectly.
That kind of was the catalyst for me feeling more confident about stepping into this role. I’ve been on film sets for 25 years, so after a while, you’ve seen a lot and see what works and what doesn’t work. I also have such an interest in cinematography, lighting, design – the visual elements of a film and also the timing, in terms of editing and certainly putting music and score over a film. Those interests I’ve had for a while and you don’t really have an involvement on that level as an actress.
Conway: So, Julia, being an artistic user and after directing Wish You Were Here, how do you realize that being a director, co-writer, and producer on a task like this fulfills you in a way that your acting assignment alone can’t?satisfy?
Julia Stiles directs her “Wish You Were Here. “
Stiles: It’s a ton more responsibility. I mean, in some ways, it’s crazy – it’s the most exhausting thing, but also that creative adrenaline kicks in and it was the most energizing experience I’ve had. Then, you step into the editing room – it’s a little bit more relaxed because you have some time and you have footage there and that’s really where the crafting comes. I loved it because people wanted to hear what I had to say. People, the crew and the cast were like – “What do you want it to look like? What do you want the emotion behind it to be? What’s the beginning, middle and end? What are we doing?” And to have people listen to you that way is so wonderful.
Conway: I’m glad to hear that. You have such a unique and interesting career though, Julia, with so many different acting roles over these past 25 years, like you said. So, how would you describe your own professional journey over these decades, Julia? The highs and the lows, and how it has molded you into the person you are today?
Julia Stiles and the late Heath Ledger on the set of their 1999 film “10 Things I Hate About You”
Stiles: So many ups and downs. I feel very grateful. I’ll start with movies that other people are still talking about years later, decades later; For me, everything I have learned is a true gift as a performer. Everyone starts out as an acting audition and you just need to get hired. Then, I was lucky enough to have some successes and, as crazy as it was, in life, it gave me a lot of opportunities. I was young, I didn’t know what to do with those opportunities. And then, I think more recently, in the last 10 years, I would say I started to become more grounded and a little more strategic or thoughtful about the potential choices I was making and who I was looking to work with. Sort the stories you wanted to tell, furthermore, within the limits of what is presented to you.
Julia Stiles attends the 2024 Gotham Awards at Cipriani Wall Street on December 02, 2024 in New York … [+] City.
And then I realize, I swear, it’s so surreal and it’s something I’ve been looking to do for a long time and I feel: Will this ever happen? All in all, this movie is an incredible experience for me. In fact, I hope this resonates with audiences. This is what happened with our cast and crew. I felt like, Oh, we’re right because in the funniest scenes, in the lightest scenes, they were laughing. And then in the scenes that are more about the tragic love story, other people were crying. I have an idea. . . Okay, this resonates.
Isabelle Fuhrman and Kelsey Grammer in “Wish You Were Here”
Conway: That’s smart to hear. So if you could only be a director on one previous task that you starred in, are there any tasks that you would direct, with the talents that you have lately as a director, so to speak?
Stiles: No, because I had to go through part of Wish You Were Here, sit down and adapt it from the book, and then the five years I had to fight for the things I was looking for after spending money and all that. . . I can visualize it a lot, shot after shot, scene after scene.
When you are an actress in a movie, you simply do what the director tells you or you are only to blame for your performance. You are not guilty of the price of the production, you are not guilty of the design of the film. production or where the shots are, and I think I did all the things with the actors in Wish You Were Here that I swore I would never do as a director. So I have to take it easy with the managers I’ve worked with, because now I sense that you don’t have time to say, “What’s your motivation? You have to be happier, sadder, faster, slower. “
Julia Stiles is singing her “Wish You Were Here. “
Conway: Well, this movie is about making the most of the time we have, Julia. So in your own life, I’m curious: what are you most proudly and passionately devoting your time and power to today?
Stiles: My children, my children. I was never so proud that my oldest son came to visit me on set because maybe he would just see (and I thought he would be bored to tears, but he was fascinated) maybe he would just see that my task was a position of control. and maybe you’ll also see that my task wasn’t just to do my hair and makeup. That’s what mattered most to me.
Conway: That’s wonderful to hear. Finally, Julia, after your directorial debut here with Wish You Were Here, what would you say is your professional direction today?Do you still feel like acting and directing, or do you need to focus more on an express craft as you go?
Stiles: I think they go hand-in-hand. I am totally hooked – I loved directing so, so much and I’ve never felt more energized. I know acting is also still a part of it. I think that I learned so much about acting from being behind the camera and being in the editing room. On the one hand, in the editing room, I kept saying like – I’m never stepping in front of a camera again because you see everything, but I will – I just might need a little confidence boost.
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