Legendary director, Sam Mendes filmed the first scene of his new TV show, The Franchise in one take, just like he did with 1917. After directing Skyfall and Spectre, he says he hates green screen and says he has no idea how the next Bond films are going to work as they've killed off 007! Report by Jonesl. Like us on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/itn and follow us on Twitter at http://twitter.com/itn
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00:00Can I just say, what a marvel that first take was, like 1917, absolutely incredible. Why
00:06did you do that to yourself? It must have been pretty difficult.
00:08Well, you know, on the plus side, you get through a lot of text very quickly. You don't
00:13have to do any other set-ups. I felt it was like, I thought, do I do this again? But actually,
00:18I felt like I wanted to drop the audience into the middle of a movie, in the middle
00:24of shooting a movie. So day 25 rather than day one. And I wanted them to play catch-up
00:30with who the characters were, what they did, what their jobs were. And I felt like there
00:34was a way of doing it that introduced the characters, introduced the world, introduced
00:39the tone within one single three, I don't know how long it is, three-minute, four-minute
00:43take. And I felt in the end, we got somewhere, and that was nice. But the job was really
00:51to set up the insanity of the world there.
00:54Thanks for not using green screen. I'm so pleased you don't use green screen. You make
00:58it so real, and that's so different about you. How does this vary from Bond, this franchise?
01:03Well, you just said it. I mean, Bond is based in the real world. I did, I think, three days
01:08of green screen, maybe on Skyfall, and it felt like three weeks. I mean, it is really,
01:12really hard. Honestly, it's very easy to take the mickey out of people doing it, but it's
01:16very, very hard to do, because what you have to do is you have to explain constantly to
01:20the actors where they are, and what it looks like, what it feels like, and what's happening
01:24to them, and the wind, and the arctic conditions, or the boiling heat, or whatever it is. There's
01:29nothing to react to. And when you're on location as an actor or as a director, you're in the
01:34middle of something, and it gives you an immeasurable amount. You're in a world. Blue screen, green
01:41screen movie making, there is no world. There's just a studio. And so there's something heroic
01:45about the people who make one.
01:47And you said that you're not going to be involved, maybe, in the next one. What are people going
01:50through at the moment, trying to find a new lead? And what must be going through their
01:53lives, and how do they actually do it? What's the process to finding in someone the new
01:57Bond?
01:58Oh, I've no idea. I've never been involved in that particular search. I just know that
02:04Barbara Broccoli, I would have immense faith in her finding the right person. Every time
02:11it's regenerated, there has been a slew of articles, if you look back, and news stories
02:15about Bond is dead, it's over. In fact, when I did Skyfall, in the middle of pre-production,
02:21the studio went bankrupt, MGM. And I'd already signed on to the movie, and on the front page
02:27of Entertainment Weekly, the magazine, it said Bond is dead. And I thought, well, that's
02:31nice, because I'm supposed to be making the next movie.
02:35So I think that's part of the myth, is that it's going to no longer be relevant. And somehow
02:40they make it relevant. So I wouldn't discount anybody or any version of the story.
02:45Are you as excited as we are about it? You're going to be watching as a fan, right?
02:49Yes, I'm really excited to find out how they're going to get out of the corner that they painted
02:52themselves in by killing him. That's really an interesting question. I couldn't answer
02:58how they're going to do it.
02:59And what's your favourite franchise that isn't this one?
03:02Gosh. I think when Nolan did the Dark Knight franchise, that was pretty exciting. I think
03:07the Bourne franchise is pretty great. And I think the early Star Wars movies still get
03:12me. So, you know, they're the few.
03:13Thank you so much. Pleasure to see you.
03:14My pleasure. Thank you.
03:15And I like the director's scarf.
03:16I know. Indoor scarf. Internationally recognised.