We see the finished product, when we head to theaters and see a movie. What we don’t see is all the work that is goes into that movie. The hours and hours of stunts, takes & re-takes, editing, but all that wouldn’t be possible without an amazing director. That is just what Robert Stromberg is. Maleficent was his directorial debut and what a debut to have! He was such a down to earth person and it was such an enjoyable experience getting to talk with him about everything from meeting with Angelina to helping parents advise their kids if they want to be in film.
On if he had worked with Angelina before Maleficent
I hadn’t. I went to her house the first day I met her. What was really great is, we didn’t talk about the movie for the first hour. I’ll never forget, we just sat on some back steps in her backyard, and watched her kids play. We talked about life and being a parent, just normal stuff.
I think that’s why we connected. We had to find out that we were both human beings first, before we tacked human being problems. That was a special moment for me. I wasn’t necessarily intimidated by her, but I had never seen the human, motherly quality in there before.
On if he had a hand in picking Angelina for the role of Maleficent
She was actually already attached when Disney hired me. They were looking for a director, but she was already engaged with the character. She had wanted to do this character for a long time. So, lucky for me, I didn’t have to do much digging on that part. It was this perfectly made, iconic combination that I was blessed to have.
You have this iconic figure, that wasn’t it. What really surprised me, was the emotional depth and the richness of the emotional part of that character was. When you combine that with her image, that’s what made it powerful.
On how his directorial debut differed from being on set in the art department
I’ve always wanted to be a director. I got sidetracked by this pesky, art direction stuff. But it was part of the journey. I’m glad that I did all that stuff, because it prepared me not only being around these big movies, but also getting to meet a lot of great directors. I met Peter Weir, and we became close friends on a movie called Master and Commander. He taught me a lot about how to talk to actors and to get at an emotional level with them. Then I spent four years with Jim Cameron and that was useful in knowing how to be strong when you need to be. I worked with Tim Burton and saw how an artist can direct. So there are all these directors, but they do it in different ways. I came into this with a lot of experience.
Not only that, you have to have emotion yourself. You have to have spent your life studying human behavior. Really paying attention to why people react a certain way, when they’re told something. I think it’s all those little bits of information, plus all of the knowledge I got from just my experience with other directors. Then the confidence to be at the same level with somebody, in finding the emotion of that character. That’s what made me feel comfortable in being a director.
On his favorite scene to direct
**Possible tiny spoiler alert**
I think there are many, different, special moments. The christening scene because in the film, we’re doing a retelling. We’re not just doing a straight out of the box remake of that classic version. So, it was very intentional that when you watch the movie, you’ve learned a whole bunch of new material. When you get to that center point of the movie we, shot that scene almost verbatim, word for word, from the classic cartoon version.
That was so that you now had all this new, fun information that you had learned, you can understand why that character is doing what she’s doing. Then you get to see what happens after that. So it wasn’t challenging but, or me personally, just standing there, with several hundred extras in this huge set, and she came into the room in that costume….at that moment, I was just in awe.
What Robert Says to parents who have kids that may want to go into the film industry
It’s obviously very competitive, but to follow your passion. I’ve never done this because I wanted to be recognized. I’ve never done this because I wanted to make oodles of money. You do this because you’re passionate about it. You do this because creating is your world….until you have kids that is, then they become your world
Check out this behind the scenes look at part of Maleficent
After the interview we had a chance to just visit with Robert and talk about parenting and see what a nice guy he is. It was like talking to one of my good friends! He definitely hit it out of the ball park for his directorial debut, and you’ll be able to see just how awesome TOMORROW when Maleficent hits theaters, because you know you want to go see!
Check out my interviews with Angelina Jolie, Elle Fanning, and Sharlto Copley. Keep up with all things Maleficent on Facebook and twitter, @Maleficent (#MaleficentEvent). Be sure to check back tomorrow when I can finally share my thoughts on the movie!
Toni Patton
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