 |
|
|
 |
 |
| MOVIE DIRECTOR -- RICHARD GALE Interview By Naomi Tsuchiga Movie director Richard Gale has recently sold his latest film "Pressure" to one of the world's biggest video distributors, Blockbuster. His passion and talent towards movie making are necessities to becoming a successful film director. When he was eleven years old, he used a super 8 wind-up camera to make a his first short film: animating his toys in stop-motion. He dreamed of being a movie director when he was impressed by "Star Wars" at twelve years old. "I don't know what I would do besides making films," he said. His determination has been very clear since he was a child. When he was a UCLA student, he took some film classes and writing classes, and gained a lot of knowledge about making movies by making his own short films. His first job after UCLA was as a cameraman at a local cable TV station. His rich knowledge of filmmaking was immediately noticed and he was promoted to working as a director, writer, editor, and producer for the company. His documentary "Voices of Hope", won the Local Cable ACE Award for Best Documentary. In addition, he made news, magazine shows and his other works which have been highly admired and some were nominated by the National Cable TV Academy. After he received the award for "Voices of Hope," he gained confidence and thought, "I can make a living as a movie director." Richard made his first feature film by budgeting and financing it himself. He directed, produced, edited, photographed, and composed the music for "The Kidnapping," a suspense thriller movie. The movie won the award for Best Director at the Atlantic City Film Festival. His excellent movie was seen by one production company which asked him to write and direct the suspense movie "The Proposal." He chose the main actress, Jennifer Esposito who was in a popular TV drama "Spin City" and recently in the movie "Don't Say a Word" starring Michael Douglas. "The Proposal" was sold to Miramax and a lot of film distributors from many different countries. After this successful movie, he was asked to direct "Pressure," a suspense action film. This time he chose as main actor Kerr Smith who played a gay character in a popular TV show "Dawson's Creek." The movie is a fast tempo thriller. This movie also was highly admired by all over the world. His movies are all suspense, and he loves to watch suspense movies. "I want to make the kind of movie which I would want to see, suspense, horror, and with humor," he said with shiny eyes. His next goal is to show his movies in a lot of theaters so that many people can enjoy or be scared by them. And someday, "The ideal is to be like Spielberg who can make whatever kind of film he wants." It would probably happen in the future. The journey of making films is never easy, but it can be very satisfying. His talent, efforts, patience and stubborn attraction toward movies made his career so far. In the beginning he had to do everything, writing the script, directing, producing and many other things. And he applied his movie to film festivals. Each step has made him a better director. Experience and a lot of connections have lead him to become a successful director. His journey should continue to a bright future. In the end of the interview, Richard was asked about a tip to becoming a movie director. He advises people who want to be a director: First, buy a video camera and begin to shoot. The more you shoot, the more you will learn each step. Submit your film to film festivals and see how your movie does. Also, people who live in L.A. have great opportunities to meet people who are related to the film industry. To connect to those people is key as well. |