James Gray

1 sketch, 17 claims, and 23 fun items attributed to them. What was said about them.

Personality, episode by episode

The Big Picture: ‘The Lost City of Z’ Director James Gray | The Big Picture (Ep. 9) (guest)

Loves classical, big-canvas cinema: Coppola, Lean, Hitchcock, Kubrick, Fellini, Scorsese. Believes in the communal theater experience and the 90 to 120 minute feature. Wary of testing-driven, branded product; admires directors who build a name as a brand. Respects TV (Sopranos, Breaking Bad) but calls it a different muscle.

Stances

  • Films should be personal, not formula; audiences catch up later
  • Failure is the norm; stay Zen and keep trying
  • Theatrical viewing is better than a phone or computer; sad about its decline
  • Movies are not beholden to literal historical fact
  • Wants to keep making features rather than go to TV

Humor: Self-deprecating storyteller with comic exaggeration and deadpan, such as the accountant in Minsk and the black caiman story.

In their words

  • “I'm genetically designed to be an accountant in Minsk not to be hanging out in Amazonia.” (0:07:25)
  • “Hitch blew it this time, said the reviews.” (0:14:31)
  • “I'm luckier than 99.99% of all humans that have ever existed.” (0:16:08)

Their shows' recurring bits

Running bits, not opinions; a critic read aloud is cited, not present.

The Big Picture

Their claims

Showing 1–17 of 17 claims.

  1. people (people): Brad Pitt → The Lost City of Z. Pitt, Dede Gardner and Jeremy Kleiner, the producers, sent Gray the book though nothing in his work suggested jungle fit.
    “Brad Pitt and DD Guard and Jeremy Kleiner, who are the producers of the movie, why they sent it to me”
    The Big Picture · ‘The Lost City of Z’ Director James Gray | The Big Picture (Ep. 9) · 0:01:21 · James Gray (0.90 sure it was them)
  2. lineage (lineage): The Lost City of Z → Fitzcarraldo. Gray places Fitzcarraldo with Aguirre and Apocalypse Now as the famous painful jungle shoots his own film risks resembling.
    “the thing about Fitzgaraldo, which sits, you know, sort of in the firmament, along with Agira, the wrath of God, and Apocalypse Now”
    The Big Picture · ‘The Lost City of Z’ Director James Gray | The Big Picture (Ep. 9) · 0:06:45 · James Gray (0.90 sure it was them)
  3. verdict (verdict): Burden of Dreams → Fitzcarraldo. The documentary is funny but mortifying because people died making the film.
    “people got killed making that move”
    The Big Picture · ‘The Lost City of Z’ Director James Gray | The Big Picture (Ep. 9) · 0:07:06 · James Gray (0.90 sure it was them)
  4. contrast (contrast): The Lost City of Z → Apocalypse Now. Coppola's shoot ran about 270 days against Gray's four months, though Gray says four months is still punishing.
    “We were there for 4 months.”
    The Big Picture · ‘The Lost City of Z’ Director James Gray | The Big Picture (Ep. 9) · 0:11:43 · James Gray (0.80 sure it was them)
  5. career (career): Vertigo → Alfred Hitchcock. Vertigo, now rated the greatest film ever, was a failure for Hitchcock in its day, so audiences have to catch up.
    “It was a big failure for Hitchcock.”
    The Big Picture · ‘The Lost City of Z’ Director James Gray | The Big Picture (Ep. 9) · 0:14:10 · James Gray (0.90 sure it was them)
  6. lineage (lineage): James Gray → Alfred Hitchcock. Gray names Hitchcock, Kubrick, Scorsese and Coppola as heroes with lengthy careers.
    “all of the heroes of mine who have had lengthy and beautiful careers in the cinema, whether it's Mr. Hitchcock or Stanley Kubrick or Martin Scorsese or Francis Ford Coppola”
    The Big Picture · ‘The Lost City of Z’ Director James Gray | The Big Picture (Ep. 9) · 0:16:37 · James Gray (0.90 sure it was them)
  7. verdict (verdict): La Strada → Federico Fellini. Fellini's films were treated badly in Italy; La Strada was judged bad until America discovered him.
    “Even Lestrada was considered, you know, bad movie, and it took America to sort of discover him.”
    The Big Picture · ‘The Lost City of Z’ Director James Gray | The Big Picture (Ep. 9) · 0:17:17 · James Gray (0.90 sure it was them)
  8. lineage (lineage): James Gray → Stanley Kubrick. Gray says if Fellini and Kubrick got slaughtered for it, he must readjust his expectations.
    “well, if it happens to someone as great as Fellini or Stanley Kubrick,”
    The Big Picture · ‘The Lost City of Z’ Director James Gray | The Big Picture (Ep. 9) · 0:17:33 · James Gray (0.90 sure it was them)
  9. industry (industry): The Godfather → The Godfather Part II. Both were rare cases where personal work also clicked commercially.
    “and his masterpieces, and they are beyond genius, somehow clicked commercially”
    The Big Picture · ‘The Lost City of Z’ Director James Gray | The Big Picture (Ep. 9) · 0:18:10 · James Gray (0.90 sure it was them)
  10. career (career): Wes Anderson → James Gray. Gray admires that his friend Wes Anderson built a brand audiences trust.
    “what I've admired about Wes from afar, as much as I can admire him from afar, is that he has created a kind of brand for himself.”
    The Big Picture · ‘The Lost City of Z’ Director James Gray | The Big Picture (Ep. 9) · 0:20:18 · James Gray (0.90 sure it was them)
  11. industry (industry): Wes Anderson → Coen Brothers. Gray groups Anderson with the Coens: people go to their films on the strength of the name.
    “people go to his movies on the basis of his name or the Cohen brothers and people like that.”
    The Big Picture · ‘The Lost City of Z’ Director James Gray | The Big Picture (Ep. 9) · 0:20:48 · James Gray (0.90 sure it was them)
  12. craft (craft): The Godfather → Mario Puzo. Coppola cut huge sections of Puzo's novel, as Gray cut Grann's book.
    “even there, Francis took out huge sections of the book and made very interesting decisions.”
    The Big Picture · ‘The Lost City of Z’ Director James Gray | The Big Picture (Ep. 9) · 0:23:12 · James Gray (0.90 sure it was them)
  13. contrast (contrast): The Lost City of Z → Adaptation. Gray rejected a postmodern retelling like Adaptation, already done well, for a classical epic.
    “I had seen a kind of postmodern retelling, you know, adaptation, for example, with Nicholas Cage, which is a beautiful film”
    The Big Picture · ‘The Lost City of Z’ Director James Gray | The Big Picture (Ep. 9) · 0:24:12 · James Gray (0.90 sure it was them)
  14. lineage (lineage): The Lost City of Z → David Lean. Gray wanted an old-fashioned English-language epic in the style of David Lean or Coppola.
    “a movie in the style almost of like David Lean or Francis Ford Coppola or something like that”
    The Big Picture · ‘The Lost City of Z’ Director James Gray | The Big Picture (Ep. 9) · 0:24:31 · James Gray (0.90 sure it was them)
  15. industry (industry): The Lost City of Z → Amazon. Gray says the future is Amazon and Netflix, home viewing, and mourns the lost communal experience.
    “is a world which is Amazon and Netflix, where Essentially, you mostly watch these things at home on your 60 or 70 inch television.”
    The Big Picture · ‘The Lost City of Z’ Director James Gray | The Big Picture (Ep. 9) · 0:28:06 · James Gray (0.90 sure it was them)
  16. industry (industry): The Wizard of Oz → It's a Wonderful Life. Both flopped financially and TV let audiences rediscover them.
    “People don't know that the Wizard of Oz, and it's a wonderful life, we're both catastrophes financially.”
    The Big Picture · ‘The Lost City of Z’ Director James Gray | The Big Picture (Ep. 9) · 0:29:35 · James Gray (0.90 sure it was them)
  17. theme (theme): The Sopranos → Breaking Bad. Gray names both TV shows as proof television can be extraordinary.
    “I loved the sopranos and I loved Breaking Bad.”
    The Big Picture · ‘The Lost City of Z’ Director James Gray | The Big Picture (Ep. 9) · 0:30:39 · James Gray (0.90 sure it was them)

Their fun items

Showing 1–23 of 23 fun items.

  1. fun, about Stanley Kubrick: Gray opens with Kubrick's line that choosing a film is like asking why you married your wife.
    “it's a little bit like, you know, uh, asking why you married your wife”
    The Big Picture · ‘The Lost City of Z’ Director James Gray | The Big Picture (Ep. 9) · 0:00:53 · James Gray (0.90 sure it was them)
  2. fun, about The Lost City of Z: The part of the book that hooked Gray was Fawcett's father, an alcoholic who ruined two family fortunes.
    “And it says his father was an alcoholic who destroyed not one but 2 family fortunes.”
    The Big Picture · ‘The Lost City of Z’ Director James Gray | The Big Picture (Ep. 9) · 0:01:54 · James Gray (0.90 sure it was them)
  3. fun, about The Lost City of Z: A friend told Gray the explorer is a metaphor for directing.
    “a metaphor for movie directing”
    The Big Picture · ‘The Lost City of Z’ Director James Gray | The Big Picture (Ep. 9) · 0:02:38 · James Gray (0.90 sure it was them)
  4. fun, about Cleopatra: Gray jokes that a century from now films will look like the pyramids, and notes Cleopatra's 10,000 extras can't be done again.
    “look at us having made films as a civilization and look at it as like making the pyramids”
    The Big Picture · ‘The Lost City of Z’ Director James Gray | The Big Picture (Ep. 9) · 0:03:52 · James Gray (0.90 sure it was them)
  5. fun, about Cleopatra: Gray cites Mankiewicz's 10,000-extras scene as a marvel of scale.
    “has a scene where there's 10,000 extras”
    The Big Picture · ‘The Lost City of Z’ Director James Gray | The Big Picture (Ep. 9) · 0:04:12 · James Gray (0.90 sure it was them)
  6. fun, about The Lost City of Z: Gray went to where Fawcett was, found it clear-cut for soybeans, and had to invent the reality.
    “And you look around and you think this is Nebraska.”
    The Big Picture · ‘The Lost City of Z’ Director James Gray | The Big Picture (Ep. 9) · 0:05:26 · James Gray (0.90 sure it was them)
  7. fun, about Burden of Dreams: Documentary about Fitzcarraldo's making is both funny and mortifying.
    “which is both really funny because Herzog is very funny and extremely engaging, and also absolutely mortifying”
    The Big Picture · ‘The Lost City of Z’ Director James Gray | The Big Picture (Ep. 9) · 0:07:06 · James Gray (0.90 sure it was them)
  8. fun, about James Gray: Gray's self-image: not built for the jungle.
    “I'm genetically designed to be an accountant in Minsk not to be hanging out in Amazonia.”
    The Big Picture · ‘The Lost City of Z’ Director James Gray | The Big Picture (Ep. 9) · 0:07:25 · James Gray (0.90 sure it was them)
  9. fun, about The Lost City of Z: On set, Gray asked about crocodiles; the producer said none, then it was a black caiman, which his editor said was worse.
    “He said, Mr. James is not a crocodile.”
    The Big Picture · ‘The Lost City of Z’ Director James Gray | The Big Picture (Ep. 9) · 0:08:48 · James Gray (0.90 sure it was them)
  10. fun, about The Lost City of Z: Shooting at night, the river rose and swamped the set within seconds; the cameraman ran with the camera over his head.
    “within 30 seconds, The biggest rush of water I have ever seen came and overtook not just the set, but all of us.”
    The Big Picture · ‘The Lost City of Z’ Director James Gray | The Big Picture (Ep. 9) · 0:10:24 · James Gray (0.90 sure it was them)
  11. fun, about The Lost City of Z: After two weeks in the jungle Gray wanted dumplings from Din Tai Fung.
    “the dumplings sent to you from Din Tai Fung with the soy sauce”
    The Big Picture · ‘The Lost City of Z’ Director James Gray | The Big Picture (Ep. 9) · 0:12:30 · James Gray (0.90 sure it was them)
  12. fun, about Vertigo: Reviewers said Hitchcock had blown it; it is now called the greatest film ever made.
    “Hitch blew it this time, said the reviews.”
    The Big Picture · ‘The Lost City of Z’ Director James Gray | The Big Picture (Ep. 9) · 0:14:31 · James Gray (0.90 sure it was them)
  13. fun, about The Beatles: Gray wonders if the Beatles would have landed as big without Kennedy's assassination: success depends on history.
    “and Ed Sullivan in February of 64, been greeted with such rapturousness”
    The Big Picture · ‘The Lost City of Z’ Director James Gray | The Big Picture (Ep. 9) · 0:19:22 · James Gray (0.90 sure it was them)
  14. fun, about James Gray: Gray's formula for a guaranteed hit: test it to death and base it on an existing brand.
    “The only way to make a film you know that will be a success would be to basically test the movie like crazy”
    The Big Picture · ‘The Lost City of Z’ Director James Gray | The Big Picture (Ep. 9) · 0:19:56 · James Gray (0.90 sure it was them)
  15. fun, about Wes Anderson: Gray calls a director's brand the most elegant form of big Macization.
    “It is, it is the most elegant form of sort of big Macization.”
    The Big Picture · ‘The Lost City of Z’ Director James Gray | The Big Picture (Ep. 9) · 0:21:10 · James Gray (0.90 sure it was them)
  16. fun, about The Godfather: A book of Coppola's original notes on the novel's pages, the Godfather notebook, has just been published.
    “A wonderful book called The Godfather notebook that has just been published about Francis's original notes on the pages of the book itself.”
    The Big Picture · ‘The Lost City of Z’ Director James Gray | The Big Picture (Ep. 9) · 0:23:25 · James Gray (0.90 sure it was them)
  17. fun, about The Lost City of Z: Adapting all of Grann's book would have been a 27-hour miniseries.
    “that would be a 27 hour long miniseries, maybe interesting only to me.”
    The Big Picture · ‘The Lost City of Z’ Director James Gray | The Big Picture (Ep. 9) · 0:23:42 · James Gray (0.90 sure it was them)
  18. fun, about Richard III: Gray on fidelity: nobody throws fruit because Richard III is inaccurate.
    “You don't go to Shakespeare's Richard III and say, it's not very accurate, Richard III, now, is it?”
    The Big Picture · ‘The Lost City of Z’ Director James Gray | The Big Picture (Ep. 9) · 0:25:28 · James Gray (0.90 sure it was them)
  19. fun, about The Lost City of Z: The first draft script ran 175 pages, about three hours.
    “I believe was 175 pages, which is very long.”
    The Big Picture · ‘The Lost City of Z’ Director James Gray | The Big Picture (Ep. 9) · 0:26:06 · James Gray (0.90 sure it was them)
  20. fun, about Opera: Gray's parallel for film's decline: 400,000 people lined Rome's streets for Verdi's funeral.
    “when Verdi died, 400,000 people lined the streets of Rome for his funeral.”
    The Big Picture · ‘The Lost City of Z’ Director James Gray | The Big Picture (Ep. 9) · 0:27:24 · James Gray (0.90 sure it was them)
  21. fun, about James Gray: Watching a film on a phone is like seeing paintings as postcards.
    “I've looked at so-and-so's paintings, uh, in a, as a series of postcards.”
    The Big Picture · ‘The Lost City of Z’ Director James Gray | The Big Picture (Ep. 9) · 0:28:50 · James Gray (0.90 sure it was them)
  22. fun, about The Sopranos: The Pantoliano episode left Gray physically shaking.
    “I remember watching it. and shaking, like physically shaking afterwards.”
    The Big Picture · ‘The Lost City of Z’ Director James Gray | The Big Picture (Ep. 9) · 0:30:59 · James Gray (0.90 sure it was them)
  23. fun, about The Godfather: Gray calls The Godfather a locomotive through the chest, unlike TV.
    “And the thing is like a locomotive that plunges its way through the center of your chest”
    The Big Picture · ‘The Lost City of Z’ Director James Gray | The Big Picture (Ep. 9) · 0:33:38 · James Gray (0.90 sure it was them)