Joston Ramon Theney: I love that movie from beginning to end and then I went online one day
and I saw the reviews and i'm like I was like what I don't get it this movie was incredible
Film Courage: Why is it so hard to make a great movie?
Joston: Hmm a good one. I think one it depends on your definition of great
I think that so many people are caught up and everybody else said it was great
and I think that's where most movies go wrong
somebody will tell somebody oh your movie's like this but with a little bit of that and they go
I didn't see that but okay and then they go back and they start looking at that movie and they
want to polish it now and make it a little bit more like that movie and it's it's that whole
it's that whole like looking at the guy next to you thing you know and judging yourself by how far
you've gotten ahead of everybody else that you're that is your peer or your you know your colleague
or whatnot trying to try to just get ahead of them and judging yourself judging your success
by how much more success you've had than them and that includes making a great movie I consider a
great movie to be one where I watched that movie and I couldn't turn it off I couldn't turn it off
that's watching it though I couldn't turn it off one of one of my favorite movies
is 44 inch chest nobody's seen it well I shouldn't say that let me not say nobody's seen it most
people in the u.s haven't seen it but it's called 44 inch chest I love that movie from beginning to
end and then I went online one day and I saw the reviews and i'm like I was like what I don't get
it this movie was incredible I mean I couldn't take my eyes off the screen it was so well written
every element of filmmaking was done to the nth degree I just didn't understand it right so I
don't know if certain people walked away going I guess we didn't make a great movie you know I felt
they made a great movie I felt they made one of the best movies ever I did and it's a small little
movie takes place in a flat you know I think it's an incredible movie I think it's a great movie
a lot of other people didn't think so but maybe the person who made the movie said
that's exactly what I wanted to make because that's how I would feel
when I sit down and I watch a film of mine it's all about how much of what was in here
made it on the screen and if it made it on the screen it went one day when I get to
at least 93 percent of whatever I wanted to being on the screen i'm gonna say that's
a great movie that's a great movie that's a successful movie i've made something successful
because that's what success means to me that's what a great movie made by me means right and
i'm hopeful that that person who made 44 inch chest felt that way because maybe people don't
feel that that was a great movie you said it was a foreign film it's it's made in the uk it has ray
it's going to bother me that I can't remember his name but leota no no no no not rayleigh he
was in he was in uh the the jack nicholson movie when he played the gangster the irish gangster
with leonardo dicaprio and all those guys I can't remember his name right off the top
of my head but you've seen him a million times and when you see 44 hours oh fine
no it's like I want to say it's like roy I mean ray like I don't know why I want to call it like
[ __ ] bird or something like that but I know that's not what it is but it's as soon as you see
him you're gonna say oh that guy no you know but it's it's him so many people so many names so many
people that you're gonna recognize immediately right as soon as it starts you're gonna see four
people you've seen in every movie you've ever seen and you're gonna say oh okay but they're all uk
actors right and the story is very simple there's a 44 inch chest and there's a guy inside of there
and the main character the protagonist is trying to decide should he kill him or not kill him
very simple premise he invites his friends over his friends are gangsters just like
he's a gangster and they're trying to help him work through his problem to decide if he should
kill this guy do you know who this guy is this is the guy that's been sleeping with his wife
in the whole movie i'm not ruining it that's the movie they're trying to decide
should he kill the guy or shouldn't he that's the whole movie and i'm telling
you it is a perfect movie from start to finish does it take place in one room
it doesn't take place in one room but definitely in one one flat okay one flat it it's incred
it's is done to an incredible level of filmmaking writing directing editing score everything is
incredible the acting is impeccable the special effects are impactable yes there are special
effects even in this this small film everything was done so perfectly so the definition of great
is really you know kind of subjective in terms of why is it so hard to make a great movie
I think if you have succeeded at accomplishing what you wanted to accomplish and you you feel
successful in it it's a great movie in terms of one that you've made now if you are talking about
just watching movies yeah there's a lot of movies that will let you down you know and maybe maybe
maybe this person who thinks that they made a great movie was just like a guy who I was telling
you about who stunted his growth because all he's concerned about is how he measures up against
the other filmmakers that he knows in his peer group and if he's thinking about that and he's
constantly throwing in stuff and falling back on bad habits and never growing he may be satisfied
but he hasn't made a great movie you know I think that you have to be beyond that one of the
one of the best you know quotes is is from the art of war where it talks about you know
making yourself invincible right and invincible doesn't mean that you can't that you win that
doesn't mean you win all that invincible means is putting yourself beyond the possibility of defeat
and the only way to do that is by truly knowing yourself you should truly know yourself and not
spend your time so concerned with what everybody else is doing it's one of the reasons why I took
down my personal profile on facebook I don't want to know what everybody else is working I just want
to focus I just want to focus and I want to grow that's all I want to do is focus and grow and so
you have to be without that vanity you have to be without that ego so that you you have the ability
to grow and when you are making something you're constantly growing and getting better
and you can understand what didn't work what did work you can understand how could I have
better communicated that so that it ended up on the screen the way that I wanted it to and
how close did I get to the vision that I had in my head how close did I really truly get and even
with one to one where I considered to be my best film to date if you ask me how close I got i'd say
75 if i'm being generous with myself from being generous with myself I got 75
i'm trying to get in the 90s i'm trying to get in the 90s and so that I can consider it a great film
so that I can consider it a successful film I find that our greatest enemy besides
constant comparing yourselves to your peers the enemy of great or the enemy of good is sometimes
trying to be great as opposed to just trying to make the best movie possible you're trying to
be great don't try to be great just try to be truthful and honest to the story
to your characters try that be as honest and truthful as you can in that moment that story
like I said made that truth may not resonate with everybody in the sense of it's their truth
but they have to understand that you were being honest when you were making this film.
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