The Talks
Claudio Miranda: “Make it as real as possible”
Mr. Miranda, as a cinematographer, how far are you willing to go to get the perfect shot?
(Laughs) Well, I like doing lots of homework and prep in order to make the director’s ideas possible. I think there are certain directors who like to have me on their team early on, because the earlier I join, the earlier I can start going through the tools that are available for me. I’ve started some projects nine months in advance so that I could start the process of building cameras, talking to companies about building certain rigs. With Top Gun: Maverick, I went through all the jets, I found the perfect old F-18 and removed all the junk out of it to fit a camera in there. People said, “Oh, you don't need that,” or “Just put one camera in there.” I put in six!
Apparently you also got your pilot license in order to make that film.
These are movies that I'm really, truly invested in, you know? I'm actually working on a Star Wars film right now and they're letting me go kind of nuts with the lighting… I'm just finding a lot of ways to explore, to see how far can I go in any direction, and that is super exciting.
“There’s only one of you in the world. No one else is like you and that's a superpower.”
“The entire aim of my work is to elevate the human spirit.”
“We’re going after it. We’re going after what we believe and what we deserve and we’re not taking the back seat anymore. I see an improvement in the way that we as women are standing together and paving the way for the next generations. It’s time for that.”
“As a photographer, as long as I remain truthful with myself in the transaction, as long as I maintain a level of empathy for my humanity in that process, then what is being translated back is honest and the transaction is not objectified.”
“It was eye opening and an education really, a masterclass working with Martin Scorsese on Killers of the Flower Moon. That talent! Of course, you are in the presence of a master, working with him.”
“You can’t measure something like who is the best chef in the world. Whether I’m the best or not, no one can really say. However, my restaurant elBulli was certainly the most influential restaurant in the world.”
“I am very grateful for the films I’ve made. I’ve been able to make movies for $1 million and I’ve been able to make movies for $195 million. I can do what I want in different sizes for different reasons. I have been able to do 10 more movies than I thought I would ever make!”
“What I am looking for in this world is a sense of not feeling alone, and that’s one of the greatest gifts you can give to another person. I hope that my work does that. I hope that when people leave the theater they feel less alone.”
“I am not that interested at the moment to work for the sake of others, I’m not interested in doing commissions. I'm way more interested in creating art for art's sake and in order to do that I have to believe in myself.”
“Although sometimes I feel tired and think I ought to give it up, I don’t want to just retire. No, I enjoy it all and you just keep going until the day comes when you can’t do it anymore.”
“when we finally put a piece together for the first time, seeing it all together, when it actually works… The excitement in the room is something I’ll never forget. It feels like a very powerful moment to be part of.”
“The thing I’ve gathered more of over the years is a self-confidence that’s to do with having done work that people have liked.”
“I remember driving in New York in 1976 and I put the brakes on quickly because there was the very, very first Vogue cover that I ever shot. Big, on a bus shelter! And I remember just pulling over and just staring at it. At that point it was a real dream to see one of your pictures there. I’d always dreamed of doing a Vogue cover!”
“I’m using my skills to create architecture that serves humanity. I’m talking about creating space for you so that you can feel comfortable, space that supports your work and activity.”
“You can catch ideas at a deeper level when you start meditating. Intuition grows, and intuition is the number one tool for an artist – feeling and thinking combined. The ideas are flowing, and the feeling that you can get it to feel correct. You know what that is. It’s a knowingness that grows. It’s really beautiful.”
“We have such a short time on this earth, and when you give that opportunity to somebody younger, and they pass it on to the next generation… That’s real success.”
“As a director, what I hope is to create situations where the actors will be able to be alive like real people even in the context of something that is quite manufactured.”
“After winning an Oscar, there’s an alertness to what you’re thinking or doing or saying. I feel like there’s an aliveness to the experience that wasn’t as attuned previously.”
“I knew what felt instinctively right for me, and I pursued that throughout my entire career. It’s the way I live; it’s the way I work. Everything that I’ve done and everything that I have is an extension of my personal taste.”
“There is something in leaving this place better than where you have left it, working on yourself, doing things with other people, there is something in that that feels right, deep in your core. I go with that.”
“The journey is everything! It’s a cliché, but I have really felt it in my own life, in the 25 or 30 years I’ve been in this… The goal is the process, really enjoying the process.”- “I thought for a long time as the business grew, “Is this something I want to do for the rest of my life?” And I knew it was not. When I left Calvin Klein, I had done almost everything I wanted to do in terms of creation of products. And re-doing was less fun.”
“The first song that I wrote was the way of discovering if I could write a song. And after that one I knew that I understood the form. Everything after that became more personal.”
“Over the course of my life, I have sacrificed love, private life, and time for me, all on the altar of work. But I have also created an empire that is important for so many.”
“I think the final circle in being an artist is connecting, making some conversation to the world you’re in. I think if you have that feeling of why you need to do something, you’ll find a way. And I think that really takes you forward!”- “I think I will stop working when I am finally satisfied… And I cannot see that in the foreseeable future. The urge to do better and even better than that is what pushes me forward.”
“I discovered early on that I’m the kind of person that experiments and makes mistakes but then it’s all worth it because once in a blue moon it hits home.”
“I am Valentino. I live in my own world. I love to create clothes, I love beautiful things. If they want to call me an icon, okay, then I am an icon.”
“When I swing and miss with a movie or a play, it’s life or death for me. I feel I don’t have any value, that there is no reason someone would want to be friends with me, that kind of thing… I think that is something that’s not going to change, so I try to use it as motivation.”
“You’ve got to actually write it. You’ve got to actually sit there and do it, it can’t just be about the experience. Lots of people have fantastic experiences in life, but don’t have any inclination to put pen to paper.”
“I started a very nice career, became quite successful, and at age 40 I won this prize. But when I got that prize, I realized that I hadn’t yet found my own language of cooking. So I got on my knees and gathered all the tools from my childhood and started working very hard on that. And that’s how it started.”
“My work is integrated completely into my life and vice-versa – I’ve been working since I was 16. My work is my life and my life is my work. It made me who I am.”
“I just try to live my life and just be who I am. If people really accept me they have to accept me as I am, you know what I mean? My highs and my lows and my vulnerabilities… It's who I am as a human being.”
“I hope the scale of my works is way bigger than what you see. I hope they live in you.”
“I think that one should make a house that really fits you like your second soul. It should be your most preferred place on earth!”
“There's going to be a moment where your work challenges you, where you’re at your limit… But if that deep love is really there, you're not going to abandon it. You are going to give your all to it!”
“When you are in a very, very tough moment of a day and have a lot of frustration because nothing is happening right—but you don’t give up—and suddenly that happens! That’s almost a transcendental thing.”
“I think it comes from my desire as a kid to do something artistic that would amaze people, you know? I wanted to do nothing less than that. Those are the projects that I love: figuring out what might just be possible but hasn't been done yet.”
“The guys who are real artists are people who have figured out the art of living; their art is art because they live. They have made living an art, they have made an art of living. They are constantly inputting life as opposed to expressing life.”
“I think a big part of writing comes out of an attempt to understand yourself. I just always felt whole when I was writing. I felt this kind of beautiful privacy that I never felt in any other way.”
Tony Cragg: “Where do you want to go with it?”
Mr. Cragg, as an artist, what motivates you to get up in the morning and start work on a sculpture?
I would say that one motivation for me is that there's so much more to do. That’s an incredible thing. There are endless possibilities in the materials, the territory is enormous and endless and wide, and that's really motivation enough to keep looking, keep discovering, keep making things.
How do you go about exploring those possibilities? Is it just about instinctively reacting to the material?
Well, you have to be careful with that. “Working instinctively” could just mean that I make anything that is interesting or looks interesting! No, no, in the background of my instinctive reaction to the material is always another level of concern: I'm genuinely interested in sculpture! My father thought it was an awful thing, a waste of time, but for me, it's a very rare use of materials. Humans use material for utilitarian reasons, but sculpture is not made to be sat on or drunk out of or whatever, it’s just developing new forms that give you new ideas, new emotions, new terms, new language. It gives you a lot of freedom.
Gary Card: “I’m doing it on my own terms”
Russell Tovey: “This is for everyone”
Rose Levy Beranbaum: “That was my epiphany”
Amy Homma: “Cinema connects us”
Jonas Kaufmann: “Find your true sound”
Josh O’Connor: “It only brings me joy”
Yulia Mahr: “How deep is that?”
Alexa Chung: “I don’t like being boxed in”
