Mimi Leder Helms DreamWorks First Feature   BY Patricia Troy PHOTOS BY Myles Aronowitz

Mimi Leder, the first woman selected to study cinematography at the American Film Institute, is now the director of the first feature film produced by DreamWorks Pictures. The fact that The Peacemaker, now in theaters, and Deep Impact, currently in production, are action thrillers also makes her the first woman to direct films in that genre since Kathryn Bigelow helmed Strange Days.

Leder made the transition from cinematographer to director after working for six years as a script supervisor. Her short film, Short Order Dreams, served as a calling card and got the attention of Steven Bochco and Greg Hoblit, who hired her to direct an episode of L.A. Law. After working for two seasons as director/producer on China Beach, where she met and worked with writer/producer John Wells, Leder took a break from episodic TV and directed numerous television movies and dramatic pilots. It was Wells who would lure her back to full-time work by offering her the opportunity to become one of a handful of core directors for an offbeat Warner Bros. production he was writing and co-executive producing — a show that, according to the conventional wisdom of the time, wasn’t expected to last through its first season. The show was called ER.

Why did you decide to return to episodic work?

I thought about it — ‘Do I really want to go back into a television series?’ — but if I was going to do it with anybody it was going to be with John Wells, who is one of the most extraordinary human beings I’ve had the opportunity to know. And ER reunited the China Beach gang: John, myself, [writers] Lydia Woodward and Carol Flint. Of course, it wasn’t just us [on ER] — it was Chris Chulack, Paul Manning, Wendy Spence. But it was a rare experience, I think, to have worked with the same group of people on two series of such depth. If you really know and love the people that you work with, your work is so much better. Working on ER was like being in a candy store.

How did you get from ER to DreamWorks Pictures?

Steven Spielberg called me up and said, "I’ve got a really great action movie that spans four different countries and I’m interested in you doing it." And I said, "What makes you think I can do that?" He told me that he thought I was really good with action. Well, we’ll see, won’t we? I read the script and decided it was very challenging and not the typical feature that most women are offered, or that most directors coming out of television are offered because it’s a huge, big monster motion picture. I was very intrigued by the material and felt very attracted to it.

This is your first feature film?

Yes, but if somebody calls me a first-time director I’ll kill them because I’ve been directing for 10 years. It’s my first feature but it ain’t my first barbecue.

Big set pieces?

Huge set pieces! I had a train sequence, a helicopter sequence, a car-crash sequence and a chase on foot with explosions — the works. But it’s still, "Whose point of view do you tell the story from?" You’ve got to start somewhere. There’s always an interesting way to tell a story and make it different, hopefully, than the story you’ve just seen two movies ago.

Did directing The Peacemaker add any more skills to your repertoire?

Oh, God yes. It wasn’t the scope of the shots that was different, because I tend to shoot wide. I’ve done TV movies where I had the opportunity to shoot scope and tell a story with big pictures. What I learned on this movie was how to work with blue screen and CGI. I was taking a crash course. It is a fascinating world out there. And the experience of directing this movie was exhilarating. It was hard to be away from home for five months, to be in Slovakia, Macedonia, New York City. And working with Russian and Romanian actors through interpreters was very cool. There were literally five or six languages going on all the time.

How did you handle that?

You have to be as direct as you can and go right to the point. I also taught them a few good English phrases like, "If you want me, I’ll be in my trailer" or "Yes, I will do that but it will cost you."

How was your experience with a big-budget postproduction?

It was absolutely luxurious because in television you shoot [a story] in eight days and edit eight days and you turn them around in four days. I had a very long post-production schedule that gave us a long time for reflection. It was an absolutely I’m-spoiled-for-life type of schedule. Not only was the schedule luxurious but I worked with such high-quality people like Hans Zimmer, our composer, who had such an ear for this movie because he’s a very emotional person. He gets so involved in the movie that he almost lives it through his music. It was a wonderfully great experience to work with Hans. He’ll be scoring Deep Impact as well. My editor, David Rosenbloom, did an extraordinary job on this movie and it was an exciting experience to work with him.

How did you put together your directorial team — the AD, 2nd unit, etc.?

Well, I interviewed people. I interviewed a number of 2nd unit directors, but Conrad Palmisano was the 2nd unit director/stunt coordinator who was most in sync with my way of thinking and doing things. I knew he had done good work in the past, and I felt we could work together very well.

Had you worked with any of them before?

It was a whole new group of people. The only person with whom I had worked before was Guy Bee, our Steadicam operator from ER. When I was offered the movie, I asked Guy to come along as the Steadicam/A camera operator on the picture.

What was the most difficult portion or sequence of the film to direct?

The "demolition derby" sequence. It was a huge puzzle from A to Z, and it was tedious to shoot because it involved so many cuts. We had many meetings and discussions with little mini cars banging into each other. It may not have been the most emotionally gratifying sequence, but it was the most difficult, and once it was done, I felt very good about it. It was like childbirth, it was very painful but rewarding. Before I began, I thought the train scene was going to be the most difficult, but it became quite an exciting sequence to shoot. I was most apprehensive about that sequence because I didn’t know much about trains, so I went to every train yard in Eastern Europe and learned everything I could about them. I watched films and looked at the speed in which the trains moved in the day as opposed to the night, and I actually fell in love with trains. I just love the way they look — the white billowing smoke at night — it was quite beautiful. Logistically, the most difficult part of that sequence was working on single tracks, double tracks and on a moving train. It was challenging, but it was a lot of fun.

What’s your secret to maintaining your stamina considering the physical and mental demands of a shoot?

Well, you have to take lots of vitamins and exercise a lot, which also helps you emotionally. Once you start a movie, you’re moving non-stop. Your adrenaline is flowing, and that sort of helps you get through.

What was it like working with special effects crews?

Working with effects always takes time and I like to move quickly, so it was a bit tedious. Working with computer-generated images was a whole new arena for me. What I didn’t know, I learned very quickly.

What elements did you have to keep in your mind for the CGI crews and the mattes?

With the CGI, we shot everything outside … which is what you don’t want to do. We shot all our blue screen outside on a real bridge, and then, just a little bit away from the real bridge, we had a bridge with a truck, hanging upside down. We hung the truck over and laid a large blue screen below it with our dangling man. This permitted us to get the angles we wanted from below as well as from above with ample safety for our actor. We used the blue screen to enhance the gorge of our bridge. It was a huge drop, but I wanted it bigger. The effects in the movie are really there as a support. It’s not really an effects movie at all. Most of the effects we did in terms of the explosions are practical … except, of course, the nuclear explosion.

Did you use storyboards?

Yes, but just for the action sequences.

Had you used them before?

I used them once before on a pilot I did called Rio Shannon. I had to shoot a barn-raising scene and I didn’t know anything about barn raisings, so I read a book about building a barn and then I got a storyboard artist and went from there. It helps you put together a sequence and figure out how you’re going to shoot it if you map it out ahead of time, but normally I don’t work with storyboards.

Did you have final cut on The Peacemaker?

I never left the process. I did my cut and then Steven [Spielberg] came in and went over the cut. I got notes from Steven for the final cut. They were great notes. We worked together to finish it. He gave me great respect in all aspects of making this movie. He let me make my movie.

Do you think that has anything to do with the fact that Spielberg is a fellow director and is very enthusiastic about other people’s work?

Yes. He is an amazing person and has an amazing capacity to give, which I think is a very good quality in a director and a person. He was extremely supportive and respectful. His ability to cheer you on makes you do better work. Having that kind of support really helped me get through it because it was an extremely challenging experience.

How was your experience with the two lead actors in The Peacemaker — Nicole Kidman and George Clooney?

Nicole Kidman worked extremely hard. Her character is a very precise type of person and she works precisely as well. Nicole is very smart, well-prepared, fun. It’s great working with an actor who has such great depth and wants to go places where they’ve never been before emotionally, so working with Nicole was wonderful.

You have a long working relationship with George Clooney from your days together on ER and he has a reputation for being a huge practical joker. Did you ever have to tell him, ‘Look, George, the budget’s too big, I don’t have the time, if you do one practical joke I’m going to strangle you!’?

No way! George’s antics are what kept us going. His great sense of humor is well-needed when you’re in the middle of eastern Europe trying to get through the day. I wouldn’t have had it any other way. What can I say about George? He’s a very smart actor. The role of Major Devoe was tailor-made for him. He brought strength, competence and intelligence to the character. If I wanted somebody to save the world, it would be George.

Are you happy with the final version of The Peacemaker?

Yes, I’m thrilled with it! I know I’m not supposed to say that. I’m supposed to say, "You tell me."

Have you been feeling any of the stress some directors feel when they have a big-budget film coming out in terms of box-office expectations and the numbers?

I try not to think about it because I think you drive yourself crazy if you think about how the movie is going to do and how much it’s going to make. It sort of paralyzes you to think about that constantly. When I was making the movie I never thought about how much it cost. I just thought about how best to tell the story. You can’t direct a movie thinking about how much it costs. Of course there are limitations on how you implement shots in terms of the budget restrictions. But once you start thinking, "Oh my God, I’m directing a huge movie" it paralyzes you. So I did not think about that in that way.

I was told that after Deep Impact you have a three-picture contract with DreamWorks.

No, one out of my next two movies will be done at DreamWorks and what I hope to be doing is a script called Sentimental Journey that was written by my father, Paul Leder, and rewritten by my brother, Reuben Leder. It’s about my parents. My mother is a survivor of Auschwitz and my father was a soldier in General Patton’s army.

Have you made any plans or had any discussions about how you’re going to work out your television deal with Warner Bros. and your film deal with DreamWorks? And how does it feel to have two major production houses fighting over you?

It feels pretty good. I don’t know what I’m going to do in terms of my television deal. If I can find a story that I’m in love with, that I want to develop as a weekly series, that I feel I can live with for a while and that people will respond to, we’ll see. I think television is a great way to change the world and reach people. I really like immediate gratification —that’s why I like television so much. My daughter said to me, "Mom, I don’t want you to go back to television. I want you to do another movie but I want it to be a romantic comedy and I want you to shoot it in Los Angeles." I thought that was pretty funny coming from a 10 year old.

Did she tell you why she wanted you to do a romantic comedy set in L.A.?

She doesn’t want me to go away again. And she wants me to do a movie that her friends can watch since her friends can’t watch ER because when I was doing ER her friends were eight or nine. And, by the way, my daughter couldn’t see ER until recently, and then only the ones I selected because it’s pretty hard-hitting material.

How do you balance your work and family life? Did you take your daughter on set with you?

It’s different when you’re a director, when you have a child. At least for me it is — I can’t speak for other directors. Toting your child around on a set when you’re directing is nearly impossible. But my daughter certainly visits me on set. And when I shot THE PEACEMAKER she was with me for three months. I was fortunate enough to shoot The Peacemaker during the summer so that my family could come with me. Unless you’re willing to take your child out of school and give them the kind of education that’s one-on- one, with tutors — but then they miss out on the interpersonal relationships of growing up with other children. That’s my dilemma of late because I really don’t want to go off to foreign countries and leave my family.

One thing I’ve noticed is that a lot of male directors have started making the same kind of choices.

Yes, they want to be with their families — of course. It’s about making choices. Hopefully, you make the right ones. A director is a director and I hope one day that I’m just called ‘Mimi Leder, director’ instead of ‘Mimi Leder, the action director’ or ‘Mimi Leder, the female director.’ One day, maybe that’ll change.

Are you active in the DGA?

I mentored a couple of women through the DGA and I think it was a great experience for them as well as for me. I have a lot of respect for Martha Coolidge who co-chairs the Creative Rights Committee at the DGA, as well as everyone else on the Committee. They have done a great deal to protect the rights of directors. And I think the Guild has really put itself forward in helping us to do that.

Patricia Troy is a Los Angeles–based freelance writer.

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