Alec:

I’m Alec Baldwin and Here’s the Thing. Stephen Daldry grew up in the theater.  He began directing plays at age 16.  He went on to run several theaters before spending most of the 1990s at the Royal Court in London.  The New York Times has described as the Court as “the most important theatre in Europe.”  Over 10 years ago, a friend brought him a film script which he decided to direct.  That film, Billy Elliot, earned him a Best Director nomination.  So did his next two films, The Hours and The Reader. His fourth movie, "Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close," opens on Christmas.  It’s Christmas movie about 9.11.

Stephen:    

It’s a story about a family trying to somehow, not get over it and not heal, because you can’t heal from that, but trying to come together again.  

Alec:     

This movie has all the trappings of Hollywood movie making -- an infamous producer, Scott Rudin, and A-list stars, Tom Hanks and Sandra Bullock.  But none of this seems to distract Stephen Daldry.  

Stephen:    

It never feels like a big movie.

Alec:    

It doesn’t?

Stephen:    

No, it never feels like that.  It always feels like something you made, and something you did home made, something you did in your workshop.  I don’t know who you make stuff for.  I always make stuff for myself and my friends.  So you make stuff for your friends, for yourself, and see whether it makes any sense to you.

Alec:    

Your first film was "Billy Elliott," correct?  

Stephen:    

Yeah, but that was a really weenie one.

Alec:    

Yeah, that’s what I mean.  That was a small film.

Stephen:    

We made that, literally, we made it for next to nothing. And --

Alec:    

So what’s the difference?  How has it changed for you since "Billy Elliott" to now?

Stephen:    

It hasn’t.

Alec:    

It hasn’t.

Stephen:    

I had no pressure on this.  I mean, you know, Warner Brothers were so unbelievably supportive, and Rubinoff, Jeff Rubinoff who runs the studio and I took the film to him and I said look, “This is what I made with your money.”  So I showed it to him in Pasadena with a crowd of about 600 other people, and at the end he said, “Thanks very much.”  And I said, “Oh, great.”

Alec:    

What was the genesis of the film for you in terms of did someone come to you with a script?

Stephen:    

Rudin.

Alec:    

Rudin had the script?

Stephen:    

Rudin had bought the book from Jonathan Safran Foer who had written this book called "Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close."  And he had asked Eric Roth to write a couple of drafts, which he had done.  I read them both in a day and rang back and said yeah, I’m in.

Alec:    

Is there a difference for you in making films and producing shows and directing shows in the theatre?

Stephen:    

The difference between the two – a big difference.  One is, in the theatre, everybody’s in the same room, so everybody can see what the beast is.  Everybody can see what it’s made and you start at the beginning and you finish, and the people you start with are the people you finish with.  In the movies, the people you prep with aren’t people you shoot with, and the people you shoot with aren’t the people you finish with, and the people… It’s more like a relay race making a movie.  

Alec:    

Yeah, to me it’s more like cooking.  Like there’s a guy that makes the lettuce out in California, there’s a guy that grew the tomatoes in Georgia, and none of them ever meet each other or know each other.  They ship it all and you cut it up into a salad and mix it all together.

Stephen:    

And that’s why it’s more lonely.  

Alec:    

Because it’s so compartmentalized that way.

Stephen:    

Yeah.  And you know, Actually it’s different, this movie is different, and it’s really interesting.  On the other movies I’ve done, the moment of creation, the moment you’re actually making something, in the past it was only the cameraman could really see what actually you’re making.  The digital revolution means that on set, on this movie, for example, we had a screen.  You’re looking at what is going to be seen in the movies as you’re shooting it.  And everyone can see it.  It’s not like everyone’s looking around at a little video monitor.  It’s digital, so -

Alec:    

Was this your first digital film?

Stephen:    

First digital film.

Alec:    

And you preferred it.

Stephen:    

I preferred it.

Alec:    

And you don’t buy into the “nothing’s richer than film, film is film”.

Stephen:    

The nostalgia of film?

Alec:    

The romanticism of film.

Stephen:    

I don’t.  You just carry on, you shoot forever.  Literally you don’t have to say “action” or “cut,” you just keep rolling.  I mean, I remember the first day that I ever shot anything on film, and suddenly round the camera people were saying these extraordinary things to me like, “Rolling” and all these things.

Alec:    

When was that?

Stephen:    

On "Billy Elliott," and people were going, they’re saying all these strange words.  And everyone’s looking at me and I’m going, “What are they doing?”  And you go, “Oh, I’m meant to say action?  People really say that, do they?”  I thought it was some sort of like joke.  And since then I’ve never really liked saying action, which is why I prefer just to keep rehearsing and roll the camera while we’re rehearsing, and then eventually ease into…

Alec:    

Some people don’t want to say the word “action.”

Stephen:    

I find it bizarre myself.  And it freaks the actors out.  “Action!  Do it now!  Turn on now!”

Alec:    

It’s not very intimate.

Stephen:    

It’s not.  It’s like an assault on the actor.

Alec:    

Yeah.  I’m in bed with a woman, I like when she says, “Action.”  That revives me.

Stephen:    

That gets you going.

Alec:    

I directed a film once and I couldn't stand it, I really didn't care for it.  But I’ve always wondered if I had the inclination to absorb more about lighting and cutting and editing, has that been a big thing for you, that journey of learning more about how films are put together and…

Stephen:    

I love editing.

Alec:     

You do.

Stephen:    

It’s my favorite bit of the process.

Alec:    

It is.  Why?

Stephen:    

A film is written three times.  You write it to start it, then you rewrite it as you make it, and then you do the final and proper write as you put it all together, and it’s like a jigsaw puzzle.  If you like jigsaw puzzle, you’ll love making movies.  But it’s actually putting the pieces together, finding out the rhythms.

Alec:    

And I would imagine that the experience of editing makes anyone a better filmmaker in terms of teaching you what you need to have in the can.

Stephen:    

People say to me, “What should I do to learn how to make a film?”  Just go and buy Final Cut Pro and just start shooting stuff, and just start editing, and you’ll learn everything you need to know about making a movie from editing it.

Alec:    

Did you feel that you had learned everything that you needed to learn about directing actors from your years in the theatre in England in terms of directing actors for film?  Was there a difference?

Stephen:    

No.

Alec:    

It was the same.

Stephen:    

I think it’s the same.

Alec:    

How so.  

Stephen:    

Well, [laughs]…

Alec:    

Let it rip.

Stephen:    

Most of my life, you know, all my life has been spent in the theatre, you know, and all you need to work out with an actor is how to talk to them.  And actors come with their own methodology.  Like you, you’ve come with your own methodology of where you picked up… And usually actors, a lot of actors, particularly American actors, if I may dare to say this…

Alec:    

Let it rip.

Stephen:    

Come from some notion, they’ve picked up some ideas of what acting might be, or what a methodology might be.  It’s easier in Europe, it’s easier in England, because usually people have got a shared methodology.  In other words, there’s a language that people sort of understand that you can actually have a conversation about what literally you’re meant to be doing at any one particular time.  A lot of American actors got lost in this idea of the method or some sort of notion of character.  They keep going on about, “Well, my character this,” and you’re going, “What are you talking about?  Where did you get this idea of character from?”  It’s easier in Europe because people tend to be more strictly – come from a training, whereby…

Alec:    

A common training.

Stephen:    

A common training.

Alec:    

Because there’s a lot of training going on here, but that training is a different kind of training.

Stephen:    

It’s a different sort of training.  So the difficulty is just finding a language to talk to actors so you can be honest.

Alec:    

You know, one time I was watching a concert, and I was watching some famous musician like Tom Petty, he was performing at a benefit, and I turned to a friend of mine and I had this chill run up my spine.  And I said, “Do you see what these people are doing?  They’re all doing the same thing at the same time, and they’re all of one at the same time,” and that doesn’t happen in the theatre and in acting a lot of the time.  Maybe it does in England.

Stephen:    

No, no, it’s really hard.  

Alec:    

A lot of times people are doing their own thing.

Stephen:    

What is the job of the director?  The job of the director is, you’ve got one job, is to make sure everybody’s in the same show.  And you can have fantastic films, fantastic theatre – they’re in one show, he’s in another show, she’s doing something else.  They’re all being brilliant in their own way, but they’re not in the same space.  Getting everybody in the same space is the hardest thing.  But what’s your methodology?  Do you define your acting in a particular way?

Alec:    

Well, it depends.  I try to think of it in terms of a style.  If I do especially this television show now for six years, you hit a kind of a style that’s similar to some of the theatre I’ve done, like Wharton or Hector McArthur where there’s a kind of a farcical rhythm, there’s a key you play in, don’t put a lot of unearned pauses in there, really pace is a big part of it.  

Stephen:    

But did you train?

Alec:   

Yeah, I went to NYU, and as I get older, everything’s technical.  I literally mark my lines in the scripts that I do now, like a musical score, stop, hard consonant here, move, dip, rise, all these things, emphasis.  Before that though it was all about authenticity.  I would say that method acting was about… Like if you said to me, “I want you to do this,” I’d say, “Well, I’ve got to go meet a bunch of surgeons, let’s go find out how hard surgeons really behave in the operating room, because I don’t want to do anything that isn’t authentic.”  And then of course there’s that famous Walter Matthau line where they said to Walter Matthau, “Do you want to go observe some surgery?”  And he said, “No, I’m a movie actor.  No one expects me to know anything about surgery.  I’m just going to fake it and indicate it.”

Stephen:    

You’re absolutely right about the technical.  In England, we do tend to be more technical.  But American actors – I worked with Meryl Streep on a movie, and Meryl has this extraordinary emotional ability, but she does pause before the verb.  And I go, “I know why you’re doing it, because you think I can’t cut away?  I can absolutely assure you I can cut away from you even if you pause before the verb.”  And she knew she was pausing before the verb.  

Alec:    

Well, she definitely is a maestro.

Stephen:    

She is the maestro.

Alec:    

Her and Nicholson, they know every trick there is to force the cut in the film, or to deny the cut in the film.  It is thrilling when you go, and you have a direction who can help you.  I’ve had to do what the modern actors had to do, which is to come prepared to be self-directing in case you didn't have anything for me.  It’s painful.  It’s agonizing.  Because I’d rather come and have you say to me, “But of course it’s this, and don’t you realize it’s this?”  And you have got a fount of information for me, I would go crazy.

Stephen:    

But I find it really crazy when actors come in self-prepared, because they’ve done some journey.  

Alec:    

They’re showing you photographs of a trip they went on without you.  

Stephen:    

Yeah, and then again, this comment, “My character.”  And you’re going, “Look, it’s not your character, it’s ours, and we’re going to make it up now.”

Alec:    

Interesting, I never heard that before.  It’s ours.

Stephen:    

It’s ours, it’s not your character.

Alec:    

I’m going to remember that.  It’s ours.

Stephen:    

“Well, my character wouldn't do that.”  “Well, let’s change the character then, because we’re going to do that.”  

Alec:    

Let’s talk about a character that would do that.

Stephen:    

That’s right.

Alec:    

What do you miss about running a place like the Court, which everybody just adores to work there and loves the Court.  Do you miss it?

Stephen:    

I miss it, and I suspect I’ll go and run another theatre.  I mean, it’s too much fun.  It’s about community.  It’s about having a community of people that you’re staying with for a period of time, a number of years you commit yourself to, and trying to do something.  I don’t know why you make work, I make work to change the world, I think that’s the only reason to do anything.  And getting a group of people in to start a conversation with a community and with a society you live in has got to be the greatest thing you can do.

Alec:    

Can you do both right now or no?

Stephen:    

You certainly can’t make movies and run a theatre, no.

Alec:    

You can’t.

Stephen:    

No, movies are too obsessive.

Alec:    

Yeah, it’s like it’s two years of your life.

Stephen:    

Whatever you do, it’s two years, yeah.

Alec:    

"Billy Elliot" is closing on Broadway.

Stephen:    

"Billy Elliot" is closing on Broadway January the 8th.

Alec:    

What was the genesis of the film?  How did you decide you were going to make the film, and then talk a little bit, if you would, about the journey from film to Broadway, and this enormously successful show on Broadway.

Stephen:    

It’s a very simple tale.  An old friend of mine, Lee Hall, wrote a script.  I read his script and I said, “This is great.”

Alec:    

And you had been wanting to direct a film?

Stephen:    

No, no interest in films at all.  But I read this, and I went, “This is great, Lee, this is really good, you should do this.”  He went, “Would you want to do it?”  I said, “Well, I’m running a theatre, but okay, let’s have a go.”  And so we made it.  Nobody was interested, by the way, like a kid who wants to be a dancer, please.  But we took it to Cannes, and the first showing in Cannes, for some unknown reason Elton John was there, and at the party afterwards Elton said, “You know, this is going to be better on stage.  I mean, it’s a great movie, but I want to write the music for this on stage.”  And we went – it’s Elton John and I’d met him before, you know – and it was like, oh my God, no.  Thanks, but no.  And then he kept on going for years.

Alec:    

Why did you say no?

Stephen:    

Because we’d just finished the film.

Alec:    

You just weren’t ready to think about it.  

Stephen:    

Just not even ready for it.  He was persistent and carried on, and he would literally start writing stuff, and write songs.  He’d ring me up in my kitchen, and I’d put him on speakerphone and he’d say, “Look, I’ve written it, how about this one?”  I’ll be cooking in my kitchen…

Alec:    

And Elton John is serenading you on the speakerphone.

Stephen:    

Elton John’s on the speaker phone.

Alec:    

You really did fall into a kind of a Lewis Carroll hole there.

Stephen:    

I think the stage show is better than the movie; it found its natural home.

Alec:    

Isn’t that amazing how that is a big part of this business, how you do fall into a hole one day.  You weren’t out there beating the bushes to make films.  You weren’t sitting there, I would imagine, at the Court saying, “I’ve got to get out of here and make films.”  

Stephen:    

Doesn’t that happen to you every day though, that life changes in a second?  Things just happen.  You’re sitting on American Airlines, and something happens.

Alec:    

Yes, yes.  Some days, some flights are different than others, I can honestly say.  There have been some that are more eventful than others.  One such turning point for you, I think, from what I could gather from reading was that you were a clown’s apprentice, correct?

Stephen:    

Yes, I was interested in circus when I was finishing university, so I suppose I sought out this guy called Elder Milletti, who’s a great Italian clown, and then I went to work with him in Italy.  

Alec:    

How long?

Stephen:    

A year?

Alec:    

How was that?

Stephen:    

Il Circo di Nando Orfei.  It was a hard circus.  I mean it wasn’t um --

Alec:    

What does that mean?  I love that.  What does that mean, a hard circus?

Stephen:    

A hard circus is three shows daily.

Alec:    

A hard schedule.

Stephen:    

A hard schedule.  I was in charge of the giraffes as well, I had to look after the giraffes, and then we would travel by train, and then I would take the giraffes off the train and put them into their little ... and I would drive the giraffes.

Alec:    

So it really is like you see in these period movies.

Stephen:    

It’s like Dumbo.

Alec:    

Like Greatest Show on Earth and everything where everybody’s multitasking.  You’re the clown, and you’re cleaning the giraffe pen.

Stephen:    

Driving the giraffes through Pompeii.  You know, me, the giraffes and Pompeii.  And people talk about the animals being mistreated, which people have different opinions about, but the people being so mistreated.

Alec:    

Who were they mistreated by, management?

Stephen:    

Management, themselves, the hierarchy.

Alec:    

A lot of drinking?

Stephen:    

Very, very tough living.  It was a hard life.  We were basically going to be training in Italy for a year, and then we were going to go off to Moscow State Circus.  When the call, “Okay, we’re going off to Moscow now,” I just went, “You know what?  I’ve done this for a year, I’m off.”

Alec:    

Your film-making experiences, it sounded a moment ago when we were talking, like they’ve been relatively emotionally secure experiences for you as a filmmaker and you’ve been very content and happy making films.  Filmmaking hasn’t been another hard circus for you?

Stephen:    

I do understand a lot of filmmakers have a very hard time making films, and I’ve been blessed.  I’ve got friends of mine who have that experience of sitting in the trailer and spending your whole time trying to defend what you’re doing and fighting and cutting, and I haven’t had that experience.  But a lot of that is because of Scott Rudin, who for me has always been a huge filmmaker support, fighting for me in the right way.

Alec:    

Where were you – I mean, this is obviously a nauseating cliché – but where were you when 9/11 went down?

Stephen:    

With Scott Rudin.

Alec:    

On the actual 9/11?

Stephen:    

Yeah, Scott and I were finishing a movie we made called "The Hours," finishing it in London.  We were in the editing room.

Alec:    

In London.

Stephen:    

In London.  And Scott got the first call, which must have been about like…

Alec:    

Late.

Stephen:    

9:05, just saying the plane had just gone into the South Tower.  And then we went downstairs to the common room, the green room, as it were, and the TV had already switched.  In UK the TV switched straight away to live coverage, and we basically sat there all day making phone calls as it unfolded.  And then Scott and I were stuck in London trying to get back to New York for five days.  But I think that’s one of the reasons why Scott sent me this book, because it was such a powerful experience for the two of us to go through that together, saying, “Do you want to make a move about that time?”  So for me, with Scott to tell, not our story, but to tell a story about one family on that day, felt like it was something we were both wanting to do.

Alec:    

The age of the boy is how old in the film?

Stephen:    

11.

Alec:    

And the age of the actor who portrayed him?

Stephen:    

13.

Alec:    

Did you have like a huge nationwide talent hunt, or worldwide talent hunt?

Stephen:    

We did.

Alec:    

You saw how many people for the role?

Stephen:    

3,000.

Alec:    

Isn’t that amazing?  See, people don’t realize that.  It really is kind of amazing when you say to people you saw 3,000 people for the role of this child in this film.  What was about him that made you choose him?

Stephen:    

Again, Scott Rudin the producer had seen him win Kid Jeopardy, and he remembered, “There was a kid that won Kid Jeopardy last year, you should…”  By this point we were at the 11th hour, and I’m still going, “I don't think we can make the movie.”

Alec:    

Because you just hadn’t felt that…

Stephen:    

I hadn’t really found the kid, and Warner Brothers again, I’d said to them all the way through, “If we can’t find the kid, you’re going to spend a lot of money up front here.  Pre-production casting.  But if we don’t find the kid, we should really just call it a day.”  Again, Warners, “Yes, we agree, that’s fine, but we should go through this process.”  And then in the 11th hour Scott remembered a kid on Kid Jeopardy and we brought him in, and Thomas had – totally different to the character, there’s no loss in Thomas’ life, he’s a very happy kid, with great family, very smart, he won Kid Jeopardy for $31,000 – but I had this extraordinary emotional life, a long audition process inevitably.  And I took his final tape to Warners and I said, “I think this is the kid.  If you don’t agree, then we stop it now.”  And Jeff, we watched the tape together, and he said, “Yeah, I think that’s the kid – go make your movie.”  

Alec:    

Do you find something out about yourself every film you make?  Is there a part of you you lay bare that you weren’t aware of when you make a film?

Stephen:    

Everything’s therapy, don’t you find?

Alec:    

Yes, can be.

Stephen:    

It is.  Every piece of work you make, you have to explore yourself.

Alec:   

"The Reader," what was the therapy for you?  Which I love that film by the way, I was completely smitten with that.  I worship her.

Stephen:    

Kate?

Alec:    

I worship her.  I’m unabashed about it.  I am completely immune to all the charms of all movie actresses except her.  I saw her at an award show and I practically swallowed my tongue.

Stephen:    

[Laughs] Yeah, she’s fantastic.  "The Reader."  I spent a lot of time in Germany, as a kid I learned German and spent a lot of time there, and the idea of a country crippled for many generations by something that happened and how it was still coming to term with what it went through and why it went through it, the collective guilt.  So for me, yeah, it was an exploration of my school days in Germany.

Alec:    

And what about "The Hours?" 

Stephen:    

Well, "The Hours" is a complicated film.  The one thing that all the films that I’ve made tend to have in common is they’re all about loss in one way or another, and what the nature of loss is.  Everybody has it at some point in their lives, and that was a study in three women who were going through a profound sense of loss.  Loss is really my subject.  

Alec:    

You had two women win the Oscar, how did you feel about that?  It must have been enormously gratifying for you.

Stephen:    

Enormously gratifying.  I mean, it’s always fantastic when your actors do well, isn’t it?

Alec:    

Did you find that Kate, and Nicole Kidman in "The Hours" who won the Oscar for that film, did you find that they came to the party with that British sense of working in the shared experience with you?  Were they more in line with that?  

Stephen:    

They are.

Alec:    

They were.

Stephen:    

And up for rehearsal.  I love rehearsing.  And Nicole rehearsed forever.  Kate rehearsed forever.  On this film, we rehearsed forever.  It’s part of the process.  Do you rehearse?

Alec:    

Well, I’ve done films where we’ve done some rehearsal, and I remember one time when they had a very formalized rehearsal process.  But it was constantly interrupted by the department heads coming in and summoning the director to go and look at something, and he’d run out.  So we had his attention fleetingly.  But I would crave that, I’d love that.  

So you’re married.

Stephen:    

Yep.

Alec:    

And you have a child.

Stephen:    

Yep.

Alec:    

And I’ve read about you live in a communal home.

Stephen:    

Yeah.

Alec:    

How would you describe that, and what do you like about that?  What do you prefer?

Stephen:    

I love communal living.  Extended family is the way that we’ve always lived.  When I say extended family, I don’t mean blood family, I mean just living in basically a commune situation.  I think it’s better for the kids, the kids are brought up, it’s the old adage, a village is better than anything else, and that’s how we live in New York and that’s how we live in London.  

Alec:    

I find that very appealing.

Stephen:    

Honestly, it will revolutionize your life.

Alec:    

I watch "Big Love."   I’m smitten with that.  Are you going to be involved in the Olympics?

Stephen:    

Yeah.

Alec:    

You are?  Are you really?

Stephen:    

Yeah.  I’m the executive producer of the 2012 London Olympics.

Alec:    

Why the f*** would you want to do that?

Stephen:    

Because it’s the greatest collective experience I think a country can have and a city can have about sharing and welcoming the world to it’s home.

Alec:    

Where do you live?

Stephen:    

I live in meatpacking district.

Alec:    

You live here.

Stephen:    

I live here.

Alec:    

Why?

Stephen:    

The kids go to school PS3.

Alec:    

And why do you live here?

Stephen:    

Well we live here and we live in London.

Alec:    

That’s what I’m saying, because when you talk about it, I get a sense of London’s really home in your heart.

Stephen:    

No, the kids go to school here.

Alec:    

But in your heart, I mean.  You do prefer London if you could?

Stephen:    

Doesn’t work like that.

Alec:    

It doesn’t?

Stephen:    

It’s totally shared.  

Alec:    

But is there a sense, then, of some real pride you have – you want to be a part of helping London put its best foot forward in terms of the Olympics for the world?

Stephen:    

I love doing anything that’s not to do with making movies or making theatre, and so the idea of getting involved in the Olympics just felt like a no brainer to me, I’m in, of course.

Alec:    

Why do you say anything that doesn’t have to do with film or theatre you’re in?  Are you someone who you hold back and hold back and hold back and only make a film or do a play on as-needed basis, you just can’t help yourself and you cave and you do it?  

Stephen:    

I’ve tried to resist it for as much as I can.  And I would love to do something else.

Alec:    

I came up with my ideal job the other day.  It’s taking me some time.  I’m 53 years old and I finally came up with it.  I think I nailed it.  And it may work for you too as well.  I thought about opening a bookstore where we actually never sell any books.  Everybody comes in and I say, “Oh, I’ll order that for you,” probably somewhere remote so they would anticipate some kind of lag time, and we could have espressos and smoke cigars and have some nice olives and crudité and so forth, and I get to meet people and be social.  They’ll say, “When is the book coming?”  And I got, “Oh, about five or six weeks, I’ll call you.”  And we never sell one book, but we have a great day.

Stephen:    

I love that idea.  

Alec:    

What is your idea?  What’s your bookstore in Spain idea?  What do you want to do?

Stephen:    

Town and country planning, traffic lights, really interested in traffic lights, subway systems.  

Alec:    

So you’re an engineer.

Stephen:    

Mass transit systems.  Love to get into all that stuff.

Alec:    

Are you going to run for Mayor of London, you said?

Stephen:    

I’ll run for Mayor for London, but aren’t you running for president?  I thought this radio show was the beginning of your, you know…

Alec:    

Is that what it is?

Stephen:    

I thought it was.  

Alec:    

I should start to rethink that.  I never really thought of it that way, to use the radio show as a launch pad for my political career.  I never thought of that.

Stephen:    

Are you going to have a political career?

Alec:    

I doubt it now.

Stephen:    

Really?

Alec:    

I doubt it now.  The older I get the more I feel that all of it has changed.

Stephen:    

I think you should run for mayor.

Alec:    

I’ve lost my appetite.  Plus the people that are running for mayor – I know this is terrible – I look at them and I don’t see myself in that crowd.  They’re like a guy on a date that you can tell he just can’t wait to get his hand up your blouse before even the lights go out in the theatre.  They’re all just so horny for it.  Horny for their own ascension.  Whereas for me, I’ve got a job now – which, I’ve got a good job.  Is the most creative thing in the world?  Am I doing The Insider with Michael Mann?  Am I doing some edgy, like finely chiseled social drama?  No.  Am I doing To Kill a Mockingbird?  No, I’m doing a sitcom.  But we have fun, and it’s a family and I love in New York and I’ve got a life, it’s been a great harbor for me in my life.  Give this up for what?  I give up money and fame and position and success, I give up this wonderful life I have now in exchange for the chance to really change things.  Yeah, I’m not quite sure you can any more.

Stephen:    

You can, believe me.  

Alec:    

Well, maybe I’ll move to London.  Can I work for you if you’re Mayor of London?

Stephen:    

I’ll work for you if you run for Mayor.  

Alec:    

I don’t think you’re understanding what I’m saying.  Or are you directing me?  Oh, this is a character we’re creating, oh, I see.  I think you should run for Mayor of London.

Stephen:    

I think you should run of New York, and don’t get pessimistic about it, you can change the world.  

Alec:    

You don’t have to answer this question, because it’s going to embarrass you, but I’ll just tee up this ball.  You’re a very charismatic man, you’re very charming, and you’re very seductive.  You have a kind of a very seductive veneer to you.  And I’m wondering, do you think that that helps you with what you do?  Because when the guy walks in the room, or the woman – because I’ve worked with some woman directors – but it’s mostly men, let’s face it – and when that guy walks in the room and he looks like a high school shop teacher with a bunch of pens sticking out of his pocket, if he doesn’t have any chi to him at all… But you’re a very seductive guy, and you’re a very, very kind of appealing guy.  Do you find that that works for you?  Do you use that to your advantage when you’re directing?  Don’t smirk at me.  Do you?

Stephen:    

[Laughs].  I don’t do it consciously.  

Alec:    

You don’t consciously try to seduce the people you work with?

Stephen:    

It’s always going to be a love affair with your actors.  If you’re not in love with them, it’s not going to pan out.  You literally have to fall in love.

Alec:    

And they with you.

Stephen:    

And they with you.  Then you can…

Alec:    

Do your actors fall in love with you?

Stephen:    

I try to make them.

Alec:    

You do, don’t you! I bet you they do.

Stephen:    

Because it’s so intimate, it’s such a private and such a… And it requires such honesty.

Alec:            

I’d never met Stephen Daldry before and in that spirit of honesty, I figured this was my chance -- even as his publicist was looking at her watch, and pulling him away.

Alec:    

But one day I’d love to talk to you about a play.

Stephen:    

Shall we do one?  I’d love to do a play with you.

Alec:    

I don't know if you’re going to have time.  You’re not going to have any time to do a play with me, good God no.

Stephen:    

No, come on, we’re going to do one at the Public.  I’m sure they’d love it.

Alec:    

Let’s see, "The Hours," "The Reader," "Extremely Close" with Tom Hanks and Sandra Bullock, and you’re going to stop all that to go do a play with me?  I don’t think so.  I can hear your publicist really is screaming now.  She’s calling your agent right now.  

Alec:        

Stephen Daldry’s new film "Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close" opens on Christmas.

Alec:    

Thank you for coming.  

Stephen:     

I’ve very happy to spend the time.    

Alec:    

Thank you so much.    

Stephen:     

Seriously.

Alec:

I’m Alec Baldwin.  Here’s the Thing is produced by WNYC Radio.  Let me know what you think.  Email me at here’sthething-dot-org.