Steven Spielberg

You did.

You can use movie stars in a film, and if the movie is compelling enough, you forget the filmography of the character in the film.

drain some of their inherent charisma and McQueen could so effortlessly communicate charisma so maybe that isn't what he would have wanted out of one of the astronauts yeah okay I'm going to go back to your point you're right McQueen could not have been in 2001 The Space Odyssey but maybe Hackman could have done it I don't know yeah

Well, it varies because the number of takes I make depends on whether I feel that it is all the actors are going to be able to contribute or is it all I want or need the actors to contribute.

I have to make that determination on every take.

So I've done 30 takes before.

I've done 30 takes with certain actors.

But I've also done two takes with certain actors.

Right.

It all depends.

Anthony Hopkins on Amistad came over to me before we shot the movie.

And he said, I'm going to give you a little insight into how I work.

Take one, I'm just getting a feeling about how it's sounding and how it's feeling to me.

Take two, I'm going to nail it.

Take three, you can use parts of it.

But after take three, you're not going to want to use any of those takes.

And he told me ahead of time that he's good for about three.

Take two.

Take two, Tony.

We did a couple more takes.