Ian FitzGibbon on “A Film With Me In It”

Why did you decide to make the switch from acting to directing?

IAN: I decided to direct because I got bored as an actor. I had done ten years of TV mainly in Britain and I felt like I needed a new challenge. Also the thought of directing filled me with fear. You should always be slightly afraid of what you're doing.

How does your background in acting help you as a director?

IAN: I’m an actor so obviously I understand actors. I trained at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts. I know how to relate how to actors. I know what their fears and insecurities are. But mainly I love actors. I get them.

How did you become involved in A Film With Me In It?

IAN: I became involved with A Film With Me In It because I cast the guy who wrote it in a TV thing I was doing. He had written a very successful play. I asked him had he any screenplays? He told me he had one that had been sitting in a drawer for a couple of years. His agent hated it.

What attracted you to the story?

IAN: The story was so breathtakingly bonkers I knew I had to do it. There’s loads of death in it. That has to be good, right?

What was the smartest thing you did during production? The dumbest?

IAN: The smartest thing I did was rehearse with the actors every spare minute I had.

The dumbest thing I did was to assume I knew how was it the film was going to turn out. It’s never what you think in your head before, it's something you discover as you shoot.

And, finally, what did you learn from making the film that you can take to other projects?

IAN: You can never over prepare.