On Tuesday night in the PMAC Main Theatre, accomplished director Tom Dey spoke about something he values a great deal: cinema. Dey came to Choate through the Krause Fellowship, a program that has brought a number of intellectually dynamic speakers to the podium to address Choate students and faculty over the years.
Established six years ago by Charles Krause (C ’51), the lecture series provides a chance annually for one of Choate’s academic departments to bring a speaker to campus a distinguished figure in his or her field and who also stands to inspire the student body. Prior speakers in the series include Richard Brodhead, now president of Duke University; the late Robert Fagles, the esteemed Princeton classicist; Samantha Power, author of “A Problem From Hell” and lecturer at Harveard Kennedy School and Dr. Henry Lee, the prominent forensic biologist. This year, the Arts Department selected Tom Dey ’83 to talk about the craft of filmmaking.
The youngest child of Choate’s previous Head, Charles Dey and his wife Phoebe, Tom Dey graduated from Brown University in 1987, where he studied philosophy, religion, and film. He continued his scholastic pursuits at the Center for International Educational Exchange in Paris. After enrolling in the American Film Institute in Los Angeles, he fulfilled a number of apprenticeships in directing commercials and low-budget movies before receiving his Masters degree from the AFI in 1993. In 1994, he was signed by Ridley Scott Associates, a commercial production house with which he has remained associated to this day. Dey directed his first film, Shanghai Noon (2000), in 1998, followed by the buddy cop movie Showtime (2002) and the romantic comedy Failure to Launch (2006).
Prior to Tuesday, students expressed mixed feelings about what they expected of this week’s special program. Some, like Katie Kilkenny ’10, were optimistic: “I’m really excited for special program… I think this one will be interesting because a movie director has a very intriguing job.” Still, others were less positive, citing Dey’s short list of works as reason for skepticism. Francisca DaSilveira ’10 said “He’s only done three films, though they’re very famous films… we’ll have to wait and see.”
For his presentation, Dey mixed anecdotal accounts of his experiences with film throughout his life with clips from his three feature presentations. According to Dey, his fascination with cinema and directing established itself as a result of his early disillusionment with live theater: At Choate, he played a role in Luigi Pirandello’s “Six Characters in Search of an Author” in which he did almost nothing but stand still for forty-five minutes. Even before attending Choate, he found he attended the Saturday night screenings of the Choate Film Society: “I now believe that were it not for the Choate Film Society,” Dey remarks, “I might never have become a director.” Ironically, Dey recalls that he was far too young at first to truly grasp the themes behind the movies he saw in the CFS, laughing “I couldn’t comprehend just why the commander refused to blow up the bridge on the River Kwai—or exactly what was going on when Woody Allen and Diane Keaton grasped that silver globe together in ‘Sleeper’ “
While discussing his first film, Shanghai Noon, Dey stressed the importance of playing off of the chemistry between actors both on and off-screen when shooting a movie. After showing a scene from the movie when Jackie Chan and Owen Wilson were playing drinking games in adjacent bath tubs, Dey explains “That scene wasn’t in the script, but we knew that we needed a scene that showed that the characters had forged a bond, one that showed there was no turning back.” Dey calls this concept of relating characters’ personalities to the audience “engaging in polarity,” quoting a Hungrian filmmaking mentor, and believes that it is one of the most vital parts of making a movie with any sort of emotional impact. “It’s the director’s job to get the actors into trouble,” says Dey, “and it’s the actors’ job to get the characters out.”
Later in his presentation, when showing the construction of a monologue by Robert DeNiro in Showtime, Dey told the audience to “watch when [DeNiro] blinks and when he doesn’t blink.” Afterwards, Dey stated that what he enjoyed about watching the clip was that “[DeNiro] knows that he only needs each moment once… that’s the beauty of film.” Dey offered further insight into the world of a director: “Directing often feels like decision-making with a gun to your head,” he suggested. “Even with a full script, [a director is] constantly trying to discover the film, because it doesn’t yet exist.” However, Dey does not believe that directing is a purely artistic, introspective endeavor. When asked by a student whether he felt that mass appeal or artistic integrity reigns as more important in filmmaking, Dey wryly stated that “There’s a reason why it’s called ‘show business’ and not ‘show art. I always hope that the next film is going to be the best film I make.”
After the program, student response was generally positive. Katie Kilkenny ’10 was not disappointed after her high hopes for the speaker, saying “I thought the Special Program was more enjoyable than most because its subject touched upon something we students can all relate to: the movies.” Geeta Talpade ’10 says that “I thought he was clever… it was great that he spiced it up with movie clips.” In contrast, Dan Homer ’10 expressed mild disappointment with how Dey presented his thoughts and stories: “I thought that he had a lot of good ideas, but he definitely works best with an editing room… [his speech] needed to be more refined.” However, if Dey’s speech is to be believed, then the director would gladly accept this criticism: one of Dey’s final warnings to his audience was that “the scariest place on Earth is the land of ‘good enough.’ If someone tells you that what you have done is ‘good enough,’ then don’t accept it.”
About forty students and faculty joined Dey for a recption at the Sally Hart Lodge after the lecture for further conversation. His schedule included visiting Mr. Mellon’s digital filmmaking class on Wednesday morning.
