| Fuqua's highly anticipated Tears of the Sun, with Bruce Willis, is currently in theaters. Directing his debut feature, 1998's The Replacement Killers, with Chow Yun-Fat and Mira Sorvino, was an extraordinary challenge, Fuqua says. "It was like starting all over. You know technically what you're doing and how to run a set, but you're gonna have to deal with a lot of crazy shit in features. Bigger egos, biggermoney. More studio executives that are frankly scared and don't want to lose their jobs." Even when things are going well with the studio honchos, there's plenty of pressure. Bille Woodruff, 28, who has directed videos for Toni Braxton, TLC, and Celine Dion, said he had the full support of execs while filming Universal's upcoming Honey in Toronto last year with Jessica Alba and Mekhi Phifer. Still, despite his experience, Woodruff was constantly peppered with anxious questions. "On the first day of shooting, the people from the studio were there," he says, "and they were saying to me, 'You're so calm. |
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| I'm like, What am I supposed to be? I've scouted this location three times, rehearsed with all the actors, and storyboarded it out. The shot list is right there." It doesn't always work out so smoothly. The battles Hype Williams had with Artisan while making Belly in '98—everything from budget wars to having entire scenes cut from the film the day they were supposed to be shot—are legendary. It's also the reason the most talented video director of his generation has taken his time before mounting another feature. (Williams is currently slated to direct Warner Bros.' live adaptation of the cartoon Speed Racer.) "You have to learn the game," says Fuqua, who recalls the cautionary advice he got from David Fincher, another video vet who was handed his head on his debut, Alien 3, before he had a creative breakthrough with 1995's Seven. |
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