Was it intimidating working with actors like Brando, De Niro, Angela Bassett, and Edward Norton?
FO: No, I can’t be intimidated. If I stood back and said, “Oh my God, I’m working with Marlon Brando and Robert De Niro and Edward Norton and Angela,” then I’m not too involved in the characters. To me, they’ve got to be the characters. If I’m intimidated, I shouldn’t be directing a movie. I gotta treat ’em as characters, not as stars. It’s hard to not treat Marlon Brando as a legend, a star, it’s difficult not to treat Bob as a star, but that had to go away very fast after I knew them, because I had to work with them. I’m the director, I’m the boss. They’re looking to me for guidance. AVC: The Score is one of the last restrained performances Brando ever gave. Do you consider that a triumph, that you did manage to direct him? FO: It was hard. And it’s interesting you say “restrained,” because it was a battle to be restrained. Marlon was trying to make more of a statement in his acting, and I wouldn’t let him, and I was very tough—I should have been more nurturing, it was more my fault.
