Good Attitudes towards Awards

There is no denying the fact that Stephen Daldry has done a great job in directing the film The Reader, for which Kate Winslet won the Academy Award for Best Actress in 2009. The great director Stephen Daldry has accepted our invitation for an exclusive interview. Daldry, a new comer in China, was more or less surprised by the interest taken by the Chinese fans in The Reader at the 12th SIFF. He also displayed great interest in Shanghai city. When it came to his glorious history of winning numerous awards, Daldry gave his own mild comments: “Do not care so much about the award thing. Treat it with good attitudes.”

The Reader is one of the most popular films at the 12th SIFF. Right before the opening ceremony, the tickets for this film had been sold out. The director of this film Stephen Daldry was somewhat amazed by Chinese fans’ enthusiasm for his works. “I don’t know much about the audience here in Shanghai, but I am pleasantly surprised and deeply impressed by the response Shanghai audience made to my film. The audience here can well take the humor bridge section in this film. I am so glad o know that they like this film, and also thankful for this opportunity provided by SIFF to share my views on films with Shanghai audience.”

Another point that distinguishes Stephen Daldry from common directors lies in the fact that those three films he has directed are quite different in subject matter and style. Thus it might be hard to imagine: How could those three films be made by the same director? Talking about his films, Daldry laughed: “My film style is not fixed yet. But for me, I need to understand the story first before I can decide on the film style. For me, stories come first before styles, perhaps.”

Although Stephen Daldry has only directed three films by now, all these three works have won a lot of awards and helped to crown Nicole Kidman and Kate Winslet as “movie queens”. Therefore, he can indeed be seen as an efficient award-winning director with low productivity. 

Daldry, here in Shanghai for the first time, showed great curiosity about everything ranging from New Land, the Bund to the throngs in the streets. Everything impressed him deeply. When asked whether he had been recognized by his fans in Shanghai, Daldry responded in a joking way: “Thank God! Nobody here knows me, which could not be any better for me.” In speaking of Chinese films, Daldry said: “I don’t know much about Chinese films. That’s why I am here in China now. I hope to know more about the current situation of Chinese films, and communicate with more Chinese filmmakers.”