Blitz director Steve McQueen Things I've Learned as a Moviemaker

Blitz writer-director Steve McQueen is revered as one of the most visionary of all filmmakers — a Best Picture winner for his 2013 film 12 Years a Slave, and the guiding force behind such stunning dramas as Hunger, Shame, and Widows.

But he says that if a film ever turns out exactly as he planned it, he’ll be deeply disappointed.

“No, no, no, no. We don’t want that. Then I’ve failed. You have to find it in the moment. That’s the magic of film… You conjure things up,” he says. “I think of Miles Davis writing a piece of music, but then within the moment of the recording, things will happen that can alter and reshape and redirect the piece. That’s what you want. It’s life.”

The British filmmaker’s latest, Blitz, which he wrote, directed and produced, tells the story of a child (Elliot Heffernan) trying to reunite with his mother (Saoirse Ronan) during the Nazi bombings of London. With scale and heart, it shows a side of history rarely seen on film. 

For our latest Things I’ve Learned as a Moviemaker, Steve McQueen explains about how he makes his films feel so alive — such as a scene in his magnificent 2020 Lovers Rock, about a 1980 house party, in which he just let the cameras roll as the cast became swept up in the music. The most important quality for a filmmaker, he says, is the truth.— M.M. 

Steve McQueen on Trust, Spontaneity and Truth

1. I’m quite meticulous about certain things as far as craft is concerned. But that goes out the window. The most important thing is you as a person… emotion or truth is way more important than any skill or any craft. I’ve seen films that have not been technically perfect, but they’re often the ones that sing to me.

2. I didn’t know there were any rules about filmmaking. Honestly, is this good or bad? That’s the only rule I know. Even if that’s a rule, I don’t know. You’ve got to allow yourself to sort of trust a situation. … I’m interested in what the narrative tells me, what it wants to do, how it should be shaped.

Steve McQueen
Writer-director Steve McQueen on the Blitz set. Photo by Parisa Taghizadeh. Courtesy of Apple

3. I don’t think you can evoke spontaneity — you’ve just got to be spontaneous. If you want to talk about Lovers Rock, people were very comfortable with each other, people forgot the camera. What happened to people behind the camera was very similar to what happened in front of the camera. There was a sort of infectious quality to the situation. People were becoming their parents or their uncles or aunts. …. And people were enjoying each other, so that created a certain kind of atmosphere, where sort of all I had to do was roll the camera — action — and just keep it rolling and catch things. 

4. Sometimes one doesn’t know what they want until they see it. I don’t storyboard because I’m not a cartoonist, I’m a filmmaker. I only storyboard action sequences. Because they’re expensive.

Also Read: Steve McQueen on Blitz and ‘War Through a Child’s Eyes’

5. Perfection is overvalued. It’s about a vision. It’s about a feeling. It’s more about a feeling than a vision, because you’ll find the vision with the feeling. 

6. It’s about having a great crew, but also it’s about people believing in you. You’ve got to get people to believe in you. If you’ve got people believing you, then you’re halfway. Then, of course, you have to execute.

7. If I were to give advice to a young filmmaker starting up, it’s to just go for it. Go there. Go with two guns blazing. If you’re making a first film, do it as if it’s gonna be your first film and also your last film. What have you got to lose? When I made Hunger, that was my mentality. … Let me do what I need to do, because I’m never going to get the opportunity again. 

Blitz is now streaming on Apple TV+.

Main image: Steve McQueen talks to Elliot Heffernan on the set of Blitz. Photo by Parisa Taghizadeh. Courtesy of Apple

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