David Ayer
David Ayer
David Ayeris an American film director, producer, and screenwriter. He is best known for being the writer of Training Day, and the director and writer of Harsh Times, Street Kings, End of Watch, Sabotage, and Fury. In September 2014, Ayer was announced as both the writer and director for the DC Comics film Suicide Squad, scheduled for release on August 5, 2016...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionScreenwriter
Date of Birth18 January 1968
CityChampaign, IL
CountryUnited States of America
World War II was just as dirty and brutal as Vietnam, just as confusing.
Both my grandparents were officers in World War Two, and I would be personally offended if somebody distorted their achievements.
'Sabotage' was an opportunity. That was journeyman work, but the irony is I learned more off that movie on what filmmaking is and isn't than everything else combined. A lot of lessons, and it will impact me for the rest of my career.
'Sabotage' was a work for hire. It wasn't my original idea or script or anything.
My father died when I was really young, on Christmas Day.
'Fury' whetted my appetite for a bigger canvas and this idea of world creation. You can do amazing things as a filmmaker if you have the proper tools, and those are time and money.
I've been in the game long enough to know what elements you have to package together to get a movie into production.
Actors are like magicians. They'll sit there and do all their tricks to each other. It's very competitive, and the goal is to get them bonding, to get them to know the real person as quickly as possible.
Actors want to act. I think a lot of times what happens is that they're expected to bring it all. Probably because I'm a writer, I'm not telling them what to do. I just provide them with as much as I can.
A movie is a certain thing by definition. There's nothing wrong with knocking out a good genre picture.
The hardest thing, as a director, is that it's never right. Nothing you do is ever right. It's never exactly how you envision it. Making a movie is about making it better.
The movie on the screen is always going to be different from the movie in your head. How it makes you feel is what I'm after, what I'm chasing, and what I'm trying to construct.
I think great acting is about inhabiting a skin and transforming yourself.
Stories of friendship are very interesting to me. Artificial families are something I like to explore. Whether it's a bunch of guys or a bunch of ladies, there's something interesting about that.