‘Society of the Snow,’ ‘Rings of Power’ Director J.A. Bayona Doesn’t ‘Separate’ Movies and TV: ‘There Is Only One Way of Telling a Story Right’
At this year’s Mipcom, where Spain is the Country of Honor, Spanish director J.A. Bayona (“Society of the Snow,” “The Impossible”) hosted a masterclass in which he talked about inspiration, anchoring his stories in a moment and the importance of improvisation.
Early on, Bayona was asked to talk through his creative process, from picking a project to writing to filming and everything in between. According to the director, the first step is finding something that resonates with him and anchoring everything else he does to that point.
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“I need to feel a connection to a feeling idea that resonates with me. That’s something that, if it’s strong enough, will last the process of making a film, which is a very long and sometimes painful process. You really need to have a very strong connection to the material in order to sustain that,” he explained.
Using his 2012 natural disaster hit “The Impossible,” for which lead actor Naomi Watts received an Oscar nomination, as an example, Bayona elaborated, “It’s based on a poem that’s based on a true story, but I was very connected with one specific moment. If you haven’t seen the film, there is a moment when the mother character is not able to walk after surviving the flood from the big wave. She is with her son in the middle of the devastation, and they start to hear a small child crying; she tells her son, ‘We’re going to save that child, even if it’s the last thing we do.’
“[After reading the poem], I became so emotional every time I told that story to anyone. That single moment was at the center, at the heart of that story, and from there, I built the rest of the film.”
Bayona later said that the beginning of a shoot is always one of his favorite parts of the filmmaking process, as it’s “the first time I’ am with the actors in front of a camera, and that’s one of the most creative moments to me.”
He elaborated that, given the inspirational nature of being on set, he doesn’t always stick to his original plans. “Normally, I follow the script, but I always allow myself some time on set to be surprised by the material and leave some space for improvisation.”
That freedom is extended to the actors on set. “I prepare the actors a lot… you need to give them the tools to improvise. If I don’t have a nice surprise, a happy accident on set, then that day, I won’t go home completely satisfied.”
Bayona has helmed projects from the billion-dollar-generating “Jurassic World” and “Lord of the Rings” franchises but said that he still gets nervous with any shoot he’s leading, arguing that a bit of anxiety is actually a boon while filming.
“I think fear is good. Panic is not. Fear helps you to be alert and helps you be at 150% all of the time… If you’re working on something that you already really know how to do, it’s not as satisfying as if you’re exploring and trying to create something that will challenge you and give you the chance to give your best.”
Asked about his films’ wide reach and if he thinks about appeasing as large an audience as possible with his work, Bayona said his goal is never to create a hit for everyone, everywhere. Instead, he tries to create something that resonates with him as the storyteller.
“It’s very difficult to put yourself in the shoes of a million people; it’s impossible. I always say that I’m looking for an idea that will resonate, that will spark a flame that can sustain me throughout the whole process.”
Mipcom is, of course, a TV market, so Bayona was asked how he perceives the differences in filmmaking and shooting episodes of a TV series, as he did with Prime Video’s “The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power.”
“I don’t separate the language of TV and cinema because, for me, there is only one way of telling a story right,” he explained. “That is my goal. To figure out how actors should move in front of a camera and where it should be placed.”
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