By Robert Goldrich

Stephen Daldry has a precedent-setting hat trick to his credit, being the only director to receive Academy Award nominations for his first three films–Billy Elliot in 2001, The Hours in ’03, and The Reader in ’09. 

Now there’s considerable buzz that Daldry could be in strong contention for a fourth such honor with Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close, based on Jonathan Safran Foer’s novel of the same title which tells the story of a boy who tries to find meaning in his father’s Sept. 11 death in the World Trade Center.

The lad, Oskar Schell (portrayed by Thomas Horn), confronts not only tragedy but also a mystery; the latter being the significance of a key he discovers a year later that his dad (Tom Hanks) left behind. Oskar looks to find the lock that the key fits, leading him on an odyssey to somehow again connect with his father.

The film’s cast also features Sandra Bullock as the boy’s mother, Zoe Caldwell as his grandmother, Max Von Sydow as a mute who rents a room from Caldwell’s character, Viola Davis (herself a Best Actress Oscar contender this year for her performance in The Help), and John Goodman.

A late entrant in the awards show derby, Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close has nonetheless managed to earn four nominations from the Broadcast Film Critics Association (BFCA) for the Critics’ Choice Movie Awards, including for Best Picture, Best Young Actor (Horn), Best Director and Best Adapted Screenplay (Eric Roth). The BFCA is the largest film critics organization in the U.S. and Canada, representing more than 250 TV, radio and online critics.

The Oscar pedigree of the Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close ensemble extends well beyond three-time nominee Daldry. Roth is an Academy Award winner (Forrest Gump) as are Hanks (Philadelphia, Forrest Gump), Bullock (The Blind Side), cinematographer Chris Menges, ASC (The Mission, The Killing Fields), editor Claire Simpson (Platoon) and costume designer Ann Roth (The English Patient). Past Oscar nominees include von Sydow (Pelle the Conqueror), Davis (Doubt) and composer Alexandre Desplat (The King’s Speech, Fantastic Mr. Fox, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, The Queen).

SHOOT caught up with Daldry this week who reflected on Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close, what attracted him to the project and its biggest challenge while also sharing his take on industry awards as well as the commercialmaking discipline.

SHOOT: What drew you to this film? How did the opportunity come about for you to direct this project?
Daldry: Scott Rudin, a producer who I have worked with a lot, sent me the book and the screenplay the same day. I read both in the same day. Eric had simply done a fantastic adaptation of a wonderful book. The emotional heart of the piece was so strong and beat so clearly. I was drawn to the emotional arc of the story.

SHOOT: What was the greatest challenge for you in doing justice to the story and to 9/11?
Daldry: Finding a child to hang the film on. We went through an extensive casting process and a certain amount of pre-pro with that knowledge that if we did not find right kid, we would not have gone ahead.

SHOOT: You found that kid, Thomas Horn, on the Jeopardy! game show.
Daldry: Yes. Scott saw him, actually remembered him from the year before. Thomas was the teen Jeopardy! champion. Scott suggested we bring him in for an audition.

SHOOT: Indeed Thomas was critical to the success of the film, which is about experiencing catastrophic loss and coping with that loss–all as seen through the eyes of a child. You have demonstrated a talent for getting the most out of young performers, with Jamie Bell making his feature film debut in Billy Elliot, to now working with Thomas Horn. How do you get performances that ring true from young actors?
Daldry: There’s no special skill involved. I treat them like adults, like leading actors in the story. You have to find the right language and methodology so that you are sharing and communicating with each other properly.

Thomas had never acted before and had no interest in acting. In a sense that can be an advantage in that he didn’t have any bad habits. He’s so bright and was able to understand the script emotionally, intellectually and practically, and he engaged himself in the story with huge enthusiasm.

SHOOT: You’re the only director to earn Oscar nominations for his first three films. What does being nominated mean to you personally and professionally?
Daldry: It’s great being invited to the party. To be frank, there’s a lot of luck involved. But it is something special.

SHOOT: You also have one DGA Award nomination, for The Hours. What would a DGA nomination mean to you this year?
Daldry: I don’t think about awards that much. I take it with a pinch of salt. That way you don’t suffer a disappointment or get too consumed in the campaign. We were a late entry [with Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close]. My goal was to make the best film possible. It wasn’t about being timed [for awards season]. My wanting to get the film done this year was to mark the 10-year anniversary [of 9/11]. That was the motivating factor. That and I had to move on to the [2012 Summer] Olympics.

SHOOT: That brings us to what’s next for you.
Daldry: I’m the executive producer of the Olympics in London, involved in all things having to do with the ceremonies.

SHOOT: Clearly you have a pressing schedule. Yet we noticed that you are handled for commercials by Saville Productions. Have you had occasion to direct commercials and what’s the appeal of the commercialmaking discipline for you?
Daldry: I have directed a few commercials over the years–DeBeers for instance. I must say that I love doing them. The problem is I’ve always been too busy to take them on. I’d actually like to do more. I enjoy them because it’s creatively condensing storytelling into a short, finite time frame. That’s very hard to do. That’s why making a really good short film is so difficult. Coherently telling a story and hitting the points you need to in a short time is what makes the form so challenging.

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