David Leitch

You always start a fight scene or an action scene with, 'What are we learning about this character at the moment, and how are we gonna arc him or her in the next three minutes,' and it's no different with 'Deadpool' or 'Atomic Blonde' or 'John Wick.'

There are a lot of big action movies that we've worked on where the attitude has been, 'Let's just get through this scene.' Then you get those jumpy, what-were-they-thinking action sequences.

Shooting a fight is like shooting any other scene. You have to tell a story using a very specific choreography.

The completely irreverent tone was the thing that won me over about the first 'Deadpool' movie.

The thing that I like about action sequences is that if they're done well, you get to know more about the character in those few minutes than you do through 10 minutes of exposition.

Selling art is a lot different than making it.

Music emotionally and psychologically transports you immediately.

The DNA of 'Deadpool' shouldn't change.

It's called 'John Wick' - it's really about this guy's very simple journey. We just didn't want to clutter it. It's gratifying it in its own right, in its simplicity.

As a filmmaker, I'm a collaborator first.

You know, the 'Atomic Blonde' universe is its own universe. There's influences obviously of Bond and Bourne and 'Wick,' all the things I've been exposed to, but it is its own universe.

I think the biggest thing you take from the stunt world is your understanding of the filmmaking process. For years, you've worked with every other department closely. You know hair, makeup, wardrobe, special effects, and you know what everybody's needs are and their expectations. You also know how to collaborate with them.

Friends who are directors like Jim Mangold or the Wachowskis or Zack Snyder - who, whether they know or not - have really left a mark on who I am as a director.

I've been really fortunate in my career to do budgets at all different levels.

I find fight scenes actually more interesting, in a way, than chase scenes because you're watching your character go through this problem-solving process and fight the antagonist mano-a-mano. It's more powerful, more emotional.

I think what's really important is to challenge yourself. You can very easily fall into the rut of, 'We know it works! We'll use that old chestnut.'

I'm a fan of the sensibility of comics, and I love the escapism of them and the defining of good and evil. They're just so creative, too.

You can sometimes break rules in comics that you can't necessarily break in cinema. It's fun to find something cool in a comic and then try and find a way to break the same rule in another medium.

I've been doing second unit for years, which is sort of like directing mini movies. Now that I'm directing entire films, it's really just more of everything. There are a lot more questions that need answers.

We don't want John Wick to retire again; we're glad he's back in the game. We want a sequel or a prequel. There's a lot of fertile ground to cover.

I think in the 'Deadpool' franchise, the writers are really good at distilling the good stuff and applying that to the material in this universe.

The character of Cable is complex.

As a second unit director, you're entrusted to shoot the action sequences. On every movie, it's slightly different.

I think, as a choreographer and an action designer, you're constantly giving your characters problems to overcome. That's what makes it fun for choreography. But it also makes it fun for the audience to see them solve those puzzles and how they are as a human being.

Sometimes, the action genre does get stale. Although I want to go back and see my favorite characters in their tentpoles - and will religiously do that - it's really fun to see breakout ideas and concepts. Let's make some new stories.

A lot of people don't give their audiences credit. You can leave it a little mysterious. They can think about it.

All film, at the end of the day, has wish-fulfillment.

People want to be empowered to the point where they can thwart their enemies physically.

If you have John Goodman in your movie, you want to use him as much as possible.

The way you present a stunt is tied in to the way you photograph it, so you're hanging out with the cinematographer.

The vehicle-stunt world is so specialized. But when you spend so long in it as a stunt coordinator, you're exposed to all the disciplines, so it's always fun to combine the two ideas - a car chase and a fight scene - and make something more dynamic.

Stunt coordinating is a good training ground for directing because you have exposure to all the departments in film.

Even when you're being safe, eight hours of choreography makes you look like you've been through a war. It's hard. It's like playing hockey for eight hours.

Take up martial arts and get proficient. Take a sword-fighting class. Dive in and immerse yourself in it as you would any other acting class, so when the opportunity comes, that skill can be really utilized, and it's not half-baked.

You have to make bold choices to be noticed.

There's an arc to an action sequence, and you need to come out the other end knowing your character better, and maybe the story has moved forward in a compelling way.

As a stunt guy, you become a mini-director. You're talking to actors about performance.

You learn tricks to make action look more dynamic - having the fight come toward you or shooting on a longer lens to compress the speed.

While filming 'The Matrix,' we studied how a Chinese fight-choreography team trains actors before production starts so that they can participate in action sequences in a more dynamic way.

People have given their lives to this industry to make movies compelling.

Film is a collaborative art form. I don't know why you wouldn't recognize the stunt performers.

There's a lot of directing within the stunt coordinator's job.

Spies go undercover. They take on different personas.

If you're trying to get to the underworld of Berlin, it's not suits and ties; it's rock and roll.

Great actors can transform, but sometimes there's just this person who speaks right to the role. When they walk in the room, you know they're that character. That is something you can't teach an actor; that's something that's luck and chance.

Some actors have an affinity for dance, and they should explore it, train in it, and get good.

'Atomic Blonde' is about the characters' bigger existential crisis and their world. It's not so much the conceit of the spy game; it's more that being a spy sucks. But we're going to make it fun to watch.

Coming from an action background, I always approach the action sequences in any script as kind of placeholders.

In the stunt world, fights and vehicles are often two different disciplines.

I look at the action scenes as placeholders when I arrive on a script, knowing that I'm going to expand on them when I understand the constraints of the movie, the locations of where we're shooting, the abilities of the actors, and where we want to go with the characters.