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by Scott Juba Published: August 17, 2007
“The movie is about the last emperor of Rome,” Lefler explains. “The story starts with the fall of the Roman Empire. What was interesting to me about the story when they first sent me the script was that it deals with these history-altering events, but it’s seen through the eyes of a twelve-year-old boy.” Lefler assembled an all-star cast for the film, which includes Ben Kingsley and Colin Firth. “I had such a tremendous cast,” he says. “It was really a director’s dream. All of my cast were so dedicated to this project. In their opinion, it was a very unique experience, because there was not a cynical voice amongst them. Nobody was doing it for a paycheck. Everybody was into it. They would read books about Roman military strategy in their spare time.” As with all film projects, Lefler says time and budget proved to be challenges during the production of the movie. “I’ve never worked on anything where I’ve had enough time or money to do it,” he says with a laugh. “And I don’t know anybody who doesn’t deal with that. My friend Sam Raimi, while working on 'Spider-Man 3,' had similar complaints.” In anticipation of such concerns, Lefler says he eliminates as much unnecessary baggage from a film as possible before shooting begins. “One of the first things I’ll do is go through and look at what I can get rid of that’s going to cost a lot of money. I know I’m never going to have enough money to do the things I really want to do, so anything I can change or fake or lose, I’ll start by eliminating those. Then, I focus all the efforts on the things that are dearest to my heart.” Despite the fact that Lefler’s diverse production roles gave him a great deal of filmmaking experience, Lefler says he never intended to be a director until others urged him to consider making the transition to directing. “I just really wanted to be a good storyboard artist, so I wanted to learn as much as I could about filmmaking and storytelling. Eventually, I worked with enough directors I respected who told me I should try to direct. Then, Sam Raimi gave me my first opportunity. I had been a storyboard artist on a film we had worked on called 'Army of Darkness.' I storyboarded the film for him, and he offered me a chance to do three days of second-unit directing just to get my feet wet. Then, three days became three weeks, and we’ve been working off and on ever since.” He adds, “What’s interesting about directing, and maybe it’s true with everything, but you never know if you’re going to take to it until you get into the thick of it. I didn’t know how bad I wanted to direct until the first time I was going to direct and somebody tried to take the job away from me. I’ve never done a film when somebody hasn’t tried to take the job away from me. When that happens, and you have to fight to keep it, suddenly you realize how much it means to you.” Given how strongly Lefler has taken to directing, it seems certain that Lefler doesn’t intend “The Last Legion” to be his final foray into directing. |
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