"I think my life experience informs my directing much more than my acting skills. I think I know how to put an actor at ease, I don’t know the language, if there is a language, but I think every actor comes to the set with their own needs and then you have to handle them accordingly." - Tim Van Patten, on his directing style
Director Timothy Van Patten is nominated for his 9th Emmy this year for Oustanding Direction for a Drama Series (Game of Thrones) ! In his Archive interview, he discussed his work on Boardwalk Empire, The Pacific, The Wire, Sex and the City, and the long-running HBO series The Sopranos.
On what it was like to work with Boardwalk Empire's executive producer, Martin Scorcese:
On directing the World War II story, The Pacific:
On his take on the final episode of The Sopranos:
His full interview can be viewed here: emmytvlegends.org/interviews/people/timothy-van-patten
In his three-and-a-half hour interview for the Archive of American Television, actor/director Timothy Van Patten discusses a career that has spanned East to West Coast and back again. He recounts his early life in New York and his move to Los Angeles, where he found success as an actor playing "Salami" on the MTM production,The White Shadow. Van Patten speaks at length about mentor Bruce Paltrow and the amazing education in television and film he received on the set of several Paltrow-led productions. He talks about his challenging transition to directing, a journey that eventually led to directing episodes of several short-lived series such as Home Firesand The Road Home, and of longer reigning shows Touched By an AngelandHomicide: Life on the Street. He concludes by describing how he found his niche directing episodes of acclaimed HBO series The Sopranos,Sex and the City, The Wire, and Boardwalk Empire, and expresses his deep respect for writer/producers David Chase, David Simon and Terence Winter. Van Patten also confesses that in addition to television acting and directing, he now has a hankering for writing, too. Ron Simon conducted interview in New York City on June 26, 2009.
