AD smooths way
By Tim Ryan
for film director
Star-BulletinIt's not true that everyone in show business wants to direct. Some people see their talent at the director's side. "All I ever wanted to do was bring the paints to Van Gogh," said Jerry Ziesmer, 58, a first assistant director for nearly three decades. "I realized early on ... that I did not have the artistic vision of a Francis Ford Coppola, or the technical vision of a Steven Spielberg. But I still wanted to contribute."
Ziesmer has "contributed" on 30 films such as "Jerry Maguire," "Apocalypse Now," "Close Encounters of the Third Kind," "1941," "Scarface," "Blue Thunder" and "The River." He is chairman and founder of the Director Guild of America's Assistant Director Mentor Program.
Ziesmer and his wife, Suzanne, a production assistant, this weekend will discuss "The Craft of the Assistant Director" at the University of Hawaii.
According to Ziesmer, the AD's main task is to create a production environment where the director and actors can work efficiently. He ensures that the people and equipment are on the set when the director needs them.
Along the way, however, the AD massages fragile egos.
"Egos among these people are gigantic," said Ziesmer, 58. "My background as a junior high school teacher . . . prepared me well to be an assistant director."
Listen to what it was like working with Marlin Brando on "Apocalypse Now."
"It wasn't a walk in the shade," Ziesmer said. "We had him for 15 shooting days and he spent the first three days in his houseboat talking with (Coppola) about the script and character."
During filming when Ziesmer accompanied the cameraman inside a small metal hut, Brando closed and locked the door, then pumped smoke inside.
"It wasn't until we were choking and near death while he laughed hilariously that he finally let us out," Ziesmer said.
But Tom Cruise, Ziesmer said, is "100-percent professional, coming to the set quickly and always ready to work."
But there was one day when Cruise "pulled a Brando."
"I got a (two-way) radio message from Tom's right-hand man that there was a major problem ... He said Tom wasn't ready."
Meanwhile, hundreds of extras and crew members were ready and waiting.
"I was standing there with (director) Cameron (Crowe) when Tom's assistant took us aside and said we were not going to believe what had just happened. I though maybe there was a sudden divorce, or his kids had been hurt. Then while we were standing there dying, Tom came running onto the set screaming 'April Fools.' "
If you're interested in becoming an assistant director, here's the best way, Ziesmer said:
The Assistant Directors Training Program each spring gives a test from which high-scoring participants are called in for an oral interview. Twenty are chosen as trainees to work 400 days and graduate as second assistant directors.
After working about 600 days and being allowed to join Director's Guild as a second assistant director, you can expect to earn about $2,200 a week. First directors earn as much as $5,000 a week.
And another thing. The only one who can fire the assistant director is the director.
Directing help
What: The Craft of the Assistant Director seminar, with Jerry and Suzanne Ziesmer
