DAVID LEITCH

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

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

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

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.

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

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

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.

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

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.'

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

Spies go undercover. They take on different personas.

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.

Every movie you attack has its challenges, and I was excited about the challenges presented by 'Deadpool.' I was a huge fan of the original, and I think, as a director, you have to put the script first.

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.

Part of the problem is that many directors treat female characters too often as precious. Or they want to live in a fantasy world where they just do spinning hook kicks and knock out guys who are six foot four, and that doesn't work either.

Choreographing a fight scene is telling a little story. You learn a lot about the characters involved.

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

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.

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.

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

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.

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

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

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