I have been very lucky to have final cut in all my films; everything that is wrong in them is my fault.
I have ten commandments. The first nine are, thou shalt not bore. The tenth is, thou shalt have right of final cut.
No matter where I am working, I cannot make a film without 100% creative control and final cut. If there is such a guarantee, I can work anywhere.
Watching the completed version of The Two Towers for example, I was very conscious of scenes - sometimes whole sequences - that I had seen being filmed or edited but which hadn't made it into the final cut.
We even did a re-imagining of 'Spider-Man' that James Franco starred in that didn't make it into 'This Is The End'. That didn't make the final cut, but I wouldn't be surprised if it made the DVD.
The thing I realized about final cut is it's the power of the best cut. I didn't have final cut on 'Prisoners,' but what you saw is the best cut. 'Sicario' is a directors' cut. 'Arrival' is a directors' cut.
I never watch the dailies. What I usually do is have a look at the rough or final cut, and I just get something from the story. Sometimes I start composing even before the director has shot anything. The dailies don't help me at all.
We always said that directors work their whole lives to get final cut on a movie. We have that. So why would you want to run away from what every other director is sprinting toward their entire careers?
There are really only a handful of directors who have a final cut clause in Hollywood. You only get that power if you've made a couple of hundred-million-dollar successes.
If you worry about what's going to end up in the final cut, it's like you're thinking about the endgame.
