Director Kirk Jones Explains the Wait Between "Waking Ned Devine" and "Nanny McPhee:" Jones said he was keeping busy during his absence from feature films. "I wasn’t not doing anything. I had written and directed 'Waking Ned Devine' and I really felt strongly that I should write and direct my next film. I didn’t read anyone else’s scripts and I was very focused on my own work. I then realized it was going to take me four or five years to get my own project together and I was desperate to back into making films again. I still made commercials in the meantime. But after about two years of saying, 'No, I don’t want to read any scripts,' I then said actually, 'This is crazy. I really should be reading other people’s work.'
I started to read scripts and it probably took about another year before 'Nanny McPhee' came along. And I suddenly felt like it was a film that I would feel very comfortable directing. It felt like it was my kind of film and I felt very passionate about it. It’s very important to feel like that because you then give a year and a half or two years of your life to it. So it was a little bit of me saying I want to do things on my own, realizing that I was mistaken in that, and then taking about another year to find a script."
Kirk Jones on Directing Emma Thompson: Thompson not only stars in the film but also wrote the script and nursed "Nanny McPhee" along throughout the project's development. Jones said even though Thompson was so intimately connnected to the film, it wasn't hard to direct her.
"It wasn’t difficult but obviously going into the project it was something that I had on my mind. Emma Thompson had achieved pretty much as much as you could achieve as a writer and as an actor with two Oscars. But within about two minutes of meeting her, it was very obvious that I was going to be able to work with her, that she wasn’t going to try and take the project over.
I was incredibly respectful, of course, when I was on set. If there were any small changes that I thought should be made, then I would discuss them with her. But she’s a very, very generous person and just a delight to work with. She didn’t try and hold on to her ideas or take any control on the set. It was a really good shoot."
Kirk Jones on Directing Kids and the Appeal of a Family Film: "I have two children of my own and maybe 10 years ago this project wouldn’t have appealed to me as much. But having a family and being aware of how much children have to offer, it was just a real joy.
I knew that if we could cast the film really well, if I could make the children feel comfortable enough on set to be themselves, then I had a chance of capturing some really wonderful moments and wonderful performances. It’s a lot of hard work to get to that stage. But when they start doing their thing, and when the camera is running, it’s really magical and it’s really very, very special."
Jones said he's style of directing didn't change when it came to handling the younger actors. "I just shout at everyone (laughing). No, you talk to the actors and you connect to the actors. You connect to the children. I think it’s important not to talk down too much to the children because when they’re on set, it’s quite a mature situation and they need to be very sensible. I think it’s always a mistake to get too friendly with the children, to be giving them piggy backs and throwing them around and hugging them and stuff. I just think that sends off the wrong message. When they came on set, I wanted to make sure it was a very professional situation."
Kirk Jones on Casting Colin Firth: "I’ve always been a fan of Colin, as are most women around the world I think (laughing). I just always suspected that he was able to give a really good comedy performance with a lot of warmth. He’s, I guess, deliberately chosen a lot of parts in the past which have not allowed him to do that. He often plays quite cold, dark roles and I thought it would be really interesting to see if he could give a comedy performance, which he did amazingly, I think."
Director Kirk Jones Interview Video from the Premiere of "Nanny McPhee" - Play the Video
