These are the words of Daniel Kwan, who has recently become a household name as one half of the directing duo dubbed "The Daniels." Last year, Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert were finally able to see one of these impossible ideas realized -- their film Everything Everywhere All At Once. The movie sets the story of Evelyn Wang, a Chinese immigrant struggling to balance the various facets of her life, against a variety of absurd backdrops -- initially, I listed a few of them here, but you really just have to watch the movie.
The pair's intrinsic motivation feels indomitable -- when asked about their creative process, one of the most prominent themes is a desire to push boundaries, to see how far an idea can go or if it will turn out at all. "The thing about the multiverse that fascinated and scared us was the idea of infinity, and we wanted to make a movie that went to too many," Scheinert says. "Our favorite projects were ones we weren't sure if we could off."
The two met at Emerson College, both pursuing degrees in film. Since their college years they've pursued a variety of projects together, most notably the outrageous music video for "Turn Down For What" in 2013. In the ten years since, their style has changed but the absurdity and seemingly endless imagination has certainly not been diminished. For the multiverse concept of Everything Everywhere All At Once, the Daniels cite Kurt Vonnegut and Douglas Adams as influences.
The Daniels are a great example of Sternberg and Lubart's Investment Theory of Creativity. In terms of intellectual skills, both of them grew up around science -- Scheinert was involved in creative math clubs and Kwan often explored scientific concepts with his mother as a child. They also carry a lot of knowledge in their field, having studied film in college and been actively working in the industry for over ten years.
As to the third point, they are not afraid to defy the crowd: in an interview with The Wrap, Kwan said that him and Scheinert "tend to make things for themselves ... we're trying to create movies that we wish we could see." They are very intrinsically motivated, with much of their motivation coming from the excitement they feel when creating. And in working with each other for so long, the two have cultivated an environment where they can bounce ideas off of each other and develop them without fear of judgement.
They also welcome their unintentionally creative moments. When asked about the meaningful parallels between the character Waymond and the actor who played him, Ke Huy Quan, Kwan said, "I wish we could say we were smart enough to be thinking about all that stuff ... but it was one of those lovely, beautiful, synergistic things that happened".
The Daniels on EEAAO: "We knew we wanted to make it really entertaining, but also we wanted to give ourselves the challenge of creating a multiverse film that actually went all the way to its logical terrifying conclusion and yet still pulled you back from the brink of meaninglessness."
The quote above perfectly encapsulates how the Daniels operate. With a combination of extrinsic and intrinsic motivation, the two have created an absurd, maximalist piece of art that had never been done before. The film is funny, emotional, thrilling, introspective -- it certainly lives up to its title.
Sources
https://deadline.com/2022/12/everything-everywhere-all-at-once-the-daniels-interview-podcast-1235192732/
https://www.npr.org/2023/01/24/1150938152/meet-the-mathematical-minds-behind-oscar-nominated-everything-everywhere-all-at-
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EYf31UGTuwY
https://www.thewrap.com/everything-everywhere-all-at-once-directors-the-daniels-interview/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kcPhT3j3bME
Everything Everywhere All At Once is such an incredible movie! I did not know anything about the directors until I read your blog post but now knowing that they are the same people who made the iconic "Turn Down for What" music video makes so much sense. Both of those pieces have a very similar style to them but since they are almost 10 years apart in production it is interesting the compare the two and see how they have continued to develop their unique style. It's also amazing how their partnership and friendship has lasted for so many years. I definitely agree that the strength of their bond contributes to the quality of work they produce. Always having someone you trust to bounce ideas off of is such a benefit and I hope their partnership continues to help them push the boundaries of what is possible in film.
ReplyDeleteIt was definitely interesting to read about this creative pairing, especially after watching the Oscars last night where their film won seven awards. I thought it was so funny that they directed the Turn Down For What music video because hearing that took me back to the type of creative space the internet was back then; when there wasn't a cookie-cutter template for internet success that's been pushed in recent years. But these two creatives are really pushing the envelope of directing and putting out very creative products!
ReplyDeleteWhen I first saw "Everything Everywhere All At Once" I was so taken aback emotionally. I thought it encapsulated modern family dynamics so well, and took the feeling that everything is out of control to an extreme. The truly creative thing about this film is how absurd it became, but since it carried so much weight emotionally, everything was very serious even though the concepts brought about. The Daniels truly were able to create, what I think is a masterpiece, by introducing their vision and recruiting these actors, costume designers, cosmetologists, musicians, and marketing people to embrace their creative flow. In embracing collaborative work with other absurdist artist, they were able to create something completely unique and emotionally encapsulate very complex and emotionally suppressed themes. I saw the interview with Stephanie Hsu where she was talking about working with the Daniels, and she said that the Daniels had to give the crew a rundown her first day on set, because she knew that whatever she was gonna do under the Daniels direction was going to look weird and not make sense to anyone but them. This level of creative sync and collaboration I think is what lets the Daniels shine as directors
ReplyDeleteThis was such a wonderful movie, I found the concept so riveting. I watched a science documentary one time and one of the researchers said that there is no other bond like the one between research partners--I think this can also be applicable to people who create together. I think the bond between two collaborators on a creative project is one like no other, and this is definitely reflected in works such as Everything Everywhere All At Once; you can really see how their minds are working together to create something synergistic.
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