Dave’s back at Ball State

David Letterman returned to his alma mater Monday, Nov. 30, to hold a wide-ranging discussion with award-winning filmmakers Spike Jonze and Bennett Miller.

He spoke to the directors, in the John R. Emens Auditorium, about the challenges they found in compromising with major studios.

Jonze, known for his directing of “Where the Wild Things Are” and “Her” said he didn’t fully understand how nervous studios can become when they give someone $80 million to create a film.

“They said it was too strange, sad and dark. I got in a lot of fights with them. They just wanted it to have no jagged edges,” Jonze said.

But to make compromises on decisions about creative control with studios can create a “big loss,” he said.

Miller, famous for films such as “Foxcatcher” said that he relies on improvisation in filmmaking.

Letterman also asked the directors about women being underrepresented in Hollywood roles as directors and producers. Neither man seemed inclined to take on the subject.

Miller struggled to find an answer, mentioning how he employs women and that the subject had “landmines all over it”.

Letterman asked again. “Having been very, very successful, now can’t you devote your career to help others who struggle to be successful?”

The audience applauded to the question. Miller said that response is “patronizing” and said “it’s a jungle” to get jobs in the business to begin with.

Jonze said it was ridiculous that women don’t have more roles in higher Hollywood jobs, adding that it’s also ridiculous that the same goes for African Americans.

Neither director has college degrees, and they both agreed that film school is not necessary to success.

The crowd of mostly college students listened as Miller and Jonze emphasized the importance of just going out and creating films to learn more about directing.

Before the formal moderated discussion with Letterman, Miller and Jonze spoke with a small group of theatre and telecommunications majors about the industry.

“Make stuff. Do stuff.” was the main message given to students by both directors.

“It’s like knowing somebody who hasn’t existed yet,” Miller said as he encouraged students to develop their own ideas for what they want to create in films.

“When I first started directing I’d be nervous. Like, I don’t think I have a vision,” Jonze said. “But what I realized is that it’s more of a feeling you start with. When you close your eyes it’s like waking up from a dream.”

And when it comes to creating a film, fear seems to be a part of the process.

“I’m so excited to make this but it might be a failure at the same time,” Jonze said. But he said he’d try to keep those concerns to himself and not tell the people funding the movie his worries.

Miller told students to not wait for opportunities to be handed to them. “No one gives you permission to do anything," he said.

Miller and Jonze directed two Ball State theatre students as they practiced a short scene from a 1994 film, "Cabin Boy," in which Letterman had a brief scene. The theatre and telecommunications students in attendance were able to see how professional directors command their actors. Letterman had orchestrated the skit that would later be reproduced on the stage at Emens.

Before having the theatre students come onstage, Letterman allowed Miller and Jonze to critique his performance in Cabin Boy.

“It looked like you weren’t prepared,” Jonze said and that it looked like Letterman didn’t know what he wanted out of the role.

Letterman said his motivation was to get back on the plane and fly back to the Midwest.

President Paul W. Ferguson announced at the event that Letterman was donating memorabilia from his career as a talk show host. Among them, his Emmy Awards and props from the sets of Late Night with David Letterman (which aired from 1982 to 1993) and Late Show with David Letterman (which aired from 1993 to 2015).

This donation will complete the “David Letterman Experience” and will be displayed in the David Letterman Communication and Media Building.

He poked fun at the usefulness of the experience, saying: “So you can sit at a desk and pretend to interview an actor?”

This was the first time Letterman appeared at Ball State since his retirement. And the first time he’s appeared with the voluminous beard he’s grown in his time off-air. But it’s not the first time he visited the campus where he started his career. He came with Oprah Winfrey in 2012 and Rachel Maddow in 2011.

“I’m so lucky to have been invited back. I want to thank everybody here, everybody on campus and the people who run this university,” Letterman said.

Students who camped outside for tickets to the event that sold out the Monday after they went on sale enjoyed the chance to see the famed host in person.

“It’s fun. It’s on my bucket list of things to do before I graduate.” said Corinne Webber, a biology and pre-medicine major. “I wanted to see Dave and I had never camped out for anything.”

Even with the cold bite of the wind, students waited outside, some sheltered in tents, and others layered in blankets.

“I’m sort of used to [the cold] and there’s blankets, so,” Webber laughs.

“I’m wearing a onesie and two pants and two shirts,” said Alaina Jaye Halsey, a news journalism and telecommunications major. (Photos courtesy of: Sadie Lebo and Nicole Lehrman.)

Read more about the event and the conversation on social media.