Kathryn Bigelow, left, Lee Daniels, Peter Jackson, Quentin Tarantino, James Cameron and Jason Reitman (Photo by Dan Busta)

Another end-of-year THR roundtable, this one with some directors whose names are being mentioned for most awards – Kathryn Bigelow (“The Hurt Locker”); James Cameron (“Avatar”); Lee Daniels (“Precious”); Peter Jackson (“The Lovely Bones”); Jason Reitman (“Up in the Air”); and Quentin Tarantino (“Inglourious Basterds”).

Normally I’m not in the habit of promoting directors as they get enough press and the focus of this blog is on screenwriters. However it’s interesting to note five of the six directors in this group are writer-directors.

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

You can read a transcript of the discussion here. One tasty morsel for you – Reitman’s response to what he would do if he didn’t direct movies:

Reitman: If I couldn’t direct I don’t know what I’d do. I’d want to tell stories in one way or another, whether it was just convincing people to listen to me or whether I became I writer. I can’t help but feel that’s what I was put on Earth to do. I was scared of the idea of becoming a director and I went to college and I went premed. Because I was very familiar with the idea of how people perceived the children of famous filmmakers. If you were the son of a famous director, most likely you were a talentless spoiled brat with an alcohol or drug problem to boot. Why enter a profession where that was the going idea of me? I went and I thought, “I’ll be a doctor, no one questions why you become a doctor.” And my father took me aside and said, “Being scared is no reason to do anything.” He told me to follow my heart and become a storyteller, and I realized in that moment that my entire life, all I’ve wanted to do was tell stories.

H/T to Robert Fuller for the link.