Exclusive Interview: Director Josh Sternfeld Talks Fortress: Sniper’s Eye

Josh Sternfeld is an award-winning filmmaker who has quickly made a name for himself with the dramatic projects he’s brought to life on the screen. His past credits include Balloons, Streamers, Meskada, and Winter Solstice.

This year, he made his mark on the action world with Fortress: Sniper’s Eye.

Pop Culturalist was lucky enough to speak with Josh about the film.

PC: Tell us about Fortress: Sniper’s Eye and what fans can expect.
Josh: They can expect a great story and an action-packed film. Bruce Willis, Chad Michael Murray, Jesse Metcalfe, Kelly Greyson, and everybody in the film are fantastic in it. It was a pleasure to work with all of them. They can be ready for some action-packed scenes, a great climax, and also really, really emotional and honest storytelling.

PC: What was it about this script that attracted you to this project?
Josh: It was a combination of great, exciting action scenes and real drama, emotion, and character development. I had been wanting to do an action film for a while, but I was looking for a script that I thought was also going to really give the actors a lot of emotional range in their performances. When I read the screenplay from the producers, I fell in love with it. I thought it was awesome. I was so grateful that they hired me.

PC: Like you were saying, there’s a really great balance between the action and those more dramatic emotional moments. For you as a director, is one more challenging than the other to shoot?
Josh: To be honest, I come from an indie drama background, so that emotional and dramatic material is my bread and butter. That was easier. Doing the most intense action sequences was an incredibly fun challenge and I loved it. I was sort of finding my way through it at the beginning.

When I first landed in San Juan, I was on the phone with the stunt coordinator right away. I’ve told this story a few times, but it’s a hundred percent true. The stunt coordinator was the first person I called when I landed in San Juan. I was talking to him before I even got to the baggage claim at the airport. I was like, “Start rehearsing immediately. Start hiring people immediately.” We didn’t have a very long time for pre-production. He did great rehearsals and showed me these little videos. But I learned that when you’re on set, it takes some time for the action sequences to come alive because you want them to look real. It was a fun challenge.

PC: The cast has spoken at length about the collaborative environment that you created that allowed them to explore their characters. How were you able to build that? Does the process differ based on the actor that you’re working with?
Josh: It does. Every actor is different. There are some actors that really love a lot of conversation about their character’s backstory and motivations. There are other actors who are just as talented and powerful that don’t like that dialogue. They want to keep things very much to blocking: “Where do I go? Where am I coming from?” This is my fourth feature as a director. I’ve learned now that I need to sit back and let the actor come to me with how they want to do it. Then I change my approach depending on the actor. But it depends on them. The challenge with this particular film was that it was a fast shooting schedule. You’re having to do a great number of pages a day, but at the same time, you want to give the actors the space and time to find those moments. Doing that under a very accelerated schedule is a challenge. But they all did wonderfully.

PC: This is your first major adventure into the action genre. What was the biggest surprise about the filming experience? What was the biggest takeaway?
Josh: The biggest education was the action scenes and getting them to feel real and visceral on camera. That was a learning experience. I think I did a fine job. I’m very happy with the finished film. The very few people that I’ve spoken to that have seen it thus far have all been impressed. I’m relieved. It’s always up to the audience on how well or how poorly I did, but I’m happy with it. I’m experienced enough as a director now to know that the diligence is in the preparation. The diligence is in the rehearsals, giving the stunt teams the rehearsal time, and letting them do all that.

The surprise was that when you get on set and start to place cameras, it still takes time for it to really gel in an authentic way because you don’t want it to look too practiced. You don’t want it to look too rehearsed. You want it to feel organic, and that can sometimes take time to achieve. I’d say that was the biggest surprise, but we got it all and I was super happy.

PC: This franchise has been incredibly well received. What do you think is resonating with audiences? What do you hope they take away?
Josh: I think what is resonating with them is that there’s something very strikingly original and fun about this idea of a CIA encampment. There’s something really fun about it. I think people are responding to Bruce, especially now that we know this legend is going to be moving away from this. They’re loving these characters. I hope for my film that they see it as a natural extension of the story.

Watch Fortress: Sniper’s Eye wherever you stream movies.

Photo Credit: Lionsgate