Saul Dibb

Working lives: Director

Timothy Spall, a man in his mid sixties, sits in front of a large fully packed bookcase, in his blue polkadotted pyjamas and a green and navy striped silk dressing gown. He wears rectangular glasses.

What does the job involve?

I guess the simple answer is that the clue is in the title: it’s about having a clear direction in which you want to take a project.

You’re the hand on the tiller, making sure all the departments and actors are going in the same direction.

I started in documentaries, so I’m trying to make things feel real and truthful. I’m not just trying to deliver the script, which is what a lot of people think a director’s job is. You have to breathe life into it so it doesn’t feel written, or even directed.