Campbell Scott:
Almost the most successful thing about the movie hopefully, is not even the plot and the twists and everything which people recognize superficially.
But underneath, by the end of this film, you.. I did, even I did, and I'm, you know...find it impossible to be objective, have this rather paranoid kind of creepy feeling that no one is who they seem, and you're creeped out by it.
Interviewer: A lot of people say oh, Mamet is so stylized and that his style is so stacatto and unnatural, which I disagree with. I think when it's done right, it's very natural
Campbell Scott: yeah
Interviewer: I think that's how people talk. They stutter they start, they stop, they don't finish their sentences, which I think comes across in The Spanish Prisoner.
Campbell Scott: Yeah, I agree with you. I think that it depends, you know, it depends on what you're gonna try to bring out of it too. I think some people when they get a hold of David's stuff they might want to make it as, ... try not to be in his style at all. And that's obviously not what he wants. He wants things very clear. By the same token you don't want to be a bunch of robots, let's face it. So the challenge is, to be as natural as possible but still to be in a style. You have to recognize it and you have to kind of like it!
Interviewer: Now is he an intimidating director, because he's a writer, who I would imagine who clings quite closely to his scripts.
Campbell Scott: Yeah, he stays close. He's not intimidating because in fact he wants as little as possible so he's actually not, he's not at all overbearing. He's always trying to get people to do less and do less. He's a writer, foremost, and I think he has very specific ideas about the way he wants it to be filmed and you either jump on that or you don't.