Like many top directors, the breadth of Noam Murro’s work this year has been so wide that it’s impossible to categorize him. Nevertheless, one quality linked it all: a grandeur, vision and impeccable production value that vied with that of the big screen, like the visually ravishing “Lost Barrel” for Jameson and the eerie epic “Boag’s Pure” for Lion Nathan. He also got disarmingly comic and musical, following a laid-off exec singing the recessionary blues away in “Positive Thinking” for Volkswagen. For Vaseline “Amazing Moisture” Murro made a quirky, acrobatic art installation majestic. HBO Imagine, meanwhile, was a technical challenge of the highest order: a character-led thriller made mind-bendingly complex by having to work across four different perspectives at once. In all, a year full of cinematic flair.

What is something that not a lot of people know about you but you wish more people could know?
I’m Jewish. Shocking but true.

What is your favorite tradition from your childhood that you would love to pass on to your kids?
Stealing from department stores.

If you were given the power to give everyone on earth the same trait regardless of whatever differences already exist between them, what trait would you choose and why?
Can they please be all like Gisele? Please? Please?

If you could be a super hero, what power would you like to have?
Babe magnet.

You’re given $1 million and a sticky note. You have to donate the money anonymously. Who would you give it to and what would you write to them on the note?
To self. “Have fun.”

If you were written about on the front page of a major newspaper, what would the headline say?
“Finally, A Plot.”

How would you describe your profession to a kindergarten class full of four- and five-year-olds?
“You know, like what you guys do...”

Name a creative person, outside of directing, whose career you admire?
Leonard Bernstein or Gustav Mahler.

What’s the best music video you’ve seen lately? Why did it grab your attention?
Lady Gaga “Telephone”. Because it’s 45 minutes long.

Name a film you love that was directed by a woman and explain why you love it.
It’s got to be between Lina Wertmüller’s Seven Beauties and the work of Leni Riefenstahl. A Jew is a Jew is a Jew.

What’s your most memorable experience directing an animal?
“Lose the English accent, please.”

Directing tip you’d give yourself if you could go back to your first job?
Pass.

The one that got away – what script did you not get and still wish you had?
Five Easy Pieces. Q

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