Oscar-Nominated Director Lee Daniels Has a Lot to Say About Working With Mariah Carey

Director Lee Daniels on working with Mariah Carey for the second time.

ByABC News
September 17, 2012, 4:42 PM

Aug 29, 2012— -- Today is the seven-year anniversary of Hurricane Katrina, and it's amazing to see how the city of New Orleans has rebuilt itself, becoming what's known as Hollywood South.

So we called up one of the big-name directors who's currently filming there, Lee Daniels, to get the scoop on his latest movie, The Butler, which is due next year and has halted production this week due to Tropical Storm Isaac.

The Oscar-nominated filmmaker had a lot to say about working with Mariah Carey for the second time — all of it good, despite his choice of the "D" word (diva). He had previously cast her in Precious as a social worker, a role that got her a ton of praise.

Read on for our full interview with Daniels...

Tell us what about the work you are currently doing in New Orleans.

I'm doing two films here. I just got done doing The Paperboy [a thriller to be released in October] and I am currently filming The Butler. The Paperboy was shot in New Orleans but takes places in Miami. Nicole Kidman, Zac Efron, Matthew McConaughey are all in it.

The tax incentive is a very powerful reason to be filming here in New Orleans. I'm able to get so much more for my money. Investors love it! That's the primary reason and then the other is reason is that the weather is so fabulous, the food is so good, the people are so wonderful. After Katrina, you know that you are giving back. There were so many people that were unemployed and in just such rough situations, so it's the totality of all that that excites me about working in Louisiana.

Is filming in NOLA really that "easy"?

New York, it's so fast! And I live there. I've also lived in L.A. for quite a while too. It's just a different way. It's the Big Easy baby [laughs]! And just be prepared to walk away 10, 15, 20 pounds heavier, so if you can hang with that then, yeah. You just gotta hit that Equinox treadmill when you get home. But we are out in the country and it gets a little scary sometimes cause you can see that confederate flag.

Are there alligators?

In Paperboy we have Zac Efron swimming with alligators to escape from a mythical John Cusack.

Your current project The Butler stars a lot of big names, including Forest Whitaker and Oprah and focuses on the life of the White House butler Eugene Allen, who spanned eight US Presidents. How did you get involved with it?

My friend who passed away Laura Ziskin wanted this movie made so bad [Editor's Note: this great article from Indiewire discusses just how much Ziskin pushed to have this movie made].

She was the producer of As Good As It Gets, Pretty Woman, Spiderman. She wanted me to direct this film and I was so honored to work with her. She fought on her deathbed to get the movie made. And a beautiful woman named Shelia Johnson who created BET (who no longer is with BET). Between the two of them they pulled it together and they believed in me. People that are silent heroes are not normally vocal about the film, but they are the matriarchs of The Butler.

I always get nervous but you know all I can do is my best. I pray that I can make something that they can be proud of.

You've got a very particular directing style. Can we talk about it?

Well, I got some chains and some whips [laughs]. I'm really frank, very open, very honest about myself to people — obnoxiously honest, which forces them into a place of honesty. There are no egos on the set. The ego is the film. We're here to serve the film and if you are not doing it right, then you really suck, do it again!