Emile Hirsch: 'Ang Lee is very specific'

Emile Hirsch has revealed that director Ang Lee gave "wonderful" guidance during the filming of their new movie Taking Woodstock.

The 24-year-old actor said that he learned a great deal from Lee's "specific" direction as a filmmaker.

Hirsch told Cinematical: "Ang is very specific, so I didn't have a hard time understanding what he wanted. Like, there was a moment where he had me watch a scene in The Deer Hunter with Christopher Walken where Christopher Walken recognises Bob De Niro right before he shoots himself in that final game, and it's like this cathartic moment of recognition where the memories are pouring back all at once. That was a moment that Ang was like, I want to feel the memories coming back to you, like Christopher Walken, when you're on the hill. You're on the hill and suddenly every cell in your body remembers.

"I thought it was such a specific, wonderful guide and direction, and Walken is amazing in that scene - you see a guy remembering, and it's just the most beautiful moment with him. So that was the kind of direction he would steer me in with regards to films, but, you know, I think the thing that maybe distinguishes this character more than anything else about it in terms of its Vietnam veteran status is that I was 23 when I did it, and I look like a young vet."

Hirsch added: "This is not a 35-45-year-old guy - he's much younger, and that's something I think Ang was very insistent on, but it's also something that sets it apart from some of those other portrayals, just the sheer youth of it."

Taking Woodstock is currently in limited cinemas in the US and is released in the UK on November 6.