Now you’re transitioning to a movie involving the IRA, adapted from the novel “Shadow Dancer.” What is it like to immerse yourself in something completely different?
The beauty and the joy of the work that I do is that every time you do a film, you throw yourself into a very different kind of world and set of ideas. You’re going there to discover things. The world of science is one that was new to me, and so that was an intriguing world to be in for [“Projcect Nim”]. With “Man on Wire” I thought I was making a film about the making of art, and this film was about science. There are similarities, though. Science is trying to push boundaries back about knowledge and information. What Philippe was doing was the same in an imaginative way with his tightrope walk. So there were interesting overlaps there.

As a filmmaker, and specifically with your documentaries, you seem drawn to stories from the past.
I tend to make I guess what you’d call constructive documentaries, where you’re excavating and discovering a dramatic story in the past. I don’t really have the patience or the ability to make observational films, ones that unfold as they happen. [Nim’s} story preexisted. My job is to try and make it as dramatic as possible and respect its ebb and flow. That’s my basic approach.

“Project Nim” opens in theaters on July 8th.