Hipp sees Gordon as "an actor's director. When he comes up to you, has such fire in his eyes. As when he starts to speak about a certain scene, tears come to his eyes. As he walks away, it's 'God, if I were half the actor he is.' This guy acts circles around me as he's directing me. His instincts are so great as an actor that when he brings it to his directing, he elevates you to a different place. He encouraged our instincts and allowed them to flourish, because he had confidence in the actors he's hired. But also, because he has such a good eye, he knew when to pull back. I trusted Keith completely."
Holbrook comments, "You always get something interesting from Keith. He gets you right --dang! -- in the middle of the target. He knows how much to say, and how much not to. He is amazing, and I've hardly ever worked with a director who is such a sweet man. He's got a lovely light coming out of him."
Gordon's solid rapport with his cast ensured that the complex story of Waking the Dead would at last be brought to the screen as Gordon had envisioned. But he remained mindful of the material's challenge, of being an unusual story told in an unusual way: "Normally, films progress from A to Z. But my script jumped back and forth across a ten-year gap from the early 1970s to the early 1980s -- and each period informs the other. Not only does everything in the 1970s echo later in the 1980s; what we see of the 1980s also enriches the experience of going back and seeing Fielding younger, before he has gone through the loss of Sarah and of his own idealism. In seeing Fielding later and seeing what he's lost by losing the love of his life, you care that much more, and you learn about what that love meant. So, then, going back and seeing those earlier love scenes has a great deal more poignancy and depth. Each era informs the other. It was tricky to structure, and tricky to edit. But it adds an extra layer of power because every time the story goes back to look at the past, you know about the future."
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