Behind the Scenes is a Latin Post feature series offering an inside look at prominent Latino stars, films, and the everyday members of the entertainment industry.

Barcelona-born Director "Run All Night" Director Jaume Collet-Serra is captivated by bringing American movies to life on the big screen, and he's not the only international director who has this cinematic love affair.

Best known for directing the horror films "House of Wax" and "Orphan," as well as action thrillers with Liam Neeson in "Unknown" and "Non-Stop," and now the New York, Irish mafia-based film, "Run All Night," Collet-Serra pointed out that international filmmaking is becoming more and more attractive to Hollywood. With this worldly perspective, not only does it make for better films, but its all-encompassing nature resonates across the board and therefore equates to higher box office numbers.

"I think people are more hungry for international filmmaking, per se, I think the lines are more blurry between what [is] traditional Hollywood ... or movies for America only," Collet-Serra told Latin Post. 

"The rest of the world has consumed so many movies from America that now there is no distinction, and they want to see themselves represented, being [that] the international box office [is] even bigger than the U.S. box office.

"The studios and the producers are recognizing that an international filmmaker -- I am not saying that it has to be foreign, but somebody who has traveled and has acknowledges other cultures and places -- can makes movies that can speak to a broader audience. It's not just going to play in one country, but everywhere, ya know?"

Collet-Serra is part of a growing trend of Latin directors and producers who are getting the chance to spread their wings and show Hollywood what they're really made of. We've seen this recently with Oscar wins from "Birdman's" Alejandro González Iñárritu and "Gravity's" Alfonso Cuarón, and it's only bound to get better and more multidimensional.

"I think I am a part of that generation of directors...I have made two movies in New York, but every other movie has been in a different country, in Berlin, Canada and Australia. I take actors from all over the world, and we mix them together. ... We make a story, and ultimately the story gets better and more interesting, and people see themselves in the movie. ... It gets more successful. So, I think it's a good thing."

In his latest film, "Run All Night," starring Neeson, Joel Kinnaman, Ed Harris, Vincent D'Onofrio, Common and Genesis Rodriguez, Collet-Serra took on the colossal task of capturing one of the busiest cities on the planet and one of the most iconic cinematic backdrops -- New York City and its outer boroughs from Queens to Brooklyn to the Bronx. He also managed to capture its bustling subways and even the world-famous Madison Square Garden, where a real New York Rangers game took place.

With incredible aerial and panoramic shots of the city as well as its unpredictable underground, he gives the audience a sense its gritty, grid-based vastness throughout the urban jungle, where energy, intensity, love and hate, progress and crime all lie within.

"Just the fact that you want to feel the geography ... It's like a comic book, you go like ... 'In the meantime somewhere else in the city something else is happening,'" he said. "We wanted to get a sense of scope and dynamic and density to it. It was very difficult to do those shots, obviously. We had to decide when and how. We had to decide on a balance to not make it too gimmicky. I am glad that it worked out."

Shooting action sequences on the New York City subway was indeed a challenge. Collet-Serra had four hours each day, in two days, to shoot. Although completely unpredictable, he managed to pull it off -- 3-4 a.m. being the best hours to capture the scenes.

"I can only speak for myself, but I usually get thrown into a city like Berlin or New York, and they are like, 'Make a story here.' I am very aware I have to be very sensitive to that city and see the city through the eyes of the people who live there," he said.

While the Spanish director is also from a captivating city, Barcelona in Catalonia, which has its historic, Gothic cathedrals and impressive artistic landmarks that tell an important chapter in Spain's history, he wants to focus on films in English and in the U.S. At the same time, that doesn't mean he won't entertain the idea of directing in Spain again in the future. 

"Not at the moment, but there are a lot of stories. ... For me, I want to keep doing movies in English, not that I wouldn't want to do a story from Spain in English, ya know? But at this point in my life, I still believe that I am directing for the audience, and the more people that can see the movie, the better for me in the sense that's what I do, that's what I like doing. I don't want to be limited, but that doesn't mean that in the future I might not do something small or more personal in Spain because I am tired of blowing things up. ... I don't know," he joked.

In 2007, Collet-Serra's love for soccer took him back to Spain to shoot "Goal II: Living the Dream."

While in post-production for "Unknown" with Neeson, Collet-Serra and longtime friend, attorney Juan Sola, launched Ombra Films, which is based in Los Angeles. Since its inception in mid-2011, Ombra has produced five films, including "Anna," "Curve," "Eden," "Extinction" and "Hooked Up."

"Nothing informs that you can be a good director until you direct," he explained. While directing involves a tremendous amount of work, he said, "Once you work in it, it becomes like an addiction. To be able to dream up something and make it happen, it is the ultimate rush. Once you get to do it, you cannot stop."