The Director’s Cut - A DGA Podcast

Episode 66: Meet the Nominees Documentary Symposium

James Moll moderates the Meet the Nominees: Documentary Symposium featuring Otto Bell, Ezra Edelman, Josh Kriegman, and Roger Ross Williams on their nominated films. Nominees Raoul Peck, the director of I Am Not Your Negro and Elyse Steinberg, the co-director of Weiner were not available to participate.
The discussion covers a variety of topics including editing and interacting with the subjects of their films.

Episode 65: Meet the Nominees Feature Film Symposium: Part 3 of 3

Jeremy Kagan moderates the 26th Annual DGA Meet the Nominees: Feature Film Symposium featuring Damien Chazelle, Garth Davis, Barry Jenkins, Kenneth Lonergan, and Denis Villeneuve on their nominated films.
Topics for part three include the nominees' approach to pivotal scenes within each film and how they deal with the pressures of directing.

Episode 64: Meet the Nominees Feature Film Symposium: Part 2 of 3

Jeremy Kagan moderates the 26th Annual DGA Meet the Nominees: Feature Film Symposium featuring Damien Chazelle, Garth Davis, Barry Jenkins, Kenneth Lonergan, and Denis Villeneuve on their nominated films. Topics for part two include how the nominees' approach casting and found the right actor for each films' pivotal roles.

Episode 63: Meet the Nominees Feature Film Symposium: Part 1 of 3

Jeremy Kagan moderates the 26th Annual DGA Meet the Nominees: Feature Film Symposium featuring Damien Chazelle, Garth Davis, Barry Jenkins, Kenneth Lonergan, and Denis Villeneuve on their nominated films. Topics for part one include the nominees' thoughts on the challenging stage of editing and how each of their films portray time.

Episode 62: The Salesman with Asghar Farhadi and Victoria Hochberg

Director Asghar Farhadi discusses his new film, The Salesman, with fellow director Victoria Hochberg. The film follows a young couple as they rent a new apartment from a fellow performer in a local production of Death of a Salesman, unaware that the previous tenant allegedly pursued a career in prostitution.
The film was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Foreign Language film of 2017.

Episode 61: 20th Century Women with Mike Mills and Marc Webb

Director Mike Mills discusses his new film, 20th Century Women, with Marc Webb. Loosely based on his own childhood, the film follows Dorothea, a single mother raising her adolescent son in Santa Barbara, CA during the cultural revolution of late 1970s. To help steer him through the chaos, Dorothea calls on the help of a punk photographer, a mellow handyman, and her son's best friend to serve as role models.

Episode 60: Patriots Day with Peter Berg and Ed Zwick

Director Peter Berg discusses his new film, Patriots Day, with Edward Zwick. The film tells the story of the Boston Marathon bombings of April 15, 2013. The film weaves together the stories of the heroic first responders and investigators who raced against the clock to hunt down the bombers before they could strike again.

Episode 59: The Founder with John Lee Hancock and Jonathan Mostow

Director John Lee Hancock discusses his new film, The Founder, with Jonathan Mostow. The film tells the story of Ray Kroc, a floundering Illinois salesman, who connects with Mac and Dick McDonald, two brothers running a burger operation in southern California in the 1950s. When Kroc realizes the franchise possibilities, he maneuvers himself into a position to buy them out and create a fast-food empire which would eventually become McDonald's.

Episode 58: Lion with Garth Davis and James Ponsoldt

Director Garth Davis discusses his new film, Lion, with James Ponsoldt. Based on the nonfiction book A Long Way Home, Lion tells the incredible story of Saroo Brierly, a five-year-old boy who gets lost on a train hundreds of miles away from his family. After surviving on the streets of Calcutta, he is eventually adopted by an Australian couple. Twenty-five years later, Saroo uses Google Earth to reunite with his family in India.
Mr. Davis was nominated for the DGA Awards for Outstanding Directorial Achievement for Feature Film, as well as, Outstanding Directorial Achievement of a First-Time Feature Film Director for directing this film.

Episode 57: Hidden Figures with Theodore Melfi and John Patrick Shanley

Director Theodore Melfi discusses his new film, Hidden Figures, with John Patrick Shanley. Based on the nonfiction book of the same name, the film tells the story of Katharine Johnson, Mary Jackson, and Dorothy Vaughan, three African-American female mathematicians who were the brains behind the launch that sent astronaut John Glenn into orbit around the Earth and safely back home.

Episode 56: Silence with Martin Scorsese and Alexander Payne

Director Martin Scorsese discusses his new film, Silence, with Alexander Payne. Based on a novel by Shusaku Endo, the film follows two Jesuit missionaries who travel to Japan, where Christianity is outlawed, in search of their missing mentor.

Episode 55: The Comedian with Taylor Hackford and David O. Russell

Director Taylor Hackford discusses his new film, The Comedian, with fellow director David O. Russell. The film stars Robert De Niro as Jackie Burke, a comedian on the downside of his career whose efforts at reinvention are stymied because his fans only want to see him as the television character he once played. After an incident with an audience members gets him sentenced to community service, he finds inspiration in the daughter of a sleazy Florida real estate mogul.

Episode 54: La La Land with Damien Chazelle and Jon Favreau

Director Damien Chazelle discusses his new film, La La Land, with fellow director Jon Favreau. Set in modern-day Los Angeles, the film tells the story of an aspiring actress and a jazz musician who embark on a whirlwind romance as they struggle to make ends meet and find success in a city known for crushing hopes and breaking hearts.
Mr. Chazelle was nominated for the DGA Award for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Feature Film in 2016 for directing this film.

Episode 53: Gold with Stephen Gaghan and Sam Esmail

Director Stephen Gaghan discusses his new film, Gold, with fellow director Sam Esmail. Based on true events, the film tells the story of a businessman who teams up with a geologist to search for gold deep in the uncharted jungles of Indonesia. After making the find of the century, their operation draws the unwanted attention of both the FBI and the Indonesian military.

Episode 52: Rogue One - A Star Wars Story With Gareth Edwards And Chris Miller

Director Gareth Edwards discusses his new film and the latest installment in the Star Wars saga, Rogue One: A Star Wars Story. The film takes place just before the first Star Wars film (Episode IV: A New Hope), and tells the story of a small group of rebel soldiers and their desperate gambit to capture the plans for the under-construction Death Star.

Episode 51: Julieta with Pedro Almodovar and Jonathan Demme

Famed Spanish Director Pedro Almodóvar discusses his newest film, Julieta. The film tells the story of a middle-aged woman who tries to reconnect with her estranged daughter who deserted her 12 years earlier after the death of their respective husband and father. Almodóvar’s 20th feature explores the complexity of fate, guilt, the mystery that leads us to erase people we love from our lives as if they had never existed, and a mother’s struggle to survive uncertainty. The director speaks in English and Spanish, with a translator.

Episode 50: Rules Don’t Apply with Warren Beatty and Robert Benjamin

Director Warren Beatty discusses his new film, Rules Don't Apply, with Robert Benjamin. Set during the Golden Age of Hollywood, the film tells the story a young, aspiring actress under contract by Howard Hughes who develops an attraction for her driver. Their mutual attraction violates Hughes' rule that no employee may have a relationship with a contract actress.

Episode 49: Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk with Ang Lee and Robert Weide

Director Ang Lee discusses his new film, Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk, with Robert Weide. The film tells the story of Billy Lynn, a 19-year-old Army Private who is hailed as a hero in the US after a battle in Iraq. Brought home for a victory tour culminating in a spectacular halftime show at the Thanksgiving Day football game, Lynn experiences a series of flashbacks that reveal what really happened to his squad.

Episode 48: Nocturnal Animals with Tom Ford and Lee Daniels

Director Tom Ford discusses his new film, Nocturnal Animals, with Lee Daniels. A Los Angeles art dealer whose seemingly idyllic life is disturbed by the arrival of a manuscript written and dedicated to her by her ex-husband. As Susan reads and is drawn deeper into the story, its themes force her to examine her past and confront disturbing truths about her present.

Episode 47: Miss Sloane with John Madden and Jeremy Kagan

Director John Madden discusses his new film, Miss Sloane, with Jeremy Kagan. Elizabeth Sloane, a brilliant and ruthless lobbyist, is put to the test when she comes against one of the most influential powers in Washington D.C.