Director Paul Feig discusses his new film, The Housemaid, with fellow Director Lesli Linka Glatter in a Q&A at the DGA theater in Los Angeles. In the conversation, he discusses the intentional casting of Actors Amanda Seyfried and Sydney Sweeney opposite one another, finding the house that served as the main location and how its architecture led to the discovery of scenes, and balancing the film’s tone between comedy and drama to give breathing room for heavier aspects of the film. The film ...
Jan 14, 2026•34 min•Season 1Ep. 598
Director Bradley Cooper discusses his new film, Is This Thing On?, with fellow Director Bennett Miller in a Q&A at the DGA theater in New York. In the conversation, he discusses the true story circumstances that inspired the film, how he envisioned and cast Will Arnett and Laura Dern in the leading roles, and utilizing his cinematography to emphasize the vulnerability of performing stand up comedy. The film tells the story of Alex, a middle aged man facing a divorce, who finds new purpose in...
Jan 09, 2026•30 min•Season 1Ep. 597
Director Craig Brewer discusses his new film, Song Sung Blue, with fellow Director Taylor Hackford in a Q&A at the DGA theater in Los Angeles. In the conversation, he discusses how he cast Actors Hugh Jackman and Kate Hudson for the lead roles, his care in handling a film that frequently changes tones, and getting the blessing from Neil Diamond to make the film. Based on a true story, the film follows Mike and Claire Sardina, a Milwaukee couple who form the Neil Diamond tribute act Lightning...
Jan 07, 2026•33 min•Season 1Ep. 596
Director Mona Fastvold discusses her new film, The Testament of Ann Lee, with fellow Director Darius Marder in a Q&A at the DGA theater in New York. In the conversation, she discusses how her background in movement and dance contributed to the choreography, the logistics of shooting the barn burning scene, and how she aimed to show authentic moments of womanhood to sympathize with the journey of Ann Lee. Based on real events, the film follows Ann Lee, who hopes to create a utopian society in...
Jan 05, 2026•30 min•Ep. 595
Director Rian Johnson discusses his new film, Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery, with fellow Director Jon Watts in a Q&A at the DGA theater in Los Angeles. In the conversation, he discusses finding and casting Actor Josh O’Connor, the effort behind crafting and lighting the sets, and how his relationship with faith influenced the film. The film finds Blanc teaming up with an earnest young priest to investigate a perfectly impossible crime. When the leader of a small town church with a d...
Dec 31, 2025•32 min•Season 1Ep. 594
Director Josh Safdie discusses his new film, Marty Supreme, with fellow Director Ben Affleck in a Q&A at the DGA theater in Los Angeles. In the conversation, he discusses how he uses his casting process to select Actors that make every character feel like a fleshed-out person, his attention to minute details in recreating the time period and texture of 1950s New York, and the process of working with Actor Timothée Chalamet to capture an aggressively determined performance. The film follows M...
Dec 24, 2025•38 min•Season 1Ep. 593
Director James Cameron discusses his new film, Avatar: Fire and Ash, with fellow Director Guillermo del Toro in a Q&A at the DGA theater in Los Angeles. In the conversation, he discusses his experiences of shooting in performance capture and how they compare to real-world shoots, coming up with the concept for the fire clan and the complex characters that stray from their expected alignments, and his own thoughts on capturing beauty in his films and advocating for the theatrical experience. ...
Dec 19, 2025•46 min•Season 1Ep. 592
Director James L. Brooks discusses his new film, Ella McCay, with fellow Director Albert Brooks in a Q&A at the DGA theater in Los Angeles. In the conversation, he discusses his process of casting and how he found Actor Emma Mackey for the lead role, shares how he works with his Cinematographers and Actors, and takes time to reflect on his storied career and history with Albert Brooks. The film tells the story of Ella, a young politician who suddenly becomes the governor of her state after t...
Dec 17, 2025•33 min•Season 1Ep. 591
Director Hikari discusses her new film, Rental Family, with fellow Director Nicole Holofcener in a Q&A at the DGA theater in Los Angeles. In the conversation, she discusses working with Actor Brendan Frasier to capture a character out of their element, working with her Cinematographer to capture the beauty of Japan, and how she wanted to use this film to address the real life loneliness epidemic. The film tells the story of Phillip, an actor struggling to find work and purpose in Tokyo. Afte...
Dec 15, 2025•28 min•Season 1Ep. 590
Directors Daniel Junge and Sam Pollard discusses their new film, I Was Born This Way, with fellow Director Jade Jenise Dixon in a Q&A at the DGA theater in Los Angeles. In the conversation, they discuss trying to paint an honest, human portrait of Carl Bean, how they manage the collaborative directorial process in their creative partnership, and working with figures such as Lady Gaga, Billy Porter and Maxine Waters to investigate what the titular song means to them. Screened as part of the D...
Dec 12, 2025•41 min•Season 1Ep. 589
Director Jon M. Chu discusses his new film, Wicked: For Good, with fellow Director Rob Marshall in a Q&A at the DGA theater in New York. In the conversation, he discusses the process of assembling the sequel having filmed both installments at the same time, how he chose to favor great Actor performances over interesting setups when they clashed, and how he strove to make the films relevant to the times. The sequel to 2024’s Wicked resumes the story of Elphaba, the misunderstood Wicked Witch ...
Dec 08, 2025•37 min•Season 1Ep. 588
Director Richard Linklater discusses his new film, Nouvelle Vague, with fellow Director Jason Reitman in a Q&A at the DGA theater in Los Angeles. In the conversation, he discusses the challenges of making a French film without being fluent in the language, how he recreated the shooting of the original Breathless by researching the documentation left behind by the original production, and the clever and subtle use of visual effects to recreate the film’s time period. The film tells the story ...
Dec 05, 2025•35 min•Ep. 587
Director Chloé Zhao discusses her new film, Hamnet, with fellow Director Barry Jenkins in a Q&A at the DGA theater in Los Angeles. In the conversation, she discusses working with Writer Maggie O’Farrell and their different experiences with Shakespeare, collaborating with Cinematographer Lukasz Zal and how they captured images invoking the void, and her process of working with Actors to channel their unconscious selves in their performances. Based on the novel by Maggie O’Farrell, the film fo...
Dec 03, 2025•31 min•Season 1Ep. 586
Director Edgar Wright discusses his new film, The Running Man, with fellow Director Daniel Scheinert in a Q&A at the DGA theater in Los Angeles. In the conversation, he discusses the vast number of locations where the film was shot, how he favored practical effects work and his attitudes on computer generated effects, and his vision for a dystopian future where technology simultaneously regresses as it advances. The film tells the story of Ben Richards, a working-class man in a near future s...
Dec 01, 2025•34 min•Season 1Ep. 585
Director Sean McNamara discusses his new film, Soul on Fire, with fellow Director Dean Alioto in a Q&A at the DGA theater in Los Angeles. In the conversation, he discusses finding a balance in humor throughout the story as a reflection of the real John’s personality, how he works with his Actors and puts emphasis his rehearsal process, and incorporating the real John O’Leary with some creative filmmaking tactics. The film tells the true story of John O’Leary, who survived a tragic accident a...
Nov 28, 2025•32 min•Season 1Ep. 584
Director Ben Stiller discusses his new film, Stiller & Meara: Nothing is Lost, with fellow Director Ethan Hawke in a Q&A at the DGA theater in New York. In the conversation, he discusses how the project began as a reaction after his father passed, how the title originated from some of his mother’s personal philosophies, and how interviewing his family members and going through archives revealed much about his parents he did not know. Screened as part of the DGA’s Documentary Series, the ...
Nov 26, 2025•38 min•Season 1Ep. 583
Director Noah Baumbach discusses his new film, Jay Kelly, with fellow Director Todd Field in a Q&A at the DGA theater in New York. In the conversation, he discusses finding inspiration in Fellini, Bergman and other self-reflective cinema, the technical process behind filming the flashback sequences, and how he tailored the lead roles to Actors George Clooney and Adam Sandler. The film tells the story of movie star Jay Kelly and his devoted manager as they take a whirlwind trip through Europe...
Nov 24, 2025•36 min•Season 1Ep. 582
Director Nia DaCosta discusses her new film, Hedda, with fellow Director Daniel Scheinert in a Q&A at the DGA theater in Los Angeles. In the conversation, she discusses her philosophies on adaptations and how that played into making this film, the importance of party, drug and gun cultures to the making of this story, and how she visually tied the themes of the film into Hedda’s appearance. This reimagining of Henrik Ibsen’s play Hedda Gabler follows the newlywed daughter of a general as she...
Nov 21, 2025•37 min•Season 1Ep. 581
Director Ira Sachs discusses his new film, Peter Hujar’s Day, with fellow DirectorBette Gordon in a Q&A at the DGA theater in New York. In the conversation, he discusses discovering the story beats from the original 35-page writing, being inventive with blocking for a feature about a sit-down interview, and shooting in a style reminiscent of films of that era. Based on the book by Linda Rosenkrantz, the film tells the story of a single day in 1974 when Rosenkrantz and groundbreaking queer ph...
Nov 18, 2025•42 min•Season 1Ep. 580
Director David Michôd discusses his new film, Christy, with fellow Director John Lee Hancock in a Q&A at the DGA theater in Los Angeles. In the conversation, he discusses making a sports movie with the shadowing story of an abusive relationship ever present, the process of helping Actor Sydney Sweeney get into shape for her fighting scenes, and working with Sweeney and Actor Ben Foster to capture the powder keg dynamic of their relationship scenes. The film tells the true story of Christy Ma...
Nov 15, 2025•33 min•Season 1Ep. 579
Director Akinola Davies discusses his new film, My Father’s Shadow, with fellow Director Rachel Raimist in a Q&A at the DGA theater in Los Angeles. In the conversation, he discusses shooting on celluloid film to capture the beauty of Lagos, the exhaustive process behind casting the two young leading Actors, and finding ways to show the people of Nigeria in a dignified manner that he felt represented the place as he knew it. Screened as part of the DGA’s Global Cinema Series, the film tells t...
Nov 14, 2025•46 min•Season 1Ep. 578
Director Geeta Gandbhir discusses her new film, The Perfect Neighbor, with fellow Director Yance Ford in a Q&A at the DGA theater in New York. In the conversation, she discusses the process of discovering how she would tell the story through police body cam footage, editing the body cam footage into a cohesive narrative that develops the players and events leading up to the shooting, and finding a pacing for the footage so as not to overwhelm her audience with distressing content. Screened a...
Nov 12, 2025•29 min•Season 1Ep. 577
Director Kathryn Bigelow discusses her new film, A House of Dynamite, with fellow Director James Gray in a Q&A at the DGA theater in Los Angeles. In the conversation, she discusses working with journalist and Screenwriter Noah Oppenheim to discover the best way to turn this hypothetical into a story, collaborating with her Cinematographer and Actors to capture an unblocked and naturalistic feel to her scenes, and consulting with government experts to portray the transpiring of events with in...
Nov 06, 2025•34 min•Season 1Ep. 576
Director Scott Cooper discusses his new film, Springsteen: Deliver Me from Nowhere, with fellow Director David O. Russell in a Q&A at the DGA theater in Los Angeles. In the conversation, he discusses his vision for the film to stray from the typical biopic formula, using Springsteen’s story as a wider conversation to address topics of therapy and self-reflection, and working with Actor Jeremy Allen White to capture the spirit of Springsteen. The film chronicles the making of Bruce Springstee...
Nov 04, 2025•30 min•Season 1Ep. 575
Director Guillermo del Toro discusses his new film, Frankenstein, with fellow Director Bradley Cooper in a Q&A at the DGA theater in New York. In the conversation, he discusses the consideration he took in the multiple perspective structure of the story, the research and detail behind crafting intricate props and capturing authentic settings, and what he looked for in an Actor when casting the role of The Creature. Based on the classic novel by Mary Shelley, the film tells the tragic story o...
Oct 31, 2025•29 min•Season 1Ep. 574
Director Joachim Trier discusses his new film, Sentimental Value, with fellow Director Frank Oz in a Q&A at the DGA theater in New York. In the conversation, he discusses working with his Writer to establish just enough of the characters for his Actors to fill in the rest, how he goes about his rehearsal process to get the right performances in the shoot, and taking time in the edit to find the perfect pacing to balance the emotional arcs of the film. Screened as part of the DGA’s Global Cin...
Oct 30, 2025•29 min•Season 1Ep. 573
Director Scarlett Johansson discusses her new film, Eleanor the Great, with fellow Director Frank Oz in a Q&A at the DGA theater in New York. In the conversation, she discusses how she sees table reads as essential to getting her Actors on the same wavelength, characteristics she looks for in a Directorial Team, and some of the lessons she learned from Directors when working with them as an Actor. The film tells the story of 94-year-old Eleanor Morgenstein, who moves from her Florida retirem...
Oct 17, 2025•31 min•Season 1Ep. 572
Director Werner Herzog discusses Les Blank’s film Burden of Dreams, with fellow Director Ondi Timoner in a Q&A at the DGA theater in Los Angeles. In the conversation, he discusses the value he saw in Blank documenting the making of Fitzcarraldo, shares further insight into aspects of the shoot the documentary didn’t cover, and reflects on his memories of the late Actor Claudia Cardinale. Screened as part of the DGA’s Documentary Series, the film follows Director Werner Herzog during the film...
Oct 15, 2025•47 min•Season 1Ep. 571
Director Benny Safdie discusses his new film, The Smashing Machine, with fellow Director Christopher Nolan in a Q&A at the DGA theater in Los Angeles. In the conversation, he discusses working with Actors Dwayne Johnson and Emily Blunt to summon the performances he wanted, collaborating with his composer to craft a jazz score that followed the film’s emotional beats, and how he used his cinematography to capture the interior emotions of his characters. The film tells the true story of, Mark ...
Oct 10, 2025•34 min•Season 1Ep. 570
Director Derek Cianfrance discusses his new film, Roofman, with fellow Director David Gordon Green in a Q&A at the DGA theater in Los Angeles. In the conversation, he discusses his process of researching the story by consulting with the real Jeffrey Manchester in prison, working with production to recreate a period accurate Toys”R”Us from 2004, and how he aimed to capture the nostalgia of the early 2000s by choosing to film on 35mm. The film tells the true story of Jeffrey Manchester, a char...
Oct 09, 2025•34 min•Season 1Ep. 569
