IndieWire's Filmmaker Toolkit

The director and writer of Occupied City join us this week to explain how they crafted this very particular and precise cinematic experience, which presents a unique approach to a dark chapter in world history. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Director Michael Mann joins Filmmaker Toolkit to talk about his latest film, “Ferrari,” a movie he’s been working on in one form or another for decades. Mann discusses how he conceived and executed the film’s extraordinary racing sequences, why the movie contains two complementary styles of filmmaking, and how he worked with actors Adam Driver and Penelope Cruz to build their characters. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Peter Sohn has long been a fixture at Pixar, and this week he spoke with us about taking the leap from voice acting and writing to directing. Hear how he finds his story through his drawing pen, and why his family's immigrant experience formed the beating heart of Elemental. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Director Emerald Fennell joined us to the joys of crafting a deeply unsubtle movie without being foolish, and how the many lush details of Saltburn illuminate its characters' murky morality. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

“The Color Purple” has already been a Pulitzer Prize-winning novel by Alice Walker, Academy Award-nominated film by Steven Spielberg, and Tony Award-winning Broadway show, but director Blitz Bazawule still found new areas to explore in his new adaptation of the stage musical. On this episode he talks about finding a visual language for the heroine Celie’s imagination, making the leap to big budget filmmaking, and choreographing every scene of the movie like a musical — even when the characters were just talking. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Renowned filmmaker Martin Scorsese joins the podcast to discuss his new film 'Killers of the Flower Moon'. He talks about the cultural changes depicted in the movie and the challenges of making Western films. Scorsese also reflects on the influence of Cassavetes on his work, script reworking during COVID-19, challenges faced during filming amid the pandemic, and his passion for filmmaking and finding inspiration.

Director Yorgos Lanthimos and Emma Stone were nominated for Oscars for their first collaboration, “The Favourite,” and their new film “Poor Things” is even funnier, more moving, and more original. Lanthimos and Stone sat down with us to talk about their collaboration, the benefits of a stripped-down set even for an epic, and the challenges of editing such a unique movie. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Nikki Giovanni was one of the most prominent poet-activists to come out of the late-60s Black Arts Movement, and, as this film explores, is one of the Godmothers of Afrofuturism and the Afropunk alternative arts scene. But "Going to Mars" is far from your standard issue profile documentary, instead husband-wife co-directors Michèle Stephenson and Joe Brewster use Giovanni's life and writing as a jumping off point for their own formal exploration as they "delved into the soul of a poet." Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Errol Morris has interviewed many controversial figures from Donald Rumsfeld to Steve Bannon, but when he sat down with author and former spy David Cornwell - aka John le Carré - he finally met his match in terms of intelligence and preparation. Morris joined us to discuss the interview with Cornwell that resulted in “The Pigeon Tunnel,” one of the director’s most compelling and entertaining films to date. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Ridley Scott is one of those directors with almost too many great films to count, from classics like Blade Runner to modern favorites like The Martian. He joined us to discuss his newest film, detailing how he manages to shoot epics like this in a fraction of the time it takes other filmmakers, and how his partnership with Joaquin Phoenix has strengthened since Gladiator. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices