

The Director’s Cut - A DGA Podcast
Directors Guild of America
Brought to you by the Directors Guild of America, ”The Director’s Cut” will bring you the behind-the-scenes stories of today’s most talked about films. Each episode features a different director interviewed by one of their peers, leading to revealing conversations about the grueling, but rewarding process of bringing their films to life.
Episodes
Mentioned books

Jan 4, 2018 • 36min
I, Tonya with Craig Gillespie and Tom McCarthy (Ep. 125)
Director Craig Gillespie discusses his new film, I, Tonya, with fellow Director Tom McCarthy. Based on unbelievable, but true events, the film follows figure skater Tonya Harding as she goes from being the first American woman to complete a triple axel in competition to criminal suspect and pariah.

Dec 28, 2017 • 33min
The Post with Steven Spielberg and Patty Jenkins (Ep. 124)
Director Steven Spielberg discusses his new film, The Post, with fellow Director Patty Jenkins. The film tells the true story of Katherine Graham, the first female publisher of the Washington Post, and editor Ben Bradlee who risked their careers and their freedom when they decided to report on the classified Pentagon Papers, a collection of documents released by Daniel Ellsberg revealing government secrets that spanned three decades.

Dec 19, 2017 • 23min
Star Wars: The Last Jedi with Rian Johnson and Spike Jonze (Ep. 123)
Director Rian Johnson discusses his new film, Star Wars: The Last Jedi, with fellow Director Spike Jonze. As the eight installment of the blockbuster franchise, the film continues the events of Star Wars: The Force Awakens, as Rey develops her Force abilities with a reluctant Luke Skywalker while Finn, General Leia Organa and the resistance continue their battle against Kylo Ren and the First Order.

Dec 18, 2017 • 52min
The Disaster Artist with James Franco and Paul Haggis (Ep. 122)
Director James Franco discusses his new film, The Disaster Artist, with fellow Director Paul Haggis. The film dramatizes the making of writer/director Tommy Wiseau's The Room -- one of the most infamous films in Hollywood history that is often referred to as "the Citizen Kane of bad movies."

Dec 14, 2017 • 49min
The Shape of Water with Guillermo del Toro and Baz Luhrmann (Ep. 121)
Director Guillermo del Toro discusses his new film, The Shape of Water, with fellow Director Baz Luhrmann. Set against the backdrop of Cold War-era America, the film tells the story of Elisa, a mute, isolated woman who works as a janitor in a high-security government laboratory. When she discovers the lab's classified secret -- an intelligent scaled being from South America that lives in a water tank -- she develops a unique bond with it and learns that its fate lies in the hands of a marine biologist and hostile government agent.

Dec 13, 2017 • 33min
Phantom Thread with Paul Thomas Anderson and Rian Johnson (Ep. 120)
Director Paul Thomas Anderson discusses his new film, Phantom Thread, with fellow Director Rian Johnson. The film stars Daniel Day-Lewis as Reynolds Woodcock, a tailor whose distinctive style makes him the center of British fashion in 1950s post-war London . His status as a confirmed bachelor is upended when he meets Alma, a young, strong-willed woman who soon becomes a fixture in his life as his muse and lover.

Dec 12, 2017 • 30min
Downsizing with Alexander Payne and Taylor Hackford (Ep. 119 )
Director Alexander Payne discusses his new film, Downsizing, with fellow Director Taylor Hackford. The film follows Paul and his wife Audrey, who make the life-altering decision to shrink themselves to five inches tall, using a newly-discovered process created as a solution to overpopulation. After Paul undergoes the procedure, he finds that there's more to existence when there's less of him.

Dec 11, 2017 • 36min
Mayhem with Joe Lynch and Joe Carnahan (Ep. 118)
Director Joe Lynch discusses his new film, Mayhem, with fellow Director Joe Carnahan. The film tells the story of Derek Cho, an attorney who is unjustly fired after being framed by a co-worker. But when a strange virus that makes people act out their worst impulses infects the law office, Derek is forced to fight for his job and his life.

Dec 5, 2017 • 34min
Roman J. Israel, Esq. with Dan Gilroy and Jeremy Kagan (Ep. 117)
Director Dan Gilroy discusses his new film, Roman J. Israel, Esq, with fellow Director Jeremy Kagan. Denzel Washington stars in this story about a driven attorney whose life is upended when he is recruited to join a firm by cutthroat lawyer George Pierce and begins a friendship with young equal rights champion Maya Alston. As a turbulent series of events ensues Israel's lifelong and career-defining activism is tested.

Dec 1, 2017 • 33min
Mudbound with Dee Rees and Mira Nair (Ep. 116)
Director Dee Rees discusses her new film, Mudbound, with fellow Director Mira Nair. The film tells an epic story of two families -- one black and one white -- who are forced to confront the realities of life in the American South. Though pitted against one another by a ruthless social hierarchy and bound together by the shared farmland of the Mississippi Delta, the families' lives are changed when sons from both families forge an uneasy friendship over their shared experience during World War II.