The Director’s Cut - A DGA Podcast

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.