The author of the book had a great line about your films: “Laughs are never free. There are always strings attached.” Can you speak about the humor in this film and its fine calibration, especially in its opening sequences?
Taika Waititi: I always thought that humor and comedy are very powerful tools and effective weapons against bullies and bigotry.
Can you tell us about the origins of this film?
Paul Greengrass: I think the origins of it lie in the last film I made, actually, 22 July, which was a pretty tough film about violent right-wing extremism in Europe.
Katie, you’ve taken a script that had been around for several years and made it feel brand new. That must be a huge challenge — what was your approach?
Katie Silberman: We talked a lot about what made us love the classic high school movies
Can you talk about genesis of the film?
Kazuo Ishiguro: I can tell you about the origin story of this film, before the real work started. I can take credit for having the original idea, because it was kind of an obsession of mine for years. It was partly because I was a Japanese kid growing up in England and I was always very interested in any Japanese film that was shown in England.
What was your experience working with the author of the memoir on which the film is based?
Oliver Hermanus: The first thing I did, when I was certain I would tackle it, was I met with [author Andre Carl van der Merwe] a few times.
What was the process like to bring this film together?
Julie Goldman: This is our sixth film together, so we have an established and unusual machine that works for our flow of producing.
How did you make this film without relying on CGI? The animals are incredible.
Niki Caro: I couldn’t conceive of making an authentic movie out of this story about a female zookeeper with fake animals.
Can you tell us about the evolution of this film?
Jayro Bustamante: Well, you know, at the beginning we were thinking about making a triptych, and that that triptych would be about three insults that are common in Guatemala.
What was your approach to developing the look of the film?
Dominic Cook: The early ’60’s — especially in the UK — you might as well have been in the Edwardian era.
Let’s start by talking about the unique backstory to making this film.
Salerno: I grew up in a house where Salinger was a church. My mom was a huge fan and turned me onto his work, but like everyone, I had no idea about the man, I just knew the work. I started researching this project and found out that J.D. Salinger landed on D-Day, that Salinger participated in these horrible battles, that he lost the love of his life, Oona O’Neill, to Charlie Chaplin.
When did Ip Man first come into your life?
Kar Wai: In 1998, I had a chance to meet with the family of the Grandmaster Ip Man. And they showed me a short film of him – which you can find on YouTube now. His son recorded it just a few days before Ip Man passed away. And you can see that it’s almost like a home movie; he’s very sick and quite thin.
There have been other stories about the cartels and the drug war. Why did you want to tell this particular story?
Denis Villeneuve: For me it’s not a movie about cartels. I don’t think anyone will learn new things about cartels from this film.
What was your initial reaction to the script?
Elijah Wood: I came into the script about five years ago, at a film festival in Austin, Texas, called Fantastic Fest.
What was the process like between you two as you developed the screenplay?
Well the the screenplay developed in a really, to use an overused word, organic way. I knew he was a fine writer. I gave him a premise that I had been sitting on for about a decade. He did the writing, but we developed the story and the feel and the texture of it together.
Maya, I understand that the seed of the idea for this film originated with you?
Maya Lasker-Wallfisch: Yes: I wrote a book, which was apparently interesting! And one of the things I wrote about in the book were two themes that really interested Daniela. And so Daniela and I were connected through a mutual person that we both knew.