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.
Search Results for: As Good As It Gets
May 2018
Q&A with Jason Reitman, Charlize Theron, Ron Livingston, and Mackenzie Davis
How did you go about conceiving two characters who would ultimately converge?
Jason Reitman: I always thought of the movie as being like those lenticular posters, where if you look at the poster and you kind of move your head two inches, the image changes.
October 2019
Q&A with James Mangold and Jenno Topping
Can you talk about what it was like to craft these characters?
James Mangold: I’m a big believer in hanging out. I am not a big believer in rehearsing.
November 2015
Q&A with Finola Dwyer, Saoirse Ronan, and John Crowley
What in your own life has helped you connect with the story?
John Crowley: I moved to London when I was 27 to direct a play at the National Theatre. Having been back and forth from London since I was about ten, I knew London better than I knew Dublin.
August 2017
Q&A with Edgar Wright
How did you translate the stage direction into the performance?
Edgar Wright: When I gave the script to the actors, they had all of the music as well, so they could read the script with the right music playing.
May 2021
Q&A with Dominic Cooke
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.
August 2017
Q&A with David Lowery
What was it like working on Pete’s Dragon while writing A Ghost Story?
David Lowery: The script was only thirty pages and I sent it to my producer friends, saying, “let’s make this.”
December 2021
Q&A with Asghar Farhadi
The following questions and answers are excerpted from a conversation that followed the NBR screening of A Hero. What was your writing process like, as this idea has been with you for a while? Asghar Farhadi: When I was developing the concept of this idea in my head as a student, I was never thinking about […]
October 2020
Q&A with Alex Huston Fischer and Eleanor Wilson
What inspired you to tell a story in this specific genre, which is perhaps best described as a “sci-fi rom-com,” whatever that means!
Eleanor Wilson: That’s actually what the log-line for the film has always said! We started with the premise of, “wouldn’t it be funny if a couple went upstate to be off the grid for a week, and then aliens attacked?”
November 2013
Q&A with Alexander Payne, Bruce Dern, Will Forte, and June Squibb
Why did you decide to shoot this film in black and white?
Alexander Payne: You know, it wasn’t ever really a decision—it just felt right. It had to be in black and white.
October 2014
Q&A with Alan Hicks, Justin Kauflin, and Paula DuPré Pesmen
Mr. Kauflin, what was your reaction when you were approached about being in this film?
Kauflin: When Al asked me that, we had already known each other for a few years; he was a good buddy of mine. I knew he was a great drummer, and apparently he’s a good surfer as well.
July 2025
Q&A with Sophie Brooks, Logan Lerman, Geraldine Viswanathan, and Molly Gordon
Sophie, let’s start with the genesis: how did this project begin?
Sophie Brooks: It really does feel like a miracle when an indie gets made. We almost made this movie in 2020 and thought, “this is easy,” but it ended up taking another four and a half years.
February 2025
Q&A with Jesse Eisenberg, Jennifer Grey, Will Sharpe, and Kieran Culkin
Jesse, what inspired this story? I understand it was a long road for you, between the initial idea and getting it up on the screen.
Jesse Eisenberg: Yeah, I’d been, like, sitting with the seeds of this movie for twenty years.
July 2025
Q&A with Eva Victor and Lucas Hedges
The following questions and answers are excerpted from a conversation that followed the NBR screening of Sorry, Baby. The film feels like you have a lot of trust in the audience to be patient, to wait for explanations, and to understand nuance. Was it that way during development?Eva Victor: Yes. I was honestly forced to be […]
May 2025
Q&A with Christopher McQuarrie
You mentioned the first act was the hardest to edit. Can you expand on that?
Christopher McQuarrie: Every time we finish one of these movies, we’re at the premiere and in that moment where the film ends but right before the credits start, Tom will lean over and say, “we could do better.” We came away from Dead Reckoning knowing not only that we could do it, but we had to do it.