The following questions and answers are excerpted from a conversation that followed the NBR screening of Roadrunner: A Film About Anthony Bourdain. You chose to make this film fairly soon after Anthony Bourdain’s death. Did your perspective change over the course of shooting? Morgan Neville: Well yes, it changed because there was so much I learned. […]
Can you talk about your scriptwriting and research process?
Writing can come with all sorts of weird blocks, so part of it for me is outsmarting those blocks
The following questions and answers are excerpted from a conversation that followed the NBR screening of The Mitchells vs the Machines. This film has been long in the making and is clearly a heartfelt project. Mike, can you tell us how it all started? Michael Rianda: Sony had approached me about making a movie and because […]
Michael, how did the script find its way to you?
It came to me through Arlie [Day], our producer and casting director. What I like to think she saw it in for me was that the great subject of the film was empathy. It’s about how to look at other people’s lives and experiences uncolored by any sense of judgment.
How did you develop this story?
Aaron Sorkin: I like claustrophobic spaces and compressed periods of time, especially when there’s a ticking clock. I like being behind the scenes, in this case literally behind the scenes.
When an actor does Macbeth on stage, they get to experience the character straight through. How was it playing it in a film?
It’s just a normal thing, really. It’s such a rare opportunity to do something in chronological order when filming; it just never really happens.
The following questions and answers are excerpted from a conversation that followed the NBR screening of Changing the Game. Michael, I understand you came to the project when a friend shared that they had a child that was transgender. How important was it to make this film in order to become that much more of an […]
The following questions and answers are excerpted from a conversation that followed the NBR screening of Florence Foster Jenkins. The opening scene is really beautiful, and frames the story so well. Can you discuss how that was conceived? Meryl Streep: Well, it’s interesting that you mention that scene, because the script that we both received […]
here did this idea come from, and how did the project get moving?
Max Walker-Silverman: Umm… that’s the most reasonable question in the world, and I’ve never figured out the cleanest answer to it.
There was such incredible chemistry amongst the cast. How did you build that? What was the rehearsal process?
Viggo Mortensen: Early on, which was great and doesn’t always happen, Matt brought me into read with the last couple of kids we were casting.
This film has a different editorial pace and perspective than you usually portray in your films. Would you be able to talk about your approach with these older men in the film?
Martin Scorsese: This is not a film we could have created or made as effectively if we had tried to make it ten years ago.
There’s a lot of complexity there. Did you really see it as love story? I kept questioning whether he loved her.
Absolutely. And her too. How much did she know? She must have sensed something.
It was fascinating to learn that you had already been in the process of making a film about wildfires when the camp and woolsey fires occurred. Can you tell us about that?
Lucy Walker: That’s right. The reason I was able to really embed, and I knew what I was looking at and could just jump in, and start asking the right questions was because I’d actually been working on the film already for about a year at that point.
Mr. Weitz, did you write this role for Ms. Tomlin knowing she’d play the part?
Paul Weitz: Yes, I— well, no, I didn’t know she’d play the part!
Steven, how did you conceive of Jacob initially?
Steven Yeun: When I read Isaac’s script, it was really honest from all perspectives and that was really the foundation of it all.