IndieWire's Filmmaker Toolkit

In 1987, Robert Townsend co-wrote, directed, starred in and self-financed (using his savings and credit cards) “Hollywood Shuffle” as a reaction against the lack of opportunities for black actors at the time. 36 years later, the film stands alongside “Stranger Than Paradise,” “She’s Gotta Have It,” and “sex, lies, and videotape” as a classic of the independent film movement and has been newly rele...

Acclaimed cinematographer Mandy Walker sat down with us to talk about filming the life and art of one of the most iconic performers of all time. Mandy reflects on her long partnership with director Baz Luhrmann, and gives an inside look at what it takes to bring a massive crew in line with his unique creative vision. Capturing Elvis on film the way Baz envisioned meant extensive research into peri...

The seminal teenage hangout movie is celebrating its 30th anniversary this year, and Criterion has released a 4K restoration packed with insight into the making of this classic. To celebrate, we sat down with Linklater and discussed what exactly makes Dazed and Confused so endearing and enduring to audiences a generation later. From stories of casting, struggling with the structure of the script,...

The body-horror satire Infinity Pool is one of the best films to premiere at this year's Sundance Film Festival, and Cronenberg sat down with Toolkit to get into all the grisly details. Hear about the difficulty directing actors when the basic nature of the scenes may be up to interpretation, and the many creative challenges that come from making an ambiguous movie that still has an impact on the...

The director of the newest horror film from Blumhouse joined us to discuss her disturbing tale of the intense impact children have on a relationship. Banjamin breaks down her strategies for directing the child actors in terrifying scenes, how her story fits into the legacy of scary child movies, and why it was important to make a great movie about relationships before the horror even began. Learn...

Alice Diop, director of "Saint Omer," discusses why the film sits at an intersection between fiction and documentary, how sound and editing each influence the way the viewer understands what happens and connects the film's two protagonists, and the powerful, political impact of centering black women in the camera frame. Note: a French version of this conversation with Diop's answers presented with...

Join us for a double interview this week, as we go deep with the Director and Editor of the box office sensation. With the actors and action all happening for real in fighter jets thousands of feet in the air, hear how the filmmaking team managed to direct the action from the ground, and how they turned hundreds of hours of cockpit footage into some of the most thrilling sequences of the year. Lea...

Writer and Director Damien Chazelle sits down with us to explain how he pulled off the huge swing that is Babylon. Hear which silent filmmakers and stars most influenced his epic of Hollywood excess, what it was like working with lead actors with wildly different levels of fame, and how he managed to make that ambitious ending a reality. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoic...

Writer and Director Rian Johnson joins us to chat about crafting the second cinematic mystery in the Knives Out series. Rian discusses the pressures of delivering on the satisfaction of the original while striking out in new thematic directions with Glass Onion, and how he tackled the challenge of developing another group of memorable characters while balancing the on-set staging and blocking of t...

Luca Guadagnino returns to talk with us about his entrancing new film, the coming-of-age cannibal romance Bones and All. Luca opens up about his experiences on the road in the American midwest, and why this tale of disenfranchised youth was a perfect beginning to him making films in the States. Also hear how he deepened his creative partnership with lead actor Timothée Chalamet, and how his perfor...

The Academy Award winning director of The Revenant sat down with us to discuss his return to Mexico, and how he delved into his character's subconscious to create an intimate epic of the mind. Iñárritu explains how making radical decisions in every department was key to capturing the feeling of a dream that resists literal interpretation, and why it was crucial to embrace fiction as a way of unpac...

Join our discussion with visionary filmmaker James Cameron as he walks us through the cutting edge technology he and his team developed for this long awaited return to the world of Avatar. Learn how he once again pioneered new performance capture technology, allowing actors to perform underwater and giving them much more creative freedom than a live action filmmaking approach. Cameron unpacks how...

Learn about the making of one of the year's most powerful films from Laura Poitras, the award winning director of Citezenfour, and her editor Amy Foote. The two filmmakers explain how they met photographer Nan Goldin, and how they combined her voice with her incredible photographs to tell the story of her challenging the powerful Sackler family. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm...

Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert discuss the collaboration that allowed them to make "Everything Everywhere All At Once" maximalist AF. From the summer camp vibes on their set to their poetic relationship with sound design, hear how this duo crafted their incredible journey through the multiverse. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The crafts team behind Prime Video's "The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power" discuss the creative choices that went into making a series that is by and for fans of J.R.R. Tolkien.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Director Daniel Roher takes us behind the scenes of making his thrilling documentary, the story of the fearless opposition leader to Vladimir Putin's oppressive regime. A social media master and fierce public speaker, Alexei Navalny was so effective at rallying the people of Russia against the Kremlin, they attempted to assassinate him in the summer of 2020. Roher describes what it was like to fil...

Creator Tony Gilroy and editor John Gilroy join Toolkit to discuss the joys of worldbuilding inside the Star Wars universe, structuring the first season of "Andor," and how score influenced the show's writing and editing. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Director Ryan White takes us inside the making of this delightful documentary chronicling the journey of Mars rover Opportunity, which had a planned 90 day mission but ended up surviving fifteen years. Hear how the crew brought Oppy's groundbreaking mission to life using hundreds of hours of archival footage from NASA, and partnering with the VFX powerhouse Industrial Light and Magic to create a d...

Director Mark Mylod discusses channeling Ralph Fiennes' character to create the look and feel of his "eat the rich" satirical thriller. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The director of the Netflix limited series “Unorthodox” talks about adapting New York Times journalists Jodi Kantor and Megan Twohey’s book to the big screen. Schrader discuss how her experience telling the real life story of “Unorthodox” and being an actress in Germany helped her tackle the all-too-real story of reporting the Harvey Weinstein sexual abuse scandal, and why she doesn’t buy the medi...

Director Shaunak Sen goes inside how he found and created the most innovative visual language of any film this year. A process that involved throwing away a year’s worth of footage, and starting over, all in an effort the avoid to pitfalls that so many films with touch upon ecological or political issues fall into.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Director Sara Dosa and producer Shane Boris join Filmmaker Toolkit to discuss the formal and tonal choices they made in order to capture the adventurous spirits of Katia and Maurice Krafft in "Fire of Love."  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Film scholar and public radio fixture Elvis Mitchell speaks about directing "Is That Black Enough for You?!?" and why the 1970s were the greatest decade ever for Black film. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Directors Tia Lessin and Emma Pildes join Toolkit discuss the creative pillars holding up their documentary "The Janes," why it was important to make Chicago a character in the story, the extensive challenge and surprising finds of using archive material from the period, and their and the film's relationship to the modern politics of abortion. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/a...

On this episode of Filmmaker Toolkit, Field talks about how he turned his unusual script about a famous conductor in personal and professional free fall into a riveting character study, with help from star Cate Blanchett, collaborating during the height of the pandemic, thematic ideas like the corrupting nature of power and practical concerns like casting the other parts, and both Field's and Blan...