IndieWire's Filmmaker Toolkit

“The Actor” director Duke Johnson stops by Toolkit to talk with IndieWire’s Jim Hemphill about making his live-action feature debut after making a name for himself in the world of stop-motion animation. Topics include the challenges of adaptation, why he cast actors in multiple roles, and how he made the most of a budget and schedule that fell far short of his ambitions. Learn more about your ad c...

“Novocaine” directors Dan Berk and Robert Olsen join IndieWire’s Jim Hemphill to talk about their new action-comedy, which merges the influence of 1980s hits like “Die Hard” and “Lethal Weapon” with the story of a new kind of action hero. Berk and Olsen discuss how they made the most of a modest budget, why Cape Town, South Africa doubled for San Diego, and much more. Learn more about your ad choi...

Korean only version begins at: 23:01 We are thrilled to welcome back Oscar winning director of Parasite, Bong Joon Ho. His new movie takes place in a world where human printing exists (memories and all), and follows a man who agrees to be killed again for science. Director Bong reveals the pandemic-inspired origins of the film, what it was like working with Robert Pattinson and Mark Ruffalo, and m...

So what makes a great hangout film like “Dazed & Confused” or “American Graffiti”? That’s what IndieWire’s Chris O’Falt asks director Carson Lund, a student of the sub-genre and who just made a great one with his baseball film “Eephus,” the story of two recreational baseball teams, up in small town New England, playing their last game on their beloved field before it gets torn down. Learn more abo...

'Compensation' is an underdiscussed classic that follows two young black couples, one of whom is deaf, played by the same actors in two time periods, facing two different pandemics. In making the movie in the 90s, and discussing it now, Zeinabu is brilliant at capturing the complexities and patterns of black lives. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

'Universal Language' is a charming, deceptively deep indie film about a town that is somehow both Winnipeg, Canada and Tehran, Iran, and the lives of its citizens. Director Mathew Rankin sat down with IndieWire craft writer Sarah Shachat to discuss what it takes to live in community, finding his family on set, and of course filming with live turkeys. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megapho...

Director Coralie Fargeat tells IndieWire how the films of David Lynch, Stanley Kubrick, the Coen Brothers, David Cronenberg, John Carpenter and Darren Aronofsky inspired her Oscar nominated body horror classic. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This powerful documentary, produced and directed by Shiori Itō, documents her own sexual assault and the investigation in Japan. Itō kindly shares her personal experiences documenting her own legal case, and describes the challenges of post production when she is the subject as well as filmmaker. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Oscar nominated director of one of the splashiest films of the year joins IndieWire's Chris O'Falt to dive into her ideas about self hatred, body image, Hollywood, and how she represented it all in her body-horror extravaganza. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The director of the most celebrated animated film of the year sat down with IndieWire's Sarah Shachat to share how he made this charming and powerful film on a micro-indie budget. You can watch the full intrerview with Glints at Youtube.com/IndieWire. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The new movie "Companion" is part horror, part rom-com, part heist flick, and a whole lot more. First time writer/director Drew Hancock joined IndieWire's features writer Jim Hemphill for a deep dive into his filmmaking process. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Horror filmmaker Leigh Whannell joins IndieWire features writer Jim Hemphill to talk about “Wolf Man,” his latest collaboration with Universal and Blumhouse. Like Whannell’s “The Invisible Man,” “Wolf Man” reinvents a classic Universal monster in an entirely new and original way. Whannell talks about the differences between “Wolf Man” and “Invisible Man,” the influence of David Cronenberg, and how...

The "Bodies, Bodies, Bodies" director is back with her Nicole Kidman starring sexual thriller about a high powered CEO who explores her submissive kink through an affair with a much younger intern. Halina shares her very specific vision for the film, and breaks down how she used her experiences as an actor to bring authenticity and craft to the sex scenes. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit m...

Academy Award-winning editor William Goldenberg stops by the podcast to talk with IndieWire features writer Jim Hemphill about his directorial debut “Unstoppable.” “Unstoppable”tells the true story of Anthony Robles, a wrestler who was born without a leg yet went on to become an NCAA champion. Goldenberg talks about his process casting, shooting, and cutting the film, which is now streaming on Ama...

Director Peter Berg joins IndieWire features writer Jim Hemphill to discuss his epic new Netflix series “American Primeval,” a Western about the bloody battles that erupted in 1850s Utah between Mormons, immigrant settlers, indigenous tribes and faithless opportunists out to make a buck. Berg talks about creating the series’ visceral action sequences, relying on advisers and rigorous research to p...

'Sing Sing' tells the real life story of men imprisoned at the infamous prison in upstate New York, and the Rehabilitation Through the Arts program that helped the men find their voice, dignity, and hope. Director Greg Kwedar sat down with IndieWire to discuss developing this sensitive story for the screen, and directing a cast of mostly formerly incarcerated men who understood the story better th...

Payal Kapadia is one of the most exciting up and coming filmmakers we have right now, and she sat down with IndieWire's Chris O'Falt in studio to discuss her new film that is one of the year's best. Listen in to learn a lot about Mumbai, filmmaking in India, and what how Kapadia's work in documentary informs her style; a blend of fiction and non-fiction filmmaking. Learn more about your ad choices...

IndieWire features writer Jim Hemphill sits down with writer and director James Mangold to talk about his return to the musical bio-pic with his Bob Dylan film “A Complete Unknown.” The interview covers what Mangold learned about making musicals from “Walk the Line,” what he learned about directing actors from Robert De Niro on “Copland,” and why recording actors live instead of lip-syncing is the...

Succumb to the darkness with us as we sit down with one of our favorite directors to discuss his provocative vampire movie 'Nosferatu.' Eggers discusses the intense physical performance from Lily-Rose Depp, his trademark meticulous period reconstruction, and what it meant to complete this remake he has beed dreaming about for decades. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The director of this summers box office sensation joined IndieWire features writer Jim Hemphill to discuss the anxieties and joys of making a sequel to the beloved 2015 film, what Mann learned from his teen girl advisory board, and how his film evolved from script to screen. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

How did director Brady Corbet and his team make one of the most epic-feeling movies of the year for less than 10 million dollars? Listen in to our conversation with him to learn the filmmaking tricks they used to tighten the budget, and hear him discuss what the Brutalist Architecture in 'The Brutalist' really means. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

At our inaugural Future of Filmmaking summit this November, IndieWire's Chris O'Falt hosted a fascinating discussion on performance capture filmmaking, featuring the director, VFX supervisor, and a lead actor from "Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes." Listen in to hear how the team on these films is pushing performance capture technology forward, and what it was like for the actors in "Ape Camp." L...

"Nickel Boys" is not only one of the best films of the year, but also one of the most experimental and challenging we've seen in a long while. IndieWire's Chris O'Falt sat down with Director RaMell Ross to explore why this story had to be told in first-person cinematography, and hear what Ross is trying to say about film form, and how it needs to evolve. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit meg...

The director of "Jackie" and "Spencer" returns to his unofficial trilogy of films about famous women in moments of crisis, this time to depict the final days of one of opera's most renowned singers, Maria Callas. Larraín talks to IndieWire's Jim Hemphill about directing Angelina Jolie in the biggest role of her career, and how he found a cinematic language that felt truly operatic. Learn more abou...