The Director’s Cut - A DGA Podcast

Director Sam Mendes discusses his new film, 1917, with fellow director Ed Zwick. The film follows two young privates fighting with British forces during the First World War. They are given the impossible mission of delivering a message into enemy territory to prevent 1600 men, including one of the soldier's brothers from walking into a deadly trap. See photos and a summary of this event below: htt...

Directors Josh and Benny Safdie discuss their new film, Uncut Gems, with fellow director Kenneth Lonergan. The film stars Adam Sandler as Howard, a charismatic New Yorker who is always on the lookout for the next big score. His latest scheme is a precarious high-wire act, balancing business, family, and encroaching adversaries on all sides in his relentless pursuit of the ultimate win. Please note...

Director Rian Johnson discusses his new film, Knives Out, with fellow director Denis Villeneuve. The film is a whodunit, following debonair detective Benoit Blanc's investigation of the death of renowned crime novelist Harlan Thrombey. With suspects aplenty in Thrombey's dysfunctional family and devoted staff, Blanc must wade through a sea of red herrings to uncover the truth. Please note spoilers...

Director Kasi Lemmons discusses her new film, Harriet, with fellow director Rick Famuyiwa. The film tells the extraordinary true story of Harriet Tubman, an enslaved person who escaped her captors. After finding liberty in the North, Tubman then risked her freedom and her life to return to the South, and relied upon her courage, ingenuity and tenacity to free hundreds of others and change the cour...

Director Marielle Heller discusses her new film, A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood, with fellow director Tamara Jenkins. The film retells the story of the real-life friendship between television icon Fred Rogers and journalist Tom Junod. The story fictionalizes Juno as a skeptical writer named Lloyd Vogel, who is assigned to do a story on Mr. Rogers. Vogel is ultimately swayed as Rogers' kindnes...

Director James Mangold discusses his new film, Ford v Ferrari, with fellow director Doug Liman. The film follows American car designer Carroll Shelby and driver Ken Miles who battled corporate interference, the laws of physics and their own personal demons to build a revolutionary race car for Ford and challenge Ferrari at the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 1966. See photos and a summary of this event bel...

Director Jay Roach discusses his new film, Bombshell, with fellow director Leslye Headland. Based on the real-life scandal, the film follows the group of women at Fox News who exposed the toxic atmosphere of harassment at the network and took down CEO Roger Ailes. See photos and a summary of this event below: https://www.dga.org/Events/2020/Jan2020/Bombshell_QnA_1119.aspx

Director Todd Haynes discusses his new film, Dark Waters, with fellow director Gus Van Sant. Inspired by true events, the film tells the story of an environmental defense attorney who uncovers a dark secret hidden by one of the world's largest corporations and risks his own career and family to bring justice to a community dangerously exposed for decades to deadly chemicals. See photos and a summa...

Director Scott Z. Burns discusses his new film, The Report, with fellow director David Mackenzie. The film tells the true story of Senate staffer Daniel Jones, who was tasked by his boss, Senator Dianne Feinstein, to lead an investigation of the CIA's Detention and Interrogation Program created in the aftermath of 9/11. See photos and a summary of this event below: https://www.dga.org/Events/2020/...

Director Noah Baumbach discusses his new film, Marriage Story, with fellow director Ben Stiller. The film stars Adam Driver and Scarlett Johansson as a stage director and an actor who are struggling through a coast-to-coast divorce that pushes them to their personal and creative extremes. See photos and a summary of this event below: https://www.dga.org/Events/2019/Dec2019/MarriageStory_QnA_1119.a...

Director Alma Har'el discusses her new film, Honey Boy, with fellow director Boaz Yakin. Starring Shia LaBeouf in a story inspired by his own real-life childhood, the film follows a young actor into early adulthood as he navigates a difficult relationship with his father and struggles to deal with his mental health. See photos and a summary of this event below: https://www.dga.org/Events/2020/Jan2...

Director Edward Norton discusses his new film, Motherless Brooklyn, with fellow director Mike Binder. Based on the novel by JOnathan Lethem, the film follows Lionel Essrog, a private detective with Tourette's syndrome who uncovers a web of corruption in 1950s New York while investigating the murder of his mentor. See photos and a summary of this event below: https://www.dga.org/Events/2019/Dec2019...

Director Melina Matsoukas discusses her new film, Queen & Slim, with fellow director M. Night Shyamalan. The film follows Queen and Slim, whose first date takes an unexpected turn when they are pulled over for a minor traffic violation. After the situation escalates and Slim shoot the police officers in self-defense, the couple become unwitting outlaws and a viral symbol of trauma, terror and...

Director Alex Gibney discusses his film, Citizen K, with fellow director Matthew Heineman. Photographed on location in the UK, Russia and Germany, the documentary follows Mikhail Khodorkovsky, one of the richest men in Russia who became known as the world-famous dissident "Citizen K" when he was imprisoned after a series of theatrical trials orchestrated by Vladimir Putin. See photos and a summary...

Director Greta Gerwig discusses her new film, Little Women, with fellow director Rian Johnson. Based on the novel by Louisa May Alcott, the film follows four sisters in America—Amy, Jo, Beth and Meg—as they come of age in the aftermath of the Civil War. See photos and a summary of this event below: https://www.dga.org/Events/2019/Dec2019/LittleWomen_QnA_1119.aspx

Director Taika Waititi discusses his new film, Jojo Rabbit, with fellow director Paul Downs Colaizzo. Set during the waning days of World War II, the film tells the story of Jojo, a young boy whose only friend is an imaginary and idiotic projection of Adolf Hitler. See photos and a summary of this event below: https://www.dga.org/Events/2019/Dec2019/JojoRabbit_QnA_1019.aspx

Director David Michôd discusses his new film, The King, with fellow director Neil Burger. The film stars Timothée Chalamet as Prince Hal, who had turned his back on royal life to live among the people until the death of his tyrannical father. Now, crowned King Henry V, the young ruler is forced to embrace the world he had previously tried to escape. See photos and a summary of this event below: ht...

Director Robert Eggers discusses his new film, The Lighthouse, with fellow director Rian Johnson. Set in 1980s New England, the film tells the hallucinatory story of a grizzled veteran seaman and a novice lighthouse keeper who are thrown together on a harsh assignment. As isolation and alcohol being to eat at their sanity, they become threatened by their own nightmares. See photos and a summary of...

Director Ron Howard discusses his new film, Pavarotti, with fellow director Ondi Timoner. The film examines the life and career of famed opera tenor Luciano Pavarotti. Featuring never-before-seen footage, concert performances and intimate interviews, the film takes an in-depth look at the lasting legacy of the musical icon affectionately dubbed "The People's Tenor." See photos and a summary of thi...

Director Martin Scorsese discusses his new film, The Irishman, with fellow director Spike Lee. The film follows Frank Sheeran, a retired WWII veteran and former mob hitman, as he reflects on the moments that defined his career as a figure in organized crime, especially his role in the 1975 disappearance and murder of Teamsters President Jimmy Hoffa. See photos and a summary of this event below: ht...

Director Alfonso Gomez-Rejon discusses his new film, The Current War: Director's Cut, with fellow director Jonathan Mostow. The film reveals how electricity titans Thomas Edison and George Westinghouse engaged in a battle of technology and ideas to determine whether direct current or alternating current would power the modern world. See photos and a summary of this event below: https://www.dga.org...

As part of a special celebration for the grand re-opening of the DGA’s brand new, state-of-the-art theater in Los Angeles, Director Ridley Scott discussed his 1982 sc-fi classic, Blade Runner. Scott’s final cut version of the film was shown with Dolby Vision picture and Dolby Atmos sound. See photos and a summary of this event below: https://www.dga.org/Events/2019/Nov2019/LA-TheaterReOpeningCeleb...

Director Todd Phillips discusses his new film, Joker, with fellow director Ivan Reitman. Starring Joaquin Phoenix, the film examines the slow descent into madness of the man who would become Batman’s arch nemesis. See photos and a summary of this event below: https://www.dga.org/Events/2019/Nov2019/Joker_QnA_1019.aspx

Director James Gray discusses his new film, Ad Astra, with fellow director Damien Chazelle (First Man). The film stars Brad Pitt as a near-future astronaut who makes a daring voyage to discover the truth about his father (Tommy Lee Jones) who disappeared on a deep space mission 30 year prior. The journey will unravel a mystery that challenges the nature of human existence and threatens the surviva...

Director Michael Engler discusses his film, Downton Abbey, with fellow director Ritesh Batra. The film continues the story from the popular British show, as both the hosts and the help prepare for a royal visit from the King and Queen of England. Scandal, romance and intrigue will leave the future of Downton hanging in the balance. See photos and a summary of this event below: https://www.dga.org/...