Issue link: http://digital.copcomm.com/i/1339678
56 C I N E M O N T A G E C O V E R S T O R Y The Director's View R o n H o w a rd j o i n e d W i l c o x o n a Zoom call discussion in De - cember—moderated by picture e d i to r L e a n d e r Sa l e s — w h e re t h ey discussed their collaboration in the cutting room. "James really gets performances," said Howard. "When we worked for the first time on 'Genius,' I think we just really clicked. In choosing takes, James was always finding the nuances that really connected the characters to the story. I feel that James builds around the performances first, not going for some systematic editing rhythm, I think he finds the heart of the characters." Howard specif ically recalled that James envisioned a new opening for the movie that was conceived in the editing room and differed from how it was written in the screenplay. James u s e d t h e te c h n i q u e o f a d d i n g v o i ce over of a preacher delivering a sermon on the radio as an anchor to the film's opening images. When Howard viewed the cut, he said he was impressed that James had got a jump-start on the sound design process. "The very opening of the movie, you see the Appalachian matriarch sitting on the porch listening to a radio broadcast of a sermon," said Howard. "And that's a feature of the region and culture. James found this dialogue and said, 'Hey, I got this idea.' It changed my sense of what the opening of the movie would be. In this sequence, it was important to me to try to understand the edginess and the beauty, the safety and security that the family gave each other despite their foibles. I thought James' idea to open with the ra- dio preacher was a great way to begin. And with all the flashbacks, we made it into a title sequence. It was somewhat written, but largely just sort of invented as we went, both as I was shooting and as we pieced it together." Howard recalls that the films opening did not change significantly after James presented this idea in the cut. " l l o v e e d i t i n g," s a i d H o wa rd . " I like to get in there and try things other ways, and push for new ideas, and we did all that on this movie. And it's always interesting that there are these scenes t h a t d o n ' t c h a n g e v e r y m u c h . W e changed some tiny rhythm things, but we d i d n't c h a n ge ta ke s o r any t h in g substantial from James' f irst cut of that scene." ■ —AJC ily with parents and descendants drawn to the region for its manufacturing blue collar industries. After I graduated high school, I had a summer job in one of Pittsburgh's steel mills. As J.D.'s Mamaw tells him, "You've got to go to school, you've got to get good grades just to have a chance." Those are similar speeches my parents imparted on us. I understood the struggle and perseverance of breaking the cycle of poverty. I understood how addictions damage families. I also un- derstood that to navigate difficult times you must force your will onto your own journey in life. I think Ron values having a crew that can contribute to the authenticity when making his films. I got a text from him saying "let's do this." I saved that text as well. This film feels like it mixes narrative and documentary style as it zig-zags between two timelines showing J.D. Vance as a kid and then later in life at college. How did you approach this editing strategy? James: The film examines the two most vulnerable periods in J.D. Vance's life, when he's at Yale, at age 28, and when he's 13 years old in Ohio. The goal with young J.D. was to show how precariously close he was to never getting a fighting chance in life. Ron chose to shoot more handheld to reflect J.D.'s instability. Director of Photography Maryse Alberti h a s d o c u m e n ta r y ex p e r i e n ce i n h e r background, and I think she gave the film a certain improvisational edge. Of course it's all blocked out, but the actors know they have to stay hot at all times because the camera could swing over to them at any moment. That's where my news background meshed with the cine- matic choice. "Genius" also told a non-linear story, and Ron and I had the benefit of using a lower-third time stamp. I thought we could be more inventive for this film, and Ron and I talked about organic ways to move between the timelines of 1997 and 2011. We accomplished this using news footage, commercials and music cues of the time. The opening sermon informs the audience of the year and the cultures belief system. Cutting between years, it wasn't necessarily about the time and place but more about the emotional connection between the characters. As J.D. ages, the audience can see the weight of all the challenges he has been carry-