Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/1097515
sensation was at the center of a bidding war, which resulted in Amazon paying roughly $13 million for the U.S. rights alone, with a theatrical release set for this summer. In the movie, Molly shows up at work with zero experience—and zero qualms about telling her co-workers and Katherine that their jokes have gotten lazy. Bad call. Now Molly's under attack by seven angry dorks and their furious queen. "I really wanted to make an adult movie with smart people talking about political is- sues in a funny way," says Ganatra. Under Late Night's o ce fl uorescents, the stakes feel as high as with the Watergate scoop in All the President's Men (Ganatra's main visual infl u- ence). Late Night appeared simple on paper. Quips Ganatra, "It's just a bunch of adults talking in a room. How hard can this be?" Actually, hard. Ganatra's fi rst hurdle was fi guring out how to make the indoor setting visually compelling. Kaling wanted authen- ticity. But when Ganatra toured the o ces of Jimmy Fallon and Stephen Colbert, she realized authenticity meant four dry walls, no windows and ugly lighting. "The worst thing we could do for this DGA QUARTERLY 13 ISHA GANATRA'S fi lm Late Night takes place beneath the harsh lights of the fic- tional Tonight With Kath- erine Newbury, which, after 31 years of sinking ratings, is showing its age. After the new network head (Amy Ryan) threatens cancellation, Kath- erine (Emma Thompson) takes stock of her all-white, all-male writers room and agrees to give a trial hire to a young Indian woman named Molly, played by Mindy Kaling, who also wrote the film's script and serves as producer. In a way, Molly can be seen as the direc- tor's alter ego. As such, Ganatra believes in giving unknown talents a break. "Everybody was a first-timer on my first movie," she says, referring to her indie debut, Chutney Popcorn, which won the Audience Award at the 2000 Berlin Film Festival. "That was very challenging," she admits, "but what we got that we could never get was everybody's heart and soul." Since then, Ganatra has often been the new kid herself, as her eclectic career has spanned the spectrum of television, leading FOR LATE NIGHT DIRECTOR NISHA GANATRA, WILLINGNESS AND TENACITY HAVE EARNED HER A PLACE IN THE SPOTLIGHT | BY AMY NICHOLSON Just Say Yes I N D I E V O I C E FOCUS N her to direct multiple episodes of Brooklyn Nine-Nine, Better Things and her first big break in the medium, MTV's Real World. (She met Kaling helming an episode of The Mindy Project.) "I've directed everything from reality to episodic to comedy to documentary to fi lm," says Ganatra. " Why? When I said yes to Road Rules, it was because I got to shoot an action sequence. Nobody was giving women eight cameras to shoot sports scenes." Plus, she notes, directors face similar challenges in independent fi lm and TV: a fast pace, lim- ited resources, and the need to be quick and decisive about what to prioritize. "Directing is directing," she continues, explaining her choices. "You always have to get a performance. You always have to tell a story visually. You always have to make sure you're covered in the editing room. And you always have to use the camera as dynamical- ly as possible in a way that serves the story. So whenever I got an opportunity to do that, I just said yes." With Late Night, her first feature in almost 20 years, that willingness and persistence have paid off. The Sundance » Director Nisha Ganatra, right (and below left), huddles with Mindy Kaling, on the set of their recent feature, Late Night, which sparked a bidding war at Sundance. PHOTOS: (TOP) EMILY ARAGONES/AMAZON STUDIOS; (BOTTOM) EVE BREGMAN