DGA Monthly

J U N E 2 0 2 4 I 4 1 Membership Screenings Q&As listed in alphabetical order by Director. See more detailed descriptions, additional photos & podcasts online at www.dga.org. DGA Screenings Q&As "Find the right song, change your past. Find the right person, change your future," is the tagline for Director Ned Benson's romantic fantasy, The Greatest Hits. Benson's film tells the story of a young woman who discovers whenever she hears songs associated with him, she travels back in time to her to visit her deceased boyfriend. However, her new ability interferes with a burgeoning new love interest in the present. On April 28, after the DGA membership screening in Los Angeles, Benson discussed the making of film with Director Marc Webb and spoke about the challenges of getting the music right for a film that uses songs as a driving force. "[Composer] Ryan Lott worked on my first film [The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby]. We had a great experience together. He comes from a classical music background and is just a very great musician. He also did the score for Everything Everywhere All at Once. We brought him in, but before that I was working with Mary Ramos and DJ Harvey as musical consultants. We were just finding songs that were lyrically helping tell the story, creating the subtext of each of these scenes, and making sure that was really helping the underneath of the film." Ned Benson discusses The Greatest Hits photo by Quintin Lundy The simian supremacy series enters a new chapter in Director Wes Ball's sci-fi adventure, Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes. Set 300 years after the events of the previous trilogy, ape civilizations have emerged while humans have regressed into a feral, primitive state. Ball's film tells the story of a young ape who embarks on a harrowing journey that will lead him to question everything he's been taught about the past and make choices that will define a future for apes and humans alike. On May 12 after the DGA membership screening in Los Angeles, Ball discussed the making of film with Director Barry Jenkins and spoke about how Weta's motion capture technology influenced his directing style. "We have a lot of scenes here where it's just still. That's kind of new for me. I did a couple scenes where I did my usual thing — flying the camera around or on a jib-arm or something like that — and it somehow was taking away from the kind of realness of it all. It felt like it was a hat on a hat to have this camera being too fancy. I had to go back and reshoot a few of those things to something simple where you can just sit there and watch this magic happen with Wetta converting our actors' performances into these living, breathing, talking apes." Wes Ball discusses Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes photo by Shane Karns A middle-aged woman embarks on a May-December romance in Director Michael Showalter's romantic drama, The Idea of You. Showalter's film tells the story of Solène, a 40-year-old single mom, who begins an unexpected relationship with Hayes Campbell, the 24-year-old lead singer of August Moon, the hottest boy band on the planet. On May 5 after the DGA membership screening in Los Angeles, Showalter discussed the making of film with Director Kay Cannon and spoke about working with his DP and Production Designer to establish the look of the film. "The Director of Photography is Jim Frohna who did all of the TV show Transparent. We worked with a great production designer, Amy Williams, who was someone I'd been wanting to work with. They're all real filmmakers. It was a group of people who all took their jobs very, very seriously and I love that. I'm a bit of a delegator so I like to work with really talented people and encourage them to do their best work and challenge them to do their best work and that was definitely the case with Jim. He has a great style and a great aesthetic." Michael Showalter discusses The Idea of You photo by Quintin Lundy Photo: Director Ned Benson (right) discusses the making of The Greatest Hits during a Q&A with Director Marc Webb (moderator). Photo: Director Wes Ball (right) discusses the making of Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes during a Q&A with Director Barry Jenkins (moderator). Photo: Director Michael Showalter (right) discusses the making of The Idea of You during a Q&A with during a Q&A with Director Kay Cannon (moderator).

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