DGA Monthly

A U G U S T 2 0 2 4 I 2 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 Director Greg Berlanti's romantic comedy, Fly Me to the Moon, tells the story of a NASA offi cial saddled with the diffi cult task of making preparations for the Apollo 11 moon landing, who runs into a new complication when he meets an attractive marketing executive the White House has directed to stage a fake moon landing. Berlanti discussed the making of the fi lm with Dan Gilroy and spoke about using cinematography to emphasize the theme of the movie. "Rarely do you read a third act that's like the theme of the movie at large, which is the fake versus the real. If you do your job right everybody in the audience wants the true thing to be the real thing and you've made your point just by the exercise of that. But you have to execute it on that level. We also needed to shoot the fake portion as though they would have done it in '69. So, what would be the technical elements of that? How big would the set have to be? How far would the backdrop have to be back? How are you lighting it? The moon dust settles or rises and falls the same way. How many iterations of that are you going to have to look through? So, there's a lot of complex conversations so that the audience wouldn't focus on any of that and just enjoy the ride." Greg Berlanti discusses Fly Me to the Moon photo by Quintin Lundy Photo: Directors Greg Berlanti (right) and Dan Gilroy (moderator) discuss the making of Fly Me to the Moon following the DGA screening in Los Angeles on July 20. In the third fi lm of the trilogy that began with his fi lm X and continued through Pearl, Director Ti West's crime horror, MaXXXine, fi nds adult fi lm star Maxine Minx on the verge of breaking into legitimate fi lms in 1980s Hollywood. But as a mysterious killer stalks the starlets of Hollywood, a trail of blood threatens to reveal her sinister past. West discussed the making of the fi lm with Director Sean Baker and revealed how he and cinematographer Eliot Rockett collaborated to bring style to each of the three fi lms of this trilogy. "I think Eliot gets my aesthetic. When you're making a movie, time is never on your side and sometimes you're just frantic just to photograph anything to get the day and to get through the scene. We always remind ourselves, even in those moments, try not to leave cinema on the table and try to fi nd a shot that complements the movie or try to fi nd a specifi c stylistic thing that can be done in the scene to give a character because it's so easy just to be trying to survive the day that you that you forget about that. And you get an edit room and you go, 'Oh man! We could have done so much more here, and we just did it because we got stressed out.'" Ti West discusses MaXXXine photo by Shane Karns Photo: Directors Ti West (right) and Sean Baker (moderator). discuss the making of MaXXXine following the DGA screening in Los Angeles on July 13. Director Tony Goldwyn's comedic drama, Ezra, tells the story of a divorced stand- up comedian who struggles to raise his autistic son. Forced to confront diffi cult decisions about the boy's future, they embark on a cross-country road trip that has a transcendent impact on both of their lives. During a discussion moderated by Director Michael Pressman, Goldwyn discussed the fi lm and spoke about casting and directing autistic actor William Fitzgerald as Ezra. "We saw maybe 100 young autistic actors and we couldn't fi nd him. About three weeks before fi lming an audition tape came in. He was just a natural. We talked a lot with William's parents about the accommodations we would need to make for certain sensitivities he has as a kid on the spectrum and once we had those kind of dialed in it was just like working with any brilliant child actor. Always with good actors, but certainly with children, you have to be very clear and precise and simple in what you say. I'd start to overly explain something and within 10 seconds William's eyes would be rolling into the back of his head. And he'd say, 'Yeah Tony, I got it. Let me just do it.' I kind of realized I had to let him do his thing and he just knew what he was doing." Tony Goldwyn discusses Ezra photo by Marcie Revens Photo: Directors Tony Goldwyn (right) and Michael Pressman (moderator) discuss the making of Ezra following the DGA screening in New York on June 22.

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