DGA Monthly

5 4 I D G A M O N T H L Y Director William Goldenberg's biographical sports drama, Unstoppable, tells the inspiring true story of Anthony Robles, a wrestler born with one leg who defied the odds to win a national championship in 2011 while competing at Arizona State University. Goldenberg discussed the film during a Q&A moderated by Director Ben Affleck and revealed what part of directing his first feature concerned him the most. "I mean all of it scared me, but I felt like I know what coverage I need to make a scene work. I haven't had that much experience talking to actors on a set. So, the idea of using the right language and getting performance out of them or shifting performance... I knew what I wanted but getting them to understand what I wanted. What I realized is how Directors talk to me as an editor is the way I ended up talking to the actors because it feels very similar. It's just them understanding what movie I'm making, what intentions. I often say to the Director 'tell me how you want to feel, and I'll be able to do that in the editing room'. So I kind of ended up speaking to the actors that way. And because these actors are so gifted that seemed to work." William Goldenberg discusses Unstoppable 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 Marielle Heller's horror comedy, Nightbitch, tells the story of a stay-at-home mom whose domesticity takes a surreal turn when her maternal instincts begin to manifest in canine form. After the DGA membership screening in New York, Heller discussed the making of the film during a Q&A moderated by Director Ritesh Batra where she spoke about spoke about why she works with the same crew repeatedly. "The great thing about working with people over and over again is that you know you can depend on them and they're wonderful at their jobs. It frees me up to be able to work on the unknowns and I know that I can really trust all the people I'm working with so completely. I think they all know that for me it's always character and story first, and that all of the artistry, the craft and the decisions we're making have to kind of tie into somehow character and story. That's always first before anything looks cool or would be a pretty shot or anything like that. It always has to be 'what's this telling us about the character and how are we telling this story in as many layers as we can, but not making them seem heavy handed.' And then you get a shorthand with the people that you work with. I feel so much trust that I can explain a scene in purely emotional terms, and they can translate it to their technical expertise." Marielle Heller discusses Nightbitch photo by Ryan Jensen Photo: Directors Marielle Heller (right) and Ritesh Batra (moderator) discuss the making of Nightbitch following DGA screening in New York on November 30. Director Jack Huston's drama, Day of the Fight, depicts a day in the life of a champion boxer getting ready for his first fight since leaving prison. Huston discussed the making of the film during Q&As moderated by Directors Henry Alex Rubin in New York and Gus Van Sant in Los Angeles. During the New York conversation, Huston spoke about something he learned from his grandfather, the legendary Director John Huston. "My grandfather always stood by making a film is 90 percent casting. I think it's very important to understand that you're giving an actor a part and the beauty is to watch what they do with it like I would say about any role in making a film. Choose the greatest person you can find for each individual role because you want them to elevate. You don't want to control it, you're controlling the entire picture and that was the beauty of this, the collaboration of all these incredible people. That collaboration is probably one of the most beautiful parts of making a picture and that's probably why certain things happen. We made this in 20 days. We had a day and a half to shoot the entire fight. The only reason that worked is because of the trust we had between the actors and the people we worked with." Jack Huston discusses Day of the Fight Photo: Directors William Goldenberg (right) and Ben Affleck (moderator) discuss the making of Unstoppable following the Los Angeles DGA screening on December 7. photo by Howard Wise photo by Marcie Revens photo by Quintin Lundy Photos: Director Jack Huston with moderators Alex Rubin in New York on November 16 and Gus Van Sant in Los Angeles on November 24.

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