DGA Monthly

F E B R U A R Y 2 0 2 5 I 3 9 Based on a short story by Arthur Miller, Director Shira Piven's drama, The Performance, tells the tale of Harold May, an American Jew passing as a gentile, in 1930s Germany. May and his troupe, must give their best showing when they are recruited to give a one-night-only performance before a very "special guest" in a storied Berlin theater. During a discussion about the film moderated by Director Jade Jenise Dixon, Piven shared how she works with her cast and crew. "What I've discovered with doing film is that relationship between Actor and Director where I feel like I don't want to get in the way of their impulses. Part of my training is improvisational. I feel like the minute I'm going to get in the way of their natural instincts I'm going to lose something. I feel that way also about department heads. I of course have a — I don't love the word vision but there's not a better word — I do have a vision of where we're going but I like to really elicit from every department head what they're good at, what they bring to the table — Editors, Production Designers, Costumers. Of course, it's a balance because if what they're bringing to the table is out of left field, I will communicate this specific [vision]. And the more they give the more I get inspired and the more specific I get with my notes to them." Shira Piven discusses The Performance photo by Elisa Haber Photo: Directors Shira Piven (right) & Jade Jenise Dixon (moderator) discuss the making of The Performance following the LA DGA screening on December 28. 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 Inspired by the real-life story of the 6888th Central Postal Directory Battalion, an all-Black, all-female unit, Director Tyler Perry's historical drama, The Six Triple Eight, recounts how these 855 women joined the war to fix a three-year backlog of undelivered mail for U.S. service members in England and France. Faced with discrimination and a country devastated by war, they managed to sort more than 17 million pieces of mail ahead of time. During a discussion about the film moderated by Director J. C. Chandor, Perry revealed why he opted to open the film with visuals of the horrors of the war. "It was very important for me, if I'm gonna do a movie about World War II, I'm gonna open with some of the horrors of what was happening. The whole beginning is silent as far as there's no dialogue in it. But you take that ride as you walk through what was going on in the world at the time. I wanted to get a sense of what that letter meant and why he would even take it out of Abram's chest and hold on to it because that meant I needed to tell somebody 'I love you.' That meant I needed to tell somebody 'I made it.' That meant something to someone so that's why it was so important." Tyler Perry discusses The Six Triple Eight Photo: Directors Tyler Perry and J. C. Chandor (moderator) discuss the making of The Six Triple Eight following DGA screening in New York on December 15. photo by Marcie Revens Director Halina Reijn's erotic thriller, Babygirl, explores the complexities of power dynamics and sexuality within a professional setting as a businesswoman puts her career and family on the line when she begins an affair with her much-younger intern. Reijn discussed the making of the film during Q&As moderated by Directors Celine Song in New York and Spike Jonze in Los Angeles. During the New York conversation, she spoke about utilizing an intimacy coordinator to help choreograph the sex scenes. "Just like with a fight, if you have a stunt coordinator the fight will look way more real. With sex scenes it's the same. I love working with her [Lizzy Talbot], brainstorming and just having, for the actress, the safety of having the conversations and that you all come on set knowing everything. I often heard on set as an actress 'Okay, just try something else,' and I would die of shame and fear and craziness. You can choreograph everything. I'm very much from the school — because I grew up in such extreme circumstances off the grid — that I hate chaos. I prepare like I'm a soldier, like military preparation so that you can let go in the moment. And that is what an intimacy coordinator is great for because you can create complete clarity as a starting point and then they feel free to actually let go." Halina Reijn discusses Babygirl photo by Xxx Xxxxx photo by Marcie Revens photo by Elisa Haber Photos: Director Halina Reijn with moderators Celine Song in New York on December 1 and Spike Jonze in Los Angeles on December 21.

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