DGA Monthly

2 2 I D G A M O N T H L Y 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 James Hawes' action thriller, The Amateur, tells the story of a brilliant CIA decoder who embarks into the field on a mission of vengeance after his wife is murdered during a terrorist attack. During a Q&A moderated by Director Sarah Pirozek, Hawes spoke about directing Rami Malek as his lead and the challenges of keeping the correct emotional map for his character. "What I always do is spend table time with each individual actor. I spent days with Rami just going through the script, talking about the temperature of each scene, where is he emotionally at any given point. What is the backstory? What do we think his day-to-day is before this all unfolds? One of my biggest challenges from the beginning was not to get him cool. Not to turn him into some kind of Karate Kid. He had to stay geeky, clumsy, charming, and slightly other really. And Rami brings that vulnerability that's so important, and an intensity, and an intelligence. You needed to believe that this guy really was an analyst with an IQ of 175. So all those qualities were absolutely key." James Hawes discusses The Amateur photo by Marcie Revens Directors Dan Berk & Robert Olsen's action comedy, Novocaine, tells the story of a mild-mannered introvert with congenital insensitivity to pain who utilizes his disability to rescue the girl of his dreams after she is taken hostage by a gang of robbers. During a Q&A moderated by Director Drew Hancock, Berk revealed how they knew the movie was going to be funny and said, "When we were on set shooting it, we were blowing takes because the whole crew was cracking up. If the people who are paid to not laugh and ruin a take are laughing, then an audience is going to have a good time." Olsen spoke about balancing the chemistry between their leads actors, Jack Quaid and Amber Midthunder. "Off screen they're two of the sweetest, kindest, most gracious performers you'll ever meet. But on screen their energies are so different. Jack, especially in this role, is this kind of shy, sheltered guy and Amber just has this kind of magnetism and energy in her. She's so fearless in her presence on screen. They have two very different looks, but the camera loves both of them and it was really fun working on that and getting their kind of opposing energies to yin and yang in the right ways." Dan Berk & Robert Olsen discuss Novocaine photo by Shane Karns Director Bong Joon Ho's sci-fi black comedy, Mickey 17, tells the story of a lovable loser who signs up to become an "expendable," a crew member selected for dangerous tasks because his body can be reprinted with his memories largely intact if he dies. After things go very wrong one with regeneration, he has to find a new path forward if he is to survive. During a Q&A moderated by Director Ava DuVernay, Bong revealed why and how he uses storyboards. "There are a lot of Directors who do great works without storyboarding but it just became a habit of mine since I was a young filmmaker. My therapist tells me that I need to deal with my anxiety but storyboards ensure that I feel less anxious. If I show up on set without a storyboard it would feel like one of those recurring nightmares where I'm at central station without wearing any pants. It's quite conventional in the Korean film industry to do thorough storyboards but when I was making my first English language film, Snowpiercer, my 1st AD asked why I worked really hard in my storyboards. He didn't believe that I would actually follow them. But after a week into the shoot he realized that I do shoot accordingly and started going around with copies of my storyboard and just x-ing out all the things that we go through." Bong Joon Ho discusses Mickey 17 photo by Shane Karns Photo: Directors Bong Joon Ho (right) and Ava DuVernay (moderator) discuss the making of Mickey 17 following the Los Angeles DGA screening on March 22. Photo: Directors James Hawes (right) and Sarah Pirozek (moderator) discuss the making of The Amateur following the New York DGA screening on April 5. Photo L-R: Directors Drew Hancock (moderator), Robert Olsen & Dan Berk (right) discuss the making of Novocaine following the Los Angeles DGA screening on March 23.

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