DGA Monthly

2 8 I D G A M O N T H L Y Director Bill Condon's musical drama, Kiss of the Spider Woman, tells the story of Valentín, a political prisoner who shares a cell with Molina, a gay window dresser convicted of public indecency. They find themselves developing an unexpected friendship as Molina entertains Valentín by recounting the plot of a Hollywood musical starring his favorite silver screen diva, Ingrid Luna. Condon discussed the making of the film during Q&As moderated by Directors Richard LaGravenese in New York and Greg Berlanti where he discussed how he overcame the limitations of shooting so many scenes in the same prison cell. "Obviously, the biggest challenge is when you're on set and you've got those four walls, and you've got so many scenes. We really tried to figure out different approaches to different scenes. As an example, there's a moment where Molina is crying and Valentín goes over to him and the movies start to merge into each other. There's a real grittiness in [cinematographer] Tobias [Schliessler]'s approach in the first part but by the end, he goes to Molina sitting there. He's just lit in such a beautiful, romantic way. It's like the ideas of the movie are making their way into the cell. That's the thrill of being able to shoot one and then the other." Bill Condon discusses Kiss of the Spider Woman photo by Elisa Haber photo by Marcie Revens Photos: Director Bill Condon with moderators Greg Berlanti in LA on September 14 and Richard LaGravenese in NY on September 27. 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 When their evil enemy resurfaces after 16 years, a former member of a revolutionary group seeks help from other revolutionaries to find his missing daughter in Director Paul Thomas Anderson's comedic adventure, One Battle After Another. Anderson discussed the making of the film during a Q&As moderated by Directors Steven Spielberg in Los Angeles and Martin Scorsese in New York. During the Los Angeles conversation, Anderson spoke about how he came across the location for the last set piece of the film and how it influenced the movie. "We knew that all our participants were headed to the desert. In location scouting, we drove on what we called 'the river of hills' and that sequence blossomed. It's very scary to drive over those hills because you come up 65, 70 miles an hour, there's no one around but you're going blind. I was just videoing with my phone and the more you were kind of static, the more you would lose the horizon line and it became very, very scary. I found when I zoomed in on my phone it was even scarier. We ended up at this thing massive thing called 'the Texas Dip' and it was one of those lucky moments where you sit in a car for four hours going, 'I'll never go on a location scout again' and you come across this and go, 'This is why you get in a van and location scout!' These discoveries are there if the movie gods are on your side." Paul Thomas Anderson discusses One Battle After Another photo by Shane Karns photo by Ryan Jensen Photos: Director Paul Thomas Anderson with moderators Steven Spielberg in LA on September 7 and Martin Scorsese in NY on September 21. Derek Cianfrance's comedic biopic, Roofman, tells the incredible true story of Jeffrey Manchester, an escaped convict hides in a toy store while on the run from the police, adopts a new identity and becomes involved in a risky relationship with Leigh Wainscott, a single mother who is one of the store's employees. Cianfrance discussed the making of the film during Q&As moderated by Directors David Gordon Green in Los Angeles and Azazel Jacobs in New York. In LA, Cianfrance spoke about his process for achieving naturalism on screen. "I love script supervisors but they don't always have a role on my movies because I embrace the continuity errors. I don't want actors to hit marks. I am fine with it being different every take because I'm only looking for it once. I feel like the concept for me is Halley's Comet. Halley's Comet comes like once every 76 years. When the time comes you have to go and see it and you capture it. If you don't get it you have to wait 76 years for it to come back. So, I just try to put myself in a position to capture these, what I call, 'Halley's Comet moments' and you can't get them back. There's no take two on them." Derek Cianfrance discusses Roofman photo by Shane Karns photo by Ryan Jensen Photos: Director Derek Cianfrance with moderators David Gordon Green in LA on September 28 and Azazel Jacobs in NY on September 21.

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