DGA Monthly

J A N U A R Y 2 0 2 6 I 6 5 Based on the story of real-life couple, Mike and Claire Sardina, Director Craig Brewer's biographical musical drama, Song Sung Blue chronicles how they experienced soaring success after creating Lightning and Thunder, a Neil Diamond tribute act, only to face tragedy when a serious accident leaves one of them disabled. Brewer discussed the making of the fi lm during Q&As moderated by Director Malcolm D. Lee in New York and DGA Past President Taylor Hackford in Los Angeles where he revaled he learned about being creative with locations from directing television. "I took a break from features and started doing a lot of television directing. In features, early on, I would fi ght for what I wanted and wouldn't think too much about the machinations of how it all came together like, 'I need 300 extras.' 'We can give you 150,' and I'd fi ght with them about that. In television, 'You have 50 extras and if you have a problem, we're going to get somebody else in here to direct.' So, it really began to be something where I would come to a place and work with production. So, we had one venue, I was like 'Oh, that's a great stage, but what's that corner over there?' And they were like, 'Oh, it's where we usually put our band equipment.' Well what if we dress that up like it's a location, and then we go into this corner and make that a location, and suddenly we have three locations in one location." Craig Brewer discusses Song Sung Blue 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 An idealistic young politician juggles her family and work life in Director James L. Brooks' comedic-drama, Ella McCay. Brooks' fi lm spins the tale of Ella, a 34-year-old woman who becomes the governor of her state after the longtime incumbent governor suddenly accepts a cabinet position in the incoming Obama administration. Supported by her aunt through the rough and tumble world of politics, she fi nds that navigating relationships with her husband, brother and her estranged, charming, but problematic father who has just re-entered her life, may be some of her biggest challenges of them all. In a conversation moderated by Director Albert Brooks, who also appears in the fi lm, James L. Brooks spoke about how he works with actors during the casting process. "Instead of just sitting there and saying, 'Do it again,' or anything, I just try and go to work during the audition and just see what happens out of that mix. It's like a work session for me... time goes, these are not fi ve minute auditions." James L. Brooks discusses Ella McCay photo by Elisa Haber Photo: Directors James L. Brooks (right) and Albert Brooks (moderator) discuss the making of Ella McCay following the Los Angeles screening on December 6. In the continuation of his series launched with his 2009 DGA Award-nominated 3-D feature Avatar, and revisited in 2022's Avatar: The Way of Water, Director James Cameron's sci-fi epic, Avatar: Fire and Ash sees Marine turned Na'vi leader Jake Sully, Na'vi warrior Neytiri and their family dealing with adversaries, both old and new as the confl ict on Pandora escalates to devastating consequences. During a Q&A moderated by Director Guillermo del Toro, Cameron discussed the making of the fi lm and shared why he is attracted to his current performance capture-based fi lmmaking approach. "When you're shooting live action, it's distracting to be thinking about, 'The sun's on the move. I've got 15 minutes before the thing is going to get shadowed. I'm behind two set-ups,' you know? With performance capture, I do all that later. It's like a quantum theory thing. I'm imagining an uncollapsed superposition where the camera could be there, or it could be there, and I don't have to worry about it right now. Right now, all I care about is the human truth of the performances. So, I take my performance brain, my writer brain, my storytelling brain and I give one hundred percent of that to the actors. Then I give one hundred percent of my geek-techno brain to the cinematography, the camera moves, and all the downstream processes." James Cameron discusses Avatar: Fire and Ash photo by Howard Wise Photo: Directors James Cameron (right) and Guillermo del Toro (moderator) discuss the making of Avatar: Fire and Ash following the Los Angeles screening on November 30. photo by Shane Karns photo by Marcie Revens Photos: Director Craig Brewer with moderators Taylor Hackford in Los Angeles on December 7 and Malcolm D. Lee in New York on December 13.

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