Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/1545406
J U L Y 2 0 2 6 I 2 5 Photo L-R: Directors Jonathan Goldstein (moderator) and Kyle Balda discuss the making of The Sheep Detectives following the Los Angeles DGA screening on May 16. A flock of sheep take it upon themselves to solve the murder of their beloved shepherd in Director Kyle Balda's comedic whodunnit, The Sheep Detectives. During a Q&A with Director Jonathan Goldstein, Balda spoke about making the transition from directing animation films such as Minions and Despicable Me 3 to live action. "Animation is like being a studio musician recording an album. You can go back and tweak things and you're not working in a linear fashion. Live action is like you prepare and prepare and then you go do that tour. You're up on stage and it's really exciting but things can go wrong, and it could rain on the concert. So, I just approached it like it was an animation film. I got 10 storyboard artists who all came from animation and boarded the entire film — even the scenes that didn't have visual effects in it — made an animatic and edited it all together. About two weeks before the shoot we at Pinewood we watched the animatic of the movie with the crew and they were just kind of like, 'This is new,' but it really helped me feel prepared. Then when things happened like the actor wants to do it a different way, it was at least like a foundation where the pivot could happen without me panicking." Kyle Balda discusses The Sheep Detectives photo by Shane Karns 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 A popular video game series comes to life in Director Simon McQuoid's martial arts dark fantasy, Mortal Kombat II. In the sequel to his 2021 feature, Mortal Kombat, McQuoid's film follows Johnny Cage, a martial arts actor who is recruited to join a group of real fighters in an interdimensional tournament against alien warriors to stop a tyrannical emperor. During a Q&A with Director David Sandberg, McQuoid spoke about what he had learned from directing the film's 2021 precursor. "There's two pieces to it, the fights and the action. Kyle Gardiner — the stunt coordinator — and I did the first film together. We worked out our process through that first film. When we came to the second film, we both realized we knew how to make this more efficient. We knew how to make this better for the film. What I wanted was to feel the characters and the story even more within the fights. So, during the first part of pre-production Carl and I went through the whole script and plotted these characters' journeys. Where they start and end." Simon McQuoid discusses Mortal Kombat II photo by Shane Karns Photo L-R: Directors David Sandberg (moderator) and Simon McQuoid discuss the making of Mortal Kombat II following the Los Angeles DGA screening on May 24. These podcasts are posted on www.dga.org, or you can search for The Director's Cut - A DGA Podcast wherever you get your podcasts and stay tuned for many more great conversations! DGA Podcast Series : The Director's Cut The Director's Cut, the DGA's official podcast, features conversations of Directors talking to Directors about bringing their projects to life. These include some of the events listed in this issue, as well as other recently posted episodes such as: John Patton Ford discussing How to Make a Killing with moderator Kobi Libii Liz Garbus & Elizabeth Wolff discussing Give Me the Ball! with moderator Ondi Timoner Director Mariska Hargitay & Producer Trish Adlesic discussing My Mom Jayne with moderator Lisa Cortés Phil Lord & Christopher Miller discussing Project Hail Mary with moderator Guillermo del Toro David Lowery discussing Mother Mary with moderator Antonio Campos