DGA Monthly

A U G U S T 2 0 2 6 I 2 5 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 dinner party propels a struggling married couple into unexpected territory in Director Olivia Wilde's marital comedy, The Invite. In her English language remake of Cesc Gay's Spanish film The People Upstairs, Wilde's film tells the story of Joe and Angela, a couple whose marriage is on thin ice. But when they invite their enigmatic upstairs neighbors for a dinner party, the evening spirals into an incredibly awkward and hilariously revealing affair. Wilde discussed the making of the film during Q&As moderated by Directors Matt & Ross Duffer in Los Angeles and Jesse Eisenberg in New York, where she spoke about her preproduction process. "We shot listed to a certain extent, but I knew there was going to be a quite a bit of improvisation. I knew I wanted this intentional, designed aesthetic, which was very much inspired by Mike Nichols, also Woody Allen. We really wanted to be intentional about it but also allow for a lot of freedom. I didn't want to shot list to a point where I was going to have to over-direct the actors to make certain choices." Olivia Wilde discusses The Invite photo by Marcie Revens photo by Shane Karns Photos Director Olivia Wilde with moderators Jesse Eisenberg in NY on June 14 and Matt & Ross Duffer in LA on June 20. Classic Film Series Screens Jacques Tourneur's Out of the Past On June 30, the Special Projects Committee hosted the latest installment of their Classic Film Series with Director Jacques Tourneur's 1947 classic noir drama, Out of the Past, in the Guild's Los Angeles Theater. The series screens iconic movies, followed by a discussion about their legacy. Tourneur's Out of the Past unveils how the quiet life of a small-town gas station owner is interrupted when a figure from his shady past recognizes him. Now he must return to the big city world of danger, corruption, double crosses and duplicitous dames. Widely considered to be one of the very best film noirs of the '40s, Out of the Past launched Robert Mitchum's career and achieved critical acclaim and cult status through its complex, fatalistic storyline, dark cinematography and inclusion of the classic noir archetype, the femme fatale. In 1991, the Library of Congress added Out of the Past to the United States National Film Registry for being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant." The evening opened with a welcome from Classic Film Series Subcommittee member Luc OuYang and Special Projects Committee Co-Chair Michael Goi. Following the screening, Goi served as the moderator of a conversation with Director Lawrence Kasdan. "What I love about film noir especially is the women characters are so incredibly strong and so incredibly smart, certainly smarter than the men," said Goi. "I've heard people argue that noir has to be in black and white, it can't be in color. But there are so many films that demonstrate that it can be. In those stylistic choices, the darkness comes out of the characters, and you find visual representations of that character in the way that you light it and shoot it." Admitting how he 'borrowed' from the femme fatale's introduction in Out of the Past for Kathleen Turner's entry in his debut feature, Body Heat, Kasdan said, "[In Out of the Past] she walks into the cantina in her white dress, out of the shadows. He's been waiting for her show up and she comes out of the darkness, enters the room and turns out to be the force that drives the movie. I wanted to have that feeling and I had no shame about stealing anything I could. My movie's kind of a remake of Double Indemnity and Out of the Past. You can be embarrassed about that, or you can say, 'Double Indemnity is one of my favorite movies. If I could get close to that feeling in this movie, that'll be enough.' I was able to get close to it in certain moments and that was heaven." Photos 1: L-R Special Projects Committee Co-Chair Director Michael Goi (moderator) discusses the legacy and impact of Director Jacques Tourneur's Out of the Past with Director Lawrence Kasdan. 2: Subcommittee member Luc OuYang welcomes the audience. 3-4: Director Jacques Tourneur (1904-1977) and a poster from the film. 1 2 event photos by Elisa Haber 3 4

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