Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/760821
DGA QUARTERLY 39 PHOTOS: (FROM LEFT) KERRY HAYES; KAREN BALLARD THE FILMMAKERS FOUND space on a University campus that doubled as a caucus room in the U.S. Senate where a Congressional hearing that forms one of the narrative strands in Miss Sloane was filmed. "It was actually a ter- rific location in many ways, but it was itself quite small," recounts di- rector John Madden. "But the access that we had to it was limited to the room itself and a room at the side barely big enough to get video village in. It forced you into extraordi- nary pretzel-like contor- tions trying to map out the shooting. And other than that, we had to take everything outside the building because there were classes going on in the building we were in, which they wouldn't disrupt." Considering the amount of shooting required, Madden and company were able to accomplish their task in three days. "We had a very, exacting schedule, particularly for Jessica Chastain. It got to a farcical point towards the end of the entire pro- cess where I was in the room with them, we're basically running two or three cameras, and I was simply having to yell out the directions while we were doing it. There sim- ply wasn't time to set it up properly. So I just decided to kind of manage it guer- rilla style at the very end." —BRANDON KYLE GOCO IN MAKING THE UP- COMING Patriots Day, about the 2013 Boston Marathon bombing, direc- tor Peter Berg says the filmmakers had to meet with "families who have lost their children, people who have lost their limbs, police who were still very traumatized." Reactions were initially skeptical, if not completely closed off. The solution was get- ting to know the commu- nity and gaining people's trust. "Once people un- derstood that this was literally a story about love, not a story about violence—a story about a remarkable response to something horrific and how that community came together—they re- ally did open up to us." Adds Berg: "You've got to really take the time to work with the people who are the subjects of your story. Those relation- ships aren't necessarily formed quickly or easily, but if you're patient and your intentions are au- thentic, it can work out very well." —BRANDON KYLE GOCO P R O B L E M S O L V I N G John Madden » The U.K. director discusses working in tight quarters on Miss Sloane. Peter Berg » The director talks about the importance of community trust on Patriots Day. Making Lemons Into Lemonade TWO FILMMAKERS DEAL WITH CHALLENGES HEAD ON "You've got to really take the time to work with the people who are the subjects of your story." — P E T E R B E R G FOCUS