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DGA QUARTERLY 5 PHOTO: DAN DOPERALSKI Dear Members: Given Kathryn Bigelow's forceful command of the cinematic language, it might come as a sur- prise to many that moviegoing was not necessar- ily her thing growing up. The subject of our DGA Interview studied art in San Francisco and New York, first as an abstract expressionist painter and then as an aspiring art historian, while her scholarly entry into film was via criticism and not production. But once she got hold of a 16 mm Bolex, she was hooked. Her latest film, Detroit—a microcosmic view of the racially sparked riots in the Motor City 50 years ago—does not shy away from the hot-button issues for which the DGA- and Oscar-winning director has become known. And it became clear while discussing her career as a whole that she's unlikely to back down from her mission statement of tackling social and political topics going forward. Elsewhere in this Quarterly, we examine the logistics and intricacies directors faced on another hot-button project, The Looming Tower, an upcoming series based on the Pulitzer Prize-winning book by Lawrence Wright that traces Al-Qaeda's path to 9/11 and the intel- ligence forces charged with tracking their movements. Also observed within these pages is Jordan Peele's modus operandi on his feature direc- torial debut, Get Out, a critical and box-office sensation that approached the horror genre through the prism of racial anxiety; the transporting chemistry of director Todd Haynes and his DP, Ed Lachman, whose latest collaboration is the upcoming Wonderstruck; and the deceiving difficulty of directing intimate, character-driven dramas that avoid the raz- zle-dazzle of larger-scale theatrical entertainments ("Dysfunction Junction"). For those of you who think sports-oriented commercials are often just as entertaining as the programming they support, we talk to some of the most in-demand directors in that space about working with superstar athletes. And, conversely, with film directors who are charged with coaxing convincingly athletic performances from actors playing famous sports figures. And in the legacy realm, we train our focus on the everlasting impact of one Stanley Kubrick, and why contemporary filmmakers, as well as the culture at large, continue to be influenced by the late master's outsized talent. While Errol Morris, best-known for such hard-hitting documentaries as The Thin Blue Line and The Fog of War, eloquently dissects the power of Douglas Sirk's The Tarnished Angels as part of our Screening Room series. What all the directors featured in this issue have in common, I find, is the desire to engage the viewer in thought-provoking ways, with an acute attention to detail that never falters. Sincerely yours, Steve Chagollan schagollan@dga.org Steve Chagollan Editor in Chief Nancy Duckworth Art Director Jovita Dominguez Photo Researcher Brandon Kyle Goco Becca Nadler Editorial Assistants Tricia Noble Design Associate Carmel Dagan Copy Editor Mike Chapman Assistant Copy Editor Darrell L. Hope Editor, www.dga.org Contributing Writers Robert Abele, John Anderson, Ann Farmer, F.X. Feeney, Rob Feld, David Heuring, Robert Koehler, Chris Morris, Terry Stanley Publications Committee Thomas Schlamme, Chair Michael Apted, John Badham, Paris Barclay, Cameron Crowe, Mark Frost, Pamela Fryman, Randal Kleiser, Donald Petrie, Gene Reynolds, Arlene Sanford, Kevin Sullivan Print Production IngleDodd Media (310) 207-4410 Advertising IngleDodd Media (310) 207-4410 DGA@IngleDodd.com www.IngleDoddMedia.com Editorial Offices 7920 Sunset Blvd., 5th Floor Los Angeles, CA 90046-0907 (310) 289-5333 • Fax (310) 289-2029 dgaquarterly@dga.org Subscription Information (310) 289-5333 NEWSSTAND DISTRIBUTION Curtis Circulation Company (201) 634-7400 DGA Q U A R T E R L Y E D I TO R' S L ETT E R