Age of The Nerd
Around this time every year, we always get a really cool Q&A discussion from the Director’s Guild of America awards that highlights the year’s nominees. Indeed, this years ceremony saw an amazing line-up of directors vying for the top prize that includes director Guillermo del Toro (‘The Shape of Water‘), Greta Gerwig (‘Lady Bird‘), Martin McDonagh (‘Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri‘), Christopher Nolan (‘Dunkirk‘), and Jordan Peele (‘Get Out‘). Although Del Toro ended up taking the top prize for the night (you can watch his acceptance speech below), all of the nominees gathered for the annual Q&A and “meet the nominees symposium”.
This year’s Q&A in particular marks the first time that all of the nominees for the DGA’s Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Feature Film Award have also been the screenwriters for each of their respective films. In the chat, which was moderated by Jeremy Kagan, all five nominees take us through their process of crafting each of the films that they’ve been nominated for. Kagan covers topics from writing, to casting, approach, dramatic intent of a scene, along with how they work with actors. It’s truly a great look into the mode of thinking for each director.
What’s great here is how each of the participants directorial approaches differ, and where they ultimately align. One of my favorite little details that each director shares is where they end up finding themselves during a take on set. You’ll notice that both Del Toro and Nolan’s answer with pretty much the same response by sticking close to camera, McDonagh and Gerwig seem to stick close to the monitor (video village), and Peele seems to do a little bit of both. This is not to say that one particular directorial approach is better than the other, but Nolan and Del Toro’s films always feel personal, and this is just one of the many ways that they convey that feeling on set.
[su_youtube url=”https://youtu.be/FNAFHMyXBNA”] [su_youtube url=”https://youtu.be/bSk6RldtEns”]
