Tumgik
#directing
leighlew3 · 2 months
Text
Greta Gerwig made a film that was critically acclaimed, culturally impactful, hilarious, unique, visually exceptional, perfectly cast and acted, left people laughing, crying and thinking AND made a billion dollars at the box office.
But no Best Director nom?!
3K notes · View notes
one-time-i-dreamt · 28 days
Text
I’m a first time director and it has been a bit stressful, it became more stressful when I did a head count of my cast (11 actors) and looked to see most of my cast gone, replaced by one large mime and a group of tiny, singing clowns.
242 notes · View notes
thestarlightforge · 4 months
Text
TBOSAS Meta
This started as a couple-paragraphs-long Everlark & Coryo x Lucy Gray rant. It turned into an essay on the politics of systemic oppression and how we illustrate it in fiction, with The Hunger Games and Ballad as case studies. Regardless, I hope others enjoy, lol. This is where my brain lives, now, as I expect it will the rest of 2023. Cheers!
***
It’s been interesting, the last few days, some of the discourse that’s popped up around TBOSAS. FASCINATING political discussions, as I’ve come to expect for a Suzanne Collins release. (#1 in my heart.)
Personally, I always separate books vs. movie canon with her franchise. With the OG Hunger Games, sometimes I felt the films were better—like she got another pass at it and REALLY took advantage, and utilized the hell out of taking it out of Katniss’s first-person POV to develop other characters and the world (still without detracting from her narrative)—while for some details, I preferred the books.
With TBOSAS, though, the book and movie feel almost entirely different to me.
There are MANY shared elements, of course, and I feel either version gels quite nicely with the OG franchise. It’s not even that there’s that many continuity differences—some things cut or altered for time, sure, but the bones of the plot are the same. Both illustrate astute political commentary, Coriolanus’s descent into madness, Tigris’s shift in position on him (foreshadowing her full turn by Mockingjay), and Lucy Gray’s role in his life in both his initial downfall and his defeat by Katniss. The actors and creative team all did BEAUTIFUL work bringing it to life, and I honestly love both versions.
But fans who mainly like the book may be frustrated by the sympathy Coryo garners in the film.
Normally, I’d say this is because the book reveals more internal monologue—and it does. But honestly, one of the things I was most impressed by in this film was how legible the actors’ internal monologues were. It was clear, the amount of work they all did to that end. So I don’t know that it is just more. I think it’s also different.
Book Coriolanus devolves much earlier and more obviously. He starts from the same pressed circumstances and has moments of goodness, but he becomes the villain we know him eventually to be pretty damn fast.
Film-Coriolanus has a much slower descent. Ironic, honestly, given the film has far less time than the book does.
I think as a result of this, I’ve seen discourse comparing beats in his relationship with Lucy Gray to Katniss and Peeta. For example, that beautifully shot/choreographed/performed scene in TBOSAS with him and Lucy Gray on either side of the fence after the bombings that night, where they almost kiss and he asks her, “Is this real? If I’m going to risk everything?” being compared to Peeta’s long game of “real or not real” throughout Mockingjay. Everlark folks (rightfully) pointing out that for Peeta, the refrain is about shared trauma, especially between him and Katniss, and both of them grounding their relationship in mutual trust—while asserting that for Coryo, the same refrain comes from a place of selfishness.
I get where this opinion comes from: President Snow is probably one of the most violent, sadistic, genocidal dictators in modern popular fiction. His relationship with Lucy Gray started as transactional—even more acutely in the book. Nearly everything Book-Coryo does is for his or his family’s personal gain.
But to me, half the beauty and tragedy of the film is this delicious possibility—the hope—they showed us.
THG has always had a strong anti-war philosophy in general, with through-line commentary on showmanship, propaganda, surveillance and performance: The recurrent themes of cameras always bring on them, the arenas and entirety of Panem being a stage/game—and how those things impact authentic human relationships. Everlark hit for so many because of the ways authenticity bloomed out of that hellish, contrived pit. Coriolanus and Lucy Gray’s relationship started out similarly contrived: Thrown together by the politics of the Academy, the uprising, the districts, the Capitol and the Games—helping one another survive. Largely unlike Katniss and Peeta, they both played the game intentionally, to varying degrees. (Personality wise, these four really have almost nothing in common, lol.) Lucy Gray is a good person, both in the end and from her start (unlike the terrorist Coriolanus becomes). But she is a performer. He’s right about that.
So honestly, I don’t see much purpose in reading Peeta’s question as valid while Coryo’s wasn’t. I think that judgment is colored by dramatic irony—us knowing who they each become. But in theatre, we talk about living honestly in imagined circumstances. It’s used in a lot of acting techniques, but particularly for people playing villains. To stay grounded in the truth of it, you have to believe honestly in the imagined moment, not the gestalt; Leslie Odom Jr. was a great Aaron Burr because every performance, he believed in the whole journey, from hope to ruin. Tom Blythe was a great Coryo because he invested in the earnest reality of Snow as a young man, not the devil we know he becomes. And at that point in the story, at the cages that night with Lucy Gray, Coriolanus was honestly grounded in similar struggles as our OG heroes: Trying to provide for and protect his starving family. His family (and the Capitol at large) reeks of privilege, and his prejudices were obviously flawed. But in his developing love for her, he was steeped in starvation, the same political forces as lashed all citizens of Panem, and was clawing his way from beneath just as much Capitol propaganda as people from the Districts—perhaps even more so, given his Grandma’am and how his father died. Because of their given circumstances, politics bled into everything—but eventually, so did feeling, and they had several moments of genuine bonding, trust and connection which the actors invested in beyond their political need for each other. There’s a constant push and pull: Holding hands at the zoo for the cameras was political; her reaching for his hand in the arena visit was less so. The first “Stop treating me like I’ve already lost” in front of everyone was wit-soaked survival, while “Please don’t let me die in that arena tomorrow,” near-whispered and with hands held between them where the camera would struggle to see, bled into real vulnerability. Saving him from the other tributes in the cage-ride to the zoo was about survival; risking her life to go back for him when the arena was bombed was at least a mix. Her motivations for singing in her interview are complex—perhaps guilt that a “rebel” attack nearly killed Coriolanus, his advice she’d get the most money that way—but I feel strongly that a non-zero amount of her was motivated by wanting to demonstrate that she trusts him, which for her is even higher-prized than love. And I also feel that, after the hospital and her “final performance”—leading up to their near-kiss at the zoo—Coriolanus scoped out the arena (and ultimately took all those risks to help her cheat the Games) both because he wanted the Plinth prize, in theory, and because he increasingly desperately wanted her to live.
The waters between them were thoroughly, legitimately muddied—which I believe was intentional, that constant tension between authenticity and politics. And as much as he was falling for her, Coriolanus saw that Lucy Gray was just as clever and good at crowd-work as he was—maybe better.
So to circle all the way back to this Everlark comparison: Given the absurdly multilayered situation, is it really that selfish or unreasonable he would check in with her during that moment through the fence? That this child—wrapped in oppressive patriarchy, violence, starvation and propaganda—would ask for reassurance before he was willing to be vulnerable, or to potentially risk his family’s lives?
Some artists are hesitant to engage with the humanity of “villains,” their origins, because they feel humanizing them excuses them. In real life, I get this: Second chances aren’t always the answer, and people need to be held accountable. But isn’t it more powerful storytelling to demonstrate the corrosive nature of all systems of oppression in our fiction, to show how they can corrupt even those who try, than to condemn people before they’ve even had a chance? Isn’t the beauty of Lucy Gray’s whole thing that everyone starts out good, and it’s our job to choose to stay on the right side of that line?
And when President Coriolanus Snow finally chokes on his last rose, wouldn’t it be a more satisfying victory if we imagined him as a real-feeling person—full owner of sixty years of horrifying choices—rather than a cartoonishly evil cardboard cutout?
Book-Coryo has a more obviously manipulative/evil streak, much earlier on. To make it plain: He’s an ass, and his “love” for her reads more like obsession. But my favorite aspect of the film (and I feel one of the most compelling) was how it illustrated that these systems of oppression can make tragedies of almost anyone: All but those at the very, very top. Suzanne’s anti-capitalist politicking—how classism turns everyone below the 1% against each other, where the “upper middle class” (doctors/lawyers/actors) is vilified to the poor as a red herring while a handful of robber-baron CEOs amass almost all wealth on the planet—strikes again. She, Francis Lawrence, the film’s creative team and these actors came together to put tragically human faces on that struggle—how hard it is to stay a good person amidst intense, violent, systemic oppression.
But none of that sings quite as true if you go into it having decided that Coriolanus was evil in his bones. The stakes are so much higher, richer, otherwise. If his love—for Tigris, for his family, for Sejanus, and yes, for Lucy Gray—was, or became, authentic.
It’s not a descent into madness if he’s already mad. Or, as he put it in the original Hunger Games film: “Hope. It is the only thing stronger than fear.”
296 notes · View notes
Text
Anyone else notice the zoom in close up shots are almost exclusively on Hazel? It’s just a cool shot every time! I mean, it’s Ruby, so duh. Lol
I couldn’t find a good gif of the zoom in shot with Hazel saying “Oh now you want a bomb.” and don’t have time to make one so if anyone has that zoom in shot, feel free to add it and reblog. 🥰
Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media
191 notes · View notes
cunla · 2 months
Text
Tumblr media
fan | stay (2024)
dir. cúnla ní bhraonáin morris
i directed and wrote “fan”, a short film in irish which is about a woman who keeps going on bad dates with men, and her best friend whose advice is to date women instead. we are now in post-production so watch this space!
85 notes · View notes
heartshapedbox77 · 2 years
Text
Tumblr media
james spader and maggie gyllenhaaul behind the scenes of secretary (2002)
3K notes · View notes
Tumblr media
Rising from the grave to ask #Dracula Daily #Re Dracula:
Are any of you fellow Dracula fans also producers, film crew, etc. like me?
I'm writing a Dracula adaptation that, slowly but surely, I will direct as my feature film debut - and I can't stand the idea of being the only "Totally Normal About Paprika Hendl" Dracula fan on set.
Would love to get to know fellow Dracula fan filmmakers on here - and hopefully make a Dracula feature film together that finally does the book (and the fandom) justice!
82 notes · View notes
jackmustcry · 3 months
Text
Stanley Kubrick count your fucking days
75 notes · View notes
maxwellatoms · 11 months
Text
I don’t know why more people aren’t watching this show, but it’s worth a peek.
This particular episode touches heavily on storyboards and animatics, and while these guys are all talking about feature films, just about everything they’re talking about applies to animation (half of any given superhero film is animation anyway).
Animatics are such an incredible tool that I’m shocked that they aren’t an industry requirement. We literally weren’t allowed to have animatics on Billy & Mandy due to “budgetary restraints”, and since I’d never utilized them before I didn’t realize what I was missing. Now, I basically board right into animatic. If I have a line of dialog for a character, I’ll just temp it in. That way I’m both writing and directing (essentially) at the same time. As I go, I know more-or-less how much time everything is taking, what’s working, and what drags. If I hit ten minutes and I’m still not into Act 3, I know I need to cut something to make room. I can make a version of my movie or show for (essentially) free and share it as a blueprint for others to follow or give feedback on. Why would you NOT do that?
There’s some good stuff in here too about the insane pacing of Television production, the amount of stuff you somehow have to hold in your brain when you’re dealing with all of these moving pieces, and the importance of having a plan for everything. As the director, you’re the only one who is really capable of keeping track of the project from the microscopic to macroscopic scale. Everything from overall tone to the tweak you want to make to line 236 is your responsibility.
I’m not a huge fan of Snyder’s body of work, but Zack Snyder films are Zack Snyder films. His stamp is all over them. The Russos come from a much more Disnified, collaborative background. And lest that sound too noble, the collaboration is all directed toward making a product engineered to be enjoyable. In a very real way, it’s The Auteur vs. The Machine. Listening to this episode, you can tell that no one ever say Zack Snyder down in a room with a bunch of lawyers and research executives to talk about whether or not he was accidentally delivering fascist messages or how many girls aged 8-12 were into Steppenwolf. Whereas that would be Day One at Disney, and every day after would involve some other checks-and-balances meeting, a number of high-level sign-offs, and the upkeep of an intricate company-wide roadmap.
Snyder and the Russos both found themselves making superhero movies for two very different companies in two different very ways. The ways those movies were produced are as much a result of the studio culture as it is the personalities and desires of the directors. As much as Jellystone has reminded me how much I love deep collaboration, methods of production are often not my choice. Depending on the studio, I’ve occasionally felt either overwhelmed by too much “support” or left alone in the woods to die. Neither situation is exactly ideal, but both present their own unique challenges and opportunities. The Machine is efficient, gets things done, and will protect you -- as long as you’re in its good graces. The Auteur is laid bare -- flaws and obsessions on display for anyone to see. Neither Snyder or the Russos go too deep into the studio culture at either studio (oh to be a fly on the wall when the pizza is gone), but is one really superior to the other? Learning to work within the confines of a studio’s culture is a whole different layer on the onion, and I wish they talked about it here.
It’s cool to see that from the simplest cartoon short to the summer blockbuster, the struggles in the entertainment industry are all the same. The pay’s way better on the blockbuster side, though. In case you’re trying to choose.
youtube
175 notes · View notes
thefirsthogokage · 6 months
Text
Since my dream would be to be WGA one day, I am saving this here.
Tumblr media Tumblr media
(video link)
Tumblr media
(video link)
Tumblr media
(video link)
Tumblr media Tumblr media
Edit: John Rogers post actually lead me to that thread:
Tumblr media
Gonna have to look into that book.
55 notes · View notes
Tumblr media
Conversations with Lighting Buddy….had to share, hope you all are doing well! ❤️
191 notes · View notes
blackswaneuroparedux · 10 months
Photo
Tumblr media
Lower your voice, do not use your hands, and look directly at Cary Grant in your scenes with him, look him straight in the eye.
- Alfred Hitchcock
Hitchcock gives simple instructions to Eve Marie Saint during filming for ‘North by Northwest’ (1959).
97 notes · View notes
one-time-i-dreamt · 20 days
Text
They remade Ted and recasted Ted as Will Ferrell but Seth McFarlane was confirmed to still be directing and could still do the voice so everyone got angry until it was confirmed to be Seth’s decision.
187 notes · View notes
yosb · 2 months
Text
Tumblr media Tumblr media
storyboards vs film (you can see the final version directed by lauren crew here)
part 1
29 notes · View notes
Text
It’s no wonder that actors are on strike. Working with a maniacal director can be exhausting as seen in these rehearsal outtakes.
51 notes · View notes
thestarlightforge · 9 months
Text
Watching Hacks, finally, and I noticed a thing in “Tunnel of Love” (S1 E7).
Brief intimacy choreography rant incoming >>>
Ava, who’s bi, tells Deborah:
“I realized that I could connect more emotionally with women, which led to deeper sexual experiences. But sometimes I do still need penetrative sex with a dick to come. But I don't know. Maybe I was just conditioned by the porn that was fed to me by the algorithm, you know?”
- S1 E2, “Primm”
Then, S1 E7 opens with a dream sequence.
First, George—the guy from the casino who Ava had a bizarre, drug-fueled, emotionally intense night & brief hookup with, who then killed himself by jumping out a window the following morning when she went out for coffee—is alive and back in bed with her. They kiss, gently. He initiates, after watching her sleep.
His eyes are open. She smiles, she’s enjoying it—but neither of them say anything, and her eyes stay shut the whole time, only flickering open for half a second before they kiss on the lips and closing again. And it doesn’t start with a kiss on the lips—he kisses her neck first, building up to it.
Then, he pulls back and it’s Deborah in bed with her.
Shortly after they’ve had a drug-fueled, really emotionally intense and engaged weekend away together. After knowing each other a while and all these little moments of vulnerability and bonding, Deborah finally opened up.
They really connected. Emotionally.
So George pulls away and it switches to Deborah—but now, Ava’s awake. Deborah lies propped up on an arm, and both their eyes are wide open.
Tumblr media Tumblr media
Deborah speaks, “Hey,” with a grin. Ava drinks her in, her face lighting up, and she speaks, too: “Hi.”
They kiss on the lips right away, both already invested. And neither pulls away until the housekeeper bleeds into the dream and wakes Ava up.
This—
Maybe Ava isn’t “really attracted to Deborah,” maybe it’s about power or Deborah’s meanness or Ava’s “fucked up sense of intimacy,” etc.
But y’all.
This is what happens when you LISTEN to CHARACTERS. As a DIRECTOR. As an INTIMACY CHOREOGRAPHER. As ACTORS and as WRITERS.
Ava said the thing. And then all those people executed on it, and showed us the thing.
It’s the ✨ATTENTION to DETAIL✨
62 notes · View notes