With award season in full swing, coming off of some surprising wins at last night’s Golden Globes, The Hollywood Reporter has released the full video in their award seasons roundtable series. This week focuses on the directors, with Martin Scorsese (“The Irishman”), Greta Gerwig (“Little Women”), Noah Baumbach (“Marriage Story”), Todd Phillips (“Joker“), Fernando Meirelles (“The Two Popes”), and Lulu Wang (“The Farewell”) getting together to discuss a number of topics, including the importance of pre-production, streaming versus theatrical, and *sigh* Scorsese’s comments about Marvel films.
Early in the hour-plus discussion, Phillips brings up the changing model of independent film noting, “There of the filmmakers here, out of six directors, made movies for Netflix. That’s been a giant change.”
Baumbach, who has made two films with Netflix, doesn’t really believe the move to a streamer has changed the overall model that drastically, saying:
“Netflix also had made adjustments. Even as recently as two years ago, there was still no exclusive theatrical run. They would do theatrical, but it was always day-and-date. You know, I’ve never had a movie released wide immediately. It’s always been a rollout – New York, L.A., and then you break wider. And often that’s where there are bigger challenges, because suddenly you are competing for theaters with giant blockbusters. In a sense, Netflix reflects the traditional independent cinema model. You get to play exclusively in theaters and then the wide break is Netflix. It’s a more democratic break for these movies.”
Wang, whose film was released by A24, agrees, but also believes that Netflix caters more to established directors than newcomers, stating:
“But with some of these bigger platforms, it’s about brand. And when you are an established filmmaker, you are a brand that they want to partner with. But with newer filmmakers, newer voices, you don’t have a brand. You need to build that brand. They wouldn’t have the energy to put behind someone like me”
One thing all the directors could agree on, however, was that their distribution decisions ultimately came down to independence, with Meirelles saying, “I am finding good producers. I’m very independent in whatever I want to do, without having to please people because I don’t depend on the [studio system]. It’s a very good thing about being an outsider. And wanting to be an outsider.”
While Phillips, Scorsese, and Meirelles believe editing to be the most enjoyable aspect of directing, Gerwig believes:
“… that movies are made in prep. By the time you are on set, it’s too late. It’s happening. But I find it puts me most in touch with whatever existential situation is our state [of mind], which is that I feel quite vividly that every second you spend doing one thing is a second you don’t spend doing something else. Now that’s true for your entire life, but I feel it most vividly on a film set. It’s also beautiful to have a timed art form”
READ MORE: Taika Waititi, Martin Scorsese & Bong Joon Ho Among 2020 DGA Awards Nominees
When confronted with a moment that has creatively or professionally tested them, Phillips and Baumbach believe that “Joker” and “Marriage Story” were their hardest to shoot, while Scorsese opts for “’Last Temptation’ … It was a nightmare. And I really, really, truly believed in it. And still do. But in a funny way, something happened. About a week before it opened, when I was watching all this stuff go on, I realized the film isn’t even important. It’s not important. It’s about what’s happening now. And it saddened me but made me realize, maybe art is important, but there is something beyond that.”
Be sure to check out the entire roundtable video below, as these filmmakers go on at length about their newest films and their overall process.
