The following questions and answers are excerpted from a conversation that followed the NBR screening of The Miseducation of Cameron Post. How did this project start? Desiree Akhavan: I was sent the book and I loved it. I really loved it. I gave it to my girlfriend at the time, who read it and loved it. And, […]
There have been other stories about the cartels and the drug war. Why did you want to tell this particular story?
Denis Villeneuve: For me it’s not a movie about cartels. I don’t think anyone will learn new things about cartels from this film.
What drew you to this material and inspired you to direct the film?
Sian Heder: I came to this because it was originally a studio film, and Lionsgate was looking to do a remake of La famille Bélier, a French film that came out in 2014.
When you’re talking with Cillian about that and how you’re going to essentially be inside of his head for a lot of the film, what do you discuss about him embodying this man?
Christopher Nolan: I think the first and most important conversation was the one where we both agreed that we were not interested in some kind of impersonation.
Is it correct that you had a very small crew, during production? Was that always the plan?
Chris Smith: When we first went out to Robert Downey Jr.’s house in the Hamptons, he said that we couldn’t bring a crew. Which I only found out two days beforehand.
What was the process of making this film?
Meryl Streep: It came together very quickly because Steven Spielberg was making another film with everything ready to go in Italy, except the lead wasn’t cast yet.
Baz, I read that you were not setting out to make a biopic. Tell us a bit about that approach and how that informed the film we saw today?
I love a good biopic as much as anyone, but they tend to be formulaic… someone is born, then this happens, then that happens
Can you each talk about your first impression of the painting that inspired this film?
Mbatha-Raw: I first saw a postcard reproduction of it that I bought in a gift shop.
Was the El Capitan free solo climb always the thing, or were you interested in Alex more generally?
Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi: We were interested in Alex and interested in his process and interested in who he is as a human.