The Director’s Cut - A DGA Podcast

Director Shira Piven discusses her new film, The Performance, with fellow Director Jade Jenise Dixon in a Q&A at the DGA theater in Los Angeles. In the conversation, she discusses working with her brother as the lead Actor to capture authentic tap dancing performances, making a period piece movie on an independent film budget and mixing 8mm film and real footage from the era to capture a 1930s Berlin time period. The film tells the story of Harold, an accomplished tap dancer touring Europe with his troupe in the late 1930s. When they are scouted by a Nazi attache for an exclusive performance, he realizes they don’t know about his Jewish identity and is faced with the dangerous dilemma of performing in secret or staying true to himself. See photos and a summary of this event below: https://dga.org/Events/2025/February2025/ThePerformance_QnA_1224

Director Barry Jenkins discusses his new film, Mufasa: The Lion King, with fellow Director Ben Affleck in a Q&A at the DGA theater in Los Angeles. In the conversation, he discusses employing the VFX team from the Avatar films to create the world, working with both the Actors and Animators to realize his characters while filming in real time, and reaching out to artists and conservationists from various African countries for real references to the locations in the film. The film tells the story of Mufasa, an orphaned cub who befriends a lion destined as heir to a royal bloodline. The two become allies on a journey of adventure and self discovery as they seek to start a kingdom of their own. See photos and a summary of this event below: https://dga.org/Events/2025/February2025/Mufasa_QnA_1224

Director Tyler Perry discusses his new film, The Six Triple Eight, with fellow Director J.C. Chandor in a Q&A at the DGA theater in New York. In the conversation, he discusses the serendipitous moment when casting Actor Kerry Washington, enlisting Debbie Allen to help choreograph the marching scenes, and shooting at his own film studio which was formerly a military base. Inspired by the real-life story, the film recounts how the 6888th Central Postal Directory Battalion, an all-Black, all-woman unit, joined the war to fix a three-year backlog of undelivered mail for U.S. service members. Aiming to sort more than 17 million pieces of mail to their rightful servicemen, they work tirelessly in the face of discrimination and a country devastated by war. See photos and a summary of this event below: https://dga.org/Events/2025/February2025/SixTripleEight_QnA_1224

Director Robert Eggers discusses his new film, Nosferatu, with fellow Director Chris Columbus in a Q&A at the DGA theater in Los Angeles. In the conversation, he discusses shooting in the real-world castle from the original story as well as channeling his Production Design team to create meticulous replicas of its interior, working with a Romanian folklore expert to bring out specific details that would authenticate the creature, and how he and Actor Bill Skarsgård worked together to find the exact presence that would bring the title creature to life. A remake of the 1922 classic, the film follows Ellen and Thomas Hutter, a young couple in 1860s Germany who contend with Ellen’s continuing nightmares of a ghoulish being. As Ellen is haunted by these dreams, Thomas sets out to Romania on business with a mysterious client- the enigmatic Count Orlok. See photos and a summary of this event below: https://dga.org/Events/2025/February2025/Nosferatu_QnA_1224