One of the joys of award season for the past few years has been The Hollywood Reporter’s ongoing series of roundtable discussions with Academy Award contenders, ranging from cinematographers to actors to composers. These roundtables always prove to be an insightful watch, getting together many of the leading craftsmen to discuss their art.
This year THR kicks things off with an in-depth talk with some of the most prominent directors on this year’s awards circuit. The director’s roundtable features acclaimed directors Alfonso Cuarón (“Roma”), Bradley Cooper (“A Star is Born”), Ryan Coogler (“Black Panther”), Yorgos Lanthimos (“The Favourite”), Spike Lee (“BlacKkKlansmen”), and Marielle Heller (“Can You Ever Forgive Me?”).
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Beginning the discussion, host Stephen Galloway confronts the political nature of many of the films released this year film. Unsurprisingly, Spike Lee is the first to chime in, noting: “Artists reflect what’s happening in the world or what they want to happen, and the great thing about art is everybody can follow their own vision … If you’re an artist and you make a decision that you’re not going to include politics, that’s a political decision in itself.”
Cuarón, who has been outspoken in my many of his award show speeches, including the Golden Globes and the Critics Choice Awards, concurs, saying, “Everything that we do is going to convey a message, it’s going to convey an ideology, it’s going to convey politics, even if you don’t intend to do that.”
The roundtable doesn’t just dwell in politics, however, as many of the filmmakers discussed previous iterations of their films, as Bradley Cooper talks about Clint Eastwood’s earlier iteration by mentioning: “In fact, I pitched it to him [Eastwood]. He talked to me about doing it before we did ‘American Sniper,’ but I thought I was too young. [Later] it had passed to him, but he said no.” On the previous casting of Beyoncé, Cooper plainly states, “It just didn’t work out.”
Heller, whose film “Can You Ever Forgive Me?” is, unfortunately, not getting near enough award chatter as it should, had a similar experience, as the film was previously set up with Julianne Moore as the lead. As Heller explains: “This particular movie had a different incarnation, which I wasn’t part of, and Melissa McCarthy and I made a pact when we came on board: Let’s never talk about whatever happened before, because clearly there is a reason it fell apart. We want to move forward with good feelings.”
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For Coogler, the move from smaller budget films to the larger Marvel franchise was actually less restrictive, as he says, “The biggest difference [between indie and studio filmmaking] was actually in the lack of the restrictions… What I found made it a lot harder on ‘Black Panther’ was you’re dealing with so many more people. You’ve got to get comfortable directing in a room full of 75, 100 people sometimes … it’s a different ballgame”
The entire hour-long conversation is worth a watch, just to see these filmmakers interact and discuss each other’s films, as well. Check out the full hour-long conversation below: