Director Morgan Neville Talks Strangers "Spontaneously Hugging" After 'Won't You Be My Neighbor?' Screenings | Spirit Awards 2019 - video Dailymotion

"People started spontaneously hugging from the first screening on, which doesn’t normally happen," director of the Fred Roger biopic said.

Transcript

00:00So I'm wondering, heading into awards season, do you have any award superstitions,

00:06anything that you like doing before shows?

00:08I'm somebody who doesn't like to talk about it.

00:10I mean, I've been doing it for a while.

00:12I've had, you know, all kinds of crazy experiences on the award trail over the years.

00:17I'm a pessimist who likes to be proven wrong, I think, when it comes to awards.

00:21But I definitely don't ever count on anything.

00:24And this award season has been a long one.

00:30There's tons of screenings, tons of audience screenings.

00:33I'm wondering, have you had a favorite audience interaction or interaction with any viewer that's seen the movie?

00:38I mean, with the film I made, Won't You Be My Neighbor,

00:42people started spontaneously hugging from the first screening on, which doesn't normally happen.

00:48Just in the middle of the movie?

00:49No, at the end of the movie, a stranger said, can I just give you a hug?

00:52And then I even heard reports that even in public screenings, strangers would actually hug each other.

00:58You know, I think that's a good thing.

01:00It sounds like it could be creepy, but I think it's a good thing.

01:03How many hugs do you think you've gotten over this entire award season?

01:06If you could give it a number.

01:07Just shy of an infinite number of hugs.

01:10And then we're here at the Independent Spirit Awards.

01:13Which nominee or guest at this show are you most excited to see?

01:16Or is there anyone that you really want to meet?

01:18Or anyone down the line that you would love to work with?

01:20I love the Independent Spirit Awards.

01:23I've been here many times over the years.

01:25And it's like the best party of the award season.

01:29It has the best drinks.

01:31And it's just loose, which is great.

01:33And also you just get to hang out with other people.

01:35People you admire, people you don't know.

01:37And then, you know, independent filmmaking is known for kind of being hard scrabble.

01:41So I'm wondering, have you ever had to do anything kind of crazy or out of the box in order to get a shot or to get a scene done?

01:49I can only talk about what's legal because I think independent filmmakers will beg, borrow, or steal to get their films made.

01:57And I think I've probably done all three of those things over the years.

02:00It's anything from stealing shots and hiding cameras and, you know, just whatever it takes, whatever it takes.

02:11And it's that kind of spirit that I love about filmmaking, you know, that it's in your own hands when you're an independent filmmaker.

02:18So I love that kind of empowerment and, you know, I can't imagine doing anything else.