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00:00My wife, in 2014, after she gave birth to our first child, she had an infection and she had to
00:05go straight to the hospital.
00:07My son was only taking breast milk at the time, and he was not taking any formula.
00:11So she was in the ICU, and I couldn't get in touch with her, and I couldn't bring the child,
00:16I couldn't bring her baby there.
00:17So I was calling New York City, all around New York City, trying to find someone that could breastfeed my
00:21child.
00:27The first directing gig that you earned your DGA card on. Tell us about that.
00:33So, as many of you know, my whole life I've been a cinematographer. I'm still a cinematographer, I just also
00:38direct now.
00:39But I got a call based on, I had shot a film called Fruitvale Station.
00:47And I was at Indie Spirit Awards, and had like a long, meaningful conversation with a very talented writer-director
00:54named John Ridley,
00:55who had done 12 Years a Slave, and that was why he was in sort of the circuit.
01:00And I got a call, my DP agents got a call from John Ridley and his people saying,
01:05would Rachel ever want to direct?
01:07And basically, he offered me an episode of a show he was doing called American Crime, not to be confused
01:14with American Crime Story.
01:15And it was not something that I had necessarily set out to do, but I am somebody who kind of
01:22always wants to try new things,
01:24and the things that scare me, I try to run towards those things.
01:27And so I was like, I'll try it.
01:30And that's, I got a DGA card to go shoot, or go direct an episode of, or two episodes in
01:35the end of American Crime for John Ridley.
01:37I did a really lucrative Motel 6 commercial that got me my DGA card.
01:43Yeah, I know, it was really, really cool.
01:45I was literally just in Vancouver shooting Anything But Ghost, which is my next movie.
01:51And there was like a split second there where we really thought it wasn't going to work out.
01:56And I can't remember all the details of that, but we were able to get it to be a DGA
02:01film, and thank God.
02:03And I've been in the DGA ever since, which has only been like four months.
02:08I got my DGA card on my first film, Tallulah, which was with Elliot Page and Allison Janney.
02:18And yeah, and I had made a short film that actually went to Cannes and won an award at Cannes.
02:25And I had wrote the feature of Tallulah, and then it took me 10 years to get that movie financed
02:29and made.
02:30So when I finally did get the movie made and got my DGA card, it was a very triumphant moment.
02:36I had a very roundabout route to the first DGA film.
02:40I started out as a scripted film editor and then hung out a shingle and for many years did small
02:46documentaries.
02:47And then one day somebody said, you know, Mark Cuban might be interested in doing a doc on Enron.
02:54And I thought, hmm, that's an interesting idea.
02:56And so I was told to text him very short, keep it no more than three sentences.
03:02And he would either say, and give him a number, and he would either say yes or no.
03:08Three sentences, a number, which turned out to be much too low.
03:11But he said yes, and so I got the gig.
03:14On your latest movies, can you share with us what was the most challenging thing?
03:21Was it in mounting it?
03:22Was it in post?
03:24Was it afterwards, leading up to the release?
03:28If you could share with us a challenge and, yeah, let's start there with love of your line.
03:37My line producer would probably say the greatest challenge was shooting in four countries.
03:42Or actually, it's three countries, four cities, different states, many cities, six cities, which just doesn't get done anymore.
03:50Like, especially at the studio level, there's a real tendency to, like, pick a tax incentive state, shoot some plates,
03:56and shoot everything against green screen or on LED volume.
04:00And I really wanted to shoot things on the ground.
04:03And, like, you know, you need to feel in this film like you've lived a life and you've traveled the
04:08world.
04:08And I didn't feel like I was going to be able to communicate that on a stage.
04:12And I also don't love day in, day out stage work where you just don't even know if it's day
04:17or night outside, all of these things.
04:18But so to be able to do that, you know, especially at the studio, at the run-and-gun level,
04:23it's almost easier when it's a little kind of cohort of five to ten people running around to different cities.
04:29I do that for commercials all the time.
04:31But, you know, features move in a much bigger, you know, studio features in particular.
04:36It's just a bigger pieces to move.
04:38And so I think the biggest challenge for us was to shoot.
04:41And we shot in London, well, all over England, but London, Portugal, New Orleans, and Boston.
04:47Wow.
04:47It's pretty cool.
04:49So the boring answer would be that we had 30 days to shoot and we had, like, five set pieces
04:54of action that we had to do in this film.
04:57And there was all this, like, of course, because Marissa and I were going to do Blade together and then
05:01people found that we're doing this together, that, you know, there was a lot of pressure that we had of,
05:05like, how are we going to actually mount that?
05:07The other answer, I would actually say that in post, there are directors here, I'm guessing, or people that have
05:12a desire to direct.
05:13Yeah, like, great.
05:14So I think what I found really challenging in post was actually getting the right tone across.
05:18There was this incredible editor named Jonathan Oppenheim who died a few years ago.
05:22And what he shared with me that changed my life was the first five minutes of the film, you tell
05:28the audience how to watch the movie.
05:29So you set the rules of what the film are.
05:32And that was a lot of work.
05:34And I think particularly the music.
05:35Our composers were sunlocks.
05:37I don't know if you guys moved with them.
05:38They did everything overall at once.
05:39They're incredible.
05:39And they really brought the score together.
05:42But it took it until the last minute when we were in the mix.
05:44So I would say that.
05:45Spoiler alert.
05:46It is a brutal opening.
05:49The biggest challenge with Ghost, anything but Ghost, was that, and not to steal your thing, but we had a
05:57130-page script.
05:58And we had 26 days to shoot it.
06:02And I was also, I'm starring in it.
06:05So I was directing it.
06:06I'm the lead character.
06:07I have more lines than anyone in the movie.
06:10And also we had 26 days.
06:12And also it was 130 pages.
06:14And Zach Kregor just told me, you have to cut 30 pages.
06:17And I probably should have listened to him.
06:20Well, so did my manager who's back there.
06:21He told me that too.
06:23But I didn't cut a single page because I wanted to shoot all of it.
06:26And the hardest day on Obsession was the easiest day.
06:32Wait, did I just mess that up?
06:34No, yeah.
06:35No, the hardest day on Obsession was literally the easiest day on Ghost.
06:38It was the hardest thing I've ever done.
06:40And we were compromising shots left and right off the shot list, gone.
06:44Just like coverage was going out the windows.
06:46It was crazy.
06:49Yeah.
06:50Well, my movie, Being Human, which was about 100 disabled people storming a federal building in 1977.
07:00And I worked with an entirely disabled cast.
07:04So we had 12 disabled leads, every kind of disability, blind people, deaf people, wheelchair users, all kinds of.
07:13And trying to create an accessible set was like a crazy journey because it's just had never been done before.
07:23So we had 12 disabled leads.
07:24We had about 60 other disabled background, other cast members.
07:31And we had to build our trailers from scratch.
07:34We had to build a hair and makeup trailer from scratch.
07:38We created, like, ramp villages.
07:41And from beginning to end, it was just, there was no map for how to build an accessibility team
07:48and take care of people's bodies while you're making a movie.
07:50And as these guys are saying, like, movie making is brutal.
07:54You destroy yourself.
07:55You destroy your crew because we're directors and we're greedy.
07:58And we want to, you know, get as much as we can.
08:02And it was interesting to be on a movie set where there were these two things.
08:07There was, like, a strong need and desire to keep people safe and take care of people.
08:11And also, I'm a greedy director as well who wants, you know, to get the movie.
08:16And that push and pull was, like, a really incredible experience.
08:21And I think it's kind of cool that we, like, now those trailers exist.
08:26There was one accessible trailer in all of North America.
08:30So when we went to, because they never expect more than one wheelchair user to ever be working
08:35at the same time.
08:37So just to kind of bust open, like, how we make movies was a really wild process.
08:43And to do it while making a movie was kind of shocking.
08:48And, yeah, I landed myself in the hospital for three days with the movie in post because
08:53I was so burned out.
08:54But I'm really proud of the way we did it.
08:58Well, the biggest problem I faced was that nobody wanted to talk to me, either because
09:02they were terrified and the central subject didn't want to talk to me.
09:06In fact, as I asked him for an interview, he responded with a tweet.
09:10And the tweet was, Gibney is a douche.
09:13To which I responded, douche.
09:18But then I had to figure out what to do.
09:20So what we did was we collected everything that he had ever said, either on audio or in
09:25video, and we production designed an avatar for the main interview where we had two angles,
09:34one looking direct to camera, one off to the side.
09:38And then as we edited the film and got it down to length, we then animated the character that
09:46we had created, and it became the avatar Elon, who is now in the movie.
09:56So tell me something.
09:58If you had gotten access to him, how would that have impacted, tell me about how that would
10:05have impacted the project?
10:06Because I think about what you did with Elizabeth Holmes, and that was pretty amazing because
10:11she, I mean, she loved the camera, and she was very-
10:14But I was just lucky because she had, I mean, that was one where I piggybacked off the work
10:20of another director, Errol Morris.
10:22And she had, he had interviewed her extensively for Theranos as a commercial gig.
10:30So I was able to include her that way because we also sat down with her and she wasn't,
10:34she didn't want to be, she didn't want to be interviewed.
10:36I've been lucky on other films and people sit down and it's a great experience and I
10:40really dig doing interviews.
10:42And with Elon, whether it would have been hostile or not, I think I would have enjoyed it.
10:46Though one of the things I learned over the course of time, and I started this almost
10:51four years ago before he had hitched his wagon to Trump.
10:57But I think even by that time, he had become a character that was starring in a drama that
11:04he was creating. And he keeps repeating the same lines over and over and over again. So
11:08I'm not sure I would have gotten a revelatory interview or something that would have been
11:13truth-seeking. But it certainly would have been interesting and I would have enjoyed it.
11:19The biggest challenge was fear. People were fearful to talk about him. How did you get them,
11:24some of them, to get their guards down?
11:26I think over time, that's just a matter of trust. You speak to them, you talk to them off camera,
11:34over and over and over again. There's no reassuring. I mean, you're talking about the
11:37richest man in the world and particularly I have something critical to say. But in this film in
11:42particular, a number of women really stepped up big who were furious about what he was doing
11:48to the country and the world. And they had personal experience with how the personal was the
11:53political. And so they were the ones who came forward early.
11:56And finding Ashley St. Clair, can you share that with us?
12:00I just reached out to her. I mean, the Wall Street Journal had done a piece about her.
12:03I reached out to her and she really wanted to have a say and she became a kind of a
12:08critical
12:08character because she was a conservative influencer. It was a friend of Charlie Kirk and was at Musk's
12:16side during this whole period when he was essentially bankrolling Trump's political campaign.
12:23So it was great. And she turns out to be a really fearless woman. She was with us at the
12:29Venice Film
12:29Festival.
12:30I'm going to grill you with one more.
12:34Out of all the documentaries you've done, does he scare you the most?
12:39He has more power than anybody. And so he is a scary character. He's also a scary character because
12:47I'm not sure, because I think he's unhinged. And so he has no sense of direction. And when you have
12:54somebody who's that powerful, who has no sense of direction, I mean, there's the expression you think
13:00of, you know, ready, fire, aim. And that's not a good thing when you have so much power as he
13:05does.
13:05So I think he's, we should all be concerned.
13:10I'm going to open it up back to all of you. Another icebreaker question. Boldest decision you
13:17made while you were on the set and the takeaway and what made you happy? Did you rip up your
13:23shot
13:23list for the day? Did you, I don't know, were you happy with one take? Boldest decision while you
13:33were shooting? Obsession was the boldest thing we did. Well, we only had one take for, for the glass,
13:41the window breaking. We only have one take because the other, the other window, the, the art department
13:49was carrying the glass to the, to the car and it shattered in their hands because it's made of
13:54candy, the glass. And then, so, so then the other one like shattered on the way to set. So we
14:00literally
14:00just had one piece of glass. I was like, all right, Andy, you got to ram your head into this
14:04window,
14:05you know? Um, so that was, that was crazy. If that didn't work out, we would have actually been
14:12screwed for the day. And we didn't have the budget to like come back the next day, you know? Yeah.
14:17We had a baby, um, on set for some, a lot of the film, rehearsal's got a baby on his
14:24body and it's a live
14:25baby and why he's searching for breast milk. Um, and, uh, it was, I'm trying to think of a bold
14:31choice that I made on set. And I, and I, and I remember like there were certain scenes where we
14:36would have a mannequin and I just felt the energy would be different. And I was like, no, we're not
14:41going to do a mannequin for this one really important scene. And it's this scene where he
14:45finally finds someone that can nurse the child. And I was like, we're just going to have the live baby
14:48for the entire scene. And there's always this fear that this live baby will start crying at any
14:53moment. So everyone's on pins and needles as well as like, you know, the two actors, Tiffany Boone
14:58and Mahershala. And it was, it was actually, I'm really happy we did that because I think it allowed
15:03for something to feel very real because, you know, man, like, even though it's like they're incredible
15:07actors, there's nothing like a real life baby on set. Can you tell us about your inspiration for the
15:13film? So my, my, my wife in 2014, after she gave birth to our first child,
15:19she had an infection and she had to go straight to the hospital. And my son was only taking breast
15:25milk at the time and he was not taking any formula. So she was in the ICU and I couldn't
15:30get in touch
15:31with her and I couldn't bring the child. I couldn't bring our baby there. So I was calling New York
15:35City, all around New York City, trying to find someone that could breastfeed my child. And people
15:39thought I was prank calling them. They're like, what the fuck is this weirdo on her breast milk? So, so
15:44it took a
15:45week, it took a week for her to finally be okay. And then I remember like taking my son and
15:50her feeding
15:51him finally. And then I held this, like, you know, I just looked at my child, but he was still
15:55upset.
15:56He was still crying a lot. And then I finally just like on the drive on the, like the cab
16:01ride back,
16:01I took the baby out of the car seat and I just held him close to me. And I realized,
16:06oh shit,
16:07he just needs me to be a dad. So that's when I was like, oh, okay, fuck. You try to
16:12run to fill
16:13these shoes that are impossible to fill for a father, right? It's like to be the mother. So,
16:18you know, you just have to learn to be whatever that is that, you know, you have been made. So
16:22I think that's kind of, you know, what the film I wanted to, to make it about.
16:25I, my cinematographer and I did something that probably nobody would dare and probably should not
16:31dare do, which is shoot a three and a half, very important, very emotional dramatic scene
16:37during a sunset. Basically like that 30 minute window between the sun hitting the horizon and
16:44it being black in the sky. And it was, you know, I said to my actors, like, we're, we kind
16:49of want
16:49to go for this. Like, how do you feel? And they were, they were excited about it. And my cinematographer
16:55still says to me, like, I can't believe we did that. But, and you know, if you've seen the trailer,
16:59which just came out two days ago, so I don't know if you have yet, but like there, there are
17:02shots from that scene in the trailer and it's like, you can't, you just, you can't make a
17:07sunset. Like that's, there's nothing like it. And it was the right location and the right
17:12vibe for this scene. And this scene happened to be heavy lifting for both, both sides of
17:17the performance. But because of, I think my background as a cinematographer, I also knew
17:21how to get it fast. Like, and it wasn't a one-er, it was a one-er master and then
17:26like quickly
17:27get coverage, quickly get coverage. Like, and then even I got a great, cause we have
17:31to be greedy as directors. Even when we all thought we, like it was done, it was perfect.
17:35I grabbed the camera, went back for an extreme wide shot. And that's not like the poster.
17:38I mean, that's all in the movie too, but we basically in probably 28 minutes shot, like
17:44five shots and three and a half pages.
17:46Wow. Wow.
17:48Was there a moment where one of your actors was getting coverage and the other wasn't
17:51yet? And they were like, hurry up and let's finish this coverage so we could go to
17:55my coverage. It could have existed in the master with sort of design that way and everything
17:59else became icing. But, and you know, ultimately it's Margaret's film. Like it, she, the heavy
18:05lifting is so much of it is her. Um, so she went first, but yeah, we were, we were very
18:11fortunate that it all worked out. That's awesome. That's hard to do.
18:14There's two moments I'm thinking of. One is that we had this scene where, you know, hundreds
18:19of people storm a federal building and, uh, the lead character, Judy Heumann is, is up
18:25on stage. And she did this as a very impulsive act. Basically everyone thought they were there
18:31for a rally. And she says, we're going inside. And it was sort of January 6th of the liberal
18:37version, I guess, from, um, but we, I didn't talk to the background about what was going
18:45to happen, um, on purpose really, because I wanted people to, I wanted the crowd to have
18:53to follow her. Um, so we had three cameras rolling. We put them in the crowd kind of doc
18:59style and then had Ruth get up on stage and give this very rousing speech and get the crowd
19:05kind of rallied and excited around the speech. And then Ruth just said, we're going inside,
19:11we're going inside as Judy. And she kind of went down and like the, there was a storming
19:16of the building where all the, everyone rolled into the building and then there were stairs
19:23immediately. And I knew that they would encounter the stairs in the building and it's a movie about
19:27wheelchair users and access. And, and so the crowd trying to figure out what to do around
19:33the stairs was just such an exciting, like adrenaline filled moment. And I had a group
19:39of actors who ran out and pulled the ramp off the stage and brought it in and put the ramp
19:44down in the lobby and all these, you know, characters rolled up, but the extras were, were rolling
19:51up this ramp and like people were screaming and crying. And it was these performances from the
19:57extras are amazing actually, because they didn't know it was going to happen. And I think even the
20:04idea that they went inside and it was like, this is where the scene ends for me. And then it
20:09continued.
20:09It was really exciting. It's like a fun, there's adrenaline in that scene that felt real.
20:15Alex, for you during production, was there a fierce decision you had to make? Was there an
20:22interview you had to cut or keep or an arm you had to twist? The only thing I can think
20:29of, because
20:30obviously throughout, um, well, we'd finished the film. Maybe that's the better way of saying we'd
20:35finished the film in, in, uh, 2024, two hour movie. And then Elon hitched his wagon to Trump. And so
20:46we
20:46realized, Oh, we're not finished with the movie. We've got to make it a much bigger. And as it turned
20:51out much longer movies. So that was a, that was a daunting and scary moment, but we did.
20:56So when you get a fit, like, what do you, do you go back for more money then? What do
20:59you do at that
21:00point? You do go back for more money. You don't always get it. And we didn't get it at first.
21:06We
21:06got some of it at first. I would have to say that on this film, HBO is heroic, but our
21:11international
21:11partners were increasingly scared because as you, as everybody knows, big corporations don't like
21:18messing with Mr. Trump. So, um, so it was hard, but, uh, we got there. Tell us about finding Julia
21:25Cox's script. What attracted you to it? I mean, Julia is an incredibly talented writer and part of
21:33what it is is you, I mean, you feel like it was a lived life and, you know, I mean,
21:37even people seeing
21:38the film think that it's real or it was based on a book and all of that was evident in
21:43the script.
21:44I didn't immediately think this is my next film. I immediately thought I have to work with Julia.
21:50Um, and then it got under my skin and I couldn't stop thinking about it. And I think little by
21:56little
21:56was sort of ready to acknowledge how weirdly personal it was for me. And I think that is
22:02something for those of us who don't self-generate or haven't yet, maybe, maybe someday, um, you know,
22:08you're, you're looking for the why, like I read lots of scripts that are amazing, but not necessarily
22:13right. And I think the right for me is, can I be additive to it? Is there something that I,
22:18you know,
22:18do I see something myself in it? And like, I've come to realize it's very personal. And, um,
22:25and so I knew that like, I might be the right filmmaker for it.
22:29Curry. So there's a song called from the, from 1962 called tell her. And one of the first lyrics is,
22:37uh, wait, I had this written down. I know something about love. So I want to ask you,
22:43what do you know about love? Uh, basically, um, tell us about, and I'm sure you've said this. I,
22:52I seriously, I do not know the story of this, the inspiration for obsession, because,
22:57you know, some of the older crowd, they'll go, Oh, it's, it's a modern day fiddle attraction,
23:03but you really tapped into something into the way that men and women interact. And you've sent,
23:11you know, millions of people out of theaters, millions of couples out of theaters arguing
23:16that, no, he did it right. No, she did it right.
23:21Tell us about just how did this, how did you come up with this? And are, are we overanalyzing
23:28this? Was this, was this, tell us about your love? Yeah. Yeah. I, I mean, I had, um, I had
23:35this
23:35idea for a while about obsession, um, as a subject to, to kind of study in, in a movie. Um,
23:43I think it's
23:44really interesting, you know, um, that we as humans can fixate and obsess over something. So,
23:50I mean, that kind of, and that turning into a place of, of danger and horror was, it was a
23:55subject
23:56that was really interesting to me. Um, so I'd already had this idea for a while of maybe a woman
24:02obsessed with a man or a man obsessed with a woman. And I actually hadn't cracked exactly how I
24:06wanted to like figure that out. Um, and then once I figured out the wish element of it, I was
24:12like,
24:12oh my God, my, my obsession idea, I could make it like a wish gone wrong thing. And then I
24:16just
24:17kind of started to discover that like when I watched some of these wish gone wrong movies,
24:21nobody really like talked about, um, how uncomfortable it is that some of these wishes,
24:29like, um, what would it actually be like if, if you, if you wished for someone to love you back
24:34with,
24:34would it, would it be them actually loving you or, or would it be an entity that, that loves you
24:39or,
24:39and what does that actually look like and how does a person respond to that? And that was something I
24:44was interested in and kind of studying and figuring out. So it was almost like I was like figuring it
24:49out as I was writing it, you know, but I did, I think I've been surprised that I knew that
24:55there
24:55was going to be parts that were relatable because I always told Indy to play it like a real person
24:59and not to like play into this like possessed demon, but to just play it as like, um, a jealous
25:05girlfriend. Right. And so I knew that there was going to be like the scene where she's in the
25:10shower and he's like, Hey, I'm going to Ian's thing tonight. And she freaks out. Like everyone
25:15tells me that that's like this, like, Oh my God, that happens to me all the time.
25:20I knew that was going to happen. So sometimes people were like, dude, this is just like my
25:26girlfriend. I'm like, which part they're like the whole movie. I'm like, nah, that's weird.
25:29Um, that's too much. Uh, yeah. So, so I didn't expect people to relate to it that much. You
25:35really shouldn't write to it that much, but yeah. Anyway, Sean, tell us about,
25:45tell us about pitching Judy human so that you could tell her story, how it all started for you.
25:53Rachel and I were on a soccer team when we were eight together. Also on that team was my childhood
26:00friend, Mara Bresnihan, who was, uh, the accessibility coordinator for crip camp when it was at Sundance.
26:07And she reached out to me when she was at Sundance and she's like texted and said, I'm with the
26:13most
26:13amazing woman right now. This woman, Judy human. She's such a bad-ass. Someone has to make a movie
26:18about her. And I think it should be you. And I didn't know about Judy. I didn't know about the
26:25story. Um, probably a month later I watched crip camp and I was like, holy shit. Hey, this movie is
26:30amazing. I don't know if you guys have seen that doc, but, um, but also Judy is amazing in the
26:36movie.
26:36Like she's in the cafeteria at summer camp and she's talking about lasagna, but she's talking about
26:41lasagna. Like she's like conducting a Senate hearing. She's like, what are we having for dinner tonight?
26:46You know, and you're like, you're, who are you? Like, she was just very exciting to me as a
26:50character. And I, uh, went out and, and it's about this protest crip camp. It's about Camp
26:56Janette when they were young, which was a camp for disabled people. And then sort of how it spawned
27:00this whole group of activists that went on to storm this federal building. Um, and I read Judy's
27:06memoir and I was like three quarters of the way through the memoir and I was on the section about
27:11the 504 sit-in and I was like, I want to do dog day afternoon with disabled people.
27:16And so I was like, I'm going to email this woman. And I tracked down her email through a friend
27:23and
27:23I sent her a cold email and I said, Hey, I just like, I just had just made Coda, but
27:28it hadn't
27:28come out in the world yet. And I said, I, the story is amazing. I don't know how nobody's made
27:34this movie before, but if you ever want to make a movie about your life, I'd love to be the
27:38one to
27:38tell it. And I'm like, I don't know if I'll ever hear back from her. And like 20 minutes later,
27:43I got this email back. That's like, I am making a movie about my life and I'm making
27:46a filmmaker decision in the next 24 hours. And you can be in the running if you can meet
27:51with me at five o'clock today. So I hadn't even finished her book. So I like sat down in
27:57a chair and like speed read the rest of her book and got on a zoom with Judy and she
28:03just
28:04was, she's the coolest woman. She passed away two years into us working together. So she's
28:09not here to see the movie come out. But I just, I, I loved her immediately. I think she,
28:17I explained to her the way I made Coda and working with deaf actors and what I felt like
28:23the specificity that working with an authentically disabled cast brought to the, to the roles. And,
28:28and I was like, if I made this movie, I would want to make it, you know, with disabled actors.
28:33And she was like, I was hoping you would say that. And that's what needs to happen. And,
28:36and so I don't know, here we are.
28:39One more, how you found Ruth.
28:43Ruth Madeley, who's the lead of my film. I mean, we, I knew I didn't have a movie if I
28:47didn't have
28:47Judy and Judy was the most specific character. She was like this Brooke, she had this Brooklyn
28:52Jewish, you know, accent. And she had like, she was really tiny and, but like this totally
29:00forceful presence and very blunt and very funny. And, and I was like, you know, on Coda, I knew
29:06that there was an acting community in the deaf community. I, I had seen deaf West was an amazing
29:11theater. I knew that there were actors, but in terms of like how many wheelchair using actresses
29:17there were out there. And also I was casting real people. So it wasn't like I had the freedom
29:22to just go like, I'll find just talented actors and put them in. It was like, I got to find
29:28Hale Zoukis who has cerebral palsy and communicates with a letter board and has a speech disability,
29:35but also was like wildly funny and mischievous. And so I was, my casting directors, like it was,
29:42everyone was a unicorn and they went and found me. I was like, I need a black blind 19 year
29:49old who can
29:50sing, who's like super optimistic and fun. And they found me Charlie Rush Reese, like, and he came,
29:56he'd never acted before. So I had a lot of non-actors in the movie. Um, Ruth was an act,
30:03you know,
30:03she's a BAFTA nominated actress. And I, my deck designer, I was building a pitch deck to try to
30:10sell Apple. I'd written the script, but Apple was very trepidatious at first about the movie.
30:16And I was making a deck to be like, you guys, look how fun this is going to be. And
30:21I was working
30:22with a deck designer to design it. And he was like, do you, this, this character really reminds me of
30:27this actress, Ruth Madeley. And I'm like, who is that? And she's like, she's this British actress
30:32that I didn't know. And so my, my image deck designer, like, like told me about Ruth. And,
30:39uh, but I, I auditioned probably every wheelchair using actress in, in the country or world.
30:48Before we go, can you share with us, each of you share with us what you're working on next?
30:53I'm still trying to figure it out. So I will defer to these guys. Maybe somebody knows what they're
30:57doing next. Uh, yeah, I've, uh, I've written the film and, um, you know, so figuring it out. Yeah.
31:05Keep, keep it quiet. But I love New York, you know, it's Mamdanistan right now. Yes. And, uh, you know,
31:13so the, the goal is to make our next film in New York. Uh, well, I guess everyone knows about
31:18anything
31:18but ghosts. And then after that, I have a, another film set up at universal and I'm, and nothing is
31:25public.
31:25So I will also will not say, is it a Western? No, no, it's not. I am in prep right
31:34now. Actually. Um,
31:35I'm directing a movie based on a book called tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow. Um, and so we,
31:42we start like our official prep top of October and shoot in January. Alex, I'm actually, I am actually
31:51working on a scripted project that I'll shoot next year in Australia. Uh, it's called two wolves and
31:56it's a war movie. It's kind of about how no good deed goes unpunished. Ladies and gentlemen,
32:03let's thank our guests. Rachel Morrison. It's time to read Curry Barker, Sean Hader, Alex Gibney.
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