Blitz with Steve McQueen and Barry Jenkins (Ep. 495)

The Director’s Cut - A DGA Podcast

Directors Guild of America

Tv & Film

4.6 • 806 Ratings

🗓️ 23 October 2024

⏱️ 35 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Director Steve McQueen discusses his new film, Blitz, with fellow Director Barry Jenkins in a Q&A at the DGA theater in Los Angeles. In the conversation, he discusses portraying the hidden voices of all those affected by the real life London Blitz, casting the lead child actor as a silent vessel for the audience while being a distinctive character, and utilizing music and dancing throughout the film as a way to reclaim humanity in the face of war. The film tells the story of George, a nine-year-old boy who is separated from his mother, Rita, amid the devastation of the London Blitz capital bombings. As George embarks on a journey to find the family he left behind, Rita embarks on her own journey to track down her son. See photos and a summary of this event below: https://dga.org/Events/2024/Dec2024/Blitz_QnA_1024

Transcript

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0:00.0	Very luckily, we found this boy.
0:03.0	I never acted before in his life.
0:04.8	I saw an audition tape of him.
0:06.8	And what was interesting about, Elliot, was his stillness.
0:09.5	He was like a silent movie star.
0:11.5	There was a stillness in him.
0:12.5	And also at a certain point, he reflects you.
0:15.5	You understand what he's thinking.
0:16.9	So he becomes a mirror for you.
0:18.6	And you're seeing it through a child's eyes.
0:20.8	Again, you need someone to transport you back to your childhood.
0:25.1	And Elliot had that.
0:49.3	Yeah. Hello and welcome back to the director's cut, brought to you by the Director's Guild of America.
0:55.0	In this episode, a young boy and his mother search for each other amid the London Blitz,
0:58.0	and director Steve McQueen's war drama, Blitz.
1:04.5	The film tells the story of George, a nine-year-old boy who is separated from his mother, Rita,
1:07.9	amidst the devastation of the London Blitz Capitol bombings.
1:13.4	As George embarks on a journey to find the family he left behind, Rita embarks on her own journey to track down her son.
1:16.5	In addition to Blitz, McQueen's other directorial credits include the feature films,
1:21.4	Hunger, Shame, and Widows, the miniseries Small Acts, the feature documentary Occupied City, and the documentary miniseries Uprising.
1:31.3	He was nominated for the DGA Award for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Feature Film for his 2013 feature, 12 Years a Slave.
1:41.3	Following a screening of the film at the DGA Theatre in Los Angeles, McQueen spoke with director Barry Jenkins about filming Blitz.
	...

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