You know, Cassandro really saves his life.

This character that he creates, this superhero character that he creates, ends up saving him and ends up, you know, not only does he have to learn how to, like, you know, stick up for himself, how to how to love himself.

And he has to, you know, break away from, of course, from his father and from this, you know,

this like sort of feelings of rejection and alienation and abandonment.

But Cassandro starts to save him, you know, but Cassandra could also destroy him. Hello and welcome back to the director's cut, brought to you by the Directors Guild of America.

In this episode, an amateur wrestler gains international stardom in director Roger Ross Williams' biographical sports drama, Cassandro.

The film tells the true story of Saul Armendariz, a gay amateur wrestler who rose to fame

and became an LGBTQ icon after participating in Lucha Libre wrestling matches.

In addition to Cassandro, Williams' other directorial credits include the documentary features, The Apollo, and God Loves Uganda,

episodes of the documentary miniseries, The Supermodels, and the 1619 Project, and episodes of the documentary series, Freedom.

He was nominated for the DGA Award for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Documentary for his 2016 film, Life Animated.

Following a screening of the film at the DGA Theater, New York, William spoke with director D. Rees about filming Cassandro.

Listen on for their spoiler-filled conversation.

Thank you guys for coming out on this rainy, rainy Saturday.

Well, it was a gorgeous film, so they were richly rewarded, so it's a really gorgeous film.

I'll just jump right in because, I mean, there's so much to talk about.

One of the things that really jumped out, first of all, thank you for making this, is the film.

I didn't know I needed, but wow.

Thank you for doing this.

This is a huge honor for me, because I'm a big fan of yours.

Okay, well, best later.

But right away, like, in the opening sequence,

...