Empire of Light with Sam Mendes and Karyn Kusama (Ep. 402)

The Director’s Cut - A DGA Podcast

Directors Guild of America

Tv & Film

4.6 • 848 Ratings

🗓️ 20 January 2023

⏱️ 30 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Director Sam Mendes discusses his new film, Empire of Light, with fellow director Karyn Kusama in a Q&A at the DGA theater in Los Angeles. In the conversation, Mendes speaks about directing (recreating) scenes from his life, making films audiences can connect to, and relaying the cinematic experiences. Set on the South coast of England in the 1980s, the film follows Hilary, a lonely woman who works at a seaside movie palace and is engaged in a boring affair with her married boss, Donald. When Stephen, a young new theater employee arrives on the scene, Hilary senses something kindred in him and they fall into a tenuous romance. Please note: spoilers are included. See photos and a summary of this event below: https://www.dga.org/Events/2023/January2023/EmpireOfLight_QnA_1222.aspx

Transcript

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0:00.0	And part of the attraction of material is that gives me a chance to do something I haven't done before.
0:04.6	And that's why I did Bond, really, just like, well, I wonder if I can do it. Hello and welcome back to the director's cut, brought to you by the Directors Guild of America.
0:32.5	In this episode, a love story develops in a beautiful old cinema and director Sam Mendez's romantic drama,
0:39.6	Empire of Light.
0:41.5	Set on the south coast of England in the 1980s, the film follows Hillary, a lonely woman
0:47.6	who works at a seaside movie palace and is engaged in a boring affair with her married boss, Donald.
0:54.3	When Stephen, a young new theater employee, arrives on the scene,
0:58.4	Hillary senses something kindred in him, and they fall into a tenuous romance.
1:03.6	In addition to Empire of Light, Mendez's other directorial credits include the feature films, Spector,
1:10.7	Skyfall, and Revolutionary
1:12.5	Road.
1:13.7	He won the DGA Award for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Feature Film for his 1999 feature,
1:20.2	American Beauty, and 2019 feature, 1917.
1:25.9	Following a screening of the film at the DGA Theater in Los Angeles, Mendez spoke with director
1:30.8	Karen Kusama about filming Empire of Light. Listen on for their spoiler-filled conversation.
1:42.8	Thank you so much for being here.
1:45.5	And Sam, it is just a thrill to be up here
1:49.0	and able to talk to you about this film.
1:51.0	Perhaps to get started, can you just talk a little bit
1:54.0	about the instinct toward making it?
1:57.5	What was the first kernel or nugget of inspiration well i think the first the first
2:03.4	a bit of inspiration was was you know when i was a kid um i grew up with uh a mom who was struggling
	...

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