The Amateur with James Hawes and Sarah Pirozek (Ep. 537)

The Director’s Cut - A DGA Podcast

Directors Guild of America

Tv & Film

4.6 • 806 Ratings

🗓️ 22 April 2025

⏱️ 26 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Director James Hawes discusses his new film, The Amateur, with fellow Director Sarah Pirozek in a Q&A at the DGA theater in New York. In the conversation, he discusses insisting on the protagonist being geeky, clumsy, charming and smart to reflect his novice, utilizing his camera to capture the main character’s degrading perspective as the story unfolds, and how previously working on the show Black Mirror informed aspects of this film. The film tells the story of Charlie Heller, a brilliant CIA decoder whose world comes crashing down after his wife dies in a London terrorist attack. When his supervisors refuse to act due to conflicting internal priorities, he utilizes his intelligence as the ultimate weapon and travels across the globe to hunt down those responsible. See photos and a summary of this event below: https://dga.org/Events/2025/May2025/The-Amateur_QnA_0425

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	There are times, I mean, Rami was very concerned, and he would join me in saying this
0:04.1	were he here now, about being clumsy and not being cool.
0:08.7	Who was this guy who could barely look after the house, who had to be reminded to water the
0:13.7	flowers, who didn't really have a sense of humor?
0:17.0	And he made a pitch constantly for things he felt he could add to the character.
0:21.5	And I would have to counter pitch, part of your charm and your vulnerability and what makes you, his phrase, the underestimated hero, is that we keep that pure.
0:32.8	You're the amateur. Hello. Hello, and welcome back to the Director's Cut, brought to you by the Directors Guild of America.
0:58.3	In this episode, a desk jockey seeks revenge against a group of terrorists
1:02.5	and director James Haas' action spy thriller, The Amateur.
1:07.6	The film tells the story of Charlie Heller, a brilliant CIA decoder whose world comes crashing
1:13.3	down after his wife dies in a London terrorist attack.
1:17.4	When his supervisors refuse to act due to conflicting internal priorities, he utilizes his
1:22.6	intelligence as the ultimate weapon and travels across the globe to hunt down those responsible.
1:28.4	In addition to the amateur, Haas' other directorial credits include the features, One Life,
1:34.4	the Movies for Television, Enid, The Challenger Disaster, and the 39 Steps, and episodes
1:40.1	of Slow Horses, Snowpiercer, Black Mirror, Genius, and Doctor Who.
1:46.9	Following a screening of the film at the DGA Theater in New York,
1:50.9	Haas spoke with director Sarah Pirouzak about filming the amateur.
1:55.8	Listen on for their spoiler-filled conversation.
2:04.6	Well, spoiler-filled conversation. Wow. What a ride that was. It was incredible. Can we get another round of applause?
2:13.6	I was I was blown away.
2:20.5	So please welcome James Hors.
	...

Transcript will be available on the free plan in 20 days. Upgrade to see the full transcript now.

Previous episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Directors Guild of America, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of Directors Guild of America and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.