The History of Sound with Oliver Hermanus and Mike Mills (Ep. 562)

The Director’s Cut - A DGA Podcast

Directors Guild of America

Tv & Film

4.6 • 806 Ratings

🗓️ 16 September 2025

⏱️ 33 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Director Oliver Hermanus discusses his new film, The History of Sound, with fellow Director Mike Mills in a Q&A at the DGA theater in Los Angeles. In the conversation, he discusses working with his Actors to find little character details that speak to bigger aspects of their selves, how he walks his sets early in the days to discover opportunities for shots, and how working on his first American production differed from his past filmmaking experiences. The film tells the story of Lionel and David, who are determined to record the lives, voices and music of American culture in the shadow of World War I. But as they travel the American countryside in search of music, the two find love with one another instead. See photos and a summary of this event below: https://www.dga.org/events/2025/october2025/historyofsound_qna_0925

Transcript

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0:00.0	And so I sort of came into history of sound, sort of wanting to find, make something that was,
0:04.6	that was about the other aspect of relationships, which is the sort of the connection.
0:08.9	For me, the kind of intimate moment is the, is the next morning when Paul's character is going around his apartment and kind of absorbing all of his things.
0:17.5	But it's the moment of sort of falling in love in some ways.
0:20.4	Yeah. It's the, it's the certainty that this is somebody he's not going to be able to move beyond. and I'm Hello, and welcome back to the Directors' Cut, brought to you by the Directors Guild of America.
0:50.1	In this episode, two young men forge a relationship in the early 20th century and director Oliver
0:56.0	Harmonis' romantic period drama, The History of Sound.
1:00.6	The film tells the story of Lionel and David, who are determined to record the lives, voices,
1:06.6	and music of American culture in the shadow of World War I.
1:10.6	But as they travel the American countryside in search of music, the two find love with one
1:15.5	another instead.
1:18.3	In addition to the history of sound, Hermanus's other directorial credits include the feature films,
1:24.1	Living, Moffey, and Shirley Adams, and episodes of the series Mary and George.
1:32.3	Following a screening of the film at the DGA Theater in Los Angeles, Hermanus spoke with
1:37.1	director Mike Mills about filming the history of sound. Listen on for their spoiler-filled conversation.
1:52.0	Thank you. Listen on for their spoiler-filled conversation. Thanks everyone for staying for the Q&A.
1:55.1	Thanks for having me.
1:56.5	Thanks for having me.
1:59.1	Do you want like a big philosophical question first or like a practical one?
2:03.3	I don't mind.
2:04.8	Which one?
2:05.8	We can go philosophy.
	...

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