The Roses with Jay Roach and Jason Reitman (Ep. 568)

The Director’s Cut - A DGA Podcast

Directors Guild of America

Tv & Film

4.6 • 806 Ratings

🗓️ 4 October 2025

⏱️ 38 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Director Jay Roach discusses his new film, The Roses, with fellow Director Jason Reitman in a Q&A at the DGA theater in Los Angeles. In the conversation, he discusses working with his Actors to find the right balance of dark comedy and drama in the film, collaborating with his spouse and many other musical artists to craft a soundtrack that fit the film’s tone, and how he approached remaking a foreign film for American audiences that may not receive the content in a similar way. The film tells the story of Ivy and Theo, a couple living a seemingly ideal life with a loving marriage, successful careers and great kids. But when Theo’s career nosedives and Ivy’s ambitions take off, a tinderbox of hidden resentment and fierce competition ignites as the reality of their relationship bubbles to the surface. See photos and a summary of this event below: https://www.dga.org/events/2025/november2025/theroses_qna_0925

Transcript

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0:00.0	I always can tell if the tone is going to work, if I enjoy watching the actors when they're not speaking,
0:05.7	to have actors that are that enjoyable to watch all the time and are that good and have proven that in films,
0:12.3	film after film in the past, as tough as they are on each other and as kind of unlikable as so much of their behavior,
0:19.5	I thought the tone that that you felt through them
0:23.4	would give us permission to go pretty dark. And it's definitely the darkest thing I've ever done,
0:28.9	you know, by a long shot. Hello and welcome back to the director's cut, brought to you by the Directors Guild of America.
0:54.0	In this episode, a storm bruise under the facade of a picture-perfect couple
0:58.1	in director Jay Roach's dark comedy, The Roses.
1:02.2	The film tells the story of Ivy and Theo,
1:05.2	a couple living a seemingly ideal life with a loving marriage,
1:08.6	successful careers, and great kids.
1:12.3	But when Theo's career nosedives and Ivy's ambitions take off, a tinderbox of hidden resentment and fierce competition ignites
1:18.2	as the reality of their relationship bubbles to the surface. In addition to the roses, Roach's
1:24.8	other directorial credits include the feature films, Bombshell, Trumbo, Meet the Fawkers, Meet the Parents, the Austin Powers trilogy, and
1:34.3	Mystery Alaska, the Movies for Television, Coastal Elites, and All The Way, and episodes of the
1:40.5	series High Desert. He is a two-time winner at the DGA Award for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Movies for Television and Miniseries for 2008's Recount and 2012's Game Change.
1:53.0	Following a screening of the film at the DGA Theatre in Los Angeles, Roach spoke with director Jason Reitman about filming The Roses.
2:04.6	Listen on for their spoiler-filled conversation.
2:13.6	Why do we have such a hard time talking to each other?
2:16.2	You mean, not you and I?
2:17.0	Humans generally? Yeah.
2:18.3	Well, in relationships, you know, I was just saying, you know, that one of the things that I find
	...

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