Hello, and thanks for tuning in to another episode of The Directors' Cut,

brought to you by the Directors Guild of America,

featuring today's top directors sharing behind-the-scenes stories of their latest films

and insights into the craft of directing.

The Directors' Cut is now available on Spotify,

so please take a second to subscribe to our podcast on Spotify, iTunes, or wherever you get your podcasts.

This episode takes us behind the scenes of director Adam McKay's new comedic drama, Vice.

Inspired by true events, the film follows Dick Cheney as he moves from being a Washington insider and a bureaucrat to George W. Bush's Vice President and one of the most powerful

men in the world, creating policies that change the country and world in ways that are still felt today.

In addition to Vice, Mr. McKay's credits include the feature films, Anchorman, The Legend of Ron Burgundy,

Talladega Nights The Ballad of Ricky Bobby, Stepbrothers, and The Other Guys, and episodes of the series Saturday Night Live.

He was nominated for the DGA Award for Outstanding Directorial

Achievement and Feature Film for his 2015 film, The Big Short. Following a recent screening

of the film at the DGA Theater in Los Angeles, Mr. McKay spoke with director Gus Van Sant

about filming Vice. During their conversation, Mr. McKay discusses how improvisation opened up a way

to explore character behavior with the actors, the musical sequence that wound up on the cutting

room floor, and Christian Bale's transformation into Dick Cheney.

When did you start working on this project?

You know, I think Dick Cheney was always a fascinating character to me.

Even when I was back in the 90s at S&L, I always just got the feeling like there's a lot more going on here than I thought.

Back then I threw it off as kind of a comedic premise and didn't really think about it too much.

And then it was really after the big short that a friend of mine that I work with at S&L,

...