In the latest edition of EWsThe Awardistpodcast, its two interviews for the price of one, as we sit down with the filmmakers behind a couple of the years most heralded movies.
First up, EWs Shana Naomi Krochmal and Clarissa Cruz speak withHustlerswriter-directorLorene Scafaria, who fought hard to adapt the screenplay for the film, and then even harder to get to direct it.
For me, writing is always an exercise in empathy, so I was really interested in taking characters in a world that felt misunderstood, and then this crime that took place and where they went, that feels really hard to understand for people I was interested in telling that fuller story, Scafaria says of adapting the screenplay fromNew Yorkmagazines 2015 articleThe Hustlers at Scores: The Ex-Strippers Who Stole From (Mostly) Rich Men and Gave to, Well, Themselves, by Jessica Pressler.
Barbara Nitke/STXfilms; Nick West/A24
Although it was not a foregone conclusion that she would direct the film, Scafaria says she knew her best shot came from being the one to write the screenplay.
I have to tell this story, and if I have any grand designs of directing it, the only way thats gonna happen is by writing it and trying to write my way into the directors chair, which Ive done before, she recalls.
During the interview, Scafaria also talks about working withJennifer Lopez, why theres so little nudity even in the films strip club scenes, and how an introvert such as herself is handling the crush of Hollywood awards campaigning.
Then, Cruz speaks with Lulu Wang, writer-director ofThe Farewell, and Zhao Shuzhen, who plays the films irrepressible Nai Nai.
Wang discusses the negotiations required to make a film that felt as grounded in its Chinese heritage as its American story.
American producers didnt really see it as an American film, they saw it as a my big fat Chinese wedding kind of film, but they wanted the characters to all speak English and not to necessarily set it in China, Wang says.
So then I pitched a Chinese producer thinking, well, maybe its a Chinese film, but the Chinese producer said the main character was too Westernized, her perspective is not a perspective that the Chinese audience would relate to.
Luckily, it all worked out in the end, and Wang shares the lessons she learned from the whole process.
The two also talk about why the movie challenges traditional awards show categorization, and aboutAwkwafinas beautifully restrained lead performance.
Listen to the full discussion below, or onApple Podcasts,Google Play,Stitcher, or wherever you get your podcasts.
Related content:
