IndieWire's Filmmaker Toolkit

“The Righteous Gemstones” creator Danny McBride joins IndieWire’s Jim Hemphill to talk about the final season of his hit HBO comedy about a dysfunctional family of televangelists. McBride discusses balancing comedy and emotion, casting Bradley Cooper in the offbeat season premier, and much more in this wide-ranging conversation. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Directing 'April' put director Dea Kulumbegashvili and her team into hot water with the Gerogian Government. Dea joined IndieWire's Chris O'Falt to talk through the ways she tackled controversial topics like abortion in her film, and how catching parts of 'First Blood' on TV during rare electricity surges hooked her on cinema. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Cassian Andor himself sat down with IndieWire's Sarah Schachat to break down what goes into making the most detailed Star Wars project yet. Diego opens up about his role keeping the vision on track as an actor/producer, and how the structure of Andor's production allows for so much detail. Watch this entire conversation on IndieWire's Youtube page: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YPSFHS75XyM&ab_channel=IndieWire Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

David Cronenberg' is one of our greatest living filmmakers, and not just because he made so many classic films in the 70s and 80s. His recent work is frighteningly modern, grappling with phones and AI and how they intersect with the body. Listen to hear Cronenberg break down how this film was inspired by losing his wife, and what the film taught him about grief. You can watch this conversation on IndieWire's Youtube page: https://youtu.be/oWRY3tCX17Y Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

After the success of Black Panther and Creed, some in the industry wondered why Ryan Coogler's next film, his first completely original story, was a vampire movie. But once you hear how Coogler infused the film with the blues, Mississippi folklore, and his own family history, you will understand why 'Sinners' is far more than just a vampire story. You can watch this conversation on YouTube: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PL_oEavFHbDlFCGlOmGO71Tvzb1qEHofCg&si=9pUCNArDCxcyrX2b Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Director Christopher Landon joins IndieWire features writer Jim Hemphill to talk about his latest film, “Drop.” A thriller set almost entirely in one location, relying heavily on cell phones, “Drop” created a number of logistical and aesthetic challenges for Landon, all of which he breaks down in this conversation. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On this episode IndieWire’s Jim Hemphill is joined by veteran television director Bethany Rooney, who talks about a career that began on “St. Elsewhere” in the 1980s and continues to the present day on shows like “Tracker” and “Criminal Minds.” Rooney takes the listener through the nuts and bolts of every facet of TV directing, explaining the similarities between TV and features and the very real differences. Watch full director interviews on our Toolkit YouTube playlist: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PL_oEavFHbDlFCGlOmGO71Tvzb1qEHofCg&si=w5vAKxoVhhhSZLwT Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

We're debuting a new series on the Toolkit feed; a look into some of the challenges and opportunities facing independent filmmakers in 2025. First up, we sit down with veteran producer Alex Saks, to dig into why even our most successful independent filmmakers are struggling to make a living right now. If directors like Sean Baker and Brady Corbet can work with the best indie studios, get great reviews, win awards, and STILL can't make rent, what does that mean for indie filmmaking as a whole? Watch the entire interview here: https://youtu.be/KTMP36_o-sk Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This impressive indie film documents the groundbreaking work of physician and co-founder of Ronald McDonald House Charities, Dr. Audrey Evans. Director Ami Canaan Mann joins IndieWire's Sarah Shachat to discuss illuminating this incredible woman's life, and share how she made such a handsome looking feature on a truly indie budget (it involves an abandoned hospital!) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

“The Actor” director Duke Johnson stops by Toolkit to talk with IndieWire’s Jim Hemphill about making his live-action feature debut after making a name for himself in the world of stop-motion animation. Topics include the challenges of adaptation, why he cast actors in multiple roles, and how he made the most of a budget and schedule that fell far short of his ambitions. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

“Novocaine” directors Dan Berk and Robert Olsen join IndieWire’s Jim Hemphill to talk about their new action-comedy, which merges the influence of 1980s hits like “Die Hard” and “Lethal Weapon” with the story of a new kind of action hero. Berk and Olsen discuss how they made the most of a modest budget, why Cape Town, South Africa doubled for San Diego, and much more. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Korean only version begins at: 23:01 We are thrilled to welcome back Oscar winning director of Parasite, Bong Joon Ho. His new movie takes place in a world where human printing exists (memories and all), and follows a man who agrees to be killed again for science. Director Bong reveals the pandemic-inspired origins of the film, what it was like working with Robert Pattinson and Mark Ruffalo, and more. You can watch the full conversation on IndieWire's Youtube page: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PL_oEavFHbDlFCGlOmGO71Tvzb1qEHofCg&si=GIs_qajyGCSlhXvu Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

So what makes a great hangout film like “Dazed & Confused” or “American Graffiti”? That’s what IndieWire’s Chris O’Falt asks director Carson Lund, a student of the sub-genre and who just made a great one with his baseball film “Eephus,” the story of two recreational baseball teams, up in small town New England, playing their last game on their beloved field before it gets torn down. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

'Compensation' is an underdiscussed classic that follows two young black couples, one of whom is deaf, played by the same actors in two time periods, facing two different pandemics. In making the movie in the 90s, and discussing it now, Zeinabu is brilliant at capturing the complexities and patterns of black lives. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

'Universal Language' is a charming, deceptively deep indie film about a town that is somehow both Winnipeg, Canada and Tehran, Iran, and the lives of its citizens. Director Mathew Rankin sat down with IndieWire craft writer Sarah Shachat to discuss what it takes to live in community, finding his family on set, and of course filming with live turkeys. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Director Coralie Fargeat tells IndieWire how the films of David Lynch, Stanley Kubrick, the Coen Brothers, David Cronenberg, John Carpenter and Darren Aronofsky inspired her Oscar nominated body horror classic. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This powerful documentary, produced and directed by Shiori Itō, documents her own sexual assault and the investigation in Japan. Itō kindly shares her personal experiences documenting her own legal case, and describes the challenges of post production when she is the subject as well as filmmaker. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Oscar nominated director of one of the splashiest films of the year joins IndieWire's Chris O'Falt to dive into her ideas about self hatred, body image, Hollywood, and how she represented it all in her body-horror extravaganza. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The director of the most celebrated animated film of the year sat down with IndieWire's Sarah Shachat to share how he made this charming and powerful film on a micro-indie budget. You can watch the full intrerview with Glints at Youtube.com/IndieWire. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The new movie "Companion" is part horror, part rom-com, part heist flick, and a whole lot more. First time writer/director Drew Hancock joined IndieWire's features writer Jim Hemphill for a deep dive into his filmmaking process. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Horror filmmaker Leigh Whannell joins IndieWire features writer Jim Hemphill to talk about “Wolf Man,” his latest collaboration with Universal and Blumhouse. Like Whannell’s “The Invisible Man,” “Wolf Man” reinvents a classic Universal monster in an entirely new and original way. Whannell talks about the differences between “Wolf Man” and “Invisible Man,” the influence of David Cronenberg, and how living through COVID informed his writing and directing process. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The "Bodies, Bodies, Bodies" director is back with her Nicole Kidman starring sexual thriller about a high powered CEO who explores her submissive kink through an affair with a much younger intern. Halina shares her very specific vision for the film, and breaks down how she used her experiences as an actor to bring authenticity and craft to the sex scenes. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Academy Award-winning editor William Goldenberg stops by the podcast to talk with IndieWire features writer Jim Hemphill about his directorial debut “Unstoppable.” “Unstoppable”tells the true story of Anthony Robles, a wrestler who was born without a leg yet went on to become an NCAA champion. Goldenberg talks about his process casting, shooting, and cutting the film, which is now streaming on Amazon Prime Video. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Director Peter Berg joins IndieWire features writer Jim Hemphill to discuss his epic new Netflix series “American Primeval,” a Western about the bloody battles that erupted in 1850s Utah between Mormons, immigrant settlers, indigenous tribes and faithless opportunists out to make a buck. Berg talks about creating the series’ visceral action sequences, relying on advisers and rigorous research to provide a sense of journalistic detail, and why he’s optimistic about the future of America in spite of his brutal vision of its past. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

'Sing Sing' tells the real life story of men imprisoned at the infamous prison in upstate New York, and the Rehabilitation Through the Arts program that helped the men find their voice, dignity, and hope. Director Greg Kwedar sat down with IndieWire to discuss developing this sensitive story for the screen, and directing a cast of mostly formerly incarcerated men who understood the story better than he did. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Payal Kapadia is one of the most exciting up and coming filmmakers we have right now, and she sat down with IndieWire's Chris O'Falt in studio to discuss her new film that is one of the year's best. Listen in to learn a lot about Mumbai, filmmaking in India, and what how Kapadia's work in documentary informs her style; a blend of fiction and non-fiction filmmaking. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

IndieWire features writer Jim Hemphill sits down with writer and director James Mangold to talk about his return to the musical bio-pic with his Bob Dylan film “A Complete Unknown.” The interview covers what Mangold learned about making musicals from “Walk the Line,” what he learned about directing actors from Robert De Niro on “Copland,” and why recording actors live instead of lip-syncing is the only way to go. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Succumb to the darkness with us as we sit down with one of our favorite directors to discuss his provocative vampire movie 'Nosferatu.' Eggers discusses the intense physical performance from Lily-Rose Depp, his trademark meticulous period reconstruction, and what it meant to complete this remake he has beed dreaming about for decades. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The director of this summers box office sensation joined IndieWire features writer Jim Hemphill to discuss the anxieties and joys of making a sequel to the beloved 2015 film, what Mann learned from his teen girl advisory board, and how his film evolved from script to screen. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

How did director Brady Corbet and his team make one of the most epic-feeling movies of the year for less than 10 million dollars? Listen in to our conversation with him to learn the filmmaking tricks they used to tighten the budget, and hear him discuss what the Brutalist Architecture in 'The Brutalist' really means. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

At our inaugural Future of Filmmaking summit this November, IndieWire's Chris O'Falt hosted a fascinating discussion on performance capture filmmaking, featuring the director, VFX supervisor, and a lead actor from "Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes." Listen in to hear how the team on these films is pushing performance capture technology forward, and what it was like for the actors in "Ape Camp." Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

"Nickel Boys" is not only one of the best films of the year, but also one of the most experimental and challenging we've seen in a long while. IndieWire's Chris O'Falt sat down with Director RaMell Ross to explore why this story had to be told in first-person cinematography, and hear what Ross is trying to say about film form, and how it needs to evolve. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The director of "Jackie" and "Spencer" returns to his unofficial trilogy of films about famous women in moments of crisis, this time to depict the final days of one of opera's most renowned singers, Maria Callas. Larraín talks to IndieWire's Jim Hemphill about directing Angelina Jolie in the biggest role of her career, and how he found a cinematic language that felt truly operatic. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

'Sugarcane' is an investigative documentary about abuse at a Catholic Native school in Canada. The film's director's joined Chris O'Falt to talk about the years of developing the project, speaking to honest Native experiences, and the camera's power to heal. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Have you heard about this movie where Amy Adams turns into a dog? Writer and Director Marielle Heller (Can You Ever Forgive Me?, A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood) spoke with IndieWire's Sarah Shachat about how she related to this wild and thought-provoking story, and explains how she tackled the famous Hollywood no-no, working with both children and dogs in one film. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Luca Guadagnino joins us for his 5th appearance on the Toolkit Podcast, this time to discuss his drug-infused psycho-sexual drama "Queer." Luca explains how the novel has been a part of his life for decades, why he decided to shoot the film on soundstages with painted backdrops, and more. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Director Elizabeth Sankey's new documentary examines depictions of Witches across media and pop culture, using her own journeys with motherhood and mental illness as a powerful lens. She has a great chat with IndieWire's Sarah Shachat about the complex filmmaking and personal details that make the film special. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The director of this fall's biggest box office smash joins Chris O'Falt to break down the incredibly complex making of the movie. They discuss the decision split the story into two films, how Chu reworked Elphaba's emotional arc, and the intricacies of Munchkin-land culture. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The trio of directors behind Ken Burn's new film join IndieWire's Sarah Shachat for a deep dive into documentary filmmaking, and how they pushed their form forward to capture one of the most fascinating minds in history. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

For his second feature as Director, Jesse Eisenberg takes us on a hilarious and emotionally complex family road trip to Poland. He sat down with IndieWire's Chris O'Falt to discuss writing the script, why he initially wanted to play the Kieran Culkin part, and what the title of the film actually means. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

One of our favorite Toolkit guests is back to talk about his hilarious, heartfelt, and emotionally challenging new feature. Baker explains how he found the incredible mansion that anchors the film, what was important to get right in the portrayal of sex, and shares stories about working with the incredible multi-lingual ensemble cast. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The director of The Batman, and its upcoming sequel, joined IndieWire's Chris O'Falt for an extra long deep dive into the spin off series on HBO Max. Reeves explained his role as creative head of this current Batman franchise, how the show is intimately connected to the films, and how he crafted a monster of an origin story for the unrecognizable Colin Farrell to portray. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

One of the best directors working today has made an incredible series about how form and narrative can manipulate our understanding of events. We dive right into a rich, spoiler-filled discussion of the series, so we recommend watching it all before listening. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Director Megan Park sat down with IndieWire's Sarah Shachat to discuss her new time-travel coming of age movie. Park discusses the wonderfully quirky Canadian-ness of the movie, and how she found the perfect "Old Ass" late in the process with Aubrey Plaza. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

IndieWire's Chirs O'Falt sat down with Co-Directors of one of the most urgent and powerful documentaries of the year while they were in town for the New York Film Festival. Basel is a Palestinian activist who had been filming his rural West Bank farming community as it had been destroyed by Israel's occupation. He builds an unlikely alliance with the Israeli journalist Yuval, who had been traveling to the region to report on what was going on in the West Bank. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The director of 2022’s All Quiet on the Western Front is back with a story of a very different conflict: choosing the next Pope. Berger chatted with IndieWire’s Chris O’Falt about directing the impeccable Ralph Fiennes, making multiple scenes of voting feel dramatic, and how he inserted honest absurdities into the serious proceedings. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Richard Linklater sat down with IndieWire's Chris O'Falt back in June for the premiere of 'Hit Man,' one of the most fun movies of this year. Linklater explains the decision making that went into crafting the film's many twists and turns, and explores his deep collaboration with star Glen Powell. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today on Toolkit, something special: for the 30th anniversary of the action classic "Speed," IndieWire's Jim Hemphill interviewed the director and stars live on stage at the American Cinematheque for their recent Beyond Fest screening of the movie. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices