2024-12-17
36 分钟Director Marielle Heller discusses her new film, Nightbitch, with fellow Director Ritesh Batra in a Q&A at the DGA theater in New York. In the conversation, she discusses her unique approach to casting the child Actors in search of a more authentic onscreen relationship with their parents, finding filming locations that say a lot about her characters without delving into their backgrounds within the film’s story, and how she sought to achieve a deliberate level of ambiguity through her deconstruction of the traditional motherhood myth. Based on the novel by Rachel Yoder, the film tells the story of a woman who has paused her career to be a stay-at-home mom for her new baby. As she becomes increasingly overburdened with the stress of her new responsibilities, her maternal instincts begin to manifest in canine form. See photos and a summary of this event below: https://dga.org/Events/2025/January2025/Nightbitch_QnA_1124
It was a really chaotic day.
It was a huge scene.
And I remember this moment in the middle of all that hubbub that the actor who played the server was like, can I just ask a question?
Why can't I hear her when she asks me for the kale salad?
And I was like, oh, your ears are not tuned to hear women over 40.
And that's how he responded.
But so that's how my directions ended up being with this movie.
I had an answer for everything.
It was all true.
There was a reason behind everything.
It just might not be the sort of logic that the real world operates in.
Hello and welcome back to the Director's Cut, brought to you by the Director's Guild of America.
In this episode, a mother becomes convinced she has canine capabilities in director Marielle Heller's comedy Night Bitch.
Based on the novel by Rachel Yoder, the film tells the story of a woman who has paused her career to be a stay at home mom for her new baby.
As she becomes increasingly overburdened with the stress of her new responsibilities, her maternal instincts begin to manifest in canine form.
In addition to Nightbitch, Heller's other directorial credits include the feature films A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood and Can youn Ever Forgive Me?
And episodes of the television series Casual and Transparent.
She was nominated for the DGA Award for Outstanding Directorial Achievement and first time feature film for 2015's The Diary of a Teenage Girl and was also nominated for the Variety Talk News Sports Specials Award for 2020's what the Constitution Means to Me.
Following a screening of the film at the DGA Theater in New York, Heller spoke with director Ritesh Batra about filming Nightbitch.
Listen on for their spoiler filled conversation.