greta-gerwig-and-spike-jonze

Not only is Lady Bird, Greta Gerwig’s solo directorial debut, one of the year’s best films, it’s also one the most successful. In under 250 theaters, it’s already made nearly $5 million and is well on its way to becoming one of A24’s biggest films. Since its debut at Telluride, Gerwig and her collaborators have been going in-depth on the making of the coming-of-age story and now today we have one of the most essential conversations.

Sitting down at the DGA theater in Los Angeles, Gerwig participated in a talk with Spike Jonze. In preparing for the film, Gerwig would call up directors — including Jonze, Mike Mills, Rebecca Miller, Wes Anderson, Todd Solondz, Whit Stillman, and, of course, Noah Baumbach — and talk to them for hours about a variety of questions she had. So, this was a reunion of sorts for Jonze and Gerwig as they discussed the advice that was given. Perhaps the best bit from Jonze: “If you don’t like a shot, just start turning off lights.”

Check out the talk below, along with a scene analyzation from Gerwig.

As a bonus, watch Jonze’s only collaboration with Gerwig below:

Lady Bird is now in theaters.

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