Indiewire's Filmmaker Toolkit

Kevin Costner revitalized the Western genre with his first film as director, “Dances With Wolves.” He talks about returning to the West for the ambitious epic “Horizon: An American Saga – Chapter 1” and explains what still interests him about the Western and why he’s taking the biggest gamble of his career on this passion project. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

After the VFX heavy world building of Poor Things, director Yorgos Lanthimos has delivered something more akin to his earlier work on Dogtooth and Killing of a Sacred Deer. Hear how he guided Emma Stone, Jesse Plemons, Willem Dafoe and the other actors through multiple roles across 3 stories, and get a peek into Yorgos's game-filled rehearsal process. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

From building a fictional government around Kate Winslet, to the benefits and liabilities of shooting in real palaces, the show's creator joins us to break down this fabulously satirical look at modern day authoritarianism Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

After a fantastic finale to Season 3, one of the minds behind "Hacks" sat down with us to explore how the show remains so keyed into the joys, costs and absurdity of making art (and also pulling off 4AM drone shots on the Vegas strip). Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The hit series from streaming service Dropout, "Game Changer," combines a '70s game show with the joy of messing with your friends. Two of the executive producers walked us through the comedic chaos of producing a show where the game changes every episode. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

If the title "Robot Dreams" sounds familiar, this was one of the Animated Features nominated for last year's Oscars. Now expanding wide over the summer, it's the perfect time to catch up on this darling story of friendship and New York City in the 80s. Hear how Pablo fell in love with animation directing, and how he inspired his animators with films from silent comedy masters like Charlie Chaplin and Harold Lloyd. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The co-director of "Good Time" and "Uncut Gems" returns to Toolkit to discuss his collaboration with Nathan Fielder on their bizarrely fascinating series, "The Curse." Always a student of filmmaking, Benny walks us through what he learned making a show unlike anything we've ever seen. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Over the last 45 years, writer-director George Miller has created the greatest action-adventure franchise in the history of cinema; the “Mad Max” saga. The latest entry in the series, “Furiosa,” is the most ambitious and original yet. Miller talks about how and why he keeps raising the bar for himself and for action movies as a whole. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The director of several modern classics, like Jennifer's Body and The Invitation, joins us to discuss her feature debut Girlfight, now on Blu-Ray from Criterion. Kusama reflects on working with Michelle Rodriguez in her first movie role, and her intentions from several decades ago, and how the film has aged since. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

After coming out to the world on his HBO special Rothaniel, the writer, actor, and comedian brings us even deeper into his personal life with this new reality show. Jerrod joined us for a deep conversation about the power of the camera to reveal truth, what it took for him to fall in love, and how he collaborated with his crew to relinquish control of his own image. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The show-runner and director for the fourth season of this classic series joins us to explore how she brought the central True Detective themes and mysteries to a brand new landscape; the dark and frozen tundra of Alaska's months long winter. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

After this and "We're All Going to the World's Fair" Schoenbrun has emerged as one of our most fully formed new indie filmmakers, using a mastery of genre and form to expose audiences to complex and fascinating ideas. They spoke with us about making their much anticipated new movie, as well as reflected on their journey to directing. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The director of the funniest movies in a long time joins the Toolkit today to discuss her bold new work of auto-fiction. Arnow explains how she arranged this series of small vignettes to create something grander that speaks to a greater truth. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

David has been a stunt performer, one of the top stunt co-ordinators in the business, and now is one of the biggest action directors of the last decade with films like of "Atomic Blonde" and "Bullet Train." He joins Toolkit to break down making his newest film as a love letter to stunts and the way Hollywood used to make action flicks. And we get into his biggest stunt of all: pulling off a rom-com in the middle of a huge action movie. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Veteran producer Alex Baskin takes us behind the scenes of one of the best non-scripted shows on television. Hear how they balance reality with emotional storytelling, and how they prevented last season's 'Scandoval' from breaking the show. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The great actor-turned-director talks about developing the film for his daughter Maya Hawke (who stars as author Flannery O’Connor) after "Stranger Things" blew up, wrestling with O’Connor’s history with racism, what he learned about directing from all the greats he’s worked with as actor, and why the theme of creativity and what it means to be an artist has become the driving force behind so much of his own work as an artist at this stage of his career. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

For his fourth time joining the Toolkit discussion, director Luca Guadagnino takes us into the sultry, sweaty world of "Challengers." Much more than just a tennis movie, this film pushed Guadagnino to make bold choices with camera and music, and lean into storyboards and rehearsal more than his previous work. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The co-creators of the stunning FX miniseries join us to discuss the rigorous process that made the show so captivating, from period detail to character psychology and a nuanced approach to subtitles. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This little seen 1991 gem is coming to the Criterion Collection. And even if you have seen this movie, the story of how it got made will shock you. Savoca talked about how she transformed a studio film destined to be another Porky’s teen sex comedy into a subtle masterpiece. Savoca talks about how her young star, River Phoenix, saved the ending from being reshot by the studio and his incredible talent and moral compass at just 20 years old. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

You may remember "The People’s Joker" as that film Warner Brothers tried to shut down for copyright infringement during the 2022 Toronto film Festival. The more interesting story about this film is the ingenuity and a punk rock spirit in which it was created. Drew takes us on a journey of how her origin story as a trans woman coming up in the comedy world started (in her head at least) to merge with that of the Joker, and the rather unusual way this film was dreamed up. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices