Questions to Ask Film Directors
Questions for a festival Q&A, a podcast, a student paper or a press interview with a director, covering where the film began, decisions made on set and in the edit, working with actors and crew, and what the finished thing cost them.
20 questions, each with the reason to ask it · includes a conversation guide
The questions
Open any question to see why it works.
- 1
Where did this film start for you: an image, a line, a person?
A better opener than asking about inspiration, because it forces a single origin rather than a list of influences. Directors almost always have one thing they can name, and it usually still exists somewhere in the finished film.
- 2
How far is the film you made from the film you first pitched?
Every film drifts, and the direction of the drift is the interesting part. Ask what fell away first, since the earliest casualties are usually the most expensive ideas rather than the worst ones.
- 3
How did you decide where to put the camera in the opening scene?
Naming a specific scene gets you craft instead of philosophy. Directors can talk indefinitely about intention in the abstract, but a single setup makes them describe an actual decision and the constraint behind it.
- 4
What did you and your cinematographer disagree about?
Framed as disagreement rather than collaboration, this gets past the polite version where everyone was aligned. The answer tends to reveal what the director cares about most, because that is what they refused to give up.
- 5
How much of the performance was on the page and how much was found on the day?
Directors split fairly cleanly on this, and the answer tells you how they rehearse, how many takes they shoot, and whether the script supervisor had a difficult job. Ask for one line that was not written.
- 6
Which scene changed most in the edit?
Editing is where most films are actually directed and where interviews rarely go. Ask what the scene was for originally and what it does now, since the function usually shifts more than the footage.
- 7
What did you cut that you still think about?
Nearly every director has one, and they are usually generous about it because the loss has been processed. If they claim nothing, ask what came closest to being cut and survived, which gets the same answer sideways.
- 8
What was the hardest day of the shoot?
Produces a concrete story with weather, money or a broken schedule in it. Follow up by asking what was sacrificed that day, because something always was, and it is often visible in the film.
- 9
What do you say to an actor when a take is not working?
Directors have very different methods here, from a single adjustment to changing the physical circumstances of the scene, and most have a phrase they reach for. Asking for the words rather than the philosophy gets something usable.
- 10
What did you shoot on, and what did that decide for you?
Format questions can be dull unless you ask about consequences. Film stock, sensor size or lens choice all constrain how many takes, how much light and how close the camera can get, which is where the answer becomes about the film.
- 11
How did the budget shape what we see?
Most directors will discuss this candidly if it is asked as craft rather than as a shortfall. Ask which limitation ended up improving the film, since the answer is usually a specific and slightly surprising choice.
- 12
Where does the sound do work the picture could not?
Sound is chronically under-asked about and directors are usually pleased to be given the chance. Ask about a moment where something is heard and never seen, which is where the design is doing the heaviest lifting.
- 13
What rule did you set for yourself before you started?
Directors often impose one constraint on themselves, on camera movement, coverage, or where the film is allowed to go. Ask whether they broke it, and where, because the exception is usually the film's most important scene.
- 14
What did you steal, and from whom?
Phrased the way filmmakers actually talk, this gets specific and unpretentious answers where a question about influences would get a list of respectable names. Ask what they took: a shot, a structure, a way of ending scenes.
- 15
How do you know a take is the one?
The most practical version of asking about instinct, and the answers vary from a physical reaction to something the actor did that was not planned. Ask whether the take they used was the one they knew about at the time.
- 16
How do you keep a large crew making the same film?
Directing is mostly a management job and interviews almost never treat it as one. Ask how they communicate the idea of the film to departments who never read a full script, which is most of them.
- 17
What do you do differently now compared with your first film?
Gets a concrete lesson rather than a career summary. First-time mistakes tend to be about over-covering, over-explaining, or not protecting the schedule, and directors are candid about them once the film is several years behind them.
- 18
What did this one cost you personally?
Ask it late, quietly, and only if the conversation has earned it. Long shoots and long post schedules take a toll that goes unmentioned in press interviews, and the answer often reframes everything said earlier.
- 19
What do audiences consistently take from this that you did not intend?
Only answerable once the film has been screened a few times, so it works best at a festival or on a later press round. Directors are usually amused rather than defensive, and the misreading is often the most revealing thing about the film.
- 20
What is the thing you cannot stop thinking about at the moment?
A better closing question than asking what is next, which invites a publicist's answer about projects that may not exist. This one gets the actual preoccupation, which is where the next film is coming from anyway.
Interviewing a director
Practical guidance for the conversation itself.
Preparation that shows
Preparation that shows
Watch it twice
The second viewing is where you notice construction rather than story: where the cuts fall, what is repeated, what the camera refuses to do. Note timecodes for two or three moments you want to ask about by name.
Read the press notes first
Nothing wastes an interview faster than asking something already answered in the material everyone was sent. Use the notes to find the claim you want to test rather than the facts you want repeated.
Know what they made before
Directors notice immediately whether you have seen the earlier work, and the good questions usually live in the gap between films. If you have only seen the new one, say so rather than implying otherwise.
Bring more questions than you need
Some interviewees answer three of your questions in one go, others give you two sentences at a time. Having a second tier of specific craft questions in reserve keeps you from drifting into generalities when a subject moves fast.
Questions that reliably get dull answers
Questions that reliably get dull answers
These are not banned, but they need a specific hook attached or they produce the same answer the director has given twelve times that week:
- What inspired you. Ask instead what the first image was, or what they had before they had a story.
- What is the message. Ask what they argued about with a collaborator, which surfaces the same thing without inviting a slogan.
- What was it like working with a particular actor. Ask what that actor changed about the part.
- Any two-part question. Directors answer the second half and forget the first, and you lose the one you cared about.
- What is next. Save it for the last thirty seconds if you want it at all.
Running a live Q and A
Running a live Q and A
- Open with one question yourself before going to the audience, so the room has a model of the length and register you want.
- State the rules once and lightly: one question each, ending in a question mark, no plot summaries.
- Repeat every audience question into your own microphone. Half the room did not hear it and the recording certainly did not.
- Have three questions in reserve for the silence after the first hand, and three more for the lull about twelve minutes in.
- When someone starts a speech, wait for the first breath and ask warmly what their question is. Doing it early sets the tone for everyone behind them.
- Ask at least one question about a department other than directing and acting. Editors, sound designers and production designers are the people whose work goes undiscussed, and directors enjoy giving them credit.
- End on time and on a warm question rather than a hard one. The room leaves on whatever the last answer felt like.