We Need to Talk About Oscar

Áron Czapek

5.0 (4)
TV & Film
Updated Weekly

We Need to Talk About Oscar offers in-depth interviews with filmmakers, actors, and industry professionals. Although inspired by titles you expect to be represented at the Oscars, our conversations extend to buzzy indie projects and TV shows, exploring both the technical aspects of filmmaking and the personal stories behind them.

May 5

Elliot Tuttle, Kieron Moore and Reed Birney on vulnerability and vision in 'Blue Film'

We are joined by writer-director Elliot Tuttle and actors Reed Birney and Kieron Moore to discuss 'Blue Film,' a chamber drama that faced rejection from multiple festivals before finding distribution with Obscured Releasing. Elliot reflects on what kept him determined to make the film without compromising the story despite knowing most festivals wouldn't program it, while Reed and Kieron share whether they had reservations about the project seeing the light of day when they first read the script. We explore how a project this risky reads differently depending on where you are in your career, with one actor in the first half and another in the second half of their profession. Elliot and cinematographer Ryan Jackson-Healy made a bold visual choice implied by the title itself: relying heavily on one color to define the film's language. He discusses the potential pitfalls they identified in that decision and how they navigated them. Reed and Kieron each highlight what the other brought to help them reach the vulnerable place their roles demanded. The conversation turns to what it means to ask actors to bare themselves physically and emotionally on camera. Elliot examines how he moved from daring to make such requests to actually being able to ask for what the film required, and the trust that had to exist between director and performers for 'Blue Film' to work. (Photos: Courtesy of Obscured Releasing)

16 min
May 1

Nicole Bazuin on claiming agency through form in 'Modern Whore'

Director Nicole Bazuin's 'Modern Whore' began as a 2018 illustrated memoir collaboration with Andrea Werhun, evolved through multiple shorts including one that premiered at SXSW in 2020, and now arrives as a feature documentary that's traveled from TIFF to theatrical release. Nicole reflects on how over a decade of friendship and creative partnership shaped what the film ultimately became. The hybrid documentary mixes sit-down interviews, scripted reenactments with Andrea playing herself, unscripted conversations with her mother and partner, and animation. Nicole made the bold choice to shoot portions on a volume wall, bringing blockbuster LED technology into an indie documentary context, pushing back against conventional expectations of what a documentary about sex work should look like. Having worn every major creative hat on the film as director, writer, producer, and editor, Nicole built Virgin Twins with Andrea into a company whose first feature has won multiple documentary awards and secured both theatrical and digital distribution. She considers whether this feature represents the culmination of what they'd been building toward, or if it marks the beginning of something new rather than an ending.

17 min
Apr 28

We Need to Talk About Emmy #31: Alexandra Brodski shapes psychological grip in 'Half Man'

Alexandra Brodski directs 'Half Man,' Richard Gadd's first fully fictional series following 'Baby Reindeer.' Alexandra reflects on how the project found her and at what point in reading the scripts she knew she wanted to be the one to direct it. For the first time in her television career, she was there from the beginning, building the tone rather than inheriting one from episodes she didn't shoot, marking a shift from her work on 'Somewhere Boy' and 'Rivals.' We explore the unusual creative gravity of having Richard Gadd write every word, executive produce, and star, with a specific wrinkle: the early episodes are largely carried by Stuart Campbell and Mitchell Robertson as teenage Ruben and Niall, while Gadd and Jamie Bell function as the framing device. Alexandra examines how she found her space in material this tightly authored, and whether directing something fictional versus autobiographical changed her approach. She addresses how to direct for a dynamic that must be visceral before it becomes legible, capturing Ruben's psychological grip over Niall in a way the audience feels well before they fully understand. On a technical level, Alexandra unpacks shooting a relationship defined by power and need constantly switching places. She shares her instincts about camera proximity, how close is too close, and how to find the right distance. We examine the recurring use of mirrors throughout the series and what that device opens up in a scene that a direct shot doesn't. With a feature in development, Alexandra considers whether directing something this heavy and claustrophobic affects what she wants to make next. (Photo credit: Omri Dagan)

21 min
Apr 21

Madison Young faces her younger selves in 'By the Roots'

Writer-director Madison Young adapts her memoir 'Daddy' into 'By the Roots,' her feature directorial debut. Madison traces the adaptation process and the stages the script went through in transforming such deeply personal material into cinema. We explore the casting process, from how much Madison overthought who would play her to the challenge of putting different stages of her life on screen together. Madison opens up about casting both her kid and teenage selves, navigating the complexity of seeing multiple versions of yourself embodied by other actors, and how those different ages and perspectives fit together as one continuous story. Coming from over two decades in feminist porn as a director, performer, and advocate for ethical representation of sexuality on screen, Madison examines what intimacy coordinator Maya Herbsman brought to the table on a film where the physical is so central to the story. She considers how her background shaped her approach to depicting sexuality and intimacy, and what shifts when bringing those principles into narrative filmmaking about her own life. (Photo: Courtesy of Empress in Lavender Media)

20 min
Apr 17

Chandler Levack on distance, exposure, and doubling down in 'Mile End Kicks' and 'Roommates'

Canadian filmmaker Chandler Levack follows up her critically acclaimed debut 'I Like Movies,' with not one but two films releasing on the same day: 'Mile End Kicks,' her most personal work yet, and 'Roommates,' her first time directing someone else's script for Netflix. She reflects on whether there's a recognizable signature that shows up in both regardless of whose story she's telling or what the budget looks like. We explore the distance Chandler found through gender reversal in 'I Like Movies' versus the raw exposure of 'Mile End Kicks,' where Barbie Ferreira wears her actual SPIN Magazine T-shirts from her days as a music critic. She discusses navigating the casting process when the character is essentially herself, and whether there was a moment that felt too exposed. Having written the script a decade ago, she shares how making 'I Like Movies' first transformed what 'Mile End Kicks' ultimately became. Turning to 'Roommates,' Chandler explains what drew her to directing someone else's words for a studio after building a career on intensely personal films. She examines how directing without the full backstory of every line requires developing a different kind of ownership, and whether the leap from microbudget indie to Happy Madison Netflix production altered her approach in practical ways. With three feature films now in her filmography, she considers where her work might head next. (Photo: Courtesy of Jeremy Cox)

22 min
Apr 10

Katarina Zhu and Daisy Zhou on seeing and being seen in ‘Bunnylovr’

‘Bunnylovr’ is out in theaters today. Premiering at Sundance in January 2025 as part of the US Dramatic Competition, writer-director-star Katarina Zhu’s debut feature follows Becca, a Chinese-American cam girl in New York navigating a toxic relationship with a mysterious client while quietly trying to reconnect with her estranged, dying father. This is our conversation with Katarina and her cinematographer Daisy Zhou, their first collaboration together. The admiration between them is palpable throughout, two people who clearly found something rare in each other on their first project. We open with how they connected and what drew each of them to the material, before getting into what it means to direct and perform simultaneously and how that shapes the set from both sides of the camera. From there the conversation moves into the heart of the film: how Katarina built Becca as a character who moves between very private digital spaces and the more grounded textures of everyday life without ever splitting into two different people, and how Daisy translated those shifts into a visual language where each space carries its own feeling while still belonging to the same film. (Photos: Courtesy of Katarina Zhu)

28 min
Apr 3

BriTANicK is turning from sketches to features

Brian McElhaney and Nick Kocher, the comedy duo known as BriTANicK, brought two feature films to SXSW 2026: 'Pizza Movie,' which they wrote and directed, and 'Over Your Dead Body,' which they adapted for Jorma Taccone to direct. They reflect on their sketch comedy roots and whether anything they'd done before approached narrative filmmaking, plus how they regard sketches within the broader realm of cinema. The pair also share how their festival weekend turned out, juggling two premieres and a live comedy show. Our conversation explores how their dynamic as performers translates behind the camera, and the mechanics of escalation in 'Pizza Movie,' a film that constantly heightens the stakes. They discuss whether that comes from instinct or structure, and how they think about audience experience now that it's heading to Hulu after theatrical screenings. We turn to 'Over Your Dead Body,' examining what writing for someone else to direct feels like versus helming their own work, and how they approached "Americanizing" a 2021 Norwegian film while navigating what to touch and what to leave alone. Having been candid about their creative differences over the years, they consider whether the partnerships depicted, roommates in one film and a married couple in the other, mirror anything about how they actually collaborate. (Photo: Courtesy of Disney and Brett Roedel)

24 min
Mar 27

Matthew Shear explores the personal and cultural in 'Fantasy Life'

Writer-director-star Matthew Shear took home the SXSW Audience Award for 'Fantasy Life,' with Amanda Peet earning a Special Jury Award for her performance. Matthew reflects on what this double recognition means for a film drawn so directly from his own experience, and whether the script could have been directed by anyone else given how personal it is. Drawing on his acting background with directors like Noah Baumbach and M. Night Shyamalan, Matthew identifies where he consciously chose his own path versus where he unknowingly broke from what he'd learned. He tackles his frustration with mental health narratives that sensationalize crisis rather than depicting the reality of living with mental illness. Matthew shares his approach to working with an intergenerational cast of Jewish New Yorkers including Bob Balaban and Judd Hirsch, letting their natural rhythms and comic instincts surface. He also examines how the film explores a particular vision of Jewish American success and what he's learned about that ideal through making and sharing this deeply personal work. (Photo: Courtesy of Greenwich Entertainment)

20 min

5

out of 5

4 Ratings

We Need to Talk About Oscar offers in-depth interviews with filmmakers, actors, and industry professionals. Although inspired by titles you expect to be represented at the Oscars, our conversations extend to buzzy indie projects and TV shows, exploring both the technical aspects of filmmaking and the personal stories behind them.

Creator

Áron Czapek
Years Active

2024 - 2026
Episodes

169
Rating

Explicit
Copyright

© 2025 We Need to Talk About Oscar
Show Website

We Need to Talk About Oscar