A dark incident from the turbulence that roiled 1960s America is unearthed in Director Kathryn Bigelow’s new drama, Detroit.
Based on real life events that occurred during the civil unrest in Detroit a half a century ago, Bigelow’s film recounts what happened when misconduct by those charged with upholding the law resulted in the beating of several innocent civilians and the deaths of three unarmed men.
Following the DGA membership screening in Los Angeles on August 6, Bigelow sat down with DGA Past President Paris Barclay (Pitch) to discuss the making of Detroit. Bigelow also discussed the film in a conversation with Director Paul Schrader (Dog Eat Dog) following the DGA membership screening in New York on August 9.
In addition to Detroit, Bigelow’s credits include the feature films K-19: The Widowmaker, The Weight of Water, Strange Days, Point Break, Blue Steel, Near Dark, The Loveless; the movie for television The Miraculous Year; episodes of the series Karen Sisco and Homicide: Life on the Street; and an episode of the mini-series Wild Palms. She was nominated for a DGA Award for her direction of the feature Zero Dark Thirty and made history as the first woman to win both the Oscar and the DGA Award for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Feature Film for The Hurt Locker. Bigelow has been a DGA member since 1988, has served as a member of the National Board and currently serves as a member of the Western Directors Council.
You can listen to Bigelow's Q&A by clicking the podcast episode embedded below. You can find all DGA podcast episodes here.