Darren Aronofsky: The Wrestler

Darren Aronofsky (Requiem for a Dream; Pi) discussed the making of his new film The Wrestler, a seriocomic, existentialist drama about pro wrestler Randy “The Ram” Robinson (Mickey Rourke), whose brush with death relegates him to working a supermarket deli counter, where he tries to settle down with his stripper girlfriend (Marisa Tomei) and reconnect with his estranged teenage daughter (Evan Rachel Wood). He finds himself at a crossroads when the prospect of a rematch with his old nemesis, the Ayatollah, proves too tempting to resist, even if it means risking his life. Director Steven Shainberg (Fur: An Imaginary Portrait of Diane Arbus) served as moderator of the discussion that took place after the New York screening on November 2.

Danny Boyle: Slumdog Millionaire

Danny Boyle (28 Days Later; Trainspotting) spoke to audiences in both Los Angeles and New York about his new film Slumdog Millionaire, the story of Jamal Malik (Dev Patel), an illiterate Indian street kid from Mumbai who is suspected of cheating after he wins the jackpot on the Hindi version of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? 1998 DGA Award-Nominee Curtis Hanson (L.A. Confidential) served as moderator of the discussion that took place after the Los Angeles screening on November 2, and DGA director-member Mary Harron (The Notorious Bettie Page) moderated the discussion following the New York screening on November 9.

Jonathan Demme: Rachel Getting Married

DGA and Academy Award-winning director Jonathan Demme (The Silence of the Lambs; Beloved) entertained the audience of the New York DGA Theatre with tales from the set of his new film Rachel Getting Married on October 1. The drama follows the havoc wreaked by Kym (Anne Hathaway) — an ex-model who has been in and out from rehab for the past 10 years — when she returns home for the wedding of her sister Rachel (Rosemarie DeWitt) and brings along with her the baggage of her long history of personal crisis and family conflict. 1993 DGA Lifetime Achievement Award recipient Sidney Lumet (Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead) served as moderator.

Clint Eastwood: Changeling

In the Los Angeles DGA Theatre on October 26, DGA Lifetime Achievement Award recipient and two-time DGA Award-winning director Clint Eastwood (Million Dollar Baby; Unforgiven) spoke about the challenges he faced during the making of his new provocative thriller, Changeling. Based on actual events, Changeling tells the nightmarish story of Christine Collins (Angelina Jolie), a working-class woman in Prohibition-era Los Angeles, who is forced to fight corrupt police and a skeptical public when her son is kidnapped and months later the police return a boy who is not her child. DGA Board Member/Special Projects Committee Chair Jeremy Kagan (Crown Heights) served as moderator.

David Fincher: The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

David Fincher (Panic Room; Fight Club) gave the New York audience members insights about how he went into creating the unusual circumstances of The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, a romantic fantasy based on F. Scott Fitzgerald’s story by about a man (Brad Pitt) who is born in his eighties and ages backwards in a journey that takes him from New Orleans at the end of World War I in 1918, into the 21st century. Two-time DGA Award Nominee and Academy Award-winning director Steven Soderbergh (Traffic; Erin Brokovich) served as moderator of the discussion that took place after the screening on November 9.

Gary Fleder: The Express

Gary Fleder (Runaway Jury; Don’t Say a Word) entertained the audience with tales of how he captured the gridiron action and drama featured in his new film The Express. Based on the true story of college football hero Ernie Davis (Rob Brown), The Express reveals how he overcame unbelievable obstacles to become the first African-American to win the Heisman Trophy and forever change the face of sports. 2004 DGA Award-Nominee/DGA Third Vice President Taylor Hackford (Ray) served as moderator of the discussion that took place after the Los Angeles screening on October 12.

Mike Leigh: Happy-Go-Lucky

DGA and Academy Award nominee Mike Leigh (Secrets and Lies; Vera Drake) discussed the creation of his latest feature Happy-Go-Lucky with Director Phillip Noyce (Rabbit-Proof Fence) and the DGA Los Angeles audience on October 5; and Director Dan Algrant (People I Know) and the DGA New York audience on October 18. Happy-Go-Lucky explores the life of the irrepressibly cheerful Poppy (Sally Hawkins), whose unsinkable sense of optimism is challenged by the people in her life.

Gina Prince Bythewood: The Secret Life of Bees

Gina Prince-Bythewood (Disappearing Acts; Love & Basketball) described how she adapted Sue Monk Kidd’s novel The Secret Life of Bees into her latest feature. The film is the moving tale of Lily Owens (Dakota Fanning), a 14-year-old girl who flees her lonely life and troubled relationship with her father and is taken in by the Boatwright sisters, a trio of independent beekeepers who teach her the real meaning of family. Director Billy Kent (The Oh in Ohio) served as moderator of the discussion that took place after the New York screening on October 12; and Director Tim Story (Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer) performed the moderator duties after the Los Angeles screening on October 19.

John Patrick Shanley: Doubt

John Patrick Shanley (Joe Versus the Volcano) discussed how he adapted his Pulitzer and Tony Award-winning play Doubt into a feature film with 1993 DGA Lifetime Achievement Award recipient Mike Nichols (Angels in America) and the New York audience on November 8. Doubt tackles the themes of religion, morality and authority that come into play when an iron-gloved nun (Meryl Streep) confronts a charismatic priest (Philip Seymour Hoffman) she suspects of abusing a young black student and their subsequent battle of wills threatens to tear the community apart.

Gus Van Sant: Milk

Gus Van Sant (Paranoid Park; Good Will Hunting) took the audience back to the ‘70s in Milk, his biography of California’s first openly gay elected official, San Francisco supervisor Harvey Milk (Sean Penn), who was assassinated by San Francisco Supervisor Dan White (Josh Brolin) in 1978. 2007 DGA Award nominee Paul Thomas Anderson (There Will Be Blood) served as moderator of the discussion that took place before the Los Angeles DGA audience on November 9.