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Id been to Duke, to all these universities.
Which I actually felt closer to because Id worked in it.
I started interviewing people right after the news hit.
And then we shot in 18 days.
How many people did you speak to?
And how did you get them to open up to you?KG:Nearly 100.
It was really incredible.
The stories I was hearing were very similar, again and again, no matter where I was.
That was kind of shocking for me.
Abusive environments and gendered systems existed everywhere, which is pretty horrifying.
So that became the driving force behind getting the film made.
Were most of the people that you spoke to related to Weinstein in some way?
Or was it more general?KG:No.
Well, not necessarily predatory …
Julia Garner: Abusive.
KG:Yeah, there are a lot of toxic workplaces that are still operating.
The importance of the film is that it highlights that behavior.
And if enough people see the movie, hopefully it will change peoples behavior in some way.
JG:The goal, too, is that people outside the film industry [see it].
Right now were at a film festival and its like, How can we change this industry?
But no how can we change all industries?
Theres a world outside Hollywood.
JG: And you hear about it working at a hospital.
If youre working an intense job in an intimate setting, its more likely to happen.
It felt very recognizable to me.
When I walk into a room, people hand me the coats.
JG:Shes very cute and looks very young.[Laughs.]
Kitty, most people would love to have your problems.
KG:[Laughs.]
But it does mess with your self-confidence.
I had a very lovely male assistant who worked for me.
He was six feet tall.
So theyd give me the coats and turn to him because they thought he was the director.
And then he would grab the coats from me, and say, Kitty, what are we doing?
Every time someone walked into the room, itd happen again and again.
And you think,Is there something about me that isnt right?
Do I belong in this industry?People would question whether I was creatively in control.
And I was like, You would never ask a male director that.
My environment has been really nice and not abusive.
But Ive heard stories from many colleagues and friends and … You have to be careful.
But every woman has to be careful.
I wanted to shift focus quickly.
I wanted to change the conversation to How can we improve the situation moving forward?
This shouldnt take ten years.
And I just got going, and we pulled it together very quickly.
What were the legal implications and considerations you had to keep in mind while making this?
Were you worried at all about Harvey being litigious?
Though the movie isnt just about him, hes a specter.JG:Yeah, its notaboutHarvey.
KG:We had a good legal team from day one.
They never put any restrictions on what we could do.
It was definitely an artistic choice [not to show him].
It was a moral choice not to make it a film about Harvey Weinstein.
If the whole problem was Harvey Weinstein, we wouldnt have a problem anymore.
The problem is so much bigger than Harvey.
That became the focus: the system around the predator.
JG:You have bosses who are the same sex as their assistants, and theyre abusive.
Or you have a male boss being abusive to a male assistant.
At one point even Jane snaps at her bosss driver.KG: I forgot about that moment.
JG:I did, too!
KG: We wanted you to see how those cycles of behavior perpetuate.
How has that been for you?
And what have the reactions within the industry been?
Has anyone recognized themselves as enablers?KG:A lot of people are uncomfortable.
But I think a little bit of discomfort is a good thing, if you want things to change.
You also get women grabbing us and being like, Oh my God.
That character is me.
Im so glad Im seeing it depicted onscreen.
Julia, I do want to talk about your face!
There are a million emotions flitting across it at any given moment in this movie.
Its fascinating because your co-workers dont notice it, but the audience does.
How did you approach that?JG: [Laughs.
]That was exactly it.
Kitty early on told me that her goal was a quiet film.
Its an internal film rather than an external film.
The situation is very loud, but the film is quiet.
When you feel small, you feel very alone.
I wanted it to feel like the audience was Janes subconscious, if that makes sense.
They knew exactly what she was thinking and feeling.
Did you feel that sense of isolation on set or when youd go home?
If that wasnt the case, itd be really hard.
But the other actors would [come and go] like day players.
And that was hard.
I was, for the majority, by myself, and then Id go home and feel really small.
The hardest part about my job is that I feel what my characters feel.
Id be in that mind-set for so many hours a day and then get stuck in there.
Kitty, what was your direction like to the actor who played the unseen boss?
There are two actors that play the boss.
One is the body and one is the voice.
In the script, there was no dialogue for him.
He was totally absent.
I hired an actor whos a friend to be a body double and pass the camera, basically.
But if you couldnt hear him in that close-up, itd be bizarre.
So in postproduction, we added the voice of the boss, and that became an extra element.
And he came into the room and was like, Oh, I met a bunch of these guys.
I know what to do.
I was in the voice booth and I had my headphones on, and it was so scary.
At the end he came out and was like, Hug?
And I was like, No!
So Julia, when you were filming the phone scenes, there was nothing on the other end?
What was in your imagination?JG:Those are always weird scenes to do.
Its usually an AD or a script supervisor sitting on an apple box, reading the lines.
But its still hard.
Its like[affects a robot voice], Youll never work in this town again!
Whats so fascinating about this movie is that its full of really banal details, but its riveting.
The tension doesnt let up.
But its also the situation and the environment that shes in.
As an audience, we have an idea of whats going on behind that closed door.
We know more than the character does.
We were playing with that tension the whole time.
Even the scene where shes printing headshots; womens faces are popping out of the printer.
To her, its just headshots.
We were careful with those layers.
Wandering in and taking up a lot of space.
The way white men take up space.
JG: There are a lot of little details like that.
It was like, Okay, now talk about festivals.
JG:Honestly, those were really funny.
Because it was so close.
Youve heard these things before.
When Kitty was picking what the execs should talk about, everyone was laughing.
KG:Someone came up to me at Telluride and was like, The Fruit Loops.
My God, how did you know about the Fruit Loops?
JG:Wait, what?
JG:Thats a coincidence!
But these coincidences feel accurate to people.
Definitely its more open.
We can at least talk about things now and we have language about these topics now.
Before there were barely any avenues for these sorts of conversations.
It is getting easier for women to get into the film industry.
Film schools are accepting more women into their programs.
But itll take a while.
And Im getting offered things I see it in my own life.
I see my friends who are women getting opportunities that we didnt get before.
Even two years ago.
Were seeing a shift.
Will Harvey see this?
Do you know if he has?KG:I have no clue.
Im so disgusted by that situation.
Its tough for me to weigh in.
JG: Im more interested in what other people watching it think.
Maybe some of these tasks are inappropriate.
Any little shift in thinking helps, and Im proud to be part of that.
