Obviously you have this overview and this broader story you’re telling, but it sounds like, because you did them back to back, you’re kind of making three movies in a row, almost.

I was making three movies. I was making three three-hour-long movies in a row. With no breaks in between.

That’s a lot.

And then edit them, and now yes, it is a lot. It’s hard, very, very hard work. It’s also fascinating. I mean, I literally lived in the White House, during a course of 110 years, over eight months in Atlanta.

I’ve always been struck by the way you’ve worked with actors. This was not the first time you worked with people of these actors’ stature, but just given the weight of the material, I imagine it was a different kind of working relationship.

It was completely different. Amongst other things, it was the first time I’ve ever done real people. So, there was always this dance of being close to what the real person looked like, moved like, dressed like, and then maintaining a space for the brilliant actresses to be who they are within that framework. And that made it very, very different.

I love what the producer, Stephen Garrett, with whom you’re familiar, has said of working with you: “Actors, I think, feel very exposed by her lens and that’s initially a bit scary, but once they learn to trust her, they’re thrilled to go on this journey with her.” Would you say that’s accurate?

I think that’s probably true.

How did that go here?

This cast would probably agree with that. Look, I’ve never been capable of lying, and I’m very direct, and at times I’m possibly scary-direct. A lot of particular stars are often met with a lot of diplomacy, which I think for a great actor or actress is comfortable, but in a way, on a deeper level, unsettling. Great actors want to feel seen, and want to feel that they can trust the person they are with. If they’re met with diplomacy and kindness, but not really feel certain that they’re met with honesty, it makes them more insecure, as it would if we in our private life and our close friends didn’t feel that they could be absolutely honest with you. Because I’m always honest and direct, I do think that they trust me, and they know that I would go to any length to protect them, but if I didn’t think something was any good, I would also be quite candid about it. That’s initially a scary thing. 

You’d been a well-regarded filmmaker for a long time before breaking into Hollywood. Did you feel nervous about that directness, as you say, as you started working with stars—about that translating into this new market?

I avoided asking myself that question, because I knew I couldn’t do anything about it. So I was like, “I better not go there, because then I’ll just become really insecure at myself,” and I refused, so I never really addressed that. I kind of knew, “Look, it’s going to have to work, or it won’t work.” It’s not like you can make yourself into someone you are not, particularly being a director where part of your talent is who you are. That needs to be sustainable, because otherwise it just becomes nothing.