On Monday 9 October our members attended a special advance screening of Battle of the Sexes, directed by Valerie Faris and Jonathan Dayton, at the Charlotte Street Hotel. The film was followed by a Q&A with the directors, moderated by Joe Utichi.
The discussion ranged from the responsibility of the director when portraying true events, recreating tennis for the big screen and capturing the aesthetics of the 1970s. Catch up with all our tweets and photos from the event below.
We're here at the Charlotte St. Hotel for a special screening of #BattleoftheSexes, followed by a Q&A with the directors. pic.twitter.com/FkStm6RC6p
— Directors UK (@Directors_UK) October 9, 2017
Follow at #DUKBattle for all the tweets after the film!
— Directors UK (@Directors_UK) October 9, 2017
In anticipation of @BattleofSexesUK screening w @Directors_UK pic.twitter.com/y3sQnzLUBa
— Alexander Mercury (@mercuryalex) October 9, 2017
After a great screening, the Q&A began.
Well we loved watching #BattleoftheSexes, and now it's time for our Q&A with directors Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris #DUKBattle
— Directors UK (@Directors_UK) October 9, 2017
Valerie Faris and Jonathan Dayton are a duo of American film directors. Their first feature film was the Oscar-nominated Little Miss Sunshine, and their second was Ruby Sparks. They have also directed numerous music videos, including for R.E.M, Jane’s Addiction and The Smashing Pumpkins.
Our moderator today is @joeutichi #DUKBattle
— Directors UK (@Directors_UK) October 9, 2017
Joe Utichi is a film and TV writer and editor of Deadline Hollywood’s AwardsLine magazine.
Joe asks Valerie and Jonathan if they were familiar with the original Battle of the Sexes. #DUKBattle
— Directors UK (@Directors_UK) October 9, 2017
Valerie: We didn't watch it at the time but were familiar with it, and with Billie Jean King of course...#DUKBattle
— Directors UK (@Directors_UK) October 9, 2017
Jonathan: Telling the story of a woman who is married to a man, but in love with another woman in that era really appealed to us #DUKBattle
— Directors UK (@Directors_UK) October 9, 2017
Valerie: We brought that out more in the script. At the time it was clearly written for another director - so we made it ours. #DUKBattle
— Directors UK (@Directors_UK) October 9, 2017
Joe asks about the involvement of the real Billie Jean King. #DUKBattle
— Directors UK (@Directors_UK) October 9, 2017
Valerie: I don't think she really fully got it until she saw the final film. #DUKBattle
— Directors UK (@Directors_UK) October 9, 2017
Jonathan: We had to see it our own way, we wanted it to really feel like 1973 and not a modern version of it. #DUKBattle
— Directors UK (@Directors_UK) October 9, 2017
Valerie: And while we were filming Trump won...and it did feel like 1973 again. #DUKBattle
— Directors UK (@Directors_UK) October 9, 2017
Joe asks about how they mastered the period aesthetics. #DUKBattle
— Directors UK (@Directors_UK) October 9, 2017
Jonathan: We searched for these long zoom lenses, to get the visual language of the time. #DUKBattle
— Directors UK (@Directors_UK) October 9, 2017
Valerie: We watched the original Broadcast of the match, and tried to capture those same quote invasive zooms. #DUKBattle
— Directors UK (@Directors_UK) October 9, 2017
#DUKBattle pic.twitter.com/XqDql0vg1C
— Directors UK (@Directors_UK) October 9, 2017
Jonathan: The movie really divided up into public and private moments. In the private moments we really used extreme close ups. #DUKBattle
— Directors UK (@Directors_UK) October 9, 2017
Jonathan: Then the final match was very public- we switched up the angles accordingly. #DUKBattle
— Directors UK (@Directors_UK) October 9, 2017
Valerie: That's how we got the drama- because the actual match was not close at all. #DUKBattle
— Directors UK (@Directors_UK) October 9, 2017
Joe asks Valerie and Jonathan about working as a directing duo. #DUKBattle
— Directors UK (@Directors_UK) October 9, 2017
Jonathan recommends our members all partner up! #DUKBattle
— Directors UK (@Directors_UK) October 9, 2017
Jonathan: It's all in the prep. We do a lot- we only had 35 days to shoot! #DUKBattle
— Directors UK (@Directors_UK) October 9, 2017
Valerie: We do all our arguing at home. #DUKBattle
— Directors UK (@Directors_UK) October 9, 2017
And after some discussion Joe opened the floor to questions.
Audience questions now. #DUKBattle
— Directors UK (@Directors_UK) October 9, 2017
A member of the audience asks how they captured the tennis so well. #DUKBattle
— Directors UK (@Directors_UK) October 9, 2017
Jonathan: It was all choreographed and we had tennis doubles, and our cast also really played. #DUKBattle
— Directors UK (@Directors_UK) October 9, 2017
Valerie: We made Emma and Steve try to win the points they needed to win - there's not a single CGI tennis ball in the film. #DUKBattle
— Directors UK (@Directors_UK) October 9, 2017
Valerie: We made Emma and Steve try to win the points they needed to win - there's not a single CGI tennis ball in the film. #DUKBattle
— Directors UK (@Directors_UK) October 9, 2017
An audience member asks about Emma's formidable performance. #DUKBattle
— Directors UK (@Directors_UK) October 9, 2017
Valerie: The real Billie Jean King said that it was the most confusing time in her life, and Emma caught that really well. #DUKBattle
— Directors UK (@Directors_UK) October 9, 2017
A member asks how the structure of the script changed. #DUKBattle
— Directors UK (@Directors_UK) October 9, 2017
Jonathan: We made it a little less light, focused more on the relationships and drama. #DUKBattle
— Directors UK (@Directors_UK) October 9, 2017
Valerie: A lot of the structure came from the work with Simon (Beaufoy) and plenty more became clear in the edit. #DUKBattle
— Directors UK (@Directors_UK) October 9, 2017
Jonathan: We noticed in the edit that some scenes next to each other were too rich a meal, but worked well elsewhere. #DUKBattle
— Directors UK (@Directors_UK) October 9, 2017
Valerie: You are constantly writing. We used so much from the original broadcast commentary late on! #DUKBattle
— Directors UK (@Directors_UK) October 9, 2017
Valerie and Jonathan ask the audience if a line at the end worked or was too on the nose. #DUKBattle
— Directors UK (@Directors_UK) October 9, 2017
Resoundingly - it works! #DUKBattle
— Directors UK (@Directors_UK) October 9, 2017
A member asks about the depiction of Margaret Court. #DUKBattle
— Directors UK (@Directors_UK) October 9, 2017
Valerie: We were worried about portraying her too much as a villain, but it feels true. We don't know if she's seen it yet! #DUKBattle
— Directors UK (@Directors_UK) October 9, 2017
Valerie: When we know we have something we move on - we don't have to get it 5 different times. #DUKBattle
— Directors UK (@Directors_UK) October 9, 2017
A member asks what a director's responsibility is when portraying true events. #DUKBattle
— Directors UK (@Directors_UK) October 9, 2017
Jonathan: You need to report the emotional truth, and use that facts that present themselves to you like gifts. #DUKBattle
— Directors UK (@Directors_UK) October 9, 2017
Valerie: I don't think we, or even Billie Jean, knows what the whole truth is in this story. We tried to stick to what mattered. #DUKBattle
— Directors UK (@Directors_UK) October 9, 2017
Jonathan: In reality Marilyn outed Billie Jean, but the movie was more about Billie celebrating her authentic self. #DUKBattle
— Directors UK (@Directors_UK) October 9, 2017
Valerie: It also didn't fit the timeline of our movie, it just wouldn't have worked. #DUKBattle
— Directors UK (@Directors_UK) October 9, 2017
And with that, the event came to an end.
And that is a wrap! What a great Q&A from the brilliant Valerie Faris and Jonathan Dayton. #DUKBattle
— Directors UK (@Directors_UK) October 9, 2017
And thanks so much to the wonderful @joeutichi for moderating! #DUKBattle
— Directors UK (@Directors_UK) October 9, 2017
And thank you to everyone who made it down! #DUKBattle
— Directors UK (@Directors_UK) October 9, 2017
Whatever you do, don't miss #BattleoftheSexes - coming to UK cinemas this November. #DUKBattle
— Directors UK (@Directors_UK) October 9, 2017
After the screening, our members took to social media to have their say...
Passionate and brilliant film about equal pay, equal rights and equal love @Directors_UK thank you #BattleoftheSexes pic.twitter.com/CWtLMi5p32
— Hannah Berryman (@BerrymanHannah) October 9, 2017
and great q&a with the woman-man directing team 'it was more about the drama of their lives than the drama of the game'
— Hannah Berryman (@BerrymanHannah) October 9, 2017
Great evening in the company of Directors Valerie Faris and Jonathon Dayton, to watch their excellent new film #BattleoftheSexes #DUKbattle pic.twitter.com/ujIbku3reB
— Mike Rymer (@Mike_Rymer) October 9, 2017
In the front row last night at #charlottestreethotel for @directors_uk #screening of… https://t.co/M8Mor70JS9
— Rebecca Manley (@ManleyRebecca) October 10, 2017
You can watch a trailer for Battle of the Sexes below.
View a selection of photos from the event below.
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