The National Board of Review hosted its annual awards dinner at Cipriani 42nd Street celebrating excellence in filmmaking. Since 1909, the National Board of Review has dedicated its efforts to the support of film, domestic and foreign, as both art and entertainment.
We were on the red carpet for the star-studded event which awarded Best Film, Best Director, Best Actor and Actress, Best Ensemble, Best Original, and Adapted Screenplay, Breakthrough Performance, Best Documentary, and Directorial Debut, as well as signature honors such as the Freedom of Expression, and the William K. Everson Film History Award.
Check out our exclusive interviews below:
RBG was awarded best documentary. At the age of 85, U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg has developed a lengthy legal legacy while becoming an unexpected pop culture icon. But without a definitive Ginsburg biography, the unique personal journey of her rise to the nation’s highest court has been largely unknown, even to some of her biggest fans – until now. RBG explores Ginsburg ‘s life and career. The film was directed by Betsy West and Julie Cohen.
The Knockturnal: How did you get access to RBG?
Betsy West: Well, we wrote her an email, and her first response was, “Not yet,” but we decided to take not yet as kind of encouragement and we just kept at it, and eventually we won her trust to make the film.
The Knockturnal: And what was the process like being in the presence of this icon and putting her story together?
Julie Cohen: It was both intimidating and fun and challenging to tell Justice Ginsburg’s story, particularly at a moment in history where she’s both becoming sort of a rock star, but also is just critically important to the functioning of our democracy. And, everywhere we’d go if we were filming and she was speaking in a public space, there would be literally people lined up for blocks to see her. It was quite something to see.
The Knockturnal: And what was a highlight moment for you throughout the shoot in particular?
Betsy West: Well, obviously, interviewing Justice Ginsburg was a wonderful moment. I also really appreciated her reaction when we showed her the video of the Saturday Night Live impersonation. We didn’t tell her what it was. We just popped in the video. There was a pause, and then she burst out laughing, which was such a wonderful moment, showed what a great sense of humor she has about herself.
The Knockturnal: And I thought that it was also beautiful showing the relationship with her husband. Can you speak a little bit about that?
Julie Cohen: Yeah, you know, this documentary is serious stuff, it’s about Constitutional law, but it also was a super romantic, feminist love story, and we love that when documentaries can also have some of the same elements that you go for in a narrative film, just like sweeping romance. How much fun was that to be able to show and to show the old home movies that hadn’t been ever seen before of the two of them together?
The Knockturnal: And what was your collaborative process like with each other? Is this your first film together? Have you made many films together?
Betsy West: This is our first film together. We knew each other before, but we weren’t that good friends. Now we’re very good friends, obviously. It was extremely collaborative. I mean, we split up some of the responsibilities, but all of the major decisions, all of the big shoots, all of the edit-room calls we made together, and luckily we didn’t get into any big fights.
The Knockturnal: What’s next for guys? Separate projects? Together projects?
Julie Cohen: Together projects about women.
The Knockturnal: What was the experience like for you to film this documentary?
Claudia Raschke (Cinematographer): Intimidating. It is as if you are really photographing somebody of very royal stature. I was at all times feeling her aura and her presence and was making sure that I would not make her upset with any of my camera moves or with any of my lighting, giving her space but also trying to really understand who she is so she felt that I was doing the best I could to portray who she is.
The Knockturnal: And then you got all the footage and you had to put it all together what was that process like for you and how long did it take?
Carla Gutierrez (Editor): We were in post-production for about eight months. I believe and we got a wealth of footage from different decades. We started with footage from the forties from her childhood, New York forties, Brooklyn. So it was just a lot of like beautiful stuff. I memorized her speech like the way she pauses and the way she talks and actually her speech the way she talked many decades ago it’s exactly the same way she talks right now. You can see the way she’s thinking about what words to choose to really articulate what she’s thinking so it was just really fun to do.
What was the highlight for you in terms of filming?
Claudia Raschke: Well her time was incredibly limited and when we were granted any kind of access to her it was very necessary to be on your best behavior of trying to really capture whatever she was doing. Not only setting up fast but really adapting fast and not making any wrong calls, and so I think my favorite moment was when impromptu she was opening her closet and showing all of her collars. But the fun part was it was really impromptu and when we were there you have to imagine the hallway is really really small and I had such a tiny space. I had the closet in one ear, the camera lens over here, the door of the closet right over there so it was like very, very hard to do and it doesn’t come across as if it was difficult, it comes across as if you have total access and that was a good moment. It was a tremendous privilege for us to be in the Supreme Court. We had the fortune to work with multiple cameras and really try to understand the flow of it by imagining her descent or whatever she would be reading for different cases and so it was a lot of study cam work that we did.
Carla Gutierrez: And it was shot beautifully, I just have to say.
The Knockturnal: And do you primarily work on documentaries or do you do narrative films?
Claudia Raschke: So my background, I started out in ’84 and I did feature films dp’d about ten motion pictures in the independent scene, moved on to feature documentaries that has really won my heart and I keep doing them.
Carla Gutierrez: Just documentaries, I’ve only been working on documentaries, which I love.
The Knockturnal: What’s next for you both?
Carla Gutierrez: I’m working on a film called Pray Away that is about conversion therapy. Yeah, it’s a tragic story, it’s a very needed story to tell.
Claudia Raschke: I’m involved in a couple of projects, one of them is about the Le Ballet de Monte Carlo, it is an all-male dance troupe that dances on toe and pointe shoes and in tutu’s so it is very fluid in terms of the gender and they are performing Russian classic ballets but with a twist of comedy, so it is part of their life, how they live it and part of how they transform on stage so it’s great fun. And beyond that, I’m doing a six-part documentary series for Nat Geo.
The William K. Everson Film History Award went to The Other Side of the Wind. We spoke with editor Bob Murawski and producer Frank Marshall.
The Knockturnal: How did you get involved with the film?
Bob Murawski (Editor): I was a big fan of Orson Welles, and I was a friend of Gary Graver, the cinematographer, and so I persuaded this guy into hiring me for the movie. And I was glad he did.
How was collaborating with each other?
Frank Marshall: We had a great time.
Bob Murawski: We both love movies and love Orson Welles, and Frank had worked with Orson Welles …
Frank Marshall: And I worked with Gary, which we didn’t know when we started this project. It’s just such a wonderful way to end this almost 50-year making of a movie, that we’re able to present a new Orson Welles film. And I think when you see it, you’ll see that Orson Welles continues to inspire and to amaze us. And he was ahead of his time then and he’s still ahead of his time.
The Knockturnal: When you speak to people who have seen it, what are their reactions?
Frank Marshall: Well they’re kinda stunned because it’s so modern. They think this is not an old fuddy-duddy movie. It’s exciting and challenging and deep and they’re just really inspired by it.
Bob Murawski: And the film making is so wild and it feels fresh, just in terms of the way he shot things and put them together. So I think people are really amazed when they see it.
The Knockturnal: Speak about being honored tonight.
Frank Marshall: Well I think for us it’s the crowning honor for us, finishing the film on this long journey, to be honored by the National Board of Review, and for cinema history, it couldn’t get much better than that.
The Knockturnal: And how long was your involvement in the project?
Frank Marshall: 48 years. It is a long time. I had a lot of hair back then when I started this movie.
The Knockturnal: Speak about working with Netflix.
Frank Marshall: The great thing about it being on Netflix, is millions and millions of people have the opportunity to see the movie, and I think Orson would be thrilled. We all want people to see our movies as a filmmaker, and so to be able to accessed from around the world, then hopefully we’ll inspire people to see his other work, introduce them to Orson Welles. That’s what’s so great about all this.
The Knockturnal: And what’s next for you?
Bob Murawski: I’m getting ready to start a Norwegian horror picture in a couple of days, so that should be fun. All entirely in Norwegian.
The Knockturnal: Is that unique for you as an editor to work with a foreign language?
Bob Murawski: Yeah because the movie is entirely in Norwegian, so I think it’s gonna be interesting. But it was shot on 35-millimeter film, which I think makes it really unique, so I’m excited to be working on it.
The Knockturnal: What’s next for you?
Frank Marshall: I’m starting to work on Jurassic World 3. I’m going back to my other day job. But yeah, we’re in the script writing stages for that and Indiana Jones 5.
Brian Hayes Currie co-wrote Green Book.
The Knockturnal: How did you got involved to co-write?
Brian Hayes Currie: Well, I’ve known Nick for 30 years, the son of Tony Lipp, and I knew Tony Lipp for 25 of them. I started off with just a sentence at a coffee shop. He said, “You ever hear the story about my father driving Dr. Shirley?” And I said, “Let me run with this, Nick.” And from there, we decided we were going to write it together and produce it together, and our first stop was to Peter Farrelly because he’s just the nicest guy in Hollywood and also one of the most talented. Pete also does road-trip movies fantastically. And that’s how it all started.
The Knockturnal: What was the writing process like?
Brian Hayes Currie: Well, it started off with Nick and I, because Pete was doing a TV show called Loudermilk. So, Nick and I had to get the first draft out of the way and then we all got together and kicked it several million times. Anyways, and then we all three sat in a room in a cabin behind Pete’s house and worked tirelessly until we finally said, “I think this is a good one.”
The Knockturnal: How was seeing the cast bring the script to life?
Brian Hayes Currie: You know, it’s interesting Viggo Mortensen was Pete’s idea. Viggo’s not Italian, and he was very nervous about playing an Italian. But, as Nick says, many times, the most Italian actor is The Godfather with Marlon Brando, and he’s Irish. So go figure that one out. So that’s what convinced Nick, “You know what? Viggo can speak fluent Italian. He’s such a genius actor. He’s like the Brando of our time. He’ll be able to pull it off.” Mahershala Ali is a genius. He really is. It’s like a genius playing a genius. We’ve said it a million times and it’s so true. He’s just fantastic. He totally transformed into Dr. Shirley. It was great to see. I love both those guys.
The Knockturnal: How did you get your start in writing for film?
Brian Hayes Currie: I’ve been writing for a long time, but I took some time off. I went to college for psychology. So I had to pick up writers’ books and read them all, and I read every single writers’ book that was ever written and read every book I could possibly read and it was all self-taught.
The Knockturnal: And what’s next for you?
Brian Hayes Currie: What’s next for me is a couple of things. One, a very serious movie about Alzheimer’s, but it has a lot of comedic things as well, like this movie. So the character is funny and at the same time, it has its sad moments, but with a hopeful ending.
The Knockturnal: Is the script done?
Brian Hayes Currie: No. We’re only on page 60 and we’re going to get to page 105, and then we’re going to hand it in.
Presenters and additional attendees included Uzo Aduba, Jim Burke, Sophia Bush, Linda Cardellini, Stephen Colbert, Brian Currie, Elsie Fisher, Dede Gardner, Richard Gere, Debra Granik, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Brett Haley, Josh Hamilton, Alan Horn, Danny Huston, Jack Huston, Jeremy Kleiner, David Linde, Kenneth Lonergan, Sara Murphy, Trevor Noah, John Penotti, Adele Romanski, April Ryan, Peter Sarsgaard, Irina Shayk, Steven Spielberg, Nick Vallelonga, Meredith Vieira, Charlie Wessler, Olivia Wilde, and more.
The full list of this year’s NBR winners follows:
Best film: Green Book
Best director: Bradley Cooper, A Star Is Born
Best actor: Viggo Mortensen, Green Book
Best actress: Lady Gaga, A Star Is Born
Best supporting actor: Sam Elliott, A Star Is Born
Best supporting actress: Regina King, If Beale Street Could Talk
Best original screenplay: Paul Schrader, First Reformed
Best adapted screenplay: Barry Jenkins, If Beale Street Could Talk
Best animated feature: Incredibles 2
Breakthrough performance: Thomasin McKenzie, Leave No Trace
Best directorial debut: Bo Burnham, Eighth Grade
Best foreign-language film: Cold War
Best documentary: RBG
Best ensemble: Crazy Rich Asians
William K. Everson Film History Award: The Other Side of the Wind and They’ll Love Me When I’m Dead
NBR Freedom of Expression Award: 22 July
NBR Freedom of Expression Award: On Her Shoulders
Top films (in alphabetical order)
The Ballad of Buster Scruggs
Black Panther
Can You Ever Forgive Me?
Eighth Grade
First Reformed
If Beale Street Could Talk
Mary Poppins Returns
A Quiet Place
Roma
A Star Is Born
Top 5 foreign-language films (in alphabetical order)
Burning
Custody
The Guilty
Happy as Lazzaro
Shoplifters
Top 5 documentaries (in alphabetical order)
Crime + Punishment
Free Solo
Minding the Gap
Three Identical Strangers
Won’t You Be My Neighbor?
Top 10 independent films (in alphabetical order)
The Death of Stalin
Lean on Pete
Leave No Trace
Mid90s
The Old Man & the Gun
The Rider
Searching
Sorry to Bother You
We the Animals
You Were Never Really Here
