Sarah Polley was practically born into this business, starting as a child actress at age 5, finding stardom soon after, and now it is why she is most comfortable behind the camera as writer and director. Her latest filmmaking endeavor, Women Talking, earned an Best Picture Oscar nomination as well as one for her Adapted Screenplay based on the 2018 novel by Miriam Toews. It is Polley’s second nomination in the screenplay category her feature directorial debut, 2006’s Away From Her, which starred Julie Christie, the legendary star who actually worked with Sarah on camera as actors in a couple of films.
Polley’s successful acting career also includes The Sweet Hereafter, The Adventures of Baron Munchausen, Go, My Life Without Me, Guinevere, John Adams, The Weight of Water and Zack Snyder’s Dawn of the Dead, but now she is just as successful as a filmmaker herself having also directed 2011’s Take This Waltz and 2012’s Stories We Tell.
She joins me today on my Deadline video series Behind the Lens to talk about all of it, what her Oscar nomination means to her, why she takes so much time between films, her disappointment that in a very good year like this one no women were nominated for Best Director, plus the unique style she brought to the making of Women Talking and casting that remarkable ensemble.
To watch our conversation click on the video above.
