A war hero comes home for a celebration he’s not certain he deserves in Director Ang Lee’s new drama, Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk.
Lee’s film tells the story of Billy Lynn (Joe Alwyn), 19-year-old private who is hailed as a hero after a harrowing battle in Iraq. Brought home for a victory tour culminating in a spectacular halftime show of the Thanksgiving Day football game, Lynn experiences a series of flashbacks through which the film reveals what really happened to his squad and contrasts the realities of the Iraq conflict with the story America is being pitched about the war.
Following the November 13 DGA membership screening in Los Angeles, Lee sat down with Director Robert B. Weide (Graves) to discuss the making of Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk. Lee also spoke about the film in a conversation with Director Ira Sachs (Little Men) following the DGA membership screening in New York on November 20.
In addition to Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk, Lee’s credits include the feature films Life of Pi, Ride with the Devil, The Ice Storm, Sense and Sensibility, Eat Drink Man Woman, The Wedding Banquet, and Pushing Hands; and the shorts Chosen and I Wish I Was by That Dim Lake. In 2001, Lee made history by becoming the first minority to win the DGA Award for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Feature Film with Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. Five years later, he became the first to win the “Best Director” Oscar with Brokeback Mountain which also earned him his second DGA Award. Lee has been a DGA member since 1996.
You can listen to Lee's Q&A by clicking the podcast episode embedded below. You can find all DGA podcast episodes here.