A washed-up porn star returns to his small Texas hometown in Director Sean Baker’s comedic-drama, Red Rocket.
Baker’s film tells the story of Mikey Saber, who after failing in his adult film career, comes home to a town that didn’t really want him back and clashes with his estranged wife and her family.
On December 4, after the DGA membership screening in Los Angeles, Baker discussed the making of Red Rocket during a Q&A moderated by Director Lizzie Borden (Love Crimes).
During the conversation, Baker spoke about why he chooses to edit all of his films.
“I have to keep my editing hat on almost all the time. I try – unless the scene calls for – to make as few edits as possible because I also my performers are giving such amazing performances that I wanna hold on them. I think that it helps when you’re seeing something play out, especially character study stuff where there’s dialogue and an interaction. When I see scenes played out in real time without cuts, it really gets you connected to the characters even more. I think it comes from being able to see somebody in real time just be human and it helps you connect. The editing thing, yeah, it’s kind of crazy because it drives me insane. I lose my mind every post-production but I have to do it because if I was a director for hire and I handed my footage over to the studio they would fire me by the second day. Only I know how this stuff will eventually piece together.”
In addition to Red Rocket, Baker’s directorial credits include the feature films, The Florida Project, Tangerine, Starlet, Prince of Broadway, Take Out and Four Letter Words; the movie for television, Fur on the Asphalt: The Greg the Bunny Reunion Show; and episodes of the television series, Warren the Ape and Greg the Bunny.
Baker has been a DGA member since 2010.
You can listen to Baker's Q&A by clicking the podcast episode embedded below. You can find more DGA podcast episodes here.