-Congrats on "Mid90s." -Thank you very much.
-This is your directorial debut. -Mm-hmm.
-I want to -- I have so many questions.
I have -- First of all... -Shoot.
-What made you want to choose this subject --
this movie, for your directorial debut?
-Well, basically, you know, I've wanted to be
a writer, director, a filmmaker my entire life,
and I kind of I fell into this amazing
15-year acting career,
and I went to the best film school in the world.
You know, I got to learn from a lot of the masters,
and I was lucky enough to just get a front-row education
to what I wanted to do.
But I looked at my heroes,
people like Mike Nichols or Barry Levinson,
who started in comedy and became great filmmakers.
And I looked, and a lot of times, their first film --
You only get one shot at a first film.
One shot to ever make your first film.
And all these people, their first film
really came from the heart, and it meant something to them.
-Yeah. -And for me,
I waited until I had something to say,
and "Mid90s" is my heart.
You know, it is -- it's my heart, that's it.
[ Cheers and applause ] -It's emotion, it's --
[ Applause ]
How do you explain the film? How do you set it up?
-Well, at its core, it's like an animal kingdom movie.
You know, it's this lonely kid who has, you know,
a messed-up life at home, and he's looking for connection.
And he finds skateboarding,
and he finds this group of skateboarders.
And he has to work his way up as a cub
through the animal kingdom,
and as he does, they form this --
you know, it's a time in your life when your friends
are more important than your family, you know?
It's like you form a family outside of your house,
and these kids are just so amazing,
and they're there for each other in a way
that gives this kid some hope.
-Were you a skater growing up?
-I was a terrible skateboarder,
but I was 100% dedication, 14% skill.
-Oh, fantastic. That's great. -Yeah, I was terrible.
I filmed -- I was at a shop called Hot Rod for four years,
and I loved it. I loved every second of it.
And all I wanted to do was belong, you know?
-Yeah. -And it's like,
when you're that age, like 12, 13, at least for me,
it was so frickin' lonely, you know?
So you're like, how do I just fit in and connect?
-With anyone. -And if you --
Skateboarding is, like, always butchered on film, you know?
It's, like, a known thing. Like, skate --
People always mess up skateboarding in film.
So it was a big task, because first and foremost,
I wanted to make a film that respected this thing
that came into my life, even though
I was terrible at it. -Yeah.
-That really was a beautiful part of my life.
And I didn't write it from a place of authority.
I wrote it from a place of love and respect,
and it's been amazing to show skateboarders this film,
because I really tried to honor them first and foremost.
-You get it. I mean, you get it.
You get that thing. You just -- you feel like
you're kind of eavesdropping on this kid's life.
-And the kids are amazing. Like, I --
-They really are. -They -- you know --
The most moving experience in my life is I cast non-actors
as these roles,
and in the movie they have to do a lot of acting,
and so I prepared the film so you could --
like, they would improvise, because I'm like,
Okay, they're not going to be able to act.
I'm just going to have to capture them.
And I spent three years on the script,
and was willing to throw it away,
but these kids -- getting this opportunity
to become artists and getting that chance,
watching them take it
and want to be these people that's not them
is the singular most moving experience of my life.
Like, hands down. These kids are beautiful.
-How are they reacting now? Have they seen it?
-They're losing their minds. [ Laughter ]
So, Sunny -- Sunny Suljic, who's the main kid,
he plays Stevie, right? -Yeah.
-He's unbelievable.
He was 11 when we shot the film, and I've never,
as a 34-year-old, never had a movie --
of a 15-year career, I've never had to do that much,
like, strap a movie to my back and walk across the field.
-He's got to carry this movie. -He's 11.
I literally kept him running on Nutella for the whole shoot.
[ Laughter ] It was literally --
I figured out his drug of choice was Nutella.
And thank you to the good people at Nutella,
because you got me through my first filmmaking experience...
-Yeah. -...with Sunny.
And he's so amazing. And the most beautiful --
So, the Toronto Film Festival, right?
That was the world premiere. -Yeah.
-Bennett Miller, who made "Moneyball,"
he waited to show -- I saw the film there,
and my family and friends were there,
and it was a really emotional experience.
So, I was given that as an experience,
and I wanted to give that to these kids.
So I waited to show them the film for the first time
at the Toronto Film Festival.
-So what were you watching? The screen or their faces?
-I was watching them the entire time.
And I was also -- I'm crazy about sound.
I'm sure The Roots agree.
If, like, the sound is off in a theater, I go mentally ill.
And so, like, I -- but Sunny --
it ends, and he's 11, and he just grasps onto my leg
as the movie's ending.
And he looks up at me and he goes,
"That's the best [bleep] movie I've ever seen in my life!"
[ Laughter ]
And he was crying. And he goes,
'Yo, you're a beast director, bro!
You're a beast director!"
And I'm like, "Thank you!" -"Thank you! Thank you!"