Filmmaking, Creative Collaboration, and Telling Stories That Matter
by Rita Deurdulian
The last time we checked in – at least editorially – with film director and screenwriter Zal Batmanglij ’98, he had just wrapped up shooting his second feature film, The East, and given the Potomac community a private screening. Fast forward a decade, two seasons of Netflix’s sci-fi hit The OA, and the successful FX miniseries A Murder at the End of the World, which Time called “a high-tech whodunit.” Our latest discussion highlights Zal’s admiration for his creative partner of two decades Brit Marling, his experience in the film industry, and the challenges he faced while working on the FX project in Iceland during the pandemic. While his work tends to focus on the mystique and the blind spots of a suffering society, Zal stresses the importance of telling stories that resonate with audiences.
Darby, the lead character for Murder at the End of the World, is really interesting. How did you develop her?
Brit wrote an op-ed in The New York Times ("I Don’t Want to Be the Strong Female Lead") about how pop culture tends to objectify and dispose of women. She wanted to portray women who have agency without having to assume traditionally “masculine” traits to achieve that.
After The OA ended sort of unexpectedly, we were talking about what we wanted to do next. And I said, “Brit, your essay was so powerful – it illuminated a lot of things for me that maybe I'd felt before but hadn't really understood until reading it.” So, I suggested she attempt to create a female lead that isn’t just taking on a traditionally male role. We talked about creating a character that was an amateur detective – it was important that she didn’t wear a uniform – because we didn’t want her to be the uniform. And what if she had a lot of weaknesses but was an extraordinary person? And it wasn't that she was fearless, but that she could push through her fear. That's how Darby sort of began.
Talk about persevering through the hurdles of filming, Covid, supply chain issues, climate change, and the extreme conditions in Iceland, where a majority of the show was filmed.
It was hard. We knew the shoot would be challenging but didn’t fully understand how challenging. People had just been through the toughest part of the pandemic, and they were reeling from that experience. We shot for 90-some days, all masked. It’s not an ideal way to work with actors or each other. And in regard to working in Iceland, some people advised us not to put so many climate crisis themes into our work for fear that it would become didactic. I laugh at that because the amount of climate change we had to deal with while making the show – the two are inexorably linked. You can't not talk about the things that are happening. Iceland was having storms that were unprecedented even for Iceland. But we got through it. I'm proud of what we made.
How have you grown as a screenwriter and director?
I've seen a lot of growth over the years. When I was a kid at Potomac, I would make videos with my friends, but I could never really finish the films or things would go wrong. It'd be so hard to organize all those mini shoots. In college, I started making short films with my friends, including Brit. And those films are good – at least they were finished and they had a beginning, middle, and end – but they were still really hard endeavors. Now, after more than a decade in the profession, I feel a lot more comfortable on set. It’s like a second home, which is a great place to be. I don't feel out of my depth anymore, which I did when I first walked onto sets.
Growing up in DC, I never really thought about the people who made the films. I just thought they sort of existed. Now, I get to collaborate with all the different craftspeople who work on a movie. There are so many different people, and they all do really hard jobs in really specialized arenas; it's thrilling to work with them and be part of a collective. I always liked group projects, and a movie is the ultimate group project.
What would you tell students who are interested in screenwriting and directing?
The world is different now from when I was at Potomac, and I imagine there are a lot more kids making short films. Today’s technology means that you really can do it. So, I would tell them to start watching movies with the eye of the people who made them. One of the most helpful things I did was spend a few weeks only watching first films – films that premiered at Sundance or SXSW. This can make filmmaking seem a lot more attainable, or at least feel more doable for a young person. Most things we watch today are made by experienced professionals. It’s like only eating at the best restaurants with the world’s best chefs. That makes it hard to imagine doing it yourself because the skill level is so advanced.
Most importantly, I would tell aspiring filmmakers that you want to be able to tell a story – beginning, middle, and end. It's as simple as that. Starting with shorts lets you get that under your belt, and then you build confidence slowly.
We keep hearing that attention spans are getting shorter, but some argue that if you're telling the right story, you'll be able to get – and hold – people's attention. What are your thoughts on that?
Oh, such a good question. I think it's complicated because there are a lot of other ways to entertain yourself besides watching TV or going to the movies. That wasn't always true. But now you can sit and watch TikTok, Instagram, or New York Times videos and they can be just as entertaining, time consuming, or stress relieving as watching movies.
So I think that movies have to do better to make the stories relevant and keep people's interest. That’s the responsibility of the filmmaker.
Getting to know Zal a little more…
What’s next on your travel itinerary? Where would you like to go?
I'm going to France soon because I'm on the jury of a festival there. Where would I like to go after that? Probably Big Sur, California. I don't like to travel too much, so just driving up the coast is good for me.
If you could remake any show or movie out there, what would it be?
Arrival (2016), starring Amy Adams. It was based on a short story by Ted Chiang called “Story of Your Life.” His story plays in my head often, and I would love to try to put that version onto the screen.
When you were starting out, who were your influences, and are they the same now?
When I was a freshman, I was really affected by James Cameron's Terminator 2 and the work of Polish filmmaker Krzysztof Kieslwoski. Later in high school, Austrian filmmaker Michael Haneke appealed to me. Over the next 20 years I began to understand his films in a deeper way.
What’s your go-to place when you come back to the DC area?
I grew up in Georgetown, but my parents live in Chevy Chase now, so I like to go back to Georgetown and walk the old streets, which have a lot of memories. We had a motley Potomac crew who all took the same school bus; this included Rory Cameron ‘98, Sam Cox ‘98, Claudia Fucigna ‘98, Nikki Fucigna ‘00, Ali Jost ‘97, Lane Jost ‘97, Cora Olson ‘96, Channing Powell ‘97, Cleaver Sower ‘00, Ridgie Sower ‘97, Scott Richardson ‘03, Channing Powell '97, Carolyn Weiss ‘00, and Joey Weiss ‘97. It was before cell phones or the Internet, so we were hanging out with each other and walking the streets and going to the parks. Georgetown felt haunted to me when I was a kid. And now I feel like we're haunting it too. Our childhoods are baked into those cobblestone streets.
Is there a restaurant that you like to go back to?
I go to Le Diplomate with my parents. And my mom just opened JOON in Tysons Corner. She’s on the shortlist for a James Beard Award for the best chef in the Mid-Atlantic. I haven’t been yet, but I’m eager to go!
I'm very happy for my mom; it's exciting to see someone who is so passionate about her work. It’s been fun to see her go from writing cookbooks to opening a restaurant at 75. And it inspires me because I think a lot of my passion for filmmaking comes from my mom's passion for cooking.
Are you developing or brainstorming anything?
Right now we have the brain space to create. So, yes, we're developing stuff, but we don’t call it that. We're telling each other stories and seeing which ones speak to us now. It’s very exciting!