Director Bill Condon recently discussed his 1995 film Kiss of the Spider Woman at a Directors Guild of America (DGA) membership screening in Los angeles on September 14, and is scheduled to speak about the film following the DGA’s New York screening on September 27.The film, a musical drama based on Manuel Puig‘s 1976 novel and a subsequent Tony Award-winning Broadway musical, centers on the unlikely friendship between Valentín, a political prisoner, and Molina, a gay window dresser, as they share a cell in an Argentine prison.
Condon detailed the challenges of filming primarily within the confines of a single prison cell, explaining how he and cinematographer Tobias Schliessler approached scenes wiht varying visual styles. “Obviously, the biggest challenge is when you’re on set and you’ve got those four walls, and you’ve got so many scenes. We really tried to figure out different approaches to different scenes,” Condon said.He cited a scene where Molina cries and Valentín comforts him, noting the shift in cinematography from “real grittiness” to a “beatiful, romantic way,” illustrating how “the ideas of the movie are making their way into the cell.”
Condon’s other directorial work includes The Good Liar, Beauty and the Beast, The Fifth Estate, The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn - Part 2, The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn - Part 1, Kinsey, Gods and Monsters, Candyman: Farewell to the Flesh, and Sister, Sister. He has also directed television movies such as The Man Who Wouldn’t Die, Deadly Relations, Dead in the Water, White Lie, and Murder 101, as well as episodes of The Big C and The Others.
He received a DGA Award nomination for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Feature Film for Dreamgirls in 2006 and has been a DGA member as 1990.
