The Screen Show Oscars preview: One Battle After Another/Marty Supreme/Hamnet/The Secret Agent/If I Had Legs I'd Kick You/Sentimental Value
Mar 11, 2026
Mary Bronstein, writer-director who drew on personal experience to make If I Had Legs I'd Kick You, discusses directing Rose Byrne and a subjective soundscape. Chloé Zhao, Oscar-winning filmmaker, talks Hamnet and her intimate, collaborative methods with Jessie Buckley. Josh Safdie, energetic director, explores Marty Supreme’s physicality, music choices and character invention.
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Anderson's Vineland Becomes a Modern Allegory
- Paul Thomas Anderson reframes Thomas Pynchon's Vineland into a present-day allegory about fascism and political violence.
- Leonardo DiCaprio plays a washed-up revolutionary father, a 'hipneck' figure, juggling comic derailment and deep heartbreak in Anderson's kinetic chase film.
Safdie Makes Ping Pong Mythic With Anachronism
- Josh Safdie uses anachronism and physicality to mythologise a 1950s table tennis dreamer named Marty Supreme.
- He amplified Timothée Chalamet's swagger with altered lenses and stride work, plus an 80s-inflected soundtrack like Peter Gabriel.
Zhao Uses Dream Work To Find Performance Truth
- Chloé Zhao grounded Hamnet in presence work and Jungian dream practice to open an unconscious dialogue between actor and character.
- Jessie Buckley recorded dreams daily and Zhao used that material to shape performances in-the-moment on set.