The Treatment

This week on The Treatment, Elvis welcomes back director, writer and actress Sarah Polley, whose new collection of essays is “Run Towards the Danger:  Confrontations with a Body of Memory.” Polley’s films as a director include “Stories We Tell,” “Away from Her” and “Take this Waltz.” Polley tells The Treatment about her traumatic experiences as a child actor on the film set of “The Adventures of Baron Munchausen” and how those experiences still reverberate now as an adult director. She says she is averse to finding a rigid, inflexible narrative about one’s personality or experiences, but is open to revision and evolution over time. And Polley says it took a decades-long journey of health challenges to get her to a place of gratitude about her body.

This week on The Treatment, Elvis welcomes director Matt Reeves, whose latest project is “The Batman” starring Robert Pattinson. Reeves also helmed two of the “Planet of the Apes” films as well as “The Pallbearer.” Reeves tells The Treatment the only way he can make large genre films is to make them personal. He says he didn’t want to make another origin story for his iteration of Batman, but wanted to cover the early years of the superhero, where he was still trying to put himself together. And he discusses the similarities between Bruce Wayne and Tom, his protagonist from “The Pallbearer,” his earliest film. 

This week on The Treatment, Elvis welcomes back actress Regina Hall who’s currently starring in Mariama Diallo’s “Master,” a horror film about the first Black master of an elite fictional New England university. Hall’s other films include “Support the Girls” and “Girls Trip.” Hall is also co-hosting the 2022 Academy Awards on March 27 along with Wanda Sykes and Amy Schumer. Hall tells The Treatment she was struck by how many people have said they see themselves in one of the characters in “Master.” She says her mother passed away during filming, which gave her portrayal a sadness and gravity that came from her grief. And she says her upcoming co-hosting gig is both exciting and terrifying.

This week on The Treatment, Elvis welcomes Academy Award nominated actor Benedict Cumberbatch, who is up for Best Actor for his portrayal of Phil Burbank in Jane Campion’s “The Power of the Dog.” Cumberbatch is also currently reprising his role as Dr. Strange in “Spiderman: No Way Home.” Cumberbatch talks about the superhero’s evolution while trying not to reveal plot spoilers for the upcoming “Dr. Strange” film. He discusses the central role physicality plays in his portrayals of both real life and fictional characters. And he talks about the two hardest days filming “The Power of the Dog.”

This week on The Treatment, Elvis welcomes “BEL AIR” creator and director, Morgan Cooper. The series, which was inspired by “The Fresh Prince of Bel Air,” is streaming on Peacock. Cooper tells The Treatment he wants to tell everyday stories of “Black normalcy” in his work. He says his influences, which include hip-hop artists and producers J Dilla and MF Doom along with photographer Gordon Parks and Roy DeCarava, find their way into “BEL AIR.” And Cooper says, if not every viewer understands the specific choices and references he made in the series, that's OK with him.

This week on The Treatment, Elvis welcomes playwright Jeremy O. Harris, whose play “Slave Play” is at the Mark Taper Forum until March 13. The play received 12 Tony nominations, the most ever for a play. Harris also co-wrote the screenplay for the 2021 film “Zola.” Harris tells The Treatment that some of his inspiration for “Slave Play” came from two controversial films he watched as a child. He says he wants the play to make audience members feel uncomfortable and have tough conversations about race. But Harris also says going to the theater shouldn’t feel like someone is making you eat your vegetables.

This week on The Treatment, Elvis welcomes back director Denis Villeneuve, whose latest film is the adaptation of Frank Herbert’s “Dune,” which is nominated for nine Academy Awards, including Best Adapted Screenplay, which Villeneuve co-wrote. His other films as director include “Arrival,” “Sicario,” and “Blade Runner 2049.” Villeneuve tells The Treatment how fear weaves its way through many of his films. He talks about why his films often focus on the impact and aftermath of violence rather than the violence itself. And he says, in spite of the darkness of many of his films, he does believe that humans can evolve, and there is hope for the future.  

This week on The Treatment, Elvis welcomes back writer Gerrick Kennedy whose newest book is “Didn’t We Almost Have it All: In Defense of Whitney Houston.” Kennedy is also the author of “Parental Discretion is Advised: The Rise of N.W.A. and the Dawn of Gangsta Rap.” His writing has appeared in Vanity Fair, GQ, and The Los Angeles Times. Kennedy tells The Treatment that one of the misconceptions about Whitney Houston is that she didn’t have agency in creating her music and her image because of Clive Davis’ heavy influence. He says Houston was subjected to near constant and deeply invasive questioning about her personal life by a mostly white press in a way that few other celebrities have experienced. And he says he was deeply moved by her return to her gospel roots in the last years of her life.

This week on The Treatment, Elvis welcomes Academy Award winning director and writer Joel Coen, whose latest film is “The Tragedy of Macbeth,” currently streaming on Apple TV+. This is Coen’s solo directorial debut. He shared the Best Director and Best Adapted Screenplay Oscars with his brother Ethan for their 2010 adaptation of  “No Country for Old Men.” Coen talks about playing with the line between theater and cinema for the adaptation of “Macbeth.” He says watching previous film adaptations of the play was helpful in determining what he did and did not want his film to be. And he talks about how casting his wife Frances McDormand and Denzel Washington as the leads led to a small but significant change in the story.

This week on The Treatment, Elvis welcomes SAG Supporting Actress nominee Kirsten Dunst, nominated for her role in Netflix’s “The Power of the Dog,” directed by Jane Campion. Dunst has appeared in many films including “The Virgin Suicides,” “Melancholia” and “Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind.” Dunst tells The Treatment her entire approach to acting has changed in recent years, including incorporating dreamwork into her preparation. She says acting opposite her partner in real life, Jesse Plemons, in “The Power of the Dog” helped her both on and off set. And after acting in so many different roles, Dunst talks about the dream project she has yet to do: a musical.