Never Rarely Sometimes Always Director Eliza Hittman and First Cow Director Kelly Reichardt in Conversation

Eliza Hittman (EH): From my point of view, I haven’t really made a movie with known actors yet, so I don’t know what the budget for a film like that really looks like. So I always have a sense of what the film or the script will be appraised at because I’m always looking to make discoveries through casting. So it’s a different approach, and I don’t really have a sense of what it would cost to work with somebody famous.

KR: Sometimes having a name attached is what helps you get financing. And sometimes, like you’re saying, it doesn’t, but usually it doesn’t—usually the budget is made up for by having someone with some name recognition attached. It’s so different every time—I haven’t figured out any of these formulas, I have to say. My latest film, First Cow, doesn’t have any very recognizable actors in it and it was the largest budget I had, which was still, obviously in the world of budgets, really small. But it was the least-recognizable names I’ve had in awhile.

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