On directing a graphic scene of a lynching:“It’s the hardest thing I’ve ever directed.It is in one take, one shot. And it was emotionally draining.
The crew—my assistant director, my production designer, my cinematographer—mapped it out a week beforehand. We had everyone walking through it so they knew what it would be.
The actors didn’t really step into it until the day of. And what you see is the first take. We were in it. I did three takes, and that was the take we used.
I think the hardest part for me was watching the kids cry. They genuinely were traumatized by seeing a woman hanging from a tree, and [a burning cross].