Benh Zeitlin with young actress Quvenzhané Wallis on the set of “Beasts of the Southern Wild”.
When I had the opportunity to chat with Benh Zeitlin, the co-writer and director of Beasts of the Southern Wild, I was a little on edge. After watching this conceptually high brow movie, I thought that I wouldn’t be able to chat with the director. He would probably be way too smart for me. Also, this film cleaned house at the Cannes Film Festival and Sundance. When a film of this caliber receives a landslide of accolades and acclaim, it can mean one of two things: 1.) the director may be a little bit pompous or 2.) the director can be unbelievably shy and mute. Turns out Benh was neither of those. In fact, he was cool and chill. I think I was the uptight one in the room.
That said, in addition to his brilliant movie, we talked about everything including how Wayne’s World can answer life’s biggest mysteries and Benh’s anticipation for Battlefield America.
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Beasts of the Southern Wild opens in select theaters July 6. Watch the official trailer below:
