I love this new series called One Perfect Shot. Why? For one, I am a lifelong movie nerd and it’s great to hear directors talk about process. Not being super technical, mind you, but really giving you a look into their ambitions and intentions for their own perfect shots.
Each episode is less than 30 minutes and zips along at a good pace. Director Ava DuVernay created this limited series and narrates, after a brief on camera introduction that she presents.
From there, the directors give a bit of their background – the dues paid, the innumerable heartbreaks that happen to creative trying to become directors and even after having “made it,” there are always disappointments; people drop out, things get shut down, budgets are insufficient – the list goes on.
The first episode features Patty Jenkins, who directed Charlize Theron to an Oscar in the movie Monster, but will always be best known as the helmer of Wonder Woman, which made history by becoming the highest grossing film directed by a woman.
Jenkins chooses as her One Perfect Shot, the iconic scene of Wonder Woman (Gal Gadot) being seen as the titular character for the first time. Until then, she was Diana – but as she climbs out of the World War I trench and onto the field, the power and the “reveal” of Wonder Woman, walking in slow motion, ricocheting bullets off her arm cuffs – yeah, it’s pretty bad ass.
Jenkins also has a brief discussion with her visual effects guy and the producer – they add some perspective to fill in more details.
The other episode, which is the only other that’s been made available so far, features director Jon M. Chu. He directed Crazy Rich Asians, and after telling his great backstory of being the child of Chinese immigrants in Northern California, he tells an inspiring story of having been “discovered” by Steven Spielberg, only to spend something like 5 years before finally getting to do a real feature film.
His One Perfect Shot is the opulent wedding scene from Crazy Rich Asians and, oh my god, it is a stunner. I had totally forgotten how out-of-this-world that sequence where the bride enters and starts her walk was.
Chu brings in his costume designer and production designer who have great mini-stories to contribute to the scene’s success.
Other episodes, not reviewed as of this date, include: Aaron Sorkin, Michael Mann, Kais Lemmons and Malcolm D. Lee. I can’t wait to see them. By the way, this started as a cool Twitter account, which you can follow here: https://twitter.com/OnePerfectShot
One Perfect Shot debuts March 24th on HBO Max.
