Paula González-Nasser — Six Years Scouting, One Film: THE SCOUT (2025)
Not a pop psychology show, but if it was, I'd explore more with my guest, writer and director Paula González-Nasser of the brilliant film THE SCOUT (2025), how she made her first feature about a job she didn't care for. I can't imagine a scenario where she was working as a location scout, and thought, this is my first feature film.
And yet.
THE SCOUT works brilliantly as a observational movie about the little seen lives of location scouts, even though their work has an outsized influence on the sets that you see in films. She captures all the little nuances of that life through wide shots and long takes. And she's here to share how she made it happen.
Paula and I talk about:
- the theatrical premiere of THE SCOUT at the Film Forum -- including Q&As on September 25th and September 26th!
- how she responds to the criticism that the film is slow;
- how much of her location scouting experience for six years winds up in the film and when she realized the job was her debut feature;
- the shocking part that the film only worked for her when she stripped out her own personal experience;
- the unexpected setup required for wide, static, long takes and the incredible work by her DP;
- how she knew when it worked;
- why she kept her main character, played by Mimi Davila, away from the supporting cast;
- the process between its premiere and its theatrical debut;
- what's next for her.
Memorable Quotes:
" If the slowness is by design, I hope people can at least understand or appreciate the reasons behind it, even if they don't like it."
"I'm so glad that it took me not doing the job anymore and having some distance away from it to really appreciate the job."
"I don't think I would have said yes to dinner. That's where I draw the line."
"I was very naive in thinking like, "Oh, I could just do these wide shots in the same amount of time." And it's like, no, it requires a lot of setup and lighting and timing and blocking."
"This film should be observational almost in the same way that the scout is observing these spaces and the people within these spaces."
"My style or my voice, I don't think has changed. If anything, I've really leaned into what I discovered about myself through this film."
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