Interview by Elliot V. Kotek
Videography by F.J.Productions
(from the 2010 Sundance Film Festival)

Movie: Winter’s Bone
Directed by: Debra Granik
Written by: Debra Granik, Anne Rosellini
Starring: Jennifer Lawrence, John Hawkes, Dale Dickey, Garret Dillahunt, Sheryl Lee, Tate Taylor

Director Debra Granik and actress Jennifer Lawrence talk about working with locals in Missouri during the making of their new film, “Winter’s Bone.” Based on a novel by Daniel Woodrell, “Winter’s Bone” tells the story of a girl living in the Ozark Mountains who sets out on a search for her drug-dealing father to help keep her family afloat. Granik reflects on the casting process, trusting Lawrence’s ability, and how she approached people to use their property as sets for the movie. Lawrence describes using the book to shape her performance as Ree Dolly and drawing from her childhood growing up on a farm. “Winter’s Bone” won the dramatic competition grand jury prize at the 2010 Sundance Film Festival, where it also secured distribution through Roadside Attractions. But Granik says the hardest test is yet to come: showing the film to the people in whose backyard the story is set. 
 

Jennifer Lawrence as Ree Dolly in “Winter’s Bone”; photo by Sebastian Mlynarski, courtesy Roadside Attractions

Moving Pictures review of "Winter's Bone".