The Undoing: Director Susanne Bier
and Post Producer Nina Khan

By Iain Blair

Celebrated Danish director Susanne Bier has won an Emmy for her work on The Night Manager, and her film In a Better World won an Oscar and a Golden Globe. For her latest project, Bier teamed up with TV legend and Emmy-winning creator of Big Little Lies, David E. Kelley, on HBO’s twisty psychological thriller The Undoing.

The six-part series, currently streaming on HBO Max, stars Nicole Kidman and Hugh Grant. The story follows Grace and Jonathan Fraser, who are living lives of wealthy privilege in New York City. But overnight that all changes, thanks to a violent murder and the airing of a lot of dirty laundry.

I recently spoke with Bier — along with her post producer Nina Khan — about directing the show and its workflow.

You shot in New York. How did that affect the shoot?
Susanne Bier: Yes, all on location in New York. It was very cold, then it got milder, and then it got very, very hot. It was hard, as we didn’t shoot in sequence because of some cast availability and getting locations, so we were jumping around a lot between the different episodes.

We shot the winter scenes in the middle of summer, which was a big challenge as you have to deal with all the trees, and Nicole had to wear a very warm coat in the heat. Also, shooting in New York is not easy.

Tell us about post. Where was it done?
Nina Khan: The assembly took place in New York with editor Ben Lester, who was there for the entire period. It was cut on Avid Media Composer v2018.9 at DNx115 (Mac OS X) with Unity media sharing. Ben edited all six episodes. He was supported by an assembly editor and editorial team that included first assistant editors Lindsey Woodward and Emily Morrison.

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