{"id":1753,"date":"2025-08-20T16:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-08-20T16:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/filmfreeway.com\/articles\/?p=1753"},"modified":"2025-08-20T18:55:34","modified_gmt":"2025-08-20T18:55:34","slug":"zero-day-netflix-director-interview","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/filmfreeway.com\/articles\/zero-day-netflix-director-interview\/","title":{"rendered":"Emmy-Nominated Director Lesli Linka Glatter Unpacks the \u2018Huge Undertaking\u2019 of \u2018Zero Day\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

For Lesli Linka Glatter, passion is an integral part of directing. \u201cI love doing this crazy job,\u201d she explains, \u201cand I want to continue doing it until I\u2019m being rolled to the set with my walker.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Over 40 years ago, a fateful meeting in Tokyo inspired an interest in storytelling. Since then, Glatter has lent her talent to dozens of decorated series, including \u201cTwin Peaks,\u201d \u201cER,\u201d \u201cThe West Wing,\u201d \u201cGrey\u2019s Anatomy,\u201d \u201cMad Men,\u201d \u201cGilmore Girls,\u201d \u201cThe Walking Dead,\u201d \u201cThe Leftovers\u201d and \u201cHomeland.\u201d In 2021, she became the president of the Directors Guild of America.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Glatter was recently recognized with her ninth Emmy nomination for directing Netflix\u2019s \u201cZero Day.\u201d (Previously, she earned one Emmy nod for \u201cMad Men\u201d and seven for \u201cHomeland.\u201d) The political thriller features Robert De Niro in his first leading TV role as a former U.S. president charged with investigating a massive cyberattack. Here, Glatter reflects on the limited series and the people who shaped her as a director.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What is your \u201cZero Day\u201d origin story?<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

I never want to repeat myself, and since \u201cHomeland\u201d ended [in 2020], I have steered away from the spy genre, as much as I love it and think it\u2019s a great way to see character development within the thriller context. But I was sent the [script for the] first hour of \u201cZero Day,\u201d and from the moment I started reading, it grabbed me. And when that happens, I know I\u2019m the person to direct it. I knew what a zero day event was, but I had no idea about the depth of it until I started doing research. And then we jumped in.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The theme we\u2019re dealing with\u2014which started in the time of \u201cHomeland\u201d but is much more prevalent now\u2014is, what is truth in a post-truth world? How do we ever have a conversation when we can\u2019t agree on what is fact and what is opinion?\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cZero Day\u201d was a first for you in the sense that you directed every episode. What was it like getting to be there for every single step?<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s a huge undertaking. I directed all six hours, and that\u2019s like doing three movies back-to-back, without taking a breath. You have to be prepared for the long haul. It\u2019s very exciting and a bit overwhelming when you start off on day one and you know you\u2019ve got 103 [more] days. And then, in the middle, you realize: Oh, my God, I\u2019m only half through! But it was amazing to have the big-picture vision and be able to execute that.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Also, with Bob [De Niro] having never done television, the idea of switching directors was not something that made any sense to him. And given how we ended up shooting the show, it was absolutely the best choice on every level. Bob was so involved with the development process. When I first met him, I was a little nervous. I mean, he\u2019s a legend. But that quickly went away because he\u2019s such an extraordinary person, he\u2019s got a great sense of humor, and he was so invested in this.<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"\"
Lesli Linka Glatter Credit: Kathy Hutchins\/Shutterstock<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

You were initially a dancer and choreographer. When did you know you were supposed to be a director?<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

I was very happy being a modern dancer and choreographer, and I never intended to be in the film business. I got a grant to teach and perform throughout the Far East, and one day I was in Tokyo and wanted a cup of coffee. There were two coffee shops, and, arbitrarily, I went to the one on the right, and that single act changed my life forever. There was only one seat left and an older gentleman in his 70s waved me over. This man, Yutaka Tsuji, became my mentor. We had the most extraordinary conversation. And several years into knowing him, he told me a series of stories that had happened to him all around the world, because he\u2019d been the head of cultural affairs for the largest newspaper in Japan.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Those stories haunted me, and I knew I had to pass them on, but I didn\u2019t know I was going to make a film. And then, again, by chance, I met the wonderful Australian director George Miller in Tokyo, and he encouraged me to make it a film [her Oscar-nominated 1985 short \u201cTales of Meeting and Parting,\u201d which she made as part of the American Film Institute\u2019s Directing Workshop for Women].\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Had I walked into the coffee shop on the left, I would\u2019ve never directed. Your life can change in a second, but one has to be open to that moment.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Once you got started, what were some of the formative lessons or experiences that molded you as an artist?<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

My first couple jobs were on [NBC\u2019s] \u201cAmazing Stories,\u201d which was created and run by the brilliant Steven Spielberg, who is still a mentor, and David Lynch\u2019s \u201cTwin Peaks.\u201d What auspicious [projects] to start with. I was encouraged from the very beginning to not look at TV as a lesser medium. It doesn\u2019t matter what the delivery system is; tell the best possible story you can tell. I was lucky to be observing and sitting at the feet of those two masters, and they grabbed the hand of a newbie and opened the door. So I feel so committed to mentoring because I was so well mentored.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What advice would you pass along to young or aspiring directors?<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Keep acquiring skills. I hadn\u2019t worked with actors, so I immediately went to acting class. I didn\u2019t know about cameras, so I took a photography class. Learn your craft because then you will have so many more colors in that paint box.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And don\u2019t give up. You\u2019re going to get so many people telling you how hard it is, and you\u2019re going to get lots of nos, so you have to be incredibly tenacious. But you can\u2019t forget what you love about storytelling; you don\u2019t want to lose that joy. Tell the stories you want to tell. I was told not to make [\u201cTales of Meeting and Parting\u201d] if I ever wanted a job in Hollywood, because three-quarters [of the film was] in Japanese, with subtitles; had flashbacks and narration; was a period piece set in World War II; and had one Caucasian character. But I was a young dancer. I didn\u2019t care if I was gonna have a job in Hollywood. I didn\u2019t know anyone in Hollywood! So I just told the story I wanted to tell.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This interview has been edited for clarity and length.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Lesli Linka Glatter discusses \u201cZero Day\u201d and shares her advice for aspiring directors.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":75,"featured_media":1757,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[45],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1753","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-articles"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n'Zero Day' Director Lesli Linka Glatter on the \u2018Huge Undertaking\u2019 of the Netflix Series<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The Emmy-nominated director discusses directing the Robert De Niro\u2013led political thriller and her fateful journey from dancer to filmmaker.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" 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