Conversation: Debra Granik, Director of Sundance Favorite ‘Winter’s Bone’

Ashlee Thompson as ‘Ashlee’, Jennifer Lawrence as ‘Ree Dolly’ and Isaiah Stone as ‘Sonny’ in “Winter’s Bone,” directed by Debra Granik. Photo by Sebastian Mlynarski

In “Winter’s Bone” — originally a novel by Daniel Woodrell and now a film by director Debra Granik — 17-year-old Ree Dolly must find her troubled father who has disappeared just as he put up the family’s house as bail. Now the head of the family, Ree bravely starts a dangerous search in order to keep her younger siblings and mother from being turned out into the cold.

Shot on location in Missouri, the production team took great care to make the suspenseful story set in a small community in the Ozarks come alive with a great deal of authentic, respectful detail and insiders’ input.

The film debuted at Sundance in January, winning the Grand Jury Prize for dramatic feature, as well as the award for Screenwriting. Next, “Winter’s Bone” will be shown at the Museum of Modern Art in New York on June 9, and begins a run in select theaters June 11.

I talked with Debra Granik about her film this week by phone:

Watch the trailer for “Winter’s Bone”:

Editor’s Note: Jeffrey Brown was a juror at Sundance this year, and talked to Hari Sreenevasan about films he was seeing while he was there, including “Winter’s Bone.”

A full transcript for this conversation will be added as soon as possible.