Exclusive Interview: Deborah Kampmeier Discusses Her Experience Directing The Gilded Age, the Real and Dynamic Women the Series Highlights, and More

Deborah Kampmeier is an award-winning writer and director best known for her work on projects such as Hounddog, Split, and Virgin. In November, she directed not one, but two episodes of the critically acclaimed series, The Gilded Age.

The must-see series follows a young woman who moves in with her old-money aunts and quickly becomes entangled in the social war between them and their new-money neighbors. In a world on the brink of the modern age, will she follow the rules of society or forge her own path?

Pop Culturalist was fortunate enough to speak with Deborah about her illustrious career, The Gilded Age, and how she approaches her work.

PC: How did you discover your passion for storytelling?
Deborah: I started off as an actress, which was an incredibly important part of my growth as an artist. I learned so much about myself through the characters I played. I always say acting saved my life. It was the first place I had to express all the pain and rage I was carrying, as well as the pleasure and joy. I loved bringing my life experience and the imagery from my world into my work as an actress. At a certain point, though, I realized I was trying to squeeze myself into another artist’s world in a way that felt restrictive. Scene after scene I had imagined myself in the memory of a big oak tree I sat in as a child, reliving the sensory elements of my world and an important time in my life, which ultimately, once I embraced filmmaking, became a scene in my film Hounddog.

When I made my first short film, I was still pursuing acting, and I made the film in an attempt to get Wim Wenders to cast me in a movie. I had just seen Wings of Desire, which blew me away, and I thought I would make a video fan letter for Wim, saying how much I loved his work and why I needed to act for him. But in the process of doing that I realized, wait, I actually have my own story to tell. And my first short film was born out of that. Making that film was the most alive I had ever felt in my life. And once I had made it I realized that filmmaking was my passion and my path.

PC: Who or what has had the biggest influence on your career?
Deborah: Well, Ava DuVernay totally changed the trajectory of my career, and I am forever grateful to her. Not just for launching me into television but also for creating a sisterhood who support each other. DeMane Davis is one of my Queen Sugar sisters and now a dear friend who then elevated my television career when she brought me onto Clarice. And Salli Richardson-Whitfield, one of the Executive Producers on The Gilded Age, is another Queen Sugar sister. So, I cannot say enough about what Ava has given me.

As an artist, Jane Campion has been an incredible influence. I remember how deeply An Angel At My Table reached into my soul and shook me. But really, it was sitting in the theater at a special screening of The Piano that sealed her in my psyche. I remember so clearly when the film ended, I couldn’t move from my seat. I must have sat there weeping alone in the theater for half an hour. First, because the story had moved me so deeply. And then, because I felt I had seen my own imagination on the screen, my own experience as a woman, captured in a way I had never seen before, and in a way I had been trying to get out into the world for as long as I could remember. I had such a desperate longing to make a film like that.

PC: You’ve had so much success throughout the years. When you look back, is there a moment that stands out?
Deborah: I remember the day I walked onto the set of Hounddog for the first time. I had been trying to get that film made for such a long time. That story was so personal to me. I remember the morning so clearly. I remember the sun rising as I stepped into the field where our base camp was and feeling all of the struggle to get to that moment. It felt like I had ripped the world open in order to tell this story, to claim my voice, to speak my truth, and the gratitude I felt was insane.

PC: In your preparation for The Gilded Age, you studied a lot of Season 1. What were you most excited to dive into as you headed into this project? What is that process like when you’re diving into an established world in which there is such a strong tone and voice and bringing your own stamp to it?
Deborah: I love The Gilded Age. It is such an epic and massive achievement. I adore Edith Wharton novels, and the richness of that time period in New York so much. And I so appreciate the scale, specificity, and rigorously accurate details of the show that Michael Engler and Salli Richardson-Whitfield created with their amazing team in Season 1. It was thrilling to have the opportunity to step into such a beautifully established visual language and play in that size and grandeur as I planned my shots with DP Manuel Billeter.

When I come into a show as a guest director, my job is to learn everything I can about the tone and voice of the show. And to remember I am a guest at the party. My job is to pair the perfect wine that elevates the meal, not to change the menu. So I study the first season. I learn my crew and their style. I build relationships with my team. I dance in my locations. I study my script and prep my shots. I meet with the cast, and I make those connections as deep as possible before I ever arrive on set. And then I think about what I love about my episodes. Where my heart lives in these stories.

I love that The Gilded Age features such real and dynamic women with rich interior lives. These brilliant actresses like Christine Baranski, Cynthia Nixon, Carrie Coon, Audra McDonald, Louisa Jacobson, Denée Benton, Donna Murphy, Laura Benanti, Taissa Farmiga, and on and on…truly the entire cast of women on this show stunningly embodies larger-than-life figures with their layered and passionate performances. I am so grateful that Julian Fellowes focuses on women of all ages. There is so much space for their interior lives, which I love to lean into. And I also love the men. I loved the entire cast of The Gilded Age, which reads like a roster of the very best theater and film actors in New York City. It could not have been more of a pleasure working with every single one of them.

PC: You come from the indie filmmaking world. What has the transition been like going to The Gilded Age where everything is at a larger scale? What are some of the creative freedoms and challenges that brings to you as the person at the helm of these specific episodes?
Deborah: You know it’s interesting because at the end of the day, it’s all the same thing in terms of what you are actually doing, the teams you are working with, the structure of your day, the way you bring a story on the page to life on the screen. But what I love so much about television and especially a show like this one is how much closer I can get to what’s in my imagination because of the budget we have, because of the tools and toys we have, because of the crew we have. I feel like I really get the opportunity to lean into my vision in a way that I’m not able to with a $250,000 total budget, which was what we had on my last feature. That is thrilling.

PC: How have your experiences working in indie films translated to television and shows like The Gilded Age and Shelter?
Deborah: I actually think that indie filmmaking is an incredible training ground for television. They are both so fast. As an indie filmmaker, I’ve also learned about all of the departments and how they function so I can bring a great deal of understanding to the problem-solving when some minor or major obstacle occurs and we need to make a quick shift.

PC: Julian Fellowes creates a lot of space for directors to play. How did that trust inspire the direction and visual landscape in which you wanted to take these episodes?
Deborah: I love the amount of space Julian gives his directors to play and create. For example, in the opening sequence of episode two, the script says that George Russell is walking down the hallway, passes Bertha, and she asks if he’s going to talk to Gladys. He says yes, and then he’s in the room with Gladys having this conversation about Oscar. In my mind, I was thinking about this conflict between mother and daughter and this father caught in the middle. I came up with the idea of Bertha behind the closed door with George, upset with her daughter and essentially yelling at George to take care of it. Then George emerges from behind the door, walks through the halls, and as he approaches his daughter’s bedroom, hears Gladys behind the closed door screaming about her mother. I just loved the idea of that dynamic and how it is timeless and must happen between mothers and daughters in any and every period of history. So it was really fun to lean into that and create that visually through the shots and emotionally through the performances. There were so many opportunities like that in both my episodes, to pull back the facade a little bit and show what was going on behind closed doors, especially for these women who were so restricted out in the world.

PC: Outside of these projects, what’s next for you?
Deborah: I have a feature film called The Cassandra in development. With the strike just over, I have a lot of exciting TV projects lining up for next year. I’ll keep you posted.

To keep up with Deborah, follow her on Twitter and Instagram.