About this episode

Todd Haynes and Christine Vachon discuss their long-standing creative partnership and the evolution of queer cinema over three decades.

Award-winning filmaker Todd Haynes and his longtime collaborator, film producer Christine Vachon, discuss their thirty-year creative partnership, from the emergence of the new queer cinema to the culture wars of the nineties. In 1987, Haynes directed the short film Superstar: The Karen Carpenter Story. His first feature film, Poison, won the Grand Jury Prize at Sundance. After Safe, which featured Julianne Moore in a breakthrough role, he conjured David Bowie in Velvet Goldmine, then paid homage to German director Douglas Sirk in Far from Heaven. Haynes had six actors play Bob Dylan in I’m Not There. He directed the TV miniseries Mildred Pierce, then returned to feature films with Carol, Wonderstruck, Dark Waters, and the documentary The Velvet Underground, followed by the feature film May December. Christine Vachon is an Independent Spirit Award and Gotham Award winner who co-founded the powerhouse Killer Films with partner Pamela Koffler in 1995. Over three decades, the company has produced more than one hundred films, including some of the most celebrated and important American independent features. Recent releases include Todd Haynes’s May December (Netflix), starring Natalie…

People in this episode

Host: David Zwirner

Guests: Todd Haynes, Christine Vachon

Topics covered

• film
• queer cinema
• creative partnership
• independent film
• culture wars
• American cinema

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Killer Films

Books & works: Superstar: The Karen Carpenter Story, Poison, Safe, Velvet Goldmine, Far from Heaven, I’m Not There, Mildred Pierce, Carol, Wonderstruck, Dark Waters

More episodes of Dialogues: The David Zwirner Podcast

• The Infinite Yayoi Kusama (re-release) · September 1, 2026 · 38 min
• A Curator’s Guide to the Venice Biennale | Ebony L. Haynes with Adrienne Edwards · July 14, 2026 · 44 min
• From the New York Review: An Episode of Private Life with Namwali Serpell · May 19, 2026 · 1h 17m
• Bonus Episode | Anni Albers: A Life | Live with Nicholas Fox Weber · May 12, 2026 · 24 min
• Benjamin H. D. Buchloh on Gerhard Richter (Re-run) · May 6, 2026 · 1h 7m
• Michael Armitage · April 28, 2026 · 37 min

Explore listener stats, chart rankings, contacts and more on the Dialogues: The David Zwirner Podcast podcast page.