A: I had reservations about making the film, because I saw "Celine Dion" in quotes, as a very cultivated public figure. She had a persona, and I was a little cynical about that. I didn't want to make a film about someone who had an agenda. It took getting to talk with her, and then just connecting with each other on a personal level about certain personal things. We both love trees. We both raise boys. She was very interested in picking apart everything that was in [the background on] our Zoom calls: "What's that?" You could tell she was just trying to piece me together.

I had made very intimate films about people I know very well, like my parents and my son. I just didn't know where she'd fit in. In the end, I realized that the fact that Celine was so used to cameras, the fact that she had lived her life under lights, actually made her a very authentic subject. I realized that, instead of [her celebrity] being something to be wary of, it actually was working in my favor, but only because she had decided, "I have nowhere else to go." She seemed to have it all. In fact, she was living a very private lie, and she called it a lie. I was amazed at the language she was willing to use to describe herself.

Q: We see Dion have this very intense episode, where it's clear she's in excruciating pain. Tell me about filming that — what was going through your head?

A: This all happened all in a matter of a minute. We were in a physical therapy session. We were 10 minutes out of two days of [her] recording [music] for the first time in several years. She left feeling elated, because she didn't think she'd be able to do it. Ironically, it is that elation, that emotional high, that can trigger this kind of response. We could have turned the camera off, but we had been filming for eight months at that point, and Celine said, "Film everything." I thought to myself, "I gotta make sure this woman's breathing," so I just pushed my headphones into my ear, and I listened, and I could not hear her breathing. I asked, "Is she breathing?" She was able to squeeze [the therapist's] hand. I looked at my [director of photography], and we just kept going.

I was actually grateful that about four minutes into the episode, you hear her therapist mention that the cameras are in the room, and he checks with her if it's OK. I wasn't sure what she would say in that moment, but she said it was OK. I couldn't believe what had happened, and I was so grateful she was OK, but I realized that it might be an opportunity, if Celine was up for it, to really show and really validate her suffering.

Six months later, I showed her a rough cut of the film. I was very nervous. I knew there was no way I would ever do this without her consent. She said, "I think this film will help me." Then she said, "Don't cut down that scene."

Q: How did this project change your perception of her? Are you a fan now, or at least an admirer?

A: A filmmaker should be very wary of getting intoxicated by anything. But I really did allow myself to be inspired by her. We're almost the same age. I have my health, and I watched someone who was really struggling. She finds so much joy in making music that she is going to come out with something on the other side of this that is going to be very powerful. It may not be the Celine Dion that hit the money notes and basically does three aerobics classes during a concert. It might be a different intensity, it might be a different artistic approach, it might be a different way of performing. But I can tell you she is very focused on being an advocate for people with this disease.

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