‘The Mastermind’ Director Kelly Reichardt on What It Takes to Be an Independent Director These Days

“The Mastermind,” Kelly Reichardt’s latest film, loosely based on an actual robbery of a Massachusetts art museum in the early 1970s, has only been out for a few hours. But already somebody has bought a ticket and taken pictures of the screen during scenes where star Josh O’Connor appears in his underwear. The photos are now on social media.

“What the f–k?” Reichardt asks when we tell her about this. “That’s the problem when they say, ‘Josh’s audience will come to your film.’ That’s the problem.”

Over the course of her career, Reichardt has become something of an institution in the American independent film world,…