In certain sectors of industry, the term “greenfield” is used to describe a project that strikes into virgin territory. Built from entirely scratch, greenfield projects cultivate previously undeveloped terrain. Along these lines, it seems fair to say that Lauren Greenfield’s latest film, The Queen of Versailles, is a Greenfield through and through. Following a family of billionaires as they set out to build America’s largest home, the film offers audiences an entirely fresh take on the collapse of the real-estate bubble. The film earned Greenfield the award for Best U.S. Director at this year’s Sundance Film Festival and was acquired by Magnolia Pictures in January. The Queen of Versailles screened thrice at True/False 2012: the last showing is today! (Check the schedule for details.)—Joe Bookman

TRUE/FALSE: Do you feel as though The Queen of Versailles is an obvious outgrowth of your prior creative work, or does it feel in some ways like a fresh turn in your artistic career?

LAUREN GREENFIELD: I do feel that The Queen of Versailles has grown out of my work from the last two decades, but the making of this film has also been a creative breakthrough for me as a director. The film originally grew out of my long-term photography project about wealth, consumerism, and the American Dream. The Queen of Versailles was a natural extension of my work on those themes, but took on a creative momentum of its own as a stand-alone story that became an allegory about the overreaching of America and the subsequent fall we have experienced at almost every level of the socioeconomic spectrum.

I attended the Sundance Documentary Edit and Story Lab last summer and that was a transformational experience for me as a filmmaker. It deepened my understanding of the characters, the narrative, and the story structure, and increased my confidence with the material. I crossed over into filmmaking in 2004 after working as a photographer for the twelve years prior. Although my last three films, Thin, kids +money , and Beauty Culture are close to my heart, I feel The Queen of Versailles is the first full realization of the aesthetic and sociological voice of my photography in my filmmaking.

T/F: The average United States home is about 2,700 square feet. Your film documents the construction of a 90,000-square-foot home. What adjectives would you use to describe this residence?

LG: Palatial, resort-like. Most superlatives apply.

T/F: And what adjectives would you use to describe your film?

LG: Epic, allegorical, comedic and tragic, sympathetic, surprising.

T/F: Working in documentary inevitably involves an element of luck: no matter how skillful a storyteller you are, there are always certain narrative elements that lie outside a filmmaker’s control. Looking back on the production, were there specific moments or turns of events that seem to you, in retrospect, especially fortunate for the film?

LG: There was no way that either I or the Siegels could have predicted the effect of the economic crisis on the timeshare business that was the source of their fortune. Obviously, this development dramatically impacted the film in ways that changed the story, and caused significant character development. It changed the film from a story about the ultimate realization of the American Dream (the biggest house in America) to a story about the flaws, as well as the strengths of that dream. Ultimately, I think it made Jackie and David more empathetic and allowed their unexpected “everyman” qualities to emerge. The larger-than-life scale of the Siegel’s story allows us to understand our own actions in a revealing and surprising way.