“Bad Boys: Ride or Die” Editors on Mixing Comedy, Action, Tender Moments—and Barry White
Will Smith and Martin Lawrence are back as Miami buddy cops Mike and Marcus, respectively, in Bad Boys: Ride or Die, the fourth installation of the franchise and the second directed by Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah. In 2020’s Bad Boys for Life, Mike and Marcus dealt with the murder of their friend and mentor, Captain Conrad Howard (Joe Pantoliano). In Ride or Die, the pair are out to clear his good name.
Ke Huy Quan Talks Drawing from Personal Experience to Play “Loki” Season 2 Standout Ouroboros
Ke Huy Quan was driving when he got a call from Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige two years ago. Having just seen Quan’s (eventually Oscar-winning) turn in the record-breaking A24 epic Everything Everywhere All At Once, Feige — with whom Quan had crossed paths on 2000’s X-Men, working as assistant action choreographer in his first job out of college — offered him the role of the quirky,
“3 Body Problem” Production Designer Deborah Riley on Melding Sci-Fi & Period Perfect History
Netflix’s adaption of the first book in Liu Cixin’s hit Remembrance of Earth’s Past trilogy, 3 Body Problem, is more than science fiction. Facing a slew of inexplicable suicides, a group of scientists and friends begin to uncover the future arrival of an alien race, the San-Ti, and learn of the Cultural Revolution-era events in China that set this gradual but hostile takeover in motion.
The series is primarily set in contemporary London and the English countryside,
“Shōgun” Editors Aika Miyake and Maria Gonzales on Cutting Mariko’s Heroic Path
The first season of Justin Marks and Rachel Kondo’s masterful Shōgun was an expertly paced slow-burn drama that plunged viewers into 17th-century Japan with a passionate obsession with the rigors and wonders of the period and location. The new Shōgun shifts its center of balance from the swashbuckling but woefully out of his depth British pirate Blackthorne (Cosmo Jarvis) to his Japanese captors. Blackthorne has washed ashore on a land in the midst of a tectonic power shift,
“Inside Out 2” Screenwriter Dave Holstein on Anxiety Taking Center Stage
In Inside Out 2 (in theaters June 14), Riley (voiced by Kensington Tallman) is off to hockey camp in the summer before high school, no longer the little girl we remember from the sensational introduction we got nine years ago in Inside Out. Riley is now a 13-year-old tween in the liminal zone of adolescence, with a host of new emotions presenting themselves for the first time. So when the sirens go off again in the Headquarters of Riley’s brain,
“BRATS” Director Andrew McCarthy on Reuniting With the Iconic Brat Pack
It’s fair to say the youth movie genre in the 1980s was defined by the Brat Pack, the group of young actors who appeared together in such classics as Pretty in Pink, The Breakfast Club, and St. Elmo’s Fire. They are famously familiar: Emilio Estevez, Rob Lowe, Demi Moore, Molly Ringwald, Ally Sheedy, and Andrew McCarthy, among others. What is less well known is the profound impact that moniker,
How the “Bridgerton” Costume Designers Dialed up the Romantic Fantasy in Season 3
In the Bridgerton universe, imagination is key. One of the reasons the show skyrocketed in popularity since its season one debut is that it’s a romance and a period drama reimagined. It’s a romance set in a royal world with diverse characters, whimsical clothing, and orchestral covers of modern-day pop hits that give the period trappings a modern sensibility.
And what better way to sell a romantic, fantastical world than through the detailed costuming created by Bridgerton costume designers John Glaser,
“Knuckles” Composer Tom Howe on Scoring the Speedy Warrior’s Paramount+ Debut
Composer Tom Howe constructed the score for Paramount+’s superpowered new series Knuckles, putting the warrior Knuckles the Echidna from the Sonic the Hedgehog universe at the center of the action.
“He’s like Sonic, but more fun, more attitude, and probably more fun to have a beer with or go out for dinner with,” Howe says of the titular character. Howe also benefited from an added element that made the sound of Knuckles so appealing—the voice of Knuckles himself,
“Shakespeare but with football”: Director Matthew Hamachek Unpacks “The Dynasty: New England Patriots”
Director and executive producer Matthew Hamachek calls The Dynasty, the 10-part docu-series now streaming on Apple TV+, “Shakespeare but with football.”
He’s not overstating it. As Dynasty charts the rise and fall of the six-time Super Bowl champion New England Patriots over the course of 20 years, dazzling on-field highlights are deftly layered with the documentary’s themes of male ego, betrayal, the price of success, and the corporatization of sports at the expense of players.
Giving the “Abbott Elementary” Teachers a Glow Up With the Hair & Makeup Maestros Moira Frazier and Constance Foe
As summer shimmers just ahead and another school year wraps up, we take time now to reflect on the fire looks our teachers were serving. The educators at Abbott Elementary gave it their all through two semesters of change. As they navigated celebrations and setbacks, this season was filled with transformations guided by Hair Department Head Moira Frazier and Makeup Department Head Constance Foe.
Janine Teagues’ (Quinta Brunson) relentless optimism and dedication to her students saw a major payoff when her big ideas caught the attention of the school district.
“Bad Boys: Ride or Die” DP Robrecht Heyvaert on Creating the Ride of a Lifetime
In the fourth time around for Will Smith and Martin Lawrence’s wise-cracking Miami detectives, Bad Boys: Ride or Die, now in theaters, earns its summer popcorn movie bonafides with loads of goofy banter and antic action sequences. Helmed by Belgian-Moroccan directors Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah. Ride or Die follows Mike Lowery [Smith] and Marcus Lawrence [Lawrence] as they do battle with a sadistic criminal mastermind named McGrath (Eric Dane) and corrupt cops.
Richard Linklater on the Killer Chemistry in his Romantic Comedy “Hit Man”
In Richard Linklater‘s latest film, an irresistibly sexy romantic comedy that’s also a bit of a noir, a giddy satire on the hitman genre, and a screwball quasi-whodunit, the one constant is a vibe that is decidedly and effusively all Linklater. Glen Powell, a rising star who has been Linklater’s longtime collaborator through a string of roles dating back to 2006’s Fast Food Nation, plays Gary Johnson, a professor of psychology and philosophy at the University of New Orleans who is as passionate about Nietzsche as he is dispassionate about the affairs of his own life.
“The Acolyte” Composer Michael Abels on Scoring a “Star Wars” Story Unlike Any Before It
Fans of Star Wars have been eagerly anticipating their newest live-action series, The Acolyte, which features all-new characters in a tense and action-filled story that explores the light and dark sides of the force, as well as many grey areas in between. Set in the High Republic era that leads into Episode 1: The Phantom Menace, The Acolyte is the creation of Russian Doll writer/producer/director and lifelong Star Wars fan Leslye Headland.
Pioneering Producer Auchara Kijkanjanas on Animating Thailand’s Entertainment Industry
A pioneer of animation in Thailand, producer Auchara Kijkanjanas is no stranger to copyright infringement. The founder and head of Big Brain Studio produced the nation’s first big animation hit, which was pirated shortly after it was released. Hence, Kijkanjanas takes both personal and professional satisfaction from witnessing the changes in attitude and behavior toward intellectual property that have occurred in subsequent years. She also holds out hope that something like Thailand’s generous and successful production incentives for live-action projects from overseas might one day be introduced for the animation sector.
“Furiosa” Composer Tom Holkenborg Takes us on a Wild Musical Ride
George Miller’s Furiosa: A Mad Max Story has given us the best action sequence of the year, a relentless, 15-minute literal thrill ride that pits a young Furiosa (Anya Taylor-Joy), her War Rig mentor Praetorian Jack (Tom Burke), and some assorted War Boys against the onslaught of Dementus (Chris Hemsworth) and his Biker Horde. This includes the Mortiflyers, a team of motorcyclists who get airborne using a number of inventive techniques,
“Jim Henson: Idea Man” Editors On Making a Documentary the Muppets Creator Would Have Made Himself
Ron Howard’s documentary Jim Henson: Idea Man, out May 31st on Disney+, is not only a tribute to the beloved, brilliant creator of the Muppets but feels like an artistic reflection of the creator’s own work. Cutting between Henson’s best-known creations, Sesame Street and The Muppet Show, along with his early short films, commercials, abstract videos, and Henson family footage, the documentary also uses visual effects, stop-motion animation,
“Captain America: Brave New World” Adds Giancarlo Esposito’s Mysterious Villain
Director Julius Onah’s Captain America: Brave New World is currently putting in a 22-day shoot to capture additional photography and a new action sequence, a fairly routine course of business for an MCU film. What’s intriguing about Brave New World’s shoot is that it’s also bringing in a phenomenal performer, Giancarlo Esposito, to play a mysterious new villain.
Onah’s film actually wrapped principal photography in the spring of 2023,
“Furiosa” Art Director Jacinta Leong on Building Flying Motorcycles & That Breathtaking 15-Minute Action Sequence
Nine years after Mad Max: Fury Road star Charlize Theron wreaked havoc as bad-ass adult Furiosa, director George Miller revisits his post-apocalyptic nightmare with Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga (in theaters now). The prequel, starring Anya Taylor-Joy, Chris Hemsworth, and the mighty first-generation War Rig truck, features one of the year’s most spellbinding action sequences, a relentless, 15-minute mind-melter that took 78 days to film.
While the 15-minute sequence is the most thrilling action scene of the year (in any film),
Animation Director Jason Boose on Creating a Madcap “Garfield” for a New Generation
Chris Pratt voices the iconic, lasagna-loving star of director Mark Dindal’s The Garfield Movie, which uses Garfield’s love of Italian cuisine and the indoors as a jumping-off point for an origin and adventure story in one. A sweet-faced kitten gloms onto lonely Jon (Nicholas Hoult) at a restaurant and doesn’t let go until an unexpected reunion with his father, Vic (Samuel L. Jackson).
This father-son reunion comes on the heels of a catnapping,
“The Garfield Movie” Director Mark Dindal on Taking a Famously Lazy Indoor Cat Way Outdoors
Garfield, the lasagna-eating original grumpy cat, has been painted with a fresh coat of animated fur and given a new voice in actor Chris Pratt for director Mark Dindal’s The Garfield Movie, a hilarious roller-coaster romp that’s going to bring out the kid in you, nostalgia aside. Garfield purred into theaters on May 24.
Published as a comic strip in 1978, the beloved feline has made its way onto television series,
