“The Killer” Cinematographer Erik Messerschmidt on Re-Teaming With David Fincher

David Fincher’s lean, mean The Killer is a film stripped down to its bare essentials, much like the work of its titular assassin. Based on a French graphic novel and adapted by Andrew Kevin Walker (Se7en), Fincher’s adaptation tells the story of an unnamed killer (Michael Fassbender) and the strict, self-imposed protocols of his trade. It’s the rules of the process that concern the titular character, not moral dilemmas,

“The Last of Us” Concept Illustrator & Designer Pouya Moayedi on Imagining a Deadly Green World

HBO’s brilliant The Last of Us is, inarguably, the most successful video game adaptation in TV history. The series is based on the critically acclaimed video game of the same name, which was created by Neil Druckmann and Naughty Dog, and when it bowed at the beginning of this year (adapted by Druckmann and Chernobyl creator Craig Mazin), it was an immediate sensation. Here was a slow-burn, character-focused zombie show that felt utterly different from any in the genre.

“The Holdovers” Screenwriter David Hemingson on His Tetchy Yet Tender Tale of Chosen Family

The Holdovers (in theaters now) has the potential to become a holiday classic. It’s a movie that delves into themes of depression, loneliness, loss, and regret. Yet this bittersweet concoction has a tremendous if subtle, undercurrent of tenderness. Friendship and love are given their due, adding a touch of sweetness to Alexander Payne’s new film.

Screenwriter David Hemingson tells the story of the embittered professor Paul Hunham (Paul Giamatti), who possesses the quick wit and quiet depression of a stand-up comedian.

How Cate Adams’ Costume Design Helped David Fincher’s “The Killer” Disappear

The coldest assassin is the kind you don’t see coming. In a lineup of globe-trotting sharpshooters from the movies,  The Killer (Michael Fassbender) may be the most difficult to identify. On a crowded city street, he could be anyone—and that is by design. Costume designer Cate Adams developed the style for director David Fincher’s vision of a dangerous character you would hardly ever notice.

“Basically, he wears clothes that he can just find anywhere.

Steven Soderbergh and Co-Director/Editor Jon Kane on Godfrey Reggio’s Ravishing New Film “Once Within a Time”

Filmmaker Godfrey Reggio, whose groundbreaking Koyaanisqatsi (1982) remains influential and much admired, didn’t travel to Boston for the November 3 screening at the Coolidge Corner Theatre of his new film and his first in a decade, Once Within a Time. But executive producer Steven Soderbergh and co-director and editor Jon Kane happily channeled the 83-year-old Reggio’s animated, eccentric spirit in a lively post-film conversation (which this writer moderated) before an enthusiastic crowd that cheered Reggio’s avant-garde fairy tale released in theaters this week from Oscilloscope Laboratories.

Cinematographer Oliver Curtis on Bringing Intimacy and Opulence to “The Buccaneers”

With director Susanna White’s The Buccaneers, an adaptation of Edith Wharton’s unfinished final novel set in the 1870s, Apple TV+ adds a period drama with a modern spin to its lineup. If any 19th-century chronicler of the era’s mannerisms can withstand a contemporary update, it’s Wharton, whose insight into upper-class idiosyncrasies on both sides of the pond ring true, even set to a modern soundtrack and present-day dialogue as is the case here.

“Rustin” Screenwriter Julian Breece on Giving a Legend his Due

There are countless unsung heroes of the civil rights movement who will never get the recognition they deserve, yet it’s hard to imagine an overlooked figure more central to the cause and more courageous and capacious in spirit than Bayard Rustin. While historians are well aware of the impact Rustin had on the civil rights movement writ large and specifically the March on Washington, most Americans are not.

George C. Wolfe‘s Rustin (in theaters now) offers a course correction.

How “Lessons in Chemistry” DP Zachary Galler Created a Show-Within-a-Show

In writer Susannah Grant’s adaption of the novel Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus, currently airing on Apple TV+, Brie Larson plays a budding chemist, Elizabeth Zott, thwarted in her work by her male colleagues who put politics and patriarchy above credible scientific achievement. Shut out of any hope of a chemistry career despite her brilliance, Elizabeth falls into a television career. It’s the early 1950s, and cooking shows are still relatively new,

“Gen V” Director Shana Stein on Penultimate Episode’s Tie-In With “The Boys”

Gen V, the quick-footed spinoff to Prime Video’s debauchery-filled superhero satire The Boys, mimics its collegiate environment in its primed-for-combustion filming style. In the inaugural season’s penultimate episode, titled “Sick,” the main characters are confronted with institutional roadblocks and a boiling fervor on campus regarding supe rights.

“What I think the writers have done so beautifully and brilliantly in The Boys and Gen V is they’ve taken current issues and put the superhero spin on them to make social commentary,” Shana Stein,

“The Persian Version” Writer/Director Maryam Keshavarz on the Joys of Iranian American Culture

The Persian Version won both the Audience Award and the Waldo Salt Screenwriting Award in the U.S Dramatic Competition at Sundance this year, and for good reason. The film is a feel-good dramedy that combines stories of traditional Iranian culture with those of the Iranian American experience with a decidedly modern touch. The story follows Leila (Layla Mohammadi), a queer Iranian American working to keep her parents and many brothers who love her at a distance while navigating her ever more complicated personal life.

“Freelance” Writer Jacob Lentz on Going From “Jimmy Kimmel Live” to Penning his Feature Debut

It sounds like the setup to a sketch: a washed-up journalist, a peacocking dictator, and a bored ex-Special Forces guy walk into a coup… That may be the premise of the action-comedy Freelance (in theaters now), the first feature film from long-time Jimmy Kimmel Live writer Jacob Lentz, but the punchline isn’t what you’d expect. Mason Pettits (John Cena) is a frustrated lawyer who gets a call from an old military buddy turned private military contractor,

“Pain Hustlers” Director David Yates on Departing From the “Harry Potter” Films in Subversive Style

In Pain Hustlers, the opioid crisis takes on a different tenor than that previously seen in hard-hitting dramas like Hulu’s limited series Dopesick and fellow Netflix’s own Painkiller. While still inspired by actual events, David Yates’ retelling of a “fascinating state of the nation” falls more in line with the big-bang type of storytelling akin to The Wolf of Wall Street and The Big Short.

“Fellow Travelers” Director/ Executive Producer Daniel Minahan’s Scorching Trip Through Turbulent Times

Director and executive producer Daniel Minahan wanted to be part of Fellow Travelers as soon as he read the first script by Ron Nyswaner, an Oscar nominee for Philadelphia.

“It was a beautifully devised script. Ron saw parallels between the 1950s persecution of gay people in government and what happens in San Francisco with activism and trying to survive AIDS in the ‘80s,” said Minahan. “Ron and I worked together before [on the series Ray Donovan] and knew each other socially from Provincetown.

How “Saltburn” Production Designer Suzie Davies Outfitted the Vast Estate in Emerald Fennell’s Thriller

Like many who worked on Saltburn, production designer Suzie Davies signed a contract promising not to reveal the location of the sprawling country house where much of the movie was shot. Writer/director Emerald Fennell wanted a centuries-old estate unidentifiable to audiences, and she found one in the English Midlands that had never been used onscreen. But a Tatler journalist sleuthed out the location a few months ago, effectively voiding the contracts.

“Lessons in Chemistry” Makeup Department Head Miho Suzuki Captures the Pressure Cooker of Being a 1950s Woman

Chemical reactions can be calculated and quantified, but matters of the heart are far less predictable. When scientist Elizabeth Zott (Brie Larson) finds herself pressed toward domesticity from all sides, she realizes that the way to pursue her passions, empower women, and advocate for equality may be through the kitchen after all. Lessons in Chemistry – based on the hit novel by Bonnie Garmus – follows Zott’s evolution from student to TV star.

“Killers of the Flower Moon” Casting Directors Ellen Lewis and Rene Haynes on Their Historic Oklahoma Casting Call

With its prodigiously detailed and complex production, long running time, and sprawling cast, Killers of the Flower Moon (in theaters now) cut no corners in telling the true story about members of Oklahoma’s oil-rich Osage Nation who were systematically murdered in the 1920s by white men eager to inherit “head rights” worth millions of dollars through marriage and trickery. To surround Leo DiCaprio and Robert De Niro’s duplicitous usurpers with authentic Native American talent,

Martin Scorsese on Finding Truth in Tragedy in “Killers of the Flower Moon”

When Martin Scorsese was young, he had an experience where he became painfully aware of how Native Americans were being treated, and since then, it’s taken him years to find a story he could tell about the culture in a respectful way. Killers of the Flower Moon, which opens in theaters October 20 with a runtime of 3 hours and 26 minutes, presents that lifelong desire with a gentle, examining eye in what could easily be the director’s best work to date.

“Killers of the Flower Moon” Cinematographer Rodrigo Prieto Illuminates Martin Scorsese’s Twisted Tale

When I connected with Rodrigo Prieto for our video interview, as one might imagine a cinematographer to do, he was perfectly lit in a warm amber glow, perhaps a nod to a fire motif visually laced in Martin Scorese’s Killers of the Flower Moon – a love story between Mollie Kyle (Lily Gladstone) and Ernest Burkhart (Leonardo DiCaprio) wrapped in the travesty the Osage Nation faced during the 1920s.

Having spoken previously with the Mexican native as far back as Argo (2012),

Costume Designer Ruth E. Carter on Stitching Together Her Legendary Career

With more than 70 films to her credit, including Malcolm X (1992), Amistad (1997), Selma (2014), Black Panther (2018), and Dolemite Is My Name (2019), costume designer Ruth E. Carter has created a visual representation of Black history and the Black experience for generations of moviegoers.

“Costumes can be another character in the film. For Do the Right Thing,

How “Killers of the Flower Moon” Production Designer Jack Fisk Created 1920s Oklahoma

Killers of the Flower Moon became a journey of inspirational research for production designer Jack Fisk (The Revenant, There Will Be Blood). He traveled to Oklahoma to visit the very homes of the Osage portrayed in the Scorsese film – a story that unpacks the painful history of the Osage during the 1920s, whose oil-backed wealth was methodically stolen from them under false pretense.

The screenplay was adapted by Eric Roth and Scorsese based on David Grann’s meticulous 2017 work of non-fiction.