Best of 2022: “The Woman King” DP Polly Morgan on Lensing Viola Davis in Gina Prince-Bythewood’s Thrilling Epic
It’s that time of year—we look back on a few of our favorite interviews from 2022 in our annual year-end list. A sweeping historical epic that blends intimacy and adventure is the kind of movie that The Woman King cinematographer Polly Morgan dreamed about making while growing up in West Sussex, England. “My earliest memories were ...
Best of 2022: Getting Sea Sick With “Triangle of Sadness” Production Designer Josefin Åsberg
It’s that time of year—we look back on a few of our favorite interviews from 2022 in our annual year-end list. Satirical black comedy Triangle of Sadness, writer/director Ruben Östlund’s first English-language feature, debuted at the 2022 Cannes Film Festival, where it won the Palme d’Or. The Swedish auteur is known for 2014’s Force Majeure and The Square, which ...
Best of 2022: How “Nope” Production Designer Ruth De Jong Built & Bloodied the Haywood Ranch
It’s that time of year—we look back on a few of our favorite interviews from 2022 in our annual year-end list. There was a moment when writer/director Jordan Peele and production designer Ruth De Jong realized they were going to shoot Nope practically. Tucked in the Agua Dulce area of California’s Santa Clarita Valley is ...
How “Avatar: The Way of Water” Visual Effects Wizards Conjured Underwater Magic
How long can you hold your breath underwater? One minute? Two? Maybe three? For James Cameron’s highly-anticipated Avatar: The Way of Water, now in theaters, the cast had to take lessons from free diving expert Kirk Krack in order to fluidly capture the transcendent water scenes. Why so? Bubbles. The sequel picks up from the ...
“Kindred” Costume Designer Jaclyn Banner on Dressing the First Octavia E. Butler Adaptation
Although Hugo and Nebula-winning novelist Octavia E. Butler was the first science fiction writer to ever receive a MacArthur Fellowship and the first Black woman to gain popularity and critical acclaim as a major science fiction writer, many are unaware of her genius and influence on the genre. That is about to change because now, ...
“George & Tammy” Creator Abe Sylvia on Crafting a Complicated Love Story
It’s a story that’s been on Abe Sylvia’s mind for a while. The screenwriter of The Eyes of Tammy Faye and writer/producer of such television series as Dead to Me and Nurse Jackie has always had a soft spot for country music. Blame it on his Oklahoma upbringing. And that’s why Sylvia found the story ...
How The “Babylon” Sound Team Built a Sonic Bacchanal
The opening sequence to Damien Chazelle’s Babylon (in theaters today) hits you like one of the many lines of powder its characters will ingest. It’s eye-opening, choreographed chaos, leaving you with an intensely euphoric feeling – quite fitting for a story that revisits Hollywood’s infancy of the 1920s and ‘30s when La La Land was ...
“Devotion” Score Mixer Alvin Wee on Letting the Music & Emotion Take Flight
Growing up in Malaysia, Alvin Wee was drawn to “big action movies” such as the Harry Potter series and Transformers. “I liked sensory overload, the loud, visual spectacle. My favorite movie was Superman with Christopher Reeve. It’s also my favorite score, by John Williams,” says Wee, the Score Mixer on Sony’s Devotion, now in theaters. ...
“Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio” Animation Supervisor Brian Leif Hansen Packs Puppets With Emotion
Inside a nondescript warehouse on the outskirts of Portland, a little boy made of wood galvanized efforts by stop motion filmmakers for three years before emerging now to wow moviegoers in Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio. This dark stop-motion iteration of Carlo Collodi’s 1882 tale, in theaters and streaming on Netflix, takes place in 1930’s Italy, ...
“Black Panther: Wakanda Forever” Composer Ludwig Göransson on the Score’s Secret Weapon
One of Black Panther: Wakanda Forever director Ryan Coogler’s closest collaborators throughout his entire Marvel journey has been composer Ludwig Göransson. Beginning with Coogler’s 2018 Black Panther, Göransson has been by his side, helping him breathe life into the music and sounds of the fictional African nation of Wakanda. Along with other key collaborators like ...
“Black Panther: Wakanda Forever” Hair Department Head Camille Friend on The Sequel’s Stunning Looks
Both 2018’s Black Panther and this year’s Wakanda Forever have hugely impacted popular culture, not least by expanding the acceptance and expression of Afro-Futurism in everything from fashion and hairstyles to architecture. Both production designer Hannah Beachler and costume designer Ruth E. Carter won Oscars for their work on the first film and are in the running for ...
“The Whale” Screenwriter Samuel D. Hunter on Hard-Won Hope
In Darren Aronofsky’s The Whale, Brendan Fraser is transformed so completely he is nearly unrecognizable playing the title character. Fraser has been the frontrunner for Best Actor in the Oscars race since the film received a six-minute standing ovation at its Venice International Film Festival premiere in September. The film is based on Samuel Hunter’s award-winning 2012 play ...
Bringing Stop-Motion Puppets to Life Through Sound in “Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio”
As the Wood Sprite (Tilda Swinton) grants Geppetto’s (David Bradley) grief-stricken wish to bring forth a son from his wood carving, Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio draws life where there are only puppets and sound where there is only silence. The hearty revamp of Carlo Collodi’s classic is so engrossing, you may not recognize the meta ...
“Bardo” Stars Daniel Giménez Cacho & Ximena Lamadrid on Taking a Trip With Alejandro Iñárritu
As with all films written and directed by Alejandro Iñárritu, the auteur’s new release Bardo: False Chronicle of a Handful of Truths is difficult to define or categorize. He himself has said it is his most personal work, but viewers who love it have felt their own powerful connection to elements of the story. Without question, it ...
Shaping Locks & Lives With “We’re Here” Hairstylist Abdiel Urcullu
One would think grammar school teachers and drag queen wigmasters have little in common. But having been both, Abdiel Urcullu can see the similarities. For the past two years, Urcullu, who previously taught math to 4th and 5th graders, has served as the key hairstylist for the HBO series We’re Here. Debuting in 2020, the ...
“Women Talking” Composer Hildur Guðnadóttir on Scoring Sarah Polley’s Astonishing New Film
Based on the novel by Miriam Toews, writer/director Sarah Polley’s new narrative Women Talking considers how a group of women can move forward after the shocking betrayal and abuse by men in their isolated religious community. The backstory of the novel and subsequent film, which is set in 2010, mirrors horrific true events that took ...
Getting Sea Sick With “Triangle of Sadness” Production Designer Josefin Åsberg
Satirical black comedy Triangle of Sadness, writer/director Ruben Östlund’s first English-language feature, debuted at the 2022 Cannes Film Festival, where it won the Palme d’Or. The Swedish auteur is known for 2014’s Force Majeure and The Square, which in 2017 also won the Palme d’Or and was nominated for a Best Foreign Language Film Oscar. Triangle of Sadness, like Östlund’s previous ...
“Bones And All” Writer/Producer David Kajganich on Creating a Consuming Cannibal Love Story
When screenwriter David Kajganich decided to adapt the YA novel Bones And All by Camille DeAngelis, he approached his friend and longtime collaborator, director Luca Guadagnino (Call Me by Your Name), about taking on the project — the two had worked together on Suspiria and A Bigger Splash. Though professional commitments initially prevented Guadagnino from ...
“Glass Onion: A Knives Out Story” Editor Bob Ducsay on Cutting a Razor Sharp Whodunit
Award-winning editor Bob Ducsay has been cutting blockbusters for decades, including 1999’s The Mummy and 2015’s Godzilla, and has worked with Rian Johnson since 2012’s Looper. He edited both The Last Jedi and Johnson’s first film in the Benoit Blanc series, Knives Out, in 2019. Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery, which hits theaters on November 23 and then Netflix on December 23rd, ...
“Devotion” Director J.D. Dillard on Leading Jonathan Majors in His Emotional War Epic
The new historic war epic Devotion is based on the bestselling book by Adam Makos of the same name. The true story centers on the first Black aviator in Navy history, Jesse Brown (played by Jonathan Majors), and his fellow fighter pilot Tom Hudner (Glen Powell, who also acts as producer on the film), and their heroic ...
