“Anora” Cinematographer Drew Daniels on an Old School Approach to Modern, Misguided Love

Shot over 37 days in New York, one of this year’s awards darlings is Sean Baker’s compulsively riveting Anora, a lap-dancing underworld version of Cinderella. Mikey Madison plays the titular stripper, Anora/”Ani,” who thinks she has hit the jackpot when playboy and heir to a Russian oligarch, Ivan “Vanya” (Mark Eydelshteyn), falls in love with her. In an instant, she is plunged into a world of immense wealth, but will she be able to hang on to the rags-to-riches fantasy when forces outside of their budding romance are pressed into service to tear them apart?

Creating Count Orlock With “Nosferatu” Director Robert Eggers & Special FX Makeup Designer David White

Count Orlok (Bill Skarsgård) is a putrid feast for the eyes. In writer/director Robert Eggers’ brilliant Nosferatu remake, the iconic creature of the night is a decaying figure – nightmarish precisely because his living death was wrought with such chilling reality. Whether the Count is deep in the shadows or full view, his monstrosity remains mortifyingly intoxicating. It makes you feel even more empathy for Lily-Rose Depp’s Ellen Hutter as she becomes enraptured by the Count’s deathless spell.

“Better Man” Director Michael Gracey on Monkeying With Robbie Williams in Bold Bio-Pic

Australian director Michael Gracey skyrocketed to success after releasing his debut feature, the 2017 Hugh Jackman-led musical The Greatest Showman. For his second narrative feature, Better Man, which is also a musical, he has tackled the life story of English pop singer Robbie Williams. There’s a twist, though. For the entirety of the film, Williams is portrayed as a CGI-animated chimpanzee. Gracey co-wrote the film and has a producing credit,

How “Anora”‘s DP & Production Designer Brought a Deconstructed Cinderella to New York

Halfway through Sean Baker’s Anora, there’s a scene where exotic dancer turned newlywed Ani (Mickey Madison) is tied up and gagged with a red scarf. The dilemma is a response to her breaking the nose and slap-boxing two men questioning her marriage to a silver-spooned Russian rich boy named Ivan (Mark Eydelshteyn). The scarf (and its color) can easily be overlooked during the unfolding chaos that plays out as a real-time home invasion lasting for roughly 25 minutes and sees Ivan run away from his bride.

“Nosferatu” Production Designer Craig Lathrop on Creating Count Orlock’s Gothic World

Writer/director Robert Eggers’ Nosferatu continues his streak of delivering singular, stunning cinematic spectacles that have ranged in scale from the terrifyingly intimate (The Witch) to psychotically intimate (The Lighthouse) to the rousingly epic (The Northman). With Nosferatu, Eggers has found perhaps the perfect material for his sensibilities—rich in detail, steeped in myth,

“The Brutalist” Composer Daniel Blumberg on Blending Genres in Brady Corbet’s American Epic

Brady Corbet’s The Brutalist has found its way into all the awards conversation, with everything from Corbert’s masterful direction to the performances by Adrien Brody and Guy Pearce, Dávid Jancsó’s editing, Lol Crawley’s cinematography, Judy Becker’s production design, and Daniel Blumberg’s score getting notice. The film is centered on visionary architect László Toth (Brody), who flees post-war Europe after experiencing the ravages and suffering of the Holocaust. He finds his way to the US,

“The Last Showgirl” Director Gia Coppola Pulls Back the Curtain on Pamela Anderson’s Career-Defining Performance

For a film set in Las Vegas, it’s surprising that director Gia Coppola chose grit over glitz for The Last Showgirl.

“I wanted to make a movie in an intimate way. I adore [John] Cassavetes and how he made movies,” says Coppola, who cites Cassavetes’ The Killing of a Chinese Bookie as “one movie I looked at for sure.”

Coppola worked from a script by Kate Gersten,

“The Room Next Door” Production Designer Inbal Weinberg is the Architect of Pedro Almodóvar’s World

Production designer Inbal Weinberg perfected her meticulous eye over years of collaborations with filmmakers who “are serious about every detail,” including Derek Cianfrance, Luca Guadagnino, and Martin McDonagh. However, meticulousness took on a whole new level when Weinberg worked alongside renowned Spanish director Pedro Almodóvar on his first English-language feature, The Room Next Door, which opened in Los Angeles and New York on December 20 and expands to select cities on January 10.

“Wallace and Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl” Directors Nick Park & Merlin Crossingham go Back to the Bakehouse

It has been almost two decades since the Oscar-winning stop-motion animation delight Wallace and Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit. Now, the dynamic duo is back in a new adventure, Wallace and Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl; however, the world has changed.

Not only is the feature streaming on Netflix, a platform that did not exist in 2005, but technological and production processes have evolved exponentially, opening up a world of creative opportunities.

“Nosferatu” DP Jarin Blaschke on Giving Robert Eggers’ Masterful Vampire Tale Its Bite

Horror fans were given a fresh infusion of Dracula mythology on Christmas Day courtesy of Nosferatu. Written and directed by Robert Eggers, the gothic tale, set in 1838, follows the bloodsucking Count Orlok (Bill Skarsgård) as he preys on beautiful Ellen (Lily-Rose Depp) and her new husband (Nicholas Hoult). Nosferatu boasts an impressive supporting cast who are, like its stars, all-in on yet another of Eggers’ deliciously detailed period pieces,

“A Complete Unknown” Costume Designer Arianne Phillips on Channeling the Bob Dylan Mystique

Costume designer Arianne Phillips has never met Bob Dylan, but she did discover a personal connection while researching the singer’s early days for her new project A Complete Unknown (in theaters now). “I was born in 1963 in New York City on Cornelia Street,” she says. “I thought I knew a lot about Bob Dylan, but in the course of my research, I learned that right around the corner, Bob Dylan was living on Fourth Street at the very same time. 

Best of 2024: Maximus Effort: “Gladiator II” Production Designer Arthur Max on Creating Colossal Constructions

This interview was selected by measures having nothing to do with science as one of our standouts from 2024. Arthur Max was absolutely crucial to Ridley Scott’s vision of creating a completely unhinged, dementedly decadent Rome. To that end, Max delivered, creating not one but two Colosseums for Scott’s epic.

Oscar-nominated production designer Arthur Max has worked on 16 of Ridley Scott’s films. These include some of American cinema’s most indelible cinematic spectacles,

Best of 2024: 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.

Best of 2024: “Furiosa” Art Director Jacinta Leong on 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),

Best of 2024: “Shōgun” Editors Aika Miyake and Maria Gonzales on Cutting Mariko’s Heroic Path

*This interview was selected by measures having nothing to do with science as one of our standouts from 2024. Miyake and Gonzales unpack how they helped the story of Anna Sawai’s incredible Lady Mariko.

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.

Best of 2024: “Challengers” Screenwriter Justin Kuritzkes on Acing his Zendaya-led Tennis Scorcher

Spoiler Alert: The following article contains spoilers for Challengers.

Back in 2018, playwright and author Justin Kuritzkes was obsessively consuming the world of elite tennis. As the first-time screenwriter conveyed to The Credits, it was better than anything in theaters or on the small screen — tennis was really just that good.

During that year’s U.S. Open match between Naomi Osaka and Serena Williams,

Best of 2024: MPA Creator Award Recipient Writer/Director JA Bayona’s Epic Journey

J.A. Bayona’s Society of the Snow, a reimagining of the real-life 1972 Uruguayan plane crash in the Andes Mountains that caught the world’s attention, is a viscerally astonishing feat of empathetic filmmaking. It was nominated for two Oscars: Best International Feature for Spain and Best Makeup and Hairstyling (Ana López-Puigcerver, David Martí, and Montse Ribé), a sweet coda for a filmmaker who returned to his home country of Spain for the majority of the film’s production.

Best of 2024: “Agatha All Along” Creator Jac Schaeffer on Setting off Marvel’s Witching Hour

Agatha All Along creator Jac Schaeffer explores the witchy side of the Marvel Universe just in time for Halloween. The timing of the show’s release is a happy accident for Schaeffer, who also directed the first two episodes. In bringing the titular witch, Agatha (Kathryn Hahn), back from WandaVision, Schaeffer and her team have made a series with a playful spookiness centered on an irresistible Hahn,

Best of 2024: “Wicked” Director Jon M. Chu Takes Us Behind the Curtain of His Gravity-Defying Adaptation

This interview was selected by measures having nothing to do with science as one of our standouts from 2024. This was one of the easier selections—Chu’s sensational adaptation managed to delight mega-fans of the Broadway juggernaut as well as newbies freshly dazzled by the story of Elphaba, Glinda, and the ramifications of their epic friendship. 

Spoilers aplenty!

Black hat seated atop her head, Elphaba (Cynthia Erivo) peers around the corner of the Ozdust ballroom,

Best of 2024: “My Old Ass” Writer/Director Megan Park on Magic, Mushrooms, and Meeting Yourself

In Megan Park’s wide-eyed, warm-as-the-waning-summer-evenings sophomore feature, My Old Ass, time itself is a trip. 

When Elliott (Maisy Stella) ushers in her 18th birthday with a camping excursion à la psilocybin-laced mushrooms, the last thing she expects is her psyche to conjure up an “old ass” version of herself (at 39 years old), portrayed by Aubrey Plaza. With her last summer in the picturesque lakeside town of Muskoka, Canada, before she heads off to the University of Toronto,