Max Minghella on Reuniting With Elisabeth Moss for his Horror/Comedy “Shell”
One expects Max Minghella to cite the influence of his father, the late director Anthony Minghella (The English Patient, The Talented Mr. Ripley), on his acting and directing career. But it’s Minghella’s mother, Carolyn Choa, who gets the shout-out for her impact on his new film, the body horror comedy Shell, starring Elisabeth Moss and Kate Hudson.
“My mother worked for the British Board of Film Classification from 1984 to 1994,
“The Wild Robot” Writer/Director Chris Sanders on Kindness as a Survival Skill
With three Oscar nominations under his belt, animation auteur Chris Sanders knew a good story when he saw it the minute his daughter brought home Peter Brown’s children’s book “The Wild Robot” back in 2016. Sanders, who’d worked on The Lion King and later helmed How to Train Your Dragon, Lilo & Stitch, and The Croods, appreciated the tragi-comic tale centered on robot Roz (voiced in the film by Lupita Nyong’o) after she washes up on the shore of a remote island populated with wild animals.
“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,
“Wolfs” Stunt Coordinator George Cottle on Designing Superlative Stunts For George Clooney & Brad Pitt
For stunt coordinator George Cottle, it started on a warm summer’s day in Los Angeles. He and director Jon Watts were shooting an episode of Star Wars: Skeleton Crew when Watts mentioned a film idea he was developing to star Brad Pitt and George Clooney. Watts asked Cottle if he’d like to be involved.
“I’ve done three Spider-Man’s with him. I love the way he works,” says Cottle says.
“Beetlejuice Beetlejuice” Production Designer Mark Scruton’s Masterful Marriage of Art & Architecture
“It was going to be a continuation of the first film and not some sort of reboot,” production designer Mark Scruton says about Tim Burton’s Beetlejuice Beetlejuice, the sequel to the 1988 cult classic that reunites the absurdly talented Michael Keaton and Winona Ryder as everyone’s favorite goth-undead will they won’t they couple.
The story picks up years after the events in Beetlejuice and sees the Deetz family – Ryder’s Lydia,
“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,
“The Perfect Couple” Showrunner Jenna Lamia on Meghann Fahy’s Mesmerizing Merritt Monaco
In part one of our interview with The Perfect Couple showrunner Jenna Lamia, she discussed adapting Elin Hilderbrand’s novel, character development, and writing the script. Now we move on to some of the specifics of how Lamia stuck the landing, delivering a satisfying whodunit on the picturesque island of Nantucket, the playground of the uber-wealthy Winbury clan.
In the final shot of the penultimate episode of The Perfect Couple,
“Beetlejuice Beetlejuice” Hair and Makeup Head Christine Blundell on Bringing Out the Dead
Almost four decades after the original, Tim Burton’s follow-up, Beetlejuice Beetlejuice, is a hit for Warner Bros. Reprising their original roles, Winona Ryder’s Lydia is now a television talk show host ghost hunter, Catherine O’Hara’s Delia is still a daffy cosmopolitan creative, and Michael Keaton’s Beetlejuice remains an undead charlatan pining for Lydia. Lydia also has a teenage daughter, Astrid (Jenna Ortega), who misses her late dad, Richard (Santiago Cabrera),
“The Perfect Couple” Showrunner Jenna Lamia on Her Nicole Kidman-led Whodunit on Nantucket
When showrunner Jenna Lamia set out to bring Elin Hilderbrand’s beloved novel The Perfect Couple to life, we were just getting reacquainted with our obsession with mystery and drama. The limited series format, which has seen success in shows like Big Little Lies, Nine Perfect Strangers, and The White Lotus, ushered in an era of mystery, scandal,
“Transformers One” Director Josh Cooley on Humanizing the Origin of Optimus Prime and Megatron’s Ancient Feud
Transformers One isn’t the first animated Transformers film, but it has achieved multiple firsts for the iconic franchise.
The science fiction action film is an origin story that focuses on the early relationship of Orion Pax and D-16, how they changed the fate of their home planet of Cybertron, and how they became Optimus Prime and Megatron, respectively. Directed by Josh Cooley, best known for helming Oscar-nominated Toy Story 4,
“Beetlejuice Beetlejuice” Editor Jay Prychidny on Capturing a Debauched Poltergeist’s Manic Energy
36 years after he first burst onto the screen in his title film—for a grand total of 17 minutes, by the way—Michael Keaton’s debauched poltergeist is back in trademark sinister style, black and white suit and hair akimbo, in Beetlejuice Beetlejuice. Tim Burton’s sequel turns up the heart, laughs, and gags, a cinematic feast overflowing with gleeful madness only Burton and his regular team of collaborators—longtime costume designer Colleen Atwood and composer Danny Elfman included—could dream up.
Designed to Shred: How “Alien: Romulus” Costume Designer Carlos Rosario Stylized Horror
Previously, we talked to Alien: Romulus costume designer Carlos Rosario about how American farmers’ attire from the 1940s-1960s inspired some of the wardrobe for our Jackson’s Star inhabitants and several sartorial callbacks from the first two films in the franchise.
In part two, Rosario discusses how director Fede Alvarez’s approach to his ferocious interquel helped the designer account for the wear and tear on the costumes, caused,
“Beetlejuice Beetlejuice” Editor Jay Prychidny on the Gospel of Ghoulish Pacing
Beetlejuice Beetlejuice isn’t a rehash of the past. Director Tim Burton revisits familiar characters and locations to tell a new story about aging, family, and regaining a sense of self that can get lost along the way through life’s trials and tribulations. It’s not just a nostalgic sequel but another personal adventure from the mind of one of contemporary cinema’s most singular filmmakers.
As usual with a Burton film, there are a lot of forces at play,
How “The Penguin” Production Designer Kalina Ivanov Helped Bring Gotham Back to New York City
Production designer Kalina Ivanov was destined to be part of the HBO spin-off series The Penguin from creator Lauren LeFranc, which stars Colin Farrell as the title character, Oz Cobb, reprising his role from Matt Reeves’ The Batman and remaining, once again, utterly unrecognizable.
“The very first movie I saw in the theater after Covid stopped being Covid was The Batman,
“Deadpool & Wolverine” Editors on Shaping Wolverine’s Masterpiece Emotional Explosion—in a Minivan
Who wouldn’t want to watch Hugh Jackman deliver a satisfying performance? Better yet, let’s dress him up in one of the most iconic comic book hero costumes of all time and throw him in a minivan in some random forest with an intemperately smart-mouthed passenger. What could go wrong? Apparently, everything when it comes to Deadpool & Wolverine, this summer’s massive box office hit about two dudes on a world-saving multiverse road trip from director Shawn Levy (Stranger Things).
“Alien: Romulus” Costume Designer Carlos Rosario’s Retro Vision & Vintage Style Blends – Part One
The only film so far to take this summer’s box office juggernaut Deadpool & Wolverine off the #1 spot for a spell was Fede Álvarez’s sci-fi horror Alien: Romulus, which brought back one of the most frightful monsters in cinematic history—the lobster-like face-strangling Xenomorphs! Taking place between Ridley Scott’s 1979 revered original and James Cameron’s 1986 fan-favorite sequel, Aliens, the cortisol-triggering interquel from 20th Century Studios centers on a new generation of colonists in their 20s,
“Merchant Ivory” Director Stephen Soucy on His Must-See Doc for Film Lovers
The name Merchant Ivory is so synonymous with lustrous period films, particularly literary adaptations of the works of E. M. Forster and Henry James, that even some astute filmgoers assumed it was a studio or a brand. It was both those things, but it was foremost the names of two men—US-born director James Ivory and India-born producer Ismail Merchant—who together formed a partnership that changed modern moviemaking.
That’s the major takeaway from Stephen Soucy’s illuminating and entertaining documentary Merchant Ivory.
Eye on the Emmys: “3 Body Problem” Cinematographer Martin Ahlgren on Lensing Series’ Wildest Set Piece
*Ahead of the 2024 Emmy Awards on September 15, we’re looking back at our interviews with some of this year’s nominees. Martin Ahlgren is nominated for Outstanding Cinematograph for a One Hour Series for episode 5, “Judgement Day.”
The scope of 3 Body Problem is planetary. Adapted by Game of Thrones creators David Benioff and D.B. Weiss, alongside Alexander Woo, Netflix’s ambitious sci-fi series presents a grand depiction of a war between humanity and aliens.
Picking Apart the Pickwick Triplets With “Only Murders in the Building” Emmy-Nom’d Editors Shelly Westerman and Payton Koch
Only Murders in the Building editors Shelly Westerman, ACE and Payton Koch were nominated for Emmys this year for Outstanding Picture Editing For A Single-Camera Comedy Series for the eighth episode of season three, “Sitzprobe,” with pressure mounting on the show-within-the-show on a critical rehearsal day. It’s one of the funniest episodes in a very, very funny series, with Steven Martin in peak neuroses mode while Meryl Streep, guest starring this season as the mysterious Loretta Durkin,
“Ahsoka” Emmy-Winning Costume Designers Elissa Alcala & Devon Patterson on Carrying on a Cosmic Legacy
The late Shawna Trpcic, costume designer for Ahsoka, was posthumously awarded an Emmy this past weekend at the 76th Creative Arts Emmy Winners for Outstanding Fantasy/Sci-Fi Costumes, alongside her assistant costume designer Elissa Alcala and costume supervisor Devon Patterson, who won for the finale, “Part Eight: The Jedi, the Witch, and the Warlord.” It was an emotional win for Alcala and Patterson, who, like Trpcic, are Star Wars fans and highly regarded and now freshly minted Emmy winners.
