“It Ends With Us” Production Designer Russell Barnes on Crafting Visual Contrasts of Love & Control
Director Justin Baldoni’s film adaptation of Colleen Hoover’s hit novel, It Ends With Us, in which Baldoni also stars as vicious neurosurgeon Ryle, is a surprise hit of the summer. The movie is a romance suffused with darkness, following Lily (Blake Lively as an adult, Isabela Ferrer as an adolescent) as she grows up and falls into a violent relationship that mirrors her parents (Amy Morton and Kevin McKidd).
As an adolescent in Maine looking to escape,
“Deadpool & Wolverine” Costume Designer Graham Churchyard on Bringing Back Logan’s Yellow Suit
Deadpool & Wolverine is more than a comic book movie—it’s like 20 comic book movies slashed and smashed into one, pulling characters from the past, present, and future of Marvel and 20th Century Fox’s film history. Audiences witnessed these characters all coming together again in the void, some even making history in the process.
The void is a post-apocalyptic wasteland where Deadpool (Ryan Reynolds) and Wolverine (Hugh Jackman) cross paths with familiar faces and new superheroes with stark new powers.
“Manhunt”: A Visual Journey Through Time with Graphic Designer Gina Alessi
Manhunt graphic designer Gina Alessi had a significant assignment when she was brought on board Apple TV+’s stellar limited series about the hunt for John Wilkes Booth (Anthony Boyle) in the aftermath of Abraham Lincoln’s (Hamish Linklater) assassination—among other historical recreations, Alessi was tasked with making sure Abraham Lincoln’s deathbed at the Petersen House next to the Ford Theater, down to the pattern on the blanket, was period perfect. It was not an insignificant challenge,
“Deadpool & Wolverine” Screenwriters Rhett Reese & Paul Wernick on Resurrecting Logan
Moviegoers apparently love an underdog, at least when it takes the form of Ryan Reynolds’ Avengers wannabe Wade “Deadpool” Wilson. Deadpool & Wolverine, the biggest R-rated movie of all time, with more than a billion at the global box office, co-stars Hugh Jackman and comes fully loaded with a slew of superheroes newly arrived in the Marvel Cinematic Universe now that Disney owns the studio that once controlled the rights to X-Men and other comic book characters.
“Deadpool & Wolverine” Co-Writer Zeb Wells on Scripting Marvel’s Raunchiest, Wildest Film Ever
Even if Deadpool & Wolverine hadn’t become the year’s top-grossing movie, self-described comics nerd-turned-screenwriter Zeb Wells would have been thrilled just for the opportunity to furnish Ryan Reynolds’ Deadpool character with snarky wise-cracks. Joining Reynolds, director Shawn Levy, Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick, Wells, who previously penned “Venom: Dark Origin” and “The Amazing Spider-Man” comic books, says, “I was a huge fan of the first two Deadpool movies,
All the World’s a Stage: The Team Behind “Sing Sing” on Crafting a Powerful Human Drama
Sing Sing screenwriters Greg Kwedar and Clint Bentley are unusual, even in the world of indies. They immerse themselves in the world of the story they want to tell for years, in this case a drama program in a maximum-security prison. They surround professional performers like Colman Domingo in the case of Sing Sing, with real-life inhabitants of that world, with a seamless naturalism that straddles documentary and narrative filmmaking.
Twin Forces: “The Acolyte” Director Hanelle M. Culpepper on Crafting Amandla Stenberg’s Dual Roles
When she helmed the first episode of Star Trek: Picard in 2020, director Hanelle M. Culpepper made history as the first woman to launch a Star Trek series. She went on to win the NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Directing in a Drama Series for that project. This, along with her work on shows like Westworld, The Last Days of Ptolemy Grey, Kung Fu,
“Fly Me to the Moon” Screenwriter Rose Gilroy Reimagines the Apollo 11 Moon Landing
As we just celebrated the 55th anniversary of the Apollo 11 lunar landing on July 16, director Greg Berlanti’s latest offering is a stylish, charming Space Race rom-com that salutes the 400,000 people who worked on the program. Starring Channing Tatum and Scarlett Johansson (who pulls double duty as producer), Fly Me to the Moon (in theaters now) is based on a story by producer Keenan Flynn and writer Bill Kirstein and crafted by screenwriter Rose Gilroy.
“Twisters” Sound Editors on Creating the Ferocious Voice of Six Distinct Tornadoes
Catastrophic weather struck a chord with moviegoers over the weekend when Twisters blew apart box office expectations and raked in a whopping $81 million for its debut. The action spectacle, directed by Lee Isaac Chung (Minari) and filmed in Oklahoma, stars Daisy Edgar-Jones, Glen Powell, and Anthony Ramos as storm chasers determined to study tornadoes by driving right to the edge of wind-torn disaster.
Twisters co-stars six different tornadoes conjured by Industrial Light &
“Twisters” Editor Terilyn A. Shropshire on Whipping Up a Winning Cut
For editor Terilyn A. Shropshire, Twisters was a homecoming. Director Lee Isaac Chung shot the satisfying popcorn picture on 35mm, and Shropshire, who cut her teeth on 8mm, 16mm, and 35mm, was thrilled to see flash frames again on Twisters. Most of the excitement came in color timing and seeing the end results, but still, the texture alone of the footage shot by cinematographer Dan Mindel, was a thrill to cut.
“House of the Dragon” Showrunner Ryan Condal on the the Women Vying for Power in Westeros
For those who haven’t watched House of the Dragon since its debut in 2022, the show is based on George R.R. Martin’s book Fire and Blood. The story chronicles the early days of the Targaryen dynasty in the time of Aegon the Conqueror, a forefather to the much-beloved Game of Thrones heroine Daenerys. The new series has developed its own enthusiastic fandom, one that was thrilled to see the premiere of new weekly episodes as of June 16th of this year.
“Sing Sing” Cinematographer Pat Scola on Capturing a Raw, Moving Portrait of Humanity
“It was really about getting out of your own way and allowing these men’s story to come to the forefront,” cinematographer Pat Scola tells The Credits about the emotionally stirring film Sing Sing from director Greg Kwedar, which shines a delicate light on the arts rehabilitation program at Sing Sing Correctional Facility. “Greg was the one who led from the front on this, and we were there to help tell the story without putting our hands all over it,” Scola says.
How “Those About to Die” VFX Supervisor Peter Travers Built Rome in 100 Days
Roland Emmerich knows how to destroy worlds. The multi-hyphenate is behind some of the biggest disaster movies in film history, including Independence Day, The Day After Tomorrow, 2012, and Moonfall. But instead of depicting a cataclysm for his latest effort, he’s building an empire for the Peacock series Those About to Die (streaming on July 18), which takes place during Rome’s Flavian dynasty just as the Coliseum is receiving its finishing touches.
“Beckham” Editor Michael Harte on Bending A Massive Archive Into a Must-See Doc
Directed by Fisher Stevens, the documentary miniseries Beckham has been a hit for Netflix, charting David Beckham’s rise as a Manchester United star, England team captain, and player for Real Madrid and the LA Galaxy. But football (we’ll call it that here, as Beckham, his family, his mentor Alex Ferguson, and dozens of teammates and fellow celebrities do throughout the miniseries) is only one way into the star’s life, with the relationship between David and his wife of almost 25 years,
“Presumed Innocent” DPs Daniel Voldheim & Doug Emmett on Capturing Jake Gyllenhaal’s Raw Emotions & Moral Ambiguity
An intoxicating amalgam of courtroom thriller, relationship drama, and a whodunit, David E. Kelley’s latest entry into long-form prestige drama arrives with Apple TV+’s Presumed Innocent, a cerebral puzzle steeped in betrayal, obsession, love, and ambition. Fresh off his quietly menacing turn in Amazon MGM’s wildly entertaining Road House remake, Jake Gyllenhaal (who also serves as Executive Producer) plays Rusty Sabich, Chicago’s chief deputy prosecutor and devoted family man,
“Fancy Dance” Producer Heather Rae on Putting Together Erica Tremblay’s Moving New Film
For Heather Rae, it’s all about heart. The award-winning producer of Frozen River, Wind Walkers, and Tallulah, and the director/producer of the acclaimed documentary Trudell, believes her place is at the heart of a production. And just as important, Rae is driven to make films with heart.
Fancy Dance, Rae’s latest film, now streaming on Apple TV+,
Cinematographer Sam Levy on the Absurdist Fun That is Julio Torres’ “Fantasmas”
Julio Torres wrote, directed, and stars in his new HBO series, Fantasmas, a delightfully absurdist comic fantasy loosely predicated on a search for a lost earring. Fantasmas, which means “ghosts” in Spanish, questions reality — Torres and his costars, including Emma Stone and Bernardo Velasco, with cameos by actors like Tilda Swinton, exist in a world that seems to be both multi-dimensional and missing dimensions at the same time,
“The Acolyte” Costume Designer Jennifer Bryan on Dressing Jedis, Witches, Wookies & More
Note: this interview contains spoilers for the first three episodes.
In its newest Star Wars franchise, The Acolyte, Disney+ heads back in time to a century prior to the rise of the Galactic Empire. Amandla Stenberg stars as identical twins Osha and Mae, the former an ex-Jedi Padawan and the latter a vengeful warrior on the run. Both can use the Force, although the Jedi Order is neither twin’s birthright — the girls’ early childhood was spent in a coven of witches on Brendok,
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.
“Space Cadet” Writer/Director Liz Garcia on Crafting Her Cosmic Comedy
It was an article about NASA’s first class of astronaut candidates in which women constituted half the participants that piqued Liz Garcia’s curiosity about the highly competitive candidacy process and ultimately prompted her to write about it. As the writer/director/producer (The Lifeguard, The Sinner) notes in her Director’s Statement, “Once I learned how astonishingly competitive it is to even get to the point that you’re being considered, I knew I wanted to set a movie in that world,
