Chatting With X-Men: Apocalypse‘s Composer, Editor & Co-Producer John Ottman
John Ottman is a very busy guy. He was composer, editor, and co-producer of X-Men: Apocalypse, which he describes as “running the store.” But that’s not all – he also composed the score for another film opening this month, The Nice Guys, starring Russell Crowe and Ryan Gosling and written and directed by Shane Black. Somehow, he managed to find a few minutes to chat about both projects.
Go Behind-the-Scenes of Fear the Walking Dead
On Sunday night, April 10, Fear the Walking Dead will return to AMC. The surprisingly nimble, affecting prequel to AMC's powerhouse The Walking Dead had a brisk, well paced and ultimately harrowing first season. In just six episodes viewers got to see how the beginning of the zombie apocalypse looked from the perspective of three families that are thrust together in the very middle of the undead action. Kim Dickens stars as the capable Madison Clark,
SXSW 2016: A Q&A With the Writer/Director, Production Designer & Producer of American Fable
Many first time directors might find themselves tempted to make their debut entrance into the world of filmmaking with simple, festival-ready fare, but for Anne Hamilton, the writer and director of American Fable, that approach just wouldn’t do.
Standing as easily one of the most visually striking films to play at this year’s SXSW, American Fable is what Hamilton & Co. have labeled as a “fairytale thriller”
Hardcore Henry Producer Timur Bekmambetov on the Groundbreaking POV Film
When an action film is at its best, it becomes easy to imagine yourself at the center of the action, jumping building to building, bolting down busy streets and going mano a mano with your attackers. But in the case of Hardcore Henry, the world’s first feature-length action film shot entirely in POV, that feeling of immersion is simply part of the deal.
The premise is simple: a nameless protagonist – you,
SXSW 2016: Director Todd Bieber & Legendary Sketch Comedians Matt Walsh & Matt Besser on Thank You Del
You've probably never heard of Del Close, but you’ve definitely heard of the people he’s taught, inspired, and helped turn into legends—Bill Murray, Amy Poehler, and Chris Farley to name a few. Director Todd Bieber, who has directed for Comedy Central, Vice, IFC, and more, was approached by legendary sketch performers, actors and co-founders of The Upright Citizen’s Brigade, Matt Walsh (Veep, Step Brothers) and Matt Besser (The UCB Show,
Steven Spielberg & Harrison Ford to Reunite for Indiana Jones
Disney just broke the big news—Steven Spielberg and Harrison Ford are reuniting for Indiana Jones, with The Force Awakens super producer Kathleen Kennedy on board to produce. This is pretty major news. Here's the full presser:
SPIELBERG AND FORD REUNITE AS INDIANA JONES RETURNS TO THEATERS JULY 19, 2019
Indiana Jones will return to the big screen on July 19, 2019, for a fifth epic adventure in the blockbuster series. Steven Spielberg,
After 6 Glorious Seasons, Downton Abbey Says Goodbye
After six mostly glorious seasons on air, Downton Abbey had its series finale on Sunday night. Show creator Julian Fellowes managed to create a hugely appealing, compelling series centered on Lord Grantham, his extended family and the servants whose lives intersected with their employers. What’s so amazing, as Vulture’s Jen Chaney points out, is Fellowes hit show didn’t require a central character who was difficult and dark,
J.J. Abrams Talks 10 Cloverfield Lane
Earlier today we introduced you to the great short film that put 10 Cloverfield Lane director Dan Trachtenberg on the map; now we’d like to point your attention towards this great interview with producer J.J. Abrams about the most mysterious film of 2016 thus far. With this Cloverfield “blood relative” opening on Thursday, all eyes are on 10 Cloverfield Lane,
Watch the First Official Ghostbusters Trailer
The first official trailer for Ghostbusters is here, and it takes only 40 seconds for Kristen Wiig's Erin Gilbert to be covered in ectoplasm. A brief set up introduces who our Ghostbusters are; Erin Gilbert (Wiig) is the brainiac ("Erin, no one's better at quantum physics than you!); Kate McKinnon is Jilian Holtzman, the brilliant engineer, Melissa McCarthy is Abby Yates, the team leader, and Leslie Jones is Patty Tolan, the one who knows New York City inside and out.
Judd Apatow Brings the Love to Netflix
The warts and all view of relationships we know and love from Judd Apatow’s comedies is set to become bingeable with today’s premiere of his Netflix series Love. Love follows dorky nice guy Gus (Paul Rust) and freewheeling tough girl Mickey (Gillian Jacobs) as they embark on a relationship. The half hour comedy series was created, written and executive produced by Apatow, Rust and Lesley Arfin. It was originally conceived as a film by husband and wife team Rust and Arfin (who was a writer on the Apatow-produced Girls) and Apatow helped them develop it into a TV rom-com about a slow-burning romance.
Deadpool: How Marvel’s Biggest Misfit Fits In and Acts Out
Before the MCU (that is, the Marvel Cinematic Universe) was ubiquitous, the X-Men dominated film’s superhero landscape and for much of the early aughts, the X-Men series stood as a popular representation of Marvel Comics’ cinematic potential. But in 2008, the official MCU commenced with Iron Man, leaving Spider-Man under the control of Sony, and X-Men,
Sundance 2016: A Film Review Roundup
Earlier we looked at some of the films that have premiered at Sundance that have found homes in a variety of studios, from IFC to Amazon. Now let's take a look at some of the films reviews coming out of the festival this year, perhaps gleaning what will be next on the bidding block.
Vulture's Bilge Ebiri has written that Kenneth Lonergan's Manchester by the Sea,
10 Cloverfield Lane and the Year of J.J. Abrams
Eight years ago, television impresario JJ Abrams triggered the biggest marketing juggernaut since The Blair Witch Project with a short, unassuming teaser for a then-unnamed horror film. Appearing in front of Michael Bay’s highly anticipated Transformers, the trailer featured familiar comedy faces in Lizzy Caplan and T.J Miller and clocked in at less than two minutes long. Despite its minimal length, the teaser didn’t lack in impact as it depicted the devolution of a casual house party into apocalyptic mania,
Director Vanessa Block & Producer Steve Tisch Discuss Their Oscar Shortlisted Doc The Testimony
"The conflict in the Democratic Republic of the Congo has cost more lives than any other since World War II." This startling fact is one of the first things you learn in director Vanessa Block's documentary short The Testimony, and it lingers in your mind long after the film is finished. What's more astonishing than this brutal metric is the unquestionable strength of the women who live in Congo, specifically Eastern Congo,
Talking to Stacey Sher, Producer of Quentin Tarantino’s The Hateful Eight
Producer Stacey Sher first worked with director Quentin Tarantino on his 1994 film Pulp Fiction, in which she was executive producer. Twenty-one years later she’s working with him again on his 70mm widescreen extravaganza The Hateful Eight, their third film together (after 2012’s Django Unchained on which she was a producer). In between those films, even a partial list of her credits reads like a best-of list from the last two decades: Get Shorty (1995);
Talking to Carol’s Producers About Their 11-Year Labor of Love
The most lusciously romantic film of the year is Carol, directed by Todd Haynes. It is based on a semiautobiographical novel by Patricia Highsmith, also author of The Talented Mr. Ripley and Strangers on a Train. She wrote Carol under a pseudonym because it was the story of a lesbian romance. Nearly 40 years after its 1952 publication, she revealed that she was the author.
In an interview,
How Macbeth‘s Producer Brought the Rogue Adaptation to the Screen
Though Justin Kurzel’s Macbeth isn’t necessarily the kind of adaptation that promises to satisfy strict Bard purists, it may be one of the more accessible and artful adaptations committed to the screen. A measured melodrama, graphic western and disturbing horror film wrapped in a neat Shakespearean package, this Macbeth for a new age stars Michael Fassbender and Marion Cotillard as the titular Lord and Lady. Treading the well-worn story of greed and loss with newly thoughtful footsteps,
Around the Web: It’s General Leia, Not Princess, Mad Max: Fury Road & More
Entertainment Weekly’s big Star Wars: The Force Awakens feature, with four separate covers, includes this tiny but not insignificant detail—in the film, Princess Leia is now General Leia. Director J.J. Abrams told EW this: “She’s referred to as General, But … there’s a moment in the movie where a character sort of slips and calls her ‘Princess.’”
Ever wondered why she was referred to as a Princess in the first place?
Around the Web: News on Deadpool, X-Men: Apocalypse & More
Collider spoke to Simon Kinberg, writer/producoer on X-Men: Apocalypse and producer on Deadpool, about Fox's two highly anticipated superhero films in 2016. We suggest you read the full interview, as it's rich in detail about both films. One thing we'd like to highlight here is, for X-Men, how the breakout from Days of Future Past,
X-Men: Apocalypse Trailer Attached to Star Wars: The Force Awakens
Collider reports that the first trailer for X-Men: Apocalypse will be attached to Star Wars: The Force Awakens. Apocalypse joins Captain America: Civil War as two of the big 2016 films wisely attaching their trailers to what could be the largest opening in film history. What is already guaranteed about The Force Awakens is it'll open
