“Encanto” Writer/Director Charise Castro Smith On Breaking Boundaries
With the release of Disney’s Encanto, Charise Castro Smith (The Haunting of Hill House, Devious Maids) has broken through not one but two ceilings: as the first Latina to receive a directing credit on a Disney animated feature, and only the second woman ever to do so.
“I am glad this milestone has been reached. I wish it had been reached earlier and I wish this weren’t such a small club,” said Castro Smith,
“House of Gucci” Screenwriter Roberto Bentivegna on Centering Lady Gaga’s Obsessive Patrizia Reggiani
Sometimes you just have to say, “F*** it all, I’ll give it a shot.”
That’s what Roberto Bentivegna did when he got his shot to write the screenplay for the new MGM Studios feature House of Gucci, opening November 24.
At the time, Bentivegna had only a handful of short-film credits and award wins from way back in film school at Columbia. But he also had something else: a great idea.
“Sort Of” Co-Creator/Writer/Director Fab Filippo on This Groundbreaking New HBO Max Series
When you start watching the groundbreaking new HBO Max series Sort Of (debuting on HBO Max November 18), you might imagine that it’s yet another precocious-Millennial-auteur-driven show, starring its own creator/writer. After all, Sort Of’s real-life creator/writer/star, Bilal Baig, is a stylish, non-binary, Pakistani denizen of queer Toronto – just like Sabi Mehboob, the lead character they play in Sort Of.
As the story unfolds over eight episodes,
“Belfast” Writer/Director Kenneth Branagh’s Riveting Return to his Childhood
Writer/director Kenneth Branagh has mined his childhood experiences in Belfast to create a riveting, sumptuous film. Belfast (opening November 12), which is shot in black and white, captures a time in the summer of 1969 directly following the first riots in the northern part of the city often cited as the beginning of the Troubles. Branagh and his family were in the thick of it, and the film is shot from his perspective through the 9-year-old character Buddy,
“Spencer” Screenwriter on Getting Inside Princess Diana’s Headspace
Spencer (opened on Friday, November 5) casts Kristen Stewart as Princess Diana, rumored to be “cracking up” when she reluctantly joins the royal family in an enormous countryside manor for a tense Christmas holiday. The movie, directed by Pablo Larrain, describes itself as a “Fable from a true tragedy.” To that end, screenwriter Steven Knight used facts gleaned from the 1991 gathering to devise a fervid psychodrama that takes place largely inside Diana’s head.
“Last Night in Soho” Screenwriter Krysty Wilson-Cairns on Writing a Terrifying Time-Travel Tale
It was producer-director-writer Sam Mendes who introduced writer Krysty Wilson-Cairns to director-writer-producer Edgar Wright. “He thought we’d be very good friends. We’ve got a quite similar sense of humor and a passion for filmmaking,” says Wilson-Cairns, who knew Mendes from working on the Showtime series Penny Dreadful and went on to co-write with him the Oscar- and Writers Guild of America-nominated original screenplay for the WWI drama 1917.
How The “Dopesick” Creative Team is Shining a Light on the Opioid Crisis
Hulu’s new limited series Dopesick is about the origins of the national opioid epidemic. No matter what you think you know, Dopesick will open your eyes to a new level of brazen overreach and hubris on the part of Big Pharma. The series, which stars Micheal Keaton, examines ways in which the drug company Purdue Pharma and the Sackler family made billions by introducing the highly addictive drug OxyContin, leading to an unprecedented nationwide struggle with opioid addiction.
“The Eyes of Tammy Faye” Screenwriter Abe Sylvia on Finding Grace in Disgrace
Tammy Faye Bakker was a larger-than-life personality, both loathed and loved. When she died in 2007 at age 65, she left behind a haunting legacy defined by the fall of the televangelical empire she built with her first husband, Jim Bakker. At closer inspection, however, she transcended the scandals and struggles she faced and was so much more than her flamboyant style and appearance.
Writer/Directors Aron Gaudet & Gita Pullapilly on Their Couponing Caper “Queenpins”
“Two buddy comedies for the price of one,” says Aron Gaudet about Queenpins, the quirky indie escapade set in the thrift-minded world of extreme couponing that he co-wrote and co-directed with Gita Pullapilly. Starring Kristen Bell, Kirby Howell-Baptiste, Paul Walter Hauser, and Vince Vaughn, the film follows two best friends who wittingly become embroiled in a multimillion-dollar counterfeit coupon scam, and the loss prevention officer and U.S. postal inspector hot on their tails.
Writer/Producer Max Borenstein Delves Into the Human Cost of 9/11 in “Worth”
This September marks the 20th anniversary of 9/11. While many of the events that transpired that day have been captured on film, one lesser-known account of the tragedy just made its cinematic bow on Netflix. Worth chronicles the story of Kenneth Feinberg, the attorney charged with overseeing the September 11th Victim Compensation Fund and, in so doing, putting a monetary value on the lives that were lost or suffered serious health issues as a result of the attack.
“Free Guy” Co-Writer Zak Penn on The Art of the Re-Write
Zak Penn started his career on a high note when he sold his first script at age 23 and landed Arnold Schwarzenegger as the star. The thrill didn’t last long. Last Action Hero got re-written, Penn was relegated to a “story by” credit and the would-be blockbuster flopped at the box office.
But Penn survived the ignominy and 28-years later, he’s become an expert at crafting tentpole action epics like The Incredible Hulk,
Tracey Scott Wilson on Penning the Queen of Soul’s Meteoric Rise in “Respect”
Writing a biopic is no easy task, particularly when the subject is an international icon who was a very private person. Indeed, crafting the screenplay for Respect, the highly anticipated drama chronicling Aretha Franklin’s rise from the church choir to the global stage, proved challenging, as well as rewarding, for Tracey Scott Wilson. But the fledgling feature film screenwriter, with an award-winning background in both theater and television (she co-executive produced Fosse/Verdon,
Creating the Wonderful World of Disney+’s “The Mysterious Benedict Society”
They met in an improv group while students at Brown University, and joined forces as screenwriters after graduating. Some three decades later, Phil Hay and Matt Manfredi have racked up a noteworthy roster of film credits that include Destroyer, The Invitation, Ride Along and Ride Along 2, and Clash of the Titans. Their finely-tuned creative process moves from talking deeply through plot points to outlining extensively to splitting up scenes to write individually before reconvening to edit and polish — almost always while sitting in the same room,
“Doc McStuffins” Creator Chris Nee on The Future of Children’s Programming
There are few people on the planet who are in a better position to talk about what’s working, and what still needs work, in children’s programming than Doc McStuffins creator Chris Nee. Like so many great ideas, Nee came up with Doc McStuffins, a series about a six-year-old girl who is a doctor to her stuffed animals and toys, while in the shower. Yet the impetus for the beloved series was her own life and her son’s struggles with asthma.
Playwright & Screenwriter Quiara Alegria Hudes on Adapting “In The Heights” for the Big Screen
Quiara Alegria Hudes adapted her Tony Award-winning musical In the Heights for the big screen, with some streamlining and updates. As in the original, it follows the lives of a group of people in the Washington Heights section of Manhattan over a hot summer three-day period that includes a power black-out. In an interview, Hudes talked about using very specific, evocative details to tell a universal story of dreams, home, and family.
It’s often said that the more specific something is,
Taking Flight with “The Falcon and the Winter Soldier” Creator Malcolm Spellman
The success or failure of The Falcon and the Winter Soldier laid heavily upon many folks, but perhaps none as specifically as creator and showrunner Malcolm Spellman. Spellman succeeded in delivering not only a thrilling, six-episode season with cinematic-level action but also a character study of one would-be Captain America in Anthony Mackie’s Sam Wilson. The Falcon and the Winter Soldier absorbed the narrative traumas Sam had already endured as well as the real-world traumas that Black Americans have been dealing with forever.
Oscar-Nominated Screenwriter Kemp Powers on Finding Truth & Beauty in “One Night In Miami”
This interview is part of our ongoing Oscar series. The original story ran on February 2, before Kemp Powers was nominated for an Oscar for Best Adapted Screenplay. Also worth noting—he co-directed Pixar’s Soul, which is nominated for Best Animated Feature.
After nearly two decades as a news reporter, Kemp Powers knew a good story when he found one. Discovering that four cultural icons — heavyweight champ Cassius Clay, soon to take the name Muhammad Ali;
“Lovecraft Country” Creator Misha Green on Confidence and Taking Risks in Hollywood
Name a vocation and Misha Green has probably done it. And if not in her own lifetime, then through the lives of the characters she creates.
“My sister just reminded me the other day, she was like, ‘You actually got into UCLA for acting,’” Green said. “And I was like, ‘Oh yeah, that’s RIGHT!’”
But ultimately, it was a life behind the camera that Green preferred. She decided to study television and film at New York University and a few years later landed her first industry job as a staff writer for FX’s Sons of Anarchy.
Writer/Director Anna Kerrigan & Jillian Bell on Making the Modern-Day Western “Cowboys”
A stirring, “stay with you” drama about family, tolerance, and rescue, Cowboys centers on the disparate reactions from newly separated parents Sally and Troy (Jillian Bell and Steve Zahn) upon learning their child, Joe (newcomer Sasha Knight), is transgender. While Sally remains in denial, Troy is determined to allow Joe to live authentically and runs off with him into the wilderness of Montana, with authorities not far behind. Ann Dowd plays the detective assigned to the case,
Writer/Director Tiller Russell on his Real-Life Crime Drama “Silk Road”
Writer/director Tiller Russell was ideally suited to take on the crime thriller Silk Road. As the director of The Last Narc and Netflix’s Night Stalker: The Hunt for a Serial Killer, Russell is no stranger to looking squarely at the darker corners of the human soul. For Silk Road, which was inspired by David Kushner’s Rolling Stone article “Dead End on Silk Road: Internet Crime Kingpin Ross Ulbricht’s Big Fall,”
