Ledgers and Lethal Force: Gavin O’Connor on Directing Ben Affleck in “The Accountant 2”
Almost a decade after they first worked together, the action sequel The Accountant 2 reunites director Gavin O’Connor and star Ben Affleck for a third time. First announced seven years ago, the journey to bring the follow-up to the screen has been challenging, but it’s one the Warrior filmmaker is grateful for.
Set and filmed in Los Angeles, Affleck returns as Christian Wolff, the titular number-crunching hero with a brilliant mind and a talent for solving complex problems,
Devil Went Down to Georgia: How Erik Oleson Crafted Kevin Bacon’s Undead Demon Hunter in “The Bondsman”
Writer/producer Erik Oleson definitely knows a thing or two about characters chasing personal demons. He was the head writer on The Man in the High Castle, and went on to be showrunner and executive producer for seasons of both Marvel’s Daredevil and Amazon’s Carnival Row. It makes perfect sense, then, for him to take on Amazon’s new horror-comedy series The Bondsman.
In it,
007 at CinemaCon: Amazon MGM Promises Exotic New Chapter to James Bond Franchise
The future of James Bond has been shaken and it’s been stirred, and now, we’re just waiting for it to be poured into theaters under its new leadership at Amazon MGM. At this year’s CinemaCon in Las Vegas, Amazon MGM’s executives, Courtenay Valenti and Sue Kroll, took the stage to discuss the new direction the franchise is headed in, as the British spy has found his new home at the studio.
“We are committed to honoring the legacy of this iconic character while bringing a fresh,
Val Kilmer Passes Away, Leaving Behind a Legendary Career & Admirers Far and Wide
“I’m your huckleberry.”
In 1993, director George Cosmatos’ Tombstone came out, starring Kurt Russell as the legendary lawman Wyatt Earp and Val Kilmer as his drunken, decidedly decent and invaluable partner Doc Holliday. By then, Kilmer was already a legend, having played Ice Man, the ying to Maverick (Tom Cruise, of course)’s yang in Tony Scott’s 1986 film Top Gun, and Jim Morrison in Oliver Stone’s 1991 film The Doors,
Amazon MGM’s Next James Bond Movie to be Produced by Veteran Hit-Makers Amy Pascal & David Heyman
Amazon MGM has tapped two veteran producers—Amy Pascal and David Heyman — to steer the next Bond film. The Pascal and Heyman announcement follows Amazon MGM’s industry-shaking move when the studio closed its own deal with Barbara Broccoli and Michael G. Wilson to take over the franchise. Broccoli and Wilson’s family has been shepherding the super spy on the big screen since the 1960s.
The dynamic producing duo will use their namesake companies,
SXSW 2025: 11 Intriguing Film & TV Premieres Highlight a Big Time Festival Lineup
Hello from Austin!
This year’s SXSW Film & TV Festival is extra star-studded and jam-packed with exciting titles. This is due, in large part, to the fest not coinciding with the Oscars, as it has for the past few years. As always, SXSW is chock-a-block with screenings—an adventurous and inexhaustible attendee has 111 films and 17 series to choose from—and some very big stars and a ton of intriguing filmmakers and TV creators are on hand to showcase their work.
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,
“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,
“Masters of the Universe” Casts Alison Brie as Villain Evil-Lyn in Amazon MGM’s He-Man Movie
Alison Brie is ready to get evil with a capital E.
The Hollywood Reporter scoops that Brie has been cast in Travis Knight’s Masters of the Universe, Amazon MGM’s live-action adaptation of Mattel’s He-Man toy brand, which became ubiquitous in the 1980s. Brie joins The Idea of You star Nicholas Galitzine, who plays He-Man, and Camila Mendes, who plays Teela, captain of the royal guard.
“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,
Chasing Precision and Perfection with Aerial DPs on “The Blue Angels” – Part 2
In part one of our interview, former Blue Angels pilot LCDR Lance “Bubb” Benson, aerial DP Michael FitzMaurice, and aerial coordinator Kevin LaRosa II shared how the painstaking planning process really paid off and the use of Benson’s “chase” jet to capture unique vantage points. Now, we delve into the camera configurations and what it took to film some of the most popular maneuvers from the air.
The sizeable discrepancy between the airspeeds of the helicopter and the F-18s was crucial in intensifying the visceral rush on-screen.
Chasing Precision and Perfection with Aerial DPs on “The Blue Angels” – Part 1
Every year since the Blue Angels were established in 1946, crowds of all ages have oohed and aahed at airshows from Brunswick, Maine to Huntington Beach, California, as the United States Navy’s precision flight demonstration team performs intoxicatingly vertiginous aerial maneuvers in the skies. With six F/A-18 Super Hornet fighter jets flying a mere 12-18 inches apart at 400-600mph, the only way to capture every hypersonic swoop and stomach-churning roll on camera up close—and safely—for the Amazon MGM feature documentary was to have a former Blue Angel in the aerial cinematography team.
Ryan Gosling and Amazon MGM Set to Sink Teeth Into Zombie Comedy “I Used to Eat Brains, Now I Eat Kale”
Ryan Gosling is set to produce a zombie comedy film with an unbeatable title—I Used to Eat Brains, Now I Eat Kale—based on a short story by the twins Adam and Daniel Cooper that they’ll now adapt. Amazon MGM gobbled up the project, which will track a story about former zombies trying to adapt to a changed world.
Gosling will produce alongside Jessie Henderson, his partner at their production company General Admission,
Zendaya Double Feature: “Dune: Part Two” Returns to IMAX as “Challengers” Serves Up Premiere
Zendaya is ready to serve for the win this weekend at the box office.
The megastar will be on the big screen in two critically acclaimed films from major directors. One you likely know all about by now—Denis Villeneuve’s Dune: Part Two returns to IMAX this weekend as it continues its epic run. The second Zendaya film in theaters this weekend is Luca Guadagnino’s romantic comedy Challengers, a sexy new film about three “athletic demigods”
“The Boys in the Boat” Star Callum Turner on Going With the Flow
Callum Turner plays Joe Rantz in The Boys in the Boat, based on the real-life story of the University of Washington rowing team that won a gold medal in the 1936 Olympics. George Clooney directed the film, adapted by Mark L. Smith from Daniel James Brown’s best-seller of the same title, and it’s a classic underdog story. Coach Al Ulbrickson, played by Joel Edgerton, took a big risk by taking the junior varsity team to the Olympics instead of the far more experienced varsity rowers.
“The Boys in the Boat” Production Designer Kalina Ivanov on Jumping On Board of George Clooney’s Stirring new Drama
For The Boys in the Boat, directed by George Clooney, production designer Kalina Ivanov had to make England of 2022 look like the Pacific Northwest of the United States in the midst of the Depression. No easy feat, but one the talented filmmaker was more than prepared to tackle. Ivanov, who worked with Clooney on The Tender Bar and currently helped create the iconic Gotham for the upcoming The Batman spinoff series The Penguin,
