No Cuts, Pure Tension: “Adolescence” Director Philip Barantini on Crafting Netflix Thriller in Unbroken Single Takes
British actor Stephen Graham is so reliably intense he played Al Capone for Martin Scorsese in Boardwalk Empire, stared down Al Pacino in The Irishman, executive producer and co-starred in the bare knuckle boxing drama A Thousand Blows, and earned the prestigious Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) award for his contributions to UK ...
From Acclaimed Ads to the Andes: Director Dougal Wilson’s Charming Feature Film Debut “Paddington in Peru”
Arguably the world’s most beloved (fictional) British immigrant, Paddington the Talking Bear arrived in London from South America in 2014 by way of the eponymous animated hit movie. Three years later, he returned for a sequel opposite Hugh Grant. This month, PG-rated Paddington in Peru (in theaters) continues the adventure as the marmalade-loving creature, based ...
How Director Mohammad Rasoulof Shot his Oscar-Nominated “The Seed of the Sacred Fig” in Secret
Iranian filmmaker Mohammad Rasoulof wanted to tell a big story — so he went small. The Seed of the Sacred Fig explores his country’s authoritarian rule, repressive justice, patriarchal dominance, and women’s rights through its impact on one family. Taking place during the 2022 Woman, Life, Freedom movement, a nationwide protest sparked by the arrest of ...
Julian Brave NoiseCat & Emily Kassie’s on “Sugarcane”: Their Oscar-Nominated Exploration of Trauma and Truth
Toronto-born filmmaker and investigative journalist Emily Kassie has covered conflict around the globe, from the Taliban’s crackdown on women to child labor in Turkey. “But I had never turned the lens on my own country,” says Kassie. That’s changed with Sugarcane, which mixes a grassroots investigation with personal and collective reckoning of years of forced ...
“Nickel Boys” Writer/Director RaMell Ross on Camera as Consciousness in His Oscar-Nominated Film
An introspective, promising teenager hitchhiking to college gets a ride in a car that turns out to be stolen. The driver is Black, and so is the boy. Deemed an accomplice despite his innocence, Elwood (Ethan Herisse) is remanded to Nickel Academy, a segregated Florida reform school. Nickel Boys, the Oscar-nominated film based on Colson ...
Director Wes Ball & Oscar-Nominated VFX Supervisor Erik Winquist on the Groundbreaking Visuals of “Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes”
Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes took the franchise to new heights of photorealism and immersive filmmaking. The groundbreaking series has pushed the envelope in motion capture and beyond, starting with 2011’s Rise of the Planet of the Apes and carrying on through three subsequent films. The latest film, Wes Ball‘s 2024 epic Kingdom ...
Creating Count Orlock With “Nosferatu” Director Robert Eggers & Special FX Makeup Designer David White
Count Orlok (Bill Skarsgård) is a putrid feast for the eyes. In writer/director Robert Eggers’ brilliant Nosferatu remake, the iconic creature of the night is a decaying figure – nightmarish precisely because his living death was wrought with such chilling reality. Whether the Count is deep in the shadows or full view, his monstrosity remains ...
“Better Man” Director Michael Gracey on Monkeying With Robbie Williams in Bold Bio-Pic
Australian director Michael Gracey skyrocketed to success after releasing his debut feature, the 2017 Hugh Jackman-led musical The Greatest Showman. For his second narrative feature, Better Man, which is also a musical, he has tackled the life story of English pop singer Robbie Williams. There’s a twist, though. For the entirety of the film, Williams is ...
“The Last Showgirl” Director Gia Coppola Pulls Back the Curtain on Pamela Anderson’s Career-Defining Performance
For a film set in Las Vegas, it’s surprising that director Gia Coppola chose grit over glitz for The Last Showgirl. “I wanted to make a movie in an intimate way. I adore [John] Cassavetes and how he made movies,” says Coppola, who cites Cassavetes’ The Killing of a Chinese Bookie as “one movie I ...
“Wallace and Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl” Directors Nick Park & Merlin Crossingham go Back to the Bakehouse
It has been almost two decades since the Oscar-winning stop-motion animation delight Wallace and Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit. Now, the dynamic duo is back in a new adventure, Wallace and Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl; however, the world has changed. Not only is the feature streaming on Netflix, a platform that did not exist in 2005, ...
Best of 2024: Richard Linklater on the Killer Chemistry in his Romantic Comedy “Hit Man”
In Richard Linklater‘s latest film, an irresistibly sexy romantic comedy that’s also a bit of a noir, a giddy satire on the hitman genre, and a screwball quasi-whodunit, the one constant is a vibe that is decidedly and effusively all Linklater. Glen Powell, a rising star who has been Linklater’s longtime collaborator through a string of ...
Best of 2024: 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), ...
Best of 2024: “Wicked” Director Jon M. Chu Takes Us Behind the Curtain of His Gravity-Defying Adaptation
This interview was selected by measures having nothing to do with science as one of our standouts from 2024. This was one of the easier selections—Chu’s sensational adaptation managed to delight mega-fans of the Broadway juggernaut as well as newbies freshly dazzled by the story of Elphaba, Glinda, and the ramifications of their epic friendship. ...
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 ...
The Shared DNA Between Writer/Director Jean de Meuron’s “Edge of Space” and “Top Gun: Maverick”
A visually lavish and emotionally captivating short film about the early days of manned spaceflight exploration, writer/director/producer Jean de Meuron’s directorial debut, Edge of Space, is set in 1961. The 18-minute film follows U.S. Air Force test pilot Glen Ford (played by the Sniper film series’ Chad Michael Collins), who risks it all for a suborbital test flight ...
“Wicked” Director Jon M. Chu Takes us Behind the Curtain of His Gravity Defying Adaptation
Spoilers aplenty! Black hat seated atop her head, Elphaba (Cynthia Erivo) peers around the corner of the Ozdust ballroom, excited to attend her first party ever. She tentatively takes her first steps down the stairs, silhouette illuminated by the spotlight, when the music suddenly halts and her peers begin to laugh. The excitement quickly drains ...
“Smile 2” Horror Auteur Parker Finn on Crafting a Sequel About a Haunted Pop Star in New York
Writer/director Parker Finn has been enjoying a whirlwind victory lap in the days since his Smile 2 opened number one at the box office to become the year’s top-grossing horror film. “It’s been very surreal and exciting,” Finn told The Credits, speaking from his Los Angeles home. In fact, the past four years have unspooled ...
Cardinal Sins: “Conclave” Star Isabella Rossellini and Director Edward Berger on Their Thrilling New Film
Hot off Audience Award wins at both the Mill Valley and Middleburg Film Festivals, the film Conclave enjoyed phenomenal word of mouth on its way into theaters on October 25. Based on Robert Harris’ bestselling 2016 thriller, Conclave goes behind the sequestered doors of the Vatican to show the inner workings of selecting a new pope. The ...
“On Swift Horses” Director Daniel Minahan & DP Luc Montpellier on Love in the Shadows in the 1950s
On Swift Horses director Daniel Minahan has long admired the work of cinematographer Luc Montpellier. “He shot Tales From the Loop, which is one of the best series I’ve ever seen. And [the 2022 film] Women Talking is just a feat of design and performance. So I said to him, ‘Your work is so beautiful ...
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. ...
