“Smile 2” DP Charlie Sarroff on Lighting a Curse-Afflicted Pop Star in the Big City
Life as a pop star isn’t as great as it looks, if the smiles surrounding global sensation Skye Riley (Naomi Scott) are any indicator. Smile 2, director Parker Finn’s sequel to 2022’s surprise hit Smile, demonstrates the horror of having a public psychological breakdown triggered by the triple threat of hidden trauma, the immense pressures ...
Jon Stewart Will Stay at “The Daily Show” Through 2025
Jon Stewart isn’t going anywhere—at least through 2025. Stewart announced Monday that he’ll stay on The Daily Show as the once-a-week host on Mondays and remain an executive producer through December 2025. Stewart announced his return to the show nine months ago just as the presidential election was heating up—Stewart hosted The Daily Show from 1998 ...
The Streaming Innovation Alliance’s Mission Continues
The Streaming Innovation Alliance turns a year old today. If you haven’t heard of SIA, you’ve certainly been impacted by its commitment to giving streamers a unified voice so they can keep creating the films and television series you love – and delivering them to audiences when, where, and how they choose to watch. Once ...
“Knuckles” Composer Tom Howe on Scoring the Speedy Warrior’s Paramount+ Debut
Composer Tom Howe constructed the score for Paramount+’s superpowered new series Knuckles, putting the warrior Knuckles the Echidna from the Sonic the Hedgehog universe at the center of the action. “He’s like Sonic, but more fun, more attitude, and probably more fun to have a beer with or go out for dinner with,” Howe says ...
Which Movie Trailers Might You See During the Super Bowl
The Super Bowl is this coming Sunday, which means football fans (especially fans of the Kansas City Chiefs and San Francisco 49ers) will be enjoying three hours of heaven, but there’s another subset of fans that enjoy the big game—those who tune in for the highly produced ads often boasting major stars. And while you ...
How “Killers of the Flower Moon” Production Designer Jack Fisk Created 1920s Oklahoma
Killers of the Flower Moon became a journey of inspirational research for production designer Jack Fisk (The Revenant, There Will Be Blood). He traveled to Oklahoma to visit the very homes of the Osage portrayed in the Scorsese film – a story that unpacks the painful history of the Osage during the 1920s, whose oil-backed ...
“Killers of the Flower Moon” Costume Designer Jacqueline West on the Power of the Osage Blanket
“It’s a power symbol,” costume designer Jacqueline West (The Revenant) says of the blankets the Osage cast wears in Martin Scorsese’s Killers of the Flower Moon. “I felt it was some kind of armor against what is being imposed on them and what’s being done to them. You put it on against the world and ...
How Osage Tradition Influenced the Hair & Makeup in “Killers of the Flower Moon”
There is perhaps nothing more important than authentically depicting the Osage in Martin Scorsese’s Killers of the Flower Moon, a poignant tale based on real events where the oil-rich nation was devilishly deceived, manipulated, and murdered for their money and oil shares by the very ones who married them. Newspapers later described the tragedy, which ...
New “Killers of the Flower Moon” Featurette Reveals How the Osage Language Deepened the Film
“We’re making a film about a historical event that is central to the Osage history,” Martin Scorsese says at the time of a new featurette about his upcoming film Killers of the Flower Moon. “So, of course, it’s important we spoke that language.” We’re then whisked back to Oklahoma in the 1920s, where Ernest Burkhart ...
“Awkwafina is Nora From Queens” Composer Tangelene Bolton Drops the Needle
“I’ve been playing music since I was two or three, piano specifically, and then I was really into film starting in middle school, and I thought, ooh, maybe I’ll be a director one day,” says composer Tangelene Bolton, whose work can currently be heard on season three of Awkwafina is Nora From Queens. “I started ...
Michelle Yeoh to Star in “Star Trek: Section 31” Movie for Paramount+
Fresh off winning her first Oscar for her stellar work in Everything Everywhere All At Once, Michelle Yeoh has set a new course on her star chart. Yeoh will be headlining a new Star Trek movie, Star Trek: Section 31, reprising her Star Trek: Discovery role as Emperor Philippa Georgiou. Section 31, which will stream on Paramount+, was initially conceived as a ...
“Scream VI” Filmmaking Team Radio Silence Helming Mysterious Horror Film for Universal
Directors Tyler Gillet and Matt Bettinelli-Olpin have been on a roll. Their last three films have been critical and commercial successes, and they’ve all come more or less one right after the other—Ready or Not (2019), Scream (2022), and Scream VI (2023). The directors, along with producing partner Chad Villella, are a filmmaking trio known as Radio Silence, and ...
Stunt Coordinator Freddie Poole Trades Jabs with Sylvester Stallone in “Tulsa King”
Stunt coordinator Freddie Poole has worked long enough with Sylvester Stallone that, although he may not be able to finish the actor’s sentences, he can sure finish his punches. So when the call came to oversee the action on the Paramount+ series Tulsa King, Poole didn’t hesitate. Stallone stars as Dwight “The General” Manfredi, an ...
“Babylon” Composer Justin Hurwitz Deconstructs His Oscar-Shortlisted Score
“I’m very obsessive, and I can only do one thing at a time, so when Damien has a movie to work on, I go all in.” That’s composer Justin Hurwitz talking about his ongoing collaboration with filmmaker Damien Chazelle, and clearly, the laser vision has paid off. Hurwitz started working on his Oscar short-listed score ...
Morgan Freeman Joins Nicole Kidman in Taylor Sheridan’s “Lioness” for Paramount+
The stars are aligning for Taylor Sheridan’s new series Lioness for Paramount+. Deadline reports that Oscar-winner Morgan Freeman has joined the cast of Sheridan’s latest, which is being executive produced by two of its stars, Zoe Saldana and Nicole Kidman, and also stars Laysla De Oliveira. The cast is rounded out by Dave Annable, Jill Wagner, LaMonica ...
“George & Tammy” Creator Abe Sylvia on Crafting a Complicated Love Story
It’s a story that’s been on Abe Sylvia’s mind for a while. The screenwriter of The Eyes of Tammy Faye and writer/producer of such television series as Dead to Me and Nurse Jackie has always had a soft spot for country music. Blame it on his Oklahoma upbringing. And that’s why Sylvia found the story ...
“1923” Official Trailer Finds Helen Mirren & Harrison Ford Ready to Defend the Dutton Home
Time to saddle up. The Yellowstone prequel 1923 has unveiled its official trailer, and it finds two of cinema’s biggest stars stepping into the Dutton family drama. Helen Mirren and Harrison Ford are front and center in the new trailer as Cara and Jacob Dutton. We open with Cara Dutton meeting newcomer Donald Whitfield (Timothy Dalton), who introduces ...
“Yellowstone” Season 5 Premiere Wrangles Ratings Record
The Kevin Costner-led neo-western Yellowstone rounded up an astonishing 12.1 million viewers on Sunday night. This haul is the biggest overnight launch for Taylor Sheridan’s juggernaut series, and, according to Samba TV (via The Hollywood Reporter), this makes Yellowstone the top scripted series premiere of 2022. The numbers for Yellowstone are the kind that TV creators and studio executives dream of. Sheridan’s ...
First “Yellowstone: 1923” Teaser Reveals Harrison Ford & Hellen Mirren as Jacob & Cara Dutton
Yellowstone: 1923 is a prequel, of course, to the massively successful Yellowstone and yet another outpost of creator Taylor Sheridan’s growing western universe. A new teaser from Paramount+ reveals the third series from the ever-busy Sheridan, who has tapped some major film talent to lead his new show. If you’re going to extend your already burgeoning western ...
“Tulsa King” Trailer Reveals Sylvester Stallone as Mafia Don on a Mission
Sylvester Stallone as an Italian mobster, freshly sprung from prison, being relocated to run things in Tulsa, Oklahoma? Yeah, we’ll take some of that. What’s more, Sly’s upcoming Tulsa King on Paramount+ comes from two very heavy hitters, creator and Academy Award nominee Taylor Sheridan, who is becoming his own TV studio with his expanding Yellowstone empire, and showrunner ...
