Novelist Joyce Maynard on Jason Reitman’s Adaptation of her Labor Day
Joyce Maynard is a rarity in the movie world: a writer who’s thrilled with the film adaptation of her novel. Maynard’s “Labor Day” was adapted for the screen and directed by Jason Reitman. It’s about a reclusive single mother (Kate Winslet), her 13-year-old son (Gattlin Griffith) and the escaped convict (Josh Brolin) who hides out in their rundown New England house and creates, at least for a long weekend, an unorthodox family that fill a need in all three people.
Writer/Director John Slattery on Scouting, Casting & Shooting God’s Pocket
If you’re going to peel yourself out of bed at the crack of dawn to attend a screening, it might as well be of John Slattery’s feature length directorial debut, God’s Pocket. Adapted from the novel by Peter Dexter, Slattery has recruited fellow Mad Men star Christina Hendricks as Jeannie Scarpano, and a slew of heavyweight male actors to inhabit the insular, violent, and often very funny world of the titular South Philadelphia neighborhood where the film is set.
Sundance: Film Scholar Noah Isenberg on One of 1st Indie Filmmakers, Edgar G. Ulmer
Long considered as something of a guilty pleasure among filmmakers, critics, and fans, director Edgar G. Ulmer finally gets the attention and scholarship he deserves in Noah Isenberg’s new book: Edgar G. Ulmer: A Filmmaker At The Margins. Ulmer was ambitious, and a teller of tall tales about his career: it might never be possible to untangle fact from fiction on his early years in Vienna and (maybe) Berlin.
From Taliban-Infested Pakistan to Sundance Lab to Screen:These Birds Walk
Bassam Tariq and Omar Mullick teamed up to make a documentary that would change their lives. They spent three years, on and off, in Taliban-infested Pakistan making These Birds Walk, a cinema verité look at young orphans and runaways in a Karachi children’s home. The home is run by Abdul Sattar Edhi, whose group runs about 300 centers throughout Pakistan. But the focus of the film is less on Edhi and more on the kids,
Can We Predict the Golden Globes? Our New & Improved Social Awards Season App
The Golden Globes are this Sunday, which means that it’s time for us to roll out our second annual Social Awards Season DataViz (short for data visualization), in collaboration with the brainiacs over at the global social analytics and monitoring company Brandwatch. Last year our one-of-a-kind Oscars prognosticator surveyed social media sites like Twitter, Facebook and Pinterest for any public mentions relating to the Oscar nominees. The DataViz also tallied the predictions of film critics,
Chatting With Writer/Director Francesca Gregorini About The Truth About Emanuel
Francesca Gregorini’s film Tanner Hall marked the debut of two very talented women—Gregorini herself and her star, Rooney Mara. This coming-of-age drama focused on young women edging towards adulthood at an all-girls boarding school.
In her latest film, The Truth About Emanuel, which opens today, Gregorini gives us a portrait of two women, one just about to turn 18 (Emmanuel, played by Kaya Scoldelario), the other a young single mother (Linda,
Talking With Adam Garber, Director of the White House Student Film Festival
The first-ever White House Student Film Festival was announced late last year, a contest for K-12 students for a chance to have their films shown at the White House, featured on the White House website, YouTube Channel and their social media pages. Submissions will be accepted through January 29, and all videos must be uploaded to YouTube or Vimeo. For more details, click here.
What they want to see is films that highlight the power of technology in schools.
Richard Linklater, Julie Delpy & Ethan Hawke on Their Before Trilogy
Eighteen years ago, Richard Linklater’s Before Sunrise was released in late January of 1995. Save for a few bit speaking roles sprinkled throughout the film—a pair of Austrian theater actors, a palm reader— every minute of screen time, and every word uttered, comes from a young American, Jesse (Ethan Hawke) and a young French woman, Céline (Julie Delpy), who meet on a train and impulsively decide to spend the next 24 hours together in Vienna.
Stunt Coordinator Kevin Scott on Lone Survivor’s Commitment to Realism
During the making of Lone Survivor, second unit director and stunt coordinator Kevin Scott was presented with an unusual challenge. He had to show soldiers tumbling down rugged terrain with sixty-degree inclines, but he also had to make it look real. “As a stunt person, we’re used to going big and doing gags. We usually want the audience to go, ‘Whoa, that was the best stunt I’ve seen in my life!’ This movie was the exact opposite of that,”
Looking Back on Some of our Favorite Stories of 2013
When we launched The Credits a little more than a year ago, we aimed to shed a light on the many talented filmmakers who often don’t get much press for their work. While we’ve occasionally spoken to folks who need no introduction (John Waters, for example), most of the filmmakers we’ve focused on have a little less name recognition but a huge amount of talent. We interviewed a lot of people, so the below roundup is really just a taste—there were far too many people to mention in a single post.
Saving Mr. Banks & the Story Behind Mary Poppins
As Disney’s Saving Mr. Banks debuts, step back in time to discover the story behind the making of Mary Poppins and the inspiration behind one of the greatest and most beloved films ever made.
INT: The Walt Disney Studios. Burbank, California, April 1961.
A rehearsal room in the Animation Building—suffused with sunlight and equipped with storytelling necessities: an upright piano, storyboards, a table and a couch.
Multi-Instrumentalist Mark Orton on Composing Alexander Payne’s Nebraska
Mark Orton is a man of many talents. He can play on any type of guitar, keyboard and percussion instrument. He’s a trained sound engineer and composer. He’s provided scores for feature films, documentaries, experimental radio, video/art installations, concert halls, modern dance, theater and, wait for it—the circus. He’s a co-founder of Tin Hat, a composer/improviser collective that is internationally renown.
Orton’s path to becoming the composer for Alexander Payne’s critically acclaimed Nebraska is an unusual one,
What a Champ: A Q&A with David Koechner of Anchorman 2
The highly anticipated sequel to 2004’s Anchorman opened Wednesday at midnight after what was possibly the greatest (and most hilarious) marketing campaign in the history of film. David Koechner, who stars as Champ Kind, the sportscaster on Ron Burgundy’s (Will Ferrell) news team, attended a Tuesday night premiere at Washington D.C.’s Newseum and offered this advice to anyone worried that The Legend Continues will tarnish the beloved status of the original: “Don’t worry!”
Playing Dress Up with American Hustle Costume Designer Michael Wilkinson
He was the man who dressed Leonidas and his well-toned warriors in 300, made a graphic novel come to life in Watchmen and outfitted Krypton’s favorite son in Man of Steel. Sure, costume designer Michael Wilkinson had worked on smaller projects before—Garden State and American Splendor, to name a few—but he was still an unlikely choice to take on director David O.
Production Designer K.K. Barrett on Creating Her’s Beautiful Future
One walks out of the theater after seeing writer/director Spike Jonze’s Her with lots of different feelings. First, and perhaps foremost, is a kind of bittersweet hope—similar to the way Michel Gondry and Charlie Kaufman’s film Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind makes you feel when it ends. These are films about love, warts and all, and what we’ll put ourselves through in pursuit of it.
In Sunshine,
Breaking Braddock: New Christian Bale Film Puts Spotlight on Hard Hit Town
Director Scott Cooper’s new movie, Out of the Furnace, boasts a cast that includes Christian Bale, Casey Affleck, Woody Harrelson, Zoé Saldana, Sam Shepard and Forest Whitaker. It’s a thrilling drama about the lengths we’ll go for family, and, what pernicious elements fills the void in a town when the jobs disappear. Filmed and set in the ragged, depressed Rust Belt town of Braddock, Pennsylvania, Bale’s Russell Baze works at a mill that is likely going under,
Steve Coogan on his “Surprising” Serious Turn in Philomena
Steve Coogan is a major star in Britain, but his work in American films (2010’s remarkably funny The Trip and the 2004 remake of Around the World in 80 Days, among others) never made much of an impact. He first read about the real-life Philomena Lee in an article in The Guardian newspaper. He then optioned BBC correspondent Martin Sixsmith’s 2009 book “The Lost Child of Philomena Lee,”
Composer Jozef van Wissem’s Bloody Good Score for Only Lovers Left Alive
Jozef van Wissem’s score for Jim Jarmusch’s Only Lovers Left Alive is one of the reasons you walk out of that film in a kind of satiated trance. From the very beginning of the film to the last scene, music is a huge component of the story, and Wissem’s a huge reason it all works so well. Tom Hiddleston’s character, Adam, is a musician as well as a vampire.
A Tale of Two Sisters: Meet the Creators of Walt Disney Animation Studios’ Frozen
No two snowflakes are alike. The same could be said about sisters—especially Arendelle’s Anna and Elsa, the stars of Walt Disney Animation Studios’ upcoming comedy adventure Frozen, in theaters November 27. For many families, their story may sound familiar—sisters by chance, estranged by choice. But there’s a magical reason for the sisters’ chilly relationship—Elsa’s enigmatic but uncontrollable power to create snow and ice.
Voicing the fearless, yet lovable younger sister Anna is the charming Kristen Bell.
Lions & Tigers & Bears, Oh My! Sled Reynolds on Filming Ferocious Animals
Credited with more than 70 movies, according to IMDB—including six Best Picture winners—Sled Reynolds has much to “crow” about. The veteran animal wrangler/trainer/coordinator has worked around the globe on such esteemed films as Dances with Wolves, Gladiator, Water for Elephants and Life of Pi, and owns and operates Gentle Jungle, a highly successful California-based animal training establishment serving movies, television and advertising.
