Interview

Animator

Legendary Disney Animator Glen Keane on Hand Drawing in the Digital Age

Animator Glen Keane has created some of the most timeless Disney characters of the last four decades, and some of the greatest animated heroines of our time. From his hand came Ariel from The Little Mermaid and Pocahontas, and he served as an executive producer on the 2010 hit Tangled. Keane is also credited with bringing Aladdin, the Beast from Beaty and the Beast and Tarzan to life.

By  |  April 30, 2015

Interview

Actor, Director

Nick Kroll Talks Being Mentored by Mark Duplass for Adult Beginners

Nick Kroll knew that if he wanted a meaty role in a feature film comedy, he needed to develop it himself. Fortunately, Kroll has friends and colleagues who were willing to offer advice on transitioning from TV comic — he stars in his own Kroll Show on Comedy Central and has appeared in the sitcoms The League and Parks and Recreation— to film actor, even on a low budget indie.

By  |  April 29, 2015

Interview

Director, Producer

Tribeca Recap: Code Looks at the Lack of Women in Computer Science

Why is there such a dearth of women in computer science and other high-tech fields? Director/producer Robin Hauser Reynolds searches for the answers in CODE: Debugging the Gender Gap, which made its world premiere at the Tribeca Film Festival.

Two years ago Reynolds received a call from her daughter, who had become so discouraged by her male-dominated computer science classes at college (she was one of only two female students),

By  |  April 28, 2015

Interview

Director, Producer, Screenwriter

Tribeca 2015: Tim Blake Nelson on Writing/Directing/Producing Anesthesia

Writer/director Tim Blake Nelson’s ensemble drama Anesthesia premiered Wednesday night at the Tribeca Film Festival. A fitting setting for the New Yorker’s latest film about the intersecting lives of erudite city-dwellers who are united by a violent crime. The film, which explores the different ways we attempt to numb our pain, was filmed on location in New York, with an impressive cast of mostly New York-based actors, including Glenn Close, Sam Waterston, Gretchen Mol,

By  |  April 27, 2015

Interview

Props

The Man behind the Machines – Ted Moser, Picture Car Coordinator

Ted Moser has been one of the most knowledgeable picture car coordinators in the film business for decades. His resume includes movies that have breathtaking chases and car stunts, including Munich, Argo, The Town, Rush Hour 3 and 2 Fast 2 Furious. He’s also the founder and owner of Picture Car Warehouse, which he created after he saw the need for a picture car service that could solve the complex,

By  |  April 21, 2015

Interview

Art Director, Props

From Home Builder to World Builder, Carpenter Jason Allard’s Life in the Movies

One of the most important and most highly skilled crew jobs in Hollywood is that of the carpenter, those men and women who create the scenery and props that plunge us into the physical world of the film. “It’s construction with a twist,” says Jason Allard, a man who knows how to turn a description in a script into the reality we see on screen. Allard is a virtuoso – a construction gang boss,

By  |  April 21, 2015

Interview

Art Director

Set Designer Ricardo Guillermo on Creating Meth Labs for Breaking Bad and More

Ricardo Guillermo helped create some of the most iconic sets in recent television history as a set designer on Breaking Bad. Guillermo used his considerable skills as a set designer to help fashion Walter White’s various meth labs, Saul Goodman’s ridiculous/awesome office, Walter, Skylar and Walt Jr.'s house and many other sets on that groundbreaking show.

Guillermo is no stranger to the big screen, either, having worked on The Book of Eli,

By  |  April 20, 2015

Interview

Costume Designer

From Mockingjay to Boardwalk Empire, Seamstress Lara A. Greene Has Dressed the Best

I Make Movies – Seamstress from WhereToWatch on Vimeo.

If clothes make the man or woman, than costumes often go a long way towards making a movie, particularly in historical dramas. Costumes are a major part of setting the tone of a film or a television show; they tell us so much, even before an actor utters his or her first word. We sat down with seamstress Lara A.

By Bryan Abrams  |  April 20, 2015

Interview

Director, Screenwriter

Alex Garland on Building Ex Machina‘s Perfect Woman

Novelist-turned-screenwriter Alex Garland knows how to create strong characters that are trapped in inhospitable and oftentimes dangerous situations.

In 28 Days Later (2002), his characters were faced with the outbreak of a disease that was turning people into zombies. In Sunshine (2007), his characters were sent on a dangerous space mission to prevent the destruction of the human race. In the remake Dredd (2012), his main character was trapped in a criminal’s lair and forced to fight through hundreds of thugs eager to end his life.

By  |  April 17, 2015

Interview

Director, Producer

Why NBA Star Serge Ibaka is the Son of the Congo

He would wake up at four in the morning to go running through the streets of Congo. He'd play as much basketball as he could, in old sneakers or barefoot, if need be. When his mom died and his dad was thrown in prison, he was kicked out of his uncle's house and lived on the streets, often sleeping in a parking lot. But Serge Ibaka never wavered in his commitment to make basketball his life. And when he did,

By  |  April 16, 2015

Interview

Director

The Next James Bond? Paul Blart Returns, Takes Vegas

Remember Paul Blart? The hapless mall cop who Segwayed into our hearts? Well, he’s back. This time, he’s heading to Vegas to take down a new crew of bad guys.

We spoke to Paul Blart: Mall Cop 2 director Andy Fickman (She’s The Man, Parental Guidance) about putting his spin on the sequel and how filmmaking is like sport.

It’s been six years since the original Paul Blart Mall Cop,

By  |  April 15, 2015

Interview

Actor, Director

The Mindy Project’s Chris Messina Moves Behind the Camera with Alex of Venice

We had a both delightful and thought provoking conversation with busy actor Chris Messina about his feature film directorial debut – Alex of Venice. Having premiered at last year’s Tribeca Film Festival, this heartwarming and emotionally wrenching story of a woman and her family in quiet crisis is set to open on April 17th.

While Messina is perhaps best known as Dan Castellano in The Mindy Project,

By  |  April 15, 2015

Interview

Director

James Franco, Jonah Hill Matched up for Murder? Director Rupert Goold Explains

True Story is just that: the real-life story of a journalist who meets with a criminal to understand his crime and write a book about the experience.

In one corner is Michael Finkel, a former star journalist for The New York Times who gets fired after stretching the truth in a magazine cover story. And across the table is Christian Longo, an Oregon man accused of murdering his wife and two children and then going on the run in Mexico.

By  |  April 14, 2015

Interview

Director, Screenwriter

Writer/Director Vindu Vinod Chopra on Broken Horses

The bonds of brotherhood are explored and testing in Broken Horses, the gritty thriller from writer-producer-director Vindu Vinod Chopra (Parinda, 1942: A Love Story.). The story follows a young music prodigy, Jacob Heckum, (Anton Yelchin) who returns to his desolate hometown only to discover that his brother, Buddy (Chris Marquette), has been persuaded by a local drug gang to join their ranks. As they grapple with the memories of their father’s murder when they were children,

By  |  April 13, 2015

Interview

Director

Game of Thrones Music Editor David Klotz Makes Melody of Mayhem

On the surface, it may seem like Game of Thrones, Glee and American Horror Story have little in common. The first is a mythological drama about feuding families lusting for power. The second is a musical comedy focused on the daily activities of a high school singing group, and the third is an anthological horror series.

One asset they do all have in common though is David Klotz,

By  |  April 10, 2015

Interview

Cinematographer

Behind the Controls With Chappie Drone Operator John Gore

It’s a good time to be a drone operator. As the basic devices have gotten cheaper and the more expensive ones more sophisticated, drones have proliferated, not just in the film industry but for applications like mining, surveying and search and rescue.

John Gore, a South Africa-based drone operator who has worked on nine features to date, including Chappie, The Last Face and Seal Team 8,

By  |  April 9, 2015

Interview

Animator, Director

Animation for Adults: Oscar Nominee Bill Plympton’s Gorgeous Cheatin’ World

Cheatin, directed by Academy Award nominee Bill Plympton, the “King of Indie Animation,” is the animated, adults-only tale of love, jealousy, revenge and murder. It follows the story of Jake and Ella, who meet and become lovers — and then ultimately face problems when an “other” woman comes between them. “The personal inspiration for the film came from a relationship I had years ago, when I was madly in love with a woman and we moved in together,

By  |  April 7, 2015

Interview

Director, Production Designer

Making It: Ruth De Jong’s Designs on Paul Thomas Anderson & Terrence Malick

Ruth De Jong never thought she would end up working on movies. She wanted to be a painter.

But now, a decade into her career as a production designer and art director, she’s tallied up credits on films like The Tree of Life, To the Wonder and Knight of Cups from director Terrence Malick, and There Will Be Blood, The Master and Inherent Vice with Paul Thomas Anderson.

By  |  April 6, 2015

Interview

Producer

Check-It Follows a DC Gang that Disproves Gay Clichés

Filmmakers Dana Flor and Toby Oppenheimer (The Nine Lives of Marion Barry) are relying on an Indiegogo crowdfunding platform to raise $60,000 to finish Check It, their documentary about a gay gang in one of Washington D.C.’s most violent neighborhoods. The campaign ends on April 4 — and as of this writing they have raised a bit more than $53,000 — or approximately 89 percent of their goal.

The film,

By  |  April 3, 2015

Interview

Director

3 Countries, Forged Art, Lighting? The Struggles of Directing Woman in Gold

In 2011, in his cinematic directorial debut, Simon Curtis helped bring a simple yet personal story to life in the film My Week with Marilyn. The film— which told the true tale of a young man’s adventures with Marilyn Monroe during one eventful week in the 1950s— earned critical raves and helped nab Oscar nominations for stars Michelle Williams and Kenneth Branagh.

This year, Curtis has brought another incredible true story to the big screen in the new film The Woman in Gold.

By  |  April 2, 2015