Eastern Influence: Pacific Rim Latest Film to Draw Inspiration From Japan
The early reviews suggest that Guillermo del Toro’s Pacific Rim (which opens this Friday) is nice blend of what you want out of your summer blockbuster—spectacle, suspense and solid storytelling.
Pacific Rim is also a nice blend of the Japanese tradition of Kaiju films (the most famous example being Godzilla) and mecha stories (about robots or machines), popularized in Japanese manga and anime.
Here’s Pacific Rim’s premise in a nutshell: in the future,...
Call of the Holly-Wild: Animal Trainer David Meeks
If you’ve ever seen a rhino in a television commercial, his name is Tank and he’s the only working rhino in show business. Maybe you’ve noticed zebras, bears, leopards, African lions, panthers or Siberian tigers in TV ads or on the big screen and wondered how they're train to stand still, lie down, run around or roar on command for the camera?
Many of the animals you see on the big and small screen belong to David Meeks, director of Hollywild Animal Park in South Carolina...
2013’s Best Movie Industry Commencement Speeches
Celebrities doling out sage advice during college commencement speeches is nothing new, but this year’s crop was especially entertaining. The Class of 2013 was treated to talks by everyone from Julie Andrews, who spoke to the University of Colorado Boulder, to Robert Redford, who got downright sentimental at Westminster College, to Ed Helms, who broke it down for the kids — and busted on the school mascot — at Knox College. (Cue The Hangover jokes!)
If, like us,...
An Insider Discussion on Film Scoring
Remembering the director is boss is key to working in the movie industry, according to music professionals.
“You have to yield to the director. You can only have one vision,” long-time movie music editor Dan Carlin told The Credits after a panel discussion on film scoring hosted by the MPAA in Washington, D.C. “That’s what unites a crew that’s putting together a movie.”
Carlin, whose four decades of movie credits as a music editor include The Last of the Mohicans (1992) and Bruce Almighty (2003),...
The Lone Ranger Rounds Up Work, Buoys Businesses for New Mexico
When The Credits traveled to Albuquerque, New Mexico for the local premiere of The Lone Ranger, we did our best to capture on film the incredible positivity and excitement the movie brought to the people of the state. Talking with New Mexico’s politicians, Native American leaders and locals who worked on the film, it was clear The Lone Ranger meant more to them than job creation and revenue—it was proof that, once again, New Mexico is a state where major films are made...
Walt Disney Studios Reimagines The Lone Ranger & Breathes Life Into Westerns
“So who was that masked man, anyway?” A question invariably asked at the end of every episode of The Lone Ranger television series. Armie Hammer, Johnny Depp, producer Jerry Bruckheimer and director Gore Verbinski hope to provide a definitive answer to that question with the brand-new film The Lone Ranger, their reinvention of both the Western genre and the titular hero, in theaters today.
John Reid, a.k.a. the Lone Ranger,...
Oscar Winners Nat Faxon & Jim Rash on Reading, Writing, & The Way Way Back
After winning an Oscar for their screenplay for The Descendants, the screenwriting duo of Nat Faxon and Jim Rash appeared to have burst onto the scene as a couple of unknowns. In reality the writing and directing team have been on Hollywood filmmakers’ short list since 2007, when their script for The Way Way Back was being read and praised by insiders. The Credits sat down with the old friends and collaborators in advance of their already well reviewed coming-of-age comedy to find out about their process,...
Hanging With John Waters, Mary Harron & More at the Provincetown Film Festival
From June 19th to the 24th, The Credits had the distinct pleasure of attending the 15th Anniversary of the Provincetown International Film Festival. Unlike Sundance, or Cannes, or Toronto, PIFF is the kind of gathering where first-time filmmakers fight with industry legends for space at the ice cream counter instead of over grand jury prizes, and the lineup of films not only makes room for women's issues, LGBTQ rights, Native American films,...
How’d They do That? Creating the Presidential Limo in White House Down
White House Down, which opens today starring Jamie Foxx as the President and Channing Tatum as the man who springs into action when the White House is besieged by a paramilitary unit, isn't a gear-head car movie. It’s a pure, fun action flick—a buddy movie where one of the buddies happens to be the leader of the free world. But that didn't stop Columbia Pictures, the studio behind the movie, from obsessing about creating one particular car —...
Director Douglas Tirola Serves up the Doc Hey Bartender
In the rollicking documentary Hey Bartender — which opened in select theaters and on iTunes and On Demand on June 7 — director-producer Douglas Tirola chronicles the resurgence of the craft cocktail — and the eclectic, opinionated characters who drink and pour them.
We chatted with Tirola, who has made docs about everything from poker (All In: The Poker Movie) to prison (An Omar Broadway Film) about getting lucky,...
From Philadelphia to Wong Foo, Thanks For Everything, Hollywood!
In 2010, following a tragic rise in suicides among LGBTQ youth, Dan Savage and his husband Terry Miller founded the It Gets Better Project. The campaign set out to deliver the powerful message that despite moments of hopelessness, bright futures abound for bullied youth.
In just a few years, the campaign has attracted messages of support from over 50,000 including President Barack Obama and movie star Daniel Radcliffe. It Gets Better videos have been collectively viewed 50 million times to reach (and likely save) countless lives...
The Art of Animatronics: How Old School Movie Magic Compliments CGI
The release of Jurassic Park 3D earlier this year has people talking about more than just the technological update of a classic. For all of its digital wow when Jurassic Park debuted in 1993, the film employed unmatched animatronics and puppetry as well.
The question is, will that movie prove to be the last hurrah for spectacular practical effects? At least one practitioner of the craft admits to having his moments of doubt, but there's reason to believe animatronics will supplement digital tricks for some time to come...
Is Monsters University the Best Film Website Ever?
It’s one thing to be surfing the web and stumble upon an outrageously awesome movie trailer that you watch over and over again just because it really is that good. But have you ever found a website all of its own dedicated to a single film that was just as mind-blowing? Like a site that was created all about one movie, complete with interactive extras and a calendar of events to go along with?
These days most movies and TV shows have content-heavy,...
Black Belt, Mother, Zombie Survivalist: Mireille Enos of World War Z
It’s a big year for actress Mireille Enos. The Texas native returns for a third season of detective work in AMC’s The Killing, and fights zombies with Brad Pitt in director Marc Forster’s big-budget, apocalyptic thriller World War Z, out today.
While she’s mired in dire circumstances for make believe, in real life her career experiences have been pretty pleasant. She started early, training at The High School for the Performing &...
Class in Session: Meet the Makers of Monsters University
Like most good college stories, it started at a party. John Lasseter’s surprise 50th birthday party nearly seven years ago, in fact. Ever the opportunist, John pulled party guest and award-winning entertainer Billy Crystal aside to talk shop. “He said, ‘We have an idea I want to tell you about,’” Billy whispers, playfully imitating the Walt Disney and Pixar Animation Studios chief creative officer. “‘What if Mike and Sulley are in college, and we make a prequel?’ I immediately said,...
Chatting with American Black Film Festival Founder Jeff Friday
The American Black Film Festival (ABFF) is the leading film festival in the world for African American and urban content. The ABFF has showcased more than 600 films since its inception, giving a platform to independent filmmakers who have been under represented in film festivals around the world. The 17th annual ABFF began yesterday and runs through the weekend.
ABFF founder Jeff Friday has rooted the festival in diversity and social responsibility, supporting aspiring actors, filmmakers and industry executives through the festival’s multifaceted program: premieres,...
Superego: A Clinical Psychologist Puts Superheroes on the Couch
Man of Steel’s record breaking June opening has confirmed (once again) that the real power players in Hollywood are teenage boys.
Yet the huge audiences that saw Man of Steel this past weekend weren’t all fanboys. And this has been true of Christopher Nolan’s Batman trilogy, Joss Whedon’s The Avengers, and the Spider-Man, Iron Man, and X-Men films.
So why do we go?...
Getting the Goods from Oscar Winning Screenwriter Geoffrey Fletcher
Oscar-winning screenwriter Geoffrey Fletcher made noir films and documentaries as a student at Harvard, and as a graduate film student at NYU, his short, Magic Markers, caught the attention of both John Singleton and Lee Daniels, who later asked him to adapt the novel “Push,” by Sapphire, otherwise known as Precious, for the big screen.
Fletcher’s directorial debut, Violet & Daisy, which he also wrote, follows two teenage assassins (Alexis Bledel and Saoirse Ronan),...
5 Pre-Ordained Flops That Defied the Odds & Soared
The highly anticipated premiere of Brad Pitt’s World War Z is just a few days away, but critics have been salivating for months about what a disaster it will be—long before anyone had seen any footage.
Hardly the first film with advance reports of onset complications, bloated budgets, and release delays, World War Z is only the latest victim of the Hollywood press’ eagerness to deem movies dead in the water before they’ve had the chance to set sail...
Toronto & Atlanta: Hollywood’s Chameleon Cities
Most people are probably confident in their ability to distinguish between Atlanta and Rio de Janeiro, or Tokyo and Toronto. Movies blur those geographic distinctions, however. Just as an actor assumes a persona completely different from himself, so too can cities take on alternate identities on the silver screen.
In North America, Georgia and Ontario are increasingly recognized for their city-doubling abilities and, with the help of competitive and attractive tax incentive programs, are ideal chameleon cities for many film productions...
