“Thunderbolts*” Director Jake Schreier: From “Beef’s” Parking Lot Rage to Superhero Trauma

With critics praising Thunderbolts* ahead of its May 2 release as something decidedly new (and according to its Rotten Tomatoes score, decidedly fresh) in the MCU, director Jake Schreier has opened up the aperture on how he approached his Marvel debut. Schreier is a seasoned, respected indie helmer with a string of critically acclaimed titles to his name. After launching his career with the Sundance hit Robot &

By The Credits  |  May 2, 2025

Interview

Cinematographer

Soul Transcendent: How DP Autumn Durald Arkapaw Captured Black Music’s Timeless Continuum in “Sinners”

In part one of our interview with Sinners cinematographer Autumn Durald Arkapaw, the groundbreaking DP discussed how she leveled up to frame Coogler’s soulful supernatural epic by learning to use the largest film format available. Coogler’s ambitions for his vampire thriller, starring Michael B. Jordan as twin brothers Smoke and Stack, were massive. The brothers return to Clarksdale, Mississippi, after serving in World War I and then taking their talents to Chicago,

By Hugh Hart  |  May 1, 2025
Marvel’s Misfits Hit Big: Florence Pugh-Led “Thunderbolts*” Strikes a Chord With Critics

The reviews for Thunderbolts* are hitting the internet like so many lightning strikes, and Marvel Studios is very much liking the weather report. Director Jake Schreier’s film about this assemblage of Marvel misfits—Rolling Stone‘s David Fear calls them the “off-brand Avengers“—who were all scooped from previous MCU outings and thrown together like possibly toxic leftover ingredients, has resulted in something satisfying. Thunderbolts* is being hailed as a surprisingly soulful,

By The Credits  |  April 30, 2025
Blues, Blood, & Big Formats: How DP Autumn Durald Arkapaw Brought “Sinners” to Epic, IMAX-Sized Life

Yes, there are vampires, but Sinners also excels as a period piece, a history lesson, a romance, a drama, an action movie, and a music-driven drama in ways that have made director Ryan Coogler‘s fifth movie the top-grossing original film of the decade. Based on his own script about gangster twins Smoke and Stack (played by Michael B. Jordan) who return to their Mississippi roots with a bag of ill-gotten cash and a plan to start their own juke joint in the middle of the woods,

By Hugh Hart  |  April 30, 2025
Dwayne Johnson Enters the Ring in First Trailer for Benny Safdie’s “The Smashing Machine”

A24 has revealed the first trailer for Benny Safdie’s The Smashing Machine, which stars Dwayne Johnson as MMA legend Mark Kerr, sporting a prosthetic and an accent in his first turn, potentially marking an intriguing career pivot into prestige films. (Johnson is part of a potential all-star cast for a projected Martin Scorsese-directed gangster film set in Hawaii.)

Kerr was one of the seminal early stars of the UFC,

By The Credits  |  April 29, 2025

Interview

Production Designer

Lost in the Labyrinth: Production Designer Jeremy Hindle on Deepening the Designs in “Severance” Season Two

Season two of Severance managed to do the impossible—it justified the historic wait that fans had endured. It delivered a deeply satisfying mind-bender that answered plenty of season one’s pressing questions while leaving more than enough mystery for season three. In the frighteningly real sci-fi show created by Dan Erickson and directed by Ben Stiller, the scale of drama, conspiracy, and fear spreads across a range of new environments, much like a disease manufactured by Lumon Industries.

By Jack Giroux  |  April 29, 2025

Interview

Showrunner

Home Field Advantage: “NCIS: Origins” Showrunners on How Tax Credits Anchored Their Prequel Series in California

Already renewed for a second season, the NCIS franchise spin-off NCIS: Origins has been capturing a new generation of fans. In addition to the 90s set prequel’s heady mix of powerful storytelling, music, and a dynamic young cast, showrunners David J. North and Gina Lucita Monreal credit a lot of the show’s appeal to the fact that it’s set in and filmed in California.

The CBS show follows a young Leroy Jethro Gibbs (Austin Stowell),

By Simon Thompson  |  April 29, 2025

Interview

Cinematographer

No Character Is Safe: How DP Ksenia Sereda Frames “The Last of Us” Season 2’s Heightened Stakes

Sanctuary is fleeting in The Last of Us. With savage grudges and the ever-evolving infected hordes, who seem to be learning tactics through their cordyceps-controlled brains, no one is safe. Here comes your spoiler alert warning—the savagery proved especially true when antihero Joel (Pedro Pascal) was brutally clubbed to death by vengeful Firefly, Abby (Kaitlyn Dever). You don’t need to be a member of the undead to do dreadful things in this world. 

By Kelle Long  |  April 28, 2025
“Sinners” Takes a Big Second Bite: Ryan Coogler’s Vampire Thriller Has Historic Second Weekend

Writer/director Ryan Coogler has officially gone five for five.

The 39-year old auteur can now make the very rare claim to have had five consecutive hit films in his first five attempts, as his wildly ambitious, beautifully composed fifth feature, the R-rated supernatural period thriller Sinners, just boasted the most impressive second weekend for any film in well over a decade, pulling in $45 million for the smallest drop for a movie’s second weekend since James Cameron’s 2009 film Avatar. 

By The Credits  |  April 28, 2025

Interview

Director

Ledgers and Lethal Force: Gavin O’Connor on Directing Ben Affleck in “The Accountant 2”

Almost a decade after they first worked together, the action sequel The Accountant 2 reunites director Gavin O’Connor and star Ben Affleck for a third time. First announced seven years ago, the journey to bring the follow-up to the screen has been challenging, but it’s one the Warrior filmmaker is grateful for.

Set and filmed in Los Angeles, Affleck returns as Christian Wolff, the titular number-crunching hero with a brilliant mind and a talent for solving complex problems,

By Simon Thompson  |  April 25, 2025

Interview

Production Designer

Emergency Realism: Production Designer Nina Ruscio’s Blueprint for “The Pitt’s” Immersive Medical World

Producer John Wells and creator R. Scott Gemmill took a big swing with The Pitt and hit a home run that would have cleared the 410-foot deep left-center field wall of Pittsburgh’s PNC Park. The riveting series, which has garnered the kind of collective enthusiasm we usually associate with dark comedies set at fancy resorts, is powered by gruesome surgical procedures, arcane medical terminology, and volatile personalities. The high concept: each episode constitutes one hour in an emergency room over the course of a 12-hour shift,

By Hugh Hart  |  April 24, 2025
No Heroes Available: “Thunderbolts*” Clip Showcases Marvel’s First Villain-Centered Film

The vibe of director Jake Schreier’s Thunderbolts* (more on that asterisk in a second) is very much evident in this brief but potent minute-long clip just released by Marvel Studios. In the clip, we find Julia Louis-Dreyfus’s Valentina Allegra de Fontaine being encircled and seemingly entrapped by the misfit antiheroes, the Thunderbolts, she assembled for a mission. The formidable triple agent spy, who has practiced the dark arts of her work in Black Widow,

By The Credits  |  April 24, 2025
“Wednesday” Season 2 Trailer Finds the Return of Jenna Ortega’s Precocious Psychic

Jenna Ortega’s Wednesday Addams is back in the first trailer for Tim Burton’s Wednesday season 2. Burton’s series returns in two parts, with the first part arriving on Netflix on August 6 and the second part on September 3.

Wednesday’s still trying to master her burgeoning abilities in the psychic realm, while also doing her best to sort out and stop a killing spree and help her parents unpack a mystery that’s been plaguing them since season one.

By The Credits  |  April 23, 2025

Interview

Actor

Not Playing Games: “Squid Game” Star Lee Jung-jae on Gi-hun’s Transformation in Final Seasons

Season 2 of Squid Game revealed protagonist Gi-hun’s desperate transformation from spirited and naïve recruit to traumatized and hardened champion. The iconic wide smile he flashed in his player photo has faded with the knowledge that more lives are on the line. Actor Lee Jung-jae appreciated the new depth his character has developed.

“I was really drawn to that personality of Gi-hun, where he is quite optimistic.

By Kelle Long  |  April 23, 2025
From Barbie to Blasters: What to Know About Ryan Gosling’s Standalone “Star Wars” Film

Ryan Gosling is going from the world of Barbie and Ken to Leia and Kenobi.

With the Star Wars Celebration in Tokyo delivering a galaxy’s worth of news, including a new series from Lost co-creator Carlton Cuse and his son, Nick, a veteran of Watchmen and Station Eleven, it would require an interdiction beam (look it up, Star Wars nubes) to pull all the information together.

By The Credits  |  April 22, 2025
Mysterious “Star Wars” Series in The Works From “Lost” Showrunner Carlton Cuse

Well before Game of Thrones became the kind of appointment television event that captured the world’s interest and had millions of people tuning in simultaneously, Carlton Cuse’s Lost established the blueprint for serialized TV obsession. When Lost premiered in 2004, Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse’s massively ambitious series was evident from the movie-like production values, sprawling cast, and evident chutzpah in telling a story that looked and felt big enough for the big screen.

By The Credits  |  April 22, 2025
From Saddles to Switchboards: Sound Maestro George Haddad Crafts the Symphony of “1923”

Now in its second season, Taylor Sheridan’s Yellowstone prequel, 1923, turns on the hardships of the historic Dutton clan—wolf intrusions, driving snowstorms, and Ellis Island. In Montana, Cara (Helen Mirren) holds down the ranch while her husband, Jacob (Harrison Ford), wheels and deals to keep Zane (Brian Geraghty) and his mixed-race family together. Spencer (Brandon Sklenar) faces a treacherous journey from Europe to the US, then from Texas to Montana.

By Susannah Edelbaum  |  April 22, 2025
Game Changer: “Squid Game” Creator Hwang Dong-hyuk on his Audacious Ambitions for Seasons 2 & 3

Squid Game is a provocative experiment not only in strategy and skill, but also in the addictive pursuit of risking it all – even death – for a big win. Ironically, the show’s episodes are equally addictive, and fans demanded more after the innovative first season. Series creator, writer, and director Hwang Dong-hyuk didn’t intend to return to the intense filming schedule, but demand drove him to continue the captivating competition.

By Kelle Long  |  April 21, 2025
Dawn of a New DC: Go Behind-the-Scenes of James Gunn’s “Superman”

Did you notice something in the sky on April 18? It wasn’t a bird or a plane, it was, of course, Superman, officially soaring for DC Studios to celebrate his special day. April 18 is Superman Day, in case you were unaware, and to that end, DC Studios gave us a sneak-peak behind-the-scenes of James Gunn’s upcoming Superman, the first feature film to fly out of the gate for the newly unified DC Studios,

By The Credits  |  April 21, 2025
Ryan Coogler Does it Again: The Auteur’s Ambitious Epic “Sinners” Wins Box Office Crown

There was a reason why studios were competing to land Ryan Coogler’s ambitious new film, Sinnerswhen the writer-director and his star, Michael B. Jordan, were shopping the script in Hollywood. Coogler’s earned the respect of audiences across the world, having put out four excellent films in precisely four attempts, beginning with his 2013 breakout film Fruitvale Station and carrying through his subsequent three films,

By The Credits  |  April 21, 2025