No Good Deed Goes Unscored: The Musical Masterminds Behind “Wicked: For Good”

Stephen Oremus was there at the beginning, playing piano at Wicked‘s first showcase in the basement of Los Angeles’ Coronet Theater. Also in attendance: composer-lyricist Stephen Schwartz, writer Winnie Holzman, and ten singers who performed the musical’s first act for producer Marc Platt. “Even before there was a director attached or anything, we pieced together this very early version of Act One,” recalls executive music producer Oremus. “It was about three hours long!”

Scarlett Johansson in Final Talks to Join Robert Pattinson in “The Batman: Part II”

Scarlett Johansson’s years of service in the MCU have been over for some time now, but the star looks prepared to begin a new tour of duty in DC’s most dangerous city.

Johansson is reportedly in final talks to join Robert Pattinson in Gotham City in The Batman: Part II, the long-simmering follow-up to director Matt Reeves’ stellar 2022 film. Johansson would add considerable star power to a film that’s certainly not lacking for it,

“Hamnet” Composer Max Richter on the Song That Gave Director Chloé Zhao an Epiphany to Rewrite the Film’s Ending

The bard and his muses live again. Director Chloé Zhao’s Hamnet, the film adaptation of Maggie O’Farrell’s award-winning 2020 historical novel, is enrapturing audiences in theaters now. Zhao both co-wrote the screenplay with O’Farrell and co-edited the film, which follows the passionate but complicated relationship between a young scribe named William Shakespeare (Paul Mescal) and his incandescent wife, Agnes (a phenomenal Jessie Buckley). It is a story loosely based on what is known of Shakespeare’s life.

“Sinners” Writer/Director Ryan Coogler on Channeling Louisiana’s Creative Rhythm Into His Period Monsterpiece

Sinners, written, produced, and directed by Ryan Coogler, is hands down one of the year’s biggest cinematic successes. Coogler’s passion project found the filmmaker at the peak of his powers, and fans already primed to see anything from the still young visionary were ready to go once Sinners bowed. Yet it wasn’t just Coogler fans who flocked to the theaters—critical raves and word of mouth turned Coogler’s original period vampire epic into an early-year smash.

“Hamnet” Costume Designer Malgosia Turzanska Reveals How Leather Wounds and Clay Tell Shakespeare’s Story

Chloé Zhao’s period drama Hamnet follows a spirited young couple in 16th-century England — the earthy, radiant Agnes (a superb Jessie Buckley) and her besotted, occasionally brooding husband Will (an also excellent Paul Mescal), who channels his own formidable gifts onto the page (and becomes, of course, the Bard). Their love is tested in the most extreme ways, as Will’s career aspirations and the death of their young son, Hamnet (Jacobi Jupe),

“Avatar: Fire and Ash” Reactions Hail James Cameron’s Scorching Cinematic Spectacle

The first reactions to James Cameron’s third Avatar installment have arrived after the film had a handful of press screenings on Monday night. It seems that, once again, Cameron has delivered another stunningly ambitious epic.

Fire and Water arrives only a few years after the second film in the franchise, The Way of Water, thanks to the fact that Cameron and his team shot The Way of Water and Fire and Ash back-to-back.

“Kiss of the Spider Woman” Costume Designers Colleen Atwood & Christine L. Cantella Conjure Old Hollywood Magic

Kiss of the Spider Woman is threaded with beauty and pain, glamour and magic. Based on the stage musical and the original novel by Manuel Puig, Bill Condon’s film is a movie about the power of escapism and how love can inspire, even in the darkest of circumstances. Condon’s adaptation is a love story, a war story, and a musical — all tied together with old school cinematic bravura. 

The work of costume designers Colleen Atwood and Christine L.

How “Hamnet” Costume Designer Malgosia Turzanska Used Color to Chart Grief

A poetic exercise in healing through art, Chloé Zhao’s Hamnet, a cinematic meditation on grief, forgiveness, loss, and love, makes for a visually stunning period drama. Based on Maggie O’Farrell’s novel — who also co-wrote the screenplay with Zhao — Hamnet imagines that William Shakespeare’s (Paul Mescal) renowned stage play Hamlet was inspired by the death of his son, Hamnet (Jacobi Jupe). This story centers on his wife,

Edgar Wright & Screenwriter Michael Bacall on Sending Glen Powell Into a Retro-Futuristic Nightmare in “The Running Man”

The Running Man is both an Edgar Wright film and a faithful adaptation of Stephen King. Long before the director made the cult comedy series Spaced and shot his Cornetto Trilogy, he had the inkling that this story would make for a proper film. The fun and violent hijinks aside, the Arnold Schwarzenegger-led film from ’87 isn’t exactly true to the source material.

For Wright and his co-writer,

“Wicked: For Good” DP Alice Brooks on Harnessing Fire & Shadows to Forge an Unforgettable Finale

A wizard of color and light, cinematographer Alice Brooks knew Wicked: For Good would require a very different tone and texture from what she delivered for audiences in the first film.

The second part of the epic adaptation of the Broadway musical, itself a prequel to The Wizard of Oz and adapted from Gregory Maguire’s novel, focuses on the maelstrom surrounding Cynthia Erivo’s Elphaba, the future Wicked Witch of the West,

Tom Cruise Shares First Look at Mysterious New Film From Oscar-Winning Director Alejandro G. Iñárritu

This past weekend at the Governors Awards in Los Angeles, Tom Cruise received his first Oscar and delivered an emotional speech about the role that film has in his life. “Making films is not what I do, it is who I am,” Cruise said, and few could argue with the statement. When Cruise took to the stage, the man to greet him there was visionary Mexican filmmaker Alejandro González Iñárritu, who said, “This may be his first Oscar,

How “SISU: Road to Revenge” Writer/Director Jalmari Helander Crafted Seven Chapters of Unrelenting Chaos

If John Wick had a Finnish uncle, it would probably be Aatami Korpi (Jorma Tommila) from writer-director Jalmari Helander’s sleeper hit SISU (2022). In those events, the unspoken, never say die ex-soldier unearths gold in his war-torn country only to fend off German officers trying to steal it, killing hundreds in the process and earning him the moniker sisu. (The Finnish word roughly translates to “unyielding courage in the face of impossible odds.”)

Korpi now returns in SISU: Road to Revenge,

“Wicked: For Good” Review Round-Up: An Emotionally Resonant Finale With Two Unforgettable Performances

The first reactions to Jon M. Chu‘s Wicked: For Good were stellar when we reported on them back in late September. Now, the embargo for full-scale reviews has been lifted, and the critics have spoken. Chu and his team, most crucially his two mega-stars, Cynthia Erivo as Elphaba and Ariana Grande as Glinda, have stuck the landing—Wicked: For Good is being hailed by most critics as even better and more emotionally resonant than the critically acclaimed blockbuster that preceded it.

The Legend Comes to Life: First Look at Zelda and Link in Nintendo’s Live-Action Epic “The Legend of Zelda”

Nintendo and Sony have revealed the first look at their live-action The Legend of Zelda. The image features Bo Bragason as Princess Zelda and Benjamin Evan Ainsworth as the young swordsman Link. The adaptation of Nintendo’s iconic game is directed by Wes Ball (Maze Runner, Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes) from a script by Derek Connolly and T.S. Nowlin.

“Moana” Live-Action Trailer Reveals Catherine Laga’aia & Dwayne Johnson’s Epic Adventure

The first look at Disney’s live-action Moana has taken to the high seas with a new swashbuckling trailer. Dwayne Johnson returns as Maui—now in the flesh after having voiced the character in the original 2016 animated blockbuster and the 2024 sequel Moana 2. He’s joined by Catherine Laga‘aia as the titular character (previously voiced by Auli‘i Cravalho), the adventurous teenager who, with Maui’s help, sets off on a daring quest to save her island home and her people.

“Train Dreams”: Behind the Majestic Visuals of Joel Edgerton’s Pacific Northwest Epic

The Train Dreams (now in theaters; streaming on Netflix, November 21) story ends in 1968, but the film about the fictitious logger and railroad worker Robert Grainier chimes with contemporary echoes. Grainier, played by Joel Edgerton, sees a Chinese immigrant being wrestled to the ground by bigots and thrown off a train trestle. He sees a wildfire ravage lives and landscapes in the Pacific Northwest. He helps saw down centuries-old trees in the name of progress.

“You’re One of the Best Actors of All Time”: Timothée Chalamet Praises Adam Sandler at “Sandler x Chalamet” Event

Timothée Chalamet and Adam Sandler took a break from their respective schedules to spend an evening together in Fairfax High School’s gymnasium in Los Angeles. To play a game of pickup? Well, kind of, but first, they broke down their most iconic roles.   

On Saturday night, November 15, the “Sandler x Chalamet” event commenced with a packed crowd of students and other audience members. The pair gave a sneak peek of their respective upcoming films.

Tom Cruise Receives First Oscar at 2025 Governors Awards: “Making Films Is Who I Am”

“Making films is not what I do, it is who I am,” Tom Cruise said while accepting an honorary Oscar at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences’ 16th Governors Awards on Sunday Night. Cruise was one of four film artists selected for this year’s ceremony, held at the Ray Dolby Ballroom at Ovation Hollywood, the seventh produced by Jennifer Fox.

Cruise was feted alongside actress/singer/songwriter Dolly Parton—who collected, in absentia,

Christopher Nolan’s “The Odyssey”: An Attempt to Break New Cinematic Ground

Christopher Nolan is no stranger to grand ambitions. He has been an advocate and early adopter of using IMAX cameras in his films, dating back to The Dark Knight (2008), his superhero masterclass, which utilized the large-format cameras for the gangbusters opening bank robbery scene. He’s been deploying the cameras ever since, even helping IMAX push their own technology further, creating newer, lighter-weight equipment.

For his latest epic,

Bringing Guillermo del Toro’s Creature Into the Light With “Frankenstein” Cinematographer Dan Laustsen

Dan Laustsen likes to make even the most fantastical frame pop with an authentic, organic humanity. The cinematographer extraordinaire and filmmaker Guillermo del Toro wants tangibility, regardless of whether his stories are as slippery and bittersweet as The Shape of Water or as beguiling and deceptive as Nightmare Alley. In the case of Frankenstein, organic is a more-than-fitting approach for the story of men and the monsters within,