The Official Teaser for Steven Spielberg’s “West Side Story” Revealed During Oscars

If you watched last night’s Oscars Ceremony, you probably caught the sizzling official teaser for Steven Spielberg’s West Side Story. There has been major buzz around the project the moment we learned Spielberg would be adapting the legendary stage musical for the big screen. The teaser gives us our most sustained look at the legendary director’s efforts, which includes a dynamic ensemble and a potent list of collaborators to bring off the long-awaited film.

Chloé Zhao Makes History at the Oscars

Director Chloé Zhao made history at the 93rd Annual Academy Awards, becoming only the second woman to ever win Best Director for Nomadland (after Kathryn Bigelow won in 2010 for The Hurt Locker) and becoming the first woman of color to win the award. Zhao, raised in China, also became the second Asian to win best director in a row, following Bong Joon Ho’s win last year for Parasite. 

Oscar-Nominee Emile Mosseri on Scoring for Family Dynamics in “Minari”

This interview is part of our ongoing Oscar series. It was originally published on January 19. Emile Mosseri is nominated for Original Score.

Dream-like piano notes accompany the Yee family as they gaze out the windows of their beat-up station wagon, on their way to a new home in rural Arkansas. Hoping to make it as a farmer, patriarch Jacob (Steven Yeun) is in the process of uprooting his wife, Monica (Yeri Han),

Oscar-Nominated Cinematographer Erik Messerschmidt on “Mank”

This interview is part of our ongoing Oscar series. It was originally published on March 31. For part II of this interview, click here.

Actors Gary Oldman and Amanda Seyfried go for their characters’ leisurely evening stroll outside San Marino’s Huntington Library, which is subbing in for William Randolph Hearst’s Hearst Castle at San Simeon.  The only thing is, it’s not night – and the actors are wearing custom-tinted contact lenses to help them avoid squinting,

Art Director Daniel Lopez Muñoz on Finding Pixar’s Oscar-Nominated “Soul”

This interview with Daniel Lopez Muñoz is part of our ongoing Oscar series. It was originally published on December 24, before the film was nominated for Best Animated Feature Film.

Once again Pixar tackles the subjects of the meaning of life, fearlessness in the face of change, synchronicity, and inspiration in their new film Soul. It’s the first time, however, that they have centered the story on a Black man,

Oscar-Nominated Editor Mikkel E.G. Nielsen on Giving “Sound of Metal” its Rhythm

This interview is part of our ongoing Oscar series. It was originally published on April 13.

Excitement was running high. The team behind Sound of Metal, Darius Marder’s offbeat drama about a punk rock drummer (Riz Ahmed) who faces life-changing decisions after losing his hearing, was gathered together via Zoom to watch the Oscar nomination announcements. Mikkel E.G. Nielsen, the film’s editor, was settled in front of his computer at his home in Copenhagen when the unthinkable happened.

Oscar-Nominated Costume Designer Trish Summerville on Diving Into Hollywood’s Past in “Mank”

This interview is part of our ongoing Oscar series. It was originally published on January 25, since then, Summerville has been nominated for Best Costume Design. 

David Fincher’s black and white epic, Mank, revisits the storied Hollywood era of the late 1930s when Orson Welles was writing what would go down in history as one of the best films of all time, Citizen Kane. But did he write it alone or with the help of Herman Mankiewicz,

Oscar Nominees Mia Neal & Sergio Lopez-Rivera on the Hair & Makeup of “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom”

This interview is part of our ongoing Oscar series. It was originally published on March 17.

I got a chance to speak to hair department head Mia Neal and makeup artist Sergio Lopez-Rivera about their work in George C. Wolfe’s Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom before the Oscar nominations were announced. Tasked with, among other challenges, turning Oscar-nominee Viola Davis into the real-life Ma was no easy feat,

Oscar-Nominated Makeup Department Head Gigi Williams on “Mank”

This interview is part of our ongoing Oscar series. It was originally published on March 23. 

David Fincher‘s Mank is the most Oscar-nominated film of the year, amassing ten, thanks to the beauty and brilliance of its black-and-white execution. One of those nominations belongs to makeup department head Gigi Williams, a veteran who picks her work based on her belief in the director. In Fincher, she was collaborating with one of the most precise filmmakers in the business,

Editor Gabriel Rhodes on Cutting the Oscar-Nominated Doc “Time”

This interview is part of our ongoing Oscar series. It was originally published on April 14.

“I never thought a film could be made with such a minimal amount of information,” says editor Gabriel Rhodes. But not only was it made; it currently has an Oscar nomination for best feature-length documentary.

The film in question is called, simply, Time. Coming from director/artist Garrett Bradley,

Oscar-Nominee Shaka King on Writing & Directing “Judas and the Black Messiah”

This interview is part of our ongoing Oscar series. Our conversation with Shaka King was originally published on March 30, before he was nominated for two Oscars. The film was nominated for Best Picture (the nomination includes King and producing partners Charles D. King and Ryan Coogler), and King was nominated for Best Original Screenplay along with co-writers Will Berson, Kenny & Keith Lucas.

Judas and the Black Messiah galvanized moviegoers with its fact-based story about Black Panther leader Fred Hampton,

Oscar-Nominated DP Sean Bobbitt on Framing a Historic Power Struggle in “Judas and the Black Messiah”

This interview is part of our ongoing Oscar series. Our conversation with Sean Bobbitt was first published on February 11, before he was nominated for an Oscar for Best Cinematography.

The late Fred Hampton, former chairman of the Illinois chapter of the Black Panthers, was renowned for his skill as an orator and his work in his community, though the American government chose to mainly view the young activist as a threat.

Sony Films Will Head to Disney After Netflix Window Expires

Disney+ will soon be home to Spider-Man, and a whole lot more. In a new deal, Sony Pictures’ upcoming theatrical slate will hit Disney’s streaming and TV platforms after their PVOD windows on Netflix have ended. The deal is for Sony’s theatrical slate from 2022 to 2026, as well as a good chunk of Sony’s library. This will bring Sony’s films to Disney’s major streaming services, Disney+ and Hulu, as well as their TV networks,

Oscar-Nominee Terence Blanchard on Scoring Spike Lee’s “Da 5 Bloods”

This interview is part of our ongoing Oscar series. It was originally published on June 12, 2020. Terrence Blanchard is nominated for Original Score.

Spike Lee’s films’ timeliness speaks to his prescience, and to his fearless, decades-long willingness to examine the continued and persistent injustice experienced by Black Americans. His new film Da 5 Bloods lands in the midst of a pandemic disproportionately affecting Black,

Oscar-Nominee Alan Baumgarten on Editing Aaron Sorkin’s Rapid-Fire Dialogue in “The Trial of the Chicago 7”

This interview is part of our ongoing Oscar series. It was originally published on October 13, 2020. Baumgarten has since been nominated for an Oscar for Editing.  

For his latest feature, writer and director Aaron Sorkin shifts his political eye from the West Wing to the US government’s judicial branch. In The Trial of the Chicago 7, Sorkin revisits the drawn-out trial of a group of Vietnam War protestors,

Oscar-Nominated Screenwriter Kemp Powers on Finding Truth & Beauty in “One Night In Miami”

This interview is part of our ongoing Oscar series. The original story ran on February 2, before Kemp Powers was nominated for an Oscar for Best Adapted Screenplay. Also worth noting—he co-directed Pixar’s Soul, which is nominated for Best Animated Feature. 

After nearly two decades as a news reporter, Kemp Powers knew a good story when he found one. Discovering that four cultural icons — heavyweight champ Cassius Clay, soon to take the name Muhammad Ali;

Industrial Light & Magic Senior Creature Artist Dane Larocque on Constructing Unforgettable Creatures

Dane Larocque hails from rural British Columbia and Alberta and grew up in what he calls a “hardcore western rodeo family.” A career in visual effects, at arguably the most prestigious VFX company on the planet, wasn’t something he grew up imagining as an option. Yet Larocque had an enduring passion for film and was the type of kid who’d pore over the special features of a DVD to see how a particular film was actually made.

Watch the First Seven Minutes of “Mortal Kombat”

For those of you who are eager to see director Simon McQuoid’s Mortal Kombat reboot, you’re in luck. HBO Max has just released the first seven minutes, which are centered on one of the most beloved characters from the video game franchise and the 1995 feature film adaptation, Scorpion. McQuoid managed a major casting coup when he landed Hiroyuki Sanada in the role. Sanada’s been stealing scenes for years now, in everything from HBO’s Westworld to his brief but potent cameo in Avengers: Endgame. 

Oscar-Nominee Yuh-jung Youn on Creating Family in “Minari”

This interview with Yuh-jung Youn is part of our ongoing Oscar series. It was originally published on February 16, before she was nominated for an Oscar for Best Actress in a Supporting Role.

Writer/director Lee Isaac Chung’s film Minari is about a Korean family chasing the American dream in 1980s Arkansas. Steven Yeun and Yeri Han play parents Jacob and Monica, who have brought their two kids Ann and David to live and work on a farm,

“Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse” Sequel Reveals New Directing Trio

The critical and commercial smash that was Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse proved that you can do some very special things with a trio of directors. Those fellas: Bob Persichetti, Peter Ramsey, and Rodney Rothman won themselves an Oscar for Best Animated Feature Film, and now they’ll be passing off the web-based baton to a new trio of helmers. Enter Joaquim Dos Santos, Kemp Powers, and Justin K. Thompson.

It wasn’t that long ago when we interviewed Kemp Powers,