Creating Count Orlock With “Nosferatu” Director Robert Eggers & Special FX Makeup Designer David White
Count Orlok (Bill Skarsgård) is a putrid feast for the eyes. In writer/director Robert Eggers’ brilliant Nosferatu remake, the iconic creature of the night is a decaying figure – nightmarish precisely because his living death was wrought with such chilling reality. Whether the Count is deep in the shadows or full view, his monstrosity remains mortifyingly intoxicating. It makes you feel even more empathy for Lily-Rose Depp’s Ellen Hutter as she becomes enraptured by the Count’s deathless spell...
Studios Pledge Millions in Wildfire Relief & Support
The fires in southern California are ongoing. A bit of bright news, however, is that as of this past Wednesday evening, January 15, the red-flag warnings had expired in much of Southern California. The desert winds are expected to shift and offer the region some reprieve after a nightmare stretch. Yet forecasters have warned that daunting conditions could resume early next week and are predicting the Santa Ana winds might change direction on Thursday. The situation remains fluid.
Firefighters and first responders are still working around the clock,...
The Tribute to David Lynch That Captures his Joyful Approach to the Dark
The great David Lynch passed away at 78 yesterday, leaving behind masterworks that dared to leave questions unanswered. Those films, from his breakout Eraserhead (1977), which baffled and even offended critics (Variety wrote at the time that it was a “sickening bad-taste exercise”) that thrilled audiences, to the era-defining Blue Velvet (1986), that forever seared the image of a severed ear covered in ants into the psyche of mid-80s America, to his brilliant,...
“Better Man” Director Michael Gracey on Monkeying With Robbie Williams in Bold Bio-Pic
Australian director Michael Gracey skyrocketed to success after releasing his debut feature, the 2017 Hugh Jackman-led musical The Greatest Showman. For his second narrative feature, Better Man, which is also a musical, he has tackled the life story of English pop singer Robbie Williams. There’s a twist, though. For the entirety of the film, Williams is portrayed as a CGI-animated chimpanzee. Gracey co-wrote the film and has a producing credit, with the story based on over a year’s worth of interviews with Williams,...
How “Anora”‘s DP & Production Designer Brought a Deconstructed Cinderella to New York
Halfway through Sean Baker’s Anora, there’s a scene where exotic dancer turned newlywed Ani (Mickey Madison) is tied up and gagged with a red scarf. The dilemma is a response to her breaking the nose and slap-boxing two men questioning her marriage to a silver-spooned Russian rich boy named Ivan (Mark Eydelshteyn). The scarf (and its color) can easily be overlooked during the unfolding chaos that plays out as a real-time home invasion lasting for roughly 25 minutes and sees Ivan run away from his bride...
“Conclave” Ascends to BAFTA’s Peak With 12 Nominations, “Emilia Perez” Right Behind With 11
The British Academy has officially blessed Edward Berger‘s delightfully claustrophobic Vatican thriller Conclave with 12 BAFTA film nominations, which leads all other films.
We had a chance to chat with Berger and one of the film’s stars, Isabella Rossellini, who plays Sister Agnes in the adaptation of Robert Harris’s novel. Drawing on her own experience of going to a school run by nuns, Rossellini told us, “I remember they were very direct but also very respectful,...
“Nosferatu” Production Designer Craig Lathrop on Creating Count Orlock’s Gothic World
Writer/director Robert Eggers’ Nosferatu continues his streak of delivering singular, stunning cinematic spectacles that have ranged in scale from the terrifyingly intimate (The Witch) to psychotically intimate (The Lighthouse) to the rousingly epic (The Northman). With Nosferatu, Eggers has found perhaps the perfect material for his sensibilities—rich in detail, steeped in myth, and drenched in pathos,...
Cam’s Back: New “Back in Action” Trailer Boasts Cameron Diaz’s Return to Big Screen Alongside Jamie Foxx
The family pulls into a gas station for a quick fill-up and some snacks, a very common vignette for millions of people across the world. The difference here is that the parents, Cameron Diaz’s Emily and Jamie Foxx’s Matt, are not your usual PTA-attending, Girl Scout Cookie-drive leading ma and pa, and when they dispatch two bad guys in full view of their shocked children, the jig is up. At one point deeper into the trailer, the kids say, “I can’t believe they were spies…they were in a pickleball league.”...
Unleashing the Beast: How They Turned Christoper Abbot into the “Wolf Man”
Director Leigh Whannell is a veteran of the horror genre, and that includes taking on iconic characters from Universal’s deep bench of monsters. His 2020 thriller The Invisible Man came amid a global pandemic when the terror of fighting an enemy you couldn’t see was all too real. Now, on January 17, Universal will release his latest twist on a classic monster with Wolf Man.
The film features Christopher Abbott as Blake,...
“The Brutalist” Composer Daniel Blumberg on Blending Genres in Brady Corbet’s American Epic
Brady Corbet’s The Brutalist has found its way into all the awards conversation, with everything from Corbert’s masterful direction to the performances by Adrien Brody and Guy Pearce, Dávid Jancsó’s editing, Lol Crawley’s cinematography, Judy Becker’s production design, and Daniel Blumberg’s score getting notice. The film is centered on visionary architect László Toth (Brody), who flees post-war Europe after experiencing the ravages and suffering of the Holocaust. He finds his way to the US, where he spends decades in the struggles to build his artistic legacy,...
“The Last Showgirl” Director Gia Coppola Pulls Back the Curtain on Pamela Anderson’s Career-Defining Performance
For a film set in Las Vegas, it’s surprising that director Gia Coppola chose grit over glitz for The Last Showgirl.
“I wanted to make a movie in an intimate way. I adore [John] Cassavetes and how he made movies,” says Coppola, who cites Cassavetes’ The Killing of a Chinese Bookie as “one movie I looked at for sure.”
Coppola worked from a script by Kate Gersten, who adapted her own play...
L.A. Wildfire Relief Efforts Launched: How to Help
The devastating wildfires burning across Los Angeles reached the Hollywood Hills on Wednesday night, nearing iconic landmarks like the Hollywood Bowl. At the same time, fires have already impacted communities and thousands of people, including in the Palisades, Altadena, the San Fernando Valley, and Malibu. As of Wednesday night, the L.A. Fire Department reported that the Palisades Fire was zero percent contained and is the most destructive fire in L.A. history, destroying more than 1,000 structures and leading to at least five deaths...
Oscar Nominations Pushed 2 Days Due to Historic L.A. Fires
The devastating fires raging across Los Angeles have caught the world’s attention with their ferocity and unpredictability.
The toll of the damage will take months to assess, but even last night, fresh fires were breaking out; the latest, named the Sunset Fire, broke out in Runyon Canyon in the Hollywood Hills at around 5:30 p.m. The fires have already hit the Palisades, Altadena, the San Fernando Valley, and Malibu. The Sunset Fires now raging in Runyon Canon in the Hollywood Hills are close to iconic locations,...
James Mangold Offers More Insight Into his “Star Wars: Dawn of the Jedi” Movie
Writer/director James Mangold currently has a major movie in theaters, his Timothée Chalamet-led Bob Dylan film A Complete Unknown. Mangold’s evocative look at Dylan’s early years in New York paints a vivid picture of one of the most iconic artists in American history as he finds his footing, voice, and singularly chameleonic approach to stardom. Mangold’s got another huge project on the horizon that, while not completely unknown, certainly classifies as intriguingly mysterious and is far,...
“The Room Next Door” Production Designer Inbal Weinberg is the Architect of Pedro Almodóvar’s World
Production designer Inbal Weinberg perfected her meticulous eye over years of collaborations with filmmakers who “are serious about every detail,” including Derek Cianfrance, Luca Guadagnino, and Martin McDonagh. However, meticulousness took on a whole new level when Weinberg worked alongside renowned Spanish director Pedro Almodóvar on his first English-language feature, The Room Next Door, which opened in Los Angeles and New York on December 20 and expands to select cities on January 10...
How a Historic House in Connecticut Gave “Christmas on Honeysuckle Lane” the Perfect Location
Christmas may be over, but Christmas movies are a delight anytime. There are plenty of classic Christmas movies for pretty much every taste. The sentimental (or viewers of a certain age) might tell you that there’s no improvement upon Frank Capra’s 1946 classic It’s a Wonderful Life or, just a year later, George Seaton’s seminal 1947 film Miracle on 34th Street. Bob Clark’s 1983 film A Christmas Story immortalized Ralphie Parker (Peter Billingsley)’s quest to secure a Red Ryder Range 200 Shoot BB Gun into a domestic epic,...
“Wallace and Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl” Directors Nick Park & Merlin Crossingham go Back to the Bakehouse
It has been almost two decades since the Oscar-winning stop-motion animation delight Wallace and Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit. Now, the dynamic duo is back in a new adventure, Wallace and Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl; however, the world has changed.
Not only is the feature streaming on Netflix, a platform that did not exist in 2005, but technological and production processes have evolved exponentially, opening up a world of creative opportunities.
In Wallace and Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl,...
Golden Globes 2025: “Emilia Pérez” and “Shōgun” Win Four Apiece, “The Brutalist” Wins Top Film Drama
The 2025 Golden Globes were held on Sunday night in Los Angeles, with awards bestowed upon one of 2024’s most marquee television series, and a pair of challenging, masterfully constructed films took top honors.
The Brutalist was named the best motion picture — drama, with helmer Brady Corbet winning best director, and his leading man, Adrien Brody, won best actor in a drama. During his acceptance speech, Brody, who plays László Tóth, a Holocaust survivor who comes to America hoping for a better life,...
“Nosferatu” DP Jarin Blaschke on Giving Robert Eggers’ Masterful Vampire Tale Its Bite
Horror fans were given a fresh infusion of Dracula mythology on Christmas Day courtesy of Nosferatu. Written and directed by Robert Eggers, the gothic tale, set in 1838, follows the bloodsucking Count Orlok (Bill Skarsgård) as he preys on beautiful Ellen (Lily-Rose Depp) and her new husband (Nicholas Hoult). Nosferatu boasts an impressive supporting cast who are, like its stars, all-in on yet another of Eggers’ deliciously detailed period pieces, including co-stars Aaron Taylor-Johnson,...
“A Complete Unknown” Costume Designer Arianne Phillips on Channeling the Bob Dylan Mystique
Costume designer Arianne Phillips has never met Bob Dylan, but she did discover a personal connection while researching the singer’s early days for her new project A Complete Unknown (in theaters now). “I was born in 1963 in New York City on Cornelia Street,” she says. “I thought I knew a lot about Bob Dylan, but in the course of my research, I learned that right around the corner, Bob Dylan was living on Fourth Street at the very same time. ...
