Why The Walk’s VFX Team Used Largest Amount of Cloud Computing in Film History
Director Robert Zemeckis’s long gestating project The Walk, on Philippe Petit’s once in a lifetime high-wire walk across the Twin Towers of The World Trade Center on August 7th, 1974 finally reached the screen this month, in glorious 3-D utilizing breathtaking visual effects. We spoke to VFX Supervisor Kevin Baillie & VFX Producer Camille Celluci by phone on how the production team was able to re- create in such immense detail both the Twin Towers and the 1974 New York skyline on a tight budget and production schedule,...
The Martian’s VFX Supervisor on Creating Zero Gravity Without a ‘Vomit Comet’
As The Martian continues its impressive box office run and enjoys some early Oscar buzz, The Credits talks to Richard Stammers, the film's visual effects supervisor and a frequent collaborator with Ridley Scott, about the dual challenge of recreating the Mars landscape and simulating a convincing zero gravity environment without anyone having to get in a “vomit comet”.
You've worked with Ridley Scott before on films like Prometheus?...
Are you Prepared for an Adam Sandler Western? Watch The Ridiculous Six Trailer
You've got Quentin Tarantino's The Hateful Eight due in December, and a remake of John Sturges’ iconic 1960 western The Magnificent Seven (itself based on Akira Kurosawa's Seven Samurai), directed by Antoine Fuqua and starring Denzel Washington and Chris Pratt due out next September. And in case you weren't aware, you've also got Adam Sandler's The Ridiculous Six, co-written by Sandler and Tim Herlihy and directed by longtime Sandler collaborator Frank Coraci streaming on Netflix on December 11...
Third Annual Middleburg Film Festival Draws Deep Roster of Talent
In it's third year, the Middleburg Film Festival is becoming a vibrant late festival season stop for filmmakers and film enthusiasts alike. Middleburg is in Virginia's horse country, and its beauty can hardly be improved upon in late October, but as much as a draw as the setting is, the festival itself, created by BET co-founder and Sundance Institute member Sheila Johnson and ably directed by Emmy and Peabody award-winning filmmaker Susan Koch, is drawing people for it's discerning slate and roster of talent...
The Incredible Link Between Helena Bonham Carter & Suffragette Villain
In Sarah Gavron’s film Suffragette, about the fight to gain votes for women in Edwardian England, the Prime Minister, Lord Herbert Asquith, opposes women’s suffrage and, on this issue, falls squarely on the wrong side of history. When it came time to cast the film, which stars Carey Mulligan, Gavron had Helena Bonham Carter at the top of her wish list to play one of the Suffragettes. One slightly complicating factor is that Bonham Carter is the great-granddaughter of Asquith...
Middleburg Film Festival: Miss You Already Director Catherine Hardwicke
Director Catherine Hardwicke is well into her third successful career. The former architect was one of the most ambitious, consistently excellent production designers in Hollywood, working on gorgeous, genre-defying projects like Three Kings for David O. Russell and Vanilla Sky for Cameron Crowe. She launched her directing career with the excellent Thirteen, which she co-wrote, about a young girl’s relationship with her mother as she begins experimenting with drugs,...
Ice Age & Rio Director Carlos Saldanha Shares Wisdom at Tokyo International Film Festival
Renowned film director Carlos Saldanha (Ice Age, Robots, Ice Age: The Meltdown, Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs, RIO, RIO 2) passed on his passion and process to the next generation filmmakers. From his first turn as a director,...
Jem vs. Jem: Eighties Relic Hits 21st Century in new Jem and the Holograms
Opening on Friday is director Jon M. Chu’s mildly more believable, live action version of the 80s classic cartoon Jem and the Holograms. The original Hannah Montana, before Miley Cyrus was even a twinkle in Billy Ray’s eye, cartoon Jem was a regular girl in disguise as a rock star, a feat made possible by a one-of-a-kind hologram machine named Synergy, a magical pair of earrings, and endless glitter, guts, and goodwill. In the cartoon,...
Suffragette Director Sarah Gavron Puts Struggle on Screen
Carey Mulligan stars alongside Helena Bonham Carter and Meryl Streep in Sarah Gavron’s moving drama about the turning point of the women’s suffrage movement. Suffragette begins in 1912 London and follows a group of women from different walks of life who come together as activists and engage in acts of civil disobedience to draw attention to their cause: gaining the vote for women. We talk to Gavron about the process of bringing this story to the big screen for the first time...
Bridge of Spies Costume Designer Kasia Walicka-Maimone on Cold War Style
Bridge of Spies costume designer Kasia Walicka-Maimone, who previous work includes Moonrise Kingdom, discusses the logistics involved in dressing thousands of extras and her first time working with Steven Spielberg.
What are the challenges working on a period film, particularly when you're telling a true story?
I feel it's a very structured process, so my job is so much driven by the vision of the director and the script. My job is to represent basically the underlying design for all the people that show up in the script...
Fall Read/Watch List: Read These Books, Then See Their Film Adaptations
This year, we’ve been treated to a variety of great cinematic adaptations. From Paper Towns this summer (read our interview with the screenwriters here), to more recent films like The Martian and Black Mass, Hollywood, once again, has been looking to the page for cinematic inspiration. Many of the films this fall are no different with at least ten more book adaptations hitting the big screen in 2015...
Meryl Streep Crushes Another Accent in Suffragette
Suffragette, which portrays the more violent side of Great Britain’s women’s fight for the vote during the late 19th century and early 20th, stars Carey Mulligan as a beleagured young worker who becomes entrenched in the front lines of the suffrage movement. Leading Mulligan’s character and her fictional cohort is Emmeline Pankhurst, a pivotal and very real suffragette and political activist who died in 1928, living to see her mission accomplished plus ten years. To play the role of a woman whom Time named one of its most important people of the 20 century in 1999,...
Watch Jennifer Lawrence Bring the Joy in Latest Collaboration With David O. Russell
Director David O. Russell and star Jennifer Lawrence are carving out one of the most interesting collaborations in the film business. When Lawrence isn’t leading a righteous revolution as Katniss Everdeen in The Hunger Games or trying to start a mutant revolution as Mystique in X-Men, she’s sought out the juicy, complex, human roles offered by Russell. She won her Academy Award for her earthy performance in Russell's Silver Lining’s Playbook,...
Back to the Future Day & Films That Got the Future Right
As we’re sure you’re aware, today, Wednesday October 21, 2015, is the very day in the future that Marty McFly (Michael J. Fox) traveled to in Back to the Future Part II. At the time of filming, 2015 was more than a quarter-century away, yet the vision of the future writer/director Robert Zemeckis and screenwriter Bob Gale envisioned hasn’t turned out to be total bunk, despite Zemeckis’s misgivings.
"I always hated — and I still don't like —...
Talking to Julianne Moore & Ellen Page About Freeheld
Part love story, part evolution of reluctant activists, Freeheld represents a personal and professional turning point for producer/actress Ellen Page.
“It is pretty mind-blowing how much my internal journey went along with getting this movie made. I wasn’t out when I signed on to produce the film and play Stacie. I remember thinking, ‘there is no way you can make this movie and not be out. There’s just no way,’” says Page, interviewed at this year’s Toronto International Film Festival where Freeheld premiered and where Page made news by walking the red carpet with her partner,...
IMAX Reveals Star Wars: The Force Awakens Poster + Screening Info
We knew that this Monday and Tuesday would be all about Star Wars: The Force Awakens. You've seen the new poster, you've watched the new trailer (and watched, and watched) and now, you're looking at IMAX's very own The Force Awakens art made exclusively for those who watch the film in its biggest, most astounding version—on IMAX screens. Fans should know that J.J. Abrams actually filmed a key action sequence with IMAX cameras...
The Girls Are Back: Filming Starts for Ab Fab: The Movie
Our favorite British television duo is back and about to flourish on a screen almost as big as they are – yup, you guessed it – Fox Searchlight and BBC Films have begun filming a movie version of the hit sitcom – Absolutely Fabulous. For six seasons we loved watching the fumbling fashionista Edina Monsoon (Jennifer Saunders) and her best friend and sidekick, the alcohol plied former model Patsy Stone (Joanna Lumley) muddle through their Ab Fab life accompanied by a wickedly funny cast of characters...
Prepare to Weep: Pixar, 20 Years Strong, Delivers This Delightful Montage
As the theme of the very first Toy Story reminds us, we've “got a friend” – in Pixar. This new montage also reminds us nobody is better at eliciting genuine emotion than Pixar has been for the past 20 years. Through the good and bad times, the Pixar characters have been there for us.
Grab some tissues before you watch. The first 30-seconds of this montage is dedicated to friends from Pixar's past who taught us lessons about growing up,...
Oscar-Winning Production Designer Adam Stockhausen on Bridge of Spies
Oscar-winning production designer Adam Stockhausen (who we previously interviewed for his work on Wes Anderson's The Grand Budapest Hotel) discusses his work on Steven Spielberg’s latest film, the Cold War-era Bridge of Spies, which is based on real events, and how you tackle such a well-documented period of history.
I understand Steven Spielberg is big on authenticity, particularly with this kind of true story. Is that quite daunting for you,...
There is Only Fast and Slow in Thrilling new Race Trailer
“Out there, there ain’t no black and white, there’s only fast and slow. Nothing matters, not color, not money, not even hate. For those 10 seconds you are completely – free,” says Jesse Owens (Stephan James), the subject of Stephen Hopkins' biopic Race. James was memorable as the young John Lewis in Selma. Here, playing another transformative 20th century figure, he'll be unforgettable.
On Tuesday Focus Features released a 15-second teaser trailer –...
