Mr. Sunshine: David Lynch, Auteur of the Uncanny, Talks Inspiration
One of the first words out of David Lynch’s mouth nearly brought the house down at the Brooklyn Academy of Music on a drizzly night last week. The icon behind films as disparate and evocative as Eraserhead, The Elephant Man, Blue Velvet and Mulholland Drive, as well as the groundbreaking television series Twin Peaks, was patiently listening as Paul Holdengräber, the erudite director of public programs at the New York Public Library,...
The Grand Seduction: A Look at Canada Behind the Camera
During preproduction of the Canadian film The Grand Seduction, the crew realized a major set piece had yet to be built— Joe’s Place, a local bar and restaurant that was vital to the film. Joe's Place was, in short order, built from scratch in Newfoundland’s fishing community Trinity Bright, where much of the film was shot. Emblematic of the relationship between Canadian and U.S. filmmakers, once production left town, the producers left Joe’s Place standing, giving it to the public to thank them for their hospitality...
Sky High Murals With Colossal Media
If you've been to New York City, you've experienced the odd sensation of being the recipient of an endless stream of sales pitches. Whether you're waiting for the subway, walking down Houston street or sitting in a taxi, you're surrounded by advertising. Check out this upcoming show at Mercury Lounge! Buy this brand of flavored vodka! Do whatever is being asked of you on those taxi monitors before you can get the touch screen to respond to your desperate tapping off the 'Off''...
Highlights from the 2nd Annual Creativity Conference
The second annual Creativity Conference (check out the link for photos and more here) was a celebration of the impact, and necessity, of the creative community on the economic stability and cultural legacy of America. “Year after year, audiences go to their local cinemas or sign up for streaming services to see what our industry has to offer,” Senator Dodd, chairman and CEO of the Motion Picture Association of America said. “Our industries are far more than just creators of entertainment…the creative community contributes 3.2% to our GDP.”...
Countdown to International Star Wars Day
May the Force be with you all, especially this Sunday, May 4th, a date otherwise known as International Star Wars Day.
I know what you’re saying: isn’t every day international Star Wars day? Well, yes. And never more so than now, when after weeks of rumors, J.J. Abrams’ cast for Episode VII has just been announced.
The epic trilogy (and the prequels, and expanded universe) have left a mark on pop culture like no other,...
Angus MacLachlan on the Art of Writing for and Directing Actors
Paul Schneider won Best Actor at the Tribeca Film Festival last week for his role as Otto Wall in Angus MacLachlan’s Goodbye to All That. The character was a tricky one—Schneider was playing someone affable and intelligent, but also unfocused and obliviously selfish. He spends most of the film in a state of confusion about why his life seems to be falling apart. His wife has left him, his daughter doesn’t feel safe in his new house,...
Making The Amazing Spider-Man 2, the Largest Production in New York History
Spider-Man’s home has always been New York City, but The Amazing Spider-Man 2 is the first of the comic book adaptations to be filmed exclusively in New York State. It’s also the largest, with locations that included not only Manhattan, Brooklyn, and Queens, but Long Island and upstate New York.
Shepherding the production were producers Avi Arad and Matt Tolmach. The industry veterans work together so closely, they finish each other’s’ sentences, jumping in with better zingers...
A Living, Dangerous Dorian Gray: For No Good Reason Celebrates England’s Wildest Cartoonist
Avey Tare gets Ralph Steadman.
The Animal Collective frontman has made no official statements regarding Steadman’s art, but regarding psychedelia he says, “it's always been about the combination of moods and how fast a mood can change. I think combining humor alongside something extremely dark is always appealing in the world of psychedelia.” He could just as easily be describing the gonzo cartoonist’s style, where exuberant satire blends with slapstick nightmare, and a single glance registers extreme humor and horror...
Tribeca 2014: Kelly Reichardt’s Tense, Thrilling Night Moves
A group of environmental activists watch a somber film about the slaughter of the planet. A woman’s voice narrates the horrors of mankind's insatiable greed—eroding beaches, melting ice caps, deforestation, and carbon emissions to name a few of our sins, with a call to action as well. "Let the revolution begin…for the future, for the people, and for the planet."
This film-within-the-film ends to a smattering of clapping. The filmmaker is present, and she's asked to answer questions from the group...
Tribeca 2014: Writer/Director Angus MacLachlan’s Goodbye to All That
Writer-director Angus MacLachlan’s Goodbye to All That includes one of the more frank and pathos-free sex scenes in recent memory. Otto Wall (Paul Schneider) and Mildred (Ashley Hinshaw), who recently met on the online dating service OkCupid, sit opposite one another on chairs, naked. They are describing, with exacting detail, what they’d like to do to each other. Otto’s wife has recently left him, and he’s experimenting for the first time in his life with online dating. The scene is remarkably compassionate—neither Otto or Mildred are mocked or shamed for their desires,...
Earth Day 2014: Hollywood Wants to Write Happy Ending for Planet With Eco Efforts
Hollywood has been celebrating Earth Day for years in order to raise awareness about environmental issues and put their considerable clout behind green initiatives. Who better than the people who make their living telling stories to strike up a memorable dialogue about sustainable practices? The big six studios’ embrace of Earth Day has only strengthened over time, and their contributions can be seen as a model of how companies in any field can get serious about protecting the planet,...
One Mama Bear, Two Cubs, and Three Filmmakers: Disneynature’s Bears
The world of wildlife filmmaking has changed dramatically in recent years. BBC’s Planet Earth set a new standard. High-definition cameras, stunning aerial shots, and time-lapse photography gave viewers incredible access to animal behavior never before caught on film. Disneynature’s Bears, which includes veterans of those productions, takes a different tack. Yes, it’s filmed in HD, and the gyro-stabilized shots from helicopters are spectacular, but the family-geared film has a different goal. Bears wants to show the bonds that tie together an animal family...
A Silicon God: Transcendence Screenwriter Jack Paglen’s Machine Dream
What is every budding screenwriter’s dream? How about having your screenplay land on the coveted Black List in 2012 (a selection of the best un-produced scripts in Hollywood) and, a scant two years later, premiere on the big screen with Johnny Depp, Morgan Freeman, Rebecca Hall and Paul Bettany as your stars, and serve as the directorial debut for one of the most gifted cinematographer’s of his generation, Wally Pfister. This is the reality for Jack Paglen, whose script for Transcendence found its way into the hands of the first time director and,...
2014 Tribeca Film Festival at a Glance—5 Hot Docs
The 2014 Tribeca Film Festival begins its 13th season today with the world premiere of the Nas documentary Time is Illmatic. It’s a fitting opening film for the festival—the incredibly talented rapper, songwriter and actor was born in Crown Heights, Brooklyn, eventually moving to the Queensbridge Houses in Long Island City, Queens, where he would get a thorough education in hip hop. The film, by multimedia artist One9, focuses on Nas’s groundbreaking 1994 debut album, Illmatic, ...
From The Dark Knight Rises to Divergent: Composer Junkie XL
Composer Tom Holkenborg goes by the name Junkie XL. He is a musician, producer, engineer and composer with a tinkerer's compulsion to experiment. His collaboration with the legendary Hans Zimmer on The Dark Knight Rises led Zimmer to recommend him for the recently released blockbuster Divergent. Holkenborg began his music career at the ripe old age of four, when he started playing piano at the behest of his mother, who classically trained him...
Cleveland’s Flexibility Gives Captain America its Punch
In Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Steve Rogers (Chris Evans), the Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson), and Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) spend some time at S.H.I.E.L.D. headquarters, the massive flying aircraft carrier where this crucial agency at the heart of the Marvel Comics Universe deals with the paranormal and superhuman threats to America. This time they're dealing with a foe potentially more powerful than the Captain—the eponymous Winter Soldier.
When directors Anthony and Joe Russo were scouting for a location that could serve as the grand lobby of this flying strategic command center,...
Missing 87-Year old John Ford Film Upstream Found, Screened With Live Score
This past Monday, composer Michael Mortilla and Nicole Garcia brought a slew of instruments (a piano, violin, kazoo, handbell, even a bag filled with aluminum cans) and performed a live score accompanying a screening of the 1927 John Ford film Upstream. “My basic role is to provide a soundtrack for a film that never had a soundtrack,” Mortilla says. He and Garcia performed their Upstream score in front of a live audience in the screening room at the Motion Picture of Association’s headquarters on Eye Street in Washington D.C...
The Sports Coordinators on Upcoming Draft Day & Million Dollar Arm
Spittin’ and cussin’ and scratchin’ like a Major Leaguer doesn’t take a whole lot of skill for an actor. But hitting a home run when the director calls “action!” and making it look easy? That’s a whole other story. Enter the sports coordinator. These former top jocks train onscreen talent how to swing for the fences, catch a touchdown pass, or sink a game-winning jumper at the buzzer and convince audiences it’s athletically legit.
“I”m like a stunt coordinator but with sports,”...
Top 10 EDM Remixes of Songs from Movie Musicals
So you're watching a musical. This is great, you think. It's like a normal movie and a Broadway show put into a blender and turned into a delicious, nostalgic smoothie. But there's something missing, you think. Where's the drop?
Go figure, Disney has an answer to this insanely specific problem. Walt Disney Records announced recently that they are compiling an album of EDM remixes of Disney songs old and new, featuring such DJ superstars as Avicii,...
Captain America: The Winter Soldier’s Composer Henry Jackman on Scoring a Superhero
The versatile Henry Jackman follows his scores for Seth Rogan's apocalyptic comedy End of the World and the animated NASCAR-racing snail film Turbo with a full-on superhero, Marvel's Captain America: The Winter Soldier. He took time for an interview to talk about the superhero who finds himself something of a Rip Van Winkle, dealing with a world more than 60 years after he was frozen in WWII.
How do you approach a score for a superhero? ...
