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,
“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,
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,
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,
“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,
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.
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,
“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,
“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.
The Red Hulk Arrives in New “Captain America: Brave New World” Teaser Trailer
A new teaser trailer for director Julius Onah’s Captain America: Brave New World arrived on New Year’s Day, giving us our first glimpse of Harrison Ford’s President Thaddeus Ross’s alter ego, the mean red machine known as the Red Hulk. A new synopsis reveals that the plot hinges around Sam Wilson/Captain America (Anthony Mackie) meeting the newly elected U.S. President Ford and being foisted into the middle of an international incident “before the true mastermind has the entire world seeing red.”
Best of 2024: Maximus Effort: “Gladiator II” Production Designer Arthur Max on Creating Colossal Constructions
This interview was selected by measures having nothing to do with science as one of our standouts from 2024. Arthur Max was absolutely crucial to Ridley Scott’s vision of creating a completely unhinged, dementedly decadent Rome. To that end, Max delivered, creating not one but two Colosseums for Scott’s epic.
Oscar-nominated production designer Arthur Max has worked on 16 of Ridley Scott’s films. These include some of American cinema’s most indelible cinematic spectacles,
Best of 2024: Richard Linklater on the Killer Chemistry in his Romantic Comedy “Hit Man”
In Richard Linklater‘s latest film, an irresistibly sexy romantic comedy that’s also a bit of a noir, a giddy satire on the hitman genre, and a screwball quasi-whodunit, the one constant is a vibe that is decidedly and effusively all Linklater. Glen Powell, a rising star who has been Linklater’s longtime collaborator through a string of roles dating back to 2006’s Fast Food Nation, plays Gary Johnson, a professor of psychology and philosophy at the University of New Orleans who is as passionate about Nietzsche as he is dispassionate about the affairs of his own life.
Best of 2024: “Furiosa” Art Director Jacinta Leong on That Breathtaking 15-Minute Action Sequence
Nine years after Mad Max: Fury Road star Charlize Theron wreaked havoc as bad-ass adult Furiosa, director George Miller revisits his post-apocalyptic nightmare with Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga (in theaters now). The prequel, starring Anya Taylor-Joy, Chris Hemsworth, and the mighty first-generation War Rig truck, features one of the year’s most spellbinding action sequences, a relentless, 15-minute mind-melter that took 78 days to film.
While the 15-minute sequence is the most thrilling action scene of the year (in any film),
