“The Dropout” Composer Anne Nikitin Takes a Synthetic Approach to Elizabeth Holmes’s Treachery
Hulu’s limited biographical series The Dropout, which stars Amanda Seyfried as Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes, has been getting rave reviews for both Seyfried’s performance and for its sharp take on the shocking real-life story of corporate and personal hubris. The show follows Holmes from her beginnings as an ambitious college student with Steve Jobs as her role model, through her attempts to develop healthcare technology, and then to her astonishingly fast rise to fame and fortune as CEO of a billion-dollar company.
“Winning Time” Co-Creator Jim Hecht on His Love Letter to the Lakers
Jim Hecht‘s road to co-creating Winning Time: The Rise of the Lakers began in 2014. Hecht was, by his own admission, at a low point, and he was looking for a project that really spoke to him. During his daily meditation, which he admitted with the qualifier “this sounds very LA,” he had a thought: “You gotta stop writing sh*t that you think other people would want to see and start writing the show that you would want to watch.”
A New “Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness” Teaser Reveals Evil Doctor Strange’s Third Eye
A new Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness teaser, titled “Dreams,” hints at the mind-bending nightmare that director Sam Raimi has cooked up for MCU fans. The teaser, utilizing a cover of Roy Orbison’s deathless “In Dreams,” gives us a glimpse of the nightmare that Doctor Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch) finds himself in, and highlights how much Raimi has infused the film with his special brand of horror-inflected madness. At the 47-second mark,
Behind-the-Scenes With Five Female Singaporean Creators
“The last three years were an eye-opener because of the pandemic,” said Michelle Chang, managing partner at Singapore-based Mochai Chai Laboratories. “We are the post-production house at the tail end. If the producers stop producing, we are dead. The good thing was my business partner Chai Yee Wei has the foresight of not putting all our eggs in one basket. He has built a digital restoration lab. As luck would have it, a lot of distributors came to us because streaming platforms were buying catalog content and they need to up-convert into a compatible format for the streamers.
“The Northman” Early Reviews Rave About Robert Eggers’ Ferociously Visceral Viking Epic
In a must-read profile of writer/director Robert Eggers by Sam Knight in The New Yorker, the visionary director of The Witch and The Lighthouse is very honest about the toll his latest, and by far biggest, film took on him. The Northman, which is being called the most realistic Viking movie ever made, is loosely based on “Hamlet,”
“The Last Days of Ptolemy Grey” DP Shawn Peters on Lensing Samuel L. Jackson’s Rare TV Performance
Based on Walter Mosley’s eponymous novel, The Last Days of Ptolemy Grey portrays 91-year-old Ptolemy (Samuel L. Jackson), a lonely widower suffering from Alzheimer’s, as he undergoes a transformation thanks to Robyn (Dominique Fishback), the teenage daughter of a family member’s friend, and an experimental new drug, offered at a beyond questionable clinic.
Jackson, who rarely takes on television projects, is sublime as the limited series’ Papa Grey: by turns helpless,
“The Lost City” Editor Craig Alpert on Finding Big Laughs With Sandra Bullock & Channing Tatum
The laugh-out-loud adventure comedy The Lost City, starring Sandra Bullock and Channing Tatum, found its way atop the box office. Directed by the Nee brothers Aaron and Adam, the punchy comedy delightfully entertains as Bullock plays a successful romance writer who has been kidnapped by an obsessed treasure hunter played by Daniel Radcliffe, who believes the world in her latest novel is real and wants her to help find it. It’s up to Tatum,
“Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3” Sets World-Record While Still Filming
Writer/director James Gunn’s Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 isn’t even done filming, yet that hasn’t stopped it from breaking a world record. Gunn himself reported that the makeup effects studio Legacy Effects, which is hard at work helping Gunn populate his intergalactic menagerie, have confirmed that Vol. 3 has broken the world record for the most makeup appliances ever created for a single production. Legacy Effects knows their stuff—they’ve won Emmys and Oscars and worked on epic blockbusters,
New “Top Gun: Maverick” Teaser Highlights Intense Aerial Action
How intense is the aerial action in Top Gun: Maverick? The Tom Cruise-led action-epic, which sees Cruise return to the role that made him an international superstar in 1986, deployed real Navy aviators and jets to capture the thrilling flying sequences. In a new teaser released by Paramount Pictures, some of that aerial insanity is on full display.
“Much like the first film, these are going to be real jets and real U.S.
New “Ms. Marvel” TV Spot Teases Marvel’s First Muslim Superhero
Marvel Studios’ youngest superhero is set to make her big debut. Ms. Marvel arrives on Disney+ in two short months and a new TV spot reveals a bit more about Iman Vellani’s teenage superhero Kamala Khan. What makes Ms. Marvel so exciting is that not only does it offer a totally different kind of Marvel series, but the first-ever Muslim superhero to lead a Marvel Studios show or film.
Kamala Khan is a Pakistani-American teenager living in Jersey City,
“NITRAM” Director/Producer Justin Kurzel Casts a Lens on a Shocking Tragedy
In 1996, Australia was rocked by a mass shooting in the small, peaceful community of Port Arthur, Tasmania. The horrific incident took the lives of 35 innocent people and injured 23, and remains among the country’s greatest national tragedies.
Director-producer Justin Kurzel (True History of the Kelly Gang, The Snowtown Murders) reunites with screenwriter Shaun Grant to explore the events that led to the mass shooting in the IFC Films release,
New “Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness” Teaser Reveals Colossal Villain
In a brief, thrilling new teaser for director Sam Raimi’s Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, we get a peek at one of the colossal villains—or really, monsters—that Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch) and his allies will be facing. At the 18-second mark, we see Wong (Benedict Wong) and Scarlet Witch (Elizabeth Olsen) facing off against a massive monster that has no doubt been unleashed from the multiverse.
In Raimi’s long-awaited return to the Marvel Cinematic Universe (he directed the first Spider-Man trilogy starring Tobey Maguire before Marvel Studios had created their vaunted MCU),
“Obi-Wan Kenobi” Will Arrive in a Two-Episode Burst
We know that when Obi-Wan Kenobi premieres on Disney+ we’ll be getting a more powerful Darth Vader, new villains, and the long-awaited return of Ewan McGregor to the title role—and now we know we’ll be getting two episodes at once. Disney+ announced yesterday, with McGregor himself doing the explaining, that Obi-Wan Kenobi‘s release date has been moved back—don’t worry, it’s just two days—from May 25 to May 27. When it does arrive on Disney+,
“The Wheel of Time” Cinematographer David Moxness on Lensing Amazon’s Lush Fantasy Epic
Amazon Prime’s sprawling sci-fi saga The Wheel of Time was one of the streamer’s big hits in 2021, and also one of its biggest swings. Adapted from Robert Jordan’s sweeping fantasy novels (14 in all), The Wheel of Time arrived on Prime and swiftly became the most-watched series premiere of 2021 and one of the top 5 series launches for Prime Video, ever. The interest stemmed from the love for Jordan’s source material,
Getting Intentional With Jeanne Mau, SVP of TV Programming Diversity, Equity & Inclusion at NBCUniversal
Jeanne Mau joined NBCUniversal only seven months ago, in a new position that was tailor-made for her skill set and experience. The former Senior Vice President of Global Inclusion at ViacomCBS is now NBCUniversal’s Senior Vice President of TV Programming Diversity, Equity & Inclusion. Mau’s position has her overseeing diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives across NBCU’s vast television and streaming brands. It’s a thrilling opportunity for someone who has been doing the work for 20-years.
“Game of Thrones” Prequel “House of the Dragon” Premiering in August
HBO has revealed that their long-awaited Game of Thrones prequel House of the Dragon arrives on Sunday, August 21, on HBO and HBO Max. Based on George R. R. Martin’s “Fire & Blood” series, House of the Dragon will explore the rise of House Targaryen, and is set 200 years before the events of Game of Thrones. Along with the long-awaited reveal of the release date, HBO has revealed a bunch of new photos from the series.
How “Morbius” Production Designer Stefania Cella Creates a Brooding Vibe
Stefania Cella has suddenly become one of Marvel’s favorite production designers, more than happy to sink her teeth into Jared Leto’s much anticipated rogue scientist saga Morbius (opening April 1). She also designed the studio’s Moon Knight (March 30) and, at the moment, Cella’s in Atlanta working on Marvel’s much-anticipated Blade reboot.
Immersing herself in comic book IP has been “challenging,”
New “House of the Dragon” Video Teases HBO Max’s “Game of Thrones” Prequel
A new short video revealed by HBO Max teases their hotly-anticipated Game of Thrones prequel House of the Dragon. “Gods, kings, fire, and blood” we hear over the images of some of the series’ key players, including Paddy Considine’s King Viserys Targaryen, Matt Smith’s Prince Daemon Targaryen, Olivia Cooke’s Alicent Hightower, and Rhys Ifans’ Otto Hightower. These are the same words we heard in the first teaser, which gave us a glimpse of the first Game of Thrones spinoff to make it through production.
An “It” Prequel Series May Haunt HBO Max
Pennywise the Clown may be coming into your living room. Variety has confirmed that an It prequel series is in the works at HBO Max, currently titled Welcome to Derry. The series will be set in the 1960s and lead up to the events in director Andy Muschietti’s 2017 film It: Part One, which itself was based on Stephen King’s sprawling, massively influential horror novel.
Sharon Stone Will Play The Villain in DC’s “Blue Beetle”
The DC universe has just added another legend. Sharon Stone is joining DC’s upcoming Blue Beetle as the villain, The Hollywood Reporter confirms. The last time Stone ventured into a superhero film was another DC entry, in 2004’s Catwoman starring Halle Berry. In Blue Beetle, Stone will play a new character, Victoria Kord.
Blue Beetle will be led by Cobra Kai‘s Xolo Maridueña in the title role of the teenager Jaime Reyes who becomes a superhero after he comes into contact with alien armor.
