Best of 2020: A Conversation With Laverne Cox

We put together our annual “Best Of” list with an eye towards the conversations that weren’t just about our particular area of interest—how films and TV shows are made and the people who make them—but delved into broader discussions that were unavoidable in this historic, often heartbreaking year. These conversations include our chat with Laverne Cox about her role in Netflix’s Disclosure: Trans Lives on Screen,  Lovecraft Country cinematographer Michael Watson on filming during a pandemic,

Best of 2020: Meet the Background Actors Who Populate HBO’s “Perry Mason” – Part I

We put together our annual “Best Of” list with an eye towards the conversations that weren’t just about our particular area of interest—how films and TV shows are made and the people who make them—but delved into broader discussions that were unavoidable in this historic, often heartbreaking year. These conversations include our chat with Laverne Cox about her role in Netflix’s Disclosure: Trans Lives on Screen,  Lovecraft Country cinematographer Michael Watson on filming during a pandemic,

Showrunner Chris Van Dusen on Creating a Modern Regency Romance in “Bridgerton”

Buckle up for Christmas Day, when Bridgerton, a romance set in England’s 19th century Regency era, debuts on Netflix. Shonda Rhimes’ first executive-produced series for the streaming service, this bright, sexy show reimagines a casually multiracial society set in a horse-drawn world of candy-colored palaces, sybaritic balls, and aristocracy on display.

Bridgerton was shot on location at storied homes like Lancaster House, where Queen Elizabeth II still holds royal functions,

The Sustainable Production Alliance: Celebrating the Green Production Guide’s 10-Year Anniversary

As issues of climate change continue to be front and center in every aspect of our lives, many areas of business and industry are investigating new ways in which they can mitigate their carbon footprint and become more engaged in policies that are centered on responsibility toward climate change.

Fortunately, the entertainment industry has been at the forefront of this issue for many years – in fact, a full decade! – and has consistently demonstrated its commitment to sustainability.

David Oyelowo & Demián Bichir on George Clooney’s Timely Sci-Fi Film “Midnight Sky”

Based on Lily Brooks-Dalton’s acclaimed novel “Good Morning, Midnight”, the new Netflix release The Midnight Sky (streaming December 23), which is directed by George Clooney, follows scientist Augustine (played by Clooney) who navigates a post-apocalyptic world alone in the Arctic, while warning away Sully (Felicity Jones) and the other astronauts returning from deep space with her. Her fellow crewmembers include partner and flight commander Adewole (David Oyelowo), astrodynamics expert Sanchez (Demián Bichir),

Costume Designer Phoenix Mellow on Modern-Day Vintage Romance in “Sylvie’s Love”

In these trying times, what’s better than the escapism of a sweeping, old-fashioned romance? Set between the late 1950s and early 1960s, the new Amazon feature Sylvie’s Love from director Eugene Ashe (Homecoming, Home Again) is a sweet and lovely epic in the style of the vintage films from which it takes its inspiration (premiering on Amazon Prime on Christmas Day). Both a love story and a coming-of-age narrative,

Branford Marsalis Gets the Blues For “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom”

“Uh one. Uh two. Uh you know what to do.” That’s how the band leader cues his musicians in Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom. In fact, the actors portraying sidemen to Viola Davis’ title character did not really know what to do, musically. But thanks to Branford Marsalis, the actors in director George C. Wolfe’s adaptation of the August Wilson play manage to mimic the moves of veteran blues musicians with persuasive panache.

“The Mandalorian” Spinoff “The Book of Boba Fett” Coming to Disney+

If you’re like many, many other folks you watched the season 2 finale of The Mandalorian this past Friday and were left with this very intriguing, if slightly confusing tease—”The Book of Boba Fett Coming December 2021.” Trying to absorb all that had just happened in The Mandalorian‘s finale, you’d be forgiven if you assumed The Book of Boba Fett was what The Mandalorian‘s 3rd season was titled.

Production Designer Mark Ricker on Creating the Sumptuous “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom”

During the course of Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, based on the 1982 play by August Wilson, blues star Ma Rainey (Viola Davis) reveals the lengths it takes to counter the racial economic exploitation of the 1920s, while down in the practice room, her band members recount the horrors of Jim Crow. The film, directed by George C. Wolfe (The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks), which debuted on Netflix on December 18th,

Madison Hamburg on His One-Of-A-Kind HBO Doc “Murder on Middle Beach”

As the title suggests, Murder on Middle Beach, the four-part HBO documentary, revolves around a tragedy. On March 3, 2010, Barbara Hamburg was found stabbed to death outside her home in Madison, Connecticut, an unassuming beachfront town. An unlikely victim, police were unable to find a suspect. But what makes this unsolved murder story even more compelling is that it is being told by Madison Hamburg, Barbara’s son.

Madison was 18 years old at the time and a film student in college.

Costume Designer Cat Thomas on the Couture of “The Flight Attendant”

At the beginning of the HBO miniseries The Flight Attendant, based on Chris Bohjalian’s novel, Cassie (Kaley Cuoco) is a put-together first class flight attendant by day, maximalist reveler by night. She parties relentlessly wherever she lands, seemingly enjoying an endless montage of karaoke, clubs, bars, and hookups. But Cassie also encapsulates a particular sort of overgrown New York party drunk, one who’s getting a little long in the tooth for these sorts of hijinks.

Cinematographer Oliver Bokelberg on Transforming Vancouver Into Montana in “Big Sky”

This article contains light spoilers for previously aired episodes.

Big Sky, David E. Kelley’s new ratings hit for ABC, which was just picked up for another six episodes, juxtaposes Montana’s sweeping vistas with the bleak interior of a locked away trailer, where an unlikely criminal duo is holding three teenaged girls. Based on C.J. Box’s novel “The Highway,” the crime drama sets viewers up with stunning aerial shots of rural Montana before zooming in on run-down bars,

Watch Christopher Nolan Break Down a High-Stakes Sequence in “Tenet”

Christopher Nolan’s Tenet is now available for digital download and on DVD. This means the mysteries at the heart of his time-inverting spy epic will begin to be unpuzzled. In a new “Anatomy of a Scene” video from the New York Times, it’s Nolan himself doing the unpuzzling.

First, some due diligence—let’s provide a brief synopsis of what Tenet‘s about. Tenet stars John David Washington as a member of an elite team that seems capable of literally inverting time in order to try and stop armageddon before it happens.

Review Round-Up: “Wonder Woman 1984” is an Adrenalin Shot of Joy

At long last, the time has just about come to see Diana Prince (Gal Gadot) in action once again—director Patty Jenkins’ Wonder Woman 1984 is just about here. While you’ll need to wait until Christmas Day to see the long-awaited sequel, the critics already have. To that end, we’ve put together a spoiler-free review round-up to give you a sense of what they’re saying.

Let’s get you caught up on where we are in the franchise,

“Wonder Woman 1984” Opening Scene Available For Your Viewing Pleasure

Let’s go back to Themyscira, shall we? Warner Bros. and HBO Max have made Wonder Woman 1984‘s opening scene available a little more than a week before director Patty Jenkins’ film hits theaters and streams on HBO Max on Christmas Day. Now if you’re the type that would rather watch the opening minutes when you can, you know, watch the rest of the film immediately after, we get that. However, if you want to whet your appetite just before you can settle in for the full meal,

“Tenet” Available Online and DVD Today – Watch Opening Scene Here

If there were one movie that best encapsulated this awful year, at least in terms of the entertainment world, it was Christopher Nolan’s Tenet. In a normal year, a Nolan film is a major cinematic event. His ambitious, often mind-melting epics are designed and shot to be seen in the theater. Their release dates are something movie lovers mark on their calendars, and tickets are snapped up the moment they become available online.

Netflix Reveals Trailer Stanley Nelson’s new Doc “Crack: Cocaine, Corruption, & Conspiracy”

You couldn’t ask for a better filmmaker to untangle the lies, distortions, and heartbreak of the crack epidemic of the 1980s than Stanley Nelson. The award-winning filmmaker behind Miles Davis: Birth of the Cool, The Black Panthers: Vanguard of the Revolution, Freedom Riders, and The Black Press: Soldiers Without Swords is the director of Netflix’s new Crack: Cocaine, Corruption & Conspiracy. A new trailer gives us our first glimpse at Nelson’s latest deep-dive,

DP Bryce Fortner on Recreating the 1970s in the Propulsive Crime Drama “I’m Your Woman”

Director Julie Hart’s new thriller, I’m Your Woman, turns its attention to a figure usually overlooked in 1970s crime dramas: the housewife. Jean (Rachel Brosnahan) seems incapable and alone, dispassionately aware but otherwise innocent of her husband Eddie’s (Bill Heck) nebulous involvement in some kind of organized crime. When Eddie heads out for the night and doesn’t come back, leaving Jean with a mysterious baby boy she’s mutely accepted as their own,

Anthony Mackie is an Android on a Mission in “Outside the Wire”

In the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Anthony Mackie plays Sam Wilson, better known as Falcon, a heroic soldier endowed with superhuman ability thanks to technology—including, of course, a pair of wings. So Mackie is well-suited to continue the process of man melding with machine in Netflix’s upcoming Outside the Wire. In the first trailer, you’ll see that Mackie is a straight-up android with a very serious skill set. One can’t help but wonder how Outside the Wire‘s android might stack up against Mackie’s titular superhero in Falcon and the Winter Soldier. 

Matt Smith & Olivia Cooke Join “Game of Thrones” Prequel “House of the Dragon”

Two very good actors have joined HBO’s Game of Thrones prequel House of the Dragon. Matt Smith, so excellent as Prince Phillip on The Crown and the Doctor in Doctor Who joins Ready Player One‘s Olivia Cooke as the newest cast members. The prequel will explore the fall of the Targaryen empire long before Daenerys arrived on the scene to (briefly) restore it. Smith and Cooke join The Outsider‘s Paddy Considine and Truth Seeker’s Emma D’Arcy on this trip back to Westeros.