Joker’s Makeup Designer on Creating the Clown Prince of Chaos
It’s hard to think of a more iconic look from the world of comic books than the Joker — Batman’s most nefarious adversary. Nicki Ledermann was all too aware of this when she was approached to design the makeup for Joker, director Todd Phillips’ new feature that offers up the origin as to how Arthur Fleck, a failed comedian, came to be this ominous creature.
“To be honest,
The Official Trailer for Sam Mendes’ 1917 Reveals Astonishing Visuals
Universal Pictures recently revealed that director Sam Mendes and his legendary cinematographer Roger Deakins have done something extremely difficult with their World War I epic 1917. They devised, along with their crack cast and crew, a way to shoot the film as if it were a continuous, unbroken single shot. Now Universal has released the film’s first full-length trailer, and you can see for yourself the fruits of their labor.
The Official Oscar Campaign For Avengers: Endgame has Begun
Disney has officially launched its Oscar campaign for Avengers: Endgame, zeroing in on a slew of categories for their massive, globe-dominating mega-hit. Disney’s official For Your Consideration website details the categories they’re (currently) focused on. Superhero movies can and should be nominated for Best Picture if they’re good enough, as we learned last year when Ryan Coogler’s excellent Black Panther was nominated for Best Picture (as well as 6 other categories) and notched wins for Costume Design (the incomparable Ruth E.
The First Trailer for Clint Eastwood’s Richard Jewell is Here
Richard Jewell was working as a security guard at Centennial Olympic Park in Atlanta, Georgia, during the 1996 Summer Olympics when his life took a drastic turn. Jewell discovered a duffel bag filled with explosives, and his quick-thinking helped clear most people out of the area before the bomb went off, killing one person and injuring 111. Were it not for Jewell’s action, the death toll would have likely been much, much higher. He was,
Renée Zellweger on Becoming Judy
Despite numerous screen classics over decades, Judy Garland famously never won an Oscar. She was favored to win for her major career comeback in 1954 for A Star is Born but lost to fresh-faced Grace Kelly. So it would be a fitting, full-circle tribute if Renée Zellweger, in her own major comeback role as Judy Garland, took home the Oscar for Judy, as many expect she will after the film’s recent triumphant festival reception including a standing ovation at the Toronto International Film Festival that brought Zellweger to tears.
Check out This Glorious New Alien From Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker
His name is Frik. Babu Frik. He’s a handy dandy Anzellan droidsmith and he’s as talented as he is cute. He’s a new Star Wars alien and he’s here to help. He’ll be appearing in Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker and by the itty-bitty description we’ve got of him, we have a notion on how, exactly, he might be of service.
The introduction of a new Star Wars alien is now a 36-year long event of feverish debate,
Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker Screenwriter Chris Terrio on the Mysterious Rey
In Rian Johnson’s Star Wars: The Last Jedi, we learned quite a bit about Rey (Daisy Ridley). One was that her powers with the Force are significant. So much so that her abilities seem as potent, if not more so, than her mentor Luke Skywalker’s were at the same age. (And Rey has gotten more powerful without the training Luke received from Yoda, although she did get some schooling once she tracked Luke down on Ahch-To.) Yet as much as we learned about Rey’s power and passion in Johnson’s film,
The First Trailer for Guy Ritchie’s The Gentlemen Reveals a Star-Studded Crime Caper
Guy Ritchie made his name with whip-smart, kinetically filmed crime capers that all but leapt off the screen. Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels and Snatch were the two movies that American audiences fell in love with. They were hilarious and thrilling, reveling in a British underworld filled with captivating characters and occasionally impossible-to-decipher dialogue (we’re looking at you, Brad Pitt in Snatch). Ritchie went on to make ever bigger films,
New Terminator: Dark Fate Trailer Reveals Closer Look at Star-Studded Film
In Tim Miller’s Terminator: Dark Fate, there’s a new focus of homicidal obsession for a time-traveling Terminator—Dani Ramos (Natalia Reyes). She’s the person the new Terminator (Gabriel Luna) is after, yet we still don’t know the reasons why. What we do know is Dani will need help if she’s going to survive, and she’s got that in spades. Her protectors the return of Linda Hamilton’s Sarah Connor and Arnold Schwarzenegger‘s original T-800.
Harley Quinn Ditches the Joker in First Birds of Prey Trailer
“You know what a harlequin is? A harlequin’s role is to serve. It’s nothing without a master.” These are the lines that open the first trailer for Cathy Yan’s Birds of Prey, spoken by star/producer Margot Robbie as Harley Quinn, the former sociopathic sidekick to the Joker who is lighting out here on her own. The first trailer reveals that Harley and her former main squeeze, the Joker, have broken up.
Harley Quinn’s Got a Pet Hyena in New Birds of Prey Poster
You have to hand it to Harley Quinn—nobody seems to have more fun breaking bad than she does. Back in mid-September, we were enjoying the release of the first theatrical poster for Birds of Prey (And the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn). The film is the result of star and producer Margot Robbie’s gangbusters turn as Quinn in David Ayer’s 2016 antihero ensemble film Suicide Squad. Robbie was the best thing in the film,
Roger Deakins Shot 1917 to Look Like a Single Continuous Shot
Director Sam Mendes upcoming World War I epic 1917 enjoyed one considerable advantage during filming: he had the legendary cinematographer Roger Deakins at his disposal. Mendes and Deakins collaborated on one of the best Bond films of all time—2012’s Skyfall. Now they’re back with 1917, and what they’ve pulled off sounds astonishing. The ever-ambitious Mendes went for something really special on 1917; he had Deakins and his nimble camera team create the illusion that the entire film is one long continuous shot.
Critics & Fellow Filmmakers Hail Scorsese’s The Irishman as a Masterpiece
Martin Scorsese’s return to the world of crime is being hailed as a masterpiece. The legendary director’s The Irishman, which recently had its world premiere at the New York Film Festival, has been screened now by festival-goers, critics and some of Scorsese’s contemporaries. The reactions thus far are ecstatic.
Scorsese’s film is centered on Frank Sheeran (Robert De Niro) and spans much of Sheeran’s life as he looks back on his career as a driver and hitman for the mob.
Netflix Announces Stranger Things Season 4
It’s official—Stranger Things 4 is happening. Netflix made has released this brand new teaser affirming that the Duffer Brothers smash hit is returning for a fourth season. Fresh statements from Netflix and the Duffers also confirm a new multi-year deal. It appears that Stranger Things 4 will be moving beyond Hawkins, Indiana, thanks to the Byers family moving out of town at the end of season three.
Listen to the First Song From Frozen II & Prepare to Sing it Millions of Times
Not only did Disney’s global smash hit Frozen turn the sisters Elsa and Anna into household names in 2013, but it also unleashed Bobby Lopez and Kristen Anderson-Lopez’s world-beating song “Let It Go” upon the world, winning an Oscar and becoming utterly and inescapably ubiquitous. “Let It Go” was the song of 2013, and there was hardly a kid in the world who hadn’t heard it, sung it, lived it. Now Disney has released a new teaser for Frozen II,
The Mandalorian Director on the First-Ever Live-Action Star Wars Series
In a little over a month, The Mandalorian will become the first-ever live-action Star Wars series when it debuts on Disney+ on November 12. Set five years after the events in Star Wars: Episode VI – The Return of the Jedi, the new series will focus on Pedro Pascal’s titular bounty hunter. We’ll see, among other galaxy-shaping events, the rise of the First Order,
The King’s Man Trailer Reveals Origin of Super Spy Agency
Director Matthew Vaughn returns to his irreverent world of super spies and gleeful gore with The King’s Man, the third film in his breakneck trilogy that dives into the origins of the titular Kingsman spy agency. Vaughn’s first film in the series, 2014’s Kingsman: The Secret Service, was a breathless sprint of a movie, giving us a deadly Colin Firth, an over-the-top Samuel L. Jackson, and a young,
The Knights of Ren Revealed in New Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker Image
Two new, intriguing images from J.J. Abrams’ upcoming Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker have been revealed thanks to an upcoming special issue of Empire Magazine. One of the photos gives us a shot of Rey (Daisy Ridley) and Kylo Ren (Adam Driver) in a battle for a lightsaber. The second gives us a glimpse of the Knights of Ren, that mysterious group of soldiers who do the bidding of their corrupt,
Writer/Director Jill Culton on her Animated Feature Abominable
At the beginning of the new animated feature Abominable, tomboy Yi (Chloe Bennett) is grieving for her dad, who has passed away. When she finds a wounded Yeti hiding on the roof of her apartment building, she names him Everest, after where he’s from, and determines he needs help getting back to the famed mountain. She and her friends Peng (Albert Tsai) and Jin (Tenzing Norgay Trainor), travel all the way across China to get him back home.
Breaking Down Three Key Scenes With Ad Astra’s Editors
On Tuesday we published the first part of our conversation with Ad Astra editors John Axelrad and Lee Haugen. Director James Gray’s film (which he co-wrote with Ethan Gross) is the rare intimate epic. It involves some of the most breathtaking sequences in any film this year, as well as a very personal father/son story in which our hero, Brad Pitt’s astronaut Roy McBride, travels all the way to Neptune to face dear old dad Cliff (Tommy Lee Jones).
