Interview

Screenwriter

Best of 2024: “Inside Out 2” Writer Meg LeFauve on the Power of Adolescent Anxiety

*This interview was selected by measures having nothing to do with science as one of our standouts from 2024. Inside Out 2 co-writer Meg LeFavue, along with scribe Dave Holstein, managed to deliver an immensely satisfying, often surprising sequel to one of the most unique animated films in Pixar’s long, rich history.

Inside Out earned its co-writer Meg LeFauve a Best Screenplay Oscar nomination en route to becoming 2015’s seventh-highest-grossing movie.

By Hugh Hart  |  December 24, 2024

Interview

Producer

Oscar-Nominated “Elvis” Producer Schuyler Weiss on What’s Right About Korea’s Filmmaking Industry

Schuyler Weiss is not long back to his home on Australia’s Gold Coast and so he is still mulling over the takeaways from his trip to the 29th Busan International Film Festival when he sits down to talk. The experience certainly sounds like an eye-opener.

The Oscar-nominated producer of Baz Luhrmann’s Elvis was making his first visit to South Korea for the event – which bills itself as Asia’s largest film festival and which ran from October 2-11.

By Mathew Scott  |  December 24, 2024

Interview

Production Designer

Best of 2024: How “The Penguin” Production Designer Kalina Ivanov Helped Bring Gotham Back to New York City

*This interview was selected by measures having nothing to do with science as one of our standouts from 2024. The creation of Gotham for HBO’s shockingly good series The Penguin fell, in large part, to ace production designer Kalina Ivanov. Here’s how she pulled it off.

Production designer Kalina Ivanov was destined to be part of the HBO spin-off series The Penguin from creator Lauren LeFranc,

By Daron James  |  December 23, 2024

Interview

Producer

From “Kill Bill” to Martin Scorsese to “Shōgun”: Producer Eriko Miyagawa on Her Hero’s Journey

A lucky break followed by a realization that the road ahead still won’t be a smooth march toward success is a pattern recognizable by many in the entertainment industry and beyond. The fortuitous happenstance for Eriko Miyagawa came in the form of an email saying that Quentin Tarantino was shooting in Beijing and looking for someone fluent in English and Japanese. This felt like an emphatically good turn of fortune for the smart, ambitious Miyawaga.

By Gavin Blair  |  December 23, 2024
Fixing Our Laser Eyes on the “Superman” Trailer Easter Eggs, Character Glimpses, and Krypto

The first trailer for James Gunn’s Superman soared into view yesterday, with Superman himself, played by David Corenswet, starting the trailer in a nose-dive into the arctic ice. It was an intriguing way for Gunn to re-introduce the Man of Steel, banged up and clearly in pain (when Superman is having trouble breathing, you know things are serious), in need of assistance from his super-pup, Krypto. While there’s little doubt that Krypto will be a major star,

By The Credits  |  December 20, 2024
“Superman” Reborn: The First Trailer for James Gunn’s Reboot Soars

James Gunn’s Superman has taken flight.

The first trailer for Gunn’s rebooted and reborn Man of Steel marks the official start of the feature film era for a newly invigorated DC Studios. However, the trailer opens with David Corenswet’s Superman in rough shape, bleeding in the snow near the Fortress of Solitude. We’re then inside the offices of The Daily Planet, getting our first glimpse of Rachel Brosnahan’s indispensable,

By The Credits  |  December 19, 2024
The First “Superman” Teaser Reveals James Gunn’s Epic Man of Steel Reboot

The first teaser for James Gunn’s Superman has arrived, giving us a glimpse of Gunn’s vision for a rebooted, reborn Man of Steel. David Corenswet stars as the legendary Kryptonian who crashlanded on Earth, with Gunn eschewing the usual demands of an origin story (showing us Superman’s arrival and his rise to becoming a protector of all things good) and instead dropping us into a world in which Superman already exists. Yet this first glimpse does give us the sense that people are still in awe of Superman,

By The Credits  |  December 18, 2024
“Spider-Man: Beyond the Spider-Verse” Snags Directors Justin K. Thompson & Bob Persichetti

The upcoming third film in the Spider-Verse franchise has snagged its directors.

Justin K. Thompson and Bob Persichetti will helm Spider-Man: Beyond the Spider-Verse for Sony. They’re longtime alums of the studio’s groundbreaking animated franchise, starting with the showstopping first film, 2018’s Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, which introduced Miles Morales (Shameik Moore), Brooklyn’s very own Spider-Man, into Sony’s larger Spider-Man Universe. Persichetti was part of the directing trio for Into the Spider-Verse and was an executive producer on Across the Spider-Verse

By The Credits  |  December 18, 2024
“Wicked: Part Two” Gets Official New Title Ahead of 2025 Release

The title for the sequel to director Jon M. Chu’s critical and commercial smash hit Wicked is no longer Wicked: Part Two. Universal announced yesterday that the second half of the two-parter is now called Wicked: For Good. 

The change is a nod toward a highly anticipated upcoming duet between the movie’s two stars, Cynthia Erivo’s Elphaba and Ariana Grande’s Glinda, in a tune that references their increasingly complex relationship.

By The Credits  |  December 17, 2024
“The White Lotus” Season 3 Trailer Unveils a Starry Cast on a Dark Path in Thailand

The first trailer for The White Lotus season 3 has arrived, with the season set in Thailand, where the titular global resort chain offers its guests the kind of peace they so sorely lack in their daily lives. Mike White’s beloved satire returns to HBO this February, with one returning cast member from the first season (Natasha Rothwell) and another killer ensemble.

The new season’s guests include a girl’s trip trio (Leslie Bibb as Kate,

By The Credits  |  December 16, 2024
James Gunn’s “Superman” Takes Flight With First Motion Poster

Talk about soaring into Monday with a head full of perfectly coifed hair. The first poster, but static and motion, for James Gunn’s Superman is here. David Corenswet is front and center as the Man of Steel, with the poster flying ahead of the trailer, which is reportedly going to bow this week. There is zero doubt that Superman will be one of the biggest, if not the biggest,

By The Credits  |  December 16, 2024

Interview

Cinematographer

“Dune: Prophecy” Cinematographer Pierre Gill Captures the Many Moving Pieces of a Dangerous Game

A frequent collaborator with director Denis Villeneuve, award-winning cinematographer Pierre Gill respects the filmmaker’s legacy but also relishes being able to play in the same sandbox and create his own vision with Dune: Prophecy.

A prequel to Villeneuve’s Dune films, Gill maintains the epic scope of the universe in the three episodes he directedincluding the pilot and finale of the acclaimed six-episode HBO show,

By Simon Thompson  |  December 16, 2024
“Barbie” Sequel in Early Stages While Greta Gerwig and Noah Baumbach Hone Story Idea

Once Barbie became a cultural and box office colossus, cementing writer/director Greta Gerwig and producer/star Margot Robbie as two of the most sought-after talents in Hollywood, the most obvious question glowed in pink and the largest font possible—when would we hear about a sequel in the works?

While we know there will be no Oppenheimer 2 from Christopher Nolan, a Barbie 2 would need no Barbenheimer effect to command the attention of the global movie audience—heck, 

By The Credits  |  December 16, 2024

Interview

Editor

“Dune: Prophecy” Editors Amelia Allwarden and Anna Hauger on Weaving the Tapestry of Sisterhood’s Growing Power

No strangers to collaborating on world-building, editors Amelia Allwarden and Anna Hauger relished the chance to come together to help shape Dune: Prophecy.

The Westworld alums shaped the season finale together, as well as overseeing their own episodes of the HBO magisterial new series that extends the world of Dune set into motion by director Denis Villeneuve’s critically acclaimed films. Set long before Paul Atreides (Timothée Chalamet) was rising to power in the desert sands of Arrakis,

By Simon Thompson  |  December 13, 2024

Interview

Cinematographer

“Nickel Boys” Cinematographer Jomo Fray Takes a New Angle on a Difficult Past

“Every aspect of the visual language that we built always came from being rooted in the script,” cinematographer Jomo Fray tells The Credits about director RaMell Ross’s moving film Nickel Boys.

Adapted from Colson Whitehead’s Pulitzer-winning novel of the same name, the screenplay, co-written by Ross and Joslyn Barnes, follows the blooming friendship between two black teenagers – Elwood and Turner – as they’re forced to attend a reform school in the Jim Crow South during the Civil Rights Movement.

By Daron James  |  December 12, 2024

Interview

Cinematographer

Feral Frame: How “Nightbitch” Cinematographer Brandon Trost Helped Amy Adams Unleash Her Inner Beast

In Nightbitch, six-time Oscar nominee Amy Adams hurls herself into dog mode, slurping meat from a bowl, pawing through the dirt in her backyard, and running with a pack of neighborhood canines in feral protest against the stultifying bonds of motherhood. Cinematographer Brandon Trost, teaming for the third time with writer-director Marielle Heller after Diary of a Teenage Girl and Can You Ever Forgive Me?,

By Hugh Hart  |  December 12, 2024

Interview

Director

The Shared DNA Between Writer/Director Jean de Meuron’s “Edge of Space” and “Top Gun: Maverick”

A visually lavish and emotionally captivating short film about the early days of manned spaceflight exploration, writer/director/producer Jean de Meuron’s directorial debut, Edge of Space, is set in 1961. The 18-minute film follows U.S. Air Force test pilot Glen Ford (played by the Sniper film series’ Chad Michael Collins), who risks it all for a suborbital test flight in the X-15 hypersonic rocket-powered aircraft. The film provides a refreshing glimpse into the decade leading to the Apollo missions,

By Su Fang Tham  |  December 11, 2024

Interview

Cinematographer

“Maria” Cinematographer Ed Lachman on Painting Angelina Jolie’s Mythic Opera Legend With Light

Passionate Greek-American soprano Maria Callas was the world’s premier opera star when she was struck with various ailments that limited her capacity to sing. She led a life rivaling any opera drama, including a tumultuous relationship with Aristotle Onassis and explosive interactions with collaborators and fans that made her increasingly controversial.  She said, “I will always be as difficult as necessary to achieve the best.”

Director Pablo Larraín chose to highlight Callas in his new film Maria.

By Leslie Combemale  |  December 11, 2024
Jeremy Allen White Joining “The Mandalorian & Grogu” Movie as Iconic Villain’s Son

Emmy-winning actor and overall hot commodity Jeremy Allen White is taking a voyage to a galaxy far, far away.

The Bear star is set to appear in The Mandalorian & Grogu, directed by Jon Favreau, as Jabba the Hutt’s son Rotta the Hutt. Deadline confirms the casting and says it’s a meaty role (pun intended).

Considering Jabba doesn’t have any human offspring that have been mentioned,

By The Credits  |  December 10, 2024
“28 Years Later” Trailer Releases Hell in Director Danny Boyle’s Long-Awaited Zombie Thriller Sequel

The first trailer for director Danny Boyle’s 28 Years Later has arrived, giving us a visceral glimpse at Boyle’s first time at the helm of the franchise since his nervy 2002 original 28 Days Later reanimated the zombie genre, introducing a version of the undead that was quicker, more decisive, and far more rageful.

The trailer opens with a group of small kids watching Teletubbies on the TV,

By The Credits  |  December 10, 2024