Celebrating Reel Women: Behind the Scenes
Women are responsible for some of the most powerful, thrilling and poignant films in the canon. From Moonlight to Mad Max: Fury Road, women are making their impact felt in all aspects of the filmmaking process, and today we look at their crucial contributions in a few specific roles, including as editors, costume designers, sound editors and production designers.
Take Blackfish, the horrifying story of whales kept in captivity,
SXSW 2017: Bill Pullman & Director Jared Moshe on the Making of The Ballad of Lefty Brown
The Ballad of Lefty Brown was an audience favorite at SXSW for its classic western style and fresh storytelling. Bill Pullman (Independence Day) played the title role, but it was a character that diverged from the leading man parts that he is famous for. As the sidekick to Senator Johnson (Peter Fonda) in 1889 Montana, Lefty learns a difficult lesson when the brutal west doesn’t always honor honesty and loyalty as he’s come to believe it would.
SXSW2017: Austin Production La Barracuda Has Real Bite
Shot and filmed in Austin by local filmmakers Jason Cortlund and Julia Halperin, La Barracuda was a hometown darling at SXSW. The suspense drama stars Texas native Allison Tolman (Fargo) as Merle, the tone-deaf daughter of a country music legend. When a mysterious woman appears and introduces herself as Merle’s half sister, Sinaloa (Sophie Reid), tensions flare. Everyone in the family has their suspicions of her true intentions that range from selfish to sinister.
SXSW 2017: Talking with The Transfiguration Filmmakers About the Vampire Thriller
The Transfiguration is a gritty urban vampire story that ditches the typical startling horror vibe of monster movies for the shock of a realistic bloodthirsty killer. Adding to the film’s discomfort is the innocence and confusion of the quiet teenage predator. Raised by his older brother, Milo (Eric Ruffin) is lonely and doesn’t seem to be able to comprehend the consequences of his actions. When fellow angst ridden teen Sophie (Chloe Levine) takes an interest in him,
Director Olivier Assayas on Tailoring Personal Shopper for Kristen Stewart
French director Olivier Assayas may have tailored Personal Shopper to its star, Kristen Stewart, but Assayas doesn’t take credit for Stewart’s career boom in acclaimed indies like Kelly Reichardt’s Certain Women and in more mainstream fare such as Woody Allen’s Cafe Society and Ang Lee’s Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk, all released in 2016.
“I was the right person at the right time,”
Season 7 of Game of Thrones Will Feature Biggest Dragons Yet
Watching Dany’s dragons grow up has been one of the most heartwarming aspects of Game of Thrones. Really, they’re the only children who seem to have had it pretty good. Okay, well not that good—being chained up in a dungeon isn’t exactly ace parenting. But, we’ve watched them go from adorable babies in season one to touchy, tetchy adolescents through season four. By the ninth episode of season five,
New American Gods Trailer Brings Neil Gaiman’s Iconic Novel to Life
Author Neil Gaiman is a legitimate living legend. He’s left a huge mark in the realms of short fiction, novels, comic books and graphic novels, with legitimate masterpieces to his name. His The Sandman series, for instance, is one of the great comic book series of the last 40-years, becoming just one of five graphic novels to make Entertainment Weekly’s “100 best reads from 1983 to 2008.” It ranked at 46.
SXSW 2017: Pixar’s LOU Will Bring You to Tears in Six Minutes
Pixar took the adorable upcoming animated short LOU to SXSW. Because it is a Pixar film, it is of course at the forefront of technology and creativity and is unreasonably emotional for a cartoon. The story offers an imaginative solution to the very serious issue of playground bullying and we dare you not to cry by the end of the six minutes. When J.J. begins to steal his classmates’ toys at recess, the lost and found box bands together to come to the rescue.
How the Girlfriends’ Guide to Divorce Costume Designer Keeps the Fashions Coming
Cynthia Summers knows how to make women look their best. She’s crafted the looks for trendy shows including UnREAL, The L Word, and now Girlfriends’ Guide to Divorce. The Bravo show just wrapped up season three and is already slated to air two more thanks to fan fervor. Audiences immediately fell in love with the show’s women who are seemingly able to do it all while wearing four-inch heels.
Director Danny Boyle Talks T2 Trainspotting
There’s no lack of sex, drugs and rock ‘n’roll in T2 Trainspotting. The long-awaited sequel to director Danny Boyle’s darkly comic and stylized ode to youthful anarchy and heroin addiction that shook the cinematic landscape in 1996 lands in U.S. theaters on Friday. The Scottish gang of four as well as the actors who brought them to life are all back – Ewan McGregor’s scampish Rent Boy, Jonny Lee Miller as con man Sick Boy,
Behind the Sets of Saturday Night Live with Veteran Designer Eugene Lee
78-year old Eugene Lee skipped out on his MFA from Yale (they later awarded him the degree) to design the Tony award winning set for Candide on Broadway. Lee humbly recalls that his sets caught the eye of “some guy” from NBC who requested a meeting. “You know, I thought, ‘Well, I don’t know anything about television, but what’s the harm?’” Lee said. “So I made the appointment, went to New York, knocked on the door.
Check out the Nasty Alien in This Life “Restricted” Trailer
Intended for restricted audiences, the new trailer for Sony’s Life isn’t holding back. Veering away from the film’s first official trailer, this one is decidedly less optimistic, and much more terror-inducing, speaking to screenwriters Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick's love of Ridley Scott's Alien.
Starring Ryan Reynolds (Deadpool, Green Lantern), Jake Gyllenhaal (Donnie Darko,
SXSW 2017: The Strange Ones Directors Play With Your Perceptions
Christopher Radcliff and Lauren Wolkstein’s feature-length debut The Strange Ones is a slow burning, twisted coming-of-age story co-starring Alex Pettyfer and 14 year old James Freedson-Jackson, who won SXSW’s Special Jury Prize for breakthrough performance. He’s immensely deserving of the accolade, delivering a performance of almost unnerving poise for a 14-year-old actor. It had begun its life as a short six years ago.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K86nhhNV058
The feature film opens with two brothers on the run.
The Music of the Emotional First Season of This is Us
This is Us was this year’s break out show that everyone can’t stop crying about. The first season came to its heart-wrenching conclusion last night, but fans didn’t witness the death of Jack Pearson (Milo Ventimiglia) as previous episodes hinted they might. What could be an overly saccharin family melodrama becomes a tightly woven emotional power punch thanks to sincere performances and a thoughtful score by Siddhartha Khosla. Founder of the band Goldspot,
Rogue One Director Gareth Edwards on Getting Away With That Ending
If you haven’t seen Rogue One: A Star Wars Story by now, well, we hope your return from the International Space Station is a safe one. We’re about to talk about the film’s ending, so please, look away.
Okay, for the rest of us, SlashFilm has an interview with Rogue One’s director, Gareth Edwards, in which he discusses the film’s literally explosive ending.
Pixar Unveils Trailer for Upcoming Feature Coco
Amidst a climate where sequels and revivals are all at once safe, enjoyable and profitable, Pixar is getting original, in more ways than one.
Disney released the film’s first delightfully-vibrant teaser trailer Wednesday. Coco follows the story of Miguel (newcomer Anthony Gonzalez), a 12-year-old boy living in a Mexican village, who grows up in a family of shoemakers but yearns to be a musician. He discovers a hidden link between himself and his favorite late singer,
Warner Bros. Eyeing The Matrix Reboot
Here’s the pitch: your life and indeed the entire world around you is a simulation. All of the bad, awful stuff (and the good, even great stuff) that you experience is simulated, while your actual body is encased (entombed, really) in a pod, and your actual life is about nothing more than providing energy to a vast, brutal regime. This, of course, is The Matrix, which became one of the most original films of a generation (and is now often bandied about as having been a possible documentary,
SXSW 2017: Mark Weber’s Genre-Defying Stunner Flesh and Blood
In his label-defying fourth film as director, actor/writer/director Mark Weber (Green Room, Scott Pilgrim vs. The World) has delivered a subtly powerful shot to the heart with Flesh and Blood. Calling the film “reality cinema,” Weber has turned the camera on his mother, Cheri Honkala, his half-brother Guillermo Santos, and himself, turning his unconventional upbringing and tight-knit, highly atypical family into a moving portrait of a uniquely American story. In fact,
SXSW 2017: Karen Skloss on her Mind-Bending Prom Thriller The Honor Farm
Prom. For some kids, it’s the night of their young lives. For most everybody else, it’s kind of a let down, a bunch of hype for what turns out to be a fairly forgettable dance, rented tuxedos and dresses you’ll never wear again, and the realization that riding around in the back of a limo can be a nauseous affair. For the characters in writer/director Karen Skloss’s The Honor Farm, however, prom is the beginning to a trippy,
Fans Rejoice Over Doctor Who Season 10 Trailer
For Doctor Who fans, the trailer for season 10’s premiere is like manna from outer space. One of the most popular sci-fi shows ever created, with more than 53 years of Doctor Who absurdity and delight, Doctor Who is beloved by generations of fans. For the new season, BBC teases the new villains and the far-out adventures awaiting the good doctor, played by the beloved Peter Capaldi, who reprises his role and is joined by a host of new companions.
