“Halston” Costume Designer Jeriana San Juan on Channeling a Fashion Icon

Starring Ewan McGregor and produced by Ryan Murphy, the Netflix miniseries series Halston charts the rise and fall of the iconic American fashion designer, by way of the glitzy, glamorous, and cocaine-addled Studio 54-era New York. We talk to costume designer Jeriana San Juan about getting into Halston’s head to create the pivotal pieces and teaching Ewan McGregor the tricks of the trade.      

Halston’s director Daniel Minahan said recently the show “lives and dies by the clothing and the costumes.” How did you go about meeting that challenge? 

“Lovecraft Country” Production Designer Kalina Ivanov on Melding History & Fantasy

Production designer Kalina Ivanov‘s work on Misha Green‘s Lovecraft Country was one of world-building and resurrecting. The world-building—which included creating more than 162 sets, challenged Ivanov and her team to create haunted houses, a Korean hanok home to a mythical creature, and a pirate ship (to name a few). For the resurrection portion of her work, Ivanov recreated Tulsa’s Greenwood district, known as “Black Wall Street,” the site of the 1921 Tulsa race massacre,

“Star Trek: Discovery” Costume Designer Gersha Phillips on the Future of Fashion

Costume designer Gersha Phillips has been part of building the world of CBS Studios’ Star Trek: Discovery since the beginning, garnering acclaim for her futuristic and creative designs used on the show over its 3 seasons. The 3rd season in particular represented major costume challenges, as the Discovery crew gets propelled through time to almost a thousand years in the future. Phillips and her costume department were more than up to the task,

Review Roundup: “Loki” Mixes Wit, Wackiness, and the MCU’s Most Beloved Antihero

It seems as Marvel Studios is now 3-for-3 on the limited series front. WandaVision started things off as the first Marvel Studios Disney+ series, and creator Jac Schaeffer and director Matt Shakman‘s delivered a charming, beguiling, and ultimately heartbreaking mediation on love, grief, and sitcoms. (Just writing that sentence makes you appreciate what they pulled off). Then came creator Malcolm Spellman and director Kari Skogland‘s The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, 

“Mare of Easttown” & “The Underground Railroad” Hair Department Head Lawrence Davis

It’s rare enough to get an opportunity to work on one really good show in a year, but for hair department head Lawrence Davis, his handiwork can currently be seen on two of the best shows on television. One is Barry Jenkins’ achingly cinematic The Underground Railroad, his adaptation of Colson Whitehead’s Pulitzer Prize-winning novel and currently streaming on Amazon Prime Video. Davis was tasked with helping sustain the looks of characters,

Production Designer Amy Williams on the Ample Easter Eggs in “Master of None” Season 3

Director Aziz Ansari only appears briefly in the third season of Master of None, which turns its attention to the relationship between Denise (Lena Waithe) and Alicia (Naomi Ackie). At first blush, the pair’s marriage appears to have blossomed away from Brooklyn, in their new rambling, historic upstate home. Life seems as full as their charmingly eclectic abode — Denise is working on her second book, Alicia is getting into the antiques business,

“Solos” Creator David Weil on the Power of the Monologue

“It was funny, on lunch breaks, to see Ewoks running around.” That observation, from showrunner David Weil, who created the current series Solos for Amazon, might evoke a couple of different responses: “Ewoks? Running around at lunch? There has to be a good story behind that.” And: “Lunch breaks? Were there still formal ‘lunch breaks’ during lockdown?”

Both observations speak to the genesis of the show, which Weil, who previously created Hunters for Amazon,

Giancarlo Esposito on Breaking Good in “Godfather of Harlem”

Giancarlo Esposito has gravitas to spare. On the big screen, early on in his career, he appeared in a slew of Spike Lee’s seminal films, including a commanding performance as Dean Big Brother Almighty in School Daze (1988), which led to roles in Do The Right Thing (1989), Mo’ Better Blues (1990) and Malcolm X (1992). On TV, Esposito’s charisma made him a natural fit for characters on both sides of the law,

“WandaVision” Production Designer Mark Worthington on Creating Wanda’s Ever-Changing Worlds

Unlike WandaVision director Matt Shakman or series creator Jac Schaeffer, production designer Mark Worthington does not consider himself a Marvel expert. “I’m not really a big Marvel person,” he says, “but I was curious when Matt first called me about the show. He described the basic story as it being about Wanda’s grief and how the whole series is motivated by that.”

At first blush, WandaVision would seem like an almost straightforward challenge for someone with Worthington’s skillset.

“WandaVision” Director Matt Shakman on Landing His Dream Job

So many of director Matt Shakman‘s worlds collided when he took on Marvel Studios WandaVision. “I come at it from this bizarre perspective, as I’ve been a lifelong Marvel fan, a comic book fan, I’ve been in the audience for all of Marvel’s movies, but I’m also a sitcom kid, I grew up in Hollywood as an actor on sitcom sets,” Shakman says of his fortuitous role as the series director.

The Motion Picture Association’s Film Workshop Suggests Vietnam’s Industry is Now Open for Business

As part of its mission to facilitate the development of a sustainable and internationally competitive screen industry in Vietnam, the Motion Picture Association (MPA) hosted an in-person film workshop with the Vietnam Film Development Association (VFDA) at the University of Economics in Ho Chi Minh City on April 28.

The event was over-subscribed, with approximately 130 filmmakers, government officials, celebrities, and media in attendance. It was also screened online on May 12, attracting a further 240 attendees.

Justine Seymour on Outfitting the Fleeing Foxes of “The Mosquito Coast”

Clothing isn’t a primary concern for The Mosquito Coast’s misfit Fox family. Broke patriarch Allie (Justin Theroux) invents unsuccessful machines to save the world while scraping by as a handyman/asparagus farmer. His suffering, formerly wealthy wife, Margot (Melissa George), is his primary enabler. Their teenage kids, Dina (Logan Polish) and Charlie (Gabriel Bateman) tolerate their unorthodox home life to varying degrees. In Stockton, where the Foxes live mostly off the grid, the household seems about 15 years behind the times,

Meet Miss Minutes in Delightfully Weird New “Loki” Teaser

She’s got a southern accent and a cheery disposition, which both add to the delightful weirdness—and creepiness, frankly—of Miss Minutes. She’s something of an onboarding specialist for the Time Variance Authority (TVA), the place Loki (Tom Hiddleston) has been sent to at the start of Marvel’s upcoming Disney+ series Loki. Miss Minutes’ job is to catch Loki up before he stands trial for his crime. The crime in question (one of many,

Taking Flight with “The Falcon and the Winter Soldier” Creator Malcolm Spellman

The success or failure of The Falcon and the Winter Soldier laid heavily upon many folks, but perhaps none as specifically as creator and showrunner Malcolm Spellman. Spellman succeeded in delivering not only a thrilling, six-episode season with cinematic-level action but also a character study of one would-be Captain America in Anthony Mackie’s Sam Wilson. The Falcon and the Winter Soldier absorbed the narrative traumas Sam had already endured as well as the real-world traumas that Black Americans have been dealing with forever.

Cinematographer Alicia Robbins on Filming the “Grey’s Anatomy” Covid Season—During Covid

While there’s little in the way of “good luck” that can be attributed to an ongoing pandemic, there is perhaps a little good timing, in the speedy arrival of a vaccination. For cinematographer Alicia Robbins, she chalks up her arrival as one of the two people chronicling the struggles in Seattle’s fictive-yet-storied Grey Sloan Memorial Hospital, from behind a pretty active lens, to both “a stroke of good luck, and good timing.”

“I was working on For The People,

Meet Owen Wilson’s Agent Mobius in New “Loki” Clip

As the Marvel Cinematic Universe has expanded to serial form on Disney+, the cast of characters has expanded, too, and some terrific actors have entered the fray. Some of the talented folks to join the Marvel fold include the great Kathryn Hahn as the powerful witch Agatha in WandaVision, a brief but compelling cameo for Julia Louis-Dreyfus as the HYDRA agent Valentina Allegra de Fontaine The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, 

Future Critics: Abby Alben on Working at Mother & Daughter Entertainment

Abby Alben graduated from UCLA and, like so many people, was eager to find a job in the entertainment industry in Los Angeles. What she ended up finding was a career. Alben, our latest Future Critic (although really, she’s more of a Future Producer) began working at the independent production company Mother & Daughter Entertainment. Right before we were set to publish our video interview with her, she was promoted to Head of Digital Media.

Director Barry Jenkins Mixes Beauty and Brutality in “The Underground Railroad”

The Underground Railroad has been a long time coming in Barry Jenkins‘ imagination. As a kid growing up in Miami’s rough Liberty City neighborhood, the writer-director pictured literal railroad tracks running beneath the earth. Fast forward to 2014, when Jenkins thrilled to Colson Whitehead’s Pulitzer Prize-winning novel and secured adaptation rights even before he’d finished promoting his Oscar-winning Moonlight movie.

After completing If Beale Street Could Talk,

“The Falcon and The Winter Soldier” Director Kari Skogland on the Evolution of the Hero

The Falcon and the Winter Soldier director Kari Skogland had her work cut out for her. Direct roughly six hours worth of action (practically two Avengers films’ worth), introduce a brand new location to the Marvel Cinematic Universe (Madripool), brand new villains (the Flag Smashers), a brand new Captain America (Wyatt Russell’s John Walker), and continue the long-established character arcs of Sam Wilson (Anthony Mackie) and Bucky Barnes (Sebastian Stan).

Costume Designer Lizz Wolf on Outfitting The Motley Crew of Superheroes in “Jupiter’s Legacy”

Based on the graphic novels by Mark Millar and Frank Quitely, Netflix’s new superhero epic Jupiter’s Legacy is a century-spanning origin story and contemporary action tale in one. When we meet Sheldon, the Utopian (Josh Duhamel), and Grace, aka Lady Liberty (Leslie Bibb), they seem like any ordinary if well-off older rural couple, drinking wine, clad in plaid and fretting over disagreements with their grown kids.

Shel and Grace,