Third Annual Middleburg Film Festival Draws Deep Roster of Talent
In it's third year, the Middleburg Film Festival is becoming a vibrant late festival season stop for filmmakers and film enthusiasts alike. Middleburg is in Virginia's horse country, and its beauty can hardly be improved upon in late October, but as much as a draw as the setting is, the festival itself, created by BET co-founder and Sundance Institute member Sheila Johnson and ably directed by Emmy and Peabody award-winning filmmaker Susan Koch, is drawing people for it's discerning slate and roster of talent.
The Incredible Link Between Helena Bonham Carter & Suffragette Villain
In Sarah Gavron’s film Suffragette, about the fight to gain votes for women in Edwardian England, the Prime Minister, Lord Herbert Asquith, opposes women’s suffrage and, on this issue, falls squarely on the wrong side of history. When it came time to cast the film, which stars Carey Mulligan, Gavron had Helena Bonham Carter at the top of her wish list to play one of the Suffragettes.
Middleburg Film Festival: Miss You Already Director Catherine Hardwicke
Director Catherine Hardwicke is well into her third successful career. The former architect was one of the most ambitious, consistently excellent production designers in Hollywood, working on gorgeous, genre-defying projects like Three Kings for David O. Russell and Vanilla Sky for Cameron Crowe. She launched her directing career with the excellent Thirteen, which she co-wrote, about a young girl’s relationship with her mother as she begins experimenting with drugs,
Ice Age & Rio Director Carlos Saldanha Shares Wisdom at Tokyo International Film Festival
Renowned film director Carlos Saldanha (Ice Age, Robots, Ice Age: The Meltdown, Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs, RIO, RIO 2) passed on his passion and process to the next generation filmmakers.
Suffragette Director Sarah Gavron Puts Struggle on Screen
Carey Mulligan stars alongside Helena Bonham Carter and Meryl Streep in Sarah Gavron’s moving drama about the turning point of the women’s suffrage movement. Suffragette begins in 1912 London and follows a group of women from different walks of life who come together as activists and engage in acts of civil disobedience to draw attention to their cause: gaining the vote for women. We talk to Gavron about the process of bringing this story to the big screen for the first time.
Trailer for Pride + Prejudice + Zombies, Oh My
“A woman must have a thorough knowledge of singing, dancing and the art of war.”
When you think of Jane Austen you think of the landed English gentry of the 19th century, women dancing in long Empire-waisted dresses gossiping and plotting, and English class. If we were to play a word association game what would you say if we said “Pride and Prejudice” – you might say Mr. Darcy, Laurence Olivier, Colin Firth,
Watch Jennifer Lawrence Bring the Joy in Latest Collaboration With David O. Russell
Director David O. Russell and star Jennifer Lawrence are carving out one of the most interesting collaborations in the film business. When Lawrence isn’t leading a righteous revolution as Katniss Everdeen in The Hunger Games or trying to start a mutant revolution as Mystique in X-Men, she’s sought out the juicy, complex, human roles offered by Russell. She won her Academy Award for her earthy performance in Russell's
Back to the Future Day & Films That Got the Future Right
As we’re sure you’re aware, today, Wednesday October 21, 2015, is the very day in the future that Marty McFly (Michael J. Fox) traveled to in Back to the Future Part II. At the time of filming, 2015 was more than a quarter-century away, yet the vision of the future writer/director Robert Zemeckis and screenwriter Bob Gale envisioned hasn’t turned out to be total bunk, despite Zemeckis’s misgivings.
"I always hated —
IMAX Reveals Star Wars: The Force Awakens Poster + Screening Info
We knew that this Monday and Tuesday would be all about Star Wars: The Force Awakens. You've seen the new poster, you've watched the new trailer (and watched, and watched) and now, you're looking at IMAX's very own The Force Awakens art made exclusively for those who watch the film in its biggest, most astounding version—on IMAX screens. Fans should know that J.J.
There is Only Fast and Slow in Thrilling new Race Trailer
“Out there, there ain’t no black and white, there’s only fast and slow. Nothing matters, not color, not money, not even hate. For those 10 seconds you are completely – free,” says Jesse Owens (Stephan James), the subject of Stephen Hopkins' biopic Race. James was memorable as the young John Lewis in Selma. Here, playing another transformative 20th century figure, he'll be unforgettable.
On Tuesday Focus Features released a 15-second teaser trailer –
Writer/Director James Vanderbilt on Turning Recent History Into Truth
In Truth, opening Friday, writer and first time director James Vanderbilt, who wrote, among other scripts, the screenplay for Zodiac, has taken a tough, hard, look at the behind-the-scenes story of the CBS 60 Minutes II news staff that reported on President George W. Bush’s late 60’s and early 70’s National Guard duty in the run up to his re-election in 2004. It’s a compelling procedural which dramatizes the personal and professional costs of news reporting in the already fast paced TV news cycle at the historical moment when Internet blogging entered the political and cultural arena.
Director Cary Fukunaga on Filming the Haunting Beasts of No Nation
Although he's probably best known for directing the first season of True Detective, Cary Fukunaga is most likely to be found making movies on the front lines of contemporary conflicts. The California-bred Japanese-American filmmaker's first feature, Sin Nombre, chronicled the quest of Central American immigrants to reach the United States. His latest is Beasts of No Nation, set during a civil war in an unnamed West African country,
Watch Beasts of No Nation‘s Final, Gut-Wrenching Trailer
Netflix has released the final Beasts of No Nation trailer, and it’s as riveting as you’d expect a Cary Fukunaga directed, Idris Elba lead film would be. Based on the book by Uzodinma Iweala, the story centers on Agu (Abraham Attah), a child who becomes a soldier under the command of the beguiling, brutal Commandant (Idris Elba). Beasts of No Nation premiered at Venice, then went on to play in Telluride and Toronto,
The Coen Brothers Return to Comedy With Hail, Caesar!
Joel and Ethan Coen are probably best known for their dark, twisting crime dramas like the impeccable western No Country For Old Men and their brilliant, snowbound Fargo. But as many fans know, and as the enduring legacies of The Big Lebowski and O Brother Where Art Thou? attests, they excel at comedy, too. Particularly comedy with a bit of screwball menace baked in,
NYFF: In Where to Invade Next Michael Moore Picks Flowers, Not Weeds
After a six year hiatus, documentary filmmaker Michael Moore is back with a kind of travel journal – Where to Invade Next. Moore’s mission was to find the best ideas from each country he visited, claim them as his own, and bring them home to America to help solve some of our biggest problems. The film is not about pointing finger or placing certain nations on a pedestal – its purpose is to serve as idea factory and catalyst for change.
Danny Boyle, Aaron Sorkin & Walter Isaacson Talk Steve Jobs at NYFF
This past weekend we attended a panel discussion of Steve Jobs at the 53rd New York Film Festival (NYFF). Steve Jobs, like The Social Network (about Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg), is a masterfully crafted story of one of the most influential men of the last fifty years. The film, directed by Academy Award winner Danny Boyle, written by Academy Award winner Aaron Sorkin (who also wrote the The
Here’s How They Created the Ingenious Structure of Steve Jobs
One of the difficulties of making a film about historical figures or events can be deciding how to remain faithful to the subject but still tell a good story. Real life doesn’t always follow a neat narrative arc. In fact it almost never does. Danny Boyle’s latest film Steve Jobs is an interesting example of a way to approach that predicament.
One way the film avoids the dangers of becoming a plodding account of history is that it’s only loosely based on real events: “We’re deeply indebted to Walter Isaacson’s [biography of Jobs] and the depth of his research,
The Explosive New The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 2 Trailer
Lionsgate is releasing trailers and posters in a furious run-up to the premiere of The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 2 on November 20. Director Francis Lawrence's final dash through the districts and towards the Capitol is one of the most eagerly anticipated films of the fall, and the latest trailer is surely the most explosive yet.
"He turns the best of us against each other" Katniss says of President Snow (Donald Sutherland) in a voice over.
HBO’s New Vinyl Trailer is Fast, Dirty, and Smashes You Over the Head
Back in September we interviewed Boardwalk Empire’s production designer Bill Groom, who was nominated for his fourth Emmy in a row for Terrence Winter’s prohibition era gangland drama. When we spoke, Groom was hard at work on HBO’s and Winter’s next big project, Vinyl, starring Boardwalk Empire alum Bobby Canavale as Richie Finestra, a hard charging music executive in 1970’s New York.
Raging Storm Sets Arlo on his Path in New The Good Dinosaur Trailer
The underlying conceit in The Good Dinosaur is that the asteroid that struck the earth and killed the dinosaurs missed, meaning dinosaurs and humans would walk the earth together. When the young Aapotosaurs Arlo (voiced by Raymond Ochoa) is separated from his father by a wicked storm, he’s united with a young human named Spot (voiced by Jack Bright), who quickly becomes his best friend. This much we already knew,
