How Wonderstruck DP Edward Lachman Channeled The French Connection for Kids Adventure
Director Todd Haynes’ longtime cinematographer Edward Lachman renders contrasting visions of New York City in their latest collaboration Wonderstruck (opening Friday.) Based on Brian Selznick’s children’s book, the story follows two kids, separated by fifty years, who run away to Manhattan in search of a missing parent and wind up forging an unexpected bond. The twist: one story’s shot in black and white as an homage to the silent movie era, while the parallel tale draws on The French Connection as inspiration for its hyper-colorful street scenes.
7 Mainstream Hollywood Films That Spoke to me as a Young Gay Man—and Still Do
Before the 1990s, movies with LGBT themes were rare. Oh, sure, LGBT characters had always been included in movies, but not as fully human beings. We held down all of the silly sissy and homicidal maniacs roles. (If you’ve never seen the highly entertaining documentary adaptation of Vito Russo’s book The Celluloid Closet, check it out for more on that subject). Nonetheless, many iconic Hollywood films have spoken if not directly, then metaphorically,
Writer/Director Rebecca Daly on Exploring a Community on the Edge in Good Favour
For her third feature Good Favour director Rebecca Daly, working with co-writer Glenn Montgomery, left her native Ireland, where her first two films were set, for Belgium. She also centered her story more on an ensemble, in this case a remote religious community that’s upended when a young, mysterious man appears out of nowhere and joins them, rather than the more intimate stories anchored by female heroines of her first two films.
Daly’s debut feature was the thriller The Other Side of Sleep,
The VFX Magic Behind Spider-Man: Homecoming
Spider-Man: Homecoming star Tom Holland trained tirelessly to do as many of his own stunts as possible, but some of them were just too epic to do live. In stepped the team at Imageworks VFX, who just released an incredible video giving us a glimpse at the film’s incredible CGI.
Holland was charmingly awkward as the young Peter Parker, and his homemade super suit gave his character more realism. VFX Supervisor Theo Bialik described how the artists made a photorealistic version of Holland that could act out the most dangerous stunts.
The New Mutants is a Haunting Spin-Off of the X-Men
The upcoming Marvel Comics motion picture, The New Mutants, introduces a thrilling and dark take on the traditional superhero series. Similar to Deadpool and Logan, the X-Men series spin-off seems to promise a fresh twist on the well-known story of this younger generation of mutant heroes. Unlike its X-Men predecessors, the trailer carries an eerie and haunting tone throughout that leaves you on the edge of your seat in suspense.
Oscar-Nominated Jesus Camp Directors Back With Searing new Netflix Doc One of Us
Directors Heidi Ewing and Rachel Grady earned an Oscar nomination for their 2006 documentary Jesus Camp, a searing expose of children being indoctrinated at an evangelical Christian summer camp called Kids on Fire. Now, for their sixth feature length collaboration, the documentarians explore another aspect of a strict religious sect and its effect on vulnerable members in One of Us. The film, a Netflix original documentary launching globally on October 20,
Mr. Robot‘s Production Designer on Designing Disintegration in Season 3
From the outset, Mr. Robot and hacker Elliot (Rami Malek) have been barreling toward a doomsday scenario, so fans of the USA Network show, which began Season 3 Wednesday at 10/9 pm, will be happy to see that things are only getting worse. “The theme for Season 3 is ‘Disintegration,'” says production designer Anastasia White, who teamed with show creator Sam Esmail to implement his vision of a chaotic New York City beset by a power outage.
Talking With the Editor of the Cannes Palme d’Or-Winning The Square: Part II
In part 2 of our interview with Jacob Secher Schulsinger, who edited The Square (you can read part one here), this year’s winner of the top prize at Cannes, talked about some of the movie’s most provocative scenes and the changes in technology that have given him “a new range of creative possibilities.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zKDPrpJEGBY
There’s a scene where a man sitting in the audience repeatedly disrupts a presentation.
Talking With the Editor of the Cannes Palme d’Or-Winning The Square
This year’s Palme d’Or winner at the Cannes Film Festival was the sharp, provocative satire The Square, written and directed by Ruben Östlund. It is the story of a museum curator surrounded by ultra-modern art who creates personal and professional chaos with some impulsive decisions. In part one of a two-part interview, the film’s editor Jacob Secher Schulsinger talked about his work in shaping the film.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zKDPrpJEGBY
How did Ruben Östlund describe the film to you?
Why Building This one Wight was Harder Than Making 10,000 of Them
HBO has delivered the final installment of their Game of Thrones behind-the-scene series “The Game Revealed” with a fantastic look at the most consequential Wight in the show’s history. We’re talking about the one Jon and the gang risked life and limb to bring back in “Beyond the Wall,” and dumped on Cersei’s doorstep in King’s Landing.
The scene in question, during season seven’s finale “The Dragon and the Wolf,” was a piece of almost perfect television,
Goodbye Christopher Robin Production Designer on Recreating the World of Winnie-the-Pooh
Seemingly all the world knows A.A. Milne as the creator of Winnie-the-Pooh, a bear whose escapades with his coterie of animal friends in the 100 Acre Wood were made up to entertain Milne’s little son, Christopher Robin. Not always known is the fact that Milne suffered from PTSD from his time fighting in World War I, and the 100 Acre Wood is the real life Ashdown Forest, which abuts the property for which the Milne family left behind a glamorous London life,
Production Designer Serves up History in Battle of the Sexes
Oscar-nominated for her production design on American Hustle, which takes place in 1978, Judy Becker also designed The Fighter (set in 1976), Feud (1962) and Hitchcock (1960). Now she’s brought her retro touch to Battle of the Sexes, focused on Billie Jean King (Emma Stone) as she discovers her own sexuality in the run-up to her historic 1973 tennis match against self declared “male chauvinist”
The Walking Dead Super-Producer Gale Anne Hurd on Putting Women Front & Center
Few producers have been as involved in fandom as long as Gale Anne Hurd. A producer of The Terminator, Aliens and now The Walking Dead — all projects that amassed a cult following — she turned fans into collaborators by partially crowdsourcing her new documentary project Mankiller.
“With the resources that I have in terms of being able to reach out to the actors on the TV series [The Walking Dead] and friends of mine like Felicia Day and ask them to help,
The Florida Project’s Young Stars & Director Discuss Dazzling new Film
The Florida Project shows a side of Disney’s influence on the Sunshine State that tourists rarely see from inside the glittery artifice of the Magic Kingdom in Orlando. Namely, the economic reality of those struggling to make ends meet as they are forced to reside in the budget motels populating roadside areas beyond the theme park.
Amazingly, the film offers an often upbeat view of this lifestyle since filmmaker Sean Baker — who made a splash by shooting his previous effort,
Watch Artists Create Rocket & Baby Groot for Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2
Digital effects are so outrageously good at this point, we take it for granted that Andy Serkis can become an utterly realistic intelligent chimpanzee and give arguably the greatest motion capture performances of all time throughout the new Apes trilogy, or, say, watch a talking, hybrid raccoon and a sentient plant-based alien, voiced by stars Bradley Cooper and Vin Diesel respectively, and never once be taken out of the film by just how outrageous what it is we’re seeing actually is.
Director Donna Dietch on her Iconic Lesbian Romance Desert Hearts Criterion Release
Donna Deitch is a respected television director with a host of credits including her Emmy-winning, Holocaust-themed The Devil’s Arithmetic (1999). But it’s Desert Hearts, the groundbreaking lesbian romance she made 31 years ago, recently re-released and restored by Janus Films and the Criterion Collection, that allows Deitch to remember and also to look ahead.
“There have been so many screenings, so much press. It’s a strange but wonderful thing,” she says.
Director Sean Baker on The Florida Project‘s Kids on the Fringe
“If you like ‘The Little Rascals,’ you’re going to like The Florida Project.” That’s director Sean Baker, talking about his 21st century riff on the Depression-era comedy shorts featuring adorable mischief-maker George “Spanky” McFarland and his raucous gang.
Flash forward 85 years and Baker updates the kids-at-play theme, only this time the pint-sized heroes find their adventures amid the cheap motels located outside of Disney World. Once favored by tourists,
The 55th Annual New York Film Festival Begins Today
The New York Film Festival, which runs from September 28 to October 15, is a funny bird. Housed in that Temple of Culture, Lincoln Center, the 55th edition of the festival is showing as many movies in its Robert Mitchum Retrospective as it is in the Main Slate, its showcase for the annual crop of prestigious indies (25 each to be exact). The festival doesn’t try to compete with industry heavyweights like Cannes, Sundance and Toronto.
Artist & Populist Both: HBO’s Spielberg Goes Deep on a Living Hollywood Legend
Is Steven Spielberg a populist or an artist? Like his exemplar, the iconic director Alfred Hitchcock, critics have often pointed to Spielberg’s fame to detract from or overlook his artistic accomplishments. At what many consider the height of Spielberg’s career in the 1970s and 80s, the director was one of the best-known filmmakers in the world, as well as one of the highest-grossing, with movies like Jaws, E.T., and Raiders of the Lost Ark smashing box office records.
Meet the Courageous Amputee Who Stunt Doubles Paul Rudd on Ant-Man and the Wasp
Stunt performer Brett Smrz is living proof that one of the film industry’s most difficult jobs attracts the very best people. When Smrz was 16, he lost his lower left leg in a trampoline accident. Yet today, Smrz is a professional stunt driver and one of two of Paul Rudd’s Ant-Man stunt doubles. When you watch the upcoming Ant-Man and the Wasp, you’ll be seeing the work of one of Hollywood’s most courageous stunt performers.
