Editor Joe Walker on Cutting the Brilliant Sicario
Joe Walker’s reputation has soared in recent years, from his work with director Michael Mann on the cyber thriller Blackhat (2014), and from his long collaboration with director Steve McQueen on McQueen’s loose trilogy of films dealing with suffering: Hunger (2008), Shame (2011), and 12 Years A Slave (2013), for which Walker received his first Oscar nomination for Best Editing.
Awesome New Star Wars: The Force Awakens Poster, Plus Final Trailer Tomorrow
We were prepared for the news about the new Star Wars: The Force Awakens trailer coming tomorrow, but this new poster was a welcome surprise. We can identify every character depicted on the poster save one—who’s the goggle wearing alien beneath Rey’s left hand?
The poster was part of Lucasfilm’s announcement that the trailer for The Force Awakens will debut on Monday Night Football tomorrow, October 19,
Emma Donoghue on Adapting Her Novel Room for the Big Screen
It’s still pretty rare — and usually unadvisable — for a novelist to adapt his/her book for the movie version. Sure, there have been notable exceptions over the years: Carrie Fisher did it for Postcards from the Edge and John Irving won an Oscar for The Cider House Rules, his first and only screenplay. But lately more novelists are defying convention and tackling the screen versions of their hit books.
Watch Kathleen Kennedy Promise Female Director for Star Wars
Lucasfilm President Kathleen Kennedy, one of the driving forces behind Star Wars: The Force Awakens, recently spoke at Fortune Magazine’s Powerful Women Summit. Among the topics she touched upon was how the majority of the people on her Star Wars executive team and in her story group are women. She also pointed out that of the two films already cast,
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.
New The Last Witch Hunter Clip Emphasizes Sound Design
Vin Diesel’s voice alone qualifies as a marvel of sound design. The man’s deep, gravely timber is so absurdly manly that moviegoers about lost their minds when it was paired with the sentient tree-creature Groot in Guardians of the Galaxy. Diesel says all of five words in the movie, yet his work helped turn Groot into one of the most beloved sci-fi brutes since Chewbacca.
From the Fast &
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,
Race Chases the Man Who Changed History in 10.3 Seconds
Jesse Owens was already a legend before he took the world stage at the 1936 Olympics. A year prior he set three world records and tied another at the 1935 Big Ten track meet—in less than an hour. It was, and still is, "the greatest 45 minutes ever in sports."
Owens was the greatest track and field athlete alive, specializing in sprints, hurdles and long jumps. When he flew to Berlin to participate in the 1936 Olympics,
The 10 Best Star Wars Sound Effects (& Where They Come From)
The StarWars.com editorial staff like to huddle to discuss and debate their favorite elements of the Star Wars franchise, ranking the best starfighters, best bounty hunters and best Yoda quotes, to name just a few.
Their most recent topic of debate speaks to the importance of post production, and specifically, how the filmmakers involved in sound design make a huge impact on how a viewer relates to the film.
Composer Tom Holkenborg (Junkie XL) on Black Mass
Dutch composer Tom Holkenborg, also known as Junkie XL, is one of the most prolific film composers working today, and one of the most impressively wide-ranging. He recently scored George Miller's wildly imaginative Mad Max: Fury Road, and will be the man behind the mixer on the highly anticipated films Deadpool and Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice. His most recent effort was Scott Cooper's gritty,
Check out This Awesome Animated X-Files Teaser
Mulder, Scully, the Smoking Man—they're all here in this very cool animated teaser for The X-Files six-episode event series. The spot aired during last night's episode of Gotham, and it brilliantly teases the two-night season premiere by rendering in beautifully stylized animation a lot of what we loved about the original show. (If you're interested in why they chose this specific color palette for the animation,
Polite Society Meets the Undead in Pride and Prejudice and Zombies Trailer
Opening with a tinkling piano and images of England’s landed gentry doing their thing (horseback riding, chastely dancing, etc.), Pride and Prejudice and Zombies appears perfectly pleasant, as if the title didn't include the last conjunction and noun and what you were actually watching was the opening title sequence to Downton Abbey. But the final conjunction and noun are the film's reason for existing, as this is mashup of Jane Austen’s beloved novel with horror’s hottest villains (sorry,
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,
Watch How Filmmakers Use Color to Elicit Specific Emotions
Filmmakers are expert emotional manipulators. Nearly every decision made during the production of a film, from wardrobe to lighting to set design, is done to convey, and manipulate, emotions. The same is true during post production, when editors, sound designers and color graders shape the film into it’s final, and hopefully most moving, iteration.
When it comes to color grading, it’s probably the least understood and most subtlety effective means of making an audience feel a certain way.
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.
Batman v Superman: Check Out Lex Luthor’s New Operating System
Lex Luthor Jr. is really implementing an aggressive media campaign lately. First, there was the fawning profile of the young genius in Fortune Magazine, and now there’s this—LexCorp released an ad announcing their brand new “LexOS…the world’s most private and secure operating system.” The ad is hilariously spot-on, from the smoky, so-earnest-it’s-weirdly-threatening voiceover to the geometric nonsense of the visuals, Warner Bros. is crushing the tech company parodies in these last two viral marketing promos for Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice.
How Joseph Gordon-Levitt Followed Impossible Footsteps in The Walk
When Natalie Portman and Mila Kunis prepared for their performances in the 2010 psychological thriller Black Swan, they trained intensely to take on the dual roles of battling ballerinas. Every movement during their performances had to be meticulously choreographed. One misstep could’ve ruined their entire routine.
The same could be said for Joseph Gordon-Levitt’s latest performance, which he too had to meticulously prepare his body for.
NYFF: Michael Fassbender, Kate Winslet & More Talk Steve Jobs
Last Saturday we attended the New York Film Festival’s (NYFF) powerful panel discussion on and screening of Steve Job in anticipation of the film’s wide release on October 23. Earlier today, as part of our coverage of the Festival, we focused on the insights of screenwriter Aaron Sorkin, director Danny Boyle and author Walter Isaacson.
Today we are turning to the actors – their thoughts in their words.
