Sick Ride: A Look at Furious 7‘s Supercharged Cars
“Cars are like a cowboy’s horse or a Samurai’s sword. They are an extension of our heroes and representative of their personalities," says Furious 7 screenwriter Chris Morgan. "We always try to maintain that philosophy but accomplish it in a fresh new way with every film. The constant though: Brian (the late Paul Walker) will always get the fast car, while Dom (Vin Diesel) always gets the furious car.”
Actress Katharine Emmer Wanted A Life in Color, so she Became a Director
NYU graduate Katharine Emmer looked to have a bright acting career in front of her. She landed an episode of Desperate Housewives; she had a role in indie film Puccini for Beginners, which was nominated for the Grand Jury Prize at the Sundance Film Festival. At NYU she was the recipient of the Annual Tisch Artistic Achievement Award. But even with her growing resume, she was not a full-time working actor;
Masterminds Trailer Delivers a Solid Gut-Punch
This trailer for Masterminds starts off like so many armored car/ bank heist thrillers – the set up is a news broadcast of the theft in a shaky, blurry camera and a newscaster's voice over explaining the audacity of a bank robbery– but it all changes, and becomes wonderfully Galifianakian, with a bullet in the pants, “It feels like it just grazed my biscuits, right in between stuff,” Zach Galifianakis says.
This tease for Masterminds is chock full of the raw fun and sensationally silly escapades we've come to expect from America's preeminent clown (he can really act,
New Trailer for Straight Outta Compton Raw & Exciting
The new Straight Outta Compton trailer has all the power of the movement that inspired it. N.W.A. was the musical progenitor of a new, and largely ignored, raw urban voice. Even in this short clip, we get a taste of the story of an America that we don’t read about in many history books, but nonetheless was a lived experience for millions. For N.W.A., including Ice Cube, Dr. Dre, MC Ren and Eazy-E, their “art was a reflection of their reality.”
Lethal Force: Sheriff Confronts SWAT Team he Founded in Peace Officer
“Since the late 1970s, there has been a 15,000% increase in SWAT team raids in the United States.” This alarming fact is revealed in Peace Officer, an extremely timely, unsettling documentary that swept the Audience and Jury Awards for best feature documentary at this year’s SXSW Film Festival. Directed by Scott Christopherson and Brad Barber, Peace Officer focuses on the increasingly militarized state of American police, told through the story of Dub Lawrence,
Sandy Powell Creates the Couture of Cinderella
Shakespeare in Love, The Aviator, and The Young Victoria. These are but a few titles on legendary costume designer Sandy Powell’s illustrious resume. It’s funny to think she’s from this modern day and age, because her designs perfectly represent the day, age, history, and emotion of each film she is a part of. It’s as if she travels back in time to design her many sartorial masterpieces.
Prolific Screenwriter Dan Fogelman on Directing Debut Danny Collins
Not yet in his 40s, Dan Fogelman is a force to be reckoned with.
In the past ten years, Fogelman has written over a half-dozen hit films. He was the screenwriter responsible for animated hits like Cars, Bolt, and Tangled and star-studded comedies like Crazy, Stupid, Love, The Guilt Trip and Last Vegas. He also helped create television shows like The Neighbors and Galavant.
Juliano Ribeiro Salgado on his Doc The Salt of the Earth
The Oscar-nominated documentary Salt of the Earth, which opens theatrically this week, examines the life and work of Brazilian-born photographer Sebastião Salgado. But it’s much more. Co-directed by Wim Wenders and Salgado’s son, Juliano Ribeiro Salgado, it’s a portrait of the artist whose bracing visuals are matched by a deep empathy for humanity and a social conscience that has taken him to the most troubled areas around the globe.
It is also a powerful father/son story.
On Set With Alfre Woodard
June, 2011
INT. APARTMENT, BROOKLYN, NY – DAY
Alfre Woodard is on the set of a small, independent film in the Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood of Brooklyn. She’s sitting on a couch in a cockroach infested apartment next to the actress DeWanda Wise. The apartment had already been checked for bedbugs.
Wise’s scene isn’t until later on that night, so perhaps she’s come just to meet Woodard. The crew is preparing for the next set-up,
Insurgent Producer Todd Lieberman on Getting a Big Film Done Quick
Insurgent stormed into theaters last Friday, the second film adaptation of Vernoica Roth’s “Divergent” novels, starring Shailene Woodley as the resourceful, courageous Tris. Set in a dystopian future Chicago obliterated by war, the people are separated into personality-based factions and ruled by the increasingly iron fist of Jeanine (Kate Winslet). Tris, as the first film in the series was titled, is a "Divergent," meaning she's a little bit country and a little bit rock-n-roll and doesn't comfortably fit into any one faction.
It’s Me, Hilary Director Matt Wolf Discusses his HBO Doc
Who exactly is Hilary Knight, the artist behind the iconic "Eloise" books? Director Matt Wolf sets out to paint a complete portrait of the now 88-year-old artist, covering not only his odd and wonderful life as an illustrator but also his often contemptuous relationship with not only his most famous creation, the character of Eloise, but also to Eloise author Kay Thompson, who passed away in 1998. If you missed last night’s premiere of It’s Me,
Has it Really Been 20 Years Since Toy Story?
Given the length of the lines (at least 100 people were turned away at the door) for South by Southwest’s, “Infinity & Beyond: Pixar & 20 Years Since Toy Story” panel, many of us have a friend and clearly miss our old Buzz Lightyear and Woody the cowboy toys. But this ‘behind the scenes’ look into the Pixar films that made so many of us animation junkies was the next best thing.
SXSW 2015: Constance Zimmer on her roles in Results, House of Cards & More
You know Constance Zimmer. If her name doesn't ring a bell, her face will. You've seen her before, typically as the no-nonsense, hard working, truth-telling badass who is this close to losing her cool on some less than forthright character. Perhaps you remember her as Dana Gordon from Entourage, the young, tough studio head who could ink multimillion dollar deals and go potshot for potshot with Jeremy Piven's logorrhific Ari Gold. (Fans of Zimmer as Gordon will be pleased to know she's reprising the role in the upcoming
SXSW 2015: A Q&A With the Director & Star of She’s The Best Thing In It
Films by women, about women, and in many ways, targeted to women were a huge part of this year’s South by Southwest festival. Women were tremendously prominent in the line-up, serving as two of the four SXSW film keynote speakers: Ava DuVernay, the noted director of Selma, and Christine Vachon, who has produced some of the most celebrated American indie features, including the Academy Award wining Boys Don’t Cry.
SXSW 2015: Andrew Bujalksi on Writing and Directing Results
Writer/director Andrew Bujalski came into this year’s SXSW having already made four well respected, funny/weird films. His 2002 debut, Funny Ha Ha, is considered the first mumblecore film, and revolves around the lives of recent college grads who try, in their own singular ways, to put off adulthood for as long as possible. The film landed on New York Times critic A.O. Scott's top ten list for the year, and put Bujalski at the very forefront of a new wave of indie films.
SXSW 2015: Selma Director Ava DuVernay’s Moving Keynote Address
In her South by Southwest keynote address, director Ava DuVernay discussed taking on one of the greatest challenges for any filmmaker; the depiction of a historical event. For DuVernay, of course, it was the challenge of making Selma, the story of Martin Luther King Jr. leading the historic, dangerous march from Selma, Ala., to Montgomery in support of African American voting rights in 1965. She accepted the project knowing she was the seventh choice for director (at various points Stephen Frears,
SXSW 2015: Alison Bechdel, Joshua Openheimer & Maria Hinojosa talk Storytelling
Maria Hinojosa, the executive producer and anchor of Latino USA on NPR, led a discussion between two leading lights in their respective fields; graphic memoirist Alison Bechdel and documentarian Joshua Oppenheimer. Bechdel’s last two works, the groundbreaking “Fun Home,” about her childhood and, more specifically, her closeted father, and “Are You My Mother?” which explores her relationship with her mother through the prism of psychoanalytic theory. Oppenheimer’s last two films, The Act of Killing (2012) and his latest,
SXSW 2015: Honeytrap Writer/Director Rebecca Johnson
In America we call them projects, and they’ve been the locus of many crucial, incredible films, quiet a few from Spike Lee, including Do the Right Thing and Clockers. They’re called favelas in Brazil, the setting for the Fernando Meirelles and Kátia Lund’s explosive City of God, while in Britain they’re called estates. These are places where large groups of lower income families and individuals, often minorities, are grouped together in sprwling,
SXSW 2015 Preview: Women to Watch
The programming at SXSW has become more robust each and every year. Part of the appeal of the festival's selections is the wide representation of female filmmakers, who have produced an especially rich mix of films for this year's slate.There are far too many filmmakers to chose from, so here's just a very quick peek at some of these talented women and the projects they've brought down to Austin.
Hannah Fidell 6 Years
Hannah Fidell is back after winning the Chicken and Egg award here in 2013 for her film A Teacher.
SXSW 2015 Preview: Hot Docs
We’re back in Austin for the SXSW film festival, and holy hell there’s a lot of stuff to see and do. The festival officially kicks off this Friday with the documentary Brand: A Second Coming, director Ondi Timoner’s profile of the comedian/author/activist Russell Brand’s evolution from hard charging bon vivant to political disruptor and revolutionary who has his own YouTube channel devoted to delivering subscribers the ‘Trews’ (true news).
Brand’s brand of verbosity and high energy is a fitting way to launch a festival with 100 world premieres,
