Talking Apocalypse Now, Philadelphia and More With Legendary Film Producer Mike Medavoy
Mike Medavoy's film credits read like an American Film Institute (AFI) 'Top 100' list; One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, Rocky, Annie Hall, Apocalypse Now, Raging Bull, Network, Coming Home, Platoon, The Terminator, Dances With Wolves, The Silence of the Lambs, Philadelphia, Zodiac and Black Swan, to name a few.
Medavoy was a co-founder of Orion Pictures, a former chairman of TriStar Pictures, the former head of production of United Artists,
The Many Lives Of a Hollywood Stunt Performer: A Conversation With Oliver Keller
Oliver Keller grew up in a small town in Switzerland dreaming of becoming a stuntman in Hollywood. His appetite for excitement led him to Super G Downhill skiing and an eventual apprenticeship with a German stunt professional, but he had his sights set on bigger things.
Today, Oliver is a rising star in Hollywood’s stunt community, and has worked on mega-blockbusters from Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl to Master &
Emmy Award-Winning Actor Tony Shalhoub On Craft
Tony Shalhoub is a prolific actor whose illustrious career has spanned television shows, theater productions, and major Hollywood films. His performances have earned him three Emmy awards and a Golden Globe for his work on the television show Monk, and a Tony nomination for his work on Broadway.
The characters he's portrayed have become cultural legends–from his award-winning performance of the endearing OCD-plagued criminal detective Adrian Monk of the hit television show Monk,
Visionary Filmmaker & Inventor Douglas Trumbull Talks The Hobbit and his Latest Incredible Invention
The frame rate for a film refers to the frequency (or rate) at which a camera creates unique consecutive images (frames). Almost every film you have ever seen has been shot and projected at 24 frames-per-second (FPS). We have become so accustomed to seeing films this way that shooting at any other rate can be potentially jarring. Peter Jackson’s The Hobbit was shot in 3D at 48fps, twice the normal rate. It will be projected at 48fps on 400 of the 10,000 theaters when it opens on tomorrow,
The Criterion Collection Releases Christopher Nolan’s Following on Blu-Ray
While some directors begin with a bang—Godard’s Breathless (1960) comes to mind—others begin with a whisper, only to be heard later on as the greatest archivists in cinema amplify its nascence. Today, The Criterion Collection shines its light, for the first time, on Christopher Nolan with the Blu-Ray release of Following (1998). Now known for the latest Batman trilogy, originally recognized for the temporally rearranged suspense film Memento (2000),
Exec Producer and Writer Mark Goffman of White Collar Talks Aaron Sorkin, President Obama, and Patrick Swayze’s Final Show
Mark Goffman, a veteran TV writer and producer, has worked on a wide range of shows and films, including mega-hits like The West Wing and Law & Order: Special Victims Unit. He’s currently a writer and executive producer on USA Network’s White Collar (the new season starts on January 22 at 10/9 central), about a criminal who agrees to help the FBI catch his brothers-in-crime using his expertise as an art and securities thief.
A Holiday Gift Guide for the Budding Filmmaker in Your Life
Do you have someone in your life who dreams of making movies? Or perhaps someone who just loves knowing how they’re made? Well, we've got some book and film titles that will satiate the hopeful screenwriters, directors, and producers in your life. No list like this could ever be totally comprehensive, so tweet at us if you’ve got some recommendations to add to this list.
Books on Screenwriting
For screenwriters,
First Film School, Then The World: Three NYU Students On Movies, Ambitions, and The Future of Film
"I believe that while it may not be possible to train people to make films, it is possible to create a climate in which people can learn to make films, where aspiring artists can absorb, in a relatively short, intensive period, insight that others have wrested from the experience of an entire career."
– George Stevens, Jr., founding director of the American Film Institute
With innovation and technology forging ahead at unprecedented rates in the film and television industry,
“The Funniest People I Know Are Women”: Director Paul Feig on The Heat, Bridesmaids and Freaks and Geeks
As one of the most respected comedy writers in Hollywood, Paul Feig’s professional trajectory has become something of an industry legend. The comedian turned actor-writer-director-producer has been relentless in his quest to leave an indelible mark on the state of comedy television and cinema. And his ambitions are infectious. Along the way, Feig’s helped launch the careers of many talented actors; James Franco, Jason Segel, and Seth Rogen all became household names thanks to Feig's instant television classic,
Meet the Team That Gave Tim Burton’s Labor of Love, Frankenweenie, a Third Dimension
Tim Burton’s Frankenweenie, a likely nominee for an Academy Award for Best Animated Feature, is a marvel of filmmaking. It finds Burton at the top of his game, helming a film that clearly was a labor of love. The question we were interested in was: how did Burton get his black-and-white, stop motion comedy horror from 2D to 3D?
So we inquired about the collaboration between Walt Disney Pictures,
Taming the Digital Tiger: An Interview with Oscar-Winning VFX Supervisor Bill Westenhofer About his Work on Life of Pi
The Credits spoke with to visual effects guru, Bill Westenhofer about his work on the acclaimed recent release, Life of Pi. Winner of the 2008 Academy Award for Achievement in Visual Effects for The Golden Compass (also nominated in 2006 for The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe), Westenhofer dished on what it was like working on Pi—from braving real storms at sea for reference points,
The Credits Presents: Up-and-Coming Filmmakers on the Festival Circuit
To the uninitiated, filmmaking resembles nothing short of magic. Actors transform into memorable characters, scripts morph into visceral stories, a movie screen becomes a window into another world. But for the men and women working just outside the cameraframe, the process of making movies is a bit more scientific. Details are essential, timing is integral, the perfect line of dialogue is well wrought–and, often, rewritten. Making your first film (or your second!) can be a truly rewarding experience–but not without its fair share of trials,
Film at the Vatican Without Leaving LA: How Stargate Studios’ Virtual Backlot Is Revolutionizing The Industry
On location shooting is a variable that can make or break a film or television project. It might be the difference between shooting a scene at Westminster Abbey, or at the neighborhood church. So when visual effects house Stargate Studios launched their Virtual Backlot nearly a decade ago, television shows everywhere could hardly wait to use their game-changing library of virtual backdrops. From Vegas casinos to idyllic beaches, producers could finally green-light exotically ambitious scripts,
Actor Scoot McNairy On Getting Into Character for Killing Them Softly, Argo, and Promised Land
Scoot McNairy has been hard at work on some of the most highly-anticipated film projects of the year. In the last 12 months, he’s worked on Ben Affleck’s Argo, starred alongside Brad Pitt in the upcoming release Killing Them Softly, he’s top-billed in Gus Van Sant’s Promised Land, and he’s starring in Steve McQueen’s 2013 picture, Twelve Years a Slave.
A Conversation with Price Check Director Michael Walker on Casting Parker Posey, Supermarket Secrets, and Film School
Writer-director Michael Walker made his feature filmmaking debut with the 2000 thriller Chasing Sleep, starring Jeff Daniels, which premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival and went on to win Best Film at the Festival of Fantastic Film in Sweden.
His latest film, Price Check, is a far cry from the thriller genre, but this comedy about a middle-class family and the eccentric boss who shakes up their world is just as titillating.
From Mystic Pizza to Dinner For Schmucks: 12 Truly Awkward Dinner Scenes
Thanksgiving. A time to be thankful for your family, your friends, and the fact that most dinners don't end up devolving into anything resembling what happens in the clips we've assembled below. We combed through MovieClips.com’s archives and curated this list of 12 truly uncomfortable dinner moments, ranging from the ridiculous to the weird to downright hostile, and we give thanks to the medium of film, which has created so many memorably awful dinner scenes it makes most of our family meals seem like lessons in bonhomie.
Rock and ‘Rolling!’ MoMA Retrospective Gifts NYC Fifty Years of The Rolling Stones on Film
It’s been fifty years since The Rolling Stones first shook the world and acquainted us with the famously unrestrained hips of Mick Jagger and the brooding eye-lined stare of perpetually funny-faced guitarist Keith Richards—not to mention the milder stage antics (but no-less tantamount musical prodigy) of present and past band members Charlie Watts, Ronnie Wood, Brian Jones, Mick Taylor and Bill Wyman.
And while The Stones may have introduced many to the svelte silhouette of too-tight pants,
Disney Gets Awesomely Technical on Latest Wonder Wreck-It Ralph
To satisfy today’s sophisticated audiences, the technical demands of animation continue to grow exponentially. With the hit film Wreck-It Ralph in theaters now, The Credits takes a look at animation technology today at the studio that’s been a leader in the field for over 85 years, Walt Disney Animation Studios.
From Steamboat Willie and Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs to The Lion King and Tangled,
The Incredible True Story Behind The Sessions: A Conversation With Director Ben Lewin
The Sessions tells the story of Mark O’Brien, a man confined to an iron lung for most of his day and who is determined, as he nears 40, to lose his virginity. The premise could be mistaken for a potential comedy or a melodrama. It was neither. In fact, The Sessions has been the focus of serious Oscar buzz ever since reviewers across the country fell in love with it in early November.
Building Beauty: A Conversation With Sarah Greenwood, Production Designer on Anna Karenina.
When thrice Oscar-nominated production designer Sarah Greenwood signed on to Joe Wright’s adaptation of Anna Karenina, she had complete trust in her longtime collaborator—but both had a nagging yet unspoken concern about how they would turn Karenina into something more than a straightforward period adaptation like the two had done on Pride & Prejudice and Atonement. Coming fresh off of 2011’s Hanna,