Interview

Cinematographer

Flying at 125 MPH to Keep Up With “F1” Cars: Aerial Cinematographer Phil Arntz on the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix Sequence

It was especially fun for aerial cinematographer Phil Arntz to return to Abu Dhabi with his camera pilot, Will Banks, for the climactic racing sequence in Joseph Kosinski’s pedal-to-the-metal epic F1. “I used to live in Dubai around 2012 or 2013, when I did a lot of filming for extreme sports. So, it was nice coming back because many of the crew, like the Shotover technician and the team with the helicopter,

By Su Fang Tham  |  July 30, 2025

Interview

Director

“Paradise” Lost: Directors Glenn Ficarra & John Requa on Crafting the Series’ Most Devastating Episode

In the first part of our conversation with Paradise directors Glenn Ficarra and John Requa, we talked about how California’s tax incentive program made it easier for series creator Dan Fogelman to shoot both seasons in Los Angeles. Now, let’s get to the most revealing episode, where Secret Service agent Xavier Collins (Sterling K. Brown) finally confronts President Cal Bradford (James Marsden) about the day his life—and the entire world—fell apart.

By Su Fang Tham  |  July 29, 2025

Interview

Director

“Paradise” Directors Glenn Ficarra & John Requa on Crafting the California-Made Emmy-Nominated Thriller

One of only seven TV projects approved for California’s Film and Television Tax Credit Program during the 2022-2023 cycle, Dan Fogelman’s latest offering is an intense amalgamation of a murder mystery, political thriller, and post-apocalyptic survival drama all in one. True to his signature style a la This Is Us, a jaw-dropping twist at the end of the pilot uncovers a multitude of tragic truths and secrets alike.

By Su Fang Tham  |  July 28, 2025

Interview

Director

“The Fantastic Four: First Steps” Director Matt Shakman on Re-Building Marvel’s First Family

While there have been numerous cinematic adaptations of the superheroes known as The First Family of Marvel, The Fantastic Four: First Steps has been lauded by audiences and critics alike as having the team most true to its Marvel origins. The new film takes place in a retrofuturistic version of New York, set in a 1960s-inspired era influenced by the creative genius of the smartest man in the universe. That would be Mister Fantastic,

By Leslie Combemale  |  July 28, 2025

Interview

Special/Visual Effects

The Willem Dafoe of Dinosaurs: How “Jurassic World: Rebirth” VFX Supervisor Charmaine Chan Created the Distortus Rex

Charmaine Chan began working at Industrial Light & Magic 18 years ago—it was her first gig out of college, starting off as an assistant technical director and contributing to Michael Bay’s Transformers. Chan stayed on at ILM and continued to work on some of the biggest franchises there are, becoming a digital compositor on Star Wars, Mission: Impossible, and films within the Marvel Cinematic Universe. As her talent sustained her and her capacities grew,

By Jack Giroux  |  July 25, 2025

Interview

Costume Designer

Designer Easter Eggs: “Jurassic World: Rebirth” Costume Designer Sammy Sheldon Differ Reveals the Wardrobe’s Hidden Details

Jurassic World: Rebirth isn’t costume designer Sammy Sheldon Differ‘s first time at the dino rodeo. Having previously worked on Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom, the British artisan relished the opportunity to return to one of the highest-grossing film franchises of all time.

Set five years after Jurassic World: Dominion, Rebirth sees Scarlett Johansson’s Zora Bennett lead an expedition into a no-go zone to extract DNA from three prehistoric creatures in the hopes of manifesting a groundbreaking medical breakthrough.

By Simon Thompson  |  July 24, 2025

Interview

Sound Designer

Death Metal Vocals & Brutalized Cabbages: How Sound Designer Johnnie Burn Crafted “28 Years Later” Sonic Terror

Sound designer Johnnie Burn had just won the Academy Award for his dread-inducing contributions to The Zone of Interest when he got a late-night phone call from 28 Years Later director Danny Boyle. “I was drunk at the Vanity Fair party after the Oscar win when someone called from my office in London and handed the phone to Danny Boyle, who was standing in the reception,” Burn recalls.

By Hugh Hart  |  July 24, 2025

Interview

Production Designer

Decoding Deceptive Design With “Presumed Innocent” Production Designer John Paino & Set Decorator Amy Wells

In part one of our conversation about David E. Kelley’s rigorously intense and captivating courtroom drama, Presumed Innocent, production designer John Paino and set decorator Amy Wells talked about the elaborate courtroom set and what it was like to shoot the Chicago-set series entirely in Southern California.

Thanks to Jake Gyllenhaal’s nuanced, Emmy-nominated performance, Rusty’s culpability on the grisly murder of his fellow prosecutor and lover,

By Su Fang Tham  |  July 23, 2025

Interview

Production Designer

“Jurassic World: Rebirth” Production Designer James Clyne on Creating Killer Labs and Animalistic Architecture

Production designer James Clyne recreates and modernizes the dinosaur playground gone wrong that first blew our minds in Steven Spielberg‘s 1993 classic Jurassic Park. Back then, that playground—or theme park, to be more accurate—was the brainchild of John Hammond (Richard Attenborough), and like all children, it had a mind and personality of its own, determined to become something other than its parents’ fervent wish. In Jurassic World: Rebirth,

By Jack Giroux  |  July 23, 2025

Interview

Director, Screenwriter

“Minted” Director Nicholas Bruckman on Spending Two Years Following Digital Artists Through NFT Heaven & Hell

Nicholas Bruckman has built a distinctive career that bridges documentary filmmaking with commercial storytelling, following his instincts and his passions on projects big and small. The New York-based director has participated in prestigious labs, including the Rotterdam Producers Lab and the IFP Cannes Producers Fellowship, and the Sloan Foundation, Cinereach, and other notable organizations support his work. Through his company People’s Television, he regularly produces branded films for major clients including Airbnb,

By Bryan Abrams  |  July 22, 2025

Interview

Production Designer

How “Presumed Innocent” Production Designer John Paino & Set Decorator Amy Wells Brought Chicago to Los Angeles

Shot mostly in Pasadena and around Los Angeles, Presumed Innocent, showrunner David E. Kelley’s twisty and riveting courtroom psychological thriller, was able to do so largely thanks to the $12 million in California tax incentives allocated to the prestige drama from Apple TV+. “The crew we have here is the best I’ve worked with all over the world. They’re an incredible bunch of people; you’re only as good as the people you surround yourself with,” production designer John Paino says,

By Su Fang Tham  |  July 22, 2025

Interview

Director, Screenwriter

“Eddington” Writer/Director Ari Aster on Bringing His Pandemic-Era Neo-Western Thriller Home to New Mexico

Writer/director Ari Aster broke new ground with Eddington in that it’s the first of his films to be shot where it was intended to be set. Both happen to be in his native state of New Mexico, where production created over 300 jobs.

Set in 2020 at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, the neo-Western satirical black comedy reunites him with his Beau Is Afraid lead,

By Simon Thompson  |  July 21, 2025

Interview

Screenwriter, Showrunner

“The Diplomat” Creator Debora Cahn on Refusing to Write Easy Villains in a World of Hard Choices

For Deborah Cahn, the journey from The West Wing to Netflix’s The Diplomat began with a simple encounter that revealed the extraordinary lives hidden within the foreign service. The former West Wing writer spent years cultivating relationships with real diplomats, ambassadors, and State Department officials, learning first-hand how complex the world of international politics was, and how much it demanded of the individuals who dedicated their lives to it.

By Bryan Abrams  |  July 16, 2025

Interview

Screenwriter

“Part Debate Club and Part Therapy”: Inside “The Pitt” Writers’ Room With Cynthia Adarkwa & Valerie Chu

HBO’s The Pitt emerged as one of television’s most gripping medical dramas in years by doing something deceptively simple yet extraordinarily difficult: following a single, brutal 15-hour shift in a Pittsburgh emergency room in real time. What made the series so compelling wasn’t just its relentless intensity or unflinching medical realism (the “floating face” fracture in episode 2 will haunt my dreams), but how writers like Valerie Chu and Cynthia Adarkwa managed to weave deeply human character arcs through the chaos of trauma bays and life-or-death decisions.

By Bryan Abrams  |  July 15, 2025

Interview

Costume Designer

Dressing Despair in Paradise With “The White Lotus” Costume Designer Alex Bovaird

The White Lotus costume designer Alex Bovaird, along with creator Mike White, wanted to make season three of the HBO show bigger and bolder than ever. Although it’s a longer season with more characters and more narrative complexity, for Bovaird, it still always comes down to researching reality and bending it from there.

Every season of The White Lotus has seen characters attempt to escape their own reality by descending upon another culture and failing to let go,

By Jack Giroux  |  July 14, 2025

Interview

Director, Screenwriter

From Maya Files to Magic: How Hollywood Creatives Help Build Epic Universe’s Immersive Worlds

Almost a decade in the making, Epic Universe at Universal Orlando Resort in Florida is a groundbreaking theme park that highlights the shared DNA between filmmaking, attractions, and immersive real-world experiences, taking audiences and guests on a cinematic journey.

Three of the five worlds that make up Epic Universe are born out of IPs that have graced both the big and small screens, namely The Wizarding World of Harry PotterMinistry of Magic,

By Simon Thompson  |  July 11, 2025

Interview

Showrunner

How “Nobody Wants This” Creator Erin Foster Finally Found Success Writing About Herself

After 15 years of chasing what television networks wanted—workplace comedies, procedurals, whatever was trending—actress and writer Erin Foster had almost given up on her writing career.

“I had a lot of setbacks as a writer,” Foster says. “Some of those were like, ‘You’re not a good joke writer’ and ‘You write things that feel sort of like a play—it’s just people talking and there’s not enough plot.’ So there were a lot of times that I really second-guessed what path I was going to go down.”

By Bryan Abrams  |  July 10, 2025

Interview

Director, Producer

Playing a Flush Hand: Inside “Poker Face” Season 2 With Producer/Director Adam Arkin

Few people in Hollywood have had as rich and varied a career as Adam Arkin. With decades of experience both in front of and behind the camera—from his breakthrough role in Northern Exposure to acclaimed directing work on series like The Americans, Justified, Sons of Anarchy, Fargo, Succession, and The Night Agent—Arkin brings decades of experience both in front and behind the camera to every project he tackles.

By Bryan Abrams  |  July 10, 2025

Interview

Production Designer

“Murderbot” Production Designer Sue Chan on Building the Brilliant World Around Alexander Skarsgård’s Conflicted Robot

Growing up in New Jersey with immigrant parents who ran a Chinese restaurant, Murderbot production designer Sue Chan didn’t even know the job existed when she first laid eyes on the futuristic movie that would inspire her journey into show business. “I basically decided to be an architect after going to see Blade Runner,” she recalls. “When I walked out of that movie theater with my family, I was like,

By Hugh Hart  |  July 9, 2025

Interview

Actor

Case Closed: How Uzo Aduba Mastered the Art of Playing Television’s Smartest Detective in “The Residence”

From the moment the first episode streamed on Netflix in March, The Residence has garnered millions of fans and great ratings. There’s also been a growing fan base for its lead character, Cordelia Cupp, known as the world’s greatest detective by those surrounding her in this unique mystery dramedy. The whodunit comes from longtime Shondaland collaborator Paul William Davies (Scandal, For the People), and is inspired by Kate Anderson Brewer’s nonfiction book on the history of The White House and its staff.

By Leslie Combemale  |  July 8, 2025