Interview

Director

“Gen V” Director Shana Stein on Penultimate Episode’s Tie-In With “The Boys”

Gen V, the quick-footed spinoff to Prime Video’s debauchery-filled superhero satire The Boys, mimics its collegiate environment in its primed-for-combustion filming style. In the inaugural season’s penultimate episode, titled “Sick,” the main characters are confronted with institutional roadblocks and a boiling fervor on campus regarding supe rights.

“What I think the writers have done so beautifully and brilliantly in The Boys and Gen V is they’ve taken current issues and put the superhero spin on them to make social commentary,” Shana Stein,

By Natalie Oganesyan  |  November 1, 2023

Interview

Director, Screenwriter

“The Persian Version” Writer/Director Maryam Keshavarz on the Joys of Iranian American Culture

The Persian Version won both the Audience Award and the Waldo Salt Screenwriting Award in the U.S Dramatic Competition at Sundance this year, and for good reason. The film is a feel-good dramedy that combines stories of traditional Iranian culture with those of the Iranian American experience with a decidedly modern touch. The story follows Leila (Layla Mohammadi), a queer Iranian American working to keep her parents and many brothers who love her at a distance while navigating her ever more complicated personal life.

By Leslie Combemale  |  October 31, 2023

Interview

Screenwriter

“Freelance” Writer Jacob Lentz on Going From “Jimmy Kimmel Live” to Penning his Feature Debut

It sounds like the setup to a sketch: a washed-up journalist, a peacocking dictator, and a bored ex-Special Forces guy walk into a coup… That may be the premise of the action-comedy Freelance (in theaters now), the first feature film from long-time Jimmy Kimmel Live writer Jacob Lentz, but the punchline isn’t what you’d expect. Mason Pettits (John Cena) is a frustrated lawyer who gets a call from an old military buddy turned private military contractor,

By Susannah Edelbaum  |  October 30, 2023

Interview

Director

“Pain Hustlers” Director David Yates on Departing From the “Harry Potter” Films in Subversive Style

In Pain Hustlers, the opioid crisis takes on a different tenor than that previously seen in hard-hitting dramas like Hulu’s limited series Dopesick and fellow Netflix’s own Painkiller. While still inspired by actual events, David Yates’ retelling of a “fascinating state of the nation” falls more in line with the big-bang type of storytelling akin to The Wolf of Wall Street and The Big Short.

By Natalie Oganesyan  |  October 26, 2023

Interview

Director, Producer

“Fellow Travelers” Director/ Executive Producer Daniel Minahan’s Scorching Trip Through Turbulent Times

Director and executive producer Daniel Minahan wanted to be part of Fellow Travelers as soon as he read the first script by Ron Nyswaner, an Oscar nominee for Philadelphia.

“It was a beautifully devised script. Ron saw parallels between the 1950s persecution of gay people in government and what happens in San Francisco with activism and trying to survive AIDS in the ‘80s,” said Minahan. “Ron and I worked together before [on the series Ray Donovan] and knew each other socially from Provincetown.

By Loren King  |  October 25, 2023

Interview

Production Designer

How “Saltburn” Production Designer Suzie Davies Outfitted the Vast Estate in Emerald Fennell’s Thriller

Like many who worked on Saltburn, production designer Suzie Davies signed a contract promising not to reveal the location of the sprawling country house where much of the movie was shot. Writer/director Emerald Fennell wanted a centuries-old estate unidentifiable to audiences, and she found one in the English Midlands that had never been used onscreen. But a Tatler journalist sleuthed out the location a few months ago, effectively voiding the contracts.

By Matthew Jacobs  |  October 25, 2023

Interview

Hair/Makeup

“Lessons in Chemistry” Makeup Department Head Miho Suzuki Captures the Pressure Cooker of Being a 1950s Woman

Chemical reactions can be calculated and quantified, but matters of the heart are far less predictable. When scientist Elizabeth Zott (Brie Larson) finds herself pressed toward domesticity from all sides, she realizes that the way to pursue her passions, empower women, and advocate for equality may be through the kitchen after all. Lessons in Chemistry – based on the hit novel by Bonnie Garmus – follows Zott’s evolution from student to TV star.

By Kelle Long  |  October 23, 2023

Interview

Casting Director

“Killers of the Flower Moon” Casting Directors Ellen Lewis and Rene Haynes on Their Historic Oklahoma Casting Call

With its prodigiously detailed and complex production, long running time, and sprawling cast, Killers of the Flower Moon (in theaters now) cut no corners in telling the true story about members of Oklahoma’s oil-rich Osage Nation who were systematically murdered in the 1920s by white men eager to inherit “head rights” worth millions of dollars through marriage and trickery. To surround Leo DiCaprio and Robert De Niro’s duplicitous usurpers with authentic Native American talent,

By Hugh Hart  |  October 20, 2023

Interview

Director

Martin Scorsese on Finding Truth in Tragedy in “Killers of the Flower Moon”

When Martin Scorsese was young, he had an experience where he became painfully aware of how Native Americans were being treated, and since then, it’s taken him years to find a story he could tell about the culture in a respectful way. Killers of the Flower Moon, which opens in theaters October 20 with a runtime of 3 hours and 26 minutes, presents that lifelong desire with a gentle, examining eye in what could easily be the director’s best work to date.

By Daron James  |  October 19, 2023

Interview

Cinematographer

“Killers of the Flower Moon” Cinematographer Rodrigo Prieto Illuminates Martin Scorsese’s Twisted Tale

When I connected with Rodrigo Prieto for our video interview, as one might imagine a cinematographer to do, he was perfectly lit in a warm amber glow, perhaps a nod to a fire motif visually laced in Martin Scorese’s Killers of the Flower Moon – a love story between Mollie Kyle (Lily Gladstone) and Ernest Burkhart (Leonardo DiCaprio) wrapped in the travesty the Osage Nation faced during the 1920s.

Having spoken previously with the Mexican native as far back as Argo (2012),

By Daron James  |  October 19, 2023

Interview

Costume Designer

Costume Designer Ruth E. Carter on Stitching Together Her Legendary Career

With more than 70 films to her credit, including Malcolm X (1992), Amistad (1997), Selma (2014), Black Panther (2018), and Dolemite Is My Name (2019), costume designer Ruth E. Carter has created a visual representation of Black history and the Black experience for generations of moviegoers.

“Costumes can be another character in the film. For Do the Right Thing,

By Loren King  |  October 18, 2023

Interview

Production Designer

How “Killers of the Flower Moon” Production Designer Jack Fisk Created 1920s Oklahoma

Killers of the Flower Moon became a journey of inspirational research for production designer Jack Fisk (The Revenant, There Will Be Blood). He traveled to Oklahoma to visit the very homes of the Osage portrayed in the Scorsese film – a story that unpacks the painful history of the Osage during the 1920s, whose oil-backed wealth was methodically stolen from them under false pretense.

The screenplay was adapted by Eric Roth and Scorsese based on David Grann’s meticulous 2017 work of non-fiction.

By Daron James  |  October 18, 2023

Interview

Hair/Makeup

How Osage Tradition Influenced the Hair & Makeup in “Killers of the Flower Moon”

There is perhaps nothing more important than authentically depicting the Osage in Martin Scorsese’s Killers of the Flower Moon, a poignant tale based on real events where the oil-rich nation was devilishly deceived, manipulated, and murdered for their money and oil shares by the very ones who married them. Newspapers later described the tragedy, which lasted from 1921-1926, as the “Reign of Terror.”

Scorsese and co-writer Eric Roth brought David Grann’s best-selling novel of the same name to the screen with tremendous care and understanding.

By Daron James  |  October 16, 2023

Interview

Production Designer

“The Fall of the House of Usher“ Production Designer Laurin Kelsey Reanimates Edgar Allan Poe for Netflix

It’s October, the right time of year for an Edgar Allan Poe revamp. Creator Mike Flanagan delivers, with a contemporary mini-series adaptation for Netflix of The Fall of the House of Usher, Poe’s 1839 short story about the creepy undoing of wealthy but disturbed Roderick Usher. In Flanagan’s updated version of the story, Roderick (Bruce Greenwood) and his sister, Madeline (Mary McDonnell), are the filthy rich heads of an unscrupulous pharmaceutical company,

By Susannah Edelbaum  |  October 16, 2023

Interview

Production Designer

“Cat Person” Production Designer Sally Levi on Turning a Viral Short Story Into a Feature-Length Film

“Margot met Robert on a Wednesday night toward the end of her fall semester. She was working behind the concession stand at the artsy movie theatre downtown when he came in and bought a large popcorn and a box of Red Vines.” This is how writer Kristen Roupenian’s short story “Cat Person” begins, a vignette about a young college student, Margot, meeting an older man named Robert. It was published in The New Yorker and appeared online on December 4,

By Bryan Abrams  |  October 13, 2023

Interview

Producer

Learn Filmmaking Network Founder Gabriel Alexis on Building a Community

Bronx-born Gabriel Alexis’s love of visual storytelling began when he was a kid in his childhood home, capturing family moments, a prelude to a career in which he would devote himself to helping filmmakers connect, inspire each other, and grow. After learning the ropes himself on a variety of projects, from TV to commercials, from music videos to creating short videos for the New York State Bar Association, Alexis had a moment while driving his car in 2018.

By The Credits  |  October 12, 2023

Interview

Cinematographer

How “Quantum Leap” DP Ana M. Amortegui Keeps the Show Dynamic Across the Centuries

The past is prologue, but on Quantum Leap, the past is also the present and the future as Dr. Ben Song (Raymond Lee) and his team embark on dangerous lifesaving excursions through history. The time travel epic is back with more mysteries that continue to escalate and may even threaten the project itself.

Director of photography Ana M. Amortegui kicked off the style of the series last season working on the pilot and several other episodes.

By Kelle Long  |  October 11, 2023

Interview

Cinematographer, Director

“Special Ops: Lioness” Cinematographer & Director Paul Cameron on Taylor Sheridan’s International Thriller – Part Two

As noted in part one of our interview with Paul Cameron, he took his first turns at directing for series helming two episodes of Westworld, and he drew on his experience as a cinematographer and from his work for some pretty important mentors. “I learned so much from working with Tony Scott,” Cameron said, referring to collaborating with Scott on films like Man on Fire and Déjà Vu.

By Matt Hurwitz  |  October 9, 2023

Interview

Cinematographer, Director

“Special Ops: Lioness” Cinematographer & Director Paul Cameron on Taylor Sheridan’s International Thriller

As director of photography, Paul Cameron has shot such disparate films and series as Man On Fire, Collateral, Déjà Vu, Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales, and Westworld.  He has worked with a slew of top-tier directors, including Michael Mann, Tony Scott, and Jonathan Nolan. Now, for Paramount+’s acclaimed limited series, Special Ops: Lioness, Paul Cameron – as he did with Westworld – worked both as a cinematographer and director.

By Matt Hurwitz  |  October 9, 2023

Interview

Director, Screenwriter

“Story Ave” Writer/Director Aristotle Torres Brings the Bronx to the Big Screen

Writer/director Aristotle Torres‘ feature debut, Story Ave, is centered on Kadir (Asante Blackk), a bright teenager from the South Bronx with a gift for visual arts filled with promise. But when Kadir’s younger brother dies, the loss amplifies the pressure cooker of modern teenage life—the demands of school, the expectations of family—and specifically the life of a kid living life in the Bronx, where an entire world of opportunity and danger is just a few steps out of your front door.

By Bryan Abrams  |  October 6, 2023