“Nope” VFX Supervisor Guillaume Rocheron on Creating That Spectacular Alien Creature

Jordan Peele’s extraterrestrial spectacle Nope has a secret you may not know about: the sky itself is a digital recreation. And among the roughly 700 effects shots in the film, VFX supervisor Guillaume Rocheron (1917, Life of Pi) admits it’s one of the most rewarding as “most people don’t realize they’re looking at a giant visual effect.” 

The Nope VFX team set out to make the blue ether a haunting character,

“Day Shift” Director J.J. Perry on His Lean, Mean Jamie Foxx-led Feature Debut

Director J.J. Perry is one the most seasoned action directors in the business, despite Day Shift (streaming August 12) representing his feature debut. Perry has directed some of the most thrilling sequences over the past two decades, working as a second unit director and stunt coordinator (sometimes both in the same film) on the first two John Wick films, Skyscraper and F9. With Day Shift, Perry marshaled his talent for practical stunts and effects,

“Nope” Composer Michael Abels on Scoring Jordan Peele’s Sci-Fi Epic

Composer Michael Abels has become the artist of choice for writer/director Jordan Peele. He has scored all three of his features, Get Out, Us, and now has put his talent and inspiration behind Peele’s latest, the genre-busting sci-fi horror thriller Nope. 

Nope stars Daniel Kaluuya and Keke Palmer as siblings OJ and Em, the heirs of a struggling horse ranch and animal wrangling business for film and television in the Santa Clarita valley.

“Easter Sunday” Director Jay Chandrasekhar on Channeling the Comedy of Jo Koy

Easter Sunday marks the first starring movie role for popular stand-up comedian Jo Koy. And like his routines, the film mines laughs from his family foibles, Filipino heritage, and its unique traditions based around the title holiday. Director Jay Chandrasekhar, known for both acting in and directing the Super Trooper films, Club Dread and Beerfest, was tapped to direct. (He also appears as Koy’s agent.)  In a recent conversation,

“Better Call Saul” Composer Dave Porter on Playing Jimmy McGill Out

Dave Porter has been creating music for the universe of Breaking Bad since the beginning in 2008, starting with the award-winning, Zeitgeist capturing fan favorite, then continuing with Better Call Saul in 2015, and scoring El Camino: A Breaking Bad Movie in 2019. That’s a long time to be living in a world so beloved by ‘Heisenbergers’ from the inside. Now, as Better Call Saul comes to a conclusion with its last show (the penultimate episode airs on August 8,

“Bullet Train” Director David Leitch on His Breathless Brad Pitt-Led Action-Comedy

When suggesting to Bullet Train director David Leitch that he should be known as one of the “Godfathers of fight-vis,” a technique where complex fight sequences are filmed to visualize the action prior to shooting the real thing, he modestly said he’d take the credit. “Chad and I were definitely on the forefront of something that now every stunt team on the planet does.” The Chad he’s referring to is Chad Stahelski, who Leitch co-directed the original John Wick with.

How The “Westworld” Makeup Effects Team Built Body Doubles & More in Season 4

Every season of Westworld is an ambitious undertaking, requiring hundreds of talented artists to create HBO’s gorgeously wrought sci-fi puzzle box. Season 4 has been especially complex, owing to the fact that the line between “real” and synthetic, between host and human, has been blurred to the vanishing point. Season one’s western-themed rebellion story, in which the synthetic hosts of the titular park eventually rebelled against their human abusers, is now a distant memory as some of those hosts wield enormous power and control over their human subjects in the real world.

“The Sea Beast” Writer/Director/Producer Chris Williams on His High Seas Animated Adventure

Chris Williams began working on The Sea Beast around four years ago, but telling an action-adventure story in animation is something he has wanted to do for a very long time. “It’s almost no exaggeration to say most of my life,” says the Academy Award-winning filmmaker (Moana, Big Hero 6, Bolt) about his latest movie, now streaming on Netflix.

Directed, co-produced, and co-written by Williams — he collaborated on the screenplay with Nell Benjamin,

Juliette Binoche on Driving a Tough Road in “Paradise Highway”

For writer/director Anna Gutto’s feature debut Paradise Highway, a trucker named Sally will do whatever it takes to keep her brother Dennis (played by Frank Grillo) alive long enough so that he can get out of prison and restart his life. This means she’ll take on jobs that are hardly legal, but she believes victimless, in order to make a little extra money and placate the powers that be that hold his life,

How “Nope” Production Designer Ruth De Jong Built & Bloodied the Haywood Ranch

There was a moment when writer/director Jordan Peele and production designer Ruth De Jong realized they were going to shoot Nope practically. Tucked in the Agua Dulce area of California’s Santa Clarita Valley is the Firestone Ranch, which would become the setting for the Haywood home where OJ (Daniel Kaluuya) and his sister Emerald (Keke Palmer) discover an unexpected visitor living in the sky above them.

“The property is this huge basin surrounded by these hills,

“Nope” Editor Nicholas Monsour Dives Into the Macabre of Jordan Peele’s Sci-Fi epic

Putting together the irresistibly gripping story of writer-director Jordan Peele’s third film Nope was picture editor Nicholas Monsour, who has a shorthand with the auteur, having collaborated on Us (2019) and a number of episodes of Key and Peele.

Set in the outskirts of Hollywood, OJ Haywood (Daniel Kaluuya) and his sister Emerald (Keke Palmer) find themselves up against a mysterious entity living in the sky above their home.

“Westworld” Director Paul Cameron Breaks Down “Generation Loss” Episode

Cinematographer Paul Cameron had worked on big pictures like Michael Mann-directed Collateral and Denzel Washington thriller Déjà Vu, so he could afford to be skeptical six years ago when he first heard about a new TV series loosely based on an old Michael Crichton sci-fi novel. Cameron says, “I remember when my agent called and said Jonah Nolan wants to talk to you about Westworld, my first reaction was: ‘Might not be not my cup of tea.'”

“Nope” Cinematographer Hoyte van Hoytema on Capturing the Epic Scope of Jordan Peele’s Latest

Cinematographer Hoyte van Hoytema failed to get into two Dutch film schools, so he worked in a soap factory, played in a band, and survived unemployment as a self-described “slacker” before finding his creative footing at a renowned cinema academy in Lodz, Poland. Since then, he’s made up for lost time through collaborations with A-list auteurs, including David O. Russell (The Fighter), Sam Mendes (Spectre), and Spike Jonez (Her).

“The Gray Man” Composer Henry Jackman Breaks Down His 17-Minute Suite

Classically trained at Oxford University, British-born musician Henry Jackman moved to Los Angeles in 2001. Within five years, he’d landed an apprenticeship gig at Hans Zimmer’s music company, and from there, Jackson quickly rose through the ranks to become one of Hollywood’s most versatile composers. Credits range from Kong: Skull Island and Tom Hanks’s tense, fact-based drama Captain Phillips to half a dozen zany animation features, including Wreck-It Ralph.

The Weeknd Reveals “The Idol” Teaser For “Sleazy” New HBO Series

You may be coming out of the weekend, but The Weeknd is still here to help get you through your Monday.

Behold the first teaser for The Idol, the upcoming HBO series created by Abel “The Weeknd” Tesfaye and Euphoria creator Sam Levinson, which promises to be “the sleaziest love story in Hollywood.” The Weeknd stars alongside Lily-Rose Depp, and the teaser revels in the seedy, glam-god version of Los Angeles where massive mansions,

Isabelle Huppert on the Beauty & Depth of “Mrs. Harris Goes to Paris”

Isabelle Huppert, one of the world’s undisputed queens of stage and screen, has won nearly every award an actor could possibly receive. In France, she is an Officer of the National Order of the Legion of Honor, an Officer of the National Order of Merit, and a Commander of the Order of Arts and Letters, the highest honors given to citizens of the country. She is now co-starring in the ensemble cast of Mrs.

How “Where the Crawdads Sing” Production Designer & Cinematographer Captured Nature’s Challenging Splendor

After delighting in the alluring visual tapestry throughout director Olivia Newman’s adaptation of the beloved novel Where the Crawdads Sing (in theaters now), you might find it hard to believe production faced a crippling onslaught of rain. So much so, that it flooded the practical set of protagonist Kya’s (Daisy Edgar-Jones) home.

Production designer Sue Chan, whose work includes Shang-Chi, Gone Girl, and Punch Drunk Love (the latter two as supervising art director),

“Where the Crawdads Sing” Director Olivia Newman on Capturing the Haunting Beauty of a Beloved Novel

Based on Delia Owens’ best-selling novel of the same name, Where the Crawdads Sing (playing in theaters now) tells the stirring story of Kya, a young girl abandoned by her family and forced to raise herself in the marshes of North Carolina. Shunned by her town as the “marsh girl,” she becomes the prime suspect in the murder of an ex-boyfriend. 

Daisy Edgar-Jones delivers a captivating, stand-out performance as Kya, alongside David Strathairn,

“Thor: Love and Thunder ” Costume Designer Mayes C. Rubeo on Dressing Gods & Goddesses

Thor: Love and Thunder has scored the biggest Thor opening yet, proving MCU fans are loving writer/director Taika Waititi’s romantic comedy space adventure. The film reunites Thor (Chris Hemsworth) and his ex-girlfriend Jane Foster (Natalie Portman), who has become the Mighty Thor. They fight to stop Gorr the God Butcher (Christian Bale) from killing all the gods and goddesses of the universe. 

Essential to capturing the essence of Waititi’s aesthetic is the bright explosion of color represented in every aspect of the project,

“Obi-Wan Kenobi” Composer Natalie Holt Finds the Force

The series Obi-Wan Kenobi concluded to great acclaim, especially for star Ewan McGregor’s emotional performance in the title role, Moses Ingram’s intensity as Inquisitor Reva, and the astonishing cat-and-mouse game between Obi-Wan and his former protogé, Darth Vader. Speaking of Vader, Hayden Christensen returned to the role and gave a haunting performance, creating a richer, more tragic character arc for one of the greatest villains of all time. As with other Star Wars projects for the small screen,