“Cowboy Bebop” Costume Designer Jane Holland on Creating a Jazzy Outlaw Look

How do you approach adapting the looks of a beloved Japanese anime series for a live-action Netflix series? This was the challenge for Cowboy Bebop costume designer Jane Holland, who managed to capture the glorious color of the original anime series about a crew of bounty hunters who will zealously pursue even the most dangerous criminals in the galaxy—if you’ve got the money—and do it all in the boldest of styles. Cowboy Bebop stars John Cho as the perenially sad bounty hunter Spike Spiegel,

“The Tragedy of Macbeth” Production Designer Stefan Dechant on Joel Coen’s Minimalist Masterpiece

Production designer Stefan Dechant has worked on detail-packed cinematic spectacles like Jurassic Park, Avatar, Pacific Rim: Uprising, and Kong: Skull Island. When he signed up for Joel Coen‘s black and white adaptation of The Tragedy of Macbeth, Dechant had to embrace a new aesthetic, stripping all decorative embellishments that might distract from the drama at hand.

“No Time To Die” Costume Designer Suttirat Anne Larlarb on Dressing Bond’s Allies & Adversaries

In part one of our conversation with No Time To Die costume designer Suttirat Anne Larlarb, we focused on the tall order of outfitting Daniel Craig for his fifth and final assignment as James Bond. In part two, we turn our attention to the allies and adversaries that populate Bond’s world, including two new agents, the love of his life, and a scarred sociopath who has designed a weapon that—spoiler alert—forces Bond to make the ultimate sacrifice. 

“No Time To Die” Costume Designer Suttirat Anne Larlarb on Building the Apex Tuxedo

“Before Daniel, the Bond style, which was always very definitive, was being worn by someone who was more of a superhero character,” says No Time To Die costume designer Suttirat Anne Larlarb about the tall order of outfitting Daniel Craig for his fifth and final assignment as James Bond. “We didn’t really get the emotional landscape. We got the look, we got the icon, but we didn’t delve that much deeper. Daniel is a consummate actor and I really felt this responsibly to be able to costume him in a way that would live up to that Bond stratosphere,

How “Nightmare Alley” Hair Designer Cliona Furey & Makeup Designer Jo-Ann MacNeil Made Magic

In Guillermo del Toro’s carnival noir Nightmare Alley, the visionary director eschews the supernatural for a period noir to fantastic effect. The film is set largely at a mid-20th-century second-rate carnival filled with schemers, dreamers, hustlers, weirdos, and femme Fatales, with del Toro acting as our carnival barker (that role in the movie actually belongs to Willem Dafoe), taking us on a tour of the lost souls plying their various trades in this shadowy world.

“The Tender Bar” Cinematographer Martin Ruhe on George Clooney’s Heartfelt Adaptation

Arriving during times that don’t feel particularly tender, The Tender Bar is George Clooney’s adaptation of J.R. Moehringer’s book about growing up in the 60’s and 70’s-era Long Island, without a father. Instead, he seeks out surrogate role models in the house of extended relatives where his mother retreats, and in the local bar where his uncle tends. And, Clooney, of course, stays behind the camera here, leaving the acting chores to Ben Affleck as Uncle Charlie,

“Station Eleven” Costume Designer Helen Huang on a Post-Pandemic World Filled with Art & Humanity

In times of fear, great loss, and regression in civilized society, creativity and culture will still blossom. This is not only the hopeful message of Station Eleven but also a truth about our world, proven by the fact that the show exists at all. The production team for HBO’s post-pandemic miniseries was a few episodes in when life began to imitate art, and art began springing up everywhere.

“You think about our pandemic,

“Spider-Man: No Way Home” Production Designer Darren Gilford on Re-Creating NYC

Spider-Man has always been a proud New Yorker, so naturally, filmmakers planned to shoot a lot of No Way Home in Manhattan. Then COVID hit and pandemic restrictions made it impossible to film on Peter Parker’s actual stomping grounds. Realizing that the Spidey show must go on, production designer Darren Gilford and his team came up with a Plan B for replicating New York locations at Pinewood Studios in Atlanta. “This group of filmmakers,

“The Matrix Resurrections” VFX Supervisor Dan Glass Takes The Red Pill

In The Matrix Resurrections, there is an action sequence where Neo and Trinity jump off a skyscraper together in order to evade agents closing in on them. They float in the air for a few seconds as the sun rises behind them and we’re left wondering if they’ll fly off together. While speaking with visual effects supervisor Dan Glass over the phone about the incredibly realistic world-building for the scene, Glass told The Credits that this particularly stunning moment was shot practically using no green screen or CG outside of cleaning up a few different elements.

Best of 2021: “Spider-Man: No Way Home” Co-Writers Talk Villains, Peter Parker & Changing the Script

This interview is part of our highly subjective, decidedly non-comprehensive “Best of 2021” year-end list. It was originally published on December 20.

Reviewers raved, Twitter went berserk with anticipation and spoilers went (mostly) unleaked as Spider-Man: No Way Home hit theaters this past weekend, making box office history in the process. Third in the trilogy of Tom Holland-headlining Marvel films directed by Jon Watts,

Best of 2021: “Dune” Hair & Makeup Department Head Donald Mowat’s Delightful & Disturbing Designs

This interview is part of our highly subjective, decidedly non-comprehensive “Best of 2021” year-end list. It was originally published on October 22.

With the highly anticipated release of Dune in theaters and on HBO Max here at a long last, fans will finally see director Denis Villeneuve’s vision of Frank Herbert’s epic sci-fi novel come to life. Dune is about the intergalactic power struggle between House Atreides,

Best of 2021: Director Barry Jenkins Mixes Beauty and Brutality in “The Underground Railroad”

This interview is part of our highly subjective, decidedly non-comprehensive “Best of 2021” year-end list. It was originally published on May 12. 

The Underground Railroad has been a long time coming in Barry Jenkins‘ imagination. As a kid growing up in Miami’s rough Liberty City neighborhood, the writer-director pictured literal railroad tracks running beneath the earth. Fast forward to 2014, when Jenkins thrilled to Colson Whitehead’s Pulitzer Prize-winning novel and secured adaptation rights even before he’d finished promoting his Oscar-winning Moonlight movie.

Best of 2021: Emmy-Winner Hannah Waddingham on the Joy of Making “Ted Lasso”

This interview is part of our highly subjective, decidedly non-comprehensive “Best of 2021” year-end list. It was originally published on July 29.

Before Ted Lasso became a phenomenon, setting a record for most Emmy nominations by a freshman comedy (20 total, including seven for its actors), its virtues were spread, among my friends, more like a whisper campaign. One buddy in particular kept needling me via text.

Best of 2021: “Passing” Writer/Director Rebecca Hall On Navigating the Complicated History of Racial Identity

This interview is part of our highly subjective, decidedly non-comprehensive “Best of 2021” year-end list. It was originally published on November 30.

The complexity of bringing a thematically laced film like Passing to the screen isn’t a simple one. For Rebecca Hall, who makes her directorial debut, it was also a personal journey, “an extended catharsis” that allowed her “to get to the bottom of a lot of mysteries” in her family.

Best of 2021: “King Richard” Casting Director Rich Delia on Finding Venus & Serena

This interview is part of our highly subjective, decidedly non-comprehensive “Best of 2021” year-end list. It was originally published on November 19.

The new film King Richard (Warner Bros.) halted shooting in March 2020 during the first COVID-19 lockdown. Although his work was done, Rich Delia, one of the project’s casting directors, was “sitting at home freaking out” over one thing:

“What if one of the girls goes through a growth spurt?”

The girls are,

Best of 2021: “No Time to Die” DP Linus Sandgren on Daniel Craig’s Epic Sendoff as James Bond

This interview is part of our highly subjective, decidedly non-comprehensive “Best of 2021” year-end list. It was originally published on October 7.

In No Time to Die, Daniel Craig gets two hours and 43 minutes to show James Bond fans what they’ll be missing once he exits his five-movie run as the world’s most enduring British spy. Following Craig’s every step, car chase, and explosion along the way is Swedish DP Linus Sandgren.

Best of 2021: Aaron Sorkin on Having a Ball Making “Being the Ricardos”

This interview is part of our highly subjective, decidedly non-comprehensive “Best of 2021” year-end list. It was originally published on December 10.

You might think the opportunity to write a film about the legendary Lucille Ball would have been irresistible for Aaron Sorkin, but he wasn’t immediately convinced. “It took me about 18 months to say yes, to commit to it,” Sorkin says of the project that would eventually become Being the Ricardos, 

Best of 2021: Mixing History & Modernity in the Costumes of “The Harder They Fall”

This interview is part of our highly subjective, decidedly non-comprehensive “Best of 2021” year-end list. It was originally published on November 2.

The Harder They Fall, Netflix’s addition to the world of Westerns from director-writer Jeymes Samuel, is not a monochromatic throwback set on the dusty frontier. Honoring the names of historical characters like Nat Love (Jonathan Majors) and Stagecoach Mary (Zazie Beetz) while leaving most of their actual histories behind,

Best of 2021: “Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings” Breakout Star Meng’er Zhang on her Knockout Debut

This interview is part of our highly subjective, decidedly non-comprehensive “Best of 2021” year-end list. It was originally published on December 1. 

From the second she enters the frame, Xialing radiates a younger sibling’s mixture of hurt and defiance at the brother who abandoned her. Yet Xialing is no longer a little girl, and as the daughter of the crime boss and formidable, superpowered martial arts master Wenwu, she’s become everything her older brother—Shang-Chi—was meant to be.

“A Journal for Jordan” Screenwriter on Adapting This Moving True Story for Denzel Washington

Virgil Williams knows a thing or two about crafting a screenplay based on a previously written work. After all, his script for Netflix’s Mudbound, co-written with director Dee Rees and adapted from the novel by Hillary Jordan, earned him nominations for an Oscar and both Critics Choice and Writers Guild of America awards, among many others.

Now, Williams has tackled a best-selling memoir, and a uniquely moving one at that.