How “28 Years Later” DP Anthony Dod Mantle Mounted 20 iPhones to a Custom Rig For Danny Boyle’s Thrilling Sequel
Oscar-winning Slumdog Millionaire cinematographer Anthony Dod Mantle helped unleash an indie-film revolution as a key member of Denmark’s Dogma movement, utilizing handheld digital video camcorders and available light to shoot dramas of unsettling intensity. In 2002, he drew on that low-tech aesthetic to film 28 Days Later for director Danny Boyle. Now, six movies into their ongoing collaboration, comes 28 Years Later (opening Friday, June 20).
Scorching Stunts: “Ballerina” Stunt Coordinator Stephen Dunlevy on Flamethrower Finesse With Ana de Armas
In the first part of our conversation with supervising stunt coordinator Stephen Dunlevy, we covered the delicate balance involved with establishing the first theatrical John Wick spinoff, From the World of John Wick: Ballerina, from an action choreography perspective. Ana de Armas’ titular ballerina, Eve Macarro, unleashes a deluge of ultra-violent a**-kicking as she tracks down her father’s killer, crossing paths with the Baba Yaga himself (John Wick,
Fire Hose Fury: How Stunt Coordinator Stephen Dunlevy Helped Ana de Armas Blast her Own Path in “Ballerina”
Steeped in the lore and rituals of the John Wick universe, director Len Wiseman’s From the World of John Wick: Ballerina is a bold attempt at expanding the franchise that put practical action back in the spotlight after the OG John Wick came out in 2014. Taking place somewhere between the third and fourth Wick films, this cortisol-triggering revenge thriller follows Eve Macarro (Ana de Armas),
Fire and Frame: How “House of the Dragon” Cinematographer Vanja Cernjul Created TV’s Most Ambitious Dragon Sequences
While HBO continues to patiently plot out the contours of its expanding world of Westeros—A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms is slated for a 2026—House of the Dragon remains the only series to make it to air since Game of Thrones concluded in 2019. And in its two seasons, Ryan Condal’s Targaryen-focused series has achieved something remarkable: it has managed to carve out a distinct narrative path and emerge from the shadows of its predecessor with an identity and an aesthetic all its own.
“Materialists” Writer/Director Celine Song on Why Love Can’t Be Commodified
Celine Song loves love.
And not in the way that middle schoolers doodle in their notebooks about dreamy-eyed crushes, or in the way that newlyweds share song lyrics on Instagram. Celine Song has made it her career to analyze the very foundation of love.
Her latest film, Materialists (in theaters June 13), explores the complexities of navigating love in a society that increasingly values material wealth over all else.
Behind the Brutal Ballet: Stunt Pro Jackson Spidell on Training Ana de Armas for “Ballerina”
Ana de Armas had some practice acting like a bad ass in 2021 when she appeared briefly as a CIA agent doing field work in Cuba in James Bond’s No Time to Die. But in the John Wick spin-off Ballerina, now in theaters, she takes the fighting to a whole other level as Eve, an orphaned dancer determined to avenge the death of her father no matter how many men,
Inside Writer/Director Dean DeBlois’ Secret Formula for Creating His Live-Action “How to Train Your Dragon”
When filmmaker Dean DeBlois found out a live-action reimaging of his award-winning animated hit How to Train Your Dragon was on the cards, he volunteered to write and direct it.
The adaptation, which lands in movie theaters on Friday, June 13, 2025, largely mirrors the storyline of the 2010 original. At the heart of the film is the friendship between a young Viking called Hiccup,
Fight Like a Girl: How Sound Editors Crafted Eve’s Evolution in “Ballerina”
When we first see Eve (Ana De Arma) fight in director Len Wiseman’s From The World of John Wick: Ballerina, you can tell she has yet to hit her peak. She, nonetheless, can irrefutably kick my ass and yours too, but it’s like watching a bear cub trying to climb a tree – it will eventually reach the top but there’s plenty of flopping and flailing on the way up.
From Oscar Nominee to Action Star: Catalina Sandino Moreno on Her Journey Into John Wick’s World in “Ballerina”
“I never saw myself as an action [actor]. But I’ve been in this industry a little bit, and I know you have to have an open mind to everything,” says Catalina Moreno, who stars alongside Ana de Armas in the upcoming From the World of John Wick: Ballerina, the fifth film in the popular franchise. Her teenage son, she says, is “obsessed with John Wick, so when I got the script for Ballerina I thought,
Stitch, Surf, and Studio Magic: DP Nigel Bluck Takes Us Into the Wild World of the Live-Action “Lilo & Stitch”
Lilo & Stitch is charming audiences across the globe. Disney’s latest live-action remake, directed by Dean Fleischer Camp, is not only a box-office smash but also a heartfelt reimagining that has tapped into the power of Zillennial nostalgia in a big way. Based on the 2002 animated film, the new live-action Hawaii-set buddy comedy between young Lilo (Maia Kealoha) and her new alien pal, Stitch (voiced by Chris Sanders), is full of energy and light,
Peak Performance: “Succession” Creator Jesse Armstrong on Trading Media Empires for Tech Titans in “Mountainhead”
Jesse Armstrong takes his exploration of the rich and powerful to new heights—both literally and figuratively—in Mountainhead. In his feature directing debut, the writer/producer who created HBO’s Emmy-winning, zeitgeist-capturing Succession about the family turmoil of the media mogul Roy family, turns his satirical eye on the titans of tech. And it all takes place at the top of a snow-covered Utah summit in a breathtaking,
From “Forest Gump” to “Oppenheimer”: How Iconic Prop House History for Hire Helps Hollywood Frame the Past
Let’s get this out of the way. History For Hire, the iconic prop house that’s been a staple in the Hollywood community since 1985, is open for business. People started to question its future, flooding owners Pam and Jim Elyea with inquiries after The New York Times published an article dramatizing a potential closure. “It was a beautiful article, but I just wish it didn’t say ‘Waiting for the Axe to Fall’
“Black Mirror” Creator Charlie Brooker on Remaking Reality
Charlie Brooker is known for many things, and depending on whom you ask, you might get a different answer. In England, where Brooker was born, you may hear about cult comedies The 11 O’Clock Show, Brass Eye, or Nathan Barley, which he wrote, or maybe Newswipe, where he satirizes current events, or the fictionalized reality show Dead Set about zombies attacking the Big Brother house.
Lighting Alex Cross’s World: DP Brendan Steacy on Creating Cinematic TV for Aldis Hodge’s Determined Detective
Created by Ben Watkins for Amazon Prime, the crime thriller Cross feels more like top-tier cinema than a police procedural. Based on James Patterson’s “Alex Cross” novels, the series’ first season (it’s already been picked up for a second) is taut and moody, following D.C. homicide detective Alex Cross (Aldis Hodge) as he pursues a serial killer on the job while struggling in his personal life with the murder of his wife, Maria (Chauntée Schuler Irving).
Paul Giamatti on Finding Redemption in the Most Human “Black Mirror” Season 7 Episode
Seven seasons in, Charlie Brooker’s anthology series Black Mirror still gets under your skin. Usually, the load is heavy and dark, with characters’ lives driven to unambiguously worse places by technology we don’t yet have, but it feels like it may come frighteningly soon. But there’s one episode in this most recent season, Eulogy, starring Paul Giamatti, that stays in your mind for its emotional rewiring of one lonely man’s core memories.
How Cinematographer & Director Jessica Lee Gagné Shaped “Severance” Season 2’s Most Devastating Episode
After racking up 14 Emmy nominations for its first season in 2022, Severance returned this spring with a much-ballyhooed set of episodes that fortifies the show’s stature as a dread-saturated mind game drama on par with Twin Peaks and Lost. In the Apple TV+ + series, creepy experiments conducted by cult-like Lumon Industries center on split personalities (Adam Scott, Britt Lower, Zach Cherry, and Dichen Lachmann) wrestling with their “innie/outie”
From Converse to Converts: How “The Last of Us” Costume Designer Ann Foley Mapped Ellie’s Dark Journey Toward Vengeance
In a world decimated by zombies, human survivors don’t have much time to worry about fashion, which explains why form follows function in The Last of Us. In the HBO Max drama, which concluded its shocking second season with a May 25 finale, characters primarily focus on staying warm and as dry as possible. Most of our major players in season two had two goals: revenge and killing any of the infected who got in their way.
“The Handmaid’s Tale” DP Nicola Daley on Bringing the Story of Elizabeth Moss’s June Home
The sixth and final season of The Handmaid’s Tale picks up where it left off: on a train driving away from Gilead. June (Elisabeth Moss) is aboard, headed for Alaska, and so is her former tormentor, Serena (Yvonne Strahovski), the latter woman’s fortunes in Gilead having tumbled after the death of her husband, Fred (Joseph Fiennes). Each with a child in tow, June and Serena are seeking safety, but neither will keep it once they find it.
Tom Cruise and Christopher McQuarrie’s Final Dive: “The Final Reckoning” Writer/Director Takes Us Inside the Submarine Stunt That Caps a Franchise
Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning closes out a behemoth chapter of writer/director Christopher McQuarrie’s career. For over a decade, he’s crafted missions for Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) to accept, starting with an uncredited rewrite on Ghost Protocol. He stepped behind the camera for his first film in the franchise as director, the muscular Rogue Nation, which included Cruise holding onto the side of an Airbus A400M as it took off and rose to 5,000 feet,
From Indie Darling to Action Hero: Katy O’Brian on Her Leap from “Love Lies Bleeding” to “Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning”
If there’s a performer well-suited for the world of Mission: Impossible, it’s Katy O’Brian. The films are wildly ambitious technical endeavors – hugely physical and highly creative. Those are just a few of the characteristics that define O’Brian’s work, both on and off screen. On screen, she’s appeared in a galaxy far, far away in the world of Star Wars (The Mandalorian), mixed it up with superheroes in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (Ant-Man and the Wasp Quantumania),
