How 1917’s Oscar-Nominated Prosthetics Designer Designed the Grisly, Gripping Drama

World War I epic 1917 conveys the carnage of combat with uncommon grit. Informed by writer-director Sam Mendes‘ heartfelt story and his gifted design team, the film, nominated for 10 Academy Awards including best picture, immerses viewers in a “No Man’s Land” littered with dead animals, rotting corpses and dying soldiers. Prosthetics designer Tristan Versluis, Oscar-nominated with makeup designer Naomi Domme, did most of the heavy lifting when it came to blood,

1917’s Oscar-Nominated VFX Supervisor on Creating Relentless Immersion

“I think what’s really kind of interesting is all the movies this year are using visual effects for widely different reasons,” notes 1917’s Oscar and VES-nominated visual effects supervisor, Guillaume Rocheron. And in an Academy FX slate that ranges from Avengers: Endgame to The Irishman, he has a point.

For the Visual Effects Society’s awards, the final two feature film categories are divided into two: One where visual effects predominate in photoreal features—hence Endgame is up against the Rise of Skywalker,

The Irishman’s Oscar-Nominated Editor Thelma Schoonmaker on her 53-year Collaboration with Martin Scorsese

Three-time Oscar winner Thelma Schoonmaker‘s association with Martin Scorsese even pre-dates his storied collaboration with Robert DeNiro. She edited his Who’s That Knocking At My Door in 1967, picked up the first of eight Oscar nominations for editing Woodstock, went on hiatus for a few years, then returned to the Scorsese fold in 1980 to edit his famously brutal Raging Bull. Since then, Schoonmaker’s cut every Scorsese movie,

Honey Boy Cinematographer Natasha Braier on Earning an ASC Spotlight Nomination

“It is, of course, an honor to be selected for this by the ASC (American Society of Cinematographers), but it’s also a responsibility.” That particular responsibility belongs to Natasha Braier, ASC, ADF, the cinematographer for Shia LaBeouf’s stark memory-play Honey Boy.

Upon learning she’d been nominated for one of ASC’s Spotlight Awards this year, she called it “a huge honor to be recognized by my colleagues with (this) nomination.

Casting Faces New and Old for Hundreds of Roles in The Irishman

Casting director Ellen Lewis has worked with Martin Scorsese since New York Stories, which came out in 1989, but there was no by-the-book process to adhere to in order to pull together the all-star ensemble leading The Irishman and the film’s hundreds of supporting roles. “Every world is different, so where you’re going to look and the way you’re going to think,” said Lewis, changes with each script. In this case,

Director Destin Daniel Cretton on Adapting Bryan’s Stevenson’s Just Mercy

Destin Daniel Cretton remembers the exact moment back in 2015 when he first came to learn of Bryan Stevenson, the founder of the Equal Justice Initiative. The day didn’t seem out of the ordinary for the filmmaker. But looking back, it turned out to be a career-defining moment for Cretton.

“I was sitting in a coffee shop in LA called the Bourgeois Pig when I opened up a book called Just Mercy by Bryan Stevenson,” says Cretton.

Virgin River Editor Nicole Ratcliffe on Cutting to Where it Counts

Editor Nicole Ratcliffe has an unusual story to tell—she began editing right out of film school. Why this is unusual is it usually takes some time before you’re properly cutting scenes in the editing room, but for Ratcliffe, who grew up in Vancouver and works there, she began editing more or less immediately. Not only that, she worked on so many visual effects-heavy projects that she became a visual effects editor.

“I went to Vancouver film school,

Dolemite Is My Name’s Oscar-Shortlisted Makeup & Hairstyling Team on Capturing an Era

“There was a lot of collaboration among us,” says Vera Steimberg, who was the co-department makeup head on the collaboration between Eddie Murphy and Netflix on Dolemite Is My Name. The film itself recounts the historical collaboration of self-produced blaxploitation movie icon Rudy Ray Moore, who produced the original Dolemite, then “four-walled” it—exhibiting it himself—until it was eventually picked up by a distributor for expansion into both more movie screens, eventual video,

Oscar Watch: The Lion King’s VFX Supervisor’s Groundbreaking New Techniques

Earlier this year, Disney’s live-action remake of The Lion King landed as both a critical and box office hit. Pride Rock looked stunning. The animals appeared real. No creatures were harmed in the making of the film, and Beyoncé herself played Nala, protagonist Simba’s level-headed love interest and future queen. Alongside a star-studded cast, The Lion King also broke new ground in visual effects,

In Fact-Based Just Mercy, Editor Nat Sanders Cuts to the Truth

Before editor Nat Sanders earned an Oscar nomination for cutting Barry Jenkins’ Moonlight, he forged a tight bond with filmmaker Destin Cretton. Their latest collaboration, Just Mercy (opening wide Friday, Jan. 10), casts Michael B. Jordan as real-life lawyer Bryan Stevenson who goes to bat for Death Row inmate Walter McMillian (Jamie Foxx) by proving he’s been framed by Alabama law enforcement authorities.

Sanders broke into feature films when he edited Florida State University classmate Barry Jenkins’

Servant Costume Designer Caroline Duncan on Dressing M. Night Shyamalan’s Thriller

M. Night Shyamalan and Tony Basgallop’s Servant is one of Apple TV+‘s weirdest, wildest new shows. As always with a Shyamalan production, there are creepy twists aplenty on offer here, but there’s more to Servant than narrative surprises—there’s bracing oddness to it, amplified by terrific performances from a great cast and technical mastery from Shyamalan and Basgallop’s talented crew.

Servant is set in Philadelphia (Shyamalan’s preferred location,

Director Kate Woods on Faith and Belief in her Netflix Drama Messiah

Early on in the new Netflix drama Messiah, CIA agent Eva (Michelle Monaghan), paradigmatically dogged in her duties, informs a failed prospective job candidate, “the truth may look gray, but I assure you, it is not.” It’s easy to guess that Eva’s next assignment will have her rethinking the office hiring policy. After she becomes aware of a long-locked, proselytizing enigma first spotted preaching mid-sandstorm to a band of followers in Damascus,

How Editor Lee Smith & Sound Editor Oliver Tarney Crafted the Immersive Story of 1917

If you caught last night’s Golden Globes, you saw Sam Mendes‘ World War I epic 1917 take home both Best Film (Drama) and Best Director for Mendes himself. 1917 bested some very steep competition, including Martin Scorsese’s mob epic The Irishman, Todd Phillips Joker, and Noah Baumbach’s Marriage Story. Mendes’ film is practically flawless.

Now imagine you’re a picture editing working on a project where the story is utterly personal to the director,

Hidden Life’s Production Designer on Working in Terrence Malick’s World

Production designer Sebastian T. Krawinkel recalls his first meeting about potentially working on Terrence Malick’s A Hidden Life, which he describes as “almost a conspiracy meeting.” He art directed both V for Vendetta and Speed Racer some years back, and two of Hidden Life’s producers, Henning Molfenter and Charlie Woebcken, had co-produced those.

Krawinkel was handed “a rough outline,

Freya Allan & Anya Chalotra on Playing The Witcher’s Powerful Women

For millions of excited fans around the world, the first season of Netflix’s long-anticipated fantasy series The Witcher has not disappointed. The show is based on the best-selling novels and short stories by Polish author Andrzej Sapkowski, and the subsequent video games based on the stories, which have sold over 40 million copies worldwide. The Witcher follows three powerful individuals with colliding destinies living on a continent full of magic and monsters,

1917′s Production Designer on Building a World at War

How good is director Sam Mendes’ World War I epic 1917? Let’s begin with a brief anecdote about one of his collaborators—the legendary cinematographer Roger Deakins, who originally wasn’t sure it was even possible to pull off what Mendes was after. That was to film 1917 as if it was all a single, continuous shot. But once Deakins read Mendes and screenwriter Krsty Wilson-Cairns script,

How Color and Cut Transformed the Characters of Little Women

In the opening scene of writer-director Greta Gerwig’s adaption of Little Women, Jo March (Saoirse Ronan) walks into the New York offices of the Weekly Volcano and offers a novella to its publisher Mr. Dashwood (Tracy Letts), who chuckles at its jokes, editing as he reads. Jo sits across, hiding her ink covered hands and wearing a Marengo-colored jacket that drapes a comfy, black sweater. A white collar peeks out from her neck.

Oscar Watch: How Parasite’s Editor Helped Shape Thrilling Shifts in Tone

Palme d’Or winner and Best Picture Oscar contender Parasite shocked audiences this autumn on the strength of writer-director editor of Bong Joon-ho‘s meticulously constructed blend of comedy, melodrama and thriller elements. The story follows the poor but well-educated grifters in the Park family, who insinuate themselves into the lives of the wealthy Kim household by posing as an earnest tutor, housekeeper, and chauffeur. When the Park teenagers and their parents conspire to wrest domestic control from the Kims’

Sam Mendes & Screenwriter Krysty Wilson-Cairns on Their Epic WWI Drama 1917

1917 is the story of an urgent message and the two WWI soldiers who have to deliver it to prevent hundreds of their fellow British troops from walking into a trap. We accompany them on an arduous, dangerous journey in what appears to be one long, breathtaking shot. In an interview with The Credits, director Sam Mendes and his co-screenwriter Krysty Wilson-Cairns talked about the research they did for the film and how they crafted this meticulously constructed,

Best of 2019: Deconstructing Tarantino’s Once Upon a Time in Hollywood’s With his Cinematographer Robert Richardson

*We’re reposting some of our favorite interviews of 2019. Happy Holidays!

When you dig past the humorous and unnerving storylines of Quentin Tarantino’s ninth film Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, you’ll find a serious tale about friendship.

Set in 1969, Rick Dalton (Leonardo DiCaprio), a fading Western star trying to stay relevant in Tinseltown has one sure thing—his stunt double Cliff Booth (Brad Pitt).