Exclusive Video: Oscar Short-Listed The Death of Stalin Composer on Scoring Lunacy

When we interviewed composer Christopher Willis about writing the now Oscar short-listed score for Armando Iannucci‘s hilarious, bleakly resonant dark comedy The Death of Stalin, he told us that one of his major influences in the film was the legendary Russian composer Dimitri Shostakovich. “Because he was famous, he had a complicated relationship with Stalin, he was in and out of favor. There were times he thought he’d written a piece that had offended the authorities,

Oscar Watch: How Composer Brian Tyler Spiced Up Crazy Rich Asians Score

Brian Tyler started playing drums at age four, taught himself piano, guitar and cello soon after, toured the world at age fifteen performing a concerto he’d written and paid his way through Harvard by playing in rock bands. More recently, he’s scored more than $1.2 billion worth of global blockbusters including Avengers: Age of Ultron, Fast & Furious, and Iron Man 3. His latest hit,

Oscar Watch: Black Panther Cinematographer Rachel Morrison on how to Make an Intimate Epic

When Oscar-nominated cinematographer Rachel Morrison (the first woman ever nominated in the category for her work on Mudbound) started working on Black Panther, she had an uncanny feeling; this massive, ultimately groundbreaking Marvel mega-film felt much more like the indies she’s worked on in the past. Black Panther marked her second collaboration with writer/director Ryan Coogler (she lensed his breakout first film, Fruitvale Station),

Oscar Watch: Suspiria’s Prosthetic Makeup Artist on Turning Tilda Swinton into an Old Man

The original horror film Suspiria, made by Dario Argento in 1977, was wild and colorful, and the palette of Luca Guadagnino’s version of the story conveys quickly that this is not a remake. The dance company at the center of the story, next to the Berlin Wall, is bleakly lunatic, as are the street scenes of 1970s Berlin outside, where RAF protests hold sway and it is always raining.

How Ruth Ginsberg’s Nephew Wrote On the Basis of Sex

Before he experienced the memorial service epiphany that led to On the Basis of Sex, writer Daniel Stiepleman had knocked around for a few years, working in the Peace Corps, teaching high school English and producing TV commercials in Wisconsin. Then, he attended the 2010 funeral of his uncle Martin, the late husband of Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg. “Martin’s friend gave a eulogy and mentioned in passing that discrimination on the basis of sex was the only case Ruth and Marty ever argued together,”

Stan & Ollie Director Revisits a Great Doubles Act

When he was a kid growing up in Scotland, filmmaker Jon. S. Baird loved Laurel and Hardy movies so much that he impersonated Stan Laurel at his school’s “fancy dress” day alongside a classmate dressed in an Oliver Hardy outfit. Three decades later, Baird pays homage to the great song-and-dance comedy team as director of Stan & Ollie. In the movie, opening wide January 11, Steve Coogan plays the duo’s rake-thin mastermind with Golden Globe-nominated John C.

Oscar Watch: Black Panther‘s Co-Editor on the Key Scene She Influenced

A rich African inspired heritage and fierce women warriors proved this year that fresh perspectives are long overdue on screen. Black Panther came out swinging and took a major swipe at barriers to cinematic representation. The immensely talented team dreamed up a world that was not only thrilling and gorgeous but also put new faces at the forefront of the superhero genre. Not only were there more black actors on screen than any other Marvel film,

Oscar Watch: Cold War‘s DP Lukasz Zal on Crafting Pawel Pawlikowski’s Latest Masterpiece

Cinematographer Lukasz Zal won the prestigious Silver Frog Award at Camerimage for his work on Pawel Pawlikowski’s Cold War, a ravishing look at a romance over the course of 30-years and several thousand miles through Europe. Zal had worked with Pawlikowski on Ida, the director’s previous masterpiece, as a cameraman (he ultimately earned himself a co-cinematographer credit). For Cold War, Zal was in command of the camera team,

Oscar Watch: Barry Jenkins on his Lyrical Adaptation of If Beale Street Could Talk

If Beale Street Could Talk has been getting awards buzz and accolades for months, and with the Golden Globes set to arrive this Sunday, Barry Jenkins second masterpiece (in a row, no less) will be one of the night’s big winners. Still hot from his 3 Oscar wins for Moonlight, Jenkins is reaffirming he’s a major force in film, with Beale Street already winning or nominated for dozens of awards,

Oscar Watch: BlacKkKlansman Hair and Makeup Designers on the Impact of Appearances

BlacKkKlansman was one of the most stirring films of the year with a chilling portrayal of hatred. In typical Spike Lee fashion, it was also funky, cool, and completely enthralling. The true story of dangerous prejudices and brave efforts to fight back was rooted in appearance. Some of the most monstrous of the characters masqueraded in a façade of normalcy.

“As far as the Klansmen, I wanted some of them to look like normal people and clean-cut,” makeup department head Martha Melendez said.

Oscar Watch: Mary Queen of Scots‘ Costume Designer Alexandra Byrne

Mary Queen of Scots is a gorgeous film to behold, with the dueling Queens looking period-perfect from head to toe. As the film’s hair and makeup artist Jenny Shircore told us, “You’ve got two queens, two powerful women, two women who have never met, who are yet influenced by each other’s beauty and power. They are jealous of each other, afraid of each other, all the way through this is the story we’re telling.

Oscar Watch: If Beale Street Could Talk’s KiKi Layne on Love, Stillness, & Working With Barry Jenkins

KiKi Layne stars as Tish Rivers in Barry Jenkins’s adaptation of the novel by James Baldwin. A beautiful love story layered in social commentary, as relevant now as it was when the novel was originally released in 1974, Layne draws the viewer in with one of the best performances of the year, making you feel her hope, her fear, her potent love and, ultimately, her resolve. A relative newcomer to feature films,

Cinematographer René Richter on Creating the Sumptuous Head Full of Honey

When director Til Schweiger and his team shot Honig im Kopf, about a family dealing with a grandparent’s onset of Alzheimer’s, his team primarily worked where the film was set: continental European countryside, plus a bit of London. Minor interior replacements subbed Germany in for Venice. When Schweiger and his crew reconvened to film an English-language remake, Head Full of Honey, the settings changed, though the locations often didn’t.

Oscar Watch: The Favourite‘s Editor on Cutting the Year’s Most Deliciously Devilish Film

Yorgos Lanthimos’s The Favourite is a delicious piece of filmmaking. Gorgeous to look at, actors having the times of their lives, and that special brand of merry malice that Lanthimos is uniquely capable of is all on the menu here. Set in the 18th-century, The Favourite revolves around Queen Anne (Olivia Colman) and rival courtiers Lady Sarah (Rachel Weisz) and Abigail (Emma Stone) who vie for her attention,

Writer David Magee on Recreating the Magic in Mary Poppins Returns

The character Mary Poppins has been as well known for a very long time. She was beloved in the pages of P.L. Travers’ eight-volume children series, and then she became something of a global sensation thanks to Disney’s 1964’s Mary Poppins. Julie Andrews made the role an icon, not just for the magical nanny’s ability to effortlessly tidy up, but to do so with her wit, vanity, and compassion ever intact. The film’s early seamless blend of live action and animation,

Oscar Watch: Roma‘s Production Designer on Recreating Mexico City in the 1970s

Alfonso Cuarón’s Roma is one of the most astonishing film experiences of the year. The word experience fits, as Cuaron and his team created a lush soundscape that’s nearly as captivating as the shimmering black-and-white cinematography. Then there’s Roma‘s exquisite design, which recreates Cuaron’s hometown of Mexico City, specifically the neighborhood of Roma where he grew up. The focus is on a middle-class family and their live-in servants,

On the Basis of Sex: Editing the Origin Story of a Real-Life Hero

Every great hero begins somewhere. Before saving the planet, superheroes often channel their gift from the gods, survive the bite or a spider, or mutate after alien radiation exposure. The hero of On the Basis of Sex, however, began her journey of toppling titans and freeing the people in a place far more ordinary. A courtroom.

“When [director] Mimi [Leder] approached me initially about the project, I also had expectations this is going to be this grand biopic of Justice Ginsburg’s life and how she got to where she is,” editor Michelle Tesoro recalled.

How Welcome to Marwen‘s VFX Supervisor Transformed Steve Carrell into a Plastic Action Figure

Kevin Baillie was barbecuing in the backyard of his San Francisco home one afternoon in 2013 when he got a call from Robert Zemeckis. “Bob said ‘I’ve got this crazy script I want to send you so you can tell me what you think,” Baillie recalls. Five years and 64 million computer-processing hours later, Baillie completed his contributions to the mind-warping movie that is indeed, pretty crazy even by Hollywood spectacle standards. The challenge put forth in Zemeckis’

How James Baldwin Inspired If Beale Street Could Talk Costume Designer Caroline Eselin-Schaefer

In the beginning was the word, as set down by James Baldwin in his 1974 novel “If Beale Street Could Talk.” The movie adaptation from Moonlight auteur Barry Jenkins and his team drew on Baldwin’s text when it came to visualizing this story for the big screen. Costume designer Caroline Eselin-Schaefer says, “James Baldwin gave us so many cues, we wanted to honor him as much as we could.” The story follows pregnant 19-year old Harlem native Tish Rivers (Kiki Layne),

Mary Poppins Returns‘ VFX Supervisor on Bad Weather, Mary’s Magical Entrance & More

English weather wreaked havoc on best-laid plans when it came to staging outdoor sequences for Mary Poppins Returns. Director Rob Marshall expected London’s usual overcast skies to accompany Mary Poppins’ descent from the heavens early in the movie. Instead, Mother Nature delivered a perfect sunny day. The UK-based visual effects supervisor Matt Johnson recalls, “It’s supposed to be all wind and clouds but suddenly London had a massive heat wave and we got a clear blue sky.”