The Gospel According to Andre Director Kate Novack on the Man Behind the Fashion Icon
As a fan of fashion documentaries, director Kate Novack knew Andre Leon Talley as the larger-than-life, high priest of haute couture. As a journalist- turned-filmmaker, she knew there was more to him than that.
“I’ve been watching Andre in many fashion docs since Unzipped in 1996, which is around when I was getting out of college,” Novack says. “It was always always this over-the-top [depiction] where he’d steal the scene but he was always an enigma.
Costume Designer Ann Foley on Creating the Cyberpunk Aesthetic of Altered Carbon
Netflix’s original cyberpunk drama, Altered Carbon, has become as known for the multifarious aesthetics it draws on — from Blade Runner to the works of Edgar Allan Poe — as it has for its philosophical leanings. Based on the novel of the same name by Richard K. Morgan, the show’s premise is that 300 years from now, the body is a mere “sleeve.” The mind, one’s true self,
Documentarian Morgan Neville on Revealing Mr. Rogers in Won’t You Be My Neighbor?
Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood, which premiered 50 years ago on PBS, is undergoing a bit of a renaissance of late. Although host Fred Rogers died at age 74 in 2003, his effect on the lives of adoring preschoolers and beyond is still being felt. Earlier this year, PBS aired It’s You I Like, a tribute show named after one of Rogers’ many self-penned songs that he performed on the series. The U.S.
Lifelong Star Wars Fan Joonas Suotamo On Becoming Chewbacca
Imagine a young man dreams of an acting career, but is told he has little or no chance of success, because there are no jobs for blonde, blue-eyed Finnish actors nearly seven feet tall. Now imagine one of the most iconic characters in modern film is being recast, and the requirements include being seven feet tall and having blue eyes. Clearly Joonas Suotamo, who took over the role of Chewbacca from the great Peter Mayhew,
Deadpool 2‘s Screenwriters on Living With Wade Wilson’s Voice in Their Heads
Armed with witty zingers from writing team Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick, Ryan Reynold’s deformed, foul-mouthed, self-healing superhero Wade Wilson powered through the profanity-laced Deadpool to such crowd-pleasing effect that Marvel Studios’ 2016 action comedy became the top-grossing R-rated movie of all time. Working on Deadpool 2, which topped the box office last weekend with a $301 million worldwide opening, Reese and Wernick tuned out the pressure and delivered another blockbuster.
Writer/Director Paul Schrader on Seeing The Light in First Reformed
Perhaps best known for writing such Martin Scorsese films as Taxi Driver and The Last Temptation of Christ, Paul Schrader has also directed more than 20 movies. These include 1980’s American Gigolo, a commercial hit, although Schrader’s style and subject matters rarely attract a mainstream audience. His latest film, First Reformed, is a stark tale of personal despair and environmental crisis. Ethan Hawke plays Toller,
How The Voice Production Design Inspires Musical Creativity
Tonight, Spensha Baker, Britton Buchanan, Brynn Cartelli or Kyla Jade will be crowned the newest winner of The Voice. Whether you’re Team Blake, Team Alicia, Team Kelly, or even Team Adam, The Voice is always an inviting place to spend time every week. The talent is astonishing, the rivalry is riotous, and the environment is electric. Production designer James Pearse Connelly is responsible for transforming a singing competition into a glamorous music haven where dreams are born.
Writer/Director Ramin Bahrani on the Spooky Timeliness of his Fahrenheit 451 Adaptation for HBO
We’re living in times that are increasingly concerning. Okay, that’s a massive understatement. After the election of Donald Trump, dystopian novels became increasingly popular again with reissues of novels like George Orwell’s 1984 and Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale. The latter novel, which is now a bleak and hugely popular Hulu series, is a good example of the types of stories audiences have been looking to turn to in confusing and trying times.
How Annihilation‘s Team Created That Insanely Gruesome Bear
Alex Garland makes sci-fi films for people who love the genre’s malleability, the way it can contain other genres within itself like a Russian nesting doll. He wrote the twitchy, truly terrifying zombie thriller 28 Days Later, the brilliant, pared down artificial intelligence “romance” Ex Machina, the gorgeous, heartbreaking Arrival, and last year’s trippy, terrifying Annihilation. Each one was singular. Each one was a sci-fi film that relished in the genre’s plasticity.
Deadpool 2‘s Makeup Designer Bill Corso on Creating Wade’s Brutal Face
Makeup designer Bill Corso earned an Emmy Award nomination for crafting jowls and big ears for Bryan Cranston so he could look like President Lyndon Johnson in All the Way. But more often, Corso traffics in the realm of the fantastical as he does with Deadpool 2. Re-teaming with star Ryan Reynolds, Corso devised the hideous skin of cancer patient/medical experiment/mercenary Wade Wilson, whose mottled face appears in close-up during movie’s opening sequence.
Director Wim Wenders on his Unprecedented Access in Pope Francis: A Man of His Word
At 72, German-born auteur Wim Wenders defies categorization as a filmmaker. He is as much at home with Oscar-nominated documentaries that deal with the arts (1999’s music-filled Buena Vista Social Club; 2011’s Pina, about German choreographer Pina Bausch; and 2014’s The Salt of the Earth, about Brazilian photographer Sebastiao Salgado) as he is with visually striking features (1984’s road-trip Western Paris, Texas, 1987’s angelic fantasy Wings of Desire).
Clark Duke Isn’t Always Playing for Laughs on Season 2 of I’m Dying Up Here
Ron Shack was a struggling comedian who was so broke that he was living in a closet—an actual closet—with his best friend Eddie Zeidel during season one of I’m Dying Up Here.
Now, Ron is enjoying the sweet taste of success in season two of the Showtime drama series that follows standups working at a comedy club called Goldie’s in Los Angeles in the 1970s. In the second season opener of I’m Dying Up Here,
How Avengers: Infinity War‘s “Head of Digital Humans” Created the Purple Face of Doom
Darren Hendler‘s been changing live action humans into digital creatures for nearly two decades. Since moving from South Africa to London and finally to Digital Domain in Los Angeles, the former electrical engineer has helped designed CG effects for such spectacles as I, Robot and Furious 7. With Avengers: Infinity War, he focused on the face. Deploying a new motion capture program called Masquerade, Hendler and his team rendered every pore on Josh Brolin’s skin with unprecedented accuracy.
Costume Designer Phoebe de Gaye Brings Killer Style to Killing Eve
In the role of the international assassin known as Villanelle on Killing Eve, Jodie Comer is literally dressed to kill in a high-end wardrobe full of labels such as Burberry, Miu Miu, Dries Van Noten and Phillip Lim.
The chic attire, which prompted Vogue to hail Killing Eve as the most fashionable show on television, was sourced by a small team led by costume designer Phoebe de Gaye,
Book Club‘s Creators on How Fifty Shades of Grey Inspired Their Dream Project
Whatever you did to celebrate Mother’s Day probably wasn’t as great as Bill Holderman’s gift to his mom in 2012. The final book in the 50 Shades of Grey trilogy had just been published, and the Book Club director, co-producer, and co-screenwriter sent the entire set to his mother.
“As sons do, right?” Holderman joked.
Book Club co-producer and co-screenwriter Erin Simms worked with Holderman at a production company at the time and heard about the plan.
RBG‘s Cinematographer on Revealing an American Icon
Ruth Bader Ginsburg has sparked a cultural fandom that is usually reserved for musicians, actors and athletes. The Supreme Court Justice’s face adorns stickers and pins at every bookstore and she has adopted the moniker ‘Notorious RBG.’ At 85 years old, Ginsburg is engaging the next generation of activists, but her personal history is just as inspiring. RBG Cinematographer Claudia Raschke worked with directors Betsy West and Julie Cohen to peel back the layers of Ginsburg’s career and grant us insight into her life as a wife,
Tara Strong on Voicing Rocky in the Rebooted Rocky and Bullwinkle Series
Over the last 20 years, actress Tara Strong has built a storied career for herself in the animation world as a voice artist. She is known for her expansive portfolio, including her work as Batgirl in Batman: The Killing Joke, Bubbles in The Powerpuff Girls, Twilight Sparkle in My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, and Harley Quinn in DC Super Hero Girls.
The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinke’s Exec Producer on Rebooting a Classic
When you hear the executive producer of the new DreamWorks show The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle, Scott Fellows, speak about this cartoon, you can hear the passion that he and the entire cast and crew must have put into it. Gratefully, all that enthusiasm shows up onscreen. From the opening credits to the artistry of backgrounds and the writing, they have crafted a reboot worthy of the fans of the 60s classic.
Sweetbitter Creator Stephanie Danler on Adapting her Award-Winning Novel for TV
Sweetbitter portrays a side of restaurants not often seen in mainstream media—delicate, sensual, feminine. The Starz TV show, based on Stephanie Danler’s award-winning novel of the same name, premiered Sunday, May 6.
As executive producer, Danler trades her lyrical sentences for powerful visuals. States of loneliness, intoxication and longing are portrayed in many ways, though most perceptively on star Ella Purnell’s face, best known for her role in Tim Burton’s Miss Peregrine’s Home For Peculiar Children.
How Avengers: Infinity War’s VFX Animation Director Micro-Managed Thanos’s Facial Expressions
Phil Cramer doesn’t watch films the way most of people do. When the man who directed VFX animation for Avengers: Infinity War goes to the movies, he studies the characters’ cheeks. “I like to stare at the actor’s face and see what moves and why does it move,” he says. “You’d be shocked by how complex those motions are.”
Cramer became a student of twitches, jiggles and wrinkles in 2009, when he served as lead animator on the pioneering motion capture epic Avatar.
