Director Yorgos Lanthimos and Writer Will Tracy on the Blurred Morality of “Bugonia”
The title of Yorgos Lanthimos’s newest psychological thriller, Bugonia, refers to an ancient Greek belief that bees are born from the corpses of cows. In the film, protagonist Teddy (Jesse Plemons) keeps bees, but it’s a minor hobby compared to his main passion, which, as it develops on-screen, is as curious, revolting, and belief-beggaring as bugonia’s original ancient meaning. Teddy is absolutely certain that Earth is under the control of an alien race called the Andromedans,
“A House of Dynamite” Scribe Noah Oppenheim on His Real-Time Nuclear Thriller’s Emotional Stakes & Shocking Ending
Spoilers below.
News veteran turned Hollywood scribe Noah Oppenheim (Jackie, Zero Day) has penned a new edge-of-your-seat thriller in A House of Dynamite, a cautionary tale about nuclear weapons and those in charge of them. Helmed by Oscar-winner Kathryn Bigelow (The Hurt Locker, Zero Dark Thirty),
Inside Netflix’s “The Twits”: Writer/Director Phil Johnston on Empathy, Evil, and Adapting Roald Dahl
Writer/director Phil Johnston, known for his work on Zootopia and the Wreck-It Ralph features, says. “Every character I’ve ever truly connected to has been on the outside looking in. Outcasts, dirtbags, and weirdos are my people.” It seems appropriate, then, that he brought beloved weirdo-specialist Roald Dahl’s book “The Twits” to the big screen. He took Dahl’s story of two hateful people, expanded it,
“Roofman” Writer/Director Derek Cianfrance on Casting Real People from Jeffrey Manchester’s Incredible True Story
The real story behind co-screenwriter and director Derek Cianfrance’s new feature Roofman (co-written with Kirt Gunn) is almost too bizarre to believe. In the late 1990s, North Carolina, a financially strapped father and army veteran, Jeffrey Manchester, broke into 45 McDonald’s locations by cutting through their roofs at night, robbing the employees at gunpoint in the morning. He gained the nickname Roofman, but was also famously very polite and kind to the employees,
Inside “Weapons”: Zach Cregger on Atlanta Crews, Practical Effects, and That Haunting Opening
Weapons became one of the year’s most acclaimed box office hits, and while the film’s success was certainly by design, it still surprised writer/director Zach Cregger. Cregger knows how to craft a movie that gets under your skin—his last film, Barbarian, was one of 2022’s most unsettling and surprising films, not even he could have predicted that Weapons would become a pop culture phenomenon.
The story Cregger presents in his new film is deceptively simple;
Novelist & Screenwriter Charlie Huston on Preserving the Raw Truth of “Caught Stealing” With Darren Aronofsky
In 2008, author Charlie Huston and filmmaker Darren Aronofsky had breakfast. The filmmaker was interested in adapting the author’s debut novel, “Caught Stealing,” the first entry in the Hank Thompson trilogy. The collaboration didn’t come to pass.
In 2022, Huston revisited the script they wrote for Caught Stealing, which tells the story of Hank (Austin Butler), a former baseball star and now an alcoholic bartender, caught in the crossfire of criminals chasing a bag of dirty money.
“Wicked” and “Wicked: For Good” Screenwriter Dana Fox on Her Magical Musical Theater Homecoming
Screenwriter Dana Fox made a pact with director Jon M. Chu. After working with Chu on her Apple TV+ series, Home Before Dark, she told him she would sign up for a project with him, no matter what, with no questions asked. She was as serious as a witch, if you’ll pardon the pun.
“I told him at the end of that previous job that I will drop anything,
“The Roses” Director Jay Roach & Writer Tony McNamara On Benedict Cumberbatch & Olivia Colman’s Comedic Chemistry
Director and producer Jay Roach, known for making some of the most iconic comedies of the last 25 years, is now helming a reimagining of another classic with The Roses. Written by two-time Oscar-nominee Tony McNamara, The Roses is a fresh take on Danny DeVito’s classic 1989 movie The War of the Roses.
While the original boasted the iconic pairing of Michael Douglas and Kathleen Turner,
How “The Naked Gun” Writers Dan Gregor & Doug Mand Got Liam Neeson & Pamela Anderson to Embrace Absurdity
Macho cop teams with gorgeous mystery woman to stop evil tech mogul from destroying the world: The plot’s perfectly functional for an action-thriller, but it’s the jokes, not the story, that have pushed The Naked Gun to the biggest action comedy opening of 2025. Writers Dan Gregor and Doug Mand (Crazy Ex-Girlfriend), working with director/co-writer Akiva Schaffer, furnished stars Liam Neeson and Pamela Anderson with a firehose of silliness encompassing sight gags,
“The Naked Gun” Writer/Director Akiva Schaffer’s Dead Serious Mission to Resurrect the Spoof Comedy
The Naked Gun director Akiva Schaffer is on a quest to bring people back to the movie theaters to laugh—hysterically, if he’s done his job right—and, while he’s at it, to bring the filmmaking process back to Los Angeles as much as possible.
His franchise revival stars Liam Neeson as Detective Frank Drebin Jr., the son of Leslie Nielsen’s iconic Police Squad cop, tasked with solving a murder and saving his department from shutting down.
“Minted” Director Nicholas Bruckman on Spending Two Years Following Digital Artists Through NFT Heaven & Hell
Nicholas Bruckman has built a distinctive career that bridges documentary filmmaking with commercial storytelling, following his instincts and his passions on projects big and small. The New York-based director has participated in prestigious labs, including the Rotterdam Producers Lab and the IFP Cannes Producers Fellowship, and the Sloan Foundation, Cinereach, and other notable organizations support his work. Through his company People’s Television, he regularly produces branded films for major clients including Airbnb,
“Eddington” Writer/Director Ari Aster on Bringing His Pandemic-Era Neo-Western Thriller Home to New Mexico
Writer/director Ari Aster broke new ground with Eddington in that it’s the first of his films to be shot where it was intended to be set. Both happen to be in his native state of New Mexico, where production created over 300 jobs.
Set in 2020 at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, the neo-Western satirical black comedy reunites him with his Beau Is Afraid lead,
“The Diplomat” Creator Debora Cahn on Refusing to Write Easy Villains in a World of Hard Choices
For Deborah Cahn, the journey from The West Wing to Netflix’s The Diplomat began with a simple encounter that revealed the extraordinary lives hidden within the foreign service. The former West Wing writer spent years cultivating relationships with real diplomats, ambassadors, and State Department officials, learning first-hand how complex the world of international politics was, and how much it demanded of the individuals who dedicated their lives to it.
“Part Debate Club and Part Therapy”: Inside “The Pitt” Writers’ Room With Cynthia Adarkwa & Valerie Chu
HBO’s The Pitt emerged as one of television’s most gripping medical dramas in years by doing something deceptively simple yet extraordinarily difficult: following a single, brutal 15-hour shift in a Pittsburgh emergency room in real time. What made the series so compelling wasn’t just its relentless intensity or unflinching medical realism (the “floating face” fracture in episode 2 will haunt my dreams), but how writers like Valerie Chu and Cynthia Adarkwa managed to weave deeply human character arcs through the chaos of trauma bays and life-or-death decisions.
From Maya Files to Magic: How Hollywood Creatives Help Build Epic Universe’s Immersive Worlds
Almost a decade in the making, Epic Universe at Universal Orlando Resort in Florida is a groundbreaking theme park that highlights the shared DNA between filmmaking, attractions, and immersive real-world experiences, taking audiences and guests on a cinematic journey.
Three of the five worlds that make up Epic Universe are born out of IPs that have graced both the big and small screens, namely The Wizarding World of Harry Potter – Ministry of Magic,
“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.
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,
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,
Behind Netflix’s “The Four Seasons”: How “30 Rock” Veterans Lang Fisher & Tracey Wigfield Reimagined a Classic With Tina Fey
Adapted from the classic romantic comedy of the same name, Tina Fey, Lang Fisher, and Tracey Wigfield‘s The Four Seasons is a contemporary take on a tale as middle-aged as time: the highs and lows of evolving friendships and relationships between friends who have reached the middle innings of life.
The original film was written and directed by Alan Alda and co-starred Alda and Carol Burnett, and it was one of 1981’s biggest box office hits.
“Connecticut’s Cinema Secret: How Dillon Bentlage’s “Watching Mr. Pearson” Found Its Perfect Location
Dementia was part of writer-director Dillon Bentlage’s family, his grandmother struggling with its early stages before passing away from cancer. Watching Mr. Pearson is a love letter to those living with symptoms and the people around them wanting to give them their best life. The feature stars Hugo Armstrong as Robert Pearson, a former Hollywood legend battling mental decline. When one of his caregivers, Caroline (Dominika Zawada), finds out that performing scenes from his film work gives him new life,
