“No Time To Die” Costume Designer Suttirat Anne Larlarb on Dressing Bond’s Allies & Adversaries

In part one of our conversation with No Time To Die costume designer Suttirat Anne Larlarb, we focused on the tall order of outfitting Daniel Craig for his fifth and final assignment as James Bond. In part two, we turn our attention to the allies and adversaries that populate Bond’s world, including two new agents, the love of his life, and a scarred sociopath who has designed a weapon that—spoiler alert—forces Bond to make the ultimate sacrifice. 

“No Time To Die” Costume Designer Suttirat Anne Larlarb on Building the Apex Tuxedo

“Before Daniel, the Bond style, which was always very definitive, was being worn by someone who was more of a superhero character,” says No Time To Die costume designer Suttirat Anne Larlarb about the tall order of outfitting Daniel Craig for his fifth and final assignment as James Bond. “We didn’t really get the emotional landscape. We got the look, we got the icon, but we didn’t delve that much deeper. Daniel is a consummate actor and I really felt this responsibly to be able to costume him in a way that would live up to that Bond stratosphere,

The Legendary Sidney Poitier Has Passed Away at 94

The iconic Bahamian-American actor Sidney Poitier has passed away at 94, Bahamian news outlets reported Friday. His death was confirmed by Eugene Torchon-Newry, the acting director general of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in the Bahamas. No other details have been provided yet.

Poitier broke a slew of barriers in Hollywood during his long, legendary career, including, in 1964, becoming the first Black man to win the Oscar for best actor. Poitier’s career was filled with many such firsts and his impact on both Hollywood and the culture at large was seismic.

“Station Eleven” Costume Designer Helen Huang on a Post-Pandemic World Filled with Art & Humanity

In times of fear, great loss, and regression in civilized society, creativity and culture will still blossom. This is not only the hopeful message of Station Eleven but also a truth about our world, proven by the fact that the show exists at all. The production team for HBO’s post-pandemic miniseries was a few episodes in when life began to imitate art, and art began springing up everywhere.

“You think about our pandemic,

Best of 2021: Director Barry Jenkins Mixes Beauty and Brutality in “The Underground Railroad”

This interview is part of our highly subjective, decidedly non-comprehensive “Best of 2021” year-end list. It was originally published on May 12. 

The Underground Railroad has been a long time coming in Barry Jenkins‘ imagination. As a kid growing up in Miami’s rough Liberty City neighborhood, the writer-director pictured literal railroad tracks running beneath the earth. Fast forward to 2014, when Jenkins thrilled to Colson Whitehead’s Pulitzer Prize-winning novel and secured adaptation rights even before he’d finished promoting his Oscar-winning Moonlight movie.

Best of 2021: Mixing History & Modernity in the Costumes of “The Harder They Fall”

This interview is part of our highly subjective, decidedly non-comprehensive “Best of 2021” year-end list. It was originally published on November 2.

The Harder They Fall, Netflix’s addition to the world of Westerns from director-writer Jeymes Samuel, is not a monochromatic throwback set on the dusty frontier. Honoring the names of historical characters like Nat Love (Jonathan Majors) and Stagecoach Mary (Zazie Beetz) while leaving most of their actual histories behind,

Best of 2021: “Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings” Breakout Star Meng’er Zhang on her Knockout Debut

This interview is part of our highly subjective, decidedly non-comprehensive “Best of 2021” year-end list. It was originally published on December 1. 

From the second she enters the frame, Xialing radiates a younger sibling’s mixture of hurt and defiance at the brother who abandoned her. Yet Xialing is no longer a little girl, and as the daughter of the crime boss and formidable, superpowered martial arts master Wenwu, she’s become everything her older brother—Shang-Chi—was meant to be.

“Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings” Breakout Star Meng’er Zhang on her Knockout Debut

From the second she enters the frame, Xialing radiates a younger sibling’s mixture of hurt and defiance at the brother who abandoned her. Yet Xialing is no longer a little girl, and as the daughter of the crime boss and formidable, superpowered martial arts master Wenwu, she’s become everything her older brother—Shang-Chi—was meant to be. Only unlike her brother, she wasn’t handpicked as Wenwu’s successor, and her training to become an unparalleled martial arts expert and assassin was done on the sly.

How Vietnamese Filmmaker Bui Kim Quy Faced Death, Real & Imagined, in Her Film “Memoryland”

When her second film Memoryland held its world premiere at the Busan International Film Festival’s New Currents competition last month, Vietnamese director Bui Kim Quy had to give it a miss due to her health conditions.

“I was diagnosed with lung cancer after the shoot wrapped in late 2018. Since then I have been undergoing treatment (which also explains why we had a drawn-out post-production). This pre-existing medical condition prevented me from getting the vaccines.

How “The Harder They Fall” Hair Department Head Araxi Lindsey Put History to Work

There are plenty of recognizable names in The Harder They Fall. For his Western epic, director-writer Jeymes Samuel references historical figures like mail carrier Mary Fields, cowboy Nat Love, outlaw Rufus Buck, sharpshooter Bill Pickett, and lawman Bass Reeves. In Samuel’s modern update, however, the film’s characters align with their historical reference points’ careers (with the exception of Mary, now a saloon owner), but otherwise, the story is all new.

Upon learning that Rufus Buck (Idris Elba) is being transported from prison,

“Encanto” Writer/Director Charise Castro Smith On Breaking Boundaries

With the release of Disney’s Encanto, Charise Castro Smith (The Haunting of Hill House, Devious Maids) has broken through not one but two ceilings: as the first Latina to receive a directing credit on a Disney animated feature, and only the second woman ever to do so.

“I am glad this milestone has been reached. I wish it had been reached earlier and I wish this weren’t such a small club,” said Castro Smith,

“Sort Of” Co-Creator/Writer/Director Fab Filippo on This Groundbreaking New HBO Max Series

When you start watching the groundbreaking new HBO Max series Sort Of (debuting on HBO Max November 18), you might imagine that it’s yet another precocious-Millennial-auteur-driven show, starring its own creator/writer. After all, Sort Of’s real-life creator/writer/star, Bilal Baig, is a stylish, non-binary, Pakistani denizen of queer Toronto – just like Sabi Mehboob, the lead character they play in Sort Of.

As the story unfolds over eight episodes,

“Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings” Stunt Coordinator Andy Cheng on That Epic Bus Fight

Along with the rise of visual effects, old-school practical effects, the actual exploits of human beings creating incredible spectacles in real-time and real space, have also become near to magic. From Bruce Lee to Simu Liu, star of Marvel’s Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, and every Matt Damon, Scarlett Johansson, Tom Cruise, and Daniel Craig in between, fight sequences, car chases, and action scenes of truly epic proportions have become high art.

Mixing History & Modernity in the Costumes of “The Harder They Fall”

The Harder They Fall, Netflix’s addition to the world of Westerns from director-writer Jeymes Samuel, is not a monochromatic throwback set on the dusty frontier. Honoring the names of historical characters like Nat Love (Jonathan Majors) and Stagecoach Mary (Zazie Beetz) while leaving most of their actual histories behind, the film is centered around a complicated, fictional rivalry between two outlaw gangs seeking revenge and vying for control of a frontier town called Redwood.

How the Motion Picture Association & the Asia Pacific Screen Academy Offers Crucial Support to Emerging Filmmakers

This story initially appeared on the Motion Picture Association’s Asia Pacific website.

What does a story about an Indonesian schoolgirl with big dreams, a tale of a modern-day pilgrim searching for a place to call home, and an account of two miners from Vietnam confronting the ghosts of the past have in common? The answer: All are exciting new feature film projects developed with the support of the Motion Picture Association and Asia Pacific Screen Academy Film Fund.

Cinematographer Kira Kelly on The Dark & Desperate World of “Y: The Last Man”

Y: The Last Man kicked off the fall TV season with a dramatic debut. Based on the DC Comics series, the show chronicles families in mourning, supply chains upended, and a democracy dominated by men dismantled when every person born with a Y chromosome suddenly dies. It’s a shocking and abrupt event that leaves a mystery behind when Yorick Brown (Ben Schnetzer) realizes he is the only one left of his kind.

Director Kay Cannon on Bringing the Modern & the Funny to “Cinderella”

With her hilarious and critically acclaimed feature-directing debut Blockers, Kay Cannon expanded her renown beyond being the writer of the Pitch Perfect blockbuster franchise and writer/producer on hit shows like 30 Rock, New Girl, and Girl Boss. Cinderella, which premiered in theaters and on Prime Video this past September 3rd, is her sophomore release as director and looks like another crowd-pleasing hit.

Vietnamese Filmmaker Le Binh Giang on His New Film “Who Created Human Beings” and Vietnam’s Growing Film Industry

Despite strict travel restrictions imposed against the ongoing pandemic, Vietnamese director Le Binh Giang made it in-person to Switzerland’s Locarno Film Festival. He traveled from Vietnam, along with his Vietnamese producer Le Quynh Anh, to present his latest project Who Created Human Beings at the festival’s international co-production platform Open Doors Hub, which ran from August 6-10.

The new project, which touches on local sensitive issues such as abortion and religion,

Twisting the Natural Hair of “Candyman” from Art Chic to Dark Terror

Can having great hair protect you from a monster in the mirror who cuts down his victims at the mention of his name a mere five times? There’s evidence in the new Candyman that it can. Department head hairstylist Jessi Dean stepped elegantly into the glossy art world of Anthony McCoy (Yahya Abdul-Mateen II) and Brianna Cartwright (Teyonah Parris). The killer begins as a mere myth, but hair and terror intertwine as the rumors prove true and the slayings mount.

How “Candyman” Composer Robert Aiki Aubrey Lowe Manipulated Madness Into Music

It’s hard to believe that someone as soft-spoken as Brooklyn musician Robert Aiki Aubrey Lowe could be responsible for the dread-inducing soundscape that underscores the return of cinema’s most horrific throat-slashing boogeyman. And yet, that’s exactly what Lowe has achieved in his score for Candyman (opening Aug. 27). The film, from co-writer/director Nia DaCosta and co-writer/producer Jordan Peele, updates the original 1992 horror movie by tracking artist Anthony (Yahya Abdul-Mateen II) as he tries to wrap his bee-stung arms around the mysterious re-emergence of the murderous Candyman in Chicago’s newly gentrified Cabrini Green neighborhood.