Best of 2023: “Rustin” Screenwriter Julian Breece on Giving a Legend his Due
*It’s our annual “Best of the Year” look back at some of our favorite interviews from the year.
There are countless unsung heroes of the civil rights movement who will never get the recognition they deserve, yet it’s hard to imagine an overlooked figure more central to the cause and more courageous and capacious in spirit than Bayard Rustin. While historians are well aware of the impact Rustin had on the civil rights movement writ large and specifically the March on Washington,
“Rustin” Screenwriter Julian Breece on Giving a Legend his Due
There are countless unsung heroes of the civil rights movement who will never get the recognition they deserve, yet it’s hard to imagine an overlooked figure more central to the cause and more courageous and capacious in spirit than Bayard Rustin. While historians are well aware of the impact Rustin had on the civil rights movement writ large and specifically the March on Washington, most Americans are not.
George C. Wolfe‘s Rustin (in theaters now) offers a course correction.
Filmmaker & TV Creator Mann Robinson on Getting it Done in Georgia
Mann Robinson gets it done. The former rapped-turned-filmmaker and television creator can do it all—write, direct, produce, edit—with a tirelessness that would seem inhuman if he wasn’t so even-keeled about how he approaches his work.
“What’s allowing me to have so many things coming up?” he says when we spoke toward the end of summer, as he took a rare break to chat about his career. “First thing I do in the morning is write whatever project I may be on at the time,
How Skylight Studios Transforms Inaccessible Spaces into Inspiring Locations
What people love, fear and crave are constantly defined by their location. From first noticing the otherworldly star band the Milky Way presents in a clear night sky to reading about CERN potentially ending the world while strapped to an airline seat 10,000 feet above the earth – the location of every moment serves as a lens through which we all see the world. And all those moments stay with us.
For storytellers,
How Camera Specialist Otto Nemenz Helped Make “The Gray Man” & Trains Tomorrow’s Camera Wizards
Did you hold your breath during the heart-stopping, crystal-clear action scenes in the Netflix thriller The Gray Man? You can thank Otto Nemenz and his cameras for that.
For over 40 years, Otto Nemenz International, Inc. in Culver City (and previously Hollywood) has provided digital cinema cameras, lenses, and accessories to motion picture productions across the country. But it’s more than just the top-notch equipment ONI provides that makes this 40+ person operation exceptional.
From “Westworld” to “Perry Mason” – Quixote is a Studio Service Company in Shining Armor
If you spot Star Trailers on the streets of Los Angeles, you may not be surprised to see the Quixote brand on the side. After all, Quixote Studios is the entertainment industry’s premier studio and equipment rental company in Los Angeles. But I bet you didn’t know those trailers are actually suits of shining armor on wheels.
Founded by Mikel Elliott and Jordan Kitaen, Quixote Studios has 24 soundstages throughout the Los Angeles area that are highly sought after by production companies and studios around the country.
Vietnam Filmmakers in Focus: In Conversation With Dr. Ngo Phuong Lan
The Vietnam Film Development Association (VFDA) was established in July 2019 as a national film commission, and its top priority was fostering international collaborations.
With that in mind, we talk to VFDA chairperson Dr. Ngo Phuong Lan, the former director of Vietnam’s Cinema Department and former head of the organizing committee of the Hanoi International Film Festival (HANIFF). She is also a film critic and an author and co-author of seven books, including “
Producer Autumn Bailey-Ford on Making Movies & Shows She Loves in Georgia
Autumn Bailey-Ford has been an independent film and TV producer working out of Georgia for the past 13 years. Originally from York, Pennsylvania, Bailey-Ford has worked her way up from production assistant—that invaluable, multifaceted job that has been the starting point to many successful film careers—to running her own studio…and co-running a second.
“I love film and TV,” Bailey-Ford says, reflecting on a career that began with her daydreaming as a little girl watching Bob Hope and Bing Cosby movies on Turner Movie Classics.
Leading Lawmakers Celebrate the Motion Picture Association’s Centennial
“We are a nation of visionaries,” Vice President Kamala Harris says at the top of her remarks about the Motion Picture Association’s centennial. The Vice President was one of nine leading lawmakers to speak about the centennial and the importance of the MPA’s work advocating on behalf of the film and television industry. “Members of the Motion Picture Association, for a century you have written the lines we will never stop quoting. You have created the images we will never forget.
Telling Stories With Singapore-Based Producer Si En Tan
Singapore-based producer Si En Tan already has an impressive resume in a relatively short career. After working as an assistant producer on Kirsten Tan’s Thai-Singapore co-production Pop Aye (2017), she went on to produce Anthony Chen’s Wet Season (2019), which won a string of awards at film festivals and the Golden Horse Awards held annually in Taiwan. Her producing credits also include Chen’s segment of the seven-part anthology film The Year Of The Everlasting Storm,
Best of 2021: “Spider-Man: No Way Home” Co-Writers Talk Villains, Peter Parker & Changing the Script
This interview is part of our highly subjective, decidedly non-comprehensive “Best of 2021” year-end list. It was originally published on December 20.
Reviewers raved, Twitter went berserk with anticipation and spoilers went (mostly) unleaked as Spider-Man: No Way Home hit theaters this past weekend, making box office history in the process. Third in the trilogy of Tom Holland-headlining Marvel films directed by Jon Watts,
“Hocus Pocus 2” Starts Filming in Rhode Island
When Hocus Pocus was released in 1993, few people probably imagined that years later, as if by occult magic, the Disney film would become a cult classic and a beloved Halloween film. The original movie was directed by Kenny Ortega and starred three very game performers in Bette Midler, Sarah Jessica Parker, and Kathy Najimy as the long-dead Sanderson sisters, a trio who also happened to be witches. The Sanderson Sisters were killed during the Salem Witch Trials in 1692,
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.
“In the Heights” Choreographer Christopher Scott on Dancing in The Streets
When Hamilton creator Lin-Manuel Miranda needed a director to adapt his 2008 stage musical In the Heights for the big screen, he enlisted Jon M. Chu, director of Crazy Rich Asians and mastermind behind Hollywood’s Step Up dance movie franchise. Chu, in turn, picked his go-to choreographer Christopher Scott to create the movie’s elegantly gritty dance sequences, performed to riveting effect by star Anthony Ramos and his castmates.
Op-Ed: A Big Screen Revival is Upon Us
This op-ed is written by Charles Rivkin, Chairman and CEO of the Motion Picture Association, and John Fithian, President and CEO of the National Association of Theatre Owners.
The big screen is back. And like every good Hollywood revival, this one is happening at just the right time.
Defying conventional wisdom, the production of feature films continued, safely and responsibly, throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. That’s no secret to more than 1 billion people around the world who subscribed to streaming services in 2020 to enjoy a steady flow of new TV shows and movies.
Oscar-Nominated Costume Designer Bina Daigeler on Mixing History & Myth in “Mulan”
When director Niki Caro took on Disney’s live-action reboot of Mulan, you knew the New Zealand-born filmmaker was going to deliver something transporting. The original “Ballad of Mulan” was first shared in China in the 6th century, and was then shared again as a Disney animated movie in 1998. In Caro’s hands, the mythology of Mulan becomes a lush live-action epic, buoyant and beautiful, as our titular heroine goes from a headstrong daughter into a fearless warrior fighting to defend China,
Best of 2020: Meet the Background Actors Who Populate HBO’s “Perry Mason” – Part I
We put together our annual “Best Of” list with an eye towards the conversations that weren’t just about our particular area of interest—how films and TV shows are made and the people who make them—but delved into broader discussions that were unavoidable in this historic, often heartbreaking year. These conversations include our chat with Laverne Cox about her role in Netflix’s Disclosure: Trans Lives on Screen, Lovecraft Country cinematographer Michael Watson on filming during a pandemic,
Cinematographer Oliver Bokelberg on Transforming Vancouver Into Montana in “Big Sky”
This article contains light spoilers for previously aired episodes.
Big Sky, David E. Kelley’s new ratings hit for ABC, which was just picked up for another six episodes, juxtaposes Montana’s sweeping vistas with the bleak interior of a locked away trailer, where an unlikely criminal duo is holding three teenaged girls. Based on C.J. Box’s novel “The Highway,” the crime drama sets viewers up with stunning aerial shots of rural Montana before zooming in on run-down bars,
Cinematographer Anthony Dod Mantle on Filming HBO’s “The Undoing” – Part II
As mentioned in Part I of our interview with cinematographer Anthony Dod Mantle, a good many of The Undoing’s settings were shot on location in Manhattan, while the main interiors were built at Kaufman Astoria Studios in Queens. Many of the locations were found in the Upper West Side, something that took some getting used to for Mantle. “We were very true to the Upper West Side, which I actually found hard to embrace because it’s not a world I’m drawn to,” he says,
Cinematographer Anthony Dod Mantle on Filming HBO’s “The Undoing” – Part I
When Nicole Kidman first began reading scripts for HBO’s hugely popular limited series from David E. Kelley, The Undoing, among the first things she noticed was intense scenes in which her very interior character said little, and gives away even less. When she wondered aloud about how best to handle such performances for the camera, director Susanne Bier simply replied, “I’ve got ideas.”
The limited series follows Grace (Kidman) and Jonathan Fraser (Grant),
