This past weekend at the Governors Awards in Los Angeles, Tom Cruise received his first Oscar and delivered an emotional speech about the role that film has in his life. “Making films is not what I do, it is who I am,” Cruise said, and few could argue with the statement. When Cruise took to the stage, the man to greet him there was visionary Mexican filmmaker Alejandro González Iñárritu, who said, “This may be his first Oscar, but from what I have seen and experienced, it will not be his last.” Iñárritu might have some inside knowledge, considering he’s directing Cruise in his next film, the still untitled 2026 action movie that will be Cruise’s first original film in nearly a decade. This week, Cruise took to social media to reveal just a little about his upcoming project, an image from set.
Today, I share the first photo taken last year during a rehearsal on the set of my new film with Alejandro G. Iñárritu.
Cruise has spent the last decade working on legacy films for characters he developed years ago—2018’s Mission: Impossible – Fallout continued Cruise’s turn as superspy Ethan Hunt. He followed that with 2022’s Top Gun: Maverick, which was, of course, a continuation of his star-making turn as Pete Mitchell in 1986’s original Top Gun. Two more Mission: Impossible films followed—2023’s Dead Reckoningand 2025’s The Final Reckoning. You’d have to go back to Doug Liman’s 2017 film American Made for Cruise’s last role in an original movie, when he played Barry Seal, an American pilot who became a drug-runner for the CIA in the 1980s. All this makes his upcoming collaboration with Iñárritu so intriguing, as it’s an entirely original film co-written and directed by Iñárritu.
So what’s it about? The little we know is this simple logline: “The most powerful man in the world causes a disaster and embarks on a mission to prove that he is the savior of humanity.” Okay, sounds Cruise-ian for sure. Yet Iñárritu is a director known for cutting close to the bone, exploring themes of interconnectedness and human struggle, often deploying complex, non-linear narratives. While the set-up for the new film might sound like standard action fare, with Iñárritu at the helm, that seems unlikely.
The cast, too, offers clues to how rich this film could be. Cruise is joined by the stellar German actress Sandra Hüller, who was recently nominated for an Oscar in 2024 for her incredible performance in Anatomy of a Fall. The cast also includes stellar performers like Riz Ahmed, Emma D’Arcy, and John Goodman.
Cruise will be plenty busy in the years ahead. Some of his work will be familiar—Top Gun 3 is likely—but more, perhaps, will be new films now that his running days, at least as Ethan Hunt, appear to be over. He’s working again with Doug Liman on a movie called Deeper, co-starring Ana de Armas, that will be, appropriately, an underwater action thriller. Considering he spent a good portion of The Final Reckoning tumbling around inside a submarine, he’s more than prepared.
Featured image: Mexican director Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu (R) listens as US actor producer Tom Cruise accepts his Honorary Academy Award on stage during the 16th Governors Awards at the Ray Dolby Ballroom at Ovation Hollywood in Los Angeles on November 16, 2025. (Photo by Michael Tran / AFP)
If John Wick had a Finnish uncle, it would probably be Aatami Korpi (Jorma Tommila) from writer-director Jalmari Helander’s sleeper hit SISU (2022). In those events, the unspoken, never say die ex-soldier unearths gold in his war-torn country only to fend off German officers trying to steal it, killing hundreds in the process and earning him the moniker sisu. (The Finnish word roughly translates to “unyielding courage in the face of impossible odds.”)
Korpi now returns in SISU: Road to Revenge, set in 1946 at the close of World War II. After Finland ceded part of its eastern border to the Soviet Union, thousands are forced to resettle on the Finnish side. A narrator grimly notes, “Most would never see home again.” The exception – Aatami – who passes through a Soviet border station on his way back to his log cabin, where his family, including two sons, were brutally murdered. In their memory, he dismantles the cabin piece by piece, determined to rebuild a future. When Soviet generals learn of his reappearance, they scheme to have him killed, setting off seven chapters of unrelenting chaos and vengeance (and a little bit of hope).
When asked if the story was purposely structured around the number seven, a symbol of good luck, Helander tells The Credits the idea came serendipitously. “I didn’t have the chapter idea when I was shooting the first one. It came in the edit, and it happened to be seven, so I wanted to repeat that in the second one.”
The first chapter reintroduces us to Aatami collecting family memories. It is here we meet an extension of his character: the battered truck he drives. “We were thinking and talking a lot about that, and from the very beginning, I knew I wanted a lot of motor sounds in the film. It should sound and feel like the smell of gasoline,” says Helander while in Bangkok during prep for his next feature, John Rambo. “So we spent quite a lot of time building those sounds. I think the truck itself is a beautiful thing. It’s almost like a character in the film.”
L-r: Writer/director Jalmari Helander and Jorma Tommila. Courtesy Sony Pictures.
In the following chapter, we meet Igor Draganov (Stephen Lang), the hired gun seeking Soviet revenge. By making the antagonist equally strong yet menacing, the director added a touch of sadness to his persona. “He basically doesn’t have a home either, and he’s probably been an orphan himself. And he notices that the government has started to use him as a tool, and he’s been doing a lot of bad stuff in his life. I don’t think he’s happy about it either, but that’s his life,” says the director.
L-r: Stephen Lang and L-r: Writer/director Jalmari Helander. Courtesy Sony Pictures.
The following three chapters see the action take off – mercenaries, motorbikes, and tanks – threaten to take Aatami’s life at every turn. In crafting the suspense, Helander teamed with cinematographer Mika Orasmaa (Bordertown, Doctor Who), creating a camera language that felt like panels in a comic book, starting wide and moving closer to the action. “I like to start with wide shots because I love open spaces. They’re like an empty canvas on which I can put things,” the director says. “I also like to do it because it’s really simple to understand. The wide shot explains the whole thing, and then we start to make it in pieces.”
Estonia doubled as post–World War II Finland, its vast landscapes and tree-lined countryside capturing the desolate tone filmmakers envisioned. Within this setting unfolds one of the most technical (and explosive) sequences where a squadron of Soviet fighter aircraft hunts Aatami. Desperate to escape, he speeds into an abandoned shelter but it offers little protection as a barrage of bombs rains down. Production was able to find an existing practical location for the fiery scene but it came at a cost. “We bought the house from the owner, but when he realized it’s because of a movie, he wanted, of course, more money,” says the director. “It became pretty expensive but I’m glad we did it because it looks good when you do things for real.”
Just as Aatami pushes the limits of survival, the director pushed his own limits behind the camera. Makeup artist Salla Yli-Luopa turns a moment of torture visceral. “What Aatmai goes through I think actually went too far. I had to take a couple steps back in a few places because I wanted to find the limit,” admits Helander. “Even though I can imagine most people thinking I wouldn’t have a limit but I do. I was looking at the monitor and I was like, ‘What are we doing?’ Let’s take a couple steps back and do something else.” The intensity of the scene punctuates the immeasurable strength and will of Aatami.
While the pulse of the action climaxes in Chapter 6, the final chapter displays its heart. Asked if the SISU book is closed, Helander says, “It might be. I’m most proud of the end scene. When I had the idea for it I knew it would elevate this film to a different level. It was also a difficult scene to edit. There was so much good material going on and we had to find the best way to do it.” If this is the end – at least we can all share in Aatami’s smile.
SISU: Road to Revenge makes its way into theaters on November 21.
The first reactions to Jon M. Chu‘s Wicked: For Goodwere stellar when we reported on them back in late September. Now, the embargo for full-scale reviews has been lifted, and the critics have spoken. Chu and his team, most crucially his two mega-stars, Cynthia Erivo as Elphaba and Ariana Grande as Glinda, have stuck the landing—Wicked: For Good is being hailed by most critics as even better and more emotionally resonant than the critically acclaimed blockbuster that preceded it.
By now you know the story—the musical is centered on the surprising friendship between Erivo’s green-skinned, wrongly outcast Elphaba and Grande’s impossibly popular Glinda. The first film, which bowed in November of 2024, was mostly set at Shiz University, where the two young witches met, and boasted some of the musical’s most iconic songs, including the showstopping “Defying Gravity,” which detailed how Elphaba and Glinda were decidedly taking different paths. Wicked enjoyed 10 Oscar nominations, winning two—for Paul Tazewell’s costume design and Nathan Crowley’s production design.
L to R: Cynthia Erivo is Elphaba and Ariana Grande is Glinda in WICKED, directed by Jon M. Chu
The sequel, Wicked: For Good, once again boasts a script from Winnie Holzman, writer of the original Broadway play, and Dana Fox. When we spoke to Fox about her experience expanding the world of the musical into a two-part cinematic epic, she told us that Holzman and composer Stephen Schwartz, also one of the key creatives from the musical, were incredibly open about explaining, or re-interpreting, even the smallest details. “It was these weird little nuances that helped me get much more inside the story,” Fox told us. “And then I spent a lot of time asking them what Elphaba’s magic actually was. Can she do anything besides levitate? Is it only spells? Does she need a spell to do something? Is her magic out of her control in the beginning because she isn’t emotionally in control? That’s the kind of worldbuilding you have to do when you make a really big movie that you don’t necessarily have to do on the stage.” When Fox watched both films back-to-back, she had this to say: “By the end of the day, I was like a shell of a person who had to be swept off the floor – makeup all over, mascara, sweating, weeping, joyful, happy, singing. It was all of the emotions.”
L to R: Cynthia Erivo (as Elphaba), Ariana Grande (as Glinda), and Director Jon M. Chu on the set of WICKED FOR GOOD.
For Good finds Grande’s “Glinda the Good” falling under the manipulation of the Wizard (Jeff Goldblum) and Madame Morrible (Michelle Yeoh), while Elphaba, now an outcast, begins to embrace her reputation as the “Wicked Witch of the West.” When we spoke to Chu about his approach to taking on the musical as a two-part film, he said, “All fear of mistakes was off the table. We were so confident in trusting our instincts and knowing that we could always go back if it were a mistake, but we were able to stretch the boundaries of what this story could be.”
The Guardian‘s Peter Bradshaw writes, “What a performance from Erivo; it is genuinely moving when the Prince has to convince Elphaba what we, the audience, have always known: that she is beautiful.”
While Variety‘s Peter Debruge says, “The film fixes a common complaint of the show, giving the pair more scenes (and songs) together in this final stretch, which now feels like a robust tale unto itself.”
The Hollywood Reporter‘s David Rooney pens, “Grande floods it with so much feeling that it humanizes and enriches the character and, by extension, the whole movie.”
And Newsweek‘s Billie Melissa says, ” Its sincerity, heart, and belief in a better world are inspiring, and Grande and Erivo deliver the message flawlessly, bringing us into their warm embrace to comfort and inspire.”
For Good doesn’t boast blockbuster songs like “Defying Gravity,” but it does have Erivo and Grande, and maestro Stephen Schwartz, and the mix of still beloved songs from the stage and two new original numbers should be more than enough to satiate the music-obsessed. Those new original numbers are “No Place Like Home,” sung by Erivo’s Elphaba, and “The Girl in the Bubble,” performed by Grande’s Glinda. Both tracks are penned by Schwartz, who composes alongside John Powell.
Let’s have a peek at some of the reviews. Wicked: For Good will enchant theaters on November 21.
‘Wicked: For Good’ Review: Cynthia Erivo Remains Stellar, but a Radiant Ariana Grande Owns the Continuation of Jon M. Chu’s Musical Marathon https://t.co/xTcfMFrURi
I spoke w/Jon M. Chu at the SCAD Film Festival just yesterday in front of a very enthusiastic crowd! Now I can finally share that I’ve seen Wicked: For Good and he’s done it again! It’s gorgeous, full of heart, and sticks the landing. A beautiful finale. pic.twitter.com/fjn33WML2C
#WickedForGood Review: The thrillifying follow-up to last year’s incomplete musical hit fixes flaws in the Broadway show’s second act, elevating Cynthia Erivo, while sharpening its critique of those who lead by deception.
Get ready because #WickedForGood exceeds all expectations. Jon M. Chu is a genius in the way he brings this to a close. Elphaba and Glinda’s stories are expanded, and leave you with an emotional gut punch at the end. Cynthia Erivo is magnificent, but get ready for Ariana Grande… pic.twitter.com/rozw66JyEo
WICKED: FOR GOOD is quite a bit better than the first WICKED, and Ariana Grande’s surprisingly moving performance is a big reason why. https://t.co/AmX9HZdYOM
Thank goodness! As a longtime fan of the stage musical, WICKED: FOR GOOD is nearly everything I could’ve hoped for in a cinematic adaptation of Act II. You can feel Jon M. Chu’s passion radiate throughout, as the gorgeous costumes, highly detailed makeup, and fantastical… pic.twitter.com/cqY2UGbr7o
.@jonmchu’s #WickedForGood is a sensational spectacular – a genuine showstopper improving on the stage show. A magical film for our times. Ariana Grande & Cynthia Erivo deliver radically resonant & celebratory performances. Costume & production design are dazzling. I wept! 💚💖 pic.twitter.com/0bhqcnwZoo
Nintendo and Sony have revealed the first look at their live-action The Legend of Zelda. The image features Bo Bragason as Princess Zelda and Benjamin Evan Ainsworth as the young swordsman Link. The adaptation of Nintendo’s iconic game is directed by Wes Ball (Maze Runner, Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes) from a script by Derek Connolly and T.S. Nowlin. The photo highlights the production’s dedication to authenticity, capturing details from the game—right down to the characters’ pointed ears and fantasy-inspired costumes.
Nintendo’s Shigeru Miyamoto, the legendary video game designer, is producing the film. “I am pleased to announce that for the live-action film of The Legend of Zelda, Zelda will be played by Bo Bragason-san, and Link by Benjamin Evan Ainsworth-san,” Miyamoto said earlier this year. “I am very much looking forward to seeing both of them on the big screen.”
Bragason, a British actress, has appeared in Disney+’s Renegade Nell, BBC One’s Three Girls and The Jetty, and Euros Lyn’s vampire comedy The Radleys. Ainsworth, also British, voiced the title role in Robert Zemeckis’ Pinocchio, portrayed Miles in Netflix’s The Haunting of Bly Manor, and appeared in The Sandman. He currently stars in the Canadian comedy Son of a Critch.
Nintendo’s “The Legend of Zelda” remains one of the most celebrated and best-selling video games ever made. With Wes Ball’s reputation for large-scale, emotionally grounded action and a fanbase eager to see this world come to life, the film has the potential to become a fantasy epic on the big screen. The Legend of Zelda opens in theaters on May 7, 2027.
For more upcoming films from Sony Pictures, check out these stories:
The first look at Disney’s live-action Moana has taken to the high seas with a new swashbuckling trailer. Dwayne Johnson returns as Maui—now in the flesh after having voiced the character in the original 2016 animated blockbuster and the 2024 sequel Moana 2. He’s joined by Catherine Laga‘aia as the titular character (previously voiced by Auli‘i Cravalho), the adventurous teenager who, with Maui’s help, sets off on a daring quest to save her island home and her people.
“I’m really excited to embrace this character because Moana is one of my favorites,” said 17-year-old Laga‘aia in a statement. “My grandfather comes from Fa‘aala, Palauli, in Savai‘i. And my grandmother is from Leulumoega Tuai on the main island of ‘Upolu in Samoa. I’m honored to have an opportunity to celebrate Samoa and all Pacific Island peoples, and to represent young girls who look like me.”
Moana’s father, Chief Tui, is played by John Tui, while Moana’s mother, Sina, is played by Frankie Adams. Rena Owen plays Gramma Tala. Thomas Kail (Hamilton) directs the live-action film from a script by original Moana scribe Jared Bush and Moana 2 screenwriter Dana Ledoux Miller. Lin-Manuel Miranda, one of the co-composers on the original alongside Opetaia Foa’i and Mark Mancina, returns as producer, while Mancina returns as composer.
The live-action Moana will set sail in theaters on July 10, 2026. Check out the trailer below.
For more stories on 20th Century Studios, Searchlight Pictures, Marvel Studios an,d what’s streaming or coming to
The Train Dreams (now in theaters; streaming on Netflix, November 21) story ends in 1968, but the film about the fictitious logger and railroad worker Robert Grainier chimes with contemporary echoes. Grainier, played by Joel Edgerton, sees a Chinese immigrant being wrestled to the ground by bigots and thrown off a train trestle. He sees a wildfire ravage lives and landscapes in the Pacific Northwest. He helps saw down centuries-old trees in the name of progress. In dramatizing themes both timeless and timely, director Clint Bentley teamed with cinematographer Adolpho Veloso to adapt Denis Johnson’s seminal 2011 novella, populating the pristine Pacific Northwest settings with hardy souls brought to life by a cast that includes Felicity Jones, Kerry Condon, and William H. Macy.
Brazilian-born Veloso, who operates the camera himself and earned a 2022 American Society of Cinematographers nomination for his earlier collaboration with Bentley, Jockey, modestly shares credit for Train Dreams’ majestic visuals by praising the virtues of simplicity. “Most of the time, there’s nothing that beats a real location with natural light at the right time of day with the right actors,” he says. “If you have that combination, I feel like not getting in the way is the wisest thing to do.”
During a recent visit to Los Angeles, Veloso, who now lives in Lisbon, Portugal, discusses finding inspiration in Depression-era photographer Dorothea Lange, coaxing cinematic power from “golden hour” light, and scouring the state of Washington for locations seemingly untouched by modern civilization.
Nature plays a starring role in this film as you follow the hero’s journey, which begins in 1917, against the spectacular backdrops of the Pacific Northwest. Which artists inspired your approach to the cinematography?
Clint and I thought about [Russian filmmaker] Andrei Tarkovsky, especially [1975 drama] Mirror. But we also talked about Dorothea Lange’s photographs, especially the ones she took during the Great Depression. Because of the way she found beauty in details and the way she framed faces with a lot of headroom. Lange showed what was happening around those characters. We wanted to convey the same kind of thing here.
The more conventional way to showcase epic landscapes would probably be to film with a wide screen format, but you chose an almost box-like frame. How did you arrive at the 3:20 aspect ratio?
We looked at old photographs of logging from that [1920s] era, and that sparked the idea of using the 3:20 aspect ratio. Memories, I think, are associated with the aspect ratio that you find in old photos, or even new photos on your phone. We used that to convey the feeling that you’re looking through memories and putting together a life through those images.
The boxy frame appears to have ample “headroom,” allowing nature to coexist with your human characters.
The conversation with Clint was always about finding an interesting way to portray nature, so one way to do that was to shoot nature as if it were another character in the movie. That’s why a lot of over-the-shoulder shots have so much headroom. We wanted to show how tall those trees are, and we wanted to show the sky.
The locations play a significant role in defining the different chapters of this tale. How did you go about finding these places?
We had so many textures – trees that fell, areas that felt devastated, places where trees had been cut and cut and cut — but we also needed idyllic places where Joel’s character and his wife [Felicity Jones] built their cabin [overlooking a stream]. A big part of pre-production meant endless driving all over Washington State to find those perfect spots that were kind of production-friendly. Sometimes not that much [laughing]. And because we shot everything on location, that helped with our approach to lighting.
In terms of technical specs, what kind of camera did you use?
We shot digitally with the Arri Alexa 35. It has a huge dynamic range that allowed us to shoot with natural light and make things feel organic even though it’s a digital medium.
Lenses?
For the daytime stuff, we used Kowa Cine Prominar Spherical lenses. Mostly because I loved the texture and the way it flares with sunlight. For the nighttime work, we needed faster lenses, as we shot real fire, real campfires, and real candles. For that, we used an old set of Zeiss Super Speeds.
TRAIN DREAMS – (L-R) Gladys Oakley (Felicity Jones) and Robert Grainier (Joel Edgerton). Cr: Courtesy of Netflix
Joel Edgerton plays a man of few words. What was it like putting him front and center?
There’s something about Joel where he can deliver [emotion] without saying a word, just in the way he moves, his body language, and his expressions. Because I had worked with Clint and editor Parker Laramie before, I knew they liked to use things that we just grabbed in the moment, so sometimes I’d catch something that wasn’t scripted because Joel was there, as Robert. Joel and Felicity would come up with ideas that weren’t necessarily what we had been planning for months, like when they’re feeding each other in the cabin. Clint and I would look at each other and go, “Okay, that’s much better.”
The rich colors of the forest infuse Train Dreams with warmth and drama, but I’m guessing most of the credit for the palette goes to Mother Nature rather than manipulations on your part?
Correct. You don’t want to get in the way of something that’s amazing. But shooting on locations with natural light means you do need to plan a lot.
There’s a very affecting “golden hour” scene when Joel visits the new forest ranger, played by Kerry Condon. In her watchtower, they quietly share things about their pasts. How was that filmed?
We actually started shooting that scene earlier in the day, and it just wasn’t feeling right because of the conversation Joel and Kerry were having as they looked out at this beautiful landscape. So, we decided to stop and wait for maybe an hour. Then we began shooting again from the start, just to get a better feeling. Even though Joel and Kerry knew [fewer hours of daylight meant] we’d have fewer takes– an hour, max– they were happy to give everything they had in just a couple of takes.
It’s interesting to consider how the quality of natural light can affect a scene’s emotional vibe.
Maybe it’s just because this is what I do for a living, but I’m always sensitive to light and how it makes us feel. In general, I think people feel more nostalgic at sunset. It sparks something in the way our brains remember things.
Midway through the movie, a huge forest fire changes everything. The aftermath is shocking. After being surrounded by green foliage, blue sky, and vibrant earth tones, suddenly Robert Grainier’s home is reduced to grey ash as far as the eye can see.
The ashes are real. We found a location that had been affected by a fire, so the palette was just there, in a landscape similar to where we had built the cabin. We did a few minimal effects to desaturate greens in the background, but everything was captured on location.
For dramatic effect,you toned down the pops of green?
Yeah, because even though this forest had a fire and had burned down before we shot it, there were already some pockets of green that were blooming because nature is amazing and… it fights back.
Timothée Chalamet and Adam Sandler took a break from their respective schedules to spend an evening together in Fairfax High School’s gymnasium in Los Angeles. To play a game of pickup? Well, kind of, but first, they broke down their most iconic roles.
On Saturday night, November 15, the “Sandler x Chalamet” event commenced with a packed crowd of students and other audience members. The pair gave a sneak peek of their respective upcoming films. Sandler in Jay Kelly, directed by Noah Baumbach, and Chalamet in Marty Supreme, directed by Josh Safdie, who was in the audience and directed the critically acclaimed Uncut Gems with his brother, Benny, that starred a stellar Sandler in 2019. The two also showed and discussed clips from Uncut Gems, as well as Dune: Part Two, Call Me by Your Name, and both actors’ Saturday Night Live appearances.
Earlier this year, Chalamet addressed the SAG Actor Awards audience with his unfiltered goal, “The truth is I’m really in pursuit of greatness…I want to be one of the greats. I’m inspired by the greats.” Citing Daniel Day-Lewis, Marlon Brando, and Viola Davis as inspirations, Chalamet added Sandler to that list this weekend. He praised Sandler’s performances in the classic/beloved comedies, but also his ability to contrast that with Paul Thomas Anderson’s 2006 Punch-Drunk Love, saying, “Wow, this is a f**king incredible actor. I hope I can give a performance like this.”
Sandler has starred in over 60 films. Chalamet expressed his admiration for Sandler’s career and talent, stating, “I know it’s not about awards, blah, blah, blah, but you should have a golden man in your hand, because, man, you’re one of the best f**king actors of all time.”
Sandler delivered similar praise, expressing his excitement to see what Chalamet brings in the future, telling Chalamet, “What you continue to do for cinema and for all of us is beyond it all.”
After chatting about their careers, the two actors challenged audience members to a game of 2-on-2 half-court basketball. Chalamet recalled playing basketball there as a high schooler, and the pair joked about their shared love for basketball, often playing together at Fairfax High. The night celebrated where the stars started, showcased their undeniable greatness in the film industry, and tested their greatness on the court.
NEW YORK, NEW YORK – JULY 20: Timothee Chalamet and Adam Sandler are seen playing basketball in Soho on July 20, 2023 in New York City. (Photo by Raymond Hall/GC Images)
Featured image: Emily Watson and Adam Sandler in a scene from the film ‘Punch-Drunk Love’, 2002. (Photo by Columbia Pictures/Getty Images)
“Making films is not what I do, it is who I am,” Tom Cruise said while accepting an honorary Oscar at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences’ 16th Governors Awards on Sunday Night. Cruise was one of four film artists selected for this year’s ceremony, held at the Ray Dolby Ballroom at Ovation Hollywood, the seventh produced by Jennifer Fox.
Cruise was feted alongside actress/singer/songwriter Dolly Parton—who collected, in absentia, the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award in recognition of her philanthropic work—production designer Wynn Thomas, and actress/producer/choreographer Debbie Allen.
HOLLYWOOD, CALIFORNIA – NOVEMBER 16: (L-R) Tom Cruise accepts an Academy Honorary Award from Alejandro González Iñárritu onstage during the 16th Governors Awards at The Ray Dolby Ballroom on November 16, 2025 in Hollywood, California. (Photo by Kevin Winter/Getty Images)
Mexican filmmaker Alejandro González Iñárritu, who helmed Cruise’s upcoming, not-yet-titled 2026 film, set the tone for Cruise’s coronation by saying, “Tom Cruise doesn’t just make movies, he is movies,” adding, “This may be his first Oscar, but from what I have seen and experienced, it will not be his last.”
Tom Cruise and Alejandro González Iñárritu at The 16th Governors Awards held at The Ray Dolby Ballroom at Ovation Hollywood on November 16, 2025 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Gilbert Flores/Variety via Getty Images)
Cruise’s acceptance speech included making sure he thanked “the studios, the agencies, the artists and the storytellers,” and, of course, the stunt teams who he has grown so close to over the years, as well as theater audiences. As always, Cruise paid special mention to the audience. “Without you, none of this has meaning for me.” Cruise then turned his attention to the colleagues he’s worked with and ask them to stand up. Many people rose to their feet, including the folks at this table — Steven Spielberg (Minority Report), Jerry Bruckheimer (the Top Gun movies), Christopher McQuarrie (producer/director of the most recent Mission: Impossible films) and CAA agent Kevin Huvane — as he applauded them. “I want you to know, please know, that I carry you with me — each of you — and you are a part of every frame of every film that I have ever made or ever will make. And I want you to know that I will always do everything I can for this art form — to support and champion new voices and to protect what makes cinema powerful, hopefully without too many more broken bones.”
Lily Tomlin took to the stage prior to Cruise’s night-ending award by accepting Dolly Parton’s Oscar on her behalf. Tomlin worked with Parton on the classic 1980 film 9 to 5. A video highlighted Parton’s long tenure of great work both on and off screen, including her charitable work through the Dollywood Foundation and the Imagination Library, as well as her financial contributions to funding the development of the COVID-19 vaccine and her longtime support of the LGBTQ community.
Parton appeared onscreen in a prerecorded video, saying: “I grew up in a house with 12 kids. Now that alone teaches you how important sharing is! Don’t get me wrong — we didn’t have that much to share, but my mama and daddy showed me that the more you give, the more blessings come your way. And I’ve been blessed more than I’d ever dreamed possible. This award tonight, the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award — it makes me want to dream up new ways to help lift people up, and isn’t that what we’re supposed to be here for?”
HOLLYWOOD, CALIFORNIA – NOVEMBER 16: Dolly Parton accepts an Academy Honorary Award via video during the 16th Governors Awards at The Ray Dolby Ballroom on November 16, 2025 in Hollywood, California. (Photo by Kevin Winter/Getty Images)
Andra Day then did a rousing version of Parton’s iconic “Jolene.”
The legendary production designer Wynn Thomas was greeted by Oscar-winning actress Octavia Spencer, who worked on one of his films, 2016’s Hidden Figures. In a video lauding Thomas’s work, Spike Lee spoke about collaborating with the veteran on some of his best films, including 1986’s She’s Gotta Have It, 1989‘s Do The Right Thing, 1992‘s Malcolm X, and 2020’s Da 5 Bloods.
Wynn Thomas at The 16th Governors Awards held at The Ray Dolby Ballroom at Ovation Hollywood on November 16, 2025 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Gilbert Flores/Variety via Getty Images)
Thomas thanked his mother and late grandmother for supporting him, even if they weren’t quite sure about “this art thing” that he was pursuing, as well as “all of my art directors, my assistant art directors, my set designers, my set decorators and dressers, my scenic artists, my prop men and women, all the graphic designers I work with, my construction coordinators, my location managers and scouts. These are the people who make me look good, and these are the people who let me be the dreamer and who turn my dreams into reality.” He added, to laughter, “I’d like to thank some of my directors tonight — not all, but some.”
Wicked: For Good star Cynthia Erivo headed on stage to lead the tribute to Allen, and said, “Her impact on the world of film is extraordinary.” Allen acted in 1980’s Fame, produced Steven Spielberg’s 1997 Amistad, and was the choreographer on a record seven Academy Award telecasts. Allen thank her late parents, who, she said, “raised their children believing that they were citizens of the universe, that there were no boundaries, and that anything we could see we could be…. We were faced with brick walls and glass ceilings and ‘Whites Only’ signs everywhere, but we grew up believing in ourselves, we grew up understanding what fight and faith is.” She acknowledged her siblings, including the actress Phylicia Rashad, who were seated at her table.
Cynthia Erivo and Debbie Allen onstage at The 16th Governors Awards held at The Ray Dolby Ballroom at Ovation Hollywood on November 16, 2025 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Gilbert Flores/Variety via Getty Images)
Featured image: Tom Cruise at The 16th Governors Awards held at The Ray Dolby Ballroom at Ovation Hollywood on November 16, 2025 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Gilbert Flores/Variety via Getty Images)
Christopher Nolan is no stranger to grand ambitions. He has been an advocate and early adopter of using IMAX cameras in his films, dating back to The Dark Knight(2008), his superhero masterclass, which utilized the large-format cameras for the gangbusters opening bank robbery scene. He’s been deploying the cameras ever since, even helping IMAX push their own technology further, creating newer, lighter-weight equipment.
For his latest epic, Nolan’s adapting Homer’s The Odyssey, and he has told Empire Magazinethat he has pushed himself and his cast and crew, which includes his go-to cinematographer Hoyte van Hoytema, to try to capture things that have never been done on film before. The Odyssey filmed for 91 days earlier this year, including on “goat island,” the Sicilian island of Favignana. Also known as “goat island,” Favignana is where scholars believe that Homer’s hero Odysseus came ashore with his doomed crew to feast on barbecued goats and sure up their provisions for the voyage home. “As a filmmaker, you’re looking for gaps in cinematic culture, things that haven’t been done before,” Nolan told Empire. “And what I saw is that all of this great mythological cinematic work that I had grown up with – Ray Harryhausen movies and other things – I’d never seen that done with the sort of weight and credibility that an A-budget and a big Hollywood, IMAX production could do.”
That included building a full-scale Trojan Horse, filming entirely in IMAX, and capturing footage on location, including in the Aegadian Islands. He also told Empire he shot over 2 million feet of film during the production, far more than Odysseus’s oft-thwarted journey home to Ithaca.
Nolan’s film stars Matt Damon as the cunning Odysseus, reuniting with Nolan after a memorable, albeit brief, role in Interstellar and a much meatier turn in Oppenheimer. Tom Holland plays his son, Telemachus. The rest of the cast is as starry as you’d expect on a Nolan film, with Anne Hathaway, Zendaya, Lupita Nyong’o, Robert Pattinson, Charlize Theron, and Jon Bernthal in undisclosed roles.
Nolan also did something even Steven Spielberg has advised against—he shot, at least partially, on the open ocean. “It’s vast and terrifying and wonderful and benevolent, as the conditions shift,” Nolan told Empire. “We really wanted to capture how hard those journeys would have been for people. And the leap of faith that was being made in an unmapped, uncharted world. By embracing the physicality of the real world in the making of the film, you do inform the telling of the story in interesting ways. Because you’re confronted on a daily basis by the world pushing back at you.”
While the conditions might have been challenging, the ever-ambitious Nolan’s goal of making a mythic film on a scale that hasn’t been done before sounded like precisely what his Odysseus was after.
“I can say, without hyperbole, that it was the best experience of my career,” Damon told Empire, recalling arriving on set to find the Trojan Horse, fully to scale, waiting for him. “I saw the horse on the beach and I was just like, ‘F**k.’ It was just so cool.”
Featured image: Matt Damon in Christopher Nolan’s “The Odyssey.” Courtesy Universal Pictures.
Filmed primarily in New Jersey with the help of $30 million in production incentives, Oscar-winner Kathryn Bigelow’s A House of Dynamite is a sobering look at how the response to a nuclear attack on U.S. soil might unfold. It’s not an easy watch, but it’s relentlessly compelling and superbly crafted, hallmarks of Bigelow’s distinguished career.
The cortisol-triggering film follows major players in the government during the 20 minutes before an inbound nuclear missile hits a major American city. Major sets in the film include: the 49th Missile Defense Battalion in Fort Greely, Alaska, tasked with detecting and neutralizing incoming nuclear threats; US STRATCOM (Strategic Command) led by General Brady (Tracy Letts); the 24/7 intelligence center in the White House Situation Room; and the PEOC (Presidential Emergency Operations Center), a secured communications center underneath the White House in the event of catastrophic emergencies.
It was a Herculean task for Emmy-winning production designer Jeremy Hindle, “because all the main sets had to be ready for day one, since we shot many sets simultaneously,” he says. “Every set had to be live and ready to go with full ceilings and 360-degree access.”
We spoke to the production designer in our two-part deep dive into his meticulous work on Bigelow’s pulse-pounding thriller.
The White House Situation Room is the focal point in the first third of the film, with the “DEFCON” board and a giant communications screen displaying the missile’s real-time trajectory, as well as a conference call involving POTUS (Idris Elba), the Secretary of Defense (Jared Harris), and others. What was it like to build a replica of that room?
How the room functioned was crucial — the screens and phones were all operational, allowing all the characters to interact with each other. Those phones don’t exist, so we had to replicate them. There’s no information on the internet for any of that; we relied on Dan Karbler and other technical advisors. For the line of succession board, what they physically do and look like is not something they can divulge. So, we designed and showed it to them, and they’d say, yes, no, yes, no, yes, looking good, getting better, until we got there. But it’s a movie, and you need people to be able to read it and understand the storyline. So, there are definitely movie moments to make sure the audience can understand what’s happening.
What about the maps and graphics on all those screens, not just in the Sit Room, but also at STRATCOM and Fort Greely?
That was the hardest part. We had to make a 19-minute sequence for all the sets in all the different sequences. One sequence plays through in all the sets simultaneously, but they’re on different screen sizes and types, and not in the same orientation. There was a huge team of playback, and we had an amazing art director, Eric Bryant. We needed it that way so we could shoot all three or four major sets simultaneously with multiple cameras. Those screens were playing live, so every actor could react in real-time and talk to each other. But we had to generate all that ahead of time; we didn’t put in stuff later on the screens. It was all live.
So, when the comms board shows the GBI (Ground-Based Interceptor) failing to intercept the incoming missile on a third try, or adversarial nations initiating potentially retaliatory steps, did your team design all those live graphics?
Yes, all live and simultaneous, just as if it were really happening for the actors.They could pick up the phone and call another set to talk to another actor, go through the motions, and ad-lib. They can do whatever they want. It’s live.
Wow! I didn’t know the phones on those sets were actually working.
Everything was fully operational for the actors.
Can you explain what the playback team does?
The playback team was massive; I’ve never seen more playback in my life! Each screen with all the graphics has a separate driver, so there are hundreds of drivers to get it ready to play back on every set simultaneously on three huge stages. Stage One was the White House Situation Room and the PEOC underground. There’s a guy sitting in the back of a car on the Zoom call. Everyone talking on the conference call is in specific sets. Stage Two was Fort Greeley and STRATCOM, a bunch of smaller Zoom sets, and the basement set where a general was sitting with his washer and dryer behind him. That was a nod to a real general who did that once. We had a small set for Jared Harris (Secretary of Defense) to use for his Zoom call, as we hadn’t finished the Secretary of Defense set yet, so he sat in that little set for weeks. Stage three was the Secretary of Defense’s office, White House Situation Room, White House press briefing room with visual effects out the windows and partial dressing, White House security gate with 360-degree CG outside the windows, and the guard shack with the fence.
That’s an insane number of sets to all have to go live to be filmed simultaneously. What about the PEOC that’s in the East Wing of the White House?
Apparently, that’s probably gone now. I just love that room, which is where President Obama gave the order to get Osama bin Laden. We’ve all seen photographs of it, so it had to be in the movie because that’s a core American battle room. There’s only one photograph of that hallway, I think it was in Eleanor Roosevelt’s published diary. I couldn’t get any intel on what’s underneath the White House. So for those, we did our best based on what we knew. If you watch some of the real footage, people start falling asleep on camera due to a lack of oxygen, because they were down there for so long. Photos of the PEOC are very rare, mostly from when Obama was in it and a few other Presidents.
Let’s talk about the STRATCOM set, which is the second part of the story that focuses on STRATCOM Commander, General Brady (Tracy Letts).
I love that set, it’s intense. The most interesting thing I learned was all the wallpaper in it isn’t wallpaper; it’s metal mesh. The room is a Faraday cage to block electromagnetic charges. It really shows the seriousness of what they deal with every day — to me, that’s the most important thing. So, we tried to match that metallic wallpaper to every detail. That decision room is called the battle deck, it’s multiple stories underground. You really feel the intensity in there. These people work in windowless rooms their whole lives for our safety. We’re very lucky. So I was glad that we nailed that room.
What about that DEFCON board? I assume there are no details on that either?
No, that’s identical to what they use. Most of it, like the cameras that pop up, are just like what you’d see at all these places for real, at least to the best of our knowledge. Of all the movies I’ve worked on, it’s this one where people are really impressed with how much it’s like the real thing. They’re as particular as we are. We’re working with these amazing people, so how could we not make it perfect?
The third part of the movie focuses on POTUS (Idris Elba), but you don’t see him on the conference call during the first two parts. Was that a deliberate choice?
That’s how it was written. And because he’s on a sat phone and being rushed out. They don’t pull him into the call completely until they know what they’re dealing with.
As the countdown narrows to the final minutes, POTUS is rushed onboard Marine One while the Navy officer carrying the nuclear “football” explains his retaliatory nuclear strike options.
We actually had that helicopter made by a company in Atlanta that specializes in restoring them for the Presidential museums. They had the shell of the helicopter and restored the exterior to match a new Marine One. Then, they built the full interior, as we wanted to shoot it as one piece, live, hanging from a crane. So we could have the President pull up to the chopper, enter, and rise during that sequence, so it felt real. We shot Idris hanging from a crane for that whole sequence. Outside the windows is all VFX, because it’s obviously Andrews Air Force Base, which is impossible to film. So, we did it in New Jersey.
That whole sequence was shot inside a helicopter shell on a crane?
Yes! I was scouting the real FEMA command center in New Jersey to see if we could shoot there. They were worried about hurricane season, but we agreed we wouldn’t shoot there if there was a hurricane. So, they let us have it. We also had the helipad to land the Black Hawk for real. Then, we went to an amazing airport with a beautiful original wartime hangar for the B-2 sequences. It’s even more amazing that we got all those locations within 10 minutes of each other, which is what you need for a movie. The New Jersey State Police were unbelievable.
What do you want audiences to get out of this film?
That we’re all collectively humans. She said it best: humanity is at stake. We’re educated about the science and the facts. So why are we doing this? We need to look after each other. I’m baffled that all of this is necessary to protect ourselves.I grew up in the ’80s when there were three countries with nuclear weapons — now there are nine. Am I surprised there hasn’t been an accident? Absolutely. But how much longer can we rely on luck?
[Spoiler ahead] The ending is surprising because we don’t see the detonation or fallout aftermath. What do you make of that?
It’s such a powerful ending that leaves you with a blank stare. I love it because if it frustrates you, then do something about it. If there were closure, it would just be a movie. But if you’re upset and worried, you don’t get to leave with this happy pill at the end that allows you to dismiss it as a movie and move on. Kathryn’s not going to let you do that. You’ve got to go home, think about it, and talk about it. I think that’s the only ending possible. Now the conversation is: ‘Why are we doing this? Why is this the system?’
The Beast in Me opens on a tableau of sorrow. Claire Danes, who plays author Aggie Wiggs, is driving her son Cooper (Leonard Gerome) when the unthinkable happens: a car accident takes his life. In the aftermath, her partner Shelly (Natalie Morales) rushes towards her, calling out for him. Drowning in pain, Aggie’s bloodied face can only twist a piercing scream underscored by a cacophonous mix of music and effects. The bleak moment abruptly cuts to a close-up of her against a warm, painterly backdrop, lost in the tragic memory.
The visual style is reminiscent of Francis Ford Coppola’s The Godfather (1972), framed by cinematographer Gordon Willis, where symmetrical compositions and meticulous control curated an often dimly lit, darkened mood. “We looked at a lot of movies by Gordon Willis and [director Alan] Pakula from the ‘70s for the film aesthetic,” says cinematographer Lyle Vincent, who photographed all eight episodes of the Netflix show created by Gabe Rotter and run by executive producer Howard Gordon (Homeland).
At first glance, it would be easy to mistake its look for something shot on 35mm film. “We wanted to shoot on film initially, and made a big pitch to do that, but it didn’t end up going through,” Vincent says. Instead, the cinematographer emulated celluloid, manipulating color, texture, and grain using an Arri Alexa 35 with a mix of Panavision Ultra Panatar II anamorphic lenses and Primo spherical primes and zooms. Lighting was the key ingredient in pulling off its classic cinema style. “This show explores the lightness and darkness of human nature, especially the darkness in our one character. And we liked how those movies were lit. How they let things go almost black in places,” he notes.
The psychological thriller ignites when Nile Jarvis (Matthew Rhys), a real estate shark once suspected in his wife’s death, moves next door to Wiggs. Now remarried to his ex wife’s former assistant, Nina (Brittany Snow), and motivated to change public perception, he decides to share his story with the acclaimed novelist who’s been struggling to write since the death of her son. What begins as an interview becomes a haunting pursuit of truth, guilt, and the ghosts neither can escape.
Four of the eight episodes, including the pilot, were directed by Antonio Campos, a frequent collaborator of Vincent. Their most recent effort is the HBO Max limited series TheStaircase – another crime drama featuring a novelist, starring Colin Firth and Toni Colette. Drawing from the thriller, the pair carried over centered compositions to isolate moments of heightened drama. “Instead of shooting over-the-shoulder or other things, we put the camera right in front of the actor so you’re in the performance. And especially with someone like Claire Danes, there is so much performance with the eyes and emotions. It was something, man, to watch her do it. It was like every take, every rehearsal, she was just like, it’s like craziness, like how she was just on.” Something Homeland fans know all too well.
The cinematographer used other techniques to push the envelope, including split diopter lenses to manipulate focus and create abnormal tension in shared spaces, while depth of field invited viewers into the world. “We didn’t want excessive shallow depth of field because we wanted that classic 35mm film look, where you can really settle into watching everything. And then when you want the effect of a shallow depth, or something subjective, or hyper depth of field, then those things kind of punctuate,” he details.
The story’s backdrop was shot extensively in New Jersey, in areas like Red Bank, for practical locations, and also in parts of Raleigh, North Carolina, a former Homeland stomping ground. Campos and Vincent approached scenes with concepts and shot lists, never wanting to dilute moments with excessive coverage. “We’d always shoot from the point of view of whose scene it is and which character informed it. However, on the day, we saw things that we never planned, or the actors brought certain brilliant elements. You want to be able to adapt and find those moments as well.”
As Aggie pieces together Niles’s story, insert shots emerge as the unexpected lead, stirring a deeper emotional response. “I love insert and cutaway shots,” admits the cinematographer. “We don’t treat them as secondary, and Antonio is one of those directors who really knows where he wants to punctuate things with intention. So we are always interested in building that into our shooting and treating them with care.” Texture and lighting were adapted to match the story arc. Aggie’s world, from the start, is warmer and inviting. Browns, ambers, and deep, earthy tones dominate, evoking a sense of family and tradition. Niles is a little more enigmatic and then gradually takes on a cooler palette, trading tungsten warmth for neutral tones that sharpen scenes with edge and contrast.
The pinnacle of Vincent’s craft comes in the way he binds crucial plot points through deliberate choices in lighting and composition. One instance is a flashback where Niles and his ex-wife are arguing. The scene is lit from the side and low, almost coming from underneath Niles as he corners her in the room. The frame focuses on the black of his eyes and menacing expression. “He’s like a devil with a heart of darkness,” says Vincent. The visual style was replicated later in a scene where Niles fights with his current wife, Nina – the aesthetic asking the same nightmare: Is he really a killer?
Dan Laustsen likes to make even the most fantastical frame pop with an authentic, organic humanity. The cinematographer extraordinaire and filmmaker Guillermo del Toro wants tangibility, regardless of whether his stories are as slippery and bittersweet as The Shape of Water or as beguiling and deceptive as Nightmare Alley. In the case of Frankenstein, organic is a more-than-fitting approach for the story of men and the monsters within, and a creature born from obsession and ambition but who possesses something his creator sorely lacks—compassion.
In del Toro’s adaptation of Mary Shelley’s classic horror novel, the filmmaker is true to the adventurous spirit of the book. The world is big and lush and full of life, but Victor Frankenstein (Oscar Isaac) is obsessed with mastering death. To defy the laws of nature, the mad scientist creates a son of sorts from the dead, picking apart fallen soldiers from the Crimean War, and what he fashions from their spare parts is The Creature (Jacob Elordi), unlike any version of the iconic monster we’ve seen in previous adaptations. Victor eventually abandons his creation, who seeks revenge in Edinburgh and beyond, with their adventure leading all the way to the Arctic.
From snowy landscapes to thunderous nights in Edinburgh, del Toro and Laustsen paint vivid portraits of ego run amok and a lost soul searching for identity. The cinematographer spoke with The Credits about how they embrace color and darkness, and, even in the wildest tales, paints a picture in which we can see ourselves.
When you first read the script, what color and what light were you envisioning?
I was sure we wanted to go large format, like shooting Alexa 65 and full sensor and big lenses. Of course, I knew it would be big sets; [production designer] Tamara Deverell had done these amazing sets. Guillermo’s whole color palette — he’s doing his mood boards for all the scenes. It’s a guideline for everybody, so we can all start on the same level. It’s a big, big help for everybody to go into the color palette.
What did his mood board and color palette look like for Victor Frankenstein’s laboratory?
There were big batteries, and there was green, green, green all the way through. Guillermo, Tamara, myself, and the special effects people talked a lot about that because we believe things should be organic. We didn’t just want to put a light inside those batteries because it would just look like a light inside a battery. So, we added smoke — a mix of smoke and steam.
How did you try to remain as organic as possible with the ship in the Arctic? Especially when shooting in a parking lot in Toronto.
The key lights on the people on the ship are their own torches, which makes it very organic because the wind is changing and the light is changing. They’ve got steam and smoke there. The way we shoot the movie is with a super wide-angle lens, so all the lighting has to be outside the sets. It won’t be even or nice; it will be a bit more dramatic, but still very organic.
Whether it’s snow, rain, or steam, you and Guillermo make all these natural, familiar elements so beautiful and otherworldly. How do you both do it with the Alexa 65?
I’m a big fan of large-format filming because the depth of field in the large format is organic. The way the depth of field is falling off is beautiful. You’re shooting at a super wide angle because the sensor is so big. The widest lens we had was the 24 millimeter. When we come into the close-ups, it’s not distorting because it’s still 24 millimeters. That’s another thing that’s becoming very organic, given the sensor’s size. The fall-off is beautiful. There’s only one downside, I think, which is that it’s getting very sharp.
A diffusion filter inside the camera. Not many people have a filter in front of the lens, but we prefer that. We don’t like to have a filter flare. We want to have a lens flare because we are shooting into the sun and lights all the time in the movie. When you have the diffusion filter behind the lens, it is just burning out the highlights a little bit, but keeping the blacks black, and we really like this rich black. The black is always so black and rich.
Jacob Elordi is The Creature in “Frankenstein.” Courtesy Netflix
You’ve said before that you and Guillermo are not afraid of black.
We are not afraid of the darkness at all.
What about blood red? Red runs so deep in your work. Especially when you’re shooting Kate Hawley’s costumes and Tamara Deverell’s sets, how do you best bring red to the screen?
I’m not taking anything away from anyone, but the beauty of light is that it contains everything. Light and shadows can do anything. You can have the most beautiful costumes in the world, and if you light them badly, it’s just going to look bad. It’s the same with sets, I think. It’s the beauty of light — it is just so powerful. Of course, when you see the red dress, you think, Wow, this is so beautiful. To keep the color so strong as we are doing, it has a lot to do with exposure. It’s a little like shooting film in the old days, even when shooting digitally. If you don’t have control of your exposure, you don’t have control over your color. Again, do not be afraid to go to the dark side, so that the color becomes even more saturated.
How about shooting The Creature? What light did Mike Hill’s makeup require?
The way Mike designed The Creature, you don’t have to hide because the whole creature is so beautiful and strong. We talked a lot about the first time you see The Creature, when he opens the blinds in his bedroom and the sunlight is coming in; it’s a very romantic scene between father and son. It’s fully exposed in the warm sunlight of the sunrise. There’s no problem doing that because The Creature is fantastic.
Guillermo has talked a lot about this aesthetic he’s been developing over the years with you. The Shape of Water, Nightmare Alley, and Frankenstein, visually, they’re elaborate and full of contrast, but how would you describe the aesthetic you’ve both been refining?
I think it’s actually coming all the way back from Mimic. When we did Mimic — the first movie we did together — we shot it on film. The color palette we are shooting on Frankenstein is a little bit the same as the one we used on Mimic. Of course, it’s not the same colors, but the same style. There’s the same steel blue and amber, and there were golden lights. We like these contrasting colors. If we have a very warm scene with candles, I’m always lighting the background with, for example, steel blue. We always have these contrasting colors somewhere. We are not lighting the background with the same color as the foreground, as you normally do. For example, [Stanley Kubrick’s] Barry Lyndon.
We looked at Barry Lyndon, which is a fantastic movie that everybody can be jealous of not shooting. The color palette is very warm all the way around. Amazing. We wanted to go to another side, so the background is always a lot of color. I think that’s a lot of our aesthetic choices. We always have these split colors or contrasting colors somewhere in the frame. Even when you’re shooting daylight, we have a candle somewhere or a fireplace somewhere. We always break the color palette up a little bit. Of course, we like single-source lighting, with light coming from one side. Again, don’t be afraid of the darkness.
Jacob Elordi, Mia Goth. Courtesy Netflix.
Frankenstein is currently in theaters and available to stream on Netflix.
An unrelenting, blistering thriller that grips you from the first frame and never lets go, Oscar-winning Kathryn Bigelow’s latest film , A House of Dynamite, is the final installment in a trilogy that began with 2008’s The Hurt Locker and continued with 2012’s Zero Dark Thirty. Continuing her trademark journalist approach to filmmaking and fascination with the military industrial complex, A House of Dynamite follows high-ranking officials in the U.S. government as leaders in the military, intelligence, and White House scramble during the 20 minutes before a nuclear missile incinerates a major U.S. city, with the same events replayed from three POVs over the film.
It is a sobering look at how the response to a nuclear attack might unfold at the highest levels, with nail-biting decisions made at several locations: the 49th Missile Defense Battalion in Fort Greely, Alaska, where Major Gonzalez’s (Anthony Ramos) crew is tasked with detecting and neutralizing incoming nuclear threats; US STRATCOM (Strategic Command), where General Brady (Tracy Letts) advises POTUS on missile defense; the 24/7 “Watch Floor” intelligence center in the White House Situation Room run by Rebecca Ferguson’s Captain Olivia Walker; and the PEOC (Presidential Emergency Operations Center), a secured communications center underneath the White House in the event of catastrophic emergencies. It was a Herculean task for production designer Jeremy Hindle — who recently won an Emmy for the Apple TV series, Severance — “because all the main sets had to be ready for day one, since we shot many sets simultaneously. Every set had to be live and ready to go with full ceilings and 360-degree access,” he reveals.
Filmed primarily on soundstages in New Jersey, the film received $30 million in tax credits after incurring $75 million in qualifying expenditures across six counties. “New Jersey’s tax credit is pretty spectacular; they’re all on board for people filming there. One of the state trooper commanders said he’d been instructed to help us in any way he can,” Hindle said, praising the exceptional assistance from the New Jersey State Police. “I was looking for a place to film a helicopter on a tarmac, a huge hangar for a B-2 bomber, and a helicopter pad where I can land a Black Hawk. They took me around with a police escort to scout all those locations. In one day, we had the locations we needed, which was amazing! We got to film at the Governor’s helipad in Trenton, the only place you can land a real Black Hawk!”
With significant overlap with the Severance crew, Hindle reunited with set decorator David Schlesinger, supervising art director Chris Shriver, and art director Ann Bartek. He recently spoke to The Credits about his third collaboration with Bigelow (following Zero Dark Thirty and Detroit).
First of all, congratulations on the Emmy win for Severance!!
Thank you! That was a fun time, just amazing.
What was it like to work on your third Bigelow project?
I love how she thinks, which enables me to serve her movies in a way that allows me to do exactly what I feel should be done. She has so much trust and gives you the ability to do it. She’s an amazing collaborator. When she calls me to make a film, I know it’s important. I like making all kinds of movies, but this film makes people talk and think and hopefully make things better. She really cares about using her voice, and I love being a part of that.
You’re also a producer on this. How was it different than when you’re strictly designing?
It’s not all that different. I like to be as involved as possible. I started when we got the script with Kathryn and [producer] Greg [Shapiro] budgeting. It’s great when designers are involved at the beginning to help decide how you’re going to make the movie before it’s budgeted. Even though the script is straightforward with people talking on the phones, I quickly realized it wasn’t simple at all. Every character at the different locations is acting against other people on the screens in real-time. Kathryn Bigelow isn’t gonna let her actors act with tennis balls and blue screens; it’s just not how she works — she wants realistic performances. So, we had to build it all on stage; 80% of the movie was on stage, and every set had to be authentic.
The nail-biting urgency in real-time came through in every frame — it engulfs you into the nightmare scenario.
The story is so important that you don’t want audiences to dismiss it if it doesn’t look accurate and authentic. The point is to get people to have this conversation about nuclear proliferation and really understand how terrifying the reality is.
How big was your team? Were they mostly local in the Tri-state area?
It was mostly the same crew from Severance. I rolled in from that to this. I had the dream team that I’d worked with over the years in New York. Chris is the greatest — a 40-year veteran of film in New York. I don’t think I could’ve done this without him. When you walk onto the set with Kathryn and [cinematographer] Barry [Ackroyd], it’s pretty much lit like a location. We had the biggest art department I’ve ever had because there were so many sets.
What about sourcing materials for all these sets? How much was fabricated in-house?
We had an amazing construction team, and the set dec team was big — a lot of stuff had to be fabricated to match everything. For the standing desks in the White House Situation Room with robotics that can move, our amazing decorator David [Schlesinger] sourced them from the same manufacturer that makes the real ones. The chairs in the White House press briefing room were made in Spain by the same company that makes the real ones, so they’re identical. After touring the White House press room, I knew it had to be the same. This is our job – why not be perfect? If you’re going to do it, do it right.
What was it like designing and building the 360-degree sets?
With Kathryn, you don’t know how she wants to walk in [to the shot]. My job is to create an environment for the actors to play in, so that she and Barry can come in and just let them loose. It feels real; when the generals walked into the STRATCOM set, they were blown away — they wanted to take it as a training facility, it was exactly the same. The Situation Room was the same. On any film set, if the actors aren’t inspired and feel like they’re in the right place when they walk in, then I have failed at my job.
Were you able to access the White House Situation Room for research?
Yes, I got to walk around and memorize what the room looked like for three minutes. I couldn’t have any notes or a camera. There’s a photo behind Rebecca of Neil Armstrong landing on the moon — that’s there in the real room — along with the executive order to take out Osama bin Laden below it. The details are exact. We went to the Pentagon, which was incredible, but I didn’t get to see the Secretary of Defense’s office. I’ve always been fascinated by it — very few people will talk about it, but there are great photos. I have an amazing researcher that I’ve always worked with. We didn’t have DoD access on this project, but several technical advisors guided us. So that’s the only room that we nailed without seeing it. Pretty much every general who walked into that set said it looks exactly like the real thing.
You also toured STRATCOM in Oklahoma with the former chief of staff at that facility, retired U.S. Army Lieutenant General Daniel Karbler, who joined as one of the technical advisors.Why is authenticity crucial for this film?
This film isn’t about the military being efficient and ready. They’re ready — we are not ready and are not making good decisions. Going underground into STRATCOM was amazing. We were already building it by then, based on 3-4 photographs released when it first opened. However, there were no details in the photos because they had all been scrubbed. I had 11 minutes, no camera, and I just memorized every detail in the room. “The big board” from Dr. Strangelove was really there; the general at the time put that up. The people who work there train 400 times a year for this exact thing. They are so prepared and smart. After meeting them, I felt so safe. They believe in nuclear as a deterrent and will do anything to make the country safe. They’re just amazing people.
When you look at Robert Pattinson and Jennifer Lawrence’s careers, in many ways, they have had similar paths in Hollywood. They both rose to worldwide fame early in their careers as the leading stars of major franchises (Twilight and The Hunger Games, respectively), and have since spent their 30s taking on more indie roles.
In their latest film, director Lynne Ramsay’s “Die My Love,” we see Pattinson and Lawrence come together for the first time to play new parents, while also becoming real-life parents themselves.
“I think having the perspective of the child, I don’t know if I would have really had that before becoming a mother,” Lawrence explains of how motherhood has helped her in this role.
Director Lynne Ramsay and Jennifer Lawrence in “Die My Love.” Courtesy Kimberly French/Mubi
Lawrence has been portraying motherly figures onscreen since the beginning of her career — the elder sister thrust into adult responsibilities in Winter’s Bone and The Hunger Games, a struggling single mother in Joy, and a metaphorical Mother Nature in Darren Aronofsky’s psychological horror filmmother!. But Die My Love is the first time we see Lawrence playing an onscreen mother since becoming a mother herself.
Ramsay’s film is a heartbreaking exploration of the mental toll of isolation, motherhood, and the struggle to claim one’s identity. In Lawrence’s hands, it’s a tour de force of primal, almost mythical power. It is the tale of Jackson (Pattinson) and Grace (Lawrence), a young couple who move to rural Montana to live in the house of Jackson’s recently deceased uncle and welcome a baby shortly after. To say the film is simply a commentary on post-partum depression is to reduce it to a single theme when it’s a film bubbling with ideas and harnessed by two sensational performances. Die My Love explores numerous themes, but is primarily about the deterioration of a relationship when one party struggles to claim an identity outside of their assigned role.
“She doesn’t know anybody, she doesn’t have a community,” Lawrence says. “She’s a new mom, and I think she feels like a trapped animal.”
Jennifer Lawrence in “Die My Love.” Courtesy Kimberly French/Mubi
Grace becomes increasingly erratic, bizarre, and paranoid. At times, she is jealous of her own baby, frequently endangering him, while also simultaneously feeling a frantic maternal instinct to protect him.
“When you become a parent, you’re so aware of the baby’s experience,” Lawrence explains. “And how everything is affecting their nervous system. So I think having that knowledge of how much a baby is looking to you for that information – being able to flip that and use it for the opposite was heartbreaking, but fulfilling to me.”
Jennifer Lawrence in “Die My Love.” Courtesy Mubi.
As Grace descends further into madness throughout the film, Jackson’s efforts to help her become more desperate.
“They’re so on two parallel planes,” Pattinson explains of his character’s thought process. “He’s been so enraged by her for so long, and you think, ‘Okay, this has crossed the line. I want to unleash my rage on you.’ And then…it’s like, you don’t even know what you’re even doing.”
Robert Pattinson in “Die My Love.” Courtesy Mubi.
No one can portray an unraveling, psychotic breakdown like Jennifer Lawrence. She plays the role so well that, as a viewer, you are just as confused as her character at discerning what is and isn’t real.
“Everything to Grace was very real, so to me, everything was real,” Lawrence says. “I don’t remember consciously making that choice, but I do remember seeing the movie and being like, ‘Oh, a lot of it is up for interpretation.’”
As her character begins to lose sight of reality, we watch Pattinson’s character’s feeble and futile attempts to help her.
“The cycle kind of keeps renewing, where you’re like, I love you, I want to help you,” Pattinson explains. “You’re not doing something maliciously. So, it’s just, like, horrendous. You’re trapped.”
Spoilers ahoy!
As Grace continues to spiral, we watch as Jackson is at a total loss for how to help. The movie ends with a poetic finality — Grace succumbs to the fire within (literally), finally freeing herself from the mental and physical confines of the house she felt trapped in, but in doing so, seemingly ends her own life. Jackson is left to watch helplessly as his wife walks away from the life he worked to build.
“When I was filming the movie, I was pregnant, and so I think I couldn’t see it any other way,” Lawrence says of the film’s ending. “I saw the fire as kind of like a rebirth and a cleanse, and that the two of them found their way back to each other. After I had my baby, I was like, she kills herself.”
Jennifer Lawrence in “Die My Love.” Courtesy Mubi.
Pattinson says he, too, originally thought Lawrence’s character met a fatal end.
“Or, [that] she’s gone off and… she’s gone off with somebody else,” Pattinson adds. “When he paints the house that color, (“That color!” Lawrence exclaims), it’s like, look what I did. I’ve got this dog, and look how much better my life is.”
The beauty of director Lynne Ramsay’s work is that there is no right or wrong answer. Maybe in an alternate universe, Grace and Jackson find their happy ending.
Jennifer Lawrence and Robert Pattinson in “Die My Love.” Courtesy Mubi.
In a film in which a character will never know death, color and life are everywhere. Guillermo del Toro’s adaptation of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein is a visual feast, yes, but as the director often puts it, it’s all nutritional. A luminous, dreamy red dress from del Toro and costume designer Kate Hawley means more than a pretty image.
The story begins with the mother, Claire Frankenstein (Mia Goth, one of her two roles in the film), in a blood-red dress that would bring any respectable house down. Death is present from the start. When she passes, her child, Victor Frankenstein (Oscar Isaac), grows up to carry her death with him. It drives his obsession with bringing life to death, to creating his unwanted son, the Creature (Jacob Elordi).
Frankenstein is an uncaring creator, a man who leaves his son to the wolves. If that sounds familiar, look at all the crucifixes Hawley and production designerTamara Deverell pack into the film. “I’ve done three films now with Guillermo, but every time we are exploring the same language in a very different way,” Hawley said. “I think that’s what an artist does. There’s a pursuit of ‘what else could it be, and how else can I do it?’ My observation is that Guillermo illustrates what it’s like to chase the muse, to try and grasp that ephemeral thing.”
There’s a bit of a rock and roll star vibe to Victor Frankenstein with his eccentric hats and his colorful robes. Were rock stars an inspiration for Victor?
Absolutely, and that came from Guillermo right at the front. Certainly, Oscar brought that bravado in his physicality. The lecture scene is almost David Bowie as the Thin White Duke. My job first and foremost is to answer to my director, interpret his vision, and support the text. And then my next most important job is to support what the actor’s doing. And then there’s an alchemy that goes between that. I distill all of those things. A lot of it’s about the physicality, how they’re moving.
Often, we have standbys on set who do an incredible job keeping everything beautiful and maintaining continuity. But with Oscar’s extreme physicality and the irreverence, we stopped fixing him in between takes. I was like, “That’s for pussies. Let him be.” And that became so much a part of his character interpretation. He had lovely clothes, but he wore them irreverently. They were crumpled. That, to me, is the ultimate kind of rock star language.
Irreverently worn and beautifully disheveled. There you go. I quite like that one. [Laughs]
[Laughs] Among the main cast and all the extras, did you want an array of colors to reinforce the themes of life and death in Frankenstein?
Color’s a big part of Guillermo’s language as a director. There are motifs. He uses it very carefully, like the reds represent the mother throughout. We have that visceral red veil at the beginning, sort of a blood-red veil. That, to me, echoes the boy in The Devil’s Backbone, and it’s echoed in the coffin of Claire’s death face, and then you have the echo in Mia’s bonnet as Elizabeth in Victor’s apartment. The reds are carefully chosen. Victor’s red gloves echo his mother’s red gloves. And then – spoiler – it ends in a full circle at the end with the death of Elizabeth, with the blood red coming through. It’s the red and white that take you right back to the beginning again.
He did not want a black, Dickensian kind of seascape, with beautiful, baby-sea-like gorgeousness. He also talked about Hammer Horror and the films of Mario Bava, and that’s all part of his catnip. The challenge was to interpret these colors within a more gothic sensibility.
Oscar Isaac in “Frankenstein.” Courtesy Netflix.
How do you accomplish that?
We’d already moved sort of from the Age of Enlightenment. The novel is originally set in this more contemporary world where the Industrial Revolution is happening. We’ve had surgical developments, which occurred during the Crimean War. It’s a time of great change. So it was to keep those feelings of the book, which were within the script: the atmosphere, the loneliness, and the melancholy. The reds were defined, but all those greens and the blues — did they have the tonal depth, as opposed to just being bright and saturated?
Artist Louis Comfort Tiffany was an influence there, right?
I’d been looking at the Tiffany archives and looking at how Louis Comfort Tiffany worked with Favrile. All part of the Art Nouveau movement. The colors are rich, but there’s a darkness that they paint with other colors. There are purples and greens together, blues and greens. It’s a painterly approach. And then, by using lots of transparent layers, by using patterns and textures, hopefully the intent was to keep the mood and atmosphere of nature always running through, and then these rich tones that have a more ephemeral feel.
There’s character to those colors, too. Victor’s gloves do make audiences think of his mother, but also that he has blood on his hands.
Absolutely. What I love about ideas like that is that they open the door to another idea, which grows into something else, and then someone in another department, like Tamara, will be doing something similar. We’re echoing each other all the time.
The circles are a great motif. We have the circles of the mirror images — the narcissus image — which was repeated in the circular architecture of the windows, repeated in the circular form of the Medusa, and repeated in the bonnets. There’s a lovely rhythm that is almost musical in terms of the visual language. And then you have his fabulous score at the end of it.
What did you want Elizabeth’s costumes to communicate about her place in society? How does she – through her costumes – connect with The Creature?
She’s a separate entity, almost a creature out of the norms of society. Guillermo wanted a more ephemeral quality to her. There’s a beautiful passage of text where they’re in the bistro and Victor picks up the book, saying, “Insects.” One of those was a book by 19th-century theologian William Paley, who discussed the theology of nature and argued that nature itself is a form of religion. She enjoys the beauty of nature in whatever form it is. Just like the animals in the forest look at the creature, they don’t see ugliness. They just see him.
There’s Mia as Elizabeth and Claire. She represents all these different echoes of women. To Victor, it’s Claire, the mother. Elizabeth is seen through Victor’s eyes — she’s an angel and mother, she’s Madonna. And then, as we approach the end of the film, she reflects more on the creature. And then you have the same relationship balance between Victor and the creature. They echo each other. We are doing this constant echoing of characters.
In the book, Mary Shelley describes The Creature simply picking up a cloak. For you, what silhouette did you want to strike when The Creature stands in the distance before the sun?
It’s that line, is it a beast or a man? The very first image, apart from the creation itself — and creation on the crucifix, so to speak — we did lots and lots of gestural drawings and explored what the overall silhouette would look like in the midst of the Arctic. Could it be a giant bear? Could it be a creature? The silhouette changes all the time. When he puts the coat on from the graveyard in the forest — the mass grave of dead bodies — he’s wearing the memories of another man. It’s like putting on another skin, so that it has a different silhouette. Then he just becomes bigger and bigger as he grows and becomes more powerful.
Frankenstein is in theaters and streaming on Netflix now.
Featured image: Jacob Elordi, Mia Goth. Courtesy Netflix.
If ever a man were destined to design a new Frankenstein, it would surely be Mike Hill. The British-born prosthetics and makeup artist behind Guillermo del Toro’s new Frankenstein movie (in theaters now, streaming on Netflix starting November 7) remembers finding his calling at the age of five. “I’d walk to the river in the pouring rain with a little pail and a spade and I’d dig up the clay from deep in the riverbank, take it home, dry it out on the concrete,” Hill recalls. “Then I’d sculpt Frankenstein, I’d sculpt King Kong, I’d sculpt a menagerie of dinosaurs. And I realized ‘I can make monsters.’ Which, I guess, I still do.”
Hill eventually moved to Hollywood and worked on X-Men movies, followed by films from del Toro, including The Shape of Water and Nightmare Alley. Del Toro then enlisted Hill to lead the prosthetic makeup effects department for his lavish adaptation of Frankenstein,starring Jacob Elordi as The Creature and Oscar Isaac in the title role as Dr. Victor Frankenstein.
Speaking from his home in Los Angeles, Hill explains how he bonded with del Toro over Frankenstein statues and details the ten-hour makeup sessions that transformed Elordi into a “newly minted man.”
Tell us about Guillermo del Toro’s “Frankenstein room.”
At his house, Guillermo has a whole room dedicated to Frankenstein and a lot of my work is in there. I made statues of Boris Karloff’s giant Frankenstein head [from the 1931 movie], Karloff walking with little Maria [Marilyn Harris], Dr. Pretorius from The Bride of Frankenstein
How big are these sculptures?
They’re life-size. Guillermo likes to call them his friends and speaks to them every morning. The statues — they’re actually how we met.
What happened?
At a convention, Guillermo saw a [sculpture] piece I did, so then he did some serious “Colombo” [detective work]. He tracked me down through an old [internet] forum and emailed me. I was like, “Is this really you?” And it was. That’s when we realized we both had a passionate affair with [Frankenstein author] Mary Shelley. Guillermo commissioned me to do Boris Karloff’s monster in the makeup chair.
That’s some cute meet: “Please make me a life-size Frankenstein.”When del Toro got the green light to make this movie, what was his creative brief for the Creature?
Well, first, he told me what he didn’t want.
Which was…
He didn’t want Frankenstein’s creature to have all those stitches. I was in total agreement because, not to knock anybody else’s work, but I felt like a lot of times, Frankenstein looks like he’d been in a car accident, and somebody stitched him back together. Guillermo didn’t want that crudity, and neither did I. What I wanted was the feeling that when you see this Creature, you think, “This is not a repair job. This is a newly minted man.”
To get there, the actor Jacob Elordi obviously needed a lot of enhancements.
We had 42 [silicone] appliances that we put on Jacob’s head and body. It took ten hours a day to do the makeup. Our call time to start work was midnight.
Jacob Elordi is sitting in the chair for ten hours before he even gets to the set and starts acting?
While you’re applying the prosthetics, how did he pass the time?
We put old monster movies on to familiarize Jacob with the old Universal and [British Gothic horror studio] Hammer movies. Jacob’s a movie aficionado but wasn’t really horror-focused, so I wanted to open his eyes a wee bit and let him see Christopher Lee [as Dracula] up on the screen. It was very cool.
Del Toro’s version of the story shows Victor Frankenstein salvaging corpses from a battlefield during the Crimean War. How did that concept affect your approach to the Creature?
It meant that these fresh bodies would usually have only one injury. Maybe the hand got blown off or the foot’s missing, so there’d be surgery scars. That’s where all the cuts and nicks come from, not from sewing him together from other parts. Remember, Victor has never made a man before, so there are a lot of mistakes, a few too many cuts, and a few too many graftings. He’s experimenting as he goes, trying to make something better than him, which is why, I guess, the jealousy kicks in.
Oscar Isaac in “Frankenstein.” Courtesy Netflix.
You also altered Elordi’s physique?
I gave him bigger trap muscles back here [pointing behind his neck] and bigger deltoids to broaden him up. Jacob had a fantastic swimmer’s body, but I wanted to give him more strength in the upper quarters.
Besides bulking up the Creature, you imbued him with an almost luminescent skin tone. What were you going for there?
Guillermo wanted oyster grey, so I put that in, but I also used blue, an homage to Karloff because [makeup artist] Jack Pierce used a blue-grey makeup. And some of it was yellow, because Mary Shelley wrote that the Creature’s skin was yellow. Then I painted in all these subtle hues of alabaster, purples, yellows, and reds that you normally wouldn’t think of using on Frankenstein. I put them in there because he sort of comes out like a butterfly, and then as the movie progresses and the world beats him down, the Creature becomes more like a moth, and the colors die down and get dirty.
How did you shape your silicone prosthetic appliances to fit the specific contours of Jacob Elordi’s body?
Jacob was in Australia, but I needed to get going here in L.A., so I had friends there make a mold of his head and ship it to me. Then they scanned his body and sent me the file, which I used to [3-D] print out the whole body of Jacob. From there, I was able to fit the appliances to every nook and cranny of his face and play with the ways we could add to the physicality of the Creature.
You’ve worked with Guillermo del Toro on The Shape of Water, Nightmare Alley, and now, Frankenstein. What’s it like to be in the room with this master filmmaker?
He’s in charge and that’s that, but everyone’s relaxed on a Guillermo set. The man’s funny; he tells jokes, and he laughs. You’re not tiptoeing around like you might on other shows. But to go deeper than that, Guillermo del Toro is a pioneer in the genre of fantasy. When I’m working on his films, I can do things out of the box, like using pastel colors in Frankenstein. Other directors might say, “Oh no, not scary enough.” But I thought it would be creepy, and Guillermo understands that. He has a style you can feed into because he feels a bit more, and he sees a bit more. To be in the presence of a man who takes this stuff so seriously and so lovingly, you can’t help but want to be part of his productions.
You and your team, including Negan Many, completely transformed Jacob Elordi, physically, on a nightly basis, which must have seemed a bit odd at times?
It was weird because this human with black hair comes in at midnight, we’d sit down and chat with Jacob while the [bald] cap’s going, and then once the pieces go on his face, he’s the Creature. End of the day, we take off the make-up, the cap comes off, Jacob comes out, and it’s like, “Oh, there’s that man again.” Jacob considered me and Megan to be like his mom and dad. We protected him. He was my responsibility. I had to look after my Creature.
Frankenstein is currently in theaters and available to stream on Netflix.
Antonie Fuqua’s Michael Jackson biopic, Michael, boasts two very key distinctions: one is Fuqua himself, a veteran director in command of his art, and the second is Jafar Jackson, the star of the film and Michael Jackson’s nephew. Lionsgate has released the first look at Michael, which showcases a few of Jafar’s silky smooth moves and snapshots of Jackson’s deathless songs.
The iconic songs that the teaser offers snippets of include “Don’t Stop ‘Til You Get Enough,” the first single from his 1979 album “Off the Wall,” and one of the early hits that made it clear that this former member of the Jackson Five was going to be a mega-star as a solo musician. In fact, it was the second single from “Off the Wall” to reach number one on the Billboard Hot 100, and led to Jackson earning his first solo Grammy Award. There would be many more. Not for nothing, “Don’t Stop ‘Till You Get Enough” is widely considered one of the greatest disco songs of all time.
We also get a brief glimpse of Jackson’s immortal video for “Thriller,” which was possibly the moment that he became the most famous musician in the world. The teaser is mostly contained inside the studio, with Jackson’s mentor, iconic music producer Quincy Jones (Kendrick Sampson), reminding him that in the studio, he needs to keep his feet still.
Michael boasts a formidable cast, including Colman Domingo as his father, Joe Jackson; Miles Teller as John Branca, Michael’s long-time attorney and business advisor; Kat Graham as Diana Ross; Jessica Sula as La Toya Jackson, and Laura Harrier as Suzanne de Passe, a music executive who was instrumental in his early career.
“The film tells the story of Michael Jackson’s life beyond the music, tracing his journey from the discovery of his extraordinary talent as the lead of the Jackson Five, to the visionary artist whose creative ambition fueled a relentless pursuit to become the biggest entertainer in the world,” the synopsis reads. “Highlighting both his life off-stage and some of the most iconic performances from his early solo career, the film gives audiences a front-row seat to Michael Jackson as never before. This is where his story begins.”
Check out the teaser trailer below. Michael moonwalks into theaters on April 24.
Featured image: Jaafar Jackson as Michael Jackson in MICHAEL. Photo Credit: Kevin Mazur
Steven Van Zandt of the E Street Band is a singular figure in the world of rock and roll. Nobody else is like him and does what he does, whether jamming with Bruce Springsteen, acting on the screen (his most iconic role was, of course, playing Silvio Dante in The Sopranos), or his solo work. There’s only one Steven Van Zandt, but in Scott Cooper’s Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere, it’s Johnny Cannizzaro who plays the young guitarist before he became a household name.
Scott Cooper’s low-key biopic of the Boss (played by Jeremy Allen White) is about his days recording one of his masterworks, Nebraska, at a time of great torment and confusion. Springsteen suffers a devastating period of depression that makes the creative process more grueling than magical, yet from those dark depths he pulls one of the great albums of the 20th Century. Producer Jon Landau (Jeremy Strong) is there for Bruce, but for the most part, Cooper portrays an isolated Springsteen, lost in his own thoughts and at home.
There’s not a lot of camaraderie or dialogue between Bruce and the E Street Band, but when the film opens during a concert in Cincinnati or shows the band recording Born in the U.S.A., Cannizzaro had to contribute mightily to the film’s authenticity. False notes could sink Cooper’s stripped-down vision of an authentic artist’s descent.
Cannizzaro brings Van Zandt’s signature glee to the picture. The actor, known for Jersey Boys and Mob City, spoke with The Credits about researching, meeting, and becoming Steven Van Zandt.
What did those initial steps involve in playing Steven Van Zandt? What were the first few days of work for you?
As soon as I had booked the role, I immediately wanted to get to work and learn as much about Stevie as I possibly could. I already had a bit of knowledge about him because I grew up in the same area of New Jersey, just about two towns away from one another, in fact, so it just resonated with me even more strongly because of that. I was assigned a guitar coach, who was amazing, and he helped me dissect Stevie — the way that he plays the guitar, his presence on stage, the way he stands, his body movements, and the little motions he does with his head. They may not seem like much to the average viewer, but to me, they were crucial.
With the guitar-playing style, what were the nuances to get down?
Mainly with him, he has a lot of these quirky little head motions. If you watch archival footage of Stevie from concerts back in the eighties, you’ll see what I mean. You can tell how into the music he is, almost like he’s there on stage by himself, but he’s such a big part of the sound of the E Street Band. As he likes to say, he’s the “cover” for Bruce Springsteen, relating to his relationship with Tony Soprano in The Sopranos.
What guitar were you playing with that guitar teacher?
It’s a vintage Strat. It was maybe a ’51 or ’55 Strat, something in that range, but it was vintage. There was a rumor at one point that we were using Stevie’s guitar at the shoot, but that was never confirmed, so I’m not sure if I was using his guitar or not. I know Jeremy was using Bruce’s actual guitar.
Even though we don’t see what Steven Van Zandt is up to in that period of Bruce’s life, did you need to know where his life was at then?
Absolutely. It was just preceding the period of time when Stevie left the band. Lord knows what he had going through his mind at the time, because just like Bruce, he was figuring out who he was as an artist independently as well. Plus, he started to have all these political aspirations, to be more of an activist and get involved with world issues. And then he ventured off to South Africa and had that whole period of his life before coming back to the band. It was all important. That said, the story isn’t about that. At the end of the day, it’s about this period of time in Bruce’s life when he was writing the Nebraska album, and while Stevie was there, the story isn’t about Bruce’s relationship with Stevie or the band.
When you met Mr. Van Zandt, did you have a lot of questions going in, or did you want to chat and see where it went?
I walked in there with a page and a half of questions that I wanted to ask him. I was figuring out how I could do this and still sound smooth about it, because he is such a cool guy. But I wound up not asking a single one of the questions I intended, because he made it so cool and comfortable. The conversation flowed so naturally. I really didn’t have to ask any of my questions. Everything I wanted to know was answered organically through what we were speaking about.
What were some of the questions you had down that you didn’t ask him?
I wanted to know, and it might seem like a silly question, what his relationship with music was. Music is his life. He’s an encyclopedia when it comes to music history. I just didn’t know if he had to — I’m sure he’s been asked that before — but if he had to eloquently express what his relationship with music is, I would’ve liked to hear it in his own words.
Steven Van Zandt.
How about the way he moved, how he carried himself in that meeting? What stood out?
We were meeting at a little café, and he got there a few minutes before me, but as I was walking up, I could see him through the window. He was kinda setting the table, pulling the table away from the wall to make sure there was enough space. I don’t know if he was doing that intentionally, but he just seemed to be a bit of a quirky guy. I love that because I’ve been told I’m a bit of a quirky mess myself, so I totally understand it. It was just interesting to me that he was meeting someone new and wanted to make sure the area was comfortable and that we could have a compelling conversation. Maybe I’m looking too deeply into that, but it’s something I thought about afterward. It was kind of funny.
When he described what the music means to him, what did that mean to you? How’d it inspire you?
He is probably one of the most passionate people I’ve ever met. He’s such a true artist. For me, it was very relatable, because as a creative — I’m not a rock musician, not a rock star — but I’m an actor, so I relate. I understand the love and the passion. When you’re an artist, you need to express these things. We all go through those periods of time, and that’s what this whole movie is about — expression and Bruce getting out what he needed to get out at the time. To me, it meant a lot. It said to me that I’m not alone on the creative journey I’m on when guys like Stevie Van Zandt and Bruce Springsteen are going through the same struggles as I do, as everyone does. It just makes you feel like you’re doing something right.
Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere is in theaters now.
Featured image: Johnny Cannizzaro. Courtesy Alex Fenyves
Fraser and Weisz were the two biggest stars in the big reboot of The Mummy back in 1999 and went on to become a smash. The epic, directed by Stephen Sommers, followed Fraser’s Rick O’Connell, a roguish American adventurer and former member of the French Foreign Legion, and Weisz as Evelyn Carnahan, an English Egyptologist working at the Cairo Museum of Antiquities. The pair accidentally awakens a mummy after Evelyn reads from the Book of the Dead, an ancient text that unleashes the high priest Imhotep from his 3,000-year nap. Once roused, Imhotep goes on the most destructive lovesick search of all time, determined to find the reincarnation of his long-lost love, no matter the body count.
The movie spawned sequels—2001’s The Mummy Returns, also directed by Sommers and featuring the return of Fraser and Weisz, now married and with a young son. In the sequel, Weisz’s Evelyn discovers that she’s the reincarnation of an Egyptian princess and dies, but is eventually revived by Rick. After that came 2008’s The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor, directed by Rob Cohen, which, unlike the previous installment, did not feature Weisz. The franchise was resurrected afresh in 2017 by none other than Tom Cruise, but it didn’t catch on. It’s been sleeping in its crypt since then.
Rick (played by Brendan Fraser, left) and Evelyn O’Connell (played by Rachel Weisz) brace themselves for trouble in “The Mummy Returns.” (Photo by Keith Hamshere/Universal Studios)
Fraser took time away from acting, but returned with a splash in 2022’s The Whale, which earned him an Oscar for Best Actor. Now, he’ll be returning to the role that made him a star.
Bettinelli-Olpin and Gillett will be directing from a script by David Coggeshall, Deadlinereports.
Featured image: Rick O’Connell (Brendan Fraser) must save Evelyn (Rachel Weisz) and the rest of the world from the 3,000-year-old curse in “The Mummy.” 1999 Universal Studios. All Rights Reserved.
Director Dan Trachtenberg is in a serious role. After wowing audiences with his tightly constrained 10 Cloverfield Lane (2016) and again with his nifty, beautifully shot Predatorprequel Prey(2021), and now this year, his animated Predator: Killers of Killers, which enjoys a 95% fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes. All this leads us to his current film, the live-action follow-up to Predator, Predator: Badlands, which is hitting theaters today on a wave of bloody great reviews.
Trachtenberg co-created Badlands with his Prey writer Patrick Aison, and it’s receiving some of the best reviews in the 9-film franchise that began with John McTiernan’s iconic 1987 original, Predator, which boasted a killer cast that included Arnold Schwarzenegger, Carl Weathers, Jesse Ventura, and future The Predator director Shane Black.
In Badlands, Trachtenberg has made a bold gamble, turning the franchise’s primary villain, a young Yautja named Dek (Dimitrius Schuster-Koloamantangi), a species known to us Earthlings simply as the Predator, and turning him into an outcast from his clan. In a wild effort to prove himself to his people, he takes his brother’s ship and flies to Genna, the most dangerous planet in the universe, to hunt its most mythical, unkillable beast. While on Genna, he meets a Weyland-Yutani synthetic called Thia (Elle Fanning), who convinces him she can help him on his mission. The catch? She doesn’t have any legs, but she’s got brains and guile aplenty. Thus, Badlands becomes not only an adventure movie, but something of a buddy film as well, a definite new direction for the franchise.
Trachtenberg filmed in the lush environs of New Zealand, where he’d eventually meet another fellow filmmaker well versed in not only the country, but in creating impossible confrontations set on distant planets—James Cameron—who also helmed Aliens, the second film in the Predator‘s sister franchise. Cameraon told him he thought Trachtenberg’s idea for a Predator/synth buddy adventure to take on the meanest alien in the universe could work, giving Trachtenberg the confidence he needed just at the right moment. According to critics, Cameron was right.
“It cleverly pulls at the supposed laws of the series in a way that makes it more interesting without diluting the fearsome nature of the title character. Trachtenberg is making the franchise richer with every instalment,” writes Olly Richards at Time Out.
“The Predator franchise takes a sharp detour into adventure, with its propulsive, creature-filled action matching the polarizing thrills of Yautja innovation,” writes Bloody Disgusting‘s Meagan Navarro. While Screen International‘s Tim Grierson writes, “Reconceiving the iconic sci-fi villain as an underdog hero, Predator: Badlands is a consistently entertaining action-thriller filled with propulsive set pieces.”
Getting right to the point, Variety‘s Peter Debruge writes, “The strongest film with Predator in the title since the 1987 original (Trachtenberg’s earlier Prey notwithstanding).”
Let’s take a quick peek around social media to see what some of the other critics are saying. Predator: Badlands is in theaters on November 7.
#PredatorBadlands is an “inspired new entry” in the franchise as director Dan Trachtenberg “finds fresh excitement pairing Elle Fanning as an ‘Alien’-style synth with a runt Predator with everything to prove.”
“Predator: Badlands” rewrites the rules of the #Predator franchise with exhilarating, futuristic action and, more importantly, depth and character to spare.
It empathizes with the Predator and offers an action-packed ride with gorgeous visuals. Dimitrius Schuster-Koloamatangi and Elle Fanning are the perfect buddy duo.
Director Dan Trachtenberg takes his third crack at Yautja lore with Predator: Badlands, and this time the protagonist is the galaxy’s most notorious trophy hunter himself. It’s a pretty wild shift in perspective for the franchise, but one that Trachtenberg pulls off.
Dan Trachtenberg does it again. #PredatorBadlands absolutely shreds and stretches the limits of PG-13. Killer action, just the right amount of laughs, and a story that delivers a hearty middle finger to the individualist mindset of macho superiority.
Predator: Badlands is a total blast (i’m down for anything that feels like a live-action Scavengers Reign), and Elle Fanning is *fantastic* as a legless synthetic who’s just happy to be there. another killer installment from Dan Trachtenberg.
PREDATOR: BADLANDS is one of the more surprising action blockbusters I’ve seen this year. Granted, I went in with low expectations, but I found Dan Trachtenberg’s latest installment in the revived “Predator” franchise to be a relentlessly paced, adrenaline-pumping spectacle of… pic.twitter.com/r3vL4ZrXRi
Predator: Badlands is friggin’ awesome. Inventive action, organic comedy, and a story I was fully invested in. Dan Trachtenberg continues to push all the right buttons with this franchise. Impressive. pic.twitter.com/eoYNluPQoL
