“The Wild Robot” Writer/Director Chris Sanders on Kindness as a Survival Skill

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With three Oscar nominations under his belt, animation auteur Chris Sanders knew a good story when he saw it the minute his daughter brought home Peter Brown’s children’s book “The Wild Robot” back in 2016. Sanders, who’d worked on The Lion King and later helmed How to Train Your Dragon, Lilo & Stitch, and The Croods, appreciated the tragi-comic tale centered on robot Roz (voiced in the film by Lupita Nyong’o) after she washes up on the shore of a remote island populated with wild animals.

Some four years later, Sanders learned that DreamWorks had acquired the book, and he signed on to spearhead the big-screen adaptation, which opened Friday to near-unanimous raves. “In some cases, we had to trim away characters, and in other places, I actually added some complications where I felt things were getting maybe a little too linear,” Sanders says, describing his light touch adaptation. “But it was always in service of Peter’s wonderful story.”

 

Speaking from his home in Los Angeles, Sanders discusses the emotive power of geese migration, Bambi, and the real-life inspiration behind The Wild Robot‘s enchanted island.

 

What was your biggest challenge in turning Peter Brown’s universally acclaimed children’s book into The Wild Robot movie?

Keeping the core of Peter’s story intact. When we had our first conversation, Peter revealed the thing he had on his mind when he was writing “The Wild Robot” was the idea that kindness could be a survival skill. I immediately wrote that down and thought, “Okay, this needs to be memorialized on screen.” I put that in the screenplay as a line that Fink the Fox says, and it comes directly from our very first conversation with Peter.

(from left) Fink (Pedro Pascal) and Roz (Lupita N’yongo) in DreamWorks Animation’s Wild Robot, directed by Chris Sanders.

Yet the movie begins not with kindness but with feral, predatory chaos. When Roz first arrives, we see the animals giving her a hard time. Was it important to portray nature as an adversarial environment?

Absolutely. There had to be real life and death consequences for this story to work. For example, if Gosling Brightbill [voiced by Kit Connor] had stayed on the island, he wouldn’t have made it through the winter. He would starve. Peter’s book has some heavy themes, and we have to preserve and even magnify them for the big screen.

 

The voice actors infuse their animal characters with a ton of personality, but maybe the most surprising talent is Lupita NYong’o as the robotic Roz. She won an Oscar for 12 Years a Slave. A few weeks ago, she starred in a very serious post-apocalyptic drama, A Quiet Place: Day One. And now she’s an animated robot—how did that happen?

Our casting director, Christi Soper, suggested Lupita. Even though she wasn’t going to be on screen, Lupita took this as seriously as she would any role, deconstructing Roz to understand how her mind works. Roz is very intelligent, but there are serious gaps in what she knows, so she has a particular way of seeing things. Finding that amusing, charming angle for Roz was very much a collaboration, which progressed from a couple of Zoom calls to our in-person meetings in the recording studios.

Lupita Nyong’o voices Roz in DreamWorks Animation’s The Wild Robot, directed by Chris Sanders.

Lupita initially delivers her Roz lines in a stiff that we associate with digital assistants like Siri and Alexa. How did you two arrive at that tone?

Lupita was very much thinking about voices like Siri and Alexa when she created what we called an “engineered optimism.” I liken it to somebody who’s coming to a party, and they’re a little bit nervous, so their voice goes like this (switching to a high voice): “Hi, I’m Chris! How are you!” (back to regular voice). Lupita created this sound, which I daresay stressed her voice a little bit to create this upbeat, hopeful quality that Roz has right out of the box.

 

As the story progresses, Roz changes, and so does her voice.

Roz’s voice becomes more like Lupita’s, and the pattern of her speaking changes as well. At a certain point, Roz begins to use contractions, so there are very subtle things going on. It was fascinating to watch an actor of Lupita’s caliber shape her character.

The fox, the possums, the bear, and the geese are wildly entertaining. on top of that, you have this lush forest, which becomes a character unto itself. What real-life references inspired the look of this island?

We all felt the island would probably be on the northwest coast of North America, given the creatures. Our production designer, Raymond Zibach, looked at Olympia National Park [in Washington] to study the foliage, which is wet and has a lot of ferns. We painted those plants in the background.

Roz (Lupita N’yongo) in DreamWorks Animation’s Wild Robot, directed by Chris Sanders.
(from left) Fink (Pedro Pascal) and Brightbill (Kit Connor) in DreamWorks Animation’s The Wild Robot, directed by Chris Sanders.

Your team’s rendering of this forest-island environment evokes a richness reminiscent of classic Disney movies like Bambi. What were you aiming for visually?

You said the magic words: All of us here are big fans of [Disney animator] Tyrus Wong’s style employed for Bambi. It’s one of the most immersive environments I’ve ever seen, and it shows what human beings can do when they paint environments. Of course, Hayao Miyazaki was a big inspiration with films like My Neighbor Totoro, where fantastical things come out of the forest. We aspired to get that same kind of exciting, whimsical vibe for The Wild Robot.

Roz (Lupita Nyong’o) in DreamWorks Animation’s The Wild Robot, directed by Chris Sanders.

So how did you achieve that painterly look?

We fought very hard to create a technology that allowed us to actually paint these environments rather than covering [CGI] geometry in texture. We were able to create matte paintings, which made a huge impact on the visuals. Every sky is painted.

Just to be clear, when you say “painted” you mean…

We’re painting things digitally with a stylus but there’s nothing being generated by a computer. It’s an impressionistic style we adopted for this film, not unlike the washes they did for Bambi, where blades of grass are maybe just a brush stroke with a blob of color hovering above them. Not everything is razor-sharply described, if that’s a word — I just created a new word for your article! It’s not 100 percent described and the same thing with Wild Robot. If you look at our high, wide shots, the forest and the trees are not described in crazy detail on the ground so your eyes don’t get stuck looking there. But it still plays as believable.

Brightbill (Kit Connor) in DreamWorks Animation’s The Wild Robot, directed by Chris Sanders.

SPOILER ALERT

Midway through the movie, Roz says goodbye to Brightbill the Gosling, whom she’s raised from birth. It’s a very emotional seven-minute geese migration sequence complete with soaring music, the thrill of lift-off, the bittersweet farewell, the big sky. How did you put it all together?

I [story] boarded that section myself because I saw some things in my head that were very specific. If you raise a gosling, there’s built-in heartbreak at the end of that road because if you do a good job, it’s eventually going to fly away. Roz has been single minded on this goal of getting Brightbill into the air, so I was interested in showing how, when he takes off, everything catches up with her emotionally. At that moment, Roz does something very un-robotic and starts running because she’s desperate to see that gosling one last time. She’s literally running toward a cliff. It was interesting to show how the physical landscape mimics the emotional landscape.

Music underscores nearly every scene in this film. You must have collaborated closely with  composer Kris Bowers?

Kris came on very early in the process. I’m a big believer that music is one of the heaviest lifters as far as emotions and story moments. In the script, I’d build zones where there is no talking so Kris doesn’t have to worry about ducking under or around a bunch of dialogue. For the migration sequence, I asked Kris to ignore the visuals and just write a great piece of music. I said “When you’re done, we’ll sweep in behind you and cut the visuals to match the music.”

 

The Wild Robot dramatizes this touching transformation of an AI entity into a sentient being. Did you and your team actually use AI to help make the movie?

No AI really came into this. The funny thing is, the advances we made engineering-wise to paint environments curiously allowed us to make a more hand-made, human-made film than previous films I’ve worked on in CG. This is a movie about a learning robot who’s probably running some version [of AI], but when Peter wrote his novel back in 2016, that was not a thing. It’s interesting to see how this conversation has risen just as we were finishing the film.

Roz (Lupita Nyong’o) in DreamWorks Animation’s The Wild Robot, directed by Chris Sanders.

You started writing your Wild Robot script in 2020. After all these years, how does it feel to come out on the other side of this massive collaboration?

I’ve never worked on a production that ran so smoothly. Everyone on the crew, every animator, every effects artist, and every engineer exceeded what they needed to do, which makes me wonder if that’s because of the movie’s message – the idea of kindness. When our animators finished their characters, they’d ask, “Are there any more shots available for me?” They wanted it to go on. The level of devotion and love poured into The Wild Robot is, I think, evident on screen.

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Featured image: (from left) Roz (Lupita Nyong’o), Brightbill (Kit Connor) and Fink (Pedro Pascal) in DreamWorks Animation’s The Wild Robot, directed by Chris Sanders.

“The Franchise” Trailer Unveils HBO’s Superhero Comedy From “Veep” and “Succession” Alums

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How delicious is the concept for The Franchise, HBO’s new series from Veep creator Armando Iannucci, Succession writer Jon Brown, and Oscar-winning director Sam Mendes? Well, first, take a second glance at that list of creators, and then consider that Warner Bros., the home of Superman and Batman (via DC Studios), is behind a biting comedy about the superhero movie business. Yet The Franchise isn’t here to besmirch the cinematic universes conjured by Marvel and DC, but rather delight in just how much crazier and less controlled the art and architecture of creating those universes really is.

The Franchise follows the crew of a major superhero movie franchise that is struggling to find a place within the rough-and-tumble world of comic-inspired film universes. Led by Himeseh Patel as Daniel, the first assistant director of the film whose job is “to keep the actors from killing themselves,” The Franchise will follow him and his fellow crewmembers as they try to keep their cinematic universe from falling out of orbit. Daniel works side-by-side with Daniel Brühl’s director, Eric, whose concerns are a little less on point than Daniel’s (the fact that someone else on set is wearing an “indoor scarf,” for example, which is obviously reserved solely for the director). Billy Magnussen co-stars as one of the franchise’s actors, Adam, alongside Richard E. Grant’s Peter, both of whose superhero shenanigans barely merit mention compared to what’s happening off-screen.

As The Franchise‘s logline puts it, the series aims to “shine a light on the secret chaos inside the world of superhero moviemaking, to ask the question — how exactly does the cinematic sausage get made?” Yet, as a profile the show on The Hollywood Reporter made clear, the series also highlights how hard the cast and crew work on these films and how much of themselves they pour into it. “The beating heart of the show has more to do with the ADs, PAs, the script supervisors, line producers and crew who actually make films and get no public praise for it,” Mendes told THR.

The cast also includes Aya Cash as Anita, Jessica Hynes as Steph, Lolly Adefope as Dag, Darren Goldstein as Pat, and Isaac Powell as Bryson. Check out the trailer below. The Franchise arrives on October 6.

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Featured image: Lolly Adefope, Daniel Bruhl, Jessica Hynes, Himesh Patel, Aya Cash, Isaac Powell. The Franchise. Photograph by Colin Hutton/HBO

“Agatha All Along” Creator Jac Schaeffer on Setting off Marvel’s Witching Hour

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Agatha All Along creator Jac Schaeffer explores the witchy side of the Marvel Universe just in time for Halloween. The timing of the show’s release is a happy accident for Schaeffer, who also directed the first two episodes. In bringing the titular witch, Agatha (Kathryn Hahn), back from WandaVision, Schaeffer and her team have made a series with a playful spookiness centered on an irresistible Hahn, the dynamo who has been stealing scenes her whole career and found herself in the unexpected starring role on a Marvel Studios series.

(L-R): Kathryn Hahn and Creator/Showrunner/Director/Executive Producer Jac Schaeffer on the set of Marvel Television’s AGATHA ALL ALONG, exclusively on Disney+. Photo by Caleb Heymann. © 2024 MARVEL.

Following the events of WandaVision, Agatha isn’t the powerful witch she once was, having been bested and stripped of her powers by Wanda (Elizabeth Olsen) in the climactic showdown that ended that series. When reintroduced, she’s trapped in her mind and living out a European police procedural. Once she snaps out of the procedural drama and returns to reality, she’s horrified to find herself powerless. With a trusty sidekick, Teen (Joe Locke), she assembles a team of witches for a journey on the arduous, dangerous Witches’ Road to regain her powers.

Schaeffer, who also created WandaVision, introduces new elements in the Marvel universe, spoke with The Credits about her influences for Agatha All Along, building witchcraft mythology, and her sensational cast.

 

In the opening credits, there’s the joke, “Based on the Danish series, Wandavisdysen.” Was that a gag on the page?

The main titles were written into the script; that was always the thing. In fact, the original concept on the page had the skip intro button that you could press, but the idea was that it wouldn’t work because you always get bewitched by main titles if they’re really good. But the idea of it being based on the Danish series was because the editor on that episode, Jamie Gross, used The Killing main titles for a temp before we had made ours. And then when it was time to do ours, I was like, “Well, we have to do it based on the Danish series because that’s what they do in The Killing.” I’ve to say it is one of my top five favorite jokes in the whole show. It really tickles me.

 

WandaVision was a departure from the Marvel aesthetic. Given the world of witchcraft in Agatha All Along, how’d you want to continue to evolve from that style?

From what I’ve witnessed during my time at Marvel, they’re interested in that. They want it all to fit together, but they want each property to have its own distinct style, color, and feeling. There was definitely room for that. The road itself was hard because you don’t want to go too dark. It also went hand in hand with the notion of how scary it is in terms of ages and audience. We were finding a line.

 

Were you inspired by Walt Disney and witches from the Disney library? They weren’t afraid to scare kids, and I’d say the same about your witches.

We did, in a larger sense, of how witches are framed in the older Disney canon, the binary of the princess and the evil witch. So, that definitely factored into our early ideating because the whole show is an examination of what it means to be a witch in terms of the stereotype and then what it means authentically. But that’s lovely that you felt that. I would also guess that that also has to do with the practical side of it. There’s a real texture to the show. At least for me, seeing the witches in the real environment has that Grimm’s fairy tale essence to it.

Salem Seven in Marvel Television’s AGATHA ALL ALONG, exclusively on Disney+. Photo courtesy of Marvel Television. © 2024 MARVEL.

Did you and your visual effects supervisor, Kelly Port, always want to use as many practical effects as possible?

Early on, we were like, “This is not a CGI show,” and Kelly wanted that as well. It was Mary Livanos’, the executive producer, idea. Our touchstones were everything from The Wizard of Oz through The NeverEnding Story, Dark Crystal, The Craft, and The Witches of Eastwick. We were already in this zone, which then became a point of pride for us. It also has an added layer, this discovery where we were like, “Agatha’s power has been taken from her. No power for Agatha, no CG for the show.” It felt aligned with the Marvel ethos.

 

In the pilot, did you want the house fight scene between Agatha and Rio (Aubrey Plaza) to really set the tone for the action ahead in the series?

Yes. It’s a Marvel show, so there is always a burden for action and some level of violence that is part of the Marvel universe. It’s not something that I always wrote before coming to Marvel. That wasn’t where my mind always went. Although I guess sci-fi is always where I’m at, and there’s always going to be some sort of action in a sci-fi story. But what we were trying to convey with that sequence is the fact that Agatha is powerless. She’s got no blasts and no telekinesis, and if she has no telepathy, then it’s fisticuffs, right? It’s going to be nails and teeth and hair. Also, the relationship between Agatha and Rio is so intimate and so charged that we wanted this close-quarters fight that indicated that they’re at each other’s throats, but also maybe want to make out. We wanted that froth at the top of the show.

Rio Vidal (Aubrey Plaza) in Marvel Television’s AGATHA ALL ALONG, exclusively on Disney+. Photo courtesy of Marvel Television. © 2024 MARVEL.

As someone with an independent background, how do you want to bring an indie spirit to a production as big as Agatha All Along?

When I hear indie, what that means to me is that we have a “we can solve this” attitude. Give me a pack of gum and a match, and I’ll figure this out. It’s a concert! Just kidding, it’s a public restroom. Even at the Marvel scale, there will be a million things you’re told you can’t have, and then you have to make it work. I think the other indie spirit sensibility is the centering of POVs that don’t normally get the spotlight. It’s certainly the case for this show. All I want to do is tell the stories of women, women from all places and of all ages and all circumstances. And so, that’s part of what I brought to this.

(L-R): Patti LuPone, Sasheer Zamata, Creator/Showrunner/Director/Executive Producer Jac Schaeffer, Kathryn Hahn, Joe Locke, Debra Jo Rupp, and Ali Ahn on the set of Marvel Television’s AGATHA ALL ALONG, exclusively on Disney+. Photo by Chuck Zlotnick. © 2024 MARVEL.

You have great “getting the band together” sequences, like in a classic heist movie. How did you want to define those women as quickly and as substantially as possible?

You’ve nailed it. It is so challenging, but that is the goal. I love heist movies. I love Oceans 11 so much. The economy with which 11 characters are introduced, holy moly, masterclass. Agatha and Teen pick up three characters and a fourth. It’s technically a half-hour show, maybe a little bit longer, but there’s limited real estate. So it is not only the words on the page, it is the casting, which is vital. Ninety percent of your job is done if you cast the right people. Then, it’s the wardrobe, and [costume designer] Daniel Selon’s work did so much to enhance and to create a shorthand for who these characters are. And then, of course, John Collins’ production design. Each space tells a story and establishes the beginning of a thread that will follow throughout the show.

(L-R): Teen (Joe Locke), Jennifer Kale (Sasheer Zamata), Alice Wu-Gulliver (Ali Ahn), Lilia Calderu (Patti LuPone), Agatha Harkness (Kathryn Hahn), and Rio Vidal (Aubrey Plaza) in Marvel Television’s AGATHA ALL ALONG, exclusively on Disney+. Photo by Chuck Zlotnick. © 2024 MARVEL.

Did you and the writers now have a book of rules for all the witchcraft in the show?

The notes from the room would melt your brain. Because this character has very little presence in the comics, we were originating from scratch a lot of who she is, and then we were assigned the task of defining witchcraft in the MCU. What classic notion of witches do we want to carry forward? How do we want to innovate? What are the ways in which Marvel witches are different? Then, we put them in an environment that required an enormous amount of world-building and rules. Then, because they are on a mission, how do we paint them into a corner over and over again and then get them out of it? Yeah, I’m tired just remembering all of that [Laughs].

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Featured image: (L-R): Creator/Showrunner/Director/Executive Producer Jac Schaeffer and Kathryn Hahn on the set of Marvel Television’s AGATHA ALL ALONG, exclusively on Disney+. Photo by Chuck Zlotnick. © 2024 MARVEL.

“Wolfs” Stunt Coordinator George Cottle on Designing Superlative Stunts For George Clooney & Brad Pitt

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For stunt coordinator George Cottle, it started on a warm summer’s day in Los Angeles. He and director Jon Watts were shooting an episode of Star Wars: Skeleton Crew when Watts mentioned a film idea he was developing to star Brad Pitt and George Clooney. Watts asked Cottle if he’d like to be involved.

“I’ve done three Spider-Man’s with him. I love the way he works,” says Cottle says. “There are a handful of directors who really stand out to me. I love being on set with them. I don’t care what it is. It could be a remake of the Teletubbies. Jon is definitely one of those guys.”

And just like that, Cottle became the supervising stunt coordinator for Wolfs. Streaming on Apple+ TV after a one-week theatrical run by Sony Pictures, the action/comedy stars Pitt and Clooney as two professional fixers who are inadvertently both hired to clean up the same murder scene. Then complications arise. The victim (Austin Abrams) turns out to be very much alive and in possession of a huge stash of drugs. The two lone wolves must join forces to stave off a gang looking to finish the hit and retrieve the drugs.  

 

With a resume that runs the gamut from Christopher Nolan’s Oscar-winning Oppenheimer and sci-fi head trip Inception to superhero franchises like Nolan’s The Dark Knight and this blockbuster Deadpool & Wolverine, Ryan Coogler’s Black Panther and the aforementioned Spider-Man trilogy — Homecoming, Far From Home and No Way Home — Cottle thought a lighthearted actioner might be a nice change.

George Cottle with Deadpool stunt double Alex Kyshkovych. Courtesy of George Cottle/Marvel Studios

There was one small detail. Watts hadn’t written a script yet. That didn’t bother Cottle. He reasoned that if it were good enough for Clooney and Pitt, it was good enough for him. Besides, being involved early has its advantages. “Jon would text or call me and be like, ‘Hey listen, if we did this. Do you think we could do it for real?’ And I’d be like, ‘Yeah. We could put the actors in a rig and have the car slide up,’” Cottle remembers. “And he’s like, ‘Great! That’s what we’re doing.’”

Filmmaker Jon Watts with Brad Pitt and George Clooney in “Wolfs,” now playing in select theaters and streaming on Apple TV+.

Then, as Wolfs’ start date drew near, Cottle realized weather would be a factor. “Hang on. This just came to me. We’re shooting this in New York right?,” Cottle asked Watts. “He’s like, ‘Yeah.’ And I’m like, ‘In January?’ He’s like, ‘Yeah.’ And I’m like, ‘And the whole thing takes place at night?’ He’s like, ‘Yeah. It’s gonna be great.’ So I was like, ‘Okay… well… I’m too deep in now.’”

Chilly thoughts aside, Cottle was excited that New York was serving as his stunt canvas. “The energy is truly unlike any other city. New York is so electrifying,” he continues.

Watts, an NYU alumni and current resident, took full advantage of his home base. Wolfs showcases the city, especially during an action-packed chase. Abrams’ character (simply known as “The Kid”) makes a break for it, and the ensuing pursuit spans a lot of NYC real estate.

“George is chasing him in the car. Brad’s on foot. And Austin is running for dear life to get away,” explains Cottle. “It is so fun because we’re actually in New York. We weren’t trying to shoot Atlanta or New Jersey or wherever for New York. We got incredible permission to be on the streets. Chinatown, the Brooklyn Bridge, running Austin through all of these incredibly iconic places.”

Upping the comedy quotient, the entire sequence takes place with Abrams only wearing briefs. “One of the big heroes of this movie is young Austin,” continues Cottle. “New York City is telling everybody to get off the streets because it’s so cold and we’re running this poor kid and his stunt double through the streets in a pair of tighty-whities.”

A showstopping moment comes when the car accidentally hits the kid. Flipping upside down, he sails lengthwise over the car and lands perfectly on his feet behind the vehicle. Though Cottle had never attempted a gag like this before, he was game for the challenge when Watts told him the idea. “I’m like, ‘Don’t make me answer you now. Let me think about how we would achieve it and I’ll get back to you,’” Cottle replied.

 

And pull it off they did. “We put together a really good plan,” continues Cottle, crediting the entire crew for its successful execution. “Larkin (Seiple), our DP, really helped us work around the rigging and the lighting. We had to shoot at a much higher frame rate to get the slow motion that Jon wanted. There were many layers that we didn’t do in the street. It was a multiple pass process and it’s pretty bloody funny.”

Cottle is also complimentary of Clooney and Pitt’s stunt acumen. Watts’ goal was to put the stars in as much action as possible. That meant having Clooney and Pitt front and center for car chases, shootouts and fights. The A-listers continually rose to the challenge.

“They just get it,” says Cottle. “They have this ability, the bandwidth, to take in so much information and still act on top of that. I think that when somebody is so good at something, they make it look easy. That’s what’s truly fascinating about working with them.”

Brad Pitt and George Clooney in “Wolfs,” now playing in select theaters and streaming on Apple TV+.

As an example, Cottle cites a gag where Clooney effortlessly dips a luggage cart to hook a body bag onto it. “We came up with this idea, and he walked in, watched somebody do it, and was like, ‘Okay, I got it. Where’s the camera?’” 

Pitt was the same. Watts devised a move that sees the BMW Clooney is driving pivot 180 degrees and slide up to the sidewalk. As it comes to a stop, Pitt opens the door, steps out, and walks away without missing a beat. After working out the details with a stuntman, Pitt was brought on set. He watched a rehearsal and immediately got it. And he proved it by doing four flawless takes. “He’s incredibly coordinated, incredibly physical, and has a great understanding of his body,” adds Cottle. 

When Cottle learned Clooney was a car and motorcycle fan, he was the logical choice to be in the driver’s seat. “He’s a very good driver, actually. Surprisingly so,” says Cottle. “I know he’s a bit of a petrolhead. As soon as I hear that, I find it a little bit easier.”

Clooney and Pitt weren’t the only high-profile duo Cottle has recently put through their stunt paces. After Wolfs wrapped, he took Ryan Reynolds and Hugh Jackman through this summer’s blockbuster Deadpool & Wolverine.

(L-R): Ryan Reynolds as Deadpool/Wade Wilson and Hugh Jackman as Wolverine/Logan in 20th Century Studios/Marvel Studios’ DEADPOOL & WOLVERINE. Photo by Jay Maidment. © 2024 20th Century Studios / © and ™ 2024 MARVEL.

“There’s a lot more violence, fights and superheroes and all of that kind of thing,” says Cottle. “I know that sounds crazy, but the most fun for me was leaning into the violence. The vast majority of movies I’ve done over the last decade were PG-13. You’re limited on headbutts. You can’t see blood. All the small things you have to do to keep a PG-13 rating. Deadpool was the polar opposite. We were allowed to lean into that, especially with the comedy aspect. It was just so fresh. I really pushed the team.”

 

That meant pushing the film’s stars, Ryan Reynolds and Hugh Jackman as well. “What Ryan and Hugh had to learn, all of that was next level. There was so much more going on, and they both nailed it,” says Cottle. “That was my first time with Hugh, and I think the only time I’ve seen an actor pick up choreography as fast is Tom Holland from the Spidey films or John David Washington in Tenet. It was beyond impressive.”

Though vastly different in terms of stunt challenges, Cottle believed in many ways, the films share a similar vibe. They were both loads of fun. January winter aside, Cottle had a ball filming Wolfs. He credits Watts. “I love the way he is with actors, the little jokes and silly humor, his ability to get them to a place where they understand exactly what’s going on,” Cottle says. “And Brad and George were the perfect combination to bring all of those elements together. The chemistry between them is incredible. It was mesmerizing to watch.”

Wolfs is streaming on Apple TV+.

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Featured image: George Clooney, Brad Pitt and Austin Abrams in “Wolfs,” now playing in select theaters and streaming on Apple TV+.

Fellow Stars Pay Tribute to the Late, Great Maggie Smith

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The great Maggie Smith passed away on Friday, September 27, at the age of 89. Her astonishing career on stage and screen played out over seven decades, as she became one of Britain’s most beloved, recognizable, and prolific performers and a two-time Oscar winner to boot—she’s one of the few actresses to win both a Best Supporting Oscar and Best Actress Oscar. Her sons Toby Stephens and Chris Larkin shared this statement with the BBC said on the day of her passing: “It is with great sadness we have to announce the death of Dame Maggie Smith. She passed away peacefully in hospital early this morning, Friday 27th September. An intensely private person, she was with friends and family at the end. She leaves two sons and five loving grandchildren who are devastated by the loss of their extraordinary mother and grandmother.”

Smith’s renown wasn’t limited to the United Kingdom, of course—her admirers were global, and her reach was expanded with a memorable role as Professor Minerva McGonagall in the Harry Potter franchise. Smith also starred in California Suite (where she won the Oscar for Best Supporting Actress), Downton Abbey, The Bext Exotic Marigold Hotel, The Prime of Mis Jean Brodie (which earned her second Oscar for Best Actress), Gosford Park, A Room With A View, and many, many more critically acclaimed films.

Her fellow stars have shared how much of an impact Smith made their lives, including Harry Potter star Daniel Radcliffe, who first met Smith when he was an even smaller kid than he was on the first day of filming Harry Potter.

“The first time I met Maggie Smith, I was 9 years old, and we were reading through scenes for David Copperfield, which was my first job. I knew virtually nothing about her other than that my parents were awestruck at the fact that I would be working with her,” Radcliffe said in a statement. “The other thing I knew about her was that she was a Dame, so the first thing I asked her when we met was ‘would you like me to call you Dame?’ at which she laughed and said something to the effect of ‘don’t be ridiculous!’ I remember feeling nervous to meet her and then her putting me immediately at ease. She was incredibly kind to me on that shoot, and then I was lucky enough to go on working with her for another 10 years on the Harry Potter films. She was a fierce intellect, had a gloriously sharp tongue, could intimidate and charm in the same instant, and was, as everyone will tell you, extremely funny. I will always consider myself amazingly lucky to have been able to work with her and to spend time around her on set. The word legend is overused, but if it applies to anyone in our industry, then it applies to her. Thank you Maggie.”

Radcliffe was joined by many other colleagues, who were also often admirers, including fellow Harry Potter alum Emma Watson, who played Hermione Granger in the series. On Instagram, Watson wrote, “When I was younger, I had no idea of Maggie’s legend – the woman I was fortunate enough to share space with. It is only as I’ve become an adult that I’ve come to appreciate that I shared the screen with a true definition of greatness. She was real, honest, funny and self-honouring. Maggie, there were a lot of male professors, and by God, you held your own. Thank you for all of your kindness. I’ll miss you.”

The Harry Potter cast continued singing Smith’s praises, including Rupert Grint, who played the third member of the trifecta, Ron Weasley, Harry and Hermione’s best friend. Grint wrote on Instagram, “She was so special, always hilarious and always kind. I feel incredibly lucky to have shared a set with her and particularly lucky to have shared a dance. I’ll miss you Maggie.”

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Smith’s Sister Act co-star Whoopi Goldberg wrote on Instagram that she couldn’t believe she was lucky enough to work with “the one-of-a-kind” Smith.

Oscar-winner Viola Davis wrote of Smith on Instagram, “The end of an era of the sheer definition of what it means to be an actor. You created characters that clung to us, moved us, entertained us……made us look within. You defied the expectations of age….crossed generations. You were greatness personified Dame Maggie Smith.”

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Downton Abbey creator Julian Fellowes shared this statement with The Hollywood Reporter: “Maggie Smith was a truly great actress, and we were more than fortunate to be part of the last act in her stellar career. She was a joy to write for, subtle, many-layered, intelligent, funny and heart-breaking. Working with her has been the greatest privilege of my career, and I will never forget her.”

Her co-star in Downton, Hugh Bonneville, shared this with THR: “Anyone who ever shared a scene with Maggie will attest to her sharp eye, sharp wit and formidable talent. She was a true legend of her generation and, thankfully, will live on in so many magnificent screen performances. My condolences to her boys and wider family.”

Michelle Dockery, who played Lady Mary in Downton, said, “There was no one quite like Maggie. I feel tremendously lucky to have known such a maverick. She will be deeply missed, and my thoughts are with her family.”

Featured image: English actress Maggie Smith, UK, 8th March 1974. She is appearing in the stage comedy ‘Snap!’ at the Vaudeville Theatre on the Strand in London. (Photo by Evening Standard/Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

Batman Supervillains Bane & Deathstroke Getting Their Own Movie at DC Studios

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Two iconic Batman supervillains look to be getting their own film in what could be an epic bad guy team-up film.

With writer/director James Gunn’s Superman done filming and currently in post-production, Gunn and Peter Safran’s DC Studios has arguably the biggest name in all of comics leading off their upcoming slate, titled Chapter 1: Gods and Monsters, which includes both feature films and TV series. The only other DC superhero who can rival Superman in popularity and import is Batman, and Gunn and Safran have not one but two Batman movies upcoming—Matt Reeves Batman Part II, officially under DC’s Elseworlds banner, and a reboot of the character in The Brave and the Bold, which is based on Grant Morrison’s comic that explores Bruce Wayne and his son, Damian, who ends up becoming Batman’s sidekick, Robin. Yet Gotham and Batman’s murky world is bigger than just Batman, of course. The Hollywood Reporter scoops that two classic Batman supervillains, Bane and Deathstroke, will be getting their own film.

Bane, as played by Tom Hardy, was one of the key antagonists in Christopher Nolan’s trilogy-capping The Dark Knight Rises. The hulking, haunted supervillain was almost too much for Christian Bale’s Batman in that film, breaking his back and banishing him to a living hell underground. In the new film, Bane will be joined by the no less lethal Deathstroke, who was played by Joe Manganiello in the director’s cut of Zack Snyder’s Justice League, where he finds out Batman’s identity from Lex Luthor. THR reports that the script is being written by Captain America: Brave New World scribe Matthew Orton.

Bane joined Batman’s Rogue’s Gallery in 1990, dreamed up by writer Buck Dixon and artist Graham Nolan. It was in the classic storyline “Knightfall” that Bane broke Batman’s back and made himself one of the most marquee villains in Batman’s world. In Christopher Nolan’s film, Bane is a creature of the brutal subterranean prison, the Pit, where he spends most of his life learning how to master his formidable strength while being taught by the League of Shadows. He’s got superhuman strength, but it also causes him immense suffering, requiring him to huff analgesic gas from a mask.

Deathstroke first came on the scene on the pages of the comics in 1980, and the super assassin became a popular villain. Created by writer Marv Wolfman and artist George Perez, he’s leaped over to the screen in the live-action Titans series and Manganiello’s cameo. There has been talk about Deathstroke getting his own film from The Raid director Gareth Evans, but it hasn’t come to pass.

DC Studios has another major Batman villain preparing to appear on the screen, of course—Joaquin Phoenix’s Joker is dancing and singing his way back on the big screen in Joker: Folie á Deux, on October 4. Meanwhile, on the small screen, there’s The Penguin, an excellent spinoff series from Matt Reeves’ The Batman, featuring Colin Farrell’s waddling villain.

For more on DC Studios, check out these stories:

Alan Tudyk Has Secret Role in James Gunn’s “Superman”

“Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow” Casts Matthias Schoenaerts as the Villain

James Gunn’s “Superman” Soars Past the Finish Line

James Gunn Says “Superman” is Nearly Done Filming While Praising City of Cleveland

Featured image: LONDON, ENGLAND – FEBRUARY 22: A Bane costume from the 2012 Dark Knight Rises film worn by Tom Hardy and designed by Lindy Hemming is on display at the DC Comics Exhibition: Dawn Of Super Heroes at the O2 Arena on February 22, 2018 in London, England. The exhibition, which opens on February 23rd, features 45 original costumes, models and props used in DC Comics productions including the Batman, Wonder Woman and Superman films. (Photo by Jack Taylor/Getty Images)

Alan Tudyk Has Secret Role in James Gunn’s “Superman”

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James Gunn’s Superman might have wrapped filming this past July, but new revelations about the cast are apparently still possible. Deadline scoops that Alan Tudyk, no stranger to epic sci-fi and action films (he voiced the beloved droid K-2SO in Rogue One: A Star Wars Story and reprised the role in Tony Gilroy’s excellent Disney+ series Andor), is involved in Superman. This marks the second collaboration between Tudyk and Gunn, with the versatile actor voicing the villain Doctor Phosphorus in Gunn’s upcoming animated series Creature Commandos on Max. Nearly a decade ago, Gunn appeared in an episode of Tudyk’s Vimeo series Con Man, which aired from 2015 to 2017.

PASADENA, CALIFORNIA – JANUARY 11: Alan Tudyk of “Resident Alien” speaks during the NBCUniversal segment of the 2020 Winter TCA Press Tour at The Langham Huntington, Pasadena on January 11, 2020 in Pasadena, California. (Photo by Amy Sussman/Getty Images)

Superman is the first major effort out of Gunn and Peter Safran’s new-look DC Studios. The duo is committed to creating a unified slate of feature films, TV shows, and video games for the DC banner. The upcoming film, featuring David Corenswet as Clark Kent and Rachel Brosnahan as Lois Lane, reboots the Man of Steel and sets the stage for the first phase of Gunn and Safran’s retooled DC slate, which they’re calling Chapter 1: Gods and Monsters. 

Tudyk joins Nicholas Hoult as Lex Luthor, Skyler Gisondo (Jimmy Olsen), Sara Sampaio (Eve Teschmacher), Edi Gathegi (Mister Terrific), Terence Rosemore (Otis), Anthony Carrigan (Metamorpho), Isabela Merced (Hawkgirl), Nathan Fillion (Guy Gardner), María Gabriela de Faría (The Engineer), Wendell Pierce (Daily Planet editor Perry White), Beck Bennett, and Frank Grillo (Rick Flag Sr).

Tudyk can next be seen in one of the biggest upcoming releases of the year, voicing Hei Hei in Disney Animation’s Moana 2, due out on November 27. As for Superman, Gunn’s feature is set to fly into theaters on July 11, 2025.

For more on Superman, check out these stories:

James Gunn’s “Superman” Soars Past the Finish Line

James Gunn Says “Superman” is Nearly Done Filming While Praising City of Cleveland

James Gunn Reveals Another New “Superman” Image

James Gunn’s “Superman” Brings “Saturday Night Live” Alum Beck Bennett Aboard

Featured image: David Corenswet is Clark Kent/Superman in “Superman.” Courtesy James Gunn/Warner Bros.

Ana de Armas is En Pointe in First Trailer for “John Wick” Spinoff “Ballerina”

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Vengeance has a new face.

Ana de Armas is ready to take her place in the John Wick universe, one brutal takedown of a would-be assassin at a time. The first trailer for Ballerina finds our new heroine, Eva Macarro (de Armas), as she begins training as an assassin in the traditions of the Ruska Roma. Ballerina is set during the events of John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum, and recently benefited from longstanding John Wick mastermind director Chad Stahelski. stepping in to assist director Len Wiseman punch up new action sequences shot in 2024. 

Wick has been one of the most successful action franchises of the past decade, with Keanu Reeve’s be-suited bada** first appearing on the big screen back in 2014 when his doleful hitman was trying to get out of the game, but was pulled back in when some very ill-advised home invaders killed his beloved dog, Daisy. That first kinetic action flick spawned an entire universe, with Reeves appearing in three more films—in the last, John Wick: Chapter 4, he met his fate in a final standoff with Donnie Yen’s Caine.

Because Ballerina is set between John Wick 4 and 4, Reeves can have a cameo in the film. Ana De Armas has proven herself eminently capable of handling action; she was stellar as a young CIA operative in Daniel Craig’s last turn as James Bond in No Time To Die. Here, she’s joined by Anjelica Huston, Gabriel Byrne, Norman Reedus, Catalina Sandino, Wick patriarch Ian McShane, and the late great Lance Reddick.

Wiseman directs from a script by John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum scribe Shay Hatten.

Check out the trailer below. Ballerina dances onto screens in 2025.

For more on the John Wick universe, check out these stories:

“John Wick: Chapter 4” Sequel Series in The Works From Keanu Reeves & Chad Stahelski

Keanu Reeves Told the “John Wick: Chapter 4” Team He Wanted Wick to Die at the End

“John Wick: Chapter 4” Editor Nathan Orloff on Cutting Chaos Into Crackling Coherence

Featured image: Ana de Armas as Eve in Ballerina. Photo Credit: Courtesy of Lionsgate

“The Last of Us” Season 2 Unveils Haunting, Taut New Trailer

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We’ve got our first look at The Last of Us season 2, and it’s a taut, tense glimpse at one of television’s most compelling series next move. The trailer opens with Pedro Pascal’s Joel Miller and newcomer Catherine O’Hara as the two sit for what appears to be a therapy session. Heaven knows Joel needs it—the last time we saw him, he was seeing red in a brutal, vengeful bloodbath at a hospital where his charge, Ellie (Bella Ramsey), was moments away from being dissected.

Speaking of Ellie, we see her in her new home in the mountains, safely secured there by Joel and his rampage to free her. While our survivors look to be in a better position than they were at any point last season, the sense of security bleeds away at the one-minute mark. We see one of the infected—at one of the later, more terrifying stages of mutation—crawling toward an unsuspected potential victim.

The trailer, set to a particularly haunting version of Pearl Jam’s “Future Days,” picks up five years after the events of the first season. That means the hard-earned peace that Joel and Ellie have found will be that much more tragic to give up. “Joel and Ellie’s collective past catches up to them,” the official description reads, “drawing them into conflict with each other and a world even more dangerous and unpredictable than they left behind.”

Season two featuers a bunch of talented newcomers: Kaitlyn Dever as Abby, Isabela Merced as Dina, Young Mazino as Jesse, Ariela Barer as Mel, Tati Gabrielle as Nora, Spencer Lord as Owen, Danny Ramirez as Manny, and Jeffrey Wright as Isaac.

Why was the trailer released today? Good question—in the terrifying world of The Last of Us, September 26 was the day when the cordyceps virus outbreak first exploded in the original game by Naughty Dog.

Check out the trailer here. The Last of Us returns in 2025.

For more on The Last of Us, check out these stories:

HBO Reveals First Look at “The Last of Us,” New “Game of Thrones” Spinoff & More

“The Last of Us” Concept Illustrator & Designer Pouya Moayedi on Imagining a Deadly Green World

Emmy-Nominated “The Last of Us” Hairstylist Chris Harrison-Glimsdale on Shaping the Locks of the Living and The Dead

Featured image: Pedro Pascal in “The Last of Us.” Photograph by Courtesy of HBO

The Streaming Innovation Alliance’s Mission Continues

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The Streaming Innovation Alliance turns a year old today. If you haven’t heard of SIA, you’ve certainly been impacted by its commitment to giving streamers a unified voice so they can keep creating the films and television series you love – and delivering them to audiences when, where, and how they choose to watch. Once viewed as an upstart to traditional entertainment, streamers have become a beloved part of the visual storytelling landscape. As the advent and deployment of digital film capabilities upended but did not replace the use of film on film and TV sets, the streaming world has also enhanced and enriched the industry. The large, disparate streaming community offers more storytellers from more diverse backgrounds a chance to tell their stories and find their audiences with more freedom and opportunity than ever before.

The SIA counts among its members big players, like Max, Disney+, Netflix, Paramount +, BET+, Discovery +, Telemundo, and Peacock, and smaller, crucial independent streamers like TV AfrolandTV and In The Black Network, which both highlights black voices and original stories, and Skinsplex Network, which features unlimited access to movies and media from Indigenous filmmakers, including original programming, documentaries, shorts, and animation. Streamers have opened the door to one new world after another, allowing millions of people to experience cultures and people they had little access to before or, just as crucially, see themselves reflected in the shows and films they watch for the first time. Whether it’s writer/director Issa López centering a Native American detective in her chilling, thrilling True Detective: Night Country for Max, Shōgun’s Emmy-winning editor Aika Miyake bringing a Japanese female’s perspective to one of the series’ most astonishing episodes, or Iwájú visual effects supervisor Marlon West bringing afro-futurism to Disney+, streamers enlarge our world.

IWÁJÚ: A DAY AHEAD – (Pictured) Visual Effects Supervisor, Marlon West. Photo courtesy of Disney. © 2024 Disney. All Rights Reserved.

While streaming has become the most popular way for Americans to find films, shows, music, and more they want, it’s also expanded opportunities for the people who make up the vast entertainment industry workforce. This creative explosion has been a boon for everyone who works on a film or TV set, whether it’s a showrunner building out her world on the beaches of Nantucket or the costume designers creating lush looks for worlds beyond worlds in a galaxy far, far away. The desire for more stories has opened up a space for producers and creators like Mann Robinson, a tireless filmmaker and TV creator whose sound and stage studios in Georgia are a creative production hub.

(L-R): Sabine Wren (Natasha Liu Bordizzo), Ahsoka Tano (Rosario Dawson) and Ezra Bridger (Eman Esfandi) with Night Troopers in Lucasfilm’s STAR WARS: AHSOKA, exclusively on Disney+. ©2023 Lucasfilm Ltd. & TM. All Rights Reserved

At The Credits, we’ve been covering the creatives working in the streaming industry since its inception (more or less), projects big and small, whether it’s how The Penguin production designer Kalina Ivanov turned New York City into a Gotham for the new Max series or how showrunner and editor Inbal B. Lessner and editor Kevin Hibbard helped construct Netflix’s haunting documentary series Escaping Twin Flames. As the streaming industry has grown, so has the number of incredible filmmakers and TV creators eager to share the craft behind the magic with us.

“Beetlejuice Beetlejuice” Production Designer Mark Scruton’s Masterful Marriage of Art & Architecture

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“It was going to be a continuation of the first film and not some sort of reboot,” production designer Mark Scruton says about Tim Burton’s Beetlejuice Beetlejuice, the sequel to the 1988 cult classic that reunites the absurdly talented Michael Keaton and Winona Ryder as everyone’s favorite goth-undead will they won’t they couple.

The story picks up years after the events in Beetlejuice and sees the Deetz family – Ryder’s Lydia, her estranged teenage daughter Astrid, played by Wednesday star Jenna Ortega, and Lydia’s stepmother Delia (Catherine O’Hara) – back in Winter River to mourn an unexpected death.  

For Scruton, it meant designing over 70 different sets across Vermont, London, and Massachusetts for the 46-day shoot. A point of emphasis from Burton was to create as much as possible in camera. “Tim wants to be in the world. I think he has as much fun being in the world as he does filming it,” says Scruton. “So we knew we had to build everything and make it feel like the original one did.” Researching the original aesthetics established by production designer Bo Welch was a guide for Scruton, but influences ranged from German Expressionism, 1960s brutalism, and modernism as well as films like Dr. Caligari and the 1924 Russian film Aelita Queen of Mars.

Concept drawing by Mark Scruton. Courtesy Mark Scruton/Warner Bros.

A big part of the work was revisiting the Vermont town of East Corinth, which stands in for Winter River, to construct the Deetz family home while interiors were built on soundstages in London. Making them feel accurate to the first film was crucial for Scruton. “It was important to us that the cast walked into those sets and felt like they were back on because they would be the harshest critic if they walked in and it wasn’t the same. And you don’t want that on the first day because that would be mortifying,” admits the production designer.

The team spent substantial time figuring out what went into the original sets, especially agonizing over props in the first film that fell into the shadows. Scruton also put his own spin on the forced perspective tricks found in the afterlife and built several new spaces, including a police office, train station, dry cleaners, and immigration area. Below, he discusses what went into recreating the Deetz home, a painstaking but fulfilling process of movie magic at its handmade best.

 

The Deez family home plays a big part in the film. What went into rebuilding the exterior?

We approached it as another character in the film, and we had to figure out what had happened to that character for 30 years and what Delia had done with it. What I think Delia would have done is restore it back to its original roots and the colonial style. In the first film, it goes through the whole postmodern rebuild, and then at the end, you sort of get the impression it’s being put back, but you never really see where it goes. So everything was sort of lovingly taken back to the actual architecture.

A mock-up of the Deetz family home. Courtesy Mark Scruton/Warner Bros.
The Deetz Family home. Courtesy Mark Scruton/Warner Bros.

Do you have any references other than the original film to recreate the house?

We had the original plans and elevations from the first film. They were paper-thin and super fragile, and we weren’t allowed to touch them. We just had to take photographs of them, and they were very blurry and sketchy. So we studied the film as well in great detail to make sure that we built it exactly as it should have been.

The Deetz Family home. Courtesy Mark Scruton/Warner Bros.

Well, your team nailed it – even the small hill it’s on. Did you find the same hill location in East Corinth from the original?

It was interesting because the hill was still there, but the vegetation and everything else had grown up. So we really had to draw a line between what we left and how we reshaped it. We did a lot of landscaping to make sure that it looked like time had passed, but we wanted it to still look like it was cared for.

Concept drawing of Astrid (Jenna Ortega) riding her bike through Wind River. Courtesy Mark Scruton/Warner Bros.

Did you consider roughing up the texture to show that time has passed?  

Because of who Delia is, because she’s got money and follows trends—one of which is that she restores the house immaculately—we decided to make it super clean. So, the exterior is the same as the first film, but it is pin-sharp in every bit of detail.

Interior of the Deetz house. Courtesy Mark Scruton/Warner Bros.

Since part of the production was in Vermont, were you able to connect with local vendors?

It was a mixture of things. A lot of the team came from Boston and the Massachusetts area, but we tried to work with local people as much as we could. We rented barns and farms, and I think we took up every hotel and facility available. We even had some of the local kids helping us with security guards. Anybody who wanted to get involved, I think, ended up getting involved one way or the other.

There’s a funeral scene where the Deetz family is in mourning, and to extend that emotion to the house, a black veil covers the entire exterior. How did you pull that off?

Drawing something on paper is quite a different thing from actually making it happen. It was a big house, so the job of covering it was pretty tricky. Once we arrived at the fabric with the right translucency and flow, we didn’t know if the quantities existed. So, my teams in London, L.A., and Boston all had to track down local suppliers to get the fabric shipped in. It was a big undertaking to get that thing done because we didn’t have much time, either.

The Deetz Family home. Courtesy Mark Scruton/Warner Bros.

The interiors of the house are so detailed. Did you approach the aesthetics with Delia in mind, too?

Yes, we wanted them to feel like Delia had restored it, so it’s got modern finishes, modern lighting, and very, very high-end little detailing. The knobs and handles are sort of really expensive, and all the carpentry was pin-sharp and beautifully painted. We wanted it to feel like she’d love it and really poured her heart into getting it back to the original house.

Caption: (L-r) JENNA ORTEGA as Astrid and WINONA RYDER as Lydia in Warner Bros. Pictures’ comedy, “BEETLEJUICE BEETLEJUICE,” a Warner Bros. Pictures release. Photo Credit: Parisa Taghizadeh

You can see how far your team and set decoration went to match the original interior décor in the Deez home and the afterlife sets. How did you manage all that?

We were very conscious that these films would be studied, and if we did it wrong, we would be called out on it, so we studied everything. We had some original drawings and stills from the original movie, but I went through the original film almost frame by frame and put a Bible together that all the departments could refer back to. Since a lot of the stuff in those sets came from antique shops and thrift stores, we had to draw a lot of it up and have it custom-made. Occasionally, we would luck out and find something on eBay, but a lot of the stuff, the lighting particularly, was custom-made as replicas.

One of the afterlife sets. Courtesy Mark Scruton/Warner Bros.
Afterlife passport and immigration. Courtesy Mark Scruton/Warner Bros.

The art is such an important element to the Beetlejuice world, especially with Delia being this avant-garde artist. How did that design work evolve?

A problem we did have sometimes was the artwork. The new rules on clearances are now so strict that we couldn’t use some of the original artwork because the clearance didn’t exist, and no one could track down who had painted it or where it had come from. So we had to recreate some things in a similar style and had artists paintwork with the same vibe, feel, and color palette.

Caption: MICHAEL KEATON and Director TIM BURTON on the set of Warner Bros. Pictures’ comedy, “BEETLEJUICE BEETLEJUICE,” a Warner Bros. Pictures release. Photo Credit: Parisa Taghizadeh

There’s a joy seeing all the throwbacks to the original film, one of them being the miniature model of the town in the attic. What was the approach to it?

That prop really had to be identical because we were going to be inches away from it for almost whole scenes. I had an art director dedicated to it, and it took us 12 weeks to build every detail. It had to look handmade, and the only real way you can do that is by making it by hand, so it was all handmade, and we didn’t 3D print stuff.  It was just a very painstaking job.

The model town where Beetlejuice lives. Courtesy Mark Scruton/Warner Bros.

 

Beetlejuice Beetlejuice is in theaters now.

 

For more on Beetlejuice Beetlejuice, check out these stories:

“Beetlejuice Beetlejuice” Editor Jay Prychidny on the Gospel of Ghoulish Pacing

“Beetlejuice Beetlejuice” Editor Jay Prychidny on Capturing a Debauched Poltergeist’s Manic Energy

“Beetlejuice Beetlejuice” Scares Up Standing Ovation & Rapturous Reception at Venice Film Festival

 

 

 

Featured image: The church set in Beetlejuice Beetlejuice. Courtesy Mark Scruton/Warner Bros. 

 

 

Prime Directive: “Transformers One”‘ Writers Andrew Barrer and Gabriel Ferrari on Crafting an Epic Origin Story

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When it comes to toy-inspired movie franchises, Hasbro’s Optimus Prime beat Mattel’s Barbie to the punch by several decades. The franchise includes a 1986 cartoon feature, five Michael Bay movies, and two spinoffs. The seemingly never-ending battle between Autobots and Decepticons finally gets its backstory in the animated prequel Transformers One. Featuring the voices of Chris Hemsworth, Brian Tyree Henry, Scarlett Johansson, and Keegan-Michael Key, the movie follows a young Optimus Prime (Hemsworth) and Megatron (Henry) before they become arch-enemies.

Writing partners Andrew Barrer and Gabriel Ferrari teamed with Black Widow scribe Eric Pearson on the Transforms Origins script after showcasing their action comedy chops on Ant-Man and Ant-Man and the Wasp. “That made us good candidates for working on bright, adventurous, world-building IP, which initially helped us get the attention of Hasbro,” says Barrer.

Barrer, speaking from his suburban Philadelphia home and Ferrari, in his Long Island headquarters, recounts their own origin story, describes “Transformers School” and explains how Stand By Me inspired their concept for Transformers One.

 

Congratulations on coming up with a fresh take on the Transformers characters nine movies into the franchise. I’m curious about the origins story behind your origins story movie.

Andrew Barrer: We jumped on the project, probably in 2013 when Hasbro Studios approached us to make an animated movie. Then [in 2015], we were down in Mexico in the desert when we got a call from [writer-producer] Akiva [Goldsman] asking us to be part of this writer’s room. The idea was to brainstorm what a Transformers cinematic universe would look like, and then, at a certain point, individual writers broke off and cooked up what their segment might be. So we went up to Los Angeles, and they put us through Transformers school, where you learn all the ins and outs of the canon. But we already had our take. Our mantra was always Stand By Me with robots. Our goal was to write a story where these characters would be interesting even if they weren’t robots.

L-r, Brian Tyree Henry (D-16/Megatron), Scarlett Johansson (Elita-1), Chris Hemsworth (Orion Pax/Optimus Prime) and Keegan-Michael Key (B-127), star in “TRANSFORMERS ONE.” Courtesy Paramount Pictures/Hasbro.

How did your screenplay evolve over the years?

Gabriel Ferrari: Going in, we knew this would just be on [the planet] Cybertron and we knew there would be no human characters, and we wanted our script to be part of this interconnected mythology that came out of that [writers] room, but the script went through many iterations. It wasn’t really until Paramount Animation came on and said that they wanted to do an origins story per your pitch in an animated format. That’s when we landed on this more youthful tone that didn’t have much to do with the previous continuity. It was kind of its own thing. And then Josh [Cooley] from Toy Story 4 came in to direct.

Andrew: That’s when the tone and the aesthetic approach solidified because Josh is one of the funniest people on the planet.

 

Did you initially connect in Brooklyn as writing partners?

Andrew: We’ve actually been friends since we met freshman year at NYU.

Gabriel: Andrew was studying philosophy, and I was an art student.

So, neither of you actually studied film. Did you collaborate on other stuff?

Andrew: In our junior year, we went to Croatia for a photojournalism project on war generation and made a little book. But it wasn’t until after college, living in Chinatown, that we talked about writing a screenplay.

Gabriel: Our process was weird. Since we hadn’t studied film or screenwriting, our knowledge was rudimentary, and we had to learn on our feet with our first script, Die in a Gun Fight. We gave it to our friend Steve, who took it to a producer, who got Zac Efron on board, and from that, we got agents, and our script was on the Blacklist. That launched us.

Scarlett Johansson (Elita-1) stars in PARAMOUNT ANIMATION and HASBRO’s “TRANSFORMERS ONE.” Courtesy Paramount Pictures/Hasbro.

A few years later, Marvel calls you in at the last minute to re-write Ant-Man?

Andrew: Yeah. Edgar Wright left the first Ant-Man very late in the game, just three weeks before production after full sets had been built, and they quickly swapped in director Peyton Reed. We went down to Atlanta at the drop of a hat and worked on set.

Gabriel: We worked around the clock, and everyone felt the pressure.

Andrew: Even though we didn’t get our names on it, we had to be the last writers to touch a lot of the humor, jokes, and dialogue.

Gabriel: But we came through in the clutch, and the sentiment [from the studio] was, “Let’s bring them back for Ant-Man and the Wasp. They earned it.”

Jon Hamm (Sentinel Prime) stars in PARAMOUNT ANIMATION and HASBRO in“TRANSFORMERS ONE.” Courtesy Paramount Pictures/Hasbro.

The Ant-Man work then leads to this movie. When you were kids, did you guys play with Transformers action figures?

Andrew: I was actually pretty bad as a kid. There’s a joke in the movie about not being getting them to transform fully. Gabriel probably played with them more?

Gabriel: And I definitely watched the Saturday morning cartoons. Then, I saw the Shia Labeouf/Michael Bay movies over the years. Bay did his thing and made it wildly successful, but now we’re at a point in time where a lot of people out there maybe don’t remember or don’t care what the old movies were like. They might be coming to Transformers for the first time, so we were given an opportunity to explore a different way forward, being faithful to much of the old but with the tone maybe feeling more modern for a new era.

Andrew: Particularly because it’s an origins story, there’s a mythological thing happening. It’s like Exodus, it’s Ben Hur, it’s Shakespearean. For us, it was about “Let’s stop thinking about clanking metal and think about Megatron and Optimus as this brotherhood that tragically crumbles.”

 

Yet, the story details still need to fit within the world of Transformers.

Andrew: Yes. Part of Hasbro school was that there are facts in Cybertronian culture, like what Energon is, what a spark is, and what a Transformer cog is. You can’t just make it up as you go along.

Gabriel: There’s a committee over there at Hasbro who live and breathe this stuff, so sometimes they’d say, “Ah, you can’t do that; it’s not so good for the Transformers brand.

The Guards in PARAMOUNT ANIMATION and HASBRO Present “TRANSFORMERS ONE.” Courtesy Paramount Pictures/Hasbro.

Your story stars sentient robots, and of course, artificial intelligence (AI) has come to play an increasingly powerful role in society over the past few years. How has AI impacted your craft?

Gabriel: AI has not crept into our lives as writers so much.

Andrew: I’m not going to pooh-pooh new methodologies, but I would describe myself as an artist, and I can’t help but see AI as a performance-enhancing drug that you have to be careful about.

You two first hatched your concept for the film back in 2013, and eleven years later, Transformers One is about to hit theaters. What do you hope audiences take away from this movie?

Andrew: That it’s awesome and fun and a good cinematic experience that you should really watch together with other people in a movie theater.

Chris Hemsworth (Orion Pax/Optimus Prime) stars in “TRANSFORMERS ONE.” Courtesy Paramount Pictures/Hasbro.

For more films and series from Paramount and Paramount+, check out these stories:

Ridley Scott’s “Gladiator II” Unsheathes Ferocious New Trailer

“Transformers One” Director Josh Cooley on Humanizing the Origin of Optimus Prime and Megatron’s Ancient Feud

“Sonic the Hedgehog 3” Trailer Shines a Light on Keanu Reeves’ Shadow

Featured image: L-r, Keegan-Michael Key (B-127), Brian Tyree Henry (D-16), Chris Hemsworth (Orion Pax), and Scarlett Johansson (Elita-1) star in “TRANSFORMERS ONE.” Courtesy Paramount Pictures/Hasbro. 

 

“Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow” Casts Matthias Schoenaerts as the Villain

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One of the biggest movies not named Superman currently brewing in James Gunn and Peter Safran’s DC Studios is director Craig Gillespie’s (I, Tonya, Cruella) Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow. The upcoming feature stars House of the Dragon‘s Milly Alcock as Superman’s cousin, Kara Zor-El, in a film inspired by Tom King and Bilquis Evely’s well-regarded, rough-around-the-edges comic about Kara’s hard-scrabble life and her immense powers. The film has landed Matthias Schoenaerts in the villain role, a performer of considerable charisma and gravitas. It feels like a casting coup, as did putting Alcock in the lead role.

King and Evely’s story of a young alien girl tormented by the killing of her family is decidedly a less heroic and more tortured piece of storytelling than the usual superhero fare, something that has generated excitement among DC fans eager to see what Gunn and Safran are cooking up for their newly united DC Universe. Gunn’s Superman will fly first out of the gate when it arrives on July 2, 2025.

We don’t yet know how much of the Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow script, written by Ana Nogueira, will adapt from the comic. It’s worth noting that in King and Evely’s story, Supergirl seeks out her cousin Superman to help her exact revenge on the people who killed her family. The villain in the comic was the man who killed Supergirl’s father, Krem of the Yellow Hills. Krem makes the grievous mistake of hurting her super-pet, Krypto. There will be blood.

Schoenaerts most recently starred alongside Kate Winslet in HBO’s miniseries The Regime. He was sensational opposite Marion Cotillard in director Jacques Audiard’s Rust and Bone and has plenty of experience in big-budget movies, having co-starred in the Jennifer Lawrence-led spy thriller Red Sparrow and the Gina Prince-Bythewood directed and Charlize Theron-led action epic The Old Guard.

Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow is due to soar into the theaters on June 26, 2026.

For more on Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow, check out these stories:

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Featured image: PARK CITY, UTAH – JANUARY 31: Actor Matthias Schoenaerts attends the “The Mustang” Premiere during the 2019 Sundance Film Festival at Eccles Center Theatre on January 31, 2019 in Park City, Utah. (Photo by Matt Winkelmeyer/Getty Images)

“Sinners” Trailer Reveals Ryan Coogler & Michael B. Jordan’s Mysterious Horror-Thriller

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Ryan Coogler and Michael B. Jordan’s mysterious feature has finally been revealed. The trailer for their latest collaboration, Sinners, is here, revealing Coogler’s original horror-thriller set in the 1930s Jim Crow-era South. Coogler took to social media yesterday to reveal the film’s poster (which, naturally, features Jordan) and the caption “Dance with the devil…and he’ll follow you home.”

Jordan plays twin brothers trying to return to their hometown to restart their lives, but evil awaits. The trailer is a slow-burn, moody glimpse at Coogler’s original vision, which opens on a shaky Jordan trying to roll a cigarette, visions of violence flashing on the screen. “I been all over this world, I seen men die ways I didn’t even know was possible,” he says.

Shot in New Orleans, Coogler’s period piece has a lush look and a menacing energy that increases as the trailer reaches its climactic finish. While this first look reveals little in the way of plot specifics, the general impression is that the writer/director is unleashing a darker vision than we’ve seen him explore before.

Jordan and Coogler first worked together in the writer/director’s star-making 2013 directorial debut Fruitvale Station, which he wrote on spec. For Sinners, studios were competing for a chance to work with the star auteur and his muse, with Warner Bros. winning out. Jordan has had a role in all of Coogler’s films, including leading his Rocky franchise spinoff Creed in 2015 and starring as the villain Erik Killmonger in both of Coogler’s world-beating Black Panther films.

Coogler is reuniting with more frequent collaborators, like Academy Award-winning composer Ludwig Göransson, who won an Oscar for his recent work in Oppenheimer and Coogler’s Black Panther and who will executive produce alongside Rebecca Cho and Will Greenfield. Returning Coogler compatriots also include cinematographer Autumn Durald Arkapaw, Oscar-winning production designer Hannah Beachler, Oscar-winning costume designer Ruth E. Carter, and editor Michael P. Shawver.

Check out the trailer below. Sinners hits theaters on March 7, 2025.

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“My Old Ass” Writer/Director Megan Park on Magic, Mushrooms, and Meeting Yourself

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In Megan Park’s wide-eyed, warm-as-the-waning-summer-evenings sophomore feature, My Old Ass, time itself is a trip. 

When Elliott (Maisy Stella) ushers in her 18th birthday with a camping excursion à la psilocybin-laced mushrooms, the last thing she expects is her psyche to conjure up an “old ass” version of herself (at 39 years old), portrayed by Aubrey Plaza. With her last summer in the picturesque lakeside town of Muskoka, Canada, before she heads off to the University of Toronto, Elliott must tread the warnings of her future self, all while rethinking her misconceptions about love, family, and relationships.

For Park, who conceived of the film following her critically acclaimed debut The Fallout — about the intimate relationship that blossoms between two high schoolers (Jenna Ortega and Maddie Ziegler, also in My Old Ass) in the wake of a mass shooting — the aim was to follow in the tradition of the movies she grew up adulating, from the comparable time-warping 13 Going on 30 to the Robin Williams classic Mrs. Doubtfire.

“I was selfishly making a movie that I wanted to watch, that I wanted to make, and I was hopeful that other people would like it too,” Park says. “But at the end of the day, this is just very personal to me, and subjects that I want to explore, and I want to make a really earnest, feel-good, heartfelt movie that does wear its heart on its sleeve. It’s a North Star for me as a filmmaker now.”

Maisy Stella as Elliott in My Old Ass Photo: MARNI GROSSMAN © AMAZON CONTENT SERVICES LLC

And while the 38-year-old Park — who is perhaps most recognizable as one of the stars of ABC’s late-aughts soapy teen drama The Secret Life of the American Teenager — created My Old Ass for all the various iterations of herself, from her childhood days in Canada to her nostalgia-tinged understanding of new motherhood (she and her husband Tyler Hilton have two children), it’s a film that has resonated across the board.

“I keep joking,” she said, “the amount of old men that love this movie is so surprising, but it’s true! I was at a couple of screenings yesterday, and these very sweet men in their 70s and 80s were coming up to me like, ‘This is my favorite movie I’ve ever seen.’ I’m like, ‘What?’”

Park discusses the inspiration behind the film and being egoless in crafting a narrative that centers young people’s experiences.

 

You’ve talked before about how making this film is somewhat corrective to the way young people have been portrayed in the past when you were acting. What was that process like for you, approaching the main character and conveying this authenticity that can sometimes be missing?

I was not trying to make a movie about young people, which I think inherently helps. I was trying to tell a human story. I think a lot of people talk down to younger people and don’t give them the credit that they deserve. So I take that very seriously. For many years, when I was acting at that age, I was playing young people, and I was like, “I would never say this, and this does not feel real. I would never wear this. This doesn’t feel authentic in any way to my experience or anyone that I know.” So I try to create, now, an environment, at the very least on set, that’s like, there’s an opportunity for young actors to speak up and say that, and I try to include them in the process.

Can you give me an example from the film?

The Bieber moment (author’s note: the film includes a trip-induced Justin Bieber-inspired montage set to “One Less Lonely Girl”) is a great example. I was talking to Maisy, “What was that moment? What was that concert for you? Who was that artist who really spoke to you?” I think being egoless is the sense where you know what you know but also know what you don’t know and are collaborative and open-minded. I think that’s not only when you create the best art but also when you create the most authentic environment and, hopefully, experience.

How much would you say this film reflects your current self, during the pandemic and in a new era as a mom, and your old self, spending summers in Lake Muskoka?

Definitely, being home in Canada [was part of it.] I didn’t grow up right in Muskoka, but close to there, and I spent my summers there, going to camp there, and [I] went to cottages. And I was like, ‘Gosh, why was I in such a hurry to leave this beautiful place?’ Sometimes, I’m very lucky to have grown up in a place that now I go back to, like, ‘This is so beautiful. I can’t believe I was raised here,’ so there was definitely a part of that for me. It’s not my life story—like, I was not Elliott. I was a very different person at that age. But there’s a part of me in each one of these characters, but I would say, as I was writing, I definitely related more to the “old ass,” older Elliott at this point in my life. But they’re also totally imaginary people. It’s such a weird combination.

Elliott (Maisy Stella) and Kath (Maria Dizzia) in MY OLD ASS Photo: Marni Grossman/Prime Video © AMAZON CONTENT SERVICES LLC

To that end, how did you approach the casting process?

We cast Maisy first. As soon as I saw Maisy, I was like, “Oh, she is Elliott and more.” And so that was a really easy decision, and then it was great because we got to cast every single person in the movie around Maisy, which was so incredible, and she chemistry read with every single character, except for Aubrey, because we knew they were going to have amazing chemistry. It was really important to build it around her, and I think that’s part of why it feels so organic. 

What about casting Maddie Ziegler as Ruthie?

Maisy and Maddie Ziegler have been best friends since they were eight years old, and Kerrice [who plays their friend Ro] — they all just kind of fell in love with each other. Having her and Percy [Hynes White] read together was really important as well. Percy was a local Toronto kid, who I didn’t know who he was, and he just sent in a self-tape, and we were all so charmed. Their chemistry was so instantaneous as well. Both Maisy and I adored Aubrey’s work and are huge fans. And then, as soon as I talked to her, I was like, “Oh, she just gets this,” and she is such the tone of the movie, and all the pieces fell together. As soon as they met in person, they hit it off and just really adored each other, which was very sweet to see unfold in real-time. Their humor is very similar, which is awesome.

Kerrice Brooks as Ro, Maisy Stella as Elliott, and Maddie Ziegler as Ruthie in My Old Ass Photo: COURTESY OF AMAZON STUDIOS © AMAZON CONTENT SERVICES LLC

The movie is so tonally wide-ranging. Did adding Maisy’s mushroom trip feel like a critical puzzle piece for you in terms of the believability of this concept?

I wanted it to be a buy-in, but it also had to be a buy-in that felt really grounded and real. So the mushrooms — I don’t know where I thought of it, but I was thinking, if you’re 18, it’s your birthday, it’s your last summer. You’re in Canada, you’re camping with your friends. And [it’s] like, “Yeah.” Once that clicked, it also allowed you to really kind of be like, “Did that happen? Did that not happen?” So the mushrooms [were] a really important thing to get right. We talked about 13 Going on 30 and Mrs. Doubtfire and The Parent Trap — all these movies where the buy-in has to work, and you have to love these characters and these people, and then you don’t really care. You’re just along for the ride. And that was important to get right. The mushrooms just seemed like a perfect fit.

Elliott (Maisy Stella) and Ro (Kerrice Brooks) in MY OLD ASS Photo: Marni Grossman/Prime Video © AMAZON CONTENT SERVICES LLC

The film tackles large, conceptual life concepts, like grief and relationships in a refreshingly earnest way. Is that something you were thinking about as you wrote it?

We wanted to make something earnest. And I think a lot of people don’t think that’s cool?

Yes!

I f—ing love movies like that. Those are the movies that I grew up on. They inspired me so much as an actor, as a human, and as a filmmaker. And I think earnest movies are — yeah, they’re not on trend right now, but I would love them to be, and they’re timeless, hopefully. I want to continue to make really earnest movies, and that was super important to me. as I was writing it, I wanted to tackle those big subject matters but have people hopefully be able to laugh while they’re crying at the same time.

Can you discuss how Amazon MGM and Margot Robbie’s LuckyChap [production company] got involved? I know you have more projects in the pipeline with them.

There’s a reason that they get so much repeat business at LuckyChap with their directors. They’re really, really incredible producers and so, so easy to work with. They have so much trust in their filmmakers, but they’re also really helpful. So it was such a smooth sailing experience that I was like, “Let’s do everything together.” And luckily, they feel the same, which has been really exciting.

Did you pitch them?

They connected after they saw The Fallout and just said, “Do you have any other ideas?” And I just had a very loose logline for this movie, and they said, “We love that. Can we develop it together?” So we put the pitch together and made it with our partners at Indian Paintbrush, and it was such a smooth, incredible process. And then we took it to Sundance [in January] and found our home at Amazon, and it was just such a perfect fit. They really loved the movie. It was so genuine, you could really feel that from them, and they really understood what it was and how to get it to the right audience, and knew how important it was for us to have it out in theaters, and it’s the type of movie that you want to sit in a theater and experience with other people. 

With the theater component, there was the Cinespia screening, and there’s such a campfire, cozy, openness, and Gen Z undercurrent to the movie in terms of also dealing with sexuality. Could you speak to any of your favorite moments?

There were so many moments that felt that way. Everyone comes back to me with a different moment that spoke to them in that way, which is really exciting. And it definitely feels like a movie to laugh with a group of people, and to cry with a group of people in a theater setting is really special. What I think is also really cool is it does feel like a movie that you can go see on a date, with your friends, or with your parents. 

 

This interview has been edited and condensed for concision and clarity.

My Old Ass is in select theaters now.

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Featured image: Maisy Stella and Aubrey Plaza in My Old Ass. Courtesy AmazonMGM.

“The Perfect Couple” Showrunner Jenna Lamia on Meghann Fahy’s Mesmerizing Merritt Monaco

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In part one of our interview with The Perfect Couple showrunner Jenna Lamia, she discussed adapting Elin Hilderbrand’s novel, character development, and writing the script. Now we move on to some of the specifics of how Lamia stuck the landing, delivering a satisfying whodunit on the picturesque island of Nantucket, the playground of the uber-wealthy Winbury clan.

In the final shot of the penultimate episode of The Perfect Couple, Merritt (Meghann Fahy) is sitting on the beach in her robe, tears stained on her cheeks. The night of her murder has been played out in flashbacks in previous episodes, and viewers are aware of almost every possible scenario for who killed her and why, but we’ve never gotten this close to the actual event. As she sits in the wee hours of the morning, she hears footsteps behind her. She turns her tear-streaked face and says, “Oh, hey,” a bit surprised but with enough familiarity for viewers to understand Merritt knows this person. The screen fades to black, and we are left tantalizingly close to Merritt herself, identifying her killer for us. 

Lamia delves deeper into the show’s symbolism, creating sympathy for a character who is only alive onscreen for one episode, and the filming schedule for a limited series.  Spoilers below.

 

I want to talk about the final shot of the fifth episode, the cliffhanger, where Merritt turns and says, “Oh, hey.” How did that scene specifically come to fruition? Was that how you originally envisioned that scene in your head? 

It’s so satisfying when a moment that you’ve seen for the entire gestation of the project comes to life just the way you saw it, and that is one of those moments. So, I’m so glad you brought it up. Because that was very early in the writer’s room, and we knew several characters had the possibility of having joined her out on the beach. And other things changed since we put that moment in. There were other characters planted nearby in different ways. But I just knew that was going to happen, that her character was going to turn around and say, “Hey” in a way that’s going to make you want to get out your forensic kit. How well does she know this person? She seems kind of friendly but a little bit apprehensive and a little unsure. It came together literally exactly how I saw it in my head when I wrote it, which is such an incredible feeling for a writer. 

In perfect world, what did you want the viewer to feel when we find out who the killer is in the finale?

It is my fervent hope that when you find out you will feel satisfied and feel that we have played fair with you as an audience. That was the hardest part about writing this is I love, love to watch these kinds of shows and I really love when I feel that the writer has played fair with me. And I love when I didn’t guess it, but it feels justified.

The Perfect Couple. Meghann Fahy as Merritt Monaco in episode 101 of The Perfect Couple. Cr. Seacia Pavao/Netflix © 2024

When we first see Merritt, she’s introduced as this party girl, but that changes over the episodes when we get to know who she really is, especially when we find out she is pregnant. When you’re dealing with a character who is the victim, is it hard to find a way to make her compelling enough and relatable enough to the audience to care about who killed her?

Not when Meghann Fahey is playing her. I can’t imagine someone I would rather take home with me. She is such a beautiful person and made Merritt into such a beautiful person that you can’t help but absolutely adore her and her friendship with Amelia [Eve Hewson], which I think is the true love story of the show. But I love that you noticed that about her character because that’s exactly one of the arcs I was so committed to doing, which is it would be easy to dismiss her at first as a party girl or a gold digger or, dare I say, a slut — which I think is funny when Isabele’s [Isabelle Adjani] character says it. Because, number one, there’s nothing wrong with a woman who wants to have sex with a lot of people. Let’s get that out of the way.

The Perfect Couple. (L to R) Eve Hewson as Amelia Sacks, Meghann Fahy as Merritt Monaco in episode 102 of The Perfect Couple. Cr. Courtesy of Netflix © 2024

This show features many close-ups of eyes and eye imagery. Can you explain where that comes from?

That definitely comes directly from our director, Susanne Bier. Luckily, we had two DPs who were both incredible, and I know they talked about that early on. But I think this show is asking you to think about the inner lives of these characters, and those kinds of shots bring you so close, but they can’t bring you inside. So, I think they remind you that you may not always know exactly what this person is thinking, but you know they’re thinking more than they’re projecting from a mid-range distance, which is how we all experience one another. The show a lot is about the projection of an image, a perfect image — what we’re telling the world about who we are and how great our life is, which is a very Instagram phenomenon, by the way, and inspired by Merritt’s influencer background. But what Suzanne [Bier] is doing with the camera is reminding us that there’s so much more than we are being presented with from a distance, and we should think about that and think about what’s behind there.

The Perfect Couple. Meghann Fahy as Merritt Monaco in episode 101 of The Perfect Couple. Cr. Courtesy of Netflix © 2024

Was the series filmed chronologically?

It was filmed like a feature in that all six scripts were completed before we even started pre-production. There was a long pre-production process for this show. I had a team of writers, and we finished our work as a group in June. This show didn’t begin shooting until April. So from that June to the following April, I was rewriting on my own and having the cast join and rewriting for certain casts, getting Susanne Bier on board, and finding locations. So the show had this whole other revision after the team of writers was finished. And then, when we started shooting, we had all the scripts. That enabled us to blockshoot everything that happens in a certain location all at once. We shot almost all of the police station scenes in April because a lot of those are interior, so it was easy for us not to worry about the fact that outside, there were no leaves on the trees yet, and the grass really wasn’t green yet. Then, we were interrupted by two labor actions, a writer’s strike, and an actor’s strike. So when we were able to resume work, we had to shoot a lot of the interiors in London on a soundstage.

The Perfect Couple. (L to R) Eve Hewson as Amelia Sacks, Donna Lynne Champlin as Nikki Henry in episode 104 of The Perfect Couple. Cr. Seacia Pavao/Netflix © 2024
The Perfect Couple. Nicole Kidman as Greer Winbury in episode 106 of The Perfect Couple. Cr. Courtesy of Netflix © 2024

For a show like this that’s really character-driven, what are the biggest costs? 

I think it was really important to everyone to get Nantucket right, and we did look at a couple of different locations. But you can’t really approximate New England; the flora and fauna are pretty unique. So the sea grass and the dunes and the beaches just needed to look right. Being from New England, I have a sort of bet noir with things where the accents are wrong, or the topography is wrong, and it’s supposed to be New England. So, from a very early stage, I talked to the producers and to Netflix and locations about getting that right. And we did probably save some money by shooting in Cape Cod, not shooting on the actual island of Nantucket. Though a lot of the exteriors are Nantucket. The town is Nantucket. But the house that we shot at is Cape Cod, so we certainly allocated our resources to get the look and feel of New England right. And beyond that, we didn’t want to skimp on the clothes. The clothes are a huge character in the show, and our costume designer, Steven Saland, is an absolute genius with color and sense of place. So those are critical. That’s where our resources were spent. We don’t have a ton of visual effects.

The Perfect Couple. Episode 103 of The Perfect Couple. Cr. Seacia Pavao/Netflix © 2024
The Perfect Couple. (L to R) Dakota Fanning as Abby Winbury, Meghann Fahy as Merritt Monaco in episode 106 of The Perfect Couple. Cr. Seacia Pavao/Netflix © 2024

Did you feel any pressure to distinguish this from shows like The White Lotus or Big Little Lies?

Maybe I should have, but the thought that this show would even be included in the same category as Big Little Lies or The White Lotus makes me so happy that no, I only felt the pressure to get this show to a level where it might be included or mentioned in the same breath as those shows, and Succession, which I think is the best-written show I’ve ever seen in my life. So I did aspire to literally be mentioned in the same breath as those shows. I read some David E. Kelly scripts, just the raw form of some of his Big Little Lies scripts, and I of course watched and re-watched all episodes of Succession and The White Lotus because those three shows are really the tops for me.

 

The Perfect Couple is streaming on Netflix.

Featured image: The Perfect Couple. (L to R) Liev Schreiber as Tag Winbury, Meghann Fahy as Merritt Monaco in episode 103 of The Perfect Couple. Cr. Courtesy of Netflix © 2024

Ridley Scott’s “Gladiator II” Unsheathes Ferocious New Trailer

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A bloody, bold new trailer for Gladiator II, Ridley Scott’s long-awaited followup to his Best Picture Winner, has arrived. The new look is the longest, bloodiest, most thrilling yet. We’re introduced to the art of choosing gladiators, as explained by Denzel Washington’s Macrinus, who is usually sorting through prisoners of war and who sees something special in Paul Mescal’s Lucius, a young man with the requisite rage to survive the Coliseum, and all the lesser, no less lethal venues leading up to it.

The new trailer gives us a look into the brutal life of Lucius, who lived in Numidia in Northern Africa before finding himself back in Rome, now owned by Macrinus, who might not be able to offer freedom but can offer something potentially more valuable to someone like Lucius—the head of the man who wronged him.

“A general will do,” Lucius says. “Rome has taken everything from me, but I will have my vengeance.”

It’s not just ferocious men that Lucius will have to conquer in his brutal gladiator bouts—it’s the animal kingdom, too, including blood-smeared monkeys, rhinos, and sharks. Yes, sharks.

The new look reveals that Macrinus wants more than just to make money off the lives of his gladiators; he’s got designs on the throne and wants Lucius to be his instrument to see those designs through. We also know that Lucius is indeed the son of Russell Crowe’s Maximus from the original Gladiator, so he’s got the genetic disposition to carry out his own designs.

Joining Mescal and Washington is a stellar cast, including Connie Nielsen as Lucilla, reprising her role from the original, Joseph Quinn as Emperor Geta, Pedro Pascal as the former general Marcus Acacius, and Rory McCann as Tegula.

Check out the trailer below. Gladiator II arrives in theaters on November 22.

For more films and series from Paramount and Paramount+, check out these stories:

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Featured image: Paul Mescal plays Lucius and Pedro Pascal plays Marcus Acacius in Gladiator II from Paramount Pictures.

Marvel Reveals First “Thunderbolts” Trailer Unleashes the Bad Guys on the Worse Guys

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We now have our first peek at Marvel Studios’ upcoming antihero team-up movie Thunderbolts.

The trailer opens with a family reunion—former Black Widow and all-around butt-kicker Yelena Belova (Florence Pugh) arrives at the door of her father, Alexia Shostakov (David Harbour), better known as the Red Guardian. The last time we saw these two together was in Black Widow, the one and only stand-alone movie for Scarlett Johansson’s Avenger and former Black Widow herself, Natasha Romanoff. But Thunderbolts is set in a world bereft of Natasha after her sacrifice in Avengers: Endgame, and posits a whole new kind of super-team getting together. The Avengers these are not.

Yelena has come to tell her dad she feels empty, like she’s drifting without purpose, and even though she thought throwing herself into work was the answer—here we see Yelena doing what she does best, taking out whoever stands in her way—she still feels unfulfilled. That’s when she runs into not one but several bad guys and girls in a warehouse, including Hannah John-Kamen’s Ghost (from the first Ant-Man), Olga Kurlyenko’s Taskmaster (from Black Widow), and Wyatt Russell’s John Walker (from The Falcon and the Winter Soldier). These antiheroes have been gathered, but why?

You can thank Julia Louis-Drefyus’s Valentina Allegra de Fontaine, who has a firm belief that we’ve been misled in thinking the world is made up of good guys and bad guys. In her estimation, there are bad guys, like these newly assembled Thunderbolts, and there are worse guys. The bad guys are then, ipso fact, potential heroes.

Directed by Jake Schreier, Thunderbolts is the MCU’s first proper villains-own-the-day team-up flick, like what Warner Bros. had with The Suicide Squad, and comes from a script by Black Widow writer Eric Pearson. As Schreier told Collider last year, he was excited to take on something new in the MCU.

“It was just a really different approach and a new kind of story to tell amidst that, which I know they’ve made so many things, but it’s not a sequel. Yes, these characters have appeared before, but it is a new story being told and a story, I think, with a very different perspective than maybe people aren’t expecting, and I think that that felt exciting and felt like a real challenge worth taking on.”

Marvel Studios boss Kevin Feige joked way back at D23 in 2022 when Thunderbolts was introduced that the team must be pretty rough around the edges when “beloved Winter Soldier is the most stable among them.” 

Thunderbolts is due in theaters on May 2, 2025. Check out all the unstable would-be heroes in the trailer below:

 

For more stories on 20th Century Studios, Searchlight Pictures, Marvel Studios, and what’s streaming or coming to

Disney+, check these out:

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Featured image: (L-R): Ghost (Hannah John-Kamen), Taskmaster (Olga Kurylenko), John Walker (Wyatt Russell), Bucky Barnes (Sebastian Stan), Alexei Shostakov/Red Guardian (David Harbour), and Yelena Belova (Florence Pugh) in Marvel Studios’ THUNDERBOLTS*. Photo courtesy of Marvel Studios. © 2024 MARVEL.

“Beetlejuice Beetlejuice” Hair and Makeup Head Christine Blundell on Bringing Out the Dead

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Almost four decades after the original, Tim Burton’s follow-up, Beetlejuice Beetlejuice, is a hit for Warner Bros. Reprising their original roles, Winona Ryder’s Lydia is now a television talk show host ghost hunter, Catherine O’Hara’s Delia is still a daffy cosmopolitan creative, and Michael Keaton’s Beetlejuice remains an undead charlatan pining for Lydia. Lydia also has a teenage daughter, Astrid (Jenna Ortega), who misses her late dad, Richard (Santiago Cabrera), and wants little to do with her eccentric mother and cloying boyfriend/manager, Rory (Justin Theroux). But a visit home to Connecticut and the old house on the hill sends the family into the afterlife and Beetlejuice’s open arms.

In the realm of the undead, Beetlejuice has company as a specter with an ax to grind. There’s his ex-wife and murderer, Delores (Monica Bellucci), recently put back together and out for revenge. She’s wanted by Wolf Jackson (Willem Defoe), undead actor and self-appointed detective. And the afterlife’s waiting room is full of the recently deceased, from a half-decayed cat lady to a half-eaten surfer. Back above ground, nobody is safe, particularly after Astrid unwittingly strikes up a camaraderie with a ghost hiding in plain sight. For the head of the makeup and hair department, Christine Blundell, the process was all about working together with the prosthetics team, doing as much prep as possible before the actors arrived, and staying true to the beloved Beetlejuice’s original characters while having some fun with the sequel’s new undead denizens.

 

How much creative license did you have to determine the characters’ overall looks?

Michael [Keaton] had to look close to how he did in the original. The rest of the afterlife was total free rein. We had different levels of color. At the start, we did lots of testing with Haris [Zambarloukos], our DP, just because the afterlife was always going to be really dark, so we had to pump it all up and be very theatrical. Tim was very respectful of the fact that he wanted the actor in the room so that we all collaborated on the look, especially with the returning actors. My job was to prep like mad because, aside from Winona, who got there ten days before, everybody else arrived literally the day before. So, with Catherine, I made six wigs in a very light copper color. We asked her, how vibrant do we want your character to be now? And obviously, she went for the maddest red she could go for. So then my colorist literally just spent the whole night coloring the other wigs, and I cut them into shape.

CATHERINE O’HARA as Delia in Warner Bros. Pictures’ comedy, “BEETLEJUICE BEETLEJUICE,” a Warner Bros. Pictures release. Photo Credit: Courtesy of Warner Bros. Pictures

What was the process like recreating Beetlejuice’s look?

We brought in a body double for Michael so that we could test his makeup, get it down pat, and then show Tim. Tim had a couple of little tweaks. Because Michael was very involved in his original look, he fine-tuned what we had done. We just wanted his look to be a little bit more three-dimensional but as close to the original as possible. 

MICHAEL KEATON as Beetlejuice in Warner Bros. Pictures’ comedy, “BEETLEJUICE BEETLEJUICE,” a Warner Bros. Pictures release. COPYRIGHT: © 2024 Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. All Rights Reserved.

His level of undead makeup does vary from scene to scene, which I liked.

There are definitely minor little tweaks. I have three different variations of teeth for him. With Beetlejuice, your hands are really tied with where you can go with it because, obviously, he is in the afterlife, so he shouldn’t have changed. But we did little bits — the bit where his eyes pop, that was a little mask that Neal Scanlan [the creature effects creative supervisor] and I put together.

Caption: MICHAEL KEATON and Director TIM BURTON on the set of Warner Bros. Pictures’ comedy, “BEETLEJUICE BEETLEJUICE,” a Warner Bros. Pictures release. Photo Credit: Parisa Taghizadeh

What was your process like as it related to the prosthetics? For example, Willem Defoe’s open head?

Tim would do sketches and give them to Neal and me, and we’d work out where Neal and I crossed over. But a lot of the time, like with Dolores and with Willem, it was very much about testing, with Neal doing the prosthetic side of it and me working out the good half of the face and the hair and working out how to hide the joints. It was very deliberate with Willem’s look — it was meant to be almost like a crude, old-fashioned prosthetic. It was all done for comedy effect. When Willem arrived, he had the whole idea that he wanted to look like the guy from Hawaii Five-O. We got it to a certain level with the prosthetics, the hair, the makeup side, and the fake tan, and then he brought it to life.

Caption: WILLEM DAFOE as Jackson in Warner Bros. Pictures’ comedy, “BEETLEJUICE BEETLEJUICE,” a Warner Bros. Pictures release. Photo Credit: Parisa Taghizadeh

Speaking of Delores, how did you create Monica Bellucci’s elaborate, all-new look?

With Monica Bellucci, again, I was over in Neal Scanlan’s workshop, and we got a body double who looked similar to Monica. I met Monica very early on and had her all sized up, ready to have wigs made for her. We spent a fair couple of weeks working out how she could come together. Neal would put together a little reel of it, see if we were getting close, and then we’d come back and go again. Then we had the little flashback of her alive look, and she’s obviously the most beautiful person around. But we wanted her to look a bit deranged and fantasy-monstery. It’s very hard to make her look bad. We initially tried with a massive electrified wig, and it’s a fine line between taking the character into something that is too comically driven for what we want our character to be. We wanted her to be fun but slightly terrifying and, obviously, the only person that Beetlejuice had ever been scared of.

Caption: MONICA BELLUCCI as Delores in Warner Bros. Pictures’ comedy, “BEETLEJUICE BEETLEJUICE,” a Warner Bros. Pictures release. Photo Credit: Parisa Taghizadeh
Caption: MONICA BELLUCCI as Delores in Warner Bros. Pictures’ comedy, “BEETLEJUICE BEETLEJUICE,” a Warner Bros. Pictures release. hoto Credit: Parisa Taghizadeh

How did you divide the work between makeup and prosthetics?

We worked out early on that Neal would never have time to do all of the afterlife with just prosthetics. So we did a divide, where we crossed over about thirty percent of the time. They’d come to make-up with us first and then go over to prosthetics to get the swollen head or the brain and things. The cat lady came into us, and that was all done with just little makeup effects. We would do whatever Neal could offload onto us with our own out-of-the-kit effects. We just worked very closely with prosthetics. There’s a very fine line that divided us.

Caption: MICHAEL KEATON as Beetlejuice in Warner Bros. Pictures’ comedy, “BEETLEJUICE BEETLEJUICE,” a Warner Bros. Pictures release. Photo Credit: Parisa Taghizadeh

How did you balance staying true to the original with a raft of new characters?

It’s one of my favorite films, the original Beetlejuice. I think it would be a dangerous thing to say that I didn’t want to give a good, healthy nod to the original because all of us are such loyal fans. I think that’s kind of the driving force behind what’s made [Tim] wait so long to do this remake. I watched the original again and again just before we started. I didn’t want our film to take anything away from the original, but to add, if you like. There were many more featured characters in the afterlife than there ever were in the original. One of the beautiful things about working on this project is that it restored my faith in the industry. I loved every day. My team loved every day. Tim’s a delight to work for, and part of what makes it so fun is you don’t really see him until you’re on set. And if you watch his face when people arrive, you know whether or not you’ve hit the nail on the head with him.

Caption: Director TIM BURTON on the set of Warner Bros. Pictures’ comedy, “BEETLEJUICE BEETLEJUICE,” a Warner Bros. Pictures release. Photo Credit: Parisa Taghizadeh

For more on Beetlejuice Beetlejuice, check out these stories:

“Beetlejuice Beetlejuice” Editor Jay Prychidny on Capturing a Debauched Poltergeist’s Manic Energy

“Beetlejuice Beetlejuice” Editor Jay Prychidny on the Gospel of Ghoulish Pacing

Featured image: Caption: WILLEM DAFOE as Jackson in Warner Bros. Pictures’ comedy, “BEETLEJUICE BEETLEJUICE,” a Warner Bros. Pictures release. Photo Credit: Courtesy of Warner Bros. Pictures

 

“The Perfect Couple” Showrunner Jenna Lamia on Her Nicole Kidman-led Whodunit on Nantucket

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When showrunner Jenna Lamia set out to bring Elin Hilderbrand’s beloved novel The Perfect Couple to life, we were just getting reacquainted with our obsession with mystery and drama. The limited series format, which has seen success in shows like Big Little Lies, Nine Perfect Strangers, and The White Lotus, ushered in an era of mystery, scandal, and a fascination with pulling back the curtains on the imperfections of the uber-wealthy. 

Lamia says even now, she can only dream that The Perfect Couple would be uttered in the same breath of comparison as a show like The White Lotus. But the reality is that the six-episode series perfectly indulges in the same qualities of intrigue as its show predecessors — complicated family dynamics that take only a slight tug to unravel, all under the illusion of perfection.

The series centers on the wedding between Benji Windbury (Billy Howle) and his fiancé, Amelia Sachs (Eve Hewson). Benji comes from an elite family that is used to getting what they want and is willing to pay a hefty price to ensure it. Amelia, however, is the black sheep in Benji’s life who can’t quite seem to fit into the polished lifestyle Benji’s mother so desperately wants for him. The night before the wedding, a body is discovered, and thus, the unraveling of family secrets begins.  

 

What was your vision for bringing Elin Hildenbrand’s novel to life on the screen?

It’s been five years, actually. But to sum it up, I was sitting in Maine at this dockside restaurant called the Contented Soul and eating a lobster roll…and I had an email from Gail Burman saying, ‘Hey, I have this book that I just got the rights to. I think you could be the right writer for it. I don’t know if you know the author, Elin Hilderbrand, but I can send you the book so you can read it.’

That sounds like the perfect setting to get that email.

I didn’t even finish reading the email; I just replied immediately. I was like, ‘You don’t need to send me the book; I read it the moment it came out. I’m a huge fan of Elin Hilderbrand, and this is her only murder mystery to date — because it was at the time — I am definitely the right writer.’ I then flew out to L.A. to talk to Gail and Elin — who couldn’t be a more dream author to collaborate with — but we talked a little bit about how I would adapt it and how much it meant to me to get Nantucket right, and to portray New England authentically. She trusted me a hundred percent and said, ‘I write the books, you write the screenplays. Do your thing; I’m your cheerleader.’

The Perfect Couple. (L to R) Nicole Kidman as Greer Winbury, Liev Schreiber as Tag Winbury in episode 101 of The Perfect Couple. Cr. Seacia Pavao/Netflix © 2024

You changed the main character’s name from the book from Celeste to Amelia. What was the thinking there? 

Truly, that happened after Nicole [Kidman] came on board to play Greer because she plays an iconic character in Big Little Lies, Celeste.

The Perfect Couple. (L to R) Billy Howle as Benji Winbury, Eve Hewson as Amelia Sacks in episode 101 of The Perfect Couple. Cr. Courtesy of Netflix © 2024

What I love about this show, in particular, is that the more you get to know the characters, the more you realize they’re all kind of terrible, but they’re terrible in their own specific, relatable way. Was the goal to make them all so uniquely flawed that the real killer would be very hard to pick out?

Definitely. And I love the way you said that because I think that’s true in real life. I think people that you judge to be, you know, just a bad person or unlikable person at first — stick around because maybe they still aren’t great people, but there are reasons why people act the way they do. Now, I’m not advocating for taking on, you know, mental illness in your life, but I’m just saying that I think our society is at a place where we’re so quick to judge and write others off, be they on the other side of the political spectrum, or they have a different set of beliefs or a different approach to life from yours. And I think it’s important to remember that most people, at their core, are probably decent and good and have had a completely different life experience than you have. So stick around and talk to them, and get to know what makes them tick. I mean, not if they’re treating you horribly, but if they seem like a judgmental jerk or something, there’s probably a reason.

The Perfect Couple. (L to R) Sam Nivola as Will Winbury, Jack Reynor as Thomas Winbury, Eve Hewson as Amelia Sacks, Billy Howle as Benji Winbury in episode 101 of The Perfect Couple. Cr. Seacia Pavao/Netflix © 2024

So you complicate the “who done it?” aspect by giving all the characters shades of decency and devilish behavior?

I love that you had that experience watching this show because I ultimately love all of these [characters]; they’re real people to me. In the writing of the show, I got to know them better, not only as individuals but also in terms of their relationships with one another. It is a murder mystery, but I think the audience can also look forward to reveals other than just “who done it?” Meaning, what drives certain characters to act the way they do? To care so much about what others think? Or not really care what others think. I think that’s what I love so much about Amelia; she doesn’t seem concerned with the judgment of others, and I think she is an incredible superpower that I wish I had at her age.

The Perfect Couple. (L to R) Eve Hewson as Amelia Sacks, Meghann Fahy as Merritt Monaco in episode 102 of The Perfect Couple. Cr. Courtesy of Netflix © 2024

As a viewer, the constant calculation of who the killer is never stops churning….

As you watch the show and get to know them all, they do become more layered and nuanced, and the ones who seemed perfect at first clearly will not be. And the ones who seemed perfectly rootable at first will be revealed to have weaknesses, too.

There are many subtle ways the viewer finds out things are terribly amiss in the Winbury household like Greer looking for the bracelet receipt and realizing Tag is cheating on her. Do you work these types of subtle moments into the script? 

That’s absolutely something I worked into the script from an early stage, only because that’s how life is; we almost never state the subtext in our everyday conversations, and the [Winburys] certainly don’t. Especially this kind of family, they are not direct. And there are ways in which you can be harsher when you’re not direct because they have to figure out just exactly how angry you are or just exactly how upset or disappointed you are because you didn’t come right out and say it. I do think that that’s how this kind of family communicates with one another, and I just wanted to be true to that.

The Perfect Couple. (L to R) Ishaan Khattar as Shooter Dival, Sam Nivola as Will Winbury, Isabelle Adjani as Isabel Nallet, Jack Reynor as Thomas Winbury, Liev Schreiber as Tag Winbury, Dendrie Taylor as Karen Sacks, Billy Howle as Benji Winbury, Eve Hewson as Amelia Sacks, Michael McGrady as Bruce Sacks in episode 103 of The Perfect Couple. Cr. Courtesy of Netflix © 2024

So even though the Winburys seem like an atypical family—hugely wealthy, clearly dysfunctional—they’re quite typical in how they communicate with each other.

The only writing choice involved is authenticity. If you can ultimately achieve a certain level of authenticity, then you will naturally achieve humor, intrigue, and drama because life has those things. Even the most serious moments in life have a tad of humor in them. So that’s what I was looking to capture in these scripts. 

I want to return to what you said about the rewriting for certain cast members. Do you mean you adapted their dialogue once you saw how they played the character?

Well, that did happen a bit on set. There was some rewriting once I saw things in the mouths of the characters. Also, just for instance, so Susanne Bier came on board to direct, but we didn’t have a cast yet. She had a relationship with Nicole Kidman, and she thought that there was a chance that Nicole might find this fun, and wanted me to take a look at the first script with Nicole in mind. And the fact is, I already had Nicole in mind for months, but I didn’t dare to dream that we would ever actually get her. But I did spend that Christmas rewriting the first episode with Nicole front of mind — which is an incredible exercise for a writer because having a real person whose work you’re lucky enough to already know very well in your mind when thinking about the monologues and some of the scenes, it just brought a whole new layer to the script. And luckily, when Nicole read it, she said yes, which was just…it changed everything. 

 

Find out more from Lamia tomorrow, including how she crafted the crucial penultimate episode five cliffhanger, how Meghann Fahy brought the character of Merritt Monaco to life, and more.