“A Quiet Place: Day One” VFX Supervisor Malcolm Humphreys on Conjuring More Detailed “Death Angels”

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A Quiet Place: Day One (now in theaters) personalizes its sci-fi mythology by centering the action around a cancer-stricken poet who’s hell-bent on getting a slice of her favorite pizza, alien invasion be damned. Written and directed by Michael Samoski, maker of indie shocker Pig, the prequel casts Oscar winner Lupita Nyong’o (Us, 12 Years a Slave) as Samira, who tries to escape the monsters’ attack with moral support from her charismatic cat Frodo and a kind stranger (Joseph Quinn of Stranger Things).

Nyong’o delivers an intense performance. Just as remarkable is the environment she traverses. It’s supposed to be Manhattan, but in fact, Day One was filmed largely on the Leavesden backlot outside of London. Industrial Light & Magic visual effects supervisor Malcolm Humphreys and his team of far-flung contributors in San Francisco, Vancouver, and Mumbai enhanced production designer Simon Bowles‘ physical set to emulate a full-blown cityscape stretching from Chinatown to Harlem and beyond. The VFX team also conjured new details for the “Death Angels” from outer space featured in the first two Quiet Place movies.

Speaking from his London home, Humphreys, whose previous credits include The Batman, talks about building a proper Manhattan in rural England and reveals the secret name of Day One‘s humanity-destroying villain.

 

Who is “Happy?”

Within our pipeline, Happy is the way we referred to the creatures in this movie, which is a fun juxtaposition because they’re so furious and not very happy.

Audiences are familiar with the aliens with their super-sensitive hearing from the first two Quiet Place movies. How did you build on that foundation for Day One ?

We unarchived all the work they did on the previous film and went to work upgrading the assets to our current level of technology, including detailed simulations of how everything worked inside the mouth. The creatures operated mainly in two modes—snatch and grab or going after their prey in a slow, methodical way. The interesting thing for us is that the Quiet Place story is now placed in a much denser environment.

Joseph Quinn as “Eric” and Lupita Nyong’o as “Samira” in A Quiet Place: Day One from Paramount Pictures.

New York City!

So, we needed to flesh out the creatures in terms of how they interacted with the building and the cars and how they operated in a hive mentality toward the common goal.

Lupita Nyong’o as “Samira” and Director Michael Sarnoski in A Quiet Place: Day One from Paramount Pictures.

What kind of details did you get into for this film?

One area we totally upgraded was the creature’s ear. At the construction site, when the creature’s ear opens up, there’s a huge amount of texture detail, cartilage, and sculpting from really talented artists doing what we’d normally do physically, but they’re doing it digitally. And when the big Mother Happy touched these mushrooms, it was interesting to see creatures that are [normally] quite aggressive but now interact in a gentle manner.

 

Did the filmmakers ever use stunt performers to portray creatures?

There are a couple of shots in which we have a stunt person dressed in black who has essentially soft sponges on the side that he uses to bash people out of the way.

On the flip side, did you ever use CGI to create human civilians?

The shot where Samira crawls under the car to hide and the creature grabs someone would have been hard to do with a stunt person, so how do we make this feel visceral and damaging? We made a fully CGI person. We also replaced the front bumper that crashes to the ground. These story-supporting visual effects tell the audience, “This is not a place you want to be.”

Lupita Nyong’o as “Samira” in A Quiet Place: Day One from Paramount Pictures.

What was your dynamic like with the director Michael Samoski, who had never made a big-budget movie of this scale?

I think it can be hard for someone who’s done dramatic, non-bluescreen work to come into a shooting location like this. Production designer Simon [Bowles] built a beautiful backlot [big] enough so they could get a lot of handheld shots. Then, our job was to come in and adapt to those environments. When Michael attempts something practical, and it doesn’t come together, he leans on me to work out the best way to go forward.

 

So you did extensions?

Oh, loads of extensions. The backlot set is only 330 feet long. Andy [Evans], the construction manager, built beautiful sets, but with Chinatown, there were a bunch of set extensions. Then, we moved through the different neighborhoods up toward Harlem until the final shot. Lupita’s on the same backlot that Chinatown was shot on, but we replaced eighty percent of the background. From a story point of view, it all made sense and felt authentic because that’s actually an intersection in New York that I scouted, and we captured all that data to make the shot work.

Lupita Nyong’o as “Samira” in A Quiet Place: Day One from Paramount Pictures.

How did you gather the imagery needed to digitally re-create Manhattan?

Michael and Simon identified multiple locations in New York for the neighborhoods they wanted to progress through in this story. Then, we had a capture unit go through the city, and they captured 115 building facades. From there, it became a matter of using these photographs of real locations to make sure the rhythm and feel were authentic.

So you’ve got boots on the ground in Manhattan…

On the first day, we were there, I walked from Chinatown all the way to Harlem just to engross myself in the architecture and see how it changed between these neighborhoods. I had a bit of jet lag, and it was a long walk, but that really helped me understand these areas.

Joseph Quinn as “Eric” and Lupita Nyong’o as “Samira” in A Quiet Place: Day One from Paramount Pictures.

So your VFX team helps build out these environments and then of course, you have to destroy a lot of it.

The destruction was quite fun to do. Creatures ripping into cars was a great opportunity to create visceral moments. Having all these creatures crawl down the building was fun to do. And then blowing up the bridge…

In the world of VFX, how do you blow up a bridge?

We did data capture from Chinatown rooftops to get good references for the bridge. We built those out to the nth degree. Then we found a very good reference [documenting] the demolition of a bridge where you have this big explosion, and then the wake shows the impact this large structure would have on displacing the amount of water that would flow up into the air.

You have to nail the physics!

Totally. Finding references is such an enjoyable aspect of what we do. You can’t build all of it, but there’s a level of detail you need, so from an audience point of view, you can’t tell the difference.

Joseph Quinn as “Eric” in A Quiet Place: Day One from Paramount Pictures.

You guys ventured outside the backlot to craft the film’s big third-act sequence. How did you piece together this finale?

That was shot between Bovingdon, an airfield, a pier on the Thames, a moored boat, and Joseph in a tank in Pinewood [production studio]. We then had to stitch all of that together so our characters could traverse that environment, and it felt like one location.

How did AI impact your process?

At ILM, we constantly use different aspects of AI. For us, it’s another toolset, and we’re at the forefront. On this film, we definitely used some aspects of AI, especially in our compositing. With AI, we have an “as soon as it’s usable, we’ll be using it” attitude.

Michael and director of photography Pat Scola had worked together before on Pig, but Day One was their first big-budget studio film. What was it like collaborating on the look of this movie?

Early on, Michael, Pat, and I had conversations about visual effects, and my main thing was, “Shoot the movie the way you want it to look.” I’d rather have beautiful-looking images with things that we can then help with rather than have the filmmaker be in an uncomfortable position where we have to do a lot of work in post.

Your philosophy seemed to pay off.

In a genre where the story could have just been generic, I found Day One to be unique.

For more on A Quiet Place: Day One, check out these stories:

How “A Quiet Place: Day One” Production Designer Simon Bowles Harnessed VR to Unleash Aliens on NYC

“A Quiet Place: Day One” Director Michael Sarnoski on Creating Emotional Stakes & Killer Silences

Featured image: Lupita Nyong’o as “Samira” in A Quiet Place: Day One from Paramount Pictures.

Chasing Precision and Perfection with Aerial DPs on “The Blue Angels” – Part 2

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In part one of our interview, former Blue Angels pilot LCDR Lance “Bubb” Benson, aerial DP Michael FitzMaurice, and aerial coordinator Kevin LaRosa II shared how the painstaking planning process really paid off and the use of Benson’s “chase” jet to capture unique vantage points. Now, we delve into the camera configurations and what it took to film some of the most popular maneuvers from the air.

The sizeable discrepancy between the airspeeds of the helicopter and the F-18s was crucial in intensifying the visceral rush on-screen. “That’s a bonus in our world—having dissimilar platforms helps you create a dynamic shot with a lot of energy and speed,” LaRosa reveals. “Michael does some fantastic whip-panning as the jets go by to create a lot of movement to show how quickly the jets are moving.” To ensure maximum safety, they had to be in the right spot at the right time, which they accomplished by studying every maneuver in detail. “We put the GPS ground tracking data into Google Earth and studied a three-dimensional airshow and learned every position of every jet, which also included abnormal situations with weather, where they would do a flat show or a low show versus a high show. We memorized the different configurations and plotted where to put the helicopter to create the most dynamic shots. So, we knew where we needed to be and how we’re going to do it before we ever got in the air.”

 

To capture the adrenaline-inducing maneuvers, “the primary camera on the helicopter was a Sony Venice 2 in a Shotover K1 gimbal. We wanna give a shoutout to our Shotover gimbal technician, Jared Slater. Without that, we would’ve captured nothing!” FitzMaurice explains. “In the helicopter, we also used the Phantom Flex 4k, which gave us the 1,000 frames-per-second slow-motion footage. That’s when the jets looked like they were almost perfectly still, and all the vapors were coming off of them.” The cameras mounted to the exterior of Benson’s “chase” F-18 reveals the Top Gun: Maverick DNA in this film. Since LaRosa and FitzMaurice worked on the 2022 blockbuster, “Kevin and I reached out to the Maverick team at Paramount to get the camera mounts that were custom-made for Maverick, which was already approved by the Navy,” FitzMaurice reveals. “We used Sony Venice 1s because they were approved for that camera mount at the time. That’s why we didn’t use the Venice 2 on the chase jet.”

“Blue Angels.” Courtesy Amazon MGM.

When the cameras were mounted on two pylons (where the weapons would normally be) under the wings of the chase jet, Benson flew a single-seater F-18 to capture maneuvers such as the “Knife Edge Pass.” “Two jets come very close to each other and roll up on a wing, it looks like their noses kind of touch and almost hit as they pass each other. I was right next to #5 as he was coming in,” he says, adding: “There’s over 800 knots of closure as those jets go by each other. With the camera on the pylon looking right at that maneuver, you see one jet rolling up on its wing and then another jet just in the blink of an eye going right by within 40 feet. It’s really an exciting point of view.” Another maneuver is the “Fleur de Lis,” where all six jets pull in and break apart in a dramatic breakout, and the diamond forms over the top of the loop. “We were trying to capture that diamond coming together at the top, so there are some really unique vantage points that you rarely see.”

The quintessential IMAX project if there ever was one, the film delivers never-before-seen angles to maneuvers that have thrilled countless fans on the ground. “When they did the “Delta Breakout” [aka the “fan break”], we were right on their line with all six jets coming straight at us. After they all broke out above us, the #4 jet kept coming straight at us. He called out on the radio that he saw us and would get as close as he could to us. It’s a great shot in the movie where that jet comes right at you and goes right underneath the camera,” FitzMaurice shares.

“Blue Angels.” Courtesy Amazon MGM.

On the “High Alpha Pass,” two of the jets flew as slow as they could in front of the crowd. “At about 120 knots, which is very slow for a jet that size, that gave our helicopter a chance to get in there and fly in formation with them. Where most of the high-speed passes required Michael to do some amazing operating to keep them in the frame, this was a rare chance to stay with the F-18s and create this cool parallax with a wide-angle lens because we were only 20 feet away. So that was pretty awesome,” says LaRosa. “That’s when #5 and #6 are angled up and going really slow, blowing smoke out the back. I think that might be the closest a civilian helicopter has ever been to an F-18 in-flight without getting hit,” FitzMaurice adds.

“Blue Angels.” Courtesy Amazon MGM.

Another impressive element for LaRosa was the “MRT,” or Minimum Radius Turn: “We did a lot of planning to get the camera as close to the afterburners as possible. As the aircraft was doing the MRT before the crowd with full afterburner, we stuck the helicopter on the inside of that turn. Being a slower platform gave us an advantage because we could stay with this jet a little longer,” he says. Another Blue Angels signature maneuver is the “Diamond 360,” one of the most challenging maneuvers that showcases the team’s extreme precision as four jets fly within 18 inches of each other from wingtip to canopy. “Four jets come from the crowd’s right shoulder, and they’re as tight as they’ll get for the entire demo. Each jet is within 18 inches from the top of the canopy to the underside of the wing of the jet above it. For this one, Michael was in the back seat. We tucked ourselves tight underneath so it looked like there was a fifth jet. He had a wide-angle lens looking back towards the crowd, which is a position that normally only #2 or #4 get to see as it goes down the show line,” says Benson.

 

The Maverick connection doesn’t end with the camera mounts and the aerial team—Maverick co-star Glen Powell is one of the producers who ultimately connected executive producer Greg Wooldridge—the only three-time Boss of the Blue Angels—to Crowder in the early stages of the project. “Boss Wooldridge was very involved in approaching Boss Kesserling about making this documentary to show the public what the Blue Angels is all about. Having served as Boss three times, he knew how to avoid the distractions and only go to Boss Kesserling for what was absolutely needed,” Benson reveals.

 

Beyond thrilling audiences with gravity-defying aerial displays, the film humanizes the Blue Angels by highlighting their dedication to each other and the mission and their unrelenting pursuit of excellence every day on the job. Boss Wooldridge echoes the sentiment, saying at one point in the film: “We’ll never get to perfection, but along the way, we’re going to realize excellence.” After spending some time with the team, LaRosa walked away absolutely inspired by the experience: “They’re a very driven and incredibly high-performing team, which empowers you. We got to spend a fraction of a moment in the team’s history, which was pretty incredible.”

For Benson, this cinematic love letter to naval aviation is an amazing opportunity to share his passion with the next generation. “I’m super excited that everyone will get to see this film. For guys my age, the original Top Gun movie got everybody excited about naval aviation. I hope this documentary will encourage a younger generation to serve their country and want to fly fighter jets and, maybe one day, become a Blue Angel.”

Read part one of our interview here.

The Blue Angels is streaming now on Amazon Prime.

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Featured image: “Blue Angels.” Courtesy Amazon MGM.

Chasing Precision and Perfection with Aerial DPs on “The Blue Angels” – Part 1

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Every year since the Blue Angels were established in 1946, crowds of all ages have oohed and aahed at airshows from Brunswick, Maine to Huntington Beach, California, as the United States Navy’s precision flight demonstration team performs intoxicatingly vertiginous aerial maneuvers in the skies. With six F/A-18 Super Hornet fighter jets flying a mere 12-18 inches apart at 400-600mph, the only way to capture every hypersonic swoop and stomach-churning roll on camera up close—and safely—for the Amazon MGM feature documentary was to have a former Blue Angel in the aerial cinematography team. “I was in the right place at the right time,” says LCDR [Lieutenant Commander] Lance “Bubb” Benson, who was an F/A-18 instructor prior to two tours with the squadron, flying the #3 and #4 jets in the Diamond during his first stint and then returning in 2021 to fly the #6 jet as the Opposing Solo. “I had the unique experience from both sides of the demonstration to safely put the helicopter and the chase jet up in the air in the right spots to capture what we needed.”

To take audiences into the inner sanctum of the team, director Paul Crowder was given unprecedented access during the 2022 season, when the demo team/squadron (all active-duty naval and Marine Corps aviators from the fleet) was led by Captain Brian Kesserling, who flew the #1 jet as the Flight Leader (traditionally called “Boss”). Following their grueling three-month winter training in El Centro, California, to the eight-month show season across 30 locations, the film provides a glimpse of the rigorous selection process for new members and details how the 130-plus maintenance and logistics crew keeps the show moving.

“Blue Angels.” Courtesy Amazon MGM.

Not only was Benson integral in the planning process, but he also flew the “chase jet,” a seventh F-18, alongside the demo team to capture some of the propulsive footage. “99 times out of 100, there are only six jets airborne. But every once in a while, on a Thursday or Friday, you’ll see a seventh jet chasing them to get video footage,” he explains. On several occasions, he flew a two-seater F-18 with aerial cinematographer Michael FitzMaurice in the backseat holding on to a Sony FX3 handheld camera as they followed the squadron through all the maneuvers, sometimes pulling over 7gs in-flight (seven times the force of gravity). “Some of the best shots we captured were when we’re inverted over the top of the team as they’re going on the roll,” FitzMaurice shares, adding, “I had the camera above my head looking through the top of the canopy. That’s all great until you start pulling some gs. Your hands are above your head, holding a three-pound camera, which suddenly becomes nine pounds, 12 pounds, and you’re trying to hold that in position. It was tough but a lot of fun!”

 

For the first time in Blue Angels history, a civilian aircraft was allowed to fly inside the performance airspace, called “the box,” with aerial coordinator Kevin LaRosa II flying the Airbus H125 helicopter and FitzMaurice shooting on an IMAX-certified Sony Venice 2 camera with the Angenieux 12:1 lens. “This was one of the rare projects where the subject aircraft wasn’t at our direction, we couldn’t tell them what to do or how many times we wanted to do it. We couldn’t change their flight profile because it would be negative training for them, which is a safety hazard,” LaRosa reveals of the challenge when there is no option for a second take. “We had to integrate our helicopter around their normal demonstration without creating any safety issues. So, we studied their performances a lot more than normal so that we could be very proficient, get the best shots, and not get in their way.”

The trio only had about ten shooting days with the demo team between a couple of weeks in Pensacola and another week with some bad weather in San Francisco. FitzMaurice estimates that 90% of the aerial capture exterior of the jet came from the helicopter. Every flight with the squadron was “43 minutes of the most high-energy flying that we’ve ever done,” says LaRosa. “There’s no second take – you get one take at each event that we flew. It’s 43 minutes of maxing out the performance of the helicopter, gimbal, and camera. But it feels like it goes by in five minutes! By the time you land, you’re mentally and physically exhausted.”

“Blue Angels.” Courtesy Amazon MGM.

The meticulous planning started three months before they went up in the air, as Fitzmaurice and LaRosa studied GPS ground tracks provided by the Blue Angels and video footage of past demonstrations. “We watched the maneuvers and visualized the best angles to capture them. Lance knows a lot about where their outs were and the safest places for us to be,” recalls FitzMaurice. “So, we worked through it with him and took it to the whole Blue Angels team. By the time we were actually in the air with the helicopter, where we put ourselves was exactly where we said we’d be on a map.” Benson agrees that their exhaustive planning really paid off. Introducing a civilian aircraft flying at 100mph in the midst of six F-18s screaming by at 400-600 mph certainly elevated the risk. “As a former demo pilot, my biggest concern was safety,” he says.

“Blue Angels.” Courtesy Amazon MGM.

“The Blue Angels show becomes safer during each season because it’s so repeatable: it’s the same show nearly every day. We change it for weather or things in the area that we can’t control, but generally, there are very few distractions. In this case, we’re interjecting another jet [into the mix]. Jets #1, #4, #5, and #6 were probably going to see the helicopter quite often, but #2 and #3 were flying off of Boss [Kesserling] 99% of the time, so the odds of them seeing us were pretty low,” Benson explains. Initially, he was concerned about the maneuverability of the helicopter in that high-speed environment. “As the solos are coming in on the ‘Knife Edge Pass,’ they’re not used to seeing a helicopter sitting there barely outside their wing set, waiting to capture that moment. But we mitigated the risks by briefing the team every morning on where to expect us. It all worked out very well but took a lot of planning.”

During the demo, there are only 45-60 seconds between each element/maneuver. “Since the helicopter flies at much lower speeds, if you aren’t already moving it as a Blue Angels maneuver goes by to reposition it, you’re only out might be to go down to the ground and get out of the way. So, we had very limited time to capture the images and move to a new position and be ready as the next maneuver came,” Benson explains. It was my job to make sure we were getting to the right position to keep us all safe. Before each flight, Kevin, Michael, myself, and the team would look at the next day’s flight profile and the shots we’re looking for, where and when we could put the helicopter safely, and when to get out of the way.”

 

Find out in the second part of our interview why the significant discrepancy between the airspeeds turned out to be an advantage and how the documentary benefited from Top Gun: Maverick.

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Featured image: “Blue Angels.” Courtesy Amazon MGM.

“Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F” Director Mark Molloy on Capturing That Eddie Murphy Magic

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Mark Molloy is just as much a fan of Beverly Hill Cop as you are. Growing up, the Australian native had an Axel Foley poster pinned to his bedroom wall and turned that into helming the fourth installment of the franchise, which hits Netflix on July 3, nearly 40 years after the original 1984 film.

This time, Foley (Eddie Murphy) finds himself in Beverly Hills protecting the life of his daughter Jane (Taylour Paige) as they uncover a conspiracy connected to the drug cartel. Cohorts Billy Rosewood (Judge Reinhold) and Taggart (John Ashton) both return, as does newcomer Detective Bobby Abbott (Joseph Gordon-Levitt). What transpires is a quintessential Axel Foley ride rife with comedy, action, and a few surprises, but done so with a ton of heart.

In guiding the story, Molloy knew he wanted to make a film that had the same “style, spirit, and ethos” as the original films. “My pitch to Jerry Bruckheimer and everyone was I love Beverly Hills Cop 1 and Beverly Hills Cop 2 for different reasons, and I want to go back to the well and make a film in the way they created those films,” Molloy tells The Credits. “Those films are gritty and grounded, and they are very honest. So I used that to filter through everything.”

What helped to ground Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F was shooting larger set pieces practically rather than relying on visual effects or virtual environments. “I wanted to shoot all the action in camera, even all the driving scenes with dialogue. I wanted to go back and ground the film like they used to,” he says. “But also, on some of the action stuff, I wanted to make some mistakes. People don’t make mistakes anymore in film. Everything’s so designed, choreographed, and perfect that you don’t get a real sense of danger. So I wanted to make it imperfect again as I think it grounds the characters and the film, too.”

Find out how Molloy rebooted the beloved franchise for fans new and old.

 

You worked with your cinematographer, Eduard Grau, previously. What did you two and production designer Jahmin Assa discuss in terms of the visual language?

We all love old films, and really, my pitch was to make an ‘80s action comedy set in a contemporary world. We wanted it to have a timeless nature, so we tried to build that in the look of the film. We shot the way Tony Scott did in the ‘80s with really big, long zooms and added a little bit of grit that sort of had a grounded, honest feel to it. Then with the sets, even the design of all the police cars, we kept trying to make things feel as timeless as possible. Because we know we’re in a modern world, I just didn’t want technology and modernity screaming and infiltrating you.

Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F – (L to R) Eddie Murphy as Axel Foley, Taylour Paige as Jane Saunders, Joseph Gordon-Levitt as Detective Bobby Abbott, and Bronson Pinchot as Serge in Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F. Courtesy of Netflix © 2024

There are a ton of hilarious moments in this movie. How did you want to ensure that the comedy didn’t interfere with the story?

Well, it’s kind of lucky to have one of the greatest comedians, maybe the greatest comedian, that’s ever lived. That’s definitely a good thing. It’s also in the writing. We worked very hard with Will Beall, Tom Gormican, and Kevin Etten to really shape the comedy on the page and then also to allow the space for improvisation on set, too. That was a big part of my job— to create the right environment for that to happen. But then, it wasn’t just Eddie. Joseph Gordon-Levitt was amazing, too. The two of them were just great together. Some of the funniest moments in the film are Eddie and Joe just riffing.

Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F – (L to R) Joseph Gordon Levitt as Detective Bobby Abbott and Eddie Murphy as Axel Foley in Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F. Cr. Melinda Sue Gordon/Netflix © 2024

Comedy aside, the action is very entertaining. Can you walk us through the helicopter scene with Gordon-Levitt flying low through city streets?  

It was a f**king nightmare because I wanted to do everything in-camera.

That’s all real? No miniatures?

Nothing. That’s all in-camera.

Congrats.

There’s a little bit of CG when it crashes, of course. But that whole scene is all shot in-camera. Even the dialogue between Eddie and Joe. That was on a truck driving down the street that moved and everything. We shot in downtown LA and had a real helicopter flying along with sparks coming off the ground. Every person had to be stunt people on the whole scene. We locked half the downtown down for days.

What gives your action pieces depth is that you connect the camera to the characters.

Yes, that was really important to me. Binding the action scenes around the characters. It’s not just about trying to create a big spectacle, it’s actually grounding those moments in character and in humor.

Another thrilling moment is the Doheny and Wilshire shootout. What was the approach for the daytime sequence?

Heat was obviously a huge reference point. But it was challenging because we shot it all for real, all on Wilshire. There was a lot of gunfire, car crashes, and important beats between Axel and his daughter Jane. It was just tricky because the sun was dropping and we had some very big set pieces.

Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F. (Featured L-R) Bria Murphy as Officer Renee Minnick and Eddie Murphy as Axel Foley in Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F. Cr. Melinda Sue Gordon/Netflix ©2023.

The film’s crux is the father-daughter story. Taylour Paige is magnificent in her role as Jane. What drew you to casting her, and how did that translate into building their relationship on set?

That relationship is the big reason why I wanted to do this film. I wanted to see something within the story that I’ve never felt in the franchise. And we’d never seen Axel Foley vulnerable ever. I’d seen Taylour in Zola, and I just saw this fire in her, this spark in her eye. And for anyone to share the camera and a scene with Eddie, it’s a big task. I didn’t just need someone to go toe-to-toe with him. I needed someone to be a real combatant to him. I saw a strength in Taylour and a spirit in her that I was like, I wanna see her next to Eddie. She did a brilliant job because it’s an intimidating thing to do, but she crushed it. She fits so well into the whole franchise and the ethos of Axel Foley.

Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F – (L to R) Eddie Murphy as Axel Foley and Taylour Paige as Jane Saunders in Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F. Cr. Melinda Sue Gordon/Netflix © 2024.

Their relationship changes Axel from a person who never believes he’s wrong to someone considerate, a father. Did you see any specific moment as his turning point?

There wasn’t an exact turning point. I think it’s more something that happens over the course of the film, and he starts to understand that he’s been sort of living life on his terms rather than really thinking about it or seeing it from Jane’s perspective. And I think the writing’s really beautiful in some of those moments where we really understand her perspective on their relationship and see his perspective.

The dynamics between Axel, Taggart, and Billy didn’t miss a beat. Did you need to say much to get them going again?

The moment those three jumped in the car together, I was just like, yes. When I first came into the film, I just had that image in my head that wasn’t in the original script. I was like, I want to see the three of them in that car again, so we wrote it. And I just remember sitting on the set, looking around, and seeing the smiles on everyone’s faces. Everyone was like, this is exactly where we want to be right now, in the car with these three guys.

Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F (L to R) John Ashton as Chief John Taggart, Eddie Murphy as Axel Foley and Judge Reinhold as Billy Rosewood in Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F. Cr. Melinda Sue Gordon/Netflix ©2024

Spoiler alert – So the Axel Foley smile to end the film wasn’t in the script?

I don’t think it was in the first one.

Wow. You need that in an Axel Foley movie.

Yes, you have to have it in the script. There’s a few things I wanted. We need to see the three of them in the car together, and we’ve got to pause on a freeze frame because that’s how I’m going to finish.

Classic. Before we let you go, are you up for a no-context Rorschach test with some of the moments in the film? Just say the first thing that comes to mind.  

Okay, yeah.

The Axel F theme song by Harold Faltermeyer?

To be given that and be able to use that in the film, it’s like gold dust.

“Neutron Dance” by The Pointer Sisters?

It took a while to put in this film, but when we did, I was like, oh man, yes, that is the song we’ve been missing.

Jane says to Foley: “You look like you sell iPhone cases to teenagers at the mall”?

Taylour nailed that line, and I loved it.

Foley saying during a high speed chase: “F**k a seabelt! We’re on the edge!”?

All improvised and just pure Eddie. With Joe [Gordon-Levitt] and Judge [Reinhold] in that truck together. It was a lot of improvisation.

Foley saying to Jane: “When you said that a parent’s always a parent and a child’s always a child. That’s real shit.  And I really messed that up. And I’m sorry”?

I thought that was one of the greatest moments in this film. That’s the sort of moment that I wanted the audience to walk out going, “That was everything I wanted from a Beverly Hills Cop and something I didn’t expect.”

Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F is now streaming on Netflix. 

 

 

Luke Wilson on Joining Kevin Costner for his Epic Western “Horizon: An American Saga”

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Luke Wilson is no stranger to the Western genre, having been a part of 3:10 to Yuma and Outlaws and Angels. Now, Wilson is starring in his most sprawling and ambitious western to date, Kevin Costner’s four-part Horizon series. Wilson plays Matthew Van Weyden, the captain of a wagon train heading west in the ensemble epic, tasked with protecting the passengers on a journey fraught with potential danger. Although Wilson had played the Cowboys before, Horizon’s scope and Costner’s passion were new to him.

Costner’s epic vision bowed on June 28, with part two coming out in August and part three currently shooting. “In the first two films, I didn’t get the chance to be in any scenes with Kevin,” Wilson told The Credits, “but in the third film, all my stuff’s with Kevin. To be in a scene with him outside at this incredible ranch where Arizona’s on this mountain on one side, Utah is the mountain on the other side, the sun’s going down, and there’s 600 head of cattle and all these background actors, and Kevin’s in wardrobe giving direction and acting, it made me emotional to think that, oh God, I can’t believe I’m 52 and I’m at this particular place.”

We spoke with Wilson about what it was like joining Costner’s passion project.

This is a truly big film. You don’t see too many movies like this anymore, do you?

Yeah, you don’t. I was reading the business section, and a theater owner was talking about the need to get people back into the rhythm of going to the movies. I brought it up with my brother, Owen. I said, “Growing up, we were in a rhythm of going to the movies, like reading the paper and finding out what’s coming out. We would go every Friday or Saturday to see a movie.” I’d go on Saturdays with my dad, all kinds of different stuff.

Any of those films with your dad stick out?

I can remember seeing Thief with my dad, the Michael Mann movie, or Jonathan Demme’s Something Wild, just a different variety of things. Horizon is one of those movies that you would’ve gone to see. Even when I first got started in the movie business, you’d go on location, and you’d go to the mall to go to a movie, and you’d have a choice of a few different kinds of movies to see. It might be a cop movie, a love story, and then a science fiction movie. Now, I do feel lucky to have this movie out there, and hopefully, people will appreciate the quality of storytelling.

Caption: KEVIN COSTNER as Hayes Ellison in New Line Cinema’s Western drama “Horizon: An American Saga” Chapter One, a Warner Bros. Pictures release. Photo Credit: Richard Foreman

Considering how long Kevin Costner has worked on making these films happen, did you ask him, “How can I help you achieve this vision?”

That was an interesting thing he said when he hired me. He said, “I’m going to need your help on this.” I just thought, gosh, that’s a really interesting thing to hear from a director. You might think you’d hear that from a first-time director, but not an Academy Award-winning director. But when I got to work on Horizon, I saw what he meant by he needed my help. Not just to do my part as best I can, but to be a part of a team and help people, whether helping the horse wranglers or the background extras, helping them stay engaged. You were part of a big team, so you just want to deliver as best you can. I just always thought to myself, I never want Kevin to be worried about me. I always want him to be like, okay, I can count on that guy. That was always my goal.

An image from Kevin Costner’s HORIZON: AN AMERICAN SAGA: CHAPTER 1. Courtesy Warner Bros.

I imagine some of those movies you’d see in the theaters starred Kevin Costner. Somedays on set, was it hard not to nerd out a little bit?

Unbelievably. There’s this great book about Paul Newman, in which he talks about working with John Houston and how he could never get past the fact that it was John Houston and never quite acted normal around him. I kind of got beyond that with Kevin—he’s just such a good guy. Kevin was the movie star of my era. First, I saw him in Silverado, and I loved him. Then, because it was the blockbuster era, it was like, “Okay, this guy’s great. He’s in The Untouchables. What’s this movie? Fandango?” He’s incredible in that movie. So yeah, I had to focus in and listen sometimes when I’d be thinking, “I can’t wait to tell my friend Joey I was with Gardner Barnes today. I was with Elliot Ness all day long.”

Caption: KEVIN COSTNER as Hayes Ellison in New Line Cinema’s Western drama “Horizon: An American Saga” Chapter One, a Warner Bros. Pictures release. Photo Credit: Richard Foreman

I learned you read a lot of memoirs about musicians. Was there anyone you read while making Horizon who inspired you?

I was definitely listening to the Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid soundtrack by Bob Dylan. I’m trying to think back on what I might’ve been reading. I’m not even a particularly big Leon Russell fan, but his biography had come out, and I was reading that at the time. I’m always reading a music biography, and right now, I’m reading a new book about the outlaw country movement with Waylon and Willie, which is a really good book. I don’t know why, but it is just something I love to read about, and I love it.

Have you found music has always been a big influence on you throughout your acting career? Would you find yourself on sets, just listening to artists?

I’ve never done the thing where I’ve listened to headphones before doing a scene, but I certainly listen on the way to work. To me, the greatest invention of the last 25 years has been Sirius XM Radio. I’m constantly writing down songs that I’ve never heard and love The Willie Station, Tom Petty, Grateful Dead, Springsteen, Frank Sinatra, my friends got me listening to the 40s Junction. It’s 1940s music. It helps me relax and think about emotions. I always listen to stuff on the way to work to get pumped up.

Caption: (L to r) SIENNA MILLER as Frances, GEORGIA MACPHAIL as Elizabeth “Lizzie” and MICHAEL ROOKER as Sgt. Mjr. Thomas Riordan in New Line Cinema’s Western drama “Horizon: An American Saga” Chapter One, a Warner Bros. Pictures release.

Any crew members from Horizon you’d like to highlight?

That’s always been one of my favorite parts about the movie business is being a movie lover and then finding out what a cinematographer is, what a production designer is, and what a costume designer does. Horizon was just the best. Jimmy Murrow, the cinematographer, was incredible, and he was the Steadicam operator on Field of Dreams and Open Range. Lisa Lovaas, the costume designer, is just the best person I’ve ever worked with. She had all these pictures on her wall from period pictures, and I remember saying, “Oh, okay, this guy, I like the jacket this guy has on.” You’d go see her four days later, and she’d had the jacket made that looked exactly like the jacket. Scott Perez, the chief horse wrangler in charge of all the livestock, was like watching a field general, on horseback at work, riding back and forth, getting the wagons, the mules, everything ready. So many. They are just incredible people, and my favorite part about the movie business is the people who make it all happen. They got into it for the same reason I did. They love movies.

Caption: (L to r) TOM PAYNE as Hughes and ELLA HUNT as Juliette in New Line Cinema’s Western drama “Horizon: An American Saga” Chapter One, a Warner Bros. Pictures release. Photo Credit: Richard Foreman

 

For more on Horizon: An American Saga, check out these stories:

“Horizon” Costume Designer Lisa Lovaas on Dressing Kevin Costner’s Epic Western

First “Horizon” Trailer Reveals Kevin Costner’s Hugely Ambitious Western Epic

Featured image: Luke Wilson in “Horizon: An American Saga” Chapter One, a Warner Bros. Pictures release. Photo Credit: Richard Foreman 

“The Fall Guy” Fight Coordinator Jonathan Eusebio on That Insane Spinning Garbage Truck Chase

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Another veteran from the John Wick brand of innovative and high-octane action, stunt coordinator Jonathan “JoJo” Eusebio was thrilled to work on stuntman-turned-director David Leitch’s action comedy, The Fall Guy. Due to the wall-to-wall stunts, he was brought in to assist the main fight coordinator, Sunny Sun. A member of Leitch and Chad Stahelski’s 87Eleven Action Design company, his impressive C.V. includes Deadpool 2, Black Panther, and the first three John Wick films.

Almost two months after its theatrical debut, the deliriously entertaining actioner featuring Ryan Gosling (as legendary stuntman Colt Seavers) and Emily Blunt (director Jody Moreno, Colt’s ex-girlfriend) is still playing in 1,000 theaters domestically, even though an extended cut has been available on streaming for a month. The cinematic love letter to stunt performers is a clarion call for official industry recognition—in the form of an Oscar category for stunts—for all the blood, sweat, broken bones, surgeries, physical therapy, and ice baths at the end of very long, hard days. As Leitch explains in one of the many “making of” featurettes, the “fall guy” refers to the stunt performer who “steps in and takes the hits,” whether it’s falling off the horse, down the stairs, off the bike, or in any number of bone-crunching stunts.

For Eusebio, working with two of his mentors—Leitch and second unit director Chris O’Hara—was a great way to pay tribute to a field that is often overlooked, despite its crucial role in the business.

 

The film shines a spotlight on stunt performers. What does it mean for you to be a part of it?

David Leitch is one of my mentors; I kind of followed him into stunts. It’s really special to be involved in his movie, which is an ode to the stuntman. We put in a lot of work and destroy our bodies to entertain people, so it’s nice to be recognized.

How long was the shoot?

About four months. I came in the middle of it. I was with Chris on the second unit, and Sunny was with Dave on the main unit. Sunny and I have worked together a lot over 10 years, so we have a shorthand. We always conceived everything together. Both of us knew each piece, so if we had to interchange, we could do it.

L to R: Director David Leitch and Ryan Gosling (as Colt Seavers) on the set of THE FALL GUY, directed by David Leitch

How long was the prep and training?

A couple of months. Ryan was already training by the time I came in to work with Winston [Duke, who played Dan Tucker] for the “movie within the movie” scene by the Sydney Opera House, where Jody controls the camera and Colt is the space cowboy. We choreographed it, filmed the stunt in Previz, and showed it to Dave. Then, we trained Ryan, Emily, and the stunt performers. We wanted Colt and Jody to move in unison with each other in that scene, basically like a dance between them. That’s what we tried to convey. It had a lot of moving parts—wires, pyrotechnics, stunt guys in alien costumes.

 

This film focuses on practical effects and character-driven action choreography. Can you talk about that?

With practical stunts, you can actually see the real danger involved and the physical skill needed to pull it off. You always want to make all your action character-driven. Even though it’s physical movement, it’s visual dialogue. The action has to propel the story forward and make sense for the character. You’ve gotta think about why they’re doing this. What are they learning from the scene? What did they learn from the previous scene that serves this scene? It should be clear why they’re doing what they’re doing.

When Colt goes to find the main star of Jody’s movie, Tom (Aaron Taylor-Johnson), in his apartment, a pretty wild fight breaks out. What went into that sequence?

Ryan was fighting the guys upstairs, and Dan was fighting downstairs in the kitchen. There were a lot of stair falls, guys, coming through balconies, falling on the floor, throwing someone over the counter, and gun fights. We did PreViz for a week and then rehearsed with the actors and stunt guys.

Aaron Taylor-Johnson in THE FALL GUY, directed by David Leitch

One of the biggest action set pieces is the garbage truck chase, where Colt fights one of Tom’s henchmen as they careen down the Sydney Harbor Bridge. Was that shot practical as well?

Definitely. We rehearsed it in the studio first. The garbage bin was built by special effects, and the actors and stunt guys were harnessed into the bin with an armature connected to the truck so they wouldn’t fly out of it. The armature is a metal piece built onto the rig and telescopes above, with the actors and stunt guys harnessed to it. They’re actually moving with the truck as it’s spinning. All that was shot practical and real. They’re really fighting in the bin and getting pulled down the street.

Ryan Gosling is Colt Seavers in THE FALL GUY, directed by David Leitch

What went into planning something that complicated?

We thought about how you would fight in something that’s moving and spinning. How does the human body react to the gravitational forces pulling on the body with things spinning and moving all around them? You’re not going to be able to move that much because you don’t have a firm footing. The choreography was based on the fact that you don’t know how your body’s going to react, but you also don’t want to fall off while this guy is trying to push you off a moving vehicle. So, you look at all the variables and come up with how to resolve them.

How long did that take to rehearse?

A couple of weeks to conceive the idea and test it out with the stunt guys. Sometimes, you get the actual piece of equipment or at least all the dimensions. In this case, we had the actual bin and the truck in a rehearsal space, so we choreographed and tested with the bin stationary first. Then, we slowly started moving and bringing the truck up to speed. It took a few days to shoot because it involved many locations—the Harbor Bridge, the tunnel, and city streets.

Ryan Gosling really got dragged behind that truck! How was it working with him?

He’s a great guy who really supports the stunt community. He’s also such a great performer and athlete. Anytime you get that combination, it’s always a pleasure.

 

The climactic chase has Colt hanging onto a hovering helicopter while he fights Tom, swinging himself from one skid to the other underneath. It was a pretty nail-biting sequence! How did that come about?

It was a two-fold process. We built an actual helicopter with all the interior specs so we could practice in the actual space while it was stationary. Then, when Colt gets on the skids and swings underneath, we couldn’t do that part with the helicopter in the air. So, Micah [Moore, assistant stunt coordinator] did a lot of PreViz through Real Engine to see what it would look like if someone’s really swinging underneath a flying aircraft. Then, we combined the real footage we shot and Micah’s PreViz to come up with the final shots.

Ryan Gosling is Colt Seavers in THE FALL GUY, directed by David Leitch

What other intense stunts can you tease about the extended cut?

There’s a chase sequence that’s not in the theatrical cut. We had to build this warehouse for a much longer chase after Ryan’s fight in the club when he chased the drug dealer out of the club. Within a week, we built this giant factory, where Ryan did all the parkour stunts, running through the scaffolding inside the warehouse. It was really fun to work on. We rehearsed that for two weeks.

What’s your take on the current state of stunt safety?

I’ve been in stunts since 2000. Safety equipment is definitely much better than in the 80s when they didn’t have roll cages or protective equipment that we have now. They were basically grabbing the seatbelt and hanging onto it like a strap. Some guys have told me they used duct tape and toilet paper rolls for pads. But now, with much better safety measures, you can do crazier things for a longer period of time and with more repetition. PreViz really saves your performers—you can see the action sequences in advance. So, knowing the variables, you can mitigate them so no one gets hurt.

What do you think of the recent industry push for a stunt category in the Oscars?

It’s been really pushed this year, and this movie has a lot to do with it. Dave and Kelly [McCormick, Leitch’s producing partner and wife] are really pushing for a stunt category in the Academy Awards. There’s one for every area except for stunts, which I think is odd. Especially in action movies, stunts are a huge part of the design, concept, and the look and feel. So, I think it’s long overdue.

 

The Fall Guy is playing in theaters and the extended cut is available on streaming now.

Featured image: L to R: Ryan Gosling is Colt Seavers and Emily Blunt is Judy Moreno in THE FALL GUY, directed by David Leitch

“Fancy Dance” Writer/Director Erica Tremblay on the Power of Indigenous Storytelling

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Fans of Lily Gladstone will be happy to know they can see her on the big screen again in Apple’s new release, Fancy Dance. The film centers on Jax (Gladstone) and Roki (newcomer Isabel Deroy-Olson), an Indigenous aunt and niece who live on the Seneca-Cayuga reservation and are dealing with the disappearance of Tawi, Jax’s sister and Roki’s mom. Jax and Roki are hoping they’ll meet up with Tawi at the annual powwow if she’s not found beforehand. Although elements of the story examine the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women epidemic as well as the continued impact of colonialism on Indigenous populations, the film’s heart is in the loving relationship and connection between the two lead characters. 

Fancy Dance had its premiere at the 2023 Sundance Film Festival, where co-writer/director/producer Erica Tremblay was nominated for the Grand Jury Prize. It has since wowed the critics and swept up numerous awards on the festival circuit.  It also won Special Mention at LA’s Outfest and Best Narrative Feature at NewFest, New York’s LGBT Film Festival. Tremblay, who identifies as queer, incorporated queerness into Jax’s character as well as their storyline. 

The Credits interviewed Tremblay, who spoke about the importance of producing as an Indigenous filmmaker, and the joy of working with Lily Gladstone and Isabel DeRoy-Olson. 

 

You not only directed Fancy Dance and co-wrote it with Miciana Alise, you were also an active producer on the film. 

Yes. Oftentimes, when you see someone who’s a writer and producer or director and producer, that person was just given a producer credit because of the deal they struck, not because of the work they did. I was a producer, and not just in name. I think it’s so important to recognize when BIPOC creators are producing their own work. As a woman, and more specifically, a native woman, it was very important for me to be a part of every single decision made in this film. Being an Indigenous producer is just as important to me as being a director and a writer. I see the three of those things as equal parts of me. 

Writer/director Erica Tremblay on the set of “Fancy Dance.” Courtesy Apple TV+

In Fancy Dance, you incorporate issues that challenge the Indigenous community, but the story is really centered on Lily Gladstone’s character, Jax, and her commitment to and love for her niece. 

I had worked with Lily Gladstone on a short film called Little Chief that was based in my community, and after the success of that short, people kept asking if I was going to turn it into a feature. To me, that story was pretty self-contained, and I didn’t imagine it growing into something bigger. What I recognized was that people were interested in that community, in a very strong Indigenous female character, and obviously, they wanted more Lily Gladstone. So, based on those parameters, we went off to create something new, and in doing so, I wanted to tell a story about the lives of Indigenous women. Doing something around the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Relatives epidemic seemed like the right path to go down, but I wanted to be really careful not to create a procedural drama. We made a choice very early on that we would see no dead bodies of women or hear about the graphic violence that happens to Indigenous women. These things are on the periphery. 

Isabel Deroy-Olson and Lily Gladstone star in “Fancy Dance,” in select theaters June 21 and streaming on Apple TV+ June 28.

How did Isabel DeRoy-Olson, who makes her feature debut in Fancy Dance, become part of the production? A good performance from her was essential to believing the stakes for Roki and Jax. 

Lily is just such a generous, kind person. She’s great to work with, and, obviously, incredible to watch on the screen. When we were casting for Roki, I just knew from having worked with Lily before that we needed to find someone who also had the kind of spirit that could show up on the screen in this very big way and not dim to Lily’s star power. We started casting for Roki very early on, and it was an almost two-year search. Before we even had financiers or any real budget, we got some grant money, and we immediately invested that into a casting director to start the search for Roki. We’d seen so much young Indigenous talent, but I hadn’t quite found that match I thought could stand alongside Lily for this particular story. I was casting for a TV show where we were casting for a pregnant teen, and Isabel’s tape came across my desk. She looked way too young for that role, but I just saw the talent and her spark and spunk, so I immediately called up, and I said to find her and send her some pages. She read, and we knew she was perfect. 

Isabel Deroy-Olson stars in “Fancy Dance,” in select theaters June 21 and streaming on Apple TV+ June 28.

The cornerstone of what makes Fancy Dance so repeatedly watchable is the chemistry between Lily Gladstone and Isabel DeRoy-Olson. It just jumps off the screen. 

From the moment Lily and Isabel met, their relationship has been wonderful. For prep, they did language immersion in the morning and dance in the afternoon, and they really bonded in that experience. They’re both very playful and were pranking each other on set on a daily basis. They’ve become really close, and if Fancy Dance did one beautiful thing in this world, it was to bring Lily and Isabel together. They’re just two of the most curious, generous, beautiful spirits. As a director, the most important relationships you have are with your cast members. To have two people show up with such energy, spirit, and talent, I just felt so lucky walking onto that set every day. I knew they were going to bring everything they had to every moment of filming, and I think that energy showed up onscreen. 

Isabel Deroy-Olson and Lily Gladstone star in “Fancy Dance,” in select theaters June 21 and streaming on Apple TV+ June 28.

Roki wears a fringed purple jacket throughout much of the movie, and it almost represents hope that she’ll see her mother, Tawi, again. 

We wanted Tawi to be alive. The character doesn’t interact with our characters in this story, but we needed Tawi’s presence to be there, so the powwow represents Roki’s relationship with her mother and her optimism that her mother may still be alive. It’s almost like if she doesn’t get to that powwow, then that dream of her mother still being alive will end. For a while, the purple jacket that Roki wears wasn’t in the script, and we had gotten a note that we needed to feel the presence of Tawi more. I had worked in the sex industry for many years as a stripper, and I remember this cowgirl suit I wore that had the fringe and all of that. I remember when I would wear it, thinking how subversive it was. Then I thought, “What if Roki found something of her mother’s, and then it was this jacket?” When we shot that scene with Roki going through her mother’s things, I said to Isabel, “When you put that jacket on, it’s like your mother giving you a hug. And you aren’t going to take it off for the rest of the film because that means if you have that on, she’s with you.” So she wears that little jacket throughout the whole film, and we are very careful not to show too much movement with it until the very end when she gets to the powwow. That jacket is the stand-in for a more traditional shawl with the tassels used in the dance. 

Isabel Deroy-Olson and Lily Gladstone in “Fancy Dance.” Courtesy Apple TV+

The powwow is a very beautiful way to end your story. Shooting that must have been complicated. 

Filming the powwow was actually very difficult. It was an overnight shoot. We essentially had to throw our own powwow because we filmed during COVID, so we couldn’t just go take one over that was already happening. But it was so beautiful to have all the powwow dancers there in Oklahoma who stayed up all night and made that scene possible. It was a great example of the community coming together. 

 

Fancy Dance is in select theaters and streaming globally on Apple TV+.

 

 

For more stories on Apple TV+ series and films, check these out:

Callum Turner on Accents, B-17s, and Crew Glue in “Masters of the Air”

“Silo” Creator Graham Yost Unseals the Secrets of Season 1

How the Latest VFX Techniques Immersed the “Masters of the Air” Actors in Battle

Featured image: Isabel Deroy-Olson and Lily Gladstone in “Fancy Dance.” Courtesy Apple TV+ 

“A Quiet Place: Day One” Director Michael Sarnoski on Creating Emotional Stakes & Killer Silences

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A Quiet Place: Day One turns up the action, tension, and scares. For filmmaker Michael Sarnoski, though, creating real emotional connections with his (mostly) new cast in the A Quiet Place world was key. Sarnoski wanted to maintain the intimacy from John Krasinski’s first two films, which depict a world run by blind, sound-hunting monsters who, in the first two films, had already established their dominance on Earth. On Day One, we finally learn what it was like the moment they arrived.

Sarnoski couldn’t have found a more expressive leading actor than Lupita Nyong’o, whose eyes alone tell so much of the story about what her character, Samira, is experiencing and the rest of a terrified New York. Samira’s facing mortal threats in two ways: the immediate threat of the aliens and the fact she’s dying from cancer. When New York begins to be torn apart, she runs and hides in the streets of New York City along with a new friend, Eric (Joseph Quinn).

Lupita Nyong’o as “Samira” and Joseph Quinn as “Eric” in A Quiet Place: Day One from Paramount Pictures.

Sarnoski previously directed the fantastic drama Pig, another movie largely about death. For A Quiet Place: Day One, his interest was in the drama rather than trying to duplicate Krasinski’s killer first two films. “I talked a lot with Pat Scola, the cinematographer, about Children of Men and sort of the boots-on-the-ground nature of that film,” Sarnoski said. “But once you start, I try to sweep some of that out. You might end up imitating things without realizing it, but I try to avoid thinking about reacting to other movies too much and just focusing on what this movie has to be.”

We spoke to Sarnoski about delivering a thrilling prequel that beautifully connects to Krasinski’s films while standing on its own as a relentlessly inventive and compelling human drama.

How much did you and your sound team want to heighten every element to intensify people learning on the fly how these aliens hunt?

It was something we were constantly talking about. I think portraying silence is tricky. I think people assume, ‘Oh, you just turn off all the sound, and then it feels silent and scary.’ But no, you need to find that perfect balance between environmental things, winds, and the desolation of the city, and then those really quiet little human noises. We actually found that turning up some of those quiet little human noises makes it feel more silent. When you can hear a little footstep and hear a breath, suddenly, you realize how silent everything else is. So, finding that perfect balance, and in some scenes, you want it more, and in some scenes, you want it less. You are always sort of playing around with that balance. It was very fun, but it was kind of a wonderful challenge to figure out.

 

Did you think about silent films when you and your casting directors, Kharmel Cochrane and Holly Rodman ?

Yeah, definitely. Especially with Joe’s character, there’s something vaguely Buster Keaton, Charlie Chaplin-esque about him at times. I think there’s a lot of this movie that is just a silent movie, and it’s not quite slapstick, but there’s stuff that has to be conveyed purely through physicality, purely through all these little emotional expressions. That was, I think, a wonderful challenge for the actors, but they pulled it off so beautifully as Joe [Quinn] and Lupita and Alex [Wolfe]. They found these ways to convey a lot of emotion so quietly and then also handle these huge sets of things. And watching them kind of figure that out was really exciting for me.

Joseph Quinn as “Eric” and Director Michael Sarnoski in A Quiet Place: Day One from Paramount Pictures.

You do not waste time getting to the action, but you still take your time setting up Samira and her life. How was it timing the attack just right in the editing room?

I knew I wanted to live in her world for a while before the attack happened. We all know the attack’s going to happen and you’re sort of waiting for it. Because of that, we have a little bit of leeway to just exist with this character and just know what she’s going through. Because what she’s going through shades the rest of the movie. And yes, it’s about the end of the world and aliens, but it’s about her journey and her emotional journey through this environment. So, really being settled in her character was essential.

Lupita Nyong’o as “Samira” and Director Michael Sarnoski in A Quiet Place: Day One from Paramount Pictures.

Was character and action always the pivotal balance for the whole movie?

Yeah, I think throughout the movie, it’s always kind of juggling quiet, intimate, emotional moments and very exciting action-driven moments. But the throughline for that is always the characters. I mean, you’re always seeing it through either Samira’s eyes or sometimes Eric’s (Quinn) eyes. Knowing that it’s all related to that core story and finding that ebb and flow. It is challenging, but the most fun part of it is figuring out how to perfectly find that balance so you can have both of these things and have them bolster each other rather than take away from each other.

 

There are quite a few parallels between this movie and your directorial debut, Pig, especially in what drives these characters. Do you see the similarities?

I definitely see a thematic connection between the two of them and what these people are dealing with. At its core, I’m very interested in watching unlikely people connect with each other. It’s something that we all relate to on a human level, and it’s something we seek out. Some of our best moments in life are when you meet someone you don’t think you’re going to bond with, and then you find humanity in them, and they find it in you. It’s something I always like to explore. There will always be some thematic overlap there because I just like that on a character level.

Joseph Quinn as “Eric” and Lupita Nyong’o as “Samira” in A Quiet Place: Day One from Paramount Pictures.
Lupita Nyong’o as “Samira” and Alex Wolff as “Reuben” in A Quiet Place: Day One from Paramount Pictures.

Did John Krasinski ever share what he found did or didn’t work with the monsters?

I think one big thing I took away was that I didn’t do this that much, but he often performed as the monsters in the scenes. I’m not an actor, so I didn’t go too far in that direction. But occasionally, I would stand in and walk around. Most of the time I would make sound effects for the monsters, which I found useful. I thought it might be silly, but the actors found it helpful to know when the creatures were clicking and screeching and all of that. I think embodying the monsters a bit on set was really helpful.

Lupita Nyong’o as “Samira” in A Quiet Place: Day One from Paramount Pictures.

Whether it’s the emotion or how the set-pieces were crafted, what about John Krasinski’s first two Quiet Place movies did you want to stay true to?

Those first two movies are very focused on a family drama. There’s a real character core to them. I wanted to be very focused on a surprising and intimate emotional story. And then, the other thing was, those first two movies do a great job of avoiding showing the creatures too much, using them so that there’s this feeling that if you make a sound, you die. That focuses on that primal element. I think with New York, we needed to expand it. There are more creatures; there’s a scope to it, so you kind of have to see them sometimes.

But you didn’t want to overuse them? 

I didn’t want to overuse them or overexplain them to remove the mystery. I still wanted it to feel like they could be anywhere at any moment. And it’s that sort of primal. They’ve taken away a core part of being human and being able to communicate and operate with sound. I think those two things were important: the beautiful simplicity of the monsters and this tender, intimate, unexpected emotional story.

 

A Quiet Place: Day One is in theaters now.

For more on A Quiet Place: Day One, check out these stories:

How “A Quiet Place: Day One” Production Designer Simon Bowles Harnessed VR to Unleash Aliens on NYC

“A Quiet Place: Day One” First Reactions: A Thrilling Prequel Led By Lupita Nyong’o, Joseph Quinn, and Frodo the Cat

Featured image: Director Michael Sarnoski and Lupita Nyong’o as “Samira” in A Quiet Place: Day One from Paramount Pictures.

How “A Quiet Place: Day One” Production Designer Simon Bowles Harnessed VR to Unleash Aliens on NYC

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When John Krasinki released A Quiet Place in 2018, the sonically immersive horror film made audiences hold their breath. Three years later, he followed the success of that film with an expansive sequel that saw the surviving members of the Abbott family run from their rural home in Part II. Now, we witness how the dystopian events started in A Quiet Place: Day One, which sees Michael Sarnoski (Pig) take over directing duties and Krasinski staying on to produce.

The third chapter follows the cat-loving Samira (Lupita Nyong’o) and a stranger named Eric (Joseph Quinn), who together, travel across New York fighting to survive the cataclysmic alien invasion. While the backdrop is set in the Big Apple, production actually took place in London. Tasked with meticulously recreating the New York neighborhoods from across the pond was production designer Simon Bowles (The Son). “I’m so proud of this project,” Bowles tells The Credits over a video call before its June 28 release. “There are so many kinds of little beats you’ll find when you watch the film.”

The small details in the designs were the sticking point for Bowles, who artfully grounds the culturally diverse neighborhoods of New York’s Chinatown, Harlem, the Lower East Side, and the Upper East Side. The collaboration among Sarnoski, cinematographer Pat Scola, and costume designer Bex Crofton-Atkins drove the authentic visual flair in prep. “Michael and Pat have a relationship, having made Pig together, so when Pat came in, he brought his own ideas and suggestions that we integrated. And then, when Bex arrived, that was another layer. She brought some fantastic costume ideas and colors for Samira and Eric and the rest of the characters,” notes Bowles.  

Lupita Nyong’o as “Samira” and Joseph Quinn as “Eric” in A Quiet Place: Day One from Paramount Pictures.

Color became an important touchstone in developing the aesthetic. “We wanted to agree on things like color and how we approached the grade in each of the sequences since there’s no point in doing really specific details if the grade gets cranked over everything. We wanted to shoot and grade as we went. And that made it such a joy to watch the rushes because we could really see the movie coming together.”   

Below, find out how the production designer used virtual reality to prepare for the enormous undertaking of creating New York at soundstages in London and various locations like Canary Wharf, Shoreditch Town Hall, and the Woolwich Dockyard.

 

This is your first project with Michael, right?

That’s right, which is fantastic because when learning a new director, there’s always a honeymoon period. It’s wonderful.

Did Michael talk about any guiding light or themes in terms of the production design?

One of the first things we did was that Michael and I met in New York and took the journey these characters take. We physically walked through the city and absorbed the neighborhoods in which each of the movie’s beats takes place. To me, it was very important to create an atmosphere that any New Yorker would recognize since this was shot in London. It was important for everybody to believe they were in New York and to see specific stores and specific people instead of just shooting random sets with destruction.

Lupita Nyong’o as “Samira” in A Quiet Place: Day One from Paramount Pictures.
A behind-the-scenes image from one of the sets Bowels helped build. Courtesy Paramount Pictures.

Speaking of destruction, how did you approach that intense alien event that opens the film?

I started designing the set that we were going to build. It’s a four-block set of New York, and I built it layered, so when you first walk on the set, it’s Chinatown – it has absolutely every detail down to the graffiti style. All that New York research was put into those details so you are 100% on that street. Then, my small team built the environment in 3D. Not only designing the buildings but also everything on the four-block set. Things like what was on the roof, people’s chairs, the laundry, and we did so two stories high, so when you’re looking up, you can see all those elements and feel all of it.

A 3D rendering of the Chinatown set. Courtesy Simon Bowles/Paramount Pictures.
A image from the Chinatown set. Courtesy Paramount Pictures.

By 3D model, you mean a digital version rather than a practical miniature?

Yes. We then took that 3D model and put it into virtual reality.

That’s kind of like the visual effects version of previs for production design.

Exactly. This was all very early on, before we had a visual effects team or a construction department. We could put Michael into the virtual world with a virtual reality helmet and he could walk through the set. We also had a controller so he could turn on or off the set extensions. Then another button to reveal all the vehicles and the people walking around. And he could also adjust the sunlight which later on our cinematographer Pat Scola added the camera into the virtual reality so he could start choosing lenses and lining that up on set.

A 3D rendering of the Chinatown set. Courtesy Simon Bowels/Paramount Pictures.
Lupita Nyong’o as “Samira” in A Quiet Place: Day One from Paramount Pictures.

That workflow seems very helpful to visualize everything.

It is a fantastic tool to drop a director into the set and have those discussions. Having the ability and freedom to understand everything is invaluable. The great thing about it is that we have all the information for the set extensions for visual effects, which was done beautifully by ILM [Industrial Light & Magic]. Not just vertically but also horizontally off in the distance.  

After the alien event, we travel through these different New York neighborhoods. What research did you bring back to London for the designs?

We wanted to represent each of New York’s neighborhoods honestly and find the heart of each neighborhood. For Chinatown, we chose Mott Street and spent a lot of time hanging out there, chatting and photographing things. We photographed anything that was noisy, which we thought would be great for the dressing and the environment. Like trash guys pushing those big trash containers on wheels. Or the guys playing instruments, busking on the streets. There’s also an arcade on Mott Street with these old games. I was really interested in that because all these things are brilliant to be shown before and after the event. It becomes so silent and fantastic. 

A image from the Chinatown set. Courtesy Simon Bowles/Paramount Pictures.
The Chinatown arcade set. Courtesy Simon Bowels/Paramount Pictures.

I believe there’s a shot of Samira walking past that arcade in the movie.

Yes, we got her walking past the noisy arcade store and again after the event. So we chose to be inside the arcade, and all the machines are silent, and there are no lights flashing anymore. She’s just walking past, and then the glass windows of the store are all smashed and blood-smeared. It’s those little beats that make a difference.

Lupita Nyong’o as “Samira” in A Quiet Place: Day One from Paramount Pictures.

One of the death-defying moments for Samira is in a tunnel where the water starts to rise. How did you approach that practically?  

I designed the movie The Descent, which was set in a cave. What I learned from that is that it’s really difficult to do a tunnel. It doesn’t matter how much space you have on a stage; if it’s meant to be a long tunnel, it is very difficult. In this situation, we had a very long straight tunnel. We had a 60-foot tunnel, but it was never enough, so it needed to be extended off into the distance in both directions.

A rendering of the flooded subway. Courtesy Simon Bowles/Paramount Pictures.

So when you have two people floating down through the water in the tunnel, it’s more exciting to shoot them looking down it. So, as the water levels rise, it’s much easier to lower the ceiling than raise the water because the actors get used to the fact that they can touch the pool floor. And the crew is all set up with the lighting. So we put the ceiling on motor hoists, and it gets lower and lower until the water level is near the ceiling, and the characters are trying to suck that last bit of air out.

A rendering of the tunnel. Courtesy Simon Bowles/Paramount Pictures.
Joseph Quinn as “Eric” in A Quiet Place: Day One from Paramount Pictures.

Besides the action, one of the stark differences between this film and the previous two is the color palette. New York brings some of that, but what did you have in mind to treat the film?

The first two movies were beautiful in that they were out in the open. There were trees, fields, and long grasses, and you were trapped in this huge environment. The thing about this movie is that we’re in a totally opposite environment. We’re in a city where everything is close, and you can’t get away from anything. So, color-wise, it was very important that we did a mood board for each of the neighborhoods.

A image from the set. Courtesy Simon Bowles/Paramount Pictures.

The movie starts in Chinatown, which has such a clear, wonderful color palette – the reds, the golds, and the greens. Then we started to get some Lower East Side with neon colors in the storefronts and the graffiti and the posters. Even small things, like the cycle lanes on the streets, are not in the Chinatown palette. When we get to East Midtown that’s all glass and blue and just a whole other color and texture palette. And then, the Upper East Side and up in East Harlem which had its own look.

A rendering of the Lower East Side. Courtesy Simon Bowles/Paramount Pictures.
A rendering of the Upper East Side. Courtesy Simon Bowles/Paramount Pictures.

Each neighborhood design is so rich that it’s hard to believe it wasn’t shot in New York.

It was less of a sense of color and more aging and layering. Understanding the history and the pride in each community. Taking that whole journey through these different colors and textures and telling those little stories, we treated each like a little separate movie.

 

A Quiet Place: Day One is in theaters now.

Featured image: Joseph Quinn as “Eric” and Lupita Nyong’o as “Samira” in A Quiet Place: Day One from Paramount Pictures.

 

“Horizon” Costume Designer Lisa Lovaas on Dressing Kevin Costner’s Epic Western

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“I like big,” says costume designer Lisa Lovaas, and that’s exactly what she got by signing up for Kevin Costner’s new mega-Western. Horizon: An American Saga – Chapter 1, in theaters now, runs three hours, and its sequel, two hours and 44 minutes long, hits in August. Production on Chapter 3 is now in progress. Filmed in Utah, Chapter 1 follows white settlers battling Native Americans in and around the frontier town of Horizon, Arizona, in the 1860s. Multiple storylines feature dozens of characters, including pioneers portrayed by Costner, Sienna Miller, Sam Worthington, and Luke Wilson in opposition to Owen Crow Shoe and Tatanka Means’ Indigenous leaders and their followers.

Speaking from her home in Los Angeles, Lovaas, whose credits include four Transformers movies, Black Widow and The Amazing Spider-Man 2, describes Horizon‘s sun-baked location shoot, explains why her Native American wardrobe eschews buckskin stereotypes, and details what it was like to collaborate with director/producer/co-writer/star Costner.

 

In Horizon, white men wear woolen clothes just as they did in the 1860s. Shooting outside beneath the broiling Utah sun, did the actors have any issues wearing heavy clothes?

Not one actor complained about the heat when they put on wool pants, wool jackets, wool pants, and wool vests. Even if they’re walking in from this ridiculous heat, nobody said “Oh, this is going to be really warm.” They just looked at themselves in the mirror and saw the character they were looking for. We had little ice packs that we could put into somebody’s pull point at the back of their neck because it was 120 degrees a lot of the time, but I’ve never been on a movie before where everyone’s been so happy to work so hard and be so dirty.

Caption: (L to r) ISABELLE FUHRMAN as Diamond, WILL PATTON as Owen in New Line Cinema’s Western drama “Horizon: An American Saga” Chapter One, a Warner Bros. Pictures release. Photo Credit: Richard Foreman

Dirty?

Because we were filthy! When the wind picks up, you have to remember to close your mouth. I’m lucky I wear glasses because [of] the amount of eye drops people were using day to day. We had a slogan on this movie, “I can’t wait to get home and take a shower tonight.”

Let’s break down the look for key Horizon characters, starting with Sienna Miller as pioneer homemaker Frances.

SPOILER ALERT

The first time we see Frances, she’s at a dance that turns into a massacre. I had to be careful with the fabric I chose so that when Sienna’s [hiding] in the tunnel, her clothes could get dirty and stay dirty. That sounds weirdly technical, but if I had done Sienna in a solid dress, you would have seen every mark [of dirt], and the takes would not match.

Caption: (L to r) SIENNA MILLER as Frances, GEORGIA MACPHAIL as Elizabeth “Lizzie” and MICHAEL ROOKER as Sgt. Mjr. Thomas Riordan in New Line Cinema’s Western drama “Horizon: An American Saga” Chapter One, a Warner Bros. Pictures release. Photo Credit: Richard Foreman

So you put Frances in a patterned dress?

Yes. She has a house on the hill and a little extra money, so I wanted to establish her as a mom and a pioneer woman. That’s how we ended up with that dress made for us by Dale Wibben, a master of period women’s clothes. The inside of the dress was just as exquisite as the outside, with all the stitching.

SIENNA MILLER as Francesin New Line Cinema’s Western drama “Horizon: An American Saga” Chapter One, a Warner Bros. Pictures release.

How did you research the fabrics and silhouettes for this period?

We looked all over the world trying to get fabric swatches that would be appropriate for 1862. I went to [Los Angeles-based] Western Costume and American Costume to see vintage dresses from the period. I’d take photographs or put a dress on the Xerox machine and have that fabric printed. With Frances, a swatch came in from England, originally made in India, and it was perfect, so that’s what we used.

Caption: KEVIN COSTNER as Hayes Ellison in New Line Cinema’s Western drama “Horizon: An American Saga” Chapter One, a Warner Bros. Pictures release. Photo Credit: Richard Foreman

Kevin Costner shows up as this mysterious gunslinger Hayes Ellison. Nearly all the men in this picture wear neckerchiefs or scarves and so does Hayes, but his scarf somehow looks more elegant than the others. Was that deliberate?

He is mysterious. People won’t really know who Hayes is until Horizon 3, but I wanted to dress him with a unique strength of character, which is where the scarf comes in. We block-printed the scarf.

Block print?

It’s this very traditional wood block-on-cotton technique that’s been done for hundreds of years because it was a fairly common, inexpensive way to decorate a fabric. Then we over-dyed it and reworked the scarf to show the audience that this character has a sensitivity that will be revealed at some point. Kevin loved the austere look, which also showed some softness in the scarf.

Native American characters like Owen Crow Shoe’s Pionsenay and Tatanka Means’ Taklishim defy Hollywood stereotypes by avoiding buckskin in favor of cream-white cotton trousers. How did you arrive at that look?

Kevin didn’t want buckskin. He wrote in the script that these characters were White Mountain Apaches from the southern part of the country, so he wanted to show the Spanish influence. That’s why we have Pionsenay wearing that poncho. The white and cotton also come from the Spanish influence. There were enough images and illustrations in the historical record for me to design the costumes we put on screen.

Caption: (Center) OWEN CROW SHOE as Pionsenay and (right) TATANKA MEANS as Taklishim in New Line Cinema’s Western drama “Horizon: An American Saga” Chapter One, a Warner Bros. Pictures release. Photo Credit: Richard Foreman

Another storyline follows a wagon train that includes this fancy English couple, Hugh and Juliette, played by Tom Payne and Ella Hunt. How did you distinguish them from the others?

Because they’re supposed to be outsiders, I wanted Juliette to wear something that stood out so I screen-printed a unique piece where all of the stripes met at the waist in gold and yellow. There was so much gold and yellow in the landscape that dress just came alive and looked exquisite on Ella. In Horizon 2, you’ll see a big evolution in her character so I wanted to go very bold with Juliette.

Caption: (L to r) TOM PAYNE as Hughes and ELLA HUNT as Juliette in New Line Cinema’s Western drama “Horizon: An American Saga” Chapter One, a Warner Bros. Pictures release. Photo Credit: Richard Foreman

Luke Wilson plays Matthew, the wagon train leader. What references did you consider for his costume?

Kevin looked at this one painting I’d shown him by [western artist Fredric] Remington and said, “That’s Luke.” I sent the image to Luke and said, “This is what Kevin likes for you.” Luke says, “There are four guys in that painting!” But for Luke in Horizon 3, his look comes from pieces of this painting that Kevin loved. It was so clear to Kevin, and that made it easy for me.

Luke Wilson in “Horizon: An American Saga” Chapter One, a Warner Bros. Pictures release. Photo Credit: Richard Foreman

Most pioneers in this movie wore hats but they don’t really look like cowboy hats. Why is that?

Cowboy hats, with the curl-up, came a little later. I tried to keep the hats practical — sun, rain, wind — so that meant bigger brims. Each dude had a strong idea when he was trying on hats, which is great because that’s also where men put most of their effort during this period. A couple of characters from the wagon train would try on four different hats, and you go, “Ugh, this isn’t going well.” Then, by the fifth hat, you immediately get this feeling: “It’s perfect.”

Caption: MICHAEL ROOKER as Sgt. Mjr. Thomas Riordan in New Line Cinema’s Western drama “Horizon: An American Saga” Chapter One, a Warner Bros. Pictures release. Photo Credit: Courtesy of Warner Bros. Pictures

You’ve costume-designed action movies like Transformers: Age of Extinction and Black Widow, but you’d never teamed with Costner before or made a Western. How did you get the Horizon gig?

This man I’d worked with on the Transformers series called me and said, “Kevin needs somebody like you who knows how to do big shows.” So Kevin and I had a nice conversation. I sent him 120 pages of images. Then….nothing. I was like, “Oops. What happened?” Come to find out that Kevin was working on Yellowstone, and the thing I’d sent was so big he had to send somebody to town to download the file. When Kevin finally saw the images, he was very happy because everything had been researched and was real.

And that’s when he hired you?

Well, I also told Kevin about my grandfather, who worked at the Tuba City Navajo reservation in Arizona. He’d wear all white — white shirt, white hat, white suit — so I wanted to do an homage to him in Horizon because there’s a scene with a doctor in this camp. And Kevin said, “Absolutely!” He liked the story of my grandfather working with the Navajo. I think that’s what sealed the deal!

“House of the Dragon” Season 2’s Most Intriguing New Power Couple

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While calling them a “power couple” is certainly a stretch, in the second episode of season 2, “Rhaenyra the Cruel,” the embattled Princess Rhaenyra (Emma D’Arcy) found herself an unlikely ally in Mysaria (Sonoya Mizuno), a whisperer of the Red Keep with secrets aplenty known as the White Worm.

Rhaenyra was rocked in episode 2 by twin revelations—her desire to see Aemond Targaryen (Ewan Mitchell) executed for murdering her son Lucerys (Elliot Grihault) had been botched, horrifically so, when two assassins instead dispatched King Aegon (Tom Glynn-Carney)’s son, the baby Jaehaerys. What’s worse, the plot was initiated by her one and only Daemon (Matt Smith), who, while claiming innocence—it was the assassins’ fault for the screwup—was neither sorry nor contrite when confronted by Rhaenyra.

In this beautifully performed duet between two enraged lovers, Rhaenyra finally comes to terms with Daemon’s inherent dishonesty and core delusion, namely, that his now-dead brother, the former King Viserys (Paddy Considine), had kept Daemon from the throne because he feared him and his power. Damon insists it was for this reason only that King Viserys named Rhaenyra his heir, a cruel contention in the face of his supposed lover’s confusion and grief.

Matt Smith and Emma D’Aarcy were phenomenal in the sequence, and you could sense the growing chasm between Daemon and Rhaenyra, especially the latter’s realization that she will never, ever be able to trust him. Rhaenyra needs a true ally in these troubled times, with the war between the Greens (ostensibly led by King Aegon) and the Blacks (led by Rhaenyra herself) growing more obvious and potentially lethal by the hour.

So, who is Rhaenyra to turn to? Surely not Mysaria, Daemon’s former lover and the woman who, admittedly reluctantly, helped Daemon source two potential assassins at the Red Keep. Mysaria is a prisoner in Dragonstone, and Rhaenyra summons her after her vicious spat with Daemon to find out what she knows about the murder of the child in King’s Landing. Their unexpected parlay might not be the warmest moment between two characters, but something undeniably crucial occurs—Rhaenyra sees that Mysaria, and perhaps Mysaria alone, understands Daemon’s true nature. And Mysaria sees a highborn woman in Rhaenyra who is still not so different from herself—someone who has to constantly prove herself to men; the stronger she becomes, the more there is to prove.

Rhaenyra doesn’t yet agree to release Mysaria, calling the possible act a foolish loss of an asset that could lead to a fatal betrayal. Yet she’s clearly intrigued by her. Before Mysraia is sent back to her cell, Rhaenyra notices the scar on her neck, a vivid imprint from a hard life. Eventually, Rhaenyra chooses to honor Daemon’s promise to Mysaria and sets her free. It’s the honorable thing to do, sure, but it also shows that Rhaenyra is choosing to believe Mysaria, and, importantly, she asks for nothing in the bargain, likely the first time anyone has paid Mysaria a kindness without expectation of something in return.

This turns out to be Rhaenyra’s most fateful decision in the episode and could count among one of the most fateful she’s made yet in her life. As Mysaria is being led to a ship departing Dragonstone, she passes a familiar face, Arryk Cargyll (Luke Tittenso), a knight of Kingsuard sent by Criston Cole (Fabien Frankel) to assassinate Rhaenyra by impersonating his twin brother, Erryk Cargyll (Elliot Tittensor) and slipping into Rhaenyra’s quarters. Mysaria senses something amiss and alerts her escort. This quick thinking led to the episode’s most shocking sequence, the fatal clash between the twins at Rhaenyra’s bedside.

Luke Tittensor, Elliot Tittensor. Photograph by Theo Whiteman/HBO

Mysaria’s decision to halt her progress toward freedom and follow her instinct saves Rhaenyra’s life. But it’s not just survival instincts and keen intelligence that Mysaria possesses that Rhaenrya could desperately use; it’s also a connection to the smallfolk, the support Rhaenyra will need if she hopes to defeat the Greens. While Daemon is a headstrong, often brutal chess piece that Rhaenyra has, on occasion, been able to successfully move into place, he’s unstable and far from truly loyal. The White Worm, however, possesses skills Daemon has none of, most notably a strategic mind and an ability to elicit secrets from those in every position in society. In short, she has knowledge. And knowledge, in Westeros at least, still holds tremendous power.

For more on House of the Dragon, check out these stories:

“House of the Dragon” Cast & Crew Discuss That Brutal Funeral in Episode 2

Featured image: Sonoya Mizuno, Emma D’Aarcy. Photograph by Theo Whiteman/HBO

Writer/Director Andrew Haigh Revisits His Career at the Provincetown International Film Festival

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Each June for 26 years, the Provincetown International Film Festival (PIFF) unspools a singular mix of first-rate features, documentaries, and shorts; in-person filmmakers; and an unpretentious vibe that’s uniquely Provincetown.

A highlight this year was British writer-director Andrew Haigh, who was feted with the PIFF’s highest honor, the annual Filmmaker on the Edge Award. Haigh traveled from London to appear at the historic Town Hall to accept the award and converse with director John Waters, who, since PIFF’s inception, has served as its chief interviewer, raconteur, and general man about town. Waters characterized Haigh as the rare indie director who makes “edgy movies that get good reviews.”

“Not [from New Yorker critic] Richard Brody,” Haigh retorted. “He always gives me a bad review.”

L-r: Andrew Haigh and John Waters. Courtesy PIFF.

Many in the Town Hall audience remembered Haigh’s breakout second feature, Weekend (2011), about a one-night stand that became something more, which screened at PIFF that year. Haigh shifted gears for his third film, 45 Years (2015), a study of a longtime marriage starring British screen legends Tom Courtenay and Charlotte Rampling, who earned an Oscar nomination for her role.

But his biggest crucial and commercial success so far came with last year’s All of Us Strangers, Haigh’s melancholy romance/ghost story that’s now streaming on Hulu. All of Us Strangers is about a middle-aged gay man (Andrew Scott) in the early stages of a relationship with a mysterious neighbor (played by Paul Mescal) in his near-empty London high-rise. It’s at this moment that he’s reunited with his long-dead parents, who are living in his childhood home. This was a very personal film, Haigh told Waters in their freewheeling conversation.

Jamie Bell, Andrew Scott and Claire Foy in ALL OF US STRANGERS. Photo Courtesy of Searchlight Pictures. © 2023 Searchlight Pictures All Rights Reserved.

“It was a tough film to make. I had cast two actors [in] Jamie Bell, who’s a bit like my dad, and Claire Foy is a bit like my mum in terms of character, temperament, and even looks,” he said. “So it was a strange thing. She’s seen the film ten times in the cinema. If people are crying at the end, she goes up to them and hugs them and says, ‘that’s my son’s film’ which I think is just weird.”

Claire Foy and Andrew Scott in ALL OF US STRANGERS. Photo Courtesy of Searchlight Pictures. © 2023 Searchlight Pictures All Rights Reserved.

His parents “split up when I was eight or nine, and I lived with my dad and then my mum. So it’s a complicated film for my mum to watch. I made a film where the character gets to have difficult conversations with his parents, but I still can’t have those conversations with my parents. I can make a film about it, though,” said Haigh with a laugh.

Despite several indie hits to his credit, financing and distribution were far from certain for All of Us Strangers. “Searchlight Pictures came on board, which surprised me because when I wrote the script, which was loosely based on based on [Taichi Yamada’s 1987] novel, I thought, ‘no one is going to make it; it’s not going to get financed.’”

 

Waters asked about Haigh’s little-seen-stateside 2009 debut, the docudrama Greek Pete about a rent boy. “It cost about five thousand dollars. I was tired of not getting funding for anything, and I just wanted to make a film. I thought, I’ll make it on weekends while I’m working, and I’ll make it about hustlers. It got tiny distribution. It came out on DVD without sex, which meant it was two minutes long,” said Haigh.

His follow-up, Weekend, had much higher production values but “still cost less than $100,000. I still tried to get funding; there is public funding in the UK.” It wasn’t easy to attract distributors with a script, said Haigh, that some said was “too gay” and others said “wasn’t gay enough.”

In response to an audience question about his candid depiction of intimacy between two men in Weekend, Haigh said his films are not meant to represent the scope of gay life. “It’s about what feels true to me, what feels true in relationships. I try to be really honest, to dig deep inside myself to see what I am angry about or sad about. I take time to develop the characters so the audience can get to know them. I will always make queer-themed films; it’s a mission of sorts,” he said. “I feel proud and lucky to make these films.”

 

But the festival awards and critical attention for Weekend didn’t make it easier to get 45 Years made, Haigh told Waters. There was some expectation that he’d follow his success with another queer romance.

“They said, ‘what’s your next gay thing?’ and said, well, I want to do something about two 80 year-olds. I don’t want to do the same thing.” Haigh recounted his trip to Paris to meet with Charlotte Rampling to discuss her starring role in 45 Years. “I was terrified because she has a reputation for being, well, terrifying. I went to her apartment, which has an art studio, with all her paintings, and she was lovely, kind, and open. She was great.”

45Years_Still91.jpg
Tom Courtenay and Charlotte Rampling in “45 Years.”

Waters expressed his admiration for 45 Years as well as the three projects that followed, each representing a departure for Haigh: Lean on Pete (2017), the HBO series  Looking (2014 to 2016), and the five-part BBC miniseries The North Water (2021) starring Jack O’Connell, Colin Farrell, and Tom Courtenay.

Haigh noted that his passion for each project doesn’t always translate into conventional success.

“Lean on Pete came out and disappeared. Sometimes a film breaks through, and people at least have heard of it, but that can’t happen with everyone, and I’m starting to understand that,” he said. “Even if it’s good, it doesn’t mean people are going to see it. I could tell with Strangers that I needed for it to be successful. People want to know it’s going to make money or that people are talking about it.”

Haigh has written every script he’s directed. Although all his films are personal, he said, none are entirely autobiographical. “It’s not my life completely, but anyone who knows me, or knows anything about me, knows that so much of myself goes into all the films, even the ones that don’t seem like they’re about me [such as] 45 Years or Lean on Pete. I can’t make a film unless it feels like it is expressing something that’s deep to me.”

 

 

Featured image: Andrew Haigh, Andrew Scott, and Paul Mescal in ALL OF US STRANGERS. Photo by Chris Harris, Courtesy of Searchlight Pictures. © 2024 Searchlight Pictures All Rights Reserved.

 

 

 

 

 

How Hugh Jackman Saved “Deadpool 3”

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While it might seem like Ryan Reynolds and his team have an endless stream of ideas, one-liners, plot twists, and lunatic sequences for their Deadpool franchise, it turns out that Reynolds and co. were having some trouble finding the story for Deadpool 3. He knew he already wanted to work with his The Adam Project and Free Guy director Shawn Levy on the project, and they were just trying to figure out the right story to tell.

Speaking with Vanity Fair, Reynolds, Levy, and Hugh Jackman revealed how Deadpool 3 eventually became Deadpool & Wolverine, a plot twist not even Reynolds could have predicted.

Reynolds and Levy worked for months with Deadpool and Deadpool 2 scribes Paul Wernick and Rhett Reese, as well as Zeb Wells, looking for a fresh new adventure for Reynolds’ Wade Wilson and his motley crew of pals and X-men B-teamers. Weekly meetings with Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige were a part of the process. They were determined not to commit unless they knew they had something special and nothing special was forthcoming.

“Ryan and I were right at the edge of saying to Kevin [Feige], ‘You know what? Maybe now is not the right moment because we’re not coming up with a story.’ And that is the moment when Ryan’s phone rang, and it was Hugh calling from his car,” director Shawn Levy told Vanity Fair.

It was August 15, 2022, and Jackman was on a beach taking a break from his two-year stint leading The Music Man on Broadway, thinking about what would come next. That’s when he thought, “Deadpool/Wolverine. I want do that movie,” Jackman recalled to VF.

Of course, there was the little issue of Wolverine’s death in James Mangold’s 2017 Logan, a beloved film that beautifully, brutally gave Jackman’s be-clawed mutant a hero’s exit. It was enough of a concern that even Kevin Feige wasn’t so sure Jackman should consider messing with it.

Yet Reynolds was enthused, and in a Zoom call with Feige right after Jackman’s surprise ring from the beach, he leaped to the point.

“On the Zoom with Kevin, we just cut right to the f**king chase,” Reynolds told Vanity Fair. “We said, ‘Look, this call just came in. I feel like we’d be idiots to look this gift horse in the mouth and ignore it. This is a one-in-a-billion chance. I really feel like this is what we’ve been looking for.’”

Jackman told VF that he was certain that Deadpool would allow him to explore a new side of Wolverine.

“And I’d be sharing it with Ryan and Shawn, who are two of my best friends,” Jackman said. “The three of us together are like the Three Amigos. There was not a day where I wasn’t in tears laughing. I felt so rejuvenated playing the part. I mean, I’m 25 years in, man, and it feels better than ever.”

While the Three Amigos didn’t reveal much about the storyline, Reynolds did find a way to verbalize what connects Deadpool and Wolverine.

“If you’re looking at the Venn diagram or the overlap of these two characters, as vastly different as they are, the thing they have most in common is shame,” Reynolds told VF. “They both live in this violent shame cycle. Deadpool’s a very verbose character. He’s very feminine and kind of open and childlike. And putting that next to a character whose archetype is very Clint Eastwood creates something pretty interesting.”

The dynamic duo and their disparate coping mechanisms arrive in less than a month. Deadpool & Wolverine slashes its way into theaters on July 26.

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Featured image: (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.

Kevin Feige Confirms That “The Fantastic Four” is Set in the 1960s

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It’s finally official—Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige has confirmed what many have long suspected, especially after Marvel’s Valentine’s Day post on Instagram—The Fantastic Four is definitively a period piece set in the 1960s.

Feige appeared on the new Official Marvel Podcast, revealing that The Fantastic Four will begin production late this summer, the day after San Diego’s Comic Con wraps—you know they’ll have a few things to reveal about the film there. The reboot is led by director Matt Shakman, and the cast includes Pedro Pascal as Reed Richards (aka Mr. Fantastic), Vanessa Kirby as Sue Storm (aka the Invisible Woman), Joseph Quinn as Johnny Storm (aka the Human Torch), and Ebon Moss-Bachrach as Ben Grimm (aka the Thing). Then there’s Julia Garner as the Silver Surfer and Ralph Ineson as the supervillain Galactus, joined by Natasha Lyonne, Paul Walter-Hauser, and John Malkovich in unspecified roles.

Once Marvel revealed that illustrated image of the Four looking positively 60s, the internet sleuths did their work. They paid special attention to Ben Grimm reading a December 1963 issue of Life Magazine. Considering this was Marvel Studios’ first crack at re-assembling this superteam since acquiring 21st Century Fox in 2019, and it’s arguably the biggest film they’ve worked on since Avengers: Endgame, the interest has been intense. Feige finally confirmed the ongoing suspicion. 

“Yes, yes, very much so. It is a period,” Feige said on Marvel’s podcast. “There were a lot of smart people, who noticed that that cityscape didn’t look exactly like the New York that we know, or that existed in the ’60s in our world. Those are smart observations, I’ll say.”

By the time Shakman’s The Fantastic Four premieres, it will be the first iteration of the superfamily in a decade. Fox produced three films—Fantastic Four (2005), Fantastic Four: The Rise of the Silver Surfer (2007), and a reboot, Fantastic Four (2015). Feige also emphasized how big a fan of the Fantastic Four he is and how crucial it is to return Marvel’s First Family to the big screen. 

“I’m extremely excited by it because I think those characters are mainstays, are legendary pillars of the Marvel Universe that we’ve never gotten to play with or explore in a significant way outside of Doctor Strange: Multiverse of Madness and a few fun teases before, in the way that we’re doing it in that film. So I’m extremely excited for that.”

He’s got the right director in Shakman, who did incredible period work on Marvel’s first Disney+ series, WandaVision. Shakman directs from a script by Jeff Kaplan, Eric Pearson, Ian Springer, and Josh Friedman. The Fantastic Four is set for a July 25, 2025 release.

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Featured image: THE FANTASTIC FOUR. © 2024 20th Century Studios / © and ™ 2024 MARVEL.

Ryan Gosling and Amazon MGM Set to Sink Teeth Into Zombie Comedy “I Used to Eat Brains, Now I Eat Kale”

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Ryan Gosling is set to produce a zombie comedy film with an unbeatable title—I Used to Eat Brains, Now I Eat Kale—based on a short story by the twins Adam and Daniel Cooper that they’ll now adapt. Amazon MGM gobbled up the project, which will track a story about former zombies trying to adapt to a changed world.

Gosling will produce alongside Jessie Henderson, his partner at their production company General Admission, which launched earlier this year. I Used to Eat Brains, Now I Eat Kale is part of their first-look deal with Amazon.

The Cooper’s unpublished story was 42 pages long, but plot specifics are being kept secret save for the nugget that their story is set in a “post-post-apocalyptic world” where reformed, former zombies face the challenge of reintegrating into the world. Going from brains to kale would certainly qualify as an attempt at reintegration. Officially known as the Cooper Twins, they’ve written and directed shorts that have hit the festival circuit and won Clios and Golden Trailer awards for directing and editing trailers for Warner Bros, Disney, Apple, and Netflix.

Currently, Gosling is not set to star in the film, which will still need to name a director. Gosling recently completed his press tour for David Leitch’s The Fall Guy and is set to shoot Amazon MGM’s Project Hail Mary from Spider-Verse creators Phil Lord and Chris Miller, who are directing.

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Featured image: BERLIN, GERMANY – APRIL 19: Ryan Gosling attends the Berlin premiere of “The Fall Guy” at UCI Luxe Mercedes Platz on April 19, 2024 in Berlin, Germany. (Photo by Gerald Matzka/Getty Images)

“Green Lantern” Series a Go at HBO as DC Studios Locks in First Live-Action Show

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At long last, the Green Lanterns will light a path on TV.

James Gunn and Peter Safran’s DC Studios has successfully gotten their first live-action series a pick-up at HBO, which has grabbed Lanterns for a straight-to-series order for an eight-episode opener. Lanterns will be led by showrunner Chris Mundy (True Detective: Night Country, Ozark).

Lanterns also boasts Watchmen and The Leftovers creator Damon Lindelof and Tom King (Supergirl) as executive producers and co-writers alongside Mundy. Warner Bros. TV, DC Studios, and HBO are producing, based on DC’s “Green Lantern” comic.

We’ve previously learned that Lanterns will follow two members of the Green Lantern Corps, Hal Jordan and John Stewart, in a story that finds these two intergalactic lawmen “drawn into a dark, earth-based mystery as they investigate a murder in the American heartland,” per the logline. This is precisely the type of two-hander that Safran had suggested when he described the series as similar in tone to HBO’s twisty noir detective series True Detective. Lanterns will be the first live-action series from Gunn and Safran’s initial slate, “Chapter 1: Gods and Monsters,” and will follow the animated series Creature Commandos, which is due in late 2024, and then the second season of Peacemaker, which Gunn created before he took over at DC Studios.

 “We are elated to be reuniting with both Chris Mundy and Damon Lindelof as they partner with Tom for this fresh take on DC’s Green Lantern,” said Casey Bloys, chairman/CEO of HBO and Max Content. “As part of James and Peter’s vision for the DC Universe, this first new live-action series will mark an exciting new era.”

This isn’t the first time we’ve seen Hal Jordan on screen—he was portrayed by Ryan Reynolds in the 2011 film Green Lantern. In the comics, Jordan’s a test pilot, while Stewart is a military veteran and one of DC’s first Black superheroes.

Gunn has already recruited a Green Lantern for the big screen—Nathan Fillion plays the Lantern Guy Gardner in Gunn’s upcoming Superman, which premieres on July 11, 2025.

“We’re thrilled to bring this seminal DC title to HBO with Chris, Damon, and Tom at the helm,” Gunn and Safran said in a joint statement. “John Stewart and Hal Jordan are two of DC’s most compelling characters, and Lanterns brings them to life in an original detective story that is a foundational part of the unified DCU we’re launching next summer with Superman.”

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Featured image: LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA – AUGUST 02: James Gunn attends the Warner Bros. premiere of “The Suicide Squad” at Regency Village Theatre on August 02, 2021 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Matt Winkelmeyer/Getty Images)

Final “A Quiet Place: Day One” Trailer Finds Frodo the Cat in Danger

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The final trailer for Paramount’s prequel A Quiet Place: Day One combines new footage with quotes from critics, many of whom were blown away by director Michael Sarnoski’s prequel. The final peek also reveals the lengths people will go to for a beloved cat, in this case, Frodo (played by two kitties, Nico and Schnitzel). We see both Lupita Nyong’o’s Sam and Joseph Quinn’s Eric do their level best to protect the kitty from the alien hunters who have arrived, sans invitation, in New York City.

The early reactions to Day One indicate that Sarnoski and his cast and crew have created a properly satisfying lens-widener on the sci-fi horror franchise created by John Krasinski. Krasinski first established the after-effects of a world dominated by blind but exquisitely lethal aliens who hunt by sound in A Quiet Place (2018) and then broadened the picture in A Quiet Place: Part II (2020). Those films were set more than a year and a half after the blind, sound-hunting aliens arrived on Earth—now, we finally get to see what the world was right as the alien invasion was underway. 

“A Quiet Place: Day One might be my favorite of the series. The city setting brings new thrills and nail-biting suspense,” Discussing Film‘s Andrew Salazar wrote on Twitter. “But what truly sets this apart is Lupita Nyong’o and director Michael Sarnoski telling a poignant story about finding inner peace, even during the apocalypse.”

Check out the final trailer below. A Quiet Place: Day One hits theaters on June 28.

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Featured image: Lupita Nyong’o as “Samira” in A Quiet Place: Day One from Paramount Pictures.

Killer Pairing: First “Gladiator II” Trailer to Debut in Theaters Ahead of “Deadpool & Wolverine”

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Talk about a killer pairing. Collider learned that the first trailer for Ridley Scott’s Gladiator II will unsheathe its sword in theaters ahead of Shawn Levy’s Deadpool & Wolverine, the only Marvel Studios film releasing in 2024. These are easily two of the most hotly anticipated films of the year, and pairing them together is one heck of a mid-summer treat.

Scott’s Gladiator II is the long-awaited follow-up to his 2001 Best Picture Oscar winner, which followed the brutal journey of former general Maximus Decimus Meridius (Russell Crowe), who went from a life of honor and sacrifice to ruin and rage after his might on the battlefield was viewed as a threat by the fragile, self-appointed emperor of Rome, Commodus (Joaquin Phoenix.) Commodus went to despicable lengths to neutralize Maximus, brutally killing his wife and children and selling him into slavery—a mistake, it would turn out. Maximus ends up being forced into the ring as a gladiator, and the man’s a natural. Gladiator tracked his bloody path of vengeance toward Commodus, in which the former general turned beloved “Spainard” of the Colosseum gets ever closer to exacting his revenge against the petulant, sociopathic emperor.

The first footage was released at CinemaCon and wowed the crowd in Vegas. It included a clip in which Gladiator II star Paul Mescal, playing a young man named Lucius, says, “I remember that day. I never forgot it. That a slave could take revenge against an emperor. That a slave could get justice in the arena.”

Gladiator II boasts an incredible cast, including Connie Nielsen, reprising her role as Lucilla from the original, and newcomers Denzel Washington, Pedro Pascal, Joseph Quinn, Rory McCann, and Fred Hechinger.

Deadpool & Wolverine will also deliver something fans have been clamoring for forever—the pairing of Ryan Reynolds’ Merc with the Mouth and Hugh Jackman‘s Wolverine. Jackman will be playing a different version of the character than he did in James Mangold’s 2017 epic Logan, which saw the grizzled, beloved Canadian berserker sacrifice himself for a young mutant under his protection.

Deadpool & Wolverine slashes its way into theaters on July 26.

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Featured image: Hugh Jackman as Wolverine/Logan in 20th Century Studios/Marvel Studios’ DEADPOOL & WOLVERINE. Photo courtesy of 20th Century Studios/Marvel Studios. © 2024 20th Century Studios / © and ™ 2024 MARVEL.

Lindsay Lohan and Jamie Lee Curtis Are Officially Reunited for “Freaky Friday 2”

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Disney has released the first behind-the-scenes look at Lindsay Lohan and Jamie Lee Curtis’s long-awaited reunion for Freaky Friday 2. Lohan and Curtis are back at it as Anna and Tess Coleman, respectively, as filming is underway.

Their first go-round as a stressed out, overworked mom and rebellious daughter who can’t see eye to eye on anything dropped in 2003 from director Mark Waters, based on Mary Rodgers’s novel and adapted by screenwriters Heather Hach and Leslie Dixon. The catch, of course, was that stressed Tess and rebellious Anna switched bodies, forcing each of them to understand what it was like to live each other’s lives. Talk about getting a dose of perspective and empathy the hard way.

The sequel is directed by Nisha Ganatara (she directed Mindy Kaling and Emma Thompson in Late Night) from a script by Jordan Weiss. Lohan and Curtis are joined by returning Freaky Friday alums Chad Michael Murray, Mark Harmon, Christina Vidal Mitchell, Haley Hudson, Rosalind Chao, Lucille Soong, and Stephen Tobolowsky. Manny Jacinto, Julia Butters, Maitreyi Ramakrishnan, and Sophia Hammons are new to the franchise.

Curtis told The View back in 2022 that she’d written to Disney personally about her desire to make a sequel. She’s now producing alongside original Freaky Friday producer Andrew Gunn, alongside Kristin Burr.

Freaky Friday 2 is slated to hit theaters in 2025.

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Featured image: UNIVERSAL CITY, CA – AUGUST 2: Actress Jamie Lee Curtis (L) and Lindsay Lohan presenting at The 2003 Teen Choice Awards held at Universal Amphitheater on August 2, 2003 in Universal City, California. (Photo by Kevin Winter/Getty Images)

“Nosferatu” Trailer Unleashes the Iconic Vampire in Robert Eggers’ Latest

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The official teaser trailer for writer/director Robert Eggers’ Nosefratu has arrived, putting a bit more meat on the bone for one of the most intriguing films slated for the end of the year. The last peek at Eggers’ latest was during this year’s CineamCon, where the audience in Vegas was properly jolted by the auteur’s take on the iconic tale, so this longer look is as welcome as a sharp stake when a vampire comes calling.

Eggers is a notoriously meticulous filmmaker—his work in The Northman, The Lighthouse,  and The Witch proved that—so there’s little doubt he’s brought that level of attention to detail to this tale of gothic obsession between the titular vampire and the haunted young woman he’s fixated on, Ellen Hunter (Lily-Rose Depp). The teaser opens with Ellen begging for the arrival of Nosferatu—is it a dream, or is this a snippet from when Ellen and her vampire paramour are deep into their deadly romance? We’re next at Ellen’s bedside as she asks Professor Albin Eberhart Von Franz (Willem Dafoe) if evil is an entity that comes from within a person or if it finds its way inside. That’s followed by a refrain—”he is coming”—repeated by a series of seemingly demented individuals, as we see a shot of Thomas Hutter (Nicholas Hoult) coming upon the castle of Count Orlok (Bill Skarsgård) for the first time.

Few directors are more suited to a deep gothic adaptation of the deathless story first created by Bram Stoker in “Dracula” than Eggers. The teaser does more than enough to whet our appetite for what he’s done with the material, and with a stellar cast and Eggers’ go-to collaborators like cinematographer Jarin Blaschke, editor Louise Ford, and production designer Craig Lathrop, Nosferatu will definitely have teeth.

Nosferatu is set to rise on December 25. Check out the teaser trailer below.

 

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Featured image: Lily-Rose Depp stars as Ellen Hutter in director Robert Eggers’ NOSFERATU, a Focus Features release. Credit: Courtesy of Focus Features / © 2023 FOCUS FEATURES LLC