Interview

Producer

How “Nino” Producer Sandra da Fonseca Turned a First Time Director’s Story Into Global Festival Gold

As producer Sandra da Fonseca is telling The Credits about the theatrical release of her newest film, Nino, serendipity strikes. “Oh, I just saw a bus go by with the film’s poster on it,” she says. “That makes me happy — it’s the first one I’ve seen!”

The poster may have been on the bus side, but Nino is gaining acclaim at rocket speed.

By Etienne Finzetto  |  September 25, 2025

Interview

Director

Scarlett Johansson on Her Directorial Debut “Eleanor the Great”: “I Don’t Think I Could Have Done It 10 Years Ago”

Grief makes people do crazy things. 

And sometimes that includes moving across the country after the death of your closest friend, befriending a 19-year-old college student, and lying about your identity.

Scarlett Johansson’s directorial debut, Eleanor the Great, stars June Squibb as Eleanor, a 95-year-old woman who moves to New York after the passing of her dear friend. The film explores how grief spans generations,

By Andria Moore  |  September 24, 2025

Interview

Cinematographer, Director

“Alien: Earth” Cinematographer and Director Dana Gonzalez on Bringing Cinema’s Most Iconic Monster to TV

On Earth, everyone can hear you scream. No apologies for the dreadful play on the classic logline for Alien, which continues to reach new, strange heights in FX’s Alien: Earth, created by Fargo‘s Noah Hawley. Cinematographer and director Dana Gonzalez establishes the expressive vision in the pilot, titled “Neverland,” which introduces a young, terminally ill girl named Marcy Hermit (Florence Bensberg) to a future world in which she’ll survive,

By Jack Giroux  |  September 24, 2025

Interview

Cinematographer

Caged Dynamics: How DP Ula Pontikos Frames Willem Dafoe & Corey Hawkins in “The Man in My Basement”

The Man in My Basement marks Nadia Latif’s feature directing debut, and it’s a doozy. Latif adapted author Walter Mosely’s acclaimed 2004 novel of the same name, from a script she co-wrote with Mosely. The film is set in the quiet village of Sag Harbor, New York, where Charles Blakely (Corey Hawkins) is a man adrift until he gets a strange offer from an even stranger businessman, Anniston Bennet (Willem Dafoe), to rent out his basement.

By Daron James  |  September 23, 2025

Interview

Composer

From Abbey Road to “Alien: Earth”: Composer Jeff Russo on Bringing Xenomorphs Home Through Music

Alien: Earth doesn’t rehash the familiar, even if it beats with the acid-pumping heart of Ridley Scott’s original Alien. The series expands on the terrifying world Scott first unleashed on audiences on May 25, 1979 by focusing not only on the iconic Xenomorph, one of the most legendary movie monsters of all time, but by imagining what the world might look like decades later when the Xenomorph, and a slew of other captive galactic creatures,

By Jack Giroux  |  September 23, 2025

Interview

Director

How Director Justin Tipping Mixed Art, Nike Ads & Multiple Genres in His Singular Sports Horror Film “Him”

Supernatural sports horror film Him not only blends two hugely popular film genres but also draws inspiration from the art of Jeff Koons and Edward Hopper, as well as Nike ads from the 1990s—a blend of disparate influences that cohere into a singular cinematic experience.

Produced by visionary filmmaker Jordan Peele, a man who had made his own sui generis horror films, from Get Out to Us to Nope,

By Simon Thompson  |  September 22, 2025

Interview

Director

From USC Benchwarmer to Cartel Smuggler: Inside “Cocaine Quarterback” With Director Jody McVeigh-Schultz

If the infamous trope “I know a guy who knows a guy” had a poster child, it should be Owen Hanson. Chronicled in a three-part docuseries, Cocaine Quarterback: Signal-Caller for the Cartel, from director Jody McVeigh-Schultz, the shocking events reveal how the former USC walk-on went from National Champion to convicted drug cartel smuggler

McVeigh-Schultz, best known for helming the school spying scandal docuseries Spy High,

By Daron James  |  September 17, 2025

Interview

Screenwriter

Novelist & Screenwriter Charlie Huston on Preserving the Raw Truth of “Caught Stealing” With Darren Aronofsky

In 2008, author Charlie Huston and filmmaker Darren Aronofsky had breakfast. The filmmaker was interested in adapting the author’s debut novel, “Caught Stealing,” the first entry in the Hank Thompson trilogy. The collaboration didn’t come to pass. 

In 2022, Huston revisited the script they wrote for Caught Stealing, which tells the story of Hank (Austin Butler), a former baseball star and now an alcoholic bartender, caught in the crossfire of criminals chasing a bag of dirty money.

By Jack Giroux  |  September 16, 2025

Interview

Actor, Director

Director Oliver Hermanus and Actor Chris Cooper Wax Lyrical on “The History of Sound”

Director Oliver Hermanus calls his latest film, The History of Sound, “a love letter to the films of the ‘90s.”

The period drama stars Paul Mescal as Kentucky singer Lionel and Josh O’Connor as Boston composer David White, who have a brief but life-changing romance in 1920 while hiking through rural Maine to record local folk music on wax cylinders.

Hermanus grew up in South Africa,

By Loren King  |  September 15, 2025

Interview

Producer

600 Languages, One Vision: How Producer Reza Servia Bridges Indonesia’s Diversity for Netflix’s Global Audience

Born into a family steeped in Indonesian filmmaking, Reza Servia was perhaps destined to find his way into the business one way or another. Along the way, his journey took him through the suburbs of Chicago and Atlanta, via New Zealand and software engineering, with a side quest into competitive e-sports.  

When Servia was five, his mother took him and his two siblings to the US after she separated from his father, accomplished producer and Indonesian film industry stalwart Chand Parwez Servia.

By Gavin Blair  |  September 10, 2025

Interview

Editor

Inside the Heist: Editor Jay Prychidny on Cutting the Monster Mayhem in “Wednesday”

“If These Woes Could Talk,” the fourth episode of Wednesday season two, is an hour of monster playtime from Tim Burton. The fourth episode wrapped up part one of the season and is built as a heist story with Wednesday Addams (Jenna Ortega) seeking family secrets while Uncle Fester (Fred Armisen), a zombie, and a Hyde (aka a mutant) run amok in an institution. It’s exuberant chaos in the hands of Burton’s frequent editor,

By Jack Giroux  |  September 9, 2025

Interview

Screenwriter

“Wicked” and “Wicked: For Good” Screenwriter Dana Fox on Her Magical Musical Theater Homecoming

Screenwriter Dana Fox made a pact with director Jon M. Chu. After working with Chu on her Apple TV+ series, Home Before Dark, she told him she would sign up for a project with him, no matter what, with no questions asked. She was as serious as a witch, if you’ll pardon the pun.

“I told him at the end of that previous job that I will drop anything,

By Bryan Abrams  |  September 8, 2025

Interview

2025 MPA Industry Champion Award Senator Chris Coons on the Real Cost of Piracy

Senator Chris Coons (D-DE) is the 2025 MPA Industry Champion Award recipient for his efforts to strengthen copyright protections, spur innovation, and preserve free expression. As a member of the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Intellectual Property, Coons advocates for measures that support intellectual property laws and defend copyrighted works from piracy. 

Online piracy is far from a victimless crime—in the U.S. alone, it costs the creative industry billions of dollars and thousands of jobs annually.

By Bryan Abrams  |  September 5, 2025

Interview

MPA Creative Protector Award Recipient Ivan J. Arvelo: The Federal Agent Protecting Your Favorite Movies From Piracy

Director Ivan J. Arvelo is being honored with the 2025 Motion Picture Association Creative Protector Award for playing a crucial role in advancing our core mission of protecting intellectual property and bringing the magic of cinema to life.

As Director of the National Intellectual Property Rights Coordination Center (IPR Center), Arvelo leads the federal government’s efforts to protect creativity and innovation by enforcing laws that combat intellectual property crimes. 

In this conversation,

By Bryan Abrams  |  September 5, 2025

Interview

Director

“This Is Who I Am”: MPA Creator Award Recipient Jon M. Chu on Authentic Storytelling and the Power of Cultural Specificity – Part 2

With Wicked: For Good set to complete the story that began with 2024’s blockbuster, director Jon M. Chu, the Motion Picture Association’s Creator Award recipient for 2025, continues our conversation about his evolution as a filmmaker and the power of culturally specific storytelling to reach universal audiences.

Chu also opens up about his own fears, what he learned on the set of Now You See Me 2, and the thrill of being so close to sharing the entire two-part vision for his Wicked adaptation with the world.

By Bryan Abrams  |  September 4, 2025

Interview

Director

MPA Creator Award Winner Jon M. Chu on the Mad, Joyous Rush of Finishing “Wicked: For Good” – Part 1

As director Jon M. Chu puts the finishing touches on Wicked: For Good, he’ll be swinging through Washington, D.C. to receive the Motion Picture Association’s Creator Award on Monday, September 8.  It’s a heady time for Chu, who, when we spoke, was en route to LAX to fly to New York (for one night) while shepherding his highly anticipated sequel through a final flurry of crucial post-production.

By Bryan Abrams  |  September 4, 2025

Interview

Producer

TIFF at 50: Cameron Bailey Reflects on Building Cinema Community in an Era of Constant Change

One of the many pleasures of attending the annual Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) is the moments when festival CEO Cameron Bailey strides onto the stage to introduce a premiere or talk with a filmmaker. It’s during those screenings that this festival’s unique blend of art, accessibility, and audience engagement comes fully into focus.

“I never think that people who know movies and love movies should ever be snobby about it.

By Loren King  |  September 2, 2025

Interview

Casting Director

Emmy Nominees Cathy Sandrich Gelfond & Erica Berger on Casting the Scrappy Young Doctors of “The Pitt”

When The Pitt started streaming on HBO Max in January, the influx of intense young actors just kept coming. ER star Noah Wyle anchors the medical drama as the cracked tower of strength, Doctor Michael “Robby” Rabinovitch; nearly all the other characters on his fractious emergency room team are portrayed by relatively unknown talents delivering performances that are, by turns, wrenching and highly technical.

The Pitt,

By Hugh Hart  |  September 2, 2025

Interview

Producer

The Studio Giant You’ve Never Heard Of: How MBS Group Powers James Cameron and Some of Hollywood’s Biggest Productions

You might not recognize the name The MBS Group right away, but if you ever wandered through legendary studio lots like Radford Studio Center, Culver Studios, Raleigh Studios, or Symmetry Park Studios London, you’ve stepped onto one of the nearly 50 studio campuses they operate globally. The company is the world’s largest studio operator, running top-tier campuses in iconic entertainment hubs like Los Angeles, New York, and London. But they’re not just renting out space — they’re the behind-the-scenes powerhouse designing studios,

By Daron James  |  August 28, 2025

Interview

Cinematographer

Cinematographer Matthew Libatique on Shooting Back-to-Back NYC Thrillers for Spike Lee & Darren Aronofsky

Cinematographer Matthew Libatique grew up in Queens. He knows New York City, which is a good thing because his knowing eye lends luster to a pair of urban thrillers hitting screens this month courtesy of directors Spike Lee and Darren Aronofsky. Libatique, Oscar-nominated for Black SwanA Star Is Born, and Maestro, shot four previous movies for Lee before helping the iconic New Yorker in his latest,

By Hugh Hart  |  August 27, 2025