“Sentimental Value” Production Designer Jørgen Stangebye Larsen on Joachim Trier’s Tender Family Drama
Winner of this year’s Grand Prix prize at Cannes, Joachim Trier’s tender family drama, Sentimental Value (original title: Affeksjonsverdi), is co-written with Eskil Vogt and stars Renate Reinsve (Presumed Innocent); the trio previously collaborated on 2021’s critical darling, The Worst Person in the World, which was nominated for two Oscars, Best Original Screenplay for Vogt and Trier, and Best International Feature. Trier’s latest explores themes of grief,
Spoiler Special: Ethan Slater on Boq’s Cold-Hearted Transformation in “Wicked: For Good”
Spoilers!
As the pitchforks raise higher, the chants grow louder.
“Go! And hunt her! And find her! And kill her!”
The crowd becomes restless as tensions rise. They demand justice. Boq raises his hatchet and addresses the mob.
“So for once, I’m glad I’m heartless/I’ll be heartless killing her!”
He then turns slowly,
How “Wicked” & “Wicked: For Good” Editor Myron Kerstein Balanced Two Films, Two Tones, One Story
When I sat down with editor Myron Kerstein, it was immediately clear why director Jon M. Chu keeps bringing him back. Kerstein has the rare ability to blend a technical rigor with emotional intuition, a combination that has served him well on films like Crazy Rich Asians, In the Heights, and now, the two-part cinematic event Wicked and Wicked: For Good.
No Good Deed Goes Unscored: The Musical Masterminds Behind “Wicked: For Good”
Stephen Oremus was there at the beginning, playing piano at Wicked‘s first showcase in the basement of Los Angeles’ Coronet Theater. Also in attendance: composer-lyricist Stephen Schwartz, writer Winnie Holzman, and ten singers who performed the musical’s first act for producer Marc Platt. “Even before there was a director attached or anything, we pieced together this very early version of Act One,” recalls executive music producer Oremus. “It was about three hours long!”
“Hamnet” Composer Max Richter on the Song That Gave Director Chloé Zhao an Epiphany to Rewrite the Film’s Ending
The bard and his muses live again. Director Chloé Zhao’s Hamnet, the film adaptation of Maggie O’Farrell’s award-winning 2020 historical novel, is enrapturing audiences in theaters now. Zhao both co-wrote the screenplay with O’Farrell and co-edited the film, which follows the passionate but complicated relationship between a young scribe named William Shakespeare (Paul Mescal) and his incandescent wife, Agnes (a phenomenal Jessie Buckley). It is a story loosely based on what is known of Shakespeare’s life.
“Sinners” Writer/Director Ryan Coogler on Channeling Louisiana’s Creative Rhythm Into His Period Monsterpiece
Sinners, written, produced, and directed by Ryan Coogler, is hands down one of the year’s biggest cinematic successes. Coogler’s passion project found the filmmaker at the peak of his powers, and fans already primed to see anything from the still young visionary were ready to go once Sinners bowed. Yet it wasn’t just Coogler fans who flocked to the theaters—critical raves and word of mouth turned Coogler’s original period vampire epic into an early-year smash.
“Hamnet” Costume Designer Malgosia Turzanska Reveals How Leather Wounds and Clay Tell Shakespeare’s Story
Chloé Zhao’s period drama Hamnet follows a spirited young couple in 16th-century England — the earthy, radiant Agnes (a superb Jessie Buckley) and her besotted, occasionally brooding husband Will (an also excellent Paul Mescal), who channels his own formidable gifts onto the page (and becomes, of course, the Bard). Their love is tested in the most extreme ways, as Will’s career aspirations and the death of their young son, Hamnet (Jacobi Jupe),
“Kiss of the Spider Woman” Costume Designers Colleen Atwood & Christine L. Cantella Conjure Old Hollywood Magic
Kiss of the Spider Woman is threaded with beauty and pain, glamour and magic. Based on the stage musical and the original novel by Manuel Puig, Bill Condon’s film is a movie about the power of escapism and how love can inspire, even in the darkest of circumstances. Condon’s adaptation is a love story, a war story, and a musical — all tied together with old school cinematic bravura.
The work of costume designers Colleen Atwood and Christine L.
How “Hamnet” Costume Designer Malgosia Turzanska Used Color to Chart Grief
A poetic exercise in healing through art, Chloé Zhao’s Hamnet, a cinematic meditation on grief, forgiveness, loss, and love, makes for a visually stunning period drama. Based on Maggie O’Farrell’s novel — who also co-wrote the screenplay with Zhao — Hamnet imagines that William Shakespeare’s (Paul Mescal) renowned stage play Hamlet was inspired by the death of his son, Hamnet (Jacobi Jupe). This story centers on his wife,
Edgar Wright & Screenwriter Michael Bacall on Sending Glen Powell Into a Retro-Futuristic Nightmare in “The Running Man”
The Running Man is both an Edgar Wright film and a faithful adaptation of Stephen King. Long before the director made the cult comedy series Spaced and shot his Cornetto Trilogy, he had the inkling that this story would make for a proper film. The fun and violent hijinks aside, the Arnold Schwarzenegger-led film from ’87 isn’t exactly true to the source material.
For Wright and his co-writer,
“Wicked: For Good” DP Alice Brooks on Harnessing Fire & Shadows to Forge an Unforgettable Finale
A wizard of color and light, cinematographer Alice Brooks knew Wicked: For Good would require a very different tone and texture from what she delivered for audiences in the first film.
The second part of the epic adaptation of the Broadway musical, itself a prequel to The Wizard of Oz and adapted from Gregory Maguire’s novel, focuses on the maelstrom surrounding Cynthia Erivo’s Elphaba, the future Wicked Witch of the West,
How “SISU: Road to Revenge” Writer/Director Jalmari Helander Crafted Seven Chapters of Unrelenting Chaos
If John Wick had a Finnish uncle, it would probably be Aatami Korpi (Jorma Tommila) from writer-director Jalmari Helander’s sleeper hit SISU (2022). In those events, the unspoken, never say die ex-soldier unearths gold in his war-torn country only to fend off German officers trying to steal it, killing hundreds in the process and earning him the moniker sisu. (The Finnish word roughly translates to “unyielding courage in the face of impossible odds.”)
Korpi now returns in SISU: Road to Revenge,
“Train Dreams”: Behind the Majestic Visuals of Joel Edgerton’s Pacific Northwest Epic
The Train Dreams (now in theaters; streaming on Netflix, November 21) story ends in 1968, but the film about the fictitious logger and railroad worker Robert Grainier chimes with contemporary echoes. Grainier, played by Joel Edgerton, sees a Chinese immigrant being wrestled to the ground by bigots and thrown off a train trestle. He sees a wildfire ravage lives and landscapes in the Pacific Northwest. He helps saw down centuries-old trees in the name of progress.
“A House of Dynamite”: How Production Designer Jeremy Hindle Built a Nuclear Crisis in Real Time – Part 2
Filmed primarily in New Jersey with the help of $30 million in production incentives, Oscar-winner Kathryn Bigelow’s A House of Dynamite is a sobering look at how the response to a nuclear attack on U.S. soil might unfold. It’s not an easy watch, but it’s relentlessly compelling and superbly crafted, hallmarks of Bigelow’s distinguished career.
The cortisol-triggering film follows major players in the government during the 20 minutes before an inbound nuclear missile hits a major American city.
How “The Beast in Me” Cinematographer Lyle Vincent Brought ’70s Noir to Netflix’s Claire Danes Thriller
The Beast in Me opens on a tableau of sorrow. Claire Danes, who plays author Aggie Wiggs, is driving her son Cooper (Leonard Gerome) when the unthinkable happens: a car accident takes his life. In the aftermath, her partner Shelly (Natalie Morales) rushes towards her, calling out for him. Drowning in pain, Aggie’s bloodied face can only twist a piercing scream underscored by a cacophonous mix of music and effects. The bleak moment abruptly cuts to a close-up of her against a warm,
Bringing Guillermo del Toro’s Creature Into the Light With “Frankenstein” Cinematographer Dan Laustsen
Dan Laustsen likes to make even the most fantastical frame pop with an authentic, organic humanity. The cinematographer extraordinaire and filmmaker Guillermo del Toro wants tangibility, regardless of whether his stories are as slippery and bittersweet as The Shape of Water or as beguiling and deceptive as Nightmare Alley. In the case of Frankenstein, organic is a more-than-fitting approach for the story of men and the monsters within,
Inside “A House of Dynamite”: Production Designer Jeremy Hindle on Building Kathryn Bigelow’s Nuclear Thriller
An unrelenting, blistering thriller that grips you from the first frame and never lets go, Oscar-winning Kathryn Bigelow’s latest film , A House of Dynamite, is the final installment in a trilogy that began with 2008’s The Hurt Locker and continued with 2012’s Zero Dark Thirty. Continuing her trademark journalist approach to filmmaking and fascination with the military industrial complex, A House of Dynamite follows high-ranking officials in the U.S.
Jennifer Lawrence and Robert Pattinson on ‘Die My Love’: Motherhood, Madness, and That Wild Ending
All sorts of spoilers below!
When you look at Robert Pattinson and Jennifer Lawrence’s careers, in many ways, they have had similar paths in Hollywood. They both rose to worldwide fame early in their careers as the leading stars of major franchises (Twilight and The Hunger Games, respectively), and have since spent their 30s taking on more indie roles.
How “Frankenstein” Costume Designer Kate Hawley on Dressing Men, Monsters, & Their Mothers
In a film in which a character will never know death, color and life are everywhere. Guillermo del Toro’s adaptation of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein is a visual feast, yes, but as the director often puts it, it’s all nutritional. A luminous, dreamy red dress from del Toro and costume designer Kate Hawley means more than a pretty image.
The story begins with the mother, Claire Frankenstein (Mia Goth, one of her two roles in the film),
42 Prosthetics, 10-Hour Nights: How Prosthetics Master Mike Hill Turned Jacob Elordi Into the Creature for Guillermo Del Toro’s “Frankenstein”
If ever a man were destined to design a new Frankenstein, it would surely be Mike Hill. The British-born prosthetics and makeup artist behind Guillermo del Toro’s new Frankenstein movie (in theaters now, streaming on Netflix starting November 7) remembers finding his calling at the age of five. “I’d walk to the river in the pouring rain with a little pail and a spade and I’d dig up the clay from deep in the riverbank,
