Meet Nikkolas Smith: The Artist Who Painted the Soul of Ryan Coogler’s “Black Panther” and “Sinners”
In creating one of the year’s most talked about movie sequences, Sinners filmmaker Ryan Coogler assembled his de facto repertory company including Michael B. Jordan, production designer Hannah Beachler, costume designer Ruth Carter, DP Autumn Durald Arkapaw, composer Ludwig Göransson, and a lesser known member of his team: concept artist Nikkolas Smith. Smith previously worked on Black Panther and Wakanda Forever.
Eye in the Sky: How “F1” Aerial Cinematographer Phil Arntz Delivered Cinema’s Most Heart-Pounding Racing Sequences
Continuing in the tradition of his last blockbuster, Top Gun: Maverick, director Joseph Kosinski returns this summer with Apple’s most successful theatrical outing to date, with the sleek and thrilling racing drama F1, grossing north of $144 million on opening weekend. In a world where every fraction of a second could cost you a trophy—or worse, your life— Brad Pitt’s veteran driver, Sonny Hayes, wants to build “a car for combat” in order to salvage his old buddy Ruben’s (Javier Bardem) APXGP team.
“Duster” Production Designer Jonah Markowitz Brings 1970s Arizona to 2025 New Mexico
The moment writer-director-producer J.J. Abrams saw actor Josh Holloway pull up to a pay phone in a vintage mini-muscle car, he knew what his next show would be. Duster, co-created with LaToya Morgan and streaming on HBO through July 3, casts Holloway, revered for his role in Abrams’ ABC hit Lost, as fast-driving rogue Jim Ellis, whose entanglement with drug dealers in 1972 Phoenix warrants the attention of Rachel Bilson’s Phoenix FBI Agent Dana Hayes.
Inside the Bone Temple: How Designers Carson McColl & Gareth Pugh Crafted the Pagan-Apocalyptic World of “28 Years Later”
Serving as both production designers and costume designers for director Danny Boyle’s 28 Years Later was a groundbreaking career moment for Carson McColl and Gareth Pugh.
Not only is the post-apocalyptic coming-of-age horror film the first film they have worked on, but the married couple, known as Hard and Shiny, is best known for their high fashion and for having worked with such icons as Beyoncé and Lady Gaga.
“M3GAN 2.0” Writer/Director Gerard Johnstone on Killer Tech, Callbacks, and Respecting Genre
M3GAN 2.0 has gumption. The sequel to the Blumhouse production doesn’t play it safe by rehashing a formula. Instead, writer/director Gerard Johnstone rips up any atypical sequel blueprint and goes for broke in an action-comedy: a mad tech bro or two, a kitchen that kills (thanks to AI), and the proud influence of Steven Segal’s finest pictures.
M3GAN (Jenna Davis) never truly died. Silicon Valley and beyond are still reeling from her dance-happy killing spree from the first movie,
The Great Escape: How Wrapbook is Freeing Hollywood from Payroll Hell
Wrapbook was founded with the idea of streamlining payroll and accounting services for the entertainment industry. Since its inception in 2018, the company has made significant strides in achieving this goal by creating a platform that seamlessly combines onboarding, payroll processing, expense tracking, and real-time financial reporting within a single interface.
“At Wrapbook, what’s really been coming together is the integrated experience for a company between payroll, accounts payable, and accounting.
The Secret Behind “M3GAN 2.0”: FX Duo Adrien Morot & Kathy Tse Reveal How They Perfected Horror’s Creepiest Eyes
Early in M3GAN 2.0 (in theaters now), the robotic title character complains to her maker Gemma (Allison Williams) about being confined to the clunky body of Teletubby simply because it/she killed a bunch of people in the first movie. Negotiating for an upgrade to fend off a weapons-grade android, M3gan says, “I want to be stronger. Faster. And while you’re at it, make me taller.”
That last demand posed a challenge to Morot FX Studio principals Adrien Morot and his wife,
How “F1” Production Designer Ben Munro Built Real Racing Garages That Traveled the World
Architect-turned-director Joseph Kosinski knows how to build action movies modeled, more than most, on analog reality. Following on Top Gun: Maverick, Kosinski has re-teamed with producer Jerry Bruckheimer to put Brad Pitt in the driver’s seat for F-1 (now in theaters). The filmmakers, deploying cinematographer Claudio Miranda’s ingenious camera rigs, worked with producer/ex-driver James Lewis to secure cooperation from the Formula One organization so that Pitt and co-star Damon Idris could get behind the wheels of real cars in front of actual crowds and speed down raceways in UK,
Inside Wes Anderson’s Art Hunt: Curator Jasper Sharp on Securing Real Masterpieces for “The Phoenician Scheme”
Early on in The Phoenician Scheme, Benicio del Toro’s billionaire character Zsa Zsa Korda tells one of his nine sons, “Never buy good pictures. Buy masterpieces.” The line comes and goes in a flash, but Zsa Zsa’s not kidding, and neither was director Wes Anderson. So, Anderson and his team built out a palatial realm brimming with real paintings — not reproductions — created by the likes of legendary artists,
Flesh-Eating Evolution: VFX Supervisor Adam Gascoyne Reveals How “28 Years Later” Infected Got Scarier
In 1964, Queens, a woman named Catherine Genovese was attacked and murdered outside her New York apartment. Even after screaming for help, none of the neighboring witnesses called the police. The case became infamous for what is known as the bystander effect, which suggests that the more people present in a social situation, the less likely anyone is to step in and assist. Now, imagine living in a zombie apocalypse. Not among the infected who want to eat you alive,
How “28 Years Later” DP Anthony Dod Mantle Mounted 20 iPhones to a Custom Rig For Danny Boyle’s Thrilling Sequel
Oscar-winning Slumdog Millionaire cinematographer Anthony Dod Mantle helped unleash an indie-film revolution as a key member of Denmark’s Dogma movement, utilizing handheld digital video camcorders and available light to shoot dramas of unsettling intensity. In 2002, he drew on that low-tech aesthetic to film 28 Days Later for director Danny Boyle. Now, six movies into their ongoing collaboration, comes 28 Years Later (opening Friday, June 20).
Scorching Stunts: “Ballerina” Stunt Coordinator Stephen Dunlevy on Flamethrower Finesse With Ana de Armas
In the first part of our conversation with supervising stunt coordinator Stephen Dunlevy, we covered the delicate balance involved with establishing the first theatrical John Wick spinoff, From the World of John Wick: Ballerina, from an action choreography perspective. Ana de Armas’ titular ballerina, Eve Macarro, unleashes a deluge of ultra-violent a**-kicking as she tracks down her father’s killer, crossing paths with the Baba Yaga himself (John Wick,
Fire Hose Fury: How Stunt Coordinator Stephen Dunlevy Helped Ana de Armas Blast her Own Path in “Ballerina”
Steeped in the lore and rituals of the John Wick universe, director Len Wiseman’s From the World of John Wick: Ballerina is a bold attempt at expanding the franchise that put practical action back in the spotlight after the OG John Wick came out in 2014. Taking place somewhere between the third and fourth Wick films, this cortisol-triggering revenge thriller follows Eve Macarro (Ana de Armas),
Fire and Frame: How “House of the Dragon” Cinematographer Vanja Cernjul Created TV’s Most Ambitious Dragon Sequences
While HBO continues to patiently plot out the contours of its expanding world of Westeros—A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms is slated for a 2026—House of the Dragon remains the only series to make it to air since Game of Thrones concluded in 2019. And in its two seasons, Ryan Condal’s Targaryen-focused series has achieved something remarkable: it has managed to carve out a distinct narrative path and emerge from the shadows of its predecessor with an identity and an aesthetic all its own.
“Materialists” Writer/Director Celine Song on Why Love Can’t Be Commodified
Celine Song loves love.
And not in the way that middle schoolers doodle in their notebooks about dreamy-eyed crushes, or in the way that newlyweds share song lyrics on Instagram. Celine Song has made it her career to analyze the very foundation of love.
Her latest film, Materialists (in theaters June 13), explores the complexities of navigating love in a society that increasingly values material wealth over all else.
Behind the Brutal Ballet: Stunt Pro Jackson Spidell on Training Ana de Armas for “Ballerina”
Ana de Armas had some practice acting like a bad ass in 2021 when she appeared briefly as a CIA agent doing field work in Cuba in James Bond’s No Time to Die. But in the John Wick spin-off Ballerina, now in theaters, she takes the fighting to a whole other level as Eve, an orphaned dancer determined to avenge the death of her father no matter how many men,
Inside Writer/Director Dean DeBlois’ Secret Formula for Creating His Live-Action “How to Train Your Dragon”
When filmmaker Dean DeBlois found out a live-action reimaging of his award-winning animated hit How to Train Your Dragon was on the cards, he volunteered to write and direct it.
The adaptation, which lands in movie theaters on Friday, June 13, 2025, largely mirrors the storyline of the 2010 original. At the heart of the film is the friendship between a young Viking called Hiccup,
Fight Like a Girl: How Sound Editors Crafted Eve’s Evolution in “Ballerina”
When we first see Eve (Ana De Arma) fight in director Len Wiseman’s From The World of John Wick: Ballerina, you can tell she has yet to hit her peak. She, nonetheless, can irrefutably kick my ass and yours too, but it’s like watching a bear cub trying to climb a tree – it will eventually reach the top but there’s plenty of flopping and flailing on the way up.
From Oscar Nominee to Action Star: Catalina Sandino Moreno on Her Journey Into John Wick’s World in “Ballerina”
“I never saw myself as an action [actor]. But I’ve been in this industry a little bit, and I know you have to have an open mind to everything,” says Catalina Moreno, who stars alongside Ana de Armas in the upcoming From the World of John Wick: Ballerina, the fifth film in the popular franchise. Her teenage son, she says, is “obsessed with John Wick, so when I got the script for Ballerina I thought,
Stitch, Surf, and Studio Magic: DP Nigel Bluck Takes Us Into the Wild World of the Live-Action “Lilo & Stitch”
Lilo & Stitch is charming audiences across the globe. Disney’s latest live-action remake, directed by Dean Fleischer Camp, is not only a box-office smash but also a heartfelt reimagining that has tapped into the power of Zillennial nostalgia in a big way. Based on the 2002 animated film, the new live-action Hawaii-set buddy comedy between young Lilo (Maia Kealoha) and her new alien pal, Stitch (voiced by Chris Sanders), is full of energy and light,
