Interview
Director
Precision and Passion: How Director Amanda Marsalis Choreographed the Chaos of “The Pitt”
There are few careers that could fill an entire season of TV with a single day’s work, but The Pitt proves that the emergency room is a source of endless inspiration. Drama and trauma pump into a Pittsburgh hospital led by attending Dr. Robby (Noah Wyle) over fifteen hours.
Medical dramas aren’t new to the screen – in fact, Wyle is well known for his role as Dr. John Carter on ER.
Interview
Cinematographer, Showrunner
Genesis of Gemstones: Danny McBride and DP Paul Daley Reveal How Bradley Cooper Brought the Unholy Patriarch to Life
The Gemstones Sunday service has come to an end. After four seasons, Danny McBride’s dark comedy following a dysfunctional televangelist family aired its final episode with a glorious blood-soaked banger. But among the chaos, McBride and company focused its scripture on the series’ revolving theme: a family of unconditional love. And it was at the start of the season, we were introduced to the Gemstones’ family origins through a Civil War era epic with 12-time Academy Award nominee Bradley Cooper playing the OG bible preacher.
Take On Me: Ellie & Dina Find Love as Jeffrey Wright’s Isaac Brings New Darkness to “The Last of Us”
Oscar-nominated performer Jeffrey Wright is no stranger to prestigious HBO dramas—he was a central figure in Westworld—yet it was still a fun jolt to see him, at last, enter the picture in the 4th episode of The Last of Us season 2, “Day One.”
In the opening scene, Wright appears as a FEDRA soldier during a flashback to 2018 in Seattle’s quarantine zone, 11 years before the current timeline.
Interview
Cinematographer
No Character Is Safe: How DP Ksenia Sereda Frames “The Last of Us” Season 2’s Heightened Stakes
Sanctuary is fleeting in The Last of Us. With savage grudges and the ever-evolving infected hordes, who seem to be learning tactics through their cordyceps-controlled brains, no one is safe. Here comes your spoiler alert warning—the savagery proved especially true when antihero Joel (Pedro Pascal) was brutally clubbed to death by vengeful Firefly, Abby (Kaitlyn Dever). You don’t need to be a member of the undead to do dreadful things in this world.
Interview
Production Designer
Emergency Realism: Production Designer Nina Ruscio’s Blueprint for “The Pitt’s” Immersive Medical World
Producer John Wells and creator R. Scott Gemmill took a big swing with The Pitt and hit a home run that would have cleared the 410-foot deep left-center field wall of Pittsburgh’s PNC Park. The riveting series, which has garnered the kind of collective enthusiasm we usually associate with dark comedies set at fancy resorts, is powered by gruesome surgical procedures, arcane medical terminology, and volatile personalities. The high concept: each episode constitutes one hour in an emergency room over the course of a 12-hour shift,
“The White Lotus” Episode 6: It’s a Family Affair
After the last episode in season 3 of Mike White‘s The White Lotus, when Sam Rockwell parachuted into the storyline and delivered one of television’s most unexpected monologues in perhaps the medium’s history (a stretch? if so, not by much), episode 6 had a lot of narrative momentum. White’s cosseted guests this year, whether their troubles are of a dangerously anguished variety (looking at you, Walton Goggins’
Rocking “The White Lotus”: Behind the Series’ Most Surprising Cameo Ever
The White Lotus delivered arguably the most surprising cameo in its three-season run this past Sunday night when Sam Rockwell appeared as Frank in episode 5, “Full-Moon Party.” Frank is an old friend of Walton Goggins’ Rick, who meets him in Bangkok to offer Rick a little help with his dark mission to settle an old score. In the process, Frank added a revelation that gave the season an unexpected jolt.
Before leaving the resort for Bangkok,
The Weight of Survival: Relive Ellie’s Journey in “The Last of Us” Before Season 2 Premiere
For all intents and purposes, Ellie (Bella Ramsey) is a normal kid. She likes comic books. She’s bright but mischievous. She’s learning how to stand up for herself, but she also craves guidance and mentorship. She’s tougher than she looks, but she’s still just a kid.
That’s about where normalcy ends for Ellie, who has the both the blessing and the curse of being the one person alive in the world of The Last of Us who is immune to the virus that turns human beings into flesh-eating zombies in the wake of a cordycepts-borne plague that turned the planet into a living hell.
“Hacks” Attack: HBO’s Award-Winning Comedy Drops Trailer Ahead of Season 4 Premiere
The self-destructive but oh-so lovable comedy team are back for season 4.
Max’s Emmy-award winning series Hacks has dropped its official trailer ahead of its April 10 premiere, with Jean Smart’s Deborah and Hannah Einbinder’s Ava finding themselves at a crossroads, and, to Ava’s detriment, no doubt, in each other’s crosshairs as they try to pull off something unprecedented. Lucia Aniello, Paul W. Downs, and Jen Statsky’s whip-smart comedy enters its fourth season with Deborah and Ava trying to get their late night show off the ground and to make TV history in the process.
Interview
Cinematographer
“Dune: Prophecy” Cinematographer Pierre Gill Captures the Many Moving Pieces of a Dangerous Game
A frequent collaborator with director Denis Villeneuve, award-winning cinematographer Pierre Gill respects the filmmaker’s legacy but also relishes being able to play in the same sandbox and create his own vision with Dune: Prophecy.
A prequel to Villeneuve’s Dune films, Gill maintains the epic scope of the universe in the three episodes he directed, including the pilot and finale of the acclaimed six-episode HBO show,
James Gunn Reveals Updates for “Superman,” “Supergirl,” and “Lanterns”
At this past weekend’s New York Comic Con, DC Studios co-chief James Gunn had a lot to say. He, his fellow Creature Commands executive producer Dean Lorey, and cast members from DC’s upcoming animated series revealed the wild first trailer, and while he was there, Gunn dished on some of the studios’ most marquee upcoming projects.
Those projects include his big-time reboot, Superman,
James Gunn Reveals the Wild First Trailer for “Creature Commands”
James Gunn had a lot to share New York Comic Con, and arguably the biggest news also included a fun first trailer. That would be for Gunn’s new-look DC Studios’ animated series Creature Commandos, a seven-episode Max original written and executive produced by Gunn, which tracks a secret team of incarcerated monsters recruited for the world’s most dangerous missions. These Creature Commandos are “your last, worst option,” according to the series logline.
Taking the stage at the Con on Saturday,
“The Penguin” Episode 4 Introduced a Classic Batman Villain
In the first three episodes of HBO’s devilishly entertaining The Penguin, Colin Farrell’s Oz Cobb has made daring, painful inroads with Sofia Falcone (Cristin Milioti), the daughter of the late Gotham underworld poobah Carmine Falcone (Mark Strong). As the series kicked off in the wake of the Riddler’s attack on Gotham in Matt Reeves’ feature The Batman, Sofia was freshly sprung from Arkham Asylum, where she spent a decade after being accused of the murder of seven women working at her father’s Iceberg Lounge,
Inside the Shaky Alliance Between Oz and Sofia in “The Penguin” Episode 3
Gotham has never looked quite so seedy and dangerous as it does in HBO’s excellent The Batman spinoff series The Penguin. Shot in and around New York City (unlike previous films in the Batman universe, which have utilized international locations and cities that are not New York to recreate Gotham), The Penguin picks up in the aftermath of the Riddler’s bombing of the city at the end of The Batman,
The Streaming Innovation Alliance’s Mission Continues
The Streaming Innovation Alliance turns a year old today. If you haven’t heard of SIA, you’ve certainly been impacted by its commitment to giving streamers a unified voice so they can keep creating the films and television series you love – and delivering them to audiences when, where, and how they choose to watch. Once viewed as an upstart to traditional entertainment, streamers have become a beloved part of the visual storytelling landscape. As the advent and deployment of digital film capabilities upended but did not replace the use of film on film and TV sets,
Interview
Director, Screenwriter
Eye on the Emmys: “True Detective: Night Country” Writer/Director Issa López Delivers a Chilling New Season
*Ahead of the 2024 Emmy Awards on September 15, we’re looking back at our interviews with some of this year’s nominees. Issa Lopez notched three nominations this year—for Outstanding Limited or Anthology Series, Outstanding Directing, and Outstanding Writing (for episode 6.)
Issa López loves to challenge herself. The writer/director, best known for the mystical 2017 feature Tigers Are Not Afraid, believes your comfort zone is the last place to find stories worth telling.
Interview
Cinematographer
Cinematographer Sam Levy on the Absurdist Fun That is Julio Torres’ “Fantasmas”
Julio Torres wrote, directed, and stars in his new HBO series, Fantasmas, a delightfully absurdist comic fantasy loosely predicated on a search for a lost earring. Fantasmas, which means “ghosts” in Spanish, questions reality — Torres and his costars, including Emma Stone and Bernardo Velasco, with cameos by actors like Tilda Swinton, exist in a world that seems to be both multi-dimensional and missing dimensions at the same time,
First “The Sympathizer” Trailer Reveals Robert Downey Jr.’s Twisty New HBO Series
HBO has revealed the official trailer for The Sympathizer, one of the most intriguing new series set to launch this year. The seven-episode limited series boasts a sensational cast and phenomenal source material—Viet Thanh Nguyen’s Pulitzer Prize-winning novel of the same name—and the first trailer offers a taste of the globetrotting and subterfuge to come. It also bears the imprimatur of co-showrunner, executive producer, writer, and director Park Chan-wook, one of the best in the business.
Kate Winslet Reigns Supreme in First “The Regime” Trailer
The official trailer for The Regime has arrived, with Kate Winslet returning to HBO after her stunning performance in the 2021 HBO series Mare of Easttown. In The Regime, however, Winslet trades her pitch-perfect Philadelphia-adjacent accent as a dutiful detective for the Queen’s English (although she’s certainly putting a twist on her normal speaking voice) as she plays a morally flexible Chancellor with a thirst for power.
Interview
Director, Screenwriter
“True Detective: Night Country” Writer/Director Issa López Delivers a Chilling New Season
Issa López loves to challenge herself. The writer/director, best known for the mystical 2017 feature Tigers Are Not Afraid, believes your comfort zone is the last place to find stories worth telling.
“If you’re not terrified, you’re not doing it right,” López says during a recent Zoom interview. “There are massive fears that you face as a filmmaker. You need to just do it. With the right team, you can go out and do anything.”
Perhaps nothing proves this better than True Detective: Night Country,