One of the most iconic scenes in Oliver Stone‘s 1991 classic “JFK” involves Donald Sutherland as a mysterious operative filling Kevin Costner‘s Jim Garrison in on the forces behind the 1963 assassination of President John F. Kennedy. In an exhilarating tour de force performance for which Sutherland should have been Oscar-nominated, the actor tells a mesmerizing story packed with dense information that blows Garrison’s — and by extension, the viewer’s — mind, shifting the movie into an intense higher gear that propels the film’s final hour. The scene is unthinkable without Sutherland, and yet it could have gone a very different way.
At a live edition of IndieWire’s Filmmaker Toolkit podcast presented by the American Cinematheque in Los Angeles, writer, producer, and director Stone revealed that he had discussed the role Sutherland eventually played with one of his childhood heroes. “I had been dumb enough to go to Marlon Brando,...
At a live edition of IndieWire’s Filmmaker Toolkit podcast presented by the American Cinematheque in Los Angeles, writer, producer, and director Stone revealed that he had discussed the role Sutherland eventually played with one of his childhood heroes. “I had been dumb enough to go to Marlon Brando,...
- 8/31/2023
- by Jim Hemphill
- Indiewire
Just before the end of the seventh episode of Season 2 of “Perry Mason,” the writers expose the mastermind behind the murder that Mason’s defendants — a pair of poor Mexican brothers — were paid to commit. It’s the perfect reveal in that the villain’s identity feels shocking yet inevitable upon reflection, given how intricately it’s interwoven with everything that has come before. Yet according to Michael Begler, who took over showrunning duties on “Perry Mason” this season with his writing partner Jack Amiel, the identity of the antagonist came fairly late in the process. “I think the last part [we figured out] was who done it,” Begler told IndieWire’s Filmmaker Toolkit podcast. “When I really think about how we broke the season, we were rewriting and rewriting. It was changing constantly.”
Coming on to the show, Begler’s desire was to expand the series’ vision of Los Angeles. Giving “Perry...
Coming on to the show, Begler’s desire was to expand the series’ vision of Los Angeles. Giving “Perry...
- 4/25/2023
- by Jim Hemphill
- Indiewire
Twenty years ago, musician-turned-filmmaker Rob Zombie combined two types of horror films that he loved — Universal monster movies and the down-and-dirty ’70s provocations of Tobe Hooper and Wes Craven — to create “House of 1000 Corpses,” a film disowned by its original studio that went on to become a cult classic. The tale of two young couples who stumble across a demented backwoods family that engages in torture, cannibalism, and satanic rituals, it’s darkly hilarious and genuinely horrifying, packed with the kind of outrageous nightmare-inducing imagery that would characterize later Zombie works like “The Devil’s Rejects,” “The Lords of Salem,” and “3 From Hell.”
For fans of the film, the jarring juxtaposition of tones is a strength, but according to Zombie, it was less a grand plan than a byproduct of his inexperience as a director. “For a lot of years I was dissatisfied with it because you go in...
For fans of the film, the jarring juxtaposition of tones is a strength, but according to Zombie, it was less a grand plan than a byproduct of his inexperience as a director. “For a lot of years I was dissatisfied with it because you go in...
- 4/11/2023
- by Jim Hemphill
- Indiewire
It only takes about five minutes of conversation with Chad Stahelski, the director of all four “John Wick” movies, to realize that he’s a passionate cinephile whose unique combination of influences is what gives the “Wick” franchise its distinct look. While Stahelski’s devotion to Sam Peckinpah, Sergio Leone, and other action directors might be expected, it’s an entirely different genre that provides the most important — and perhaps most surprising — basis for his work. “Everybody laughs when I say it, but I love musicals,” Stahelski told IndieWire. “Bob Fosse is a huge inspiration. Gene Kelly in ‘Singin’ in the Rain.’ We didn’t reinvent action or anything with ‘John Wick’ — we just spent all our money and time preparing Keanu to be our Gene Kelly.”
Read More: Why ‘John Wick: Chapter 4’ Earns Its Almost 3-Hour Running Time
All of the “John Wick” movies use Stahelski favorites like...
Read More: Why ‘John Wick: Chapter 4’ Earns Its Almost 3-Hour Running Time
All of the “John Wick” movies use Stahelski favorites like...
- 3/23/2023
- by Jim Hemphill
- Indiewire
To celebrate the release of Watcher – released on DVD & Blu-ray 6th February – we have a Blu-ray up for grabs!
The debut film from Chloe Okuno is a sleek, remarkably assured thriller that puts a thoroughly modern spin on Hitchcock’s classic Rear Window. Featuring a superb cast including Maika Monroe (It Follows), Karl Glusman (The Neon Demon) and Burn Gorman (The Dark Knight Rises), Watcher was nominated for awards at Sundance and SXSW festivals, and won Best Feature at last year’s Boston Underground Film Festival.
The film features a really outstanding central performance from Monroe (who shot to fame in the horror phenomenon It Follows in 2014), as a young woman who begins to think something is amiss when she spots a lone figure staring at from the window of a neighbouring flat. Recalling Mia Farrow in Rosemary’s Baby, Monroe is note-perfect as a woman in alien surroundings, plagued with lurking anxiety,...
The debut film from Chloe Okuno is a sleek, remarkably assured thriller that puts a thoroughly modern spin on Hitchcock’s classic Rear Window. Featuring a superb cast including Maika Monroe (It Follows), Karl Glusman (The Neon Demon) and Burn Gorman (The Dark Knight Rises), Watcher was nominated for awards at Sundance and SXSW festivals, and won Best Feature at last year’s Boston Underground Film Festival.
The film features a really outstanding central performance from Monroe (who shot to fame in the horror phenomenon It Follows in 2014), as a young woman who begins to think something is amiss when she spots a lone figure staring at from the window of a neighbouring flat. Recalling Mia Farrow in Rosemary’s Baby, Monroe is note-perfect as a woman in alien surroundings, plagued with lurking anxiety,...
- 2/5/2023
- by Competitions
- HeyUGuys.co.uk
To celebrate the release of Watcher – released on DVD & Blu-ray 6th February – we have a Blu-ray up for grabs!
The debut film from Chloe Okuno is a sleek, remarkably assured thriller that puts a thoroughly modern spin on Hitchcock’s classic Rear Window. Featuring a superb cast including Maika Monroe (It Follows), Karl Glusman (The Neon Demon) and Burn Gorman (The Dark Knight Rises), Watcher was nominated for awards at Sundance and SXSW festivals, and won Best Feature at last year’s Boston Underground Film Festival.
The film features a really outstanding central performance from Monroe (who shot to fame in the horror phenomenon It Follows in 2014), as a young woman who begins to think something is amiss when she spots a lone figure staring at from the window of a neighbouring flat. Recalling Mia Farrow in Rosemary’s Baby, Monroe is note-perfect as a woman in alien surroundings, plagued with lurking anxiety,...
The debut film from Chloe Okuno is a sleek, remarkably assured thriller that puts a thoroughly modern spin on Hitchcock’s classic Rear Window. Featuring a superb cast including Maika Monroe (It Follows), Karl Glusman (The Neon Demon) and Burn Gorman (The Dark Knight Rises), Watcher was nominated for awards at Sundance and SXSW festivals, and won Best Feature at last year’s Boston Underground Film Festival.
The film features a really outstanding central performance from Monroe (who shot to fame in the horror phenomenon It Follows in 2014), as a young woman who begins to think something is amiss when she spots a lone figure staring at from the window of a neighbouring flat. Recalling Mia Farrow in Rosemary’s Baby, Monroe is note-perfect as a woman in alien surroundings, plagued with lurking anxiety,...
- 1/31/2023
- by Phil Wheat
- Nerdly
From giddy highs to tragic lows, writer-director Damien Chazelle’s “Babylon” is an exhilarating ensemble piece that covers everyone in the motion picture industry from movie stars and studio heads to extras recruited from skid row and animal handlers dealing with elephant dung, and shows how quickly someone can go from one to the other and back again. It’s a film about what Hollywood does to the people who work there — what it gives them, and what it takes away.
Unsurprisingly, given the subject matter, the circumstances of the film’s creation occasionally mirrored the story it was telling, Perhaps the most obvious example of life imitating art was the casting of unknown Diego Calva in the pivotal role of Manny Torres, a character who works his way up from the bottom rungs of the industry to become a pioneering executive. Just as some of the characters in “Babylon...
Unsurprisingly, given the subject matter, the circumstances of the film’s creation occasionally mirrored the story it was telling, Perhaps the most obvious example of life imitating art was the casting of unknown Diego Calva in the pivotal role of Manny Torres, a character who works his way up from the bottom rungs of the industry to become a pioneering executive. Just as some of the characters in “Babylon...
- 1/6/2023
- by Jim Hemphill
- Indiewire
As Martin Scorsese once said, “Music and cinema fit together naturally. Because there’s a kind of intrinsic musicality to the way moving images work when they’re put together. It’s been said that cinema and music are very close as art forms, and I think that’s true.” Indeed, the right piece of music–whether it’s an original score or a carefully selected song–can do wonders for a sequence, and today we’re looking at the 25 films that best expressed this notion this year.
From seasoned composers to accomplished musicians, as well as a smattering of soundtracks, each musical example perfectly transported us to the world of the film. Check out our rundown of the top 25, which includes streams to each soundtrack in full.
25. Dark Glasses (Arnaud Rebotini)
24. Catch the Fair One (Nathan Halpern)
23. Barbarian (Anna Drubich)
22. Return to Seoul (Various)
21. Babylon (Justin Hurwitz)
20. Mad God...
From seasoned composers to accomplished musicians, as well as a smattering of soundtracks, each musical example perfectly transported us to the world of the film. Check out our rundown of the top 25, which includes streams to each soundtrack in full.
25. Dark Glasses (Arnaud Rebotini)
24. Catch the Fair One (Nathan Halpern)
23. Barbarian (Anna Drubich)
22. Return to Seoul (Various)
21. Babylon (Justin Hurwitz)
20. Mad God...
- 1/3/2023
- by Jordan Raup
- The Film Stage
Writer-director Rian Johnson‘s “Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery” boasts an impeccably cast comic ensemble that includes Daniel Craig, Edward Norton, Janelle Monáe, Kate Hudson, and Kathryn Hahn, all of whom Johnson credited with bringing great ideas to the film. Not that having a great cast made things easy — to the contrary, the expansive company of actors, combined with limited locations (even if one of them was the architecturally stunning structure that gives the movie its title) made the task of blocking far more difficult than it ever was in one of the action sequences of “Star Wars: Episode VII — The Last Jedi” or “Looper.”
“‘Knives Out’ only had a couple of scenes where everybody was in a room together talking,” Johnson told IndieWire, “and in those scenes, everyone’s sitting down for the most part, which makes it a lot easier. In ‘Glass Onion,’ there were a bunch...
“‘Knives Out’ only had a couple of scenes where everybody was in a room together talking,” Johnson told IndieWire, “and in those scenes, everyone’s sitting down for the most part, which makes it a lot easier. In ‘Glass Onion,’ there were a bunch...
- 12/27/2022
- by Jim Hemphill
- Indiewire
Alejandro González Iñárritu’s “Bardo” is the director’s most personal film to date, and possibly his most ambitious — which is really saying something when you’re talking about the filmmaker behind “Birdman” and “The Revenant.” While those films had their logistical and physical challenges, “Bardo” tested Iñárritu in a more intellectual and emotional sense. “The fabric of this movie is different from any other movie that I have done,” he told IndieWire’s Filmmaker Toolkit Podcast. “There is no story, there is no structure, there is no plot. Just a mental landscape of a character that comes from the last moments of his life and all this dreamlike perception. To convey that and to materialize those images or feelings and memories was very difficult to get to. What is the emotion that we are trying to convey, and then what are the technical and the physical requirements to make that happen?...
- 12/19/2022
- by Jim Hemphill
- Indiewire
When James Cameron wrote and directed “Avatar” in 2009, he introduced performance capture technology and other innovations that would change the movies forever, as his techniques were adopted and developed (though never surpassed) by the industry at large. Now he has done it again with “Avatar: The Way of Water,” a sequel that marks the first ever use of underwater performance capture and is even more impressive than its predecessor at marrying real performances (by a stellar cast that includes Cameron favorites like Kate Winslet and Sigourney Weaver) with a completely artificial digital world created in post-production. And as Cameron tells IndieWire in this week’s in-depth discussion on the Filmmaker Toolkit podcast, all of this technology liberates the actors and him to make discoveries far beyond what is possible on a conventional live action film. “It actually becomes easier for the actors in a lot of ways,” he told IndieWire.
- 12/16/2022
- by Jim Hemphill
- Indiewire
In the opening of the documentary “Navalny,” director Daniel Roher asks the titular Russian opposition leader — who at the time was still recovering from being poisoned by his own government, and was mere weeks from returning home to face his failed assassins head on — what his message would be to the Russian people if, in the entirely possible scenario, he is killed.
“‘Oh, come on, Daniel. No, no way. Is like you are making movie for the case of my death,’” Alexei Navalny dismissively replies to the camera. “‘Let’s make a thriller out of this movie, and in the case I would be killed, let’s make a boring movie of memory.”
The film then cuts — somewhat tongue-in-cheek, as if Roher has taken Navalny’s direction — to a dramatic overhead drone shot of a snowy road accompanied by a piece of score worthy of an intense action thriller. When...
“‘Oh, come on, Daniel. No, no way. Is like you are making movie for the case of my death,’” Alexei Navalny dismissively replies to the camera. “‘Let’s make a thriller out of this movie, and in the case I would be killed, let’s make a boring movie of memory.”
The film then cuts — somewhat tongue-in-cheek, as if Roher has taken Navalny’s direction — to a dramatic overhead drone shot of a snowy road accompanied by a piece of score worthy of an intense action thriller. When...
- 12/6/2022
- by Chris O'Falt
- Indiewire
Director Ryan White’s “Good Night Oppy” tells the story of Opportunity, the unexpectedly resilient NASA rover that stretched its scheduled 90 days on Mars into a 15-year mission. To tell the story of Opportunity’s groundbreaking journey and the bond between the robot and its human operators millions of miles away, White worked closely with NASA as well as visual effects powerhouse Industrial Light & Magic; together, they crafted a film comprised of both riveting archival footage and computer generated imagery depicting Oppy’s experiences in meticulous visual and aural detail.
For White, the project represented the fulfillment of his childhood dreams. “I was a total space nut,” he told IndieWire. “I spent my entire childhood wanting to be an astronaut.” Although White had been pitched space movies before, he never found a story worth pursuing until Peter Berg’s Film 45 and Steven Spielberg’s Amblin Entertainment approached him with the Opportunity project.
For White, the project represented the fulfillment of his childhood dreams. “I was a total space nut,” he told IndieWire. “I spent my entire childhood wanting to be an astronaut.” Although White had been pitched space movies before, he never found a story worth pursuing until Peter Berg’s Film 45 and Steven Spielberg’s Amblin Entertainment approached him with the Opportunity project.
- 11/29/2022
- by Jim Hemphill
- Indiewire
Jordan Peele’s mystery-in-the-sky UFO film “Nope” is destined — not unlike his previous two films, “Get Out” and “Us” — to breed questions, careful rewatches, and complex internet theories by avid fans trying to fill in the blanks of the writer/director’s latest supernatural universe. When Peele was recently on the “Filmmaker Toolkit” podcast, we asked him to what degree in writing “Nope” he felt compelled to fill in those blanks himself. Did he need to devise a complete history and fully understand the inner working of this alien life form to tell this story? The answer was a resounding was a resounding “Yes!”
“I feel strongly that you have to do a certain amount of work that the audience can feel even though you are not showing it. I think that way with character, history, I think that way with the UFO in question,” said Peele. “This is something...
“I feel strongly that you have to do a certain amount of work that the audience can feel even though you are not showing it. I think that way with character, history, I think that way with the UFO in question,” said Peele. “This is something...
- 7/22/2022
- by Chris O'Falt and Jim Hemphill
- Indiewire
Emily (Aubrey Plaza) is saddled with student debt and locked out of the job market due to a minor criminal record. Desperate for income, she takes a shady gig as a “dummy shopper,” buying goods with stolen credit cards supplied by a handsome and charismatic middleman named Youcef (Theo Rossi). Faced with a series of dead-end job interviews, Emily soon finds herself seduced by the quick cash and illicit thrills of black-market capitalism, and increasingly interested in her mentor Youcef. Together, they hatch a plan to bring their business to the next level in Los Angeles.
From Roadside Attractions / Vertical Entertainment, watch the trailer for Emily The Criminal.
Director John Patton Ford studied at the University of South Carolina and earned an Mfa from the American Film Institute. His thesis film, Patrol, premiered at the 2010 Sundance Film Festival, which led to an accidental career penning scripts for Disney, Universal, and Sony.
From Roadside Attractions / Vertical Entertainment, watch the trailer for Emily The Criminal.
Director John Patton Ford studied at the University of South Carolina and earned an Mfa from the American Film Institute. His thesis film, Patrol, premiered at the 2010 Sundance Film Festival, which led to an accidental career penning scripts for Disney, Universal, and Sony.
- 7/6/2022
- by Michelle Hannett
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
Watcher Trailer 2 — IFC Films has released the second movie trailer for Watcher (2022) has been released. Crew Chloe Okuno‘s Watcher stars Maika Monroe, Karl Glusman, Burn Gorman, Gabriela Butuc, Madalina Anea, and Tudor Petrut. Zack Ford and Chloe Okuno wrote the screenplay for Watcher. Nathan Halpern created the music for the film. Benjamin Kirk Nielsen [...]
Continue reading: Watcher (2022) Movie Trailer 2: Maika Monroe Fears the Attention of a Murderer in Chloe Okuno’s Thriller Film...
Continue reading: Watcher (2022) Movie Trailer 2: Maika Monroe Fears the Attention of a Murderer in Chloe Okuno’s Thriller Film...
- 4/28/2022
- by Rollo Tomasi
- Film-Book
Greig Fraser went into “Dune” knowing the size of the story and its reputation. Much like the planet Arrakis, “Dune” hadn’t yet been conquered on film. Frank Herbert’s world of intergalactic ambitions, byzantine politics, and religious plots within plots has such epic scope that adaptations have so often been the graveyard of empires. Or at least of Dino De Laurentiis. That Denis Villeneuve called his sci-fi epic “Dune: Part 1” shows just how far his ambitions reached and the film’s cinematography is a huge part of the reason why that confidence has paid off with a sequel order from Legendary and Warner Bros. Hearing Fraser talk about his and Villeneuve’s approach to constructing the world of “Dune” is to get as close as possible to a filmbook crash course in creating an immersive world on screen.
Fraser and Villeneuve had the whole of an IMAX canvas and...
Fraser and Villeneuve had the whole of an IMAX canvas and...
- 3/26/2022
- by Sarah Shachat
- Indiewire
Exclusive: Roadside Attractions and Vertical Entertainment have prevailed in a bidding war surrounding the Sundance thriller Emily the Criminal, starring and produced by Aubrey Plaza, claiming North American rights. They’ve slated the film for an exclusive theatrical release this year, with Redbox joining the partnership for home entertainment distribution.
John Patton Ford’s feature directorial debut follows Emily (Plaza), who is saddled with student debt and locked out of the job market due to a minor criminal record. Desperate for income, she takes a shady gig as a “dummy shopper,” buying goods with stolen credit cards supplied by a handsome and charismatic middleman named Youcef (Theo Rossi). Faced with a series of dead-end job interviews, Emily soon finds herself seduced by the quick cash and illicit thrills of black-market capitalism, and increasingly interested in her mentor Youcef. Together, they hatch a plan to bring...
John Patton Ford’s feature directorial debut follows Emily (Plaza), who is saddled with student debt and locked out of the job market due to a minor criminal record. Desperate for income, she takes a shady gig as a “dummy shopper,” buying goods with stolen credit cards supplied by a handsome and charismatic middleman named Youcef (Theo Rossi). Faced with a series of dead-end job interviews, Emily soon finds herself seduced by the quick cash and illicit thrills of black-market capitalism, and increasingly interested in her mentor Youcef. Together, they hatch a plan to bring...
- 2/2/2022
- by Matt Grobar
- Deadline Film + TV
“Catch the Fair One” is activist filmmaking at its most compelling. Before you run away from the notion, consider this: It doesn’t feel like this tough, relentlessly dark thriller is trying to push some kind of political point, even if so many of its creative choices succeed in doing exactly that.
Collaborating with Native boxing champ Kali “Ko” Reis on the script, director Josef Kubota Wladyka has made a riveting vigilante story that can hold its own alongside Paul Schrader’s most punishing payback fantasies. Imagine daughter-rescue drama “Hardcore” with a female fighter in the George C. Scott role, or an inversion of revenge-minded “The Card Counter,” where it’s an above-the-law human trafficker rather than a torture-condoning U.S. general being taught a lesson at the end.
Such movies can sometimes feel overly nihilistic, as unflinching filmmakers set a self-destructive individual plunging into the darkest corners of the American dream.
Collaborating with Native boxing champ Kali “Ko” Reis on the script, director Josef Kubota Wladyka has made a riveting vigilante story that can hold its own alongside Paul Schrader’s most punishing payback fantasies. Imagine daughter-rescue drama “Hardcore” with a female fighter in the George C. Scott role, or an inversion of revenge-minded “The Card Counter,” where it’s an above-the-law human trafficker rather than a torture-condoning U.S. general being taught a lesson at the end.
Such movies can sometimes feel overly nihilistic, as unflinching filmmakers set a self-destructive individual plunging into the darkest corners of the American dream.
- 1/31/2022
- by Peter Debruge
- Variety Film + TV
“Emily the Criminal,” by John Patton Ford, is One job asks her to be a crook, one job treats her like a crook, and one job pays so little it’s essentially stealing from her. The girl, Emily (Aubrey Plaza) is an embittered art student with $70,000 in college debt, a felony conviction for aggravated assault and essentially no leverage to negotiate her terms of employment besides the pepper spray in her purse, which won’t help much for the two white-collar gigs. The title of this chilly thriller announces which job she picks. Her circumstances explain why. But despite the fact that the camera rarely backs away from studying Plaza’s wary eyes and tense mouth in close-up, this character piece feels as distanced from its taciturn subject as if it was merely monitoring her on security camera.
Plaza, who also produced the film, is strong as a scammer who...
Plaza, who also produced the film, is strong as a scammer who...
- 1/25/2022
- by Amy Nicholson
- Variety Film + TV
If the camera lingered just a little more lasciviously on the opening sex scene, or if we got to ogle the bondage-clad ladies writhing in their glass booths in the underground strip club sequence longer, Chloe Okuno’s smart little feature debut might be said to herald the longed-for return of the lost, lamented erotic thriller. Without that skeevy edge, into an understatedly stylish commentary on modern womanhood, #NotAllMen and the latest incarnation of the concept of gaslighting.
There’s a little bit of “Repulsion” here, a dash of “Rear Window,” obviously, and an airy nod to “Lost in Translation,” but mostly “Watcher” plays in a less exalted sandbox. Its most overt homage is to 1993’s “Sliver,” with the key disclaimer that “Sliver,” already a terrible movie, would without the hilarious sex stuff be borderline unwatchable, and “Watcher” is actually pretty damn good. That’s thanks in large part to a terrific Maika Monroe,...
There’s a little bit of “Repulsion” here, a dash of “Rear Window,” obviously, and an airy nod to “Lost in Translation,” but mostly “Watcher” plays in a less exalted sandbox. Its most overt homage is to 1993’s “Sliver,” with the key disclaimer that “Sliver,” already a terrible movie, would without the hilarious sex stuff be borderline unwatchable, and “Watcher” is actually pretty damn good. That’s thanks in large part to a terrific Maika Monroe,...
- 1/22/2022
- by Jessica Kiang
- Variety Film + TV
The shadow of Alfred Hitchcock’s 1954 murder mystery Rear Window looms large over Chloe Okuno’s nail-biting Sundance U.S. Dramatic Competition entry, Watcher — but this debut feature is much more than homage. In fact, quite a few other suspense classics get the nod in the film’s trim 95-minute running time. Still, Watcher is very much its own creation, a sustained package that delivers on so many fronts — direction, cinematography, production design, music, performance — that what could have so easily been a formulaic slasher, genuinely pushes the boundaries of its genre, toying with an unusual bleakness that will keep audiences guessing until the end.
The premise is simple: Sometime movie actress Julia (Maika Monroe) has moved to Bucharest to be with her half-American, half-Romanian husband Francis (Karl Glusman), who has a high-pressure job with an advertising agency. It is clear from the beginning that this won’t be a smooth transition.
The premise is simple: Sometime movie actress Julia (Maika Monroe) has moved to Bucharest to be with her half-American, half-Romanian husband Francis (Karl Glusman), who has a high-pressure job with an advertising agency. It is clear from the beginning that this won’t be a smooth transition.
- 1/22/2022
- by Damon Wise
- Deadline Film + TV
This beguiling and disturbing film is full of secrets and definitely bears repeat watching, but just in case you need a little extra persuasion, this package includes a fantastic array of extras. It includes an in-depth audio commentary, with director Carlo Mirabella-Davis and producers Mollye Asher and Mynette Louie struggling to fit in everything they want to say, plus a selection of interviews looking at the film from the different perspectives of various members of the creative team. All of these are substantial, with Mirabella-Davis reflections on the film's inspirations particularly poignant. Editor Joe Murphy offers some fascinating insights into how the film was assembled (and what was left out), and composer Nathan Halpern places it in the context of other work he has done, such as his score for Chloé Zhao's The Rider.
In addition to this, there's 27 minutes of extra film: Mirabella-Davis' breakthrough short Knife Point,...
In addition to this, there's 27 minutes of extra film: Mirabella-Davis' breakthrough short Knife Point,...
- 11/23/2021
- by Jennie Kermode
- eyeforfilm.co.uk
There’s an iconic image of a director on set: active hands pointing where something goes, framing a shot, demonstrating a desired motion. You don’t have to look hard to find plenty of behind-the-scenes photos and footage of Justin Lin doing just that over the course of directing five of the “Fast and Furious” films — each a showcase for his distinct, often virtuoso ability to create both ballet and logic out the madness of cars racing, crashing, exploding, and flying at top speeds.
But the reality is no director, including Lin, can be on the ground conducting each element. In fact, while Lin was on a soundstage in the U.K. with Vin Diesel and the “F9” cast, stunt coordinator Spiro Razatos’ second unit squad was in Thailand shooting huge action sequences that traverse through a jungle minefield and then down the side of mountain and, eventually, off a cliff.
But the reality is no director, including Lin, can be on the ground conducting each element. In fact, while Lin was on a soundstage in the U.K. with Vin Diesel and the “F9” cast, stunt coordinator Spiro Razatos’ second unit squad was in Thailand shooting huge action sequences that traverse through a jungle minefield and then down the side of mountain and, eventually, off a cliff.
- 6/25/2021
- by Chris O'Falt
- Indiewire
Right from its opening shot — a 90-second oner (really multiple shots stitched together) that follows comedian Deborah Vance (Jean Smart) from behind as she walks backstage after finishing her Vegas stand-up routine — “Hacks” announces its filmmaking intentions. As the audience watches Deborah’s interactions and the way she moves through her surroundings, character is being defined by the use of the camera even before we see its star’s face.
When “Hacks” co-creator Lucia Aniello, who directed six of the 10 episodes in Season 1 (including the first three), was on the Filmmaker Toolkit podcast, she discussed how that opening shot served the purpose of establishing the myth of the fictional legendary comedian, but also establishing this was a half-hour series that had more than jokes on its mind.
“We made sure the camera felt, especially in the pilot, to have shots that mirrored what we wanted the audience to feel, especially for Deborah,...
When “Hacks” co-creator Lucia Aniello, who directed six of the 10 episodes in Season 1 (including the first three), was on the Filmmaker Toolkit podcast, she discussed how that opening shot served the purpose of establishing the myth of the fictional legendary comedian, but also establishing this was a half-hour series that had more than jokes on its mind.
“We made sure the camera felt, especially in the pilot, to have shots that mirrored what we wanted the audience to feel, especially for Deborah,...
- 6/22/2021
- by Chris O'Falt
- Indiewire
For “P-Valley” creator and showrunner Katori Hall, going to strip clubs was simply part of her Southern coming-of-age experience growing up in Memphis. When Hall was on the Filmmaker Toolkit podcast, she explained how those experiences were the polar opposite of how strip clubs are commonly portrayed in popular culture, especially in movies and television.
“You saw athletes on the pole, you didn’t see sad broken women,” Hall said. “And so, for me, that was like, ‘Boom, I know this an art form, and yet people don’t understand this particular art form comes from these Black women down in the South.’ It is this culture, it is this vibe, is truly something to be explored and discovered.”
Hall first creatively explored this side of stripping — especially how it can often be a source of economic freedom and self-expression — in her play of the same name (except the p-word...
“You saw athletes on the pole, you didn’t see sad broken women,” Hall said. “And so, for me, that was like, ‘Boom, I know this an art form, and yet people don’t understand this particular art form comes from these Black women down in the South.’ It is this culture, it is this vibe, is truly something to be explored and discovered.”
Hall first creatively explored this side of stripping — especially how it can often be a source of economic freedom and self-expression — in her play of the same name (except the p-word...
- 6/9/2021
- by Chris O'Falt
- Indiewire
Going into Season 2, the three “Pen15” co-creators, which includes the series’ two leads Anna Konkle and Maya Erskine, never really put their finger on how their Hulu series would change after becoming a surprise hit and critical darling.
“We wanted to evolve the show, but the conversation stopped with that,” said co-creator Sam Zvibleman, when he and Konkle were on the Filmmaker Toolkit Podcast. “None of us quite decided, or pointed to exactly what that meant.”
Some of the natural evolution came from the mining of the creators’ personal stories of their middle school years, like the exploration of Konkle’s parents getting divorced and her first bouts with depression at that age.
Another part of the series’ evolution came with Zvibleman directing all seven episodes of Season 2A.
While on the podcast, the director talked about a conscious effort, based on his experience directing the last four episodes of...
“We wanted to evolve the show, but the conversation stopped with that,” said co-creator Sam Zvibleman, when he and Konkle were on the Filmmaker Toolkit Podcast. “None of us quite decided, or pointed to exactly what that meant.”
Some of the natural evolution came from the mining of the creators’ personal stories of their middle school years, like the exploration of Konkle’s parents getting divorced and her first bouts with depression at that age.
Another part of the series’ evolution came with Zvibleman directing all seven episodes of Season 2A.
While on the podcast, the director talked about a conscious effort, based on his experience directing the last four episodes of...
- 6/2/2021
- by Chris O'Falt
- Indiewire
It’s one of the most important moments in the entire series, and a turning point episode for “I May Destroy You.” In Episode 8, Arabella (played by series creator Michaela Coel), after learning the police have hit a dead-end in identifying her rapist, feels the intense need to return to Italy — the place she found love and happiness prior to her sexual assault.
It was a key moment in the series that the star/creator had fully fleshed out with her costume designer Lynsey Moore. “In her mind, she needs to go back to who she was,” said Moore, when she was on the Filmmaker Toolkit podcast with director Sam Miller. “So she puts back on the [pink] wig from before, she puts on the same coat that we all know, and said, ‘This must be the answer, this is the thing I must do for my recovery.’”
What wasn’t fleshed out,...
It was a key moment in the series that the star/creator had fully fleshed out with her costume designer Lynsey Moore. “In her mind, she needs to go back to who she was,” said Moore, when she was on the Filmmaker Toolkit podcast with director Sam Miller. “So she puts back on the [pink] wig from before, she puts on the same coat that we all know, and said, ‘This must be the answer, this is the thing I must do for my recovery.’”
What wasn’t fleshed out,...
- 5/28/2021
- by Chris O'Falt
- Indiewire
When he premiered “Lovers Rock” — one chapter in his five-part anthology series “Small Axe” — at the 2020 New York Film Festival, Steve McQueen was surprised that so many in the audience were crying in reaction to his film about a 1979 house party.
“That was the amazing thing, that people responded and reacted to that in such an emotional way,” said McQueen. “It was a celebration of all the senses, and I think that was pretty amazing that abstraction of the narrative through color and movement could be celebrated in that way.”
When McQueen and his “Small Axe” cinematographer Shabier Kirchner were on the Toolkit podcast, the director gave his young Dp a great deal of the credit. According to McQueen, in the “Lovers Rock” script, whole dance sequences were given simple two-sentence descriptions. The key was creating a real mood and atmosphere on set with the ensemble cast, and then to let his young Dp rip.
“That was the amazing thing, that people responded and reacted to that in such an emotional way,” said McQueen. “It was a celebration of all the senses, and I think that was pretty amazing that abstraction of the narrative through color and movement could be celebrated in that way.”
When McQueen and his “Small Axe” cinematographer Shabier Kirchner were on the Toolkit podcast, the director gave his young Dp a great deal of the credit. According to McQueen, in the “Lovers Rock” script, whole dance sequences were given simple two-sentence descriptions. The key was creating a real mood and atmosphere on set with the ensemble cast, and then to let his young Dp rip.
- 5/21/2021
- by Chris O'Falt
- Indiewire
There are layers in the subversive storytelling of “Promising Young Woman.” While on the Filmmaker Toolkit podcast, director Emerald Fennell talked about how, like her protagonist Cassie (Carey Mulligan), she made specific choices to guide the viewer through her black comedy to its unexpected ending.
That applied to the film’s careful use of color, and Fennell’s collaboration with costume designer Nancy Steiner and production designer Michael Perry (who joins Fennell on the second half of the podcast). The DGA-nominated director also made it clear these were also colors and images she personally liked.
“I like ‘Sweet Valley High,’” Fennell said. “I like Paris Hilton, and I like Britney [Spears, making reference to older music videos], and I like pink. I think we still have a very specific idea of how serious things look, how serious people look, how they dress, how serious movies look — you know, wet streets, cigarette smoke, sort of a blue filter...
That applied to the film’s careful use of color, and Fennell’s collaboration with costume designer Nancy Steiner and production designer Michael Perry (who joins Fennell on the second half of the podcast). The DGA-nominated director also made it clear these were also colors and images she personally liked.
“I like ‘Sweet Valley High,’” Fennell said. “I like Paris Hilton, and I like Britney [Spears, making reference to older music videos], and I like pink. I think we still have a very specific idea of how serious things look, how serious people look, how they dress, how serious movies look — you know, wet streets, cigarette smoke, sort of a blue filter...
- 3/10/2021
- by Chris O'Falt
- Indiewire
“Minari” is, in many ways, an autobiographical film. Based on writer/director Lee Isaac Chung’s experience as the child of two Korean immigrants who up on an Arkansas family farm in the 1980s, the details of the film reflect Chung’s own upbringing. But as a piece of storytelling, the film is rooted more in memory than an attempt to document a specific time and place.
When Chung was recently on IndieWire’s Filmmaker Toolkit podcast, he discussed how he reached for a more impressionistic reverence as he tried to capture the feeling of what this world felt like as a child.
“I don’t think a realistic approach to this film would have really worked, because it is an act of remembrance,” said Chung. “So I tried to dig into that when it came to the production. … I thought it needed to take on the feeling of a fable,...
When Chung was recently on IndieWire’s Filmmaker Toolkit podcast, he discussed how he reached for a more impressionistic reverence as he tried to capture the feeling of what this world felt like as a child.
“I don’t think a realistic approach to this film would have really worked, because it is an act of remembrance,” said Chung. “So I tried to dig into that when it came to the production. … I thought it needed to take on the feeling of a fable,...
- 3/9/2021
- by Chris O'Falt
- Indiewire
What does it feel like when your relationship to the world around you unexpectedly and dramatically alters? It’s a question “Sound of Metal” writer/director Darius Marder had to think through at every step of the process of telling the story of Ruben (Riz Ahmed), a recovering addict and hardcore drummer who loses his hearing.
While on the Filmmaker Toolkit Podcast, Marder and Ahmed discussed how the key to tuning the audience into Ruben’s experience was to first create an immersive and realistic experience for the actor on set. “It all boils down to the same thing, which is veracity,” explained Marder. “When we look upon truth and we feel truth. … I think we recognize something fundamentally human when that happens.”
To prepare for the role, Ahmed learned American Sign Language (Asl) and how to drum. He even wore a custom device in his ears that emitted white noise,...
While on the Filmmaker Toolkit Podcast, Marder and Ahmed discussed how the key to tuning the audience into Ruben’s experience was to first create an immersive and realistic experience for the actor on set. “It all boils down to the same thing, which is veracity,” explained Marder. “When we look upon truth and we feel truth. … I think we recognize something fundamentally human when that happens.”
To prepare for the role, Ahmed learned American Sign Language (Asl) and how to drum. He even wore a custom device in his ears that emitted white noise,...
- 3/4/2021
- by Chris O'Falt
- Indiewire
In a 2018 interview for Criterion’s “Under the Influence” series, director Chloé Zhao broke down her appreciation of Terrence Malick’s 2005 “The New World.” The “Nomadland” director discussed how Malick’s spirituality, and how the viewer got sense of a bigger world beyond the characters and frame, came through in how he approached nature.
“The filmmaker’s curiosity of trying to talk about humanity through nature because it’s not just us and nature, we’re the same thing,” Zhao told Criterion about “The New World.” “And he’s really asking us to think that way in his filmmaking, and that dictates how he works with his actors and how his cinematography works.”
While she was on the Filmmaker Toolkit podcast to discuss her third feature film, the Oscar frontrunner “Nomadland,” IndieWire asked Zhao if her description of Malick doesn’t also apply to her own approach to story and filmmaking.
“The filmmaker’s curiosity of trying to talk about humanity through nature because it’s not just us and nature, we’re the same thing,” Zhao told Criterion about “The New World.” “And he’s really asking us to think that way in his filmmaking, and that dictates how he works with his actors and how his cinematography works.”
While she was on the Filmmaker Toolkit podcast to discuss her third feature film, the Oscar frontrunner “Nomadland,” IndieWire asked Zhao if her description of Malick doesn’t also apply to her own approach to story and filmmaking.
- 2/22/2021
- by Chris O'Falt
- Indiewire
There was something about that haunting melody of jazz legend Rahsaan Roland Kirk’s “The Inflated Tear” that spoke to director Shaka King. It just captured what he was reaching for with “Judas and the Black Messiah,” his film about Fred Hampton (Daniel Kaluuya) and informant William O’Neal (Lakeith Stanfield) who helped the FBI murder the Black Panther leader.
“I was bringing that song, ‘Inflated Tear,’ into pitch meetings,” said King when he was guest on the Filmmaker Toolkit podcast. “[Executive producer] Ryan [Coogler] was like, ‘You really want to play that for the studio?’”
King is very familiar with how off-putting Kirk’s screeching saxophone can be for some people. After one test screening, it was decided the track wouldn’t stay in the film unless it was warmed up with a contrabass clarinet. But King, initially, wasn’t bringing the track to distributors because he intended to actually use it in his film.
“I was bringing that song, ‘Inflated Tear,’ into pitch meetings,” said King when he was guest on the Filmmaker Toolkit podcast. “[Executive producer] Ryan [Coogler] was like, ‘You really want to play that for the studio?’”
King is very familiar with how off-putting Kirk’s screeching saxophone can be for some people. After one test screening, it was decided the track wouldn’t stay in the film unless it was warmed up with a contrabass clarinet. But King, initially, wasn’t bringing the track to distributors because he intended to actually use it in his film.
- 2/19/2021
- by Chris O'Falt
- Indiewire
Nominees for the Hollywood Music in Media Awards are being unveiled Friday, with a packed slate of songs and scores in film, TV and videogame categories. Names in contention range from Alexandre Desplat, James Newton Howard and Trent Reznor/Atticus Ross as returning veterans in the score divisions to stars like Taylor Swift, H.E.R., Brandi Carlile, Travis Scott, Haim and Janelle Monae as nominated songwriters for feature film themes.
Kenny Loggins has been tagged for the HMMAs; Career Achievement in Music honor, which has previously gone to figures including Diane Warren, Smokey Robinson and composer John Debney.
Loggins will perform on the livestreamed awards show, which has been set for 7 p.m. Pt on Jan. 27, to be webcast on the Hmma site in lieu of the traditional live ceremony (which last year took place at Avalon in Hollywood). He’ll be joined in the performance ranks by Andra Day, Rita Wilson,...
Kenny Loggins has been tagged for the HMMAs; Career Achievement in Music honor, which has previously gone to figures including Diane Warren, Smokey Robinson and composer John Debney.
Loggins will perform on the livestreamed awards show, which has been set for 7 p.m. Pt on Jan. 27, to be webcast on the Hmma site in lieu of the traditional live ceremony (which last year took place at Avalon in Hollywood). He’ll be joined in the performance ranks by Andra Day, Rita Wilson,...
- 1/15/2021
- by Chris Willman
- Variety Film + TV
The Sundance Film Festival’s 2021 virtual Main Street will play host to a series of conversations about music and the movies, hosted by first-time festival partner Film Music House, with Mary J. Blige, Rufus Wainwright and Colin Stetson (pictured above) among those taking part in the streamed chats Jan. 28 through Feb. 3.
Blige will join Nova Wav and DJ Camper in a conversation on songwriting for films. Wainwright will participate in a panel on the music of the film “Rebel Hearts” with veteran music supervisor Tracy McKnight and Ariel Marx. A panel about music auteurs will feature Stetson as well as Bryce Dessner of the National and Alex Somers.
The confab’s keynote conversations will spotlight Mychael Danna, Jeff Beal, Dan Romer, Miriam Cuter and Rob Simonsen.
The full lineup of names and times for Film Music House programs can be found on Sundance’s Village site, here.
Other programs include...
Blige will join Nova Wav and DJ Camper in a conversation on songwriting for films. Wainwright will participate in a panel on the music of the film “Rebel Hearts” with veteran music supervisor Tracy McKnight and Ariel Marx. A panel about music auteurs will feature Stetson as well as Bryce Dessner of the National and Alex Somers.
The confab’s keynote conversations will spotlight Mychael Danna, Jeff Beal, Dan Romer, Miriam Cuter and Rob Simonsen.
The full lineup of names and times for Film Music House programs can be found on Sundance’s Village site, here.
Other programs include...
- 1/14/2021
- by Chris Willman
- Variety Film + TV
‘Boys State’: How ‘Son of Saul’ Influenced the Documentary’s Up-Close Subjectivity — Toolkit Podcast
Since 1935, the American Legion has hosted Boys State, a week-long program in which high school juniors learn about civics by building their own state government. Teenage boys forming a mock government might sound like the definition of low-stakes drama, but the race for Boys State Texas governor, as captured in Amanda McBaine and Jesse Moss’ documentary, is every bit as intense and bare-knuckled as the real-life elections we just witnessed.
On IndieWire’s Toolkit Podcast, the “Boys State” co-directors talked about how they created a cinematic style to match that intensity.
“I’ve covered political campaigns as a filmmaker before,” said Moss. “And usually, you’re in the back of the room on a press raiser on a telephoto lens, and it feels very distant.”
That is decidedly not the case in “Boys State.” As you can see in the video essay below, even when McBaine and Moss’ star subject,...
On IndieWire’s Toolkit Podcast, the “Boys State” co-directors talked about how they created a cinematic style to match that intensity.
“I’ve covered political campaigns as a filmmaker before,” said Moss. “And usually, you’re in the back of the room on a press raiser on a telephoto lens, and it feels very distant.”
That is decidedly not the case in “Boys State.” As you can see in the video essay below, even when McBaine and Moss’ star subject,...
- 11/10/2020
- by Chris O'Falt
- Indiewire
Carlo Mirabella-Davis's Swallow is showing exclusively on Mubi in many countries starting October 31, 2020.I am profoundly honored to be introducing my film, Swallow, to the viewers of Mubi’s iconic programming. Swallow follows a woman in a controlling marriage who has pica, the urge to eat dangerous objects. I think of the movie as a tiramisu of genres: body horror, dark comedy, and a domestic drama all rolled into one. Swallow is a film that will frighten you, make you laugh, and make you cry, hopefully fostering a psychologically cathartic experience.The film was inspired by my grandmother, a 1950s homemaker who, as a response to a difficult marriage, developed various rituals of control. She was an obsessive hand washer who would go through four bars of soap a day and 12 bottles of sanitizing alcohol a week. I think she was looking for order in a life she felt increasingly powerless in.
- 10/30/2020
- MUBI
Editor’s Note: Nathan Halpern is the Emmy-nominated composer behind the scores for “The Rider,” the Oscar-nominated documentary feature “Minding the Gap,” “One Child Nation,” and many other award-winning and critically acclaimed documentaries and independent films. You can read his previous IndieWire essay about collaborating with Chloé Zhao on “The Rider” here.
From the beginning, director Carlo Mirabella-Davis was drawn to the idea that the music for “Swallow” would connect to mid-century Hollywood aesthetics, evoking what he called a “Douglas Sirk-ian kind of callback to the Hitchcock style of filmmaking.” At the same time, this film – set in the modern day – is not a retro exercise. The music needed to be in authentic dialogue with the psychological state of our lead character Hunter (Haley Bennett), whose complex emotional journey takes her to some unexpected places.
More from IndieWireWith Arthouse Shocker 'Swallow,' Haley Bennett Tackles the Feminine Mystique in...
From the beginning, director Carlo Mirabella-Davis was drawn to the idea that the music for “Swallow” would connect to mid-century Hollywood aesthetics, evoking what he called a “Douglas Sirk-ian kind of callback to the Hitchcock style of filmmaking.” At the same time, this film – set in the modern day – is not a retro exercise. The music needed to be in authentic dialogue with the psychological state of our lead character Hunter (Haley Bennett), whose complex emotional journey takes her to some unexpected places.
More from IndieWireWith Arthouse Shocker 'Swallow,' Haley Bennett Tackles the Feminine Mystique in...
- 4/2/2020
- by Nathan Halpern
- Indiewire
Featuring music from Nathan Halpern, Swallow is a film that’s bound to turn a few heads. In the film, a young housewife develops a habit of swallowing inedible, and oftentimes life-threatening, objects. Carlo Mirabella-Davis directs the flick, which stars Haley Bennett, and is currently on VOD. The soundtrack drops today, and we’re debuting an exclusive track. Swallow Soundtrack “Each film […]
The post Hear an Exclusive Track From the ‘Swallow’ Soundtrack appeared first on /Film.
The post Hear an Exclusive Track From the ‘Swallow’ Soundtrack appeared first on /Film.
- 3/27/2020
- by Chris Evangelista
- Slash Film
It’s been quite a year for composer Nathan Halpern. He had four films at last year’s Tribeca Film Festival—the feature-length documentaries After Parkland and One Child Nation and the narrative features Goldie and Swallow—and while he hasn’t slacked in his new output, all four of these projects have gone on to impressive post-festival activity. One Child Nation premiered at Sundance in 2019, and was acquired by Amazon Studios for a theatrical run in August; it’s now streaming on Amazon Prime. And three of the films are hitting theaters right now: After Parkland (directed by Emily Taguchi and Jake […]...
- 2/27/2020
- by Randy Astle
- Filmmaker Magazine - Blog
It’s been quite a year for composer Nathan Halpern. He had four films at last year’s Tribeca Film Festival—the feature-length documentaries After Parkland and One Child Nation and the narrative features Goldie and Swallow—and while he hasn’t slacked in his new output, all four of these projects have gone on to impressive post-festival activity. One Child Nation premiered at Sundance in 2019, and was acquired by Amazon Studios for a theatrical run in August; it’s now streaming on Amazon Prime. And three of the films are hitting theaters right now: After Parkland (directed by Emily Taguchi and Jake […]...
- 2/27/2020
- by Randy Astle
- Filmmaker Magazine-Director Interviews
Slick Woods plays the titular streetwise 18-year-old New Yorker in “Goldie,” a character who’s constantly running toward, or away, from things — a life of perpetual motion that doesn’t actually get her anywhere. In the confident hands of Dutch writer-director Sam de Jong, Goldie’s story is one of big dreams and harsh realities, and the difficulty in learning one’s limits. With vibrantly expressive aesthetics that match the energy of its defiant and distressed heroine, this impressive coming-of-age indie, simultaneously premiering in select theatrical markets and on-demand on Feb. 21,
Tattood, gap-toothed, scantily clad Goldie has grand music video ambitions. However, as evidenced by an early dance performance at the community center where she lives with her adolescent sisters Supreme (Jazmyn C Dorsey) and Sherri (Alanna Renee Tyler-Tompkins), as well as her mom Carol (Marsha Stephanie Blake) and her mom’s boyfriend Frank (Danny Hoch), her enthusiasm far outpaces her actual talent.
Tattood, gap-toothed, scantily clad Goldie has grand music video ambitions. However, as evidenced by an early dance performance at the community center where she lives with her adolescent sisters Supreme (Jazmyn C Dorsey) and Sherri (Alanna Renee Tyler-Tompkins), as well as her mom Carol (Marsha Stephanie Blake) and her mom’s boyfriend Frank (Danny Hoch), her enthusiasm far outpaces her actual talent.
- 2/22/2020
- by Nick Schager
- Variety Film + TV
One of the first decisions writer/director Lulu Wang and her cinematographer Anna Franquesa Solano had to make on the “The Farewell” is what aspect ratio they would use to compose shots of the film’s family ensemble, which is often gathered in the same room. When Wang was on IndieWire’s Filmmaker Toolkit podcast, she explained her initial instinct was to go with a narrower, taller frame that tended to be the choice for family drama films and that would also highlight the uniquely tall ceilings in her China locations.
“But then we came across this idea of shooting the family as you’d shoot a landscape because that’s really what it was, a landscape of a family,” said Wang. “[The way] to portray the family as a unit and still be close to their faces was to go wider.”
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The...
“But then we came across this idea of shooting the family as you’d shoot a landscape because that’s really what it was, a landscape of a family,” said Wang. “[The way] to portray the family as a unit and still be close to their faces was to go wider.”
Subscribe via Apple Podcasts to the Filmmaker Toolkit Podcast
The...
- 1/2/2020
- by Chris O'Falt
- Indiewire
When director Greta Gerwig introduces each of the four March sisters, at the beginning of her adaptation of Louisa May Alcott’s “Little Women,” each has already gone off in her own direction of adulthood. Even when the illness of the youngest sister Beth (Eliza Scanlen) brings them back home, the four sisters are never again reunited.
“They’re never all together again, not the four of them,” said Gerwig when she was a guest on IndieWire’s Filmmaker Toolkit podcast. “When I realized that about the book, once they are in their separate lives that’s it, I found that unbearably heartbreaking. I thought, ‘Oh, the thing you miss is already gone.'”
Gerwig plays with time in structuring her adaptation, starting with the sisters on their own in early adulthood, and then flashing back seven years to when they were living in the family home as teenagers. In essence,...
“They’re never all together again, not the four of them,” said Gerwig when she was a guest on IndieWire’s Filmmaker Toolkit podcast. “When I realized that about the book, once they are in their separate lives that’s it, I found that unbearably heartbreaking. I thought, ‘Oh, the thing you miss is already gone.'”
Gerwig plays with time in structuring her adaptation, starting with the sisters on their own in early adulthood, and then flashing back seven years to when they were living in the family home as teenagers. In essence,...
- 12/26/2019
- by Chris O'Falt
- Indiewire
Right on the first page of the script for “1917,” director Sam Mendes announced his cinematic intentions: “The following script takes place in real time, and – with the exception of one moment – is written and designed to be shot in one single continuous take.”
It’s a cool-sounding concept, but the difference between it being a gimmick versus an effective storytelling device required tremendous planning, a huge part of which rested on Mendes long-standing collaboration with cinematographer Roger Deakins. Deakins and Mendes were recently on IndieWire’s Filmmaker Toolkit podcast to discuss how they pulled it off.
“The big conversation with Roger really was about how the camera moved and when, and what determined its movement,” said Mendes. “Somehow we wanted the relationship between [the characters], the land and the camera to be this constantly evolving and flowing shape. And at the same time, we didn’t want the audience to think...
It’s a cool-sounding concept, but the difference between it being a gimmick versus an effective storytelling device required tremendous planning, a huge part of which rested on Mendes long-standing collaboration with cinematographer Roger Deakins. Deakins and Mendes were recently on IndieWire’s Filmmaker Toolkit podcast to discuss how they pulled it off.
“The big conversation with Roger really was about how the camera moved and when, and what determined its movement,” said Mendes. “Somehow we wanted the relationship between [the characters], the land and the camera to be this constantly evolving and flowing shape. And at the same time, we didn’t want the audience to think...
- 12/23/2019
- by Chris O'Falt
- Indiewire
Quentin Tarantino’s collaboration with his “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood” cinematographer Robert Richardson started on “Kill Bill,” but it didn’t begin in the most conventional way. With “Kill Bill” Tarantino was referencing four distinct aesthetic styles of filmmaking: Shaw Brothers kung fu, pulpy 1970s samurai films, Japanese anime, and Spaghetti Westerns. When Tarantino was on IndieWire’s Filmmaker Toolkit podcast along with Richardson, he explained that he wanted to take a different approach to how he handled the film’s various styles.
“Initially putting the idea together in my mind, I had a whole hodgepodge idea of the movie [of] compartmentalizing the whole damn thing,” said Tarantino. “I even had an idea of hiring four composers to do different sections, nobody was into that idea. [Laughs] And at first I had the idea of hiring two different cinematographers and then I did.”
Tarantino hired Hong Kong cinematographer Arthur Wong...
“Initially putting the idea together in my mind, I had a whole hodgepodge idea of the movie [of] compartmentalizing the whole damn thing,” said Tarantino. “I even had an idea of hiring four composers to do different sections, nobody was into that idea. [Laughs] And at first I had the idea of hiring two different cinematographers and then I did.”
Tarantino hired Hong Kong cinematographer Arthur Wong...
- 12/20/2019
- by Chris O'Falt
- Indiewire
[Editor’s note: This post and podcast contain spoilers for Rian Johnson’s “Knives Out.”]
Filmmaker Rian Johnson grew up reading and watching Agatha Christie-style mysteries. With his “Knives Out,” he wanted to translate his love of the whodunit in the form of a modern update, but he also went into the creative process fully aware of some of the inherent flaws and difficulties with the genre itself.
“As much as I love Agatha Christie’s books, in a lot of them there does hit a point about three-quarters of the way through where you start to flag,” said Johnson when he was a guest on the Filmmaker Toolkit podcast. “And you start to feel like, ‘Ah, yeah, okay, we just keep gathering clues, I’m never going to guess this. Let’s just get to the point where the detective gives me the solution.'”
Hitchcock, who hated the whodunit, defined this problem as the difference between audience surprise versus what he did,...
Filmmaker Rian Johnson grew up reading and watching Agatha Christie-style mysteries. With his “Knives Out,” he wanted to translate his love of the whodunit in the form of a modern update, but he also went into the creative process fully aware of some of the inherent flaws and difficulties with the genre itself.
“As much as I love Agatha Christie’s books, in a lot of them there does hit a point about three-quarters of the way through where you start to flag,” said Johnson when he was a guest on the Filmmaker Toolkit podcast. “And you start to feel like, ‘Ah, yeah, okay, we just keep gathering clues, I’m never going to guess this. Let’s just get to the point where the detective gives me the solution.'”
Hitchcock, who hated the whodunit, defined this problem as the difference between audience surprise versus what he did,...
- 12/5/2019
- by Chris O'Falt
- Indiewire
Noah Baumbach knew his tenth feature film, “Marriage Story,” would need a different visual language than his previous work. While writing the script, he envisioned using close-ups in a way he hadn’t before. While previous Baumbach efforts like “Greenberg” and “Frances Ha” have distinct cinematic approaches, the filmmaker has typically filmed his characters in wider shots to capture their surroundings.
“One way to look at it is a character who’s sort of lost in their environment,” Baumbach said. “I always felt it was important to see the world around them. So there aren’t a lot of close-ups in those movies, or when we do you use close-ups it tends to be at a very particular moment.”
For “Marriage Story,” Baumbach wanted to focus more directly on the interior lives of stars Scarlett Johansson and Adam Driver, who play a couple going through a painful divorce. Baumbach and...
“One way to look at it is a character who’s sort of lost in their environment,” Baumbach said. “I always felt it was important to see the world around them. So there aren’t a lot of close-ups in those movies, or when we do you use close-ups it tends to be at a very particular moment.”
For “Marriage Story,” Baumbach wanted to focus more directly on the interior lives of stars Scarlett Johansson and Adam Driver, who play a couple going through a painful divorce. Baumbach and...
- 11/15/2019
- by Chris O'Falt
- Indiewire
Being pregnant with her son affected how documentary filmmaker Nanfu Wang saw the world — particularly the One Child Policy she knew while growing up in China. From 1979 to 2015, the government only allowed families one offspring.
“It was that sense of protection, and fear that anything bad would happen to him, made me start thinking about the One Child Policy, and the women and children,” said “One Child Nation” director Wang, when she was guest on IndieWire’s Filmmaker Toolkit podcast. “I couldn’t imagine living under that kind of fear, as a woman not knowing if you can protect your child, whether during pregnancy or after it was born, what that would be like.”
Wang started asking her mother and the women of her generation what they experienced. She returned to her village with her baby boy to interview family members and neighbors. She started to uncover stories of forced abortions,...
“It was that sense of protection, and fear that anything bad would happen to him, made me start thinking about the One Child Policy, and the women and children,” said “One Child Nation” director Wang, when she was guest on IndieWire’s Filmmaker Toolkit podcast. “I couldn’t imagine living under that kind of fear, as a woman not knowing if you can protect your child, whether during pregnancy or after it was born, what that would be like.”
Wang started asking her mother and the women of her generation what they experienced. She returned to her village with her baby boy to interview family members and neighbors. She started to uncover stories of forced abortions,...
- 11/12/2019
- by Chris O'Falt
- Indiewire
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