Authors — Daniel Eagan
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“I Believe My Instinct”: Tony Leung and Ildikó Enyedi on Silent Friend
The Hong Kong actor Tony Leung Chiu-wai has worked with some of cinema’s most accomplished directors. Known for his collaborations with Wong Kar-wai and John Woo, Leung has also appeared in films by Johnnie To, Hou Hsiao-hsien, Ang Lee, and Zhang Yimou. Most recently, he appeared in Hungarian filmmaker Ildikó Enyedi’s Silent Friend, which finds characters interacting with a single German ginkgo tree in three disparate years: 1908, 1972, and 2020. Leung plays a neuroscientist during the final third, whose research on newborn brain activity is halted by the COVID-19 pandemic. During this professional sojourn, he becomes fond of the […]
by Daniel Eagan on May 12, 2026 -
“The Scorpion Doesn’t Die”: Japanese Actress Meiko Kaji on Her 60-Year Career
Starting in the 1970s, Meiko Kaji tore through the Japanese film industry, delivering iconic performances that resonate to this day. Few performers commanded the screen with her authority. Kaji played delinquents, gang bosses, daughters sold into slavery, unrepentant killers—characters far outside societal norms. Through them all she was an implacable force, seeking vengeance and delivering retribution in a world of corrupt, perverse men. For the next 60 years, Kaji battled for her place in cinema, switching studios, working freelance, collaborating with novice directors, working in television and pop music when necessary. Kaji visited New York for the first time in […]
by Daniel Eagan on Apr 8, 2026 -
DP Lukasz Zal on “Hamnet”
A tutor and a free spirit fall in love in sixteenth-century Stratford, but then Will (Paul Mescal) leaves Agnes (Jesse Buckley) for London while she raises their three children. Tragedy threatens to split them apart until Agnes sees her husband’s latest play, Hamlet. Based on the best-selling novel by Maggie O’Farrell, Hamnet has been earning praise since it screened at Telluride in August. Chloé Zhao’s direction, and performances by leads Jessie Buckley and Paul Mescal, have drawn particular attention. But Hamnet has a distinctive atmosphere that sets it apart from many of this year’s releases. That look and feel is […]
by Daniel Eagan on Dec 18, 2025 -
Liz Garbus on Non-Fiction Filmmaking
Liz Garbus broke into documentary features with The Farm: Angola, USA, an unnerving portrait of the notorious Louisiana prison. Made when Garbus was 24, it looks eerily prescient today. Garbus has since directed a string of influential works covering the spectrum of the documentary genre. Gone Girls: The Long Island Serial Killer used the Gilgo Beach serial killings to uncover police corruption in Suffolk Country. What Happened, Miss Simone?, a wide-ranging look at Nina Simone, won Emmy and Peabody awards. All In: The Fight for Democracy tackled voter suppression. She’s explored shorts, features and series for every available platform, from […]
by Daniel Eagan on Dec 15, 2025 -
“Film No Longer Has the Texture I Was Looking For…”: DP Phedon Papamichael on Shooting A Complete Unknown
The five years between Bob Dylan’s arrival in New York and his performance at the 1965 Newport Folk Festival marked a huge shift in popular culture. It wasn’t just the songs Dylan wrote and performed. The politics he espoused, relationships he formed, causes he endorsed, even the clothes he wore were critiqued and copied by a growing number of acolytes and fans. Dylan helped shape the culture in ways few other artists could match. Based in part on Elijah Wald’s book Dylan Goes Electric!, director James Mangold’s A Complete Unknown follows Dylan as he finds and develops a voice and […]
by Daniel Eagan on Dec 25, 2024 -
“I Keep My Local 600 Card So I Can Operate”: Rachel Morrison on The Fire Inside
When she competed in the 2012 Summer Olympics, Claressa Shields became the first American woman to win a gold medal in boxing. It was the culmination of a lifelong struggle to make her way as a fighter. Growing up on the edge of poverty in Flint, Michigan, Shields trained with coach Jason Crutchfield in a long-term collaboration. Nicknamed “T-Rex” for her short arm span, she was the subject of the 2015 documentary T-Rex: Her Fight for Gold. In 2019, Oscar-nominated cinematographer Rachel Morrison chose a project about Shields for her feature directing debut. Working from a script by Barry Jenkins, […]
by Daniel Eagan on Dec 20, 2024 -
17 Soundstages and 750 Crew Members: DP Alice Brooks on Wicked
Drawing on a huge fanbase, the screen adaptation of Wicked has helped revitalize the year-end theatrical box office. Director Jon M. Chu’s Wicked builds on its Broadway pedigree by casting Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande as Elphaba and Galinda/Glinda, frenemies who are summoned to the Emerald City by the Wizard of Oz (Jeff Goldblum). Wicked unfolds on a massive scale that can feel overwhelming. Nine million tulips were planted for an exterior scene. One set encompassed two soundstages with the wall between them removed. The score by Stephen Schwartz and John Powell was performed by an eighty-member orchestra. Finding intimate, […]
by Daniel Eagan on Dec 13, 2024 -
“Transitioning From Digital Back to Film”: DP Ed Lachman on Maria
For years the object of cult devotion, Maria Callas went from a dazzling career as a soprano to international celebrity, a figure of relentless scrutiny even after she lapsed into silence. Maria continues director Pablo Larraín’s fascination with larger-than-life figures like Jacqueline Onassis (Jackie) and Princess Diana (Spencer). Here, Angelina Jolie takes on the role of Callas, seen over several years of her life in Europe and the United States. Larraín’s kaleidoscopic approach jumps among timelines and locations, assembling a character from moments large and small. Although we see glimpses of Callas’s successes on stage, Steven Knight’s screenplay primarily takes […]
by Daniel Eagan on Dec 10, 2024 -
“I Thought Maybe Directors Have This Magical Thing Where They Can Judge a Performance”: DP Rodrigo Prieto on his Directorial Debut, Pedro Páramo
Based on the novel by Juan Rulfo, a key work in Mexican literature, Rodrigo Prieto’s Pedro Páramo follows several characters across decades as they search for answers to their lives. The story unfolds in arid villages and lush haciendas, against a backdrop of feudal aristocracy and a powerful Catholic church. First seen at a crossroads in a desolate landscape, Juan Preciado (Tenoch Huerta) sets out to keep a promise to reconnect with his estranged father Pedro Páramo (Manuel Garcia-Rulfo). In his journey Juan encounters others who have dealt with his father: criminals, priests, the deaf and blind, and above all, […]
by Daniel Eagan on Nov 26, 2024 -
“We Needed to Steer the Film to a Place Where It Wasn’t a Biopic”: Cinematographer Turned Director Ellen Kuras on Her Kate Winslet-Starring Lee
For years filmmakers have tried to tell Lee Miller’s story. Famous first as a model for artists like Man Ray, then as a fashion photographer, Miller became a war correspondent during World War II. She captured some of the most iconic images of her time, from views of Hitler’s life to the horrors of concentration camps. For her feature debut as a director, Ellen Kuras was determined not to fall into standard biopic conventions. Starting from a book of Miller’s photographs, she collaborated with star and producer Kate Winslet and writers Marian Hume, Liz Hannah, and John Collee to find […]
by Daniel Eagan on Sep 28, 2024
