Authors — Scott Macaulay
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At Sundance Producers Brunch, Mark and Jay Duplass Offer Ten Pieces of Advice for Making Movies Today
Keynote speakers at today’s Producers Brunch at the Sundance Film Festival, independent powerhouses Jay and Mark Duplass issued a passionate and witty call to all the producers in the jam-packed house: keep making small movies. At an event that saw their own producing partner, Stephanie Langhoff, receive the Sundance Institute Red Crown Producers Award, they told producers to learn from their own decision to stay invested in the independent sector after receiving a measure of larger Hollywood success. Along with Sundance Dramatic Competition entry The Bronze, which Langhoff produced, the Duplass Brothers have, as executive producers,two other productions at the […]
by Scott Macaulay on Jan 25, 2015 -
Michael Almereyda on His Sundance Premiere, Experimenter
A happy surprise in the Premiere section of the 2015 Sundance Film Festival is a new feature from the prolific independent filmmaker Michael Almereyda. And yes, while Almereyda always seems to be releasing striking and important work, his new feature, Experimenter, does count as a surprise because in recent years that work has been mostly short films and documentary essay films. (One, the excellent Sundance winner Skinningrove, can be watched here.) Now, with Experimenter premiering at Sundance and the new Shakespeare-themed feature Anarchy, starring Ethan Hawke, opening soon, Almereyeda is seeing two theatrical releases in as many weeks — a […]
by Scott Macaulay on Jan 25, 2015 -
Adam Salky On His Sarah Silverman-Starring Sundance Addiction Drama, I Smile Back
Based on Amy Koppelman’s book published by the independent press Two Dollar Radio — a book depicting the destructive despair of a housewife spiraling into drugs and bad sex — I Smile Back is being touted here at Sundance as the feature dramatic debut of Sarah Silverman, the comedian whose shocking riffs are always delivered with an unnerving sweetness and sexy demeanor. Attempting to channel — or perhaps remold — Silverman’s persona to the demands of the novel (adapted by Koppelman and Paige Dylan) is Adam Salky, who returns to Sundance following his debut picture, Dare. I Smile Back premieres […]
by Scott Macaulay on Jan 25, 2015 -
Cinematographer Laela Kilbourn on Shooting Sundance Competition Doc, How to Dance in Ohio
With documentary credits such as Magic Camp, My Brooklyn and Word Wars, cinematographer Laela Kilbourn entered Alexandra Shiva’s How to Dance in Ohio with a specific challenge, which she discusses below: to sensitively film without disrupting teens and young adults with autism. How to Dance in Ohio is a film following three teenage girls as they prepare for one pivotal rite of youth passage through three months of practice, rehearsal and therapy. Below, Kilbourn discusses Canon cameras, lighting for trust and more. How to Dance in Ohio premieres in the Documentary Competition of the Sundance Film Festival on Sunday, January […]
by Scott Macaulay on Jan 25, 2015 -
Five Questions for Western Directors Bill and Turner Ross
“Ravishing cinema verite” is how the Sundance catalog describes the work of Bill and Turner Ross, whose elegiac American portraits crackle with a lovely lo-fi buzz. Following their New Orleans-set music travelogue Tchoupitoulas, the brothers immerse themselves here in Western within a world considerably tougher — two towns on either side of the Mexican border grappling with the sudden onslaught of cartel violence. Below, we ask them about incorporating that criminal storyline into their film and sticking with the same camera for three pictures. Western premieres today in the Documentary Competition of the Sundance Film Festival. Filmmaker: Your documentaries have […]
by Scott Macaulay on Jan 25, 2015 -
Writer/Director Jon Watts on His Sundance Midnight Premiere, Cop Car
From set, the production executive was on the phone. “There are 10-year-olds saying the word ‘motherfucker!’ she said with concern. Would an “R” rating still ensue? None of us were sure, but we spent plenty of time on conference calls with lawyers trying to figure it out. So, then, when writer/director Jon Watts says below that ten-year-olds saying “the f-word… is a really big deal,” I know what he’s talking about. I haven’t seen Cop Car yet, so I don’t know whether his tyro f-bombs made the final cut. Regardless, though, I love adult movies about kids that are really […]
by Scott Macaulay on Jan 24, 2015 -
Cinematographer Daniel Patterson on Shooting Shaka King’s Sundance Short, Mulignans
Returning to work again with director Shaka King (Newlyweeds) is cinematographer Daniel Patterson, who lenses the director’s Sundance short, Mulignans. Mulignans? From the Sundance catalog: mulignan(s) /moo.lin.yan(s)/ n. 1. Italian-American slang for a black man. Derived from Italian dialect word for “eggplant.” See also: moolie. Source: Urban Dictionary and pretty much every mob movie ever. Called “four minutes of biting, vicious satire” by Filmmaker‘s Sarah Salovaara, Muligans was shot in one day and is one long scene. Below, Patterson discusses how he made that happen. Filmmaker: How and why did you wind up being the cinematographer of your film? What […]
by Scott Macaulay on Jan 24, 2015 -
Five Questions for Writer/Directors Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck about their Sundance Premiere, Mississippi Grind
Appearing in Filmmaker‘s 25 New Faces list back in 2004 after their home run of a short, Gowanus, Brooklyn, Ryan Fleck and Anna Boden have had what, from the outside, looks like one of the steadiest careers in American independent film. While others from that list struggle to make their second or third films, Boden and Fleck have moved from feature to feature, first turning that short into a well-received debut starring Ryan Gosling (Half Nelson), essaying the life of an immigrant baseball player in Sugar for HBO; and then adapting Ned Vizzini’s acclaimed memoir It’s Kind of a Funny […]
by Scott Macaulay on Jan 24, 2015 -
Cinematographer Nick Bentgen on Shooting Matt Wolf’s Sundance Short, It’s Me, Hilary: The Man Who Drew Eloise
Following 2013’s Teenage, cinematographer Nick Bentgen reteams with director Matt Wolf for a short film about the man behind the look of one of children’s literature’s most-loved characters, Eloise. It’s Me, Hilary: The Man Who Drew Eloise is a portrait of Hilary Knight, whose sharp line drawings visualized for generations the Plaza Hotel-dwelling young girl introduced in Kay Thompson’s books. Executive produced by Lena Dunham and Jenni Konner of Girls, the short film will premiere on HBO in March but receives its festival launch at Sundance on January 24. Here, Bentgen, who directed Northern Lights and shot Ballet 242 and […]
by Scott Macaulay on Jan 24, 2015 -
Cinematographer Thaddeus Wadleigh on Shooting Kirby Dick’s Sundance Film, The Hunting Ground
Cinematographer Thaddeus Wadleigh and director Kirby Dick have previously collaborated on seminal and important non-fiction films that directed attention and effectuated change with regards to controversial social issues. Outrage in 2009 looked at gay politicians who vote anti-gay legislation. The Invisible War (2012) tore open the discussion of rape in the military. Their latest, The Hunting Ground, looks at the especially timely issue of campus rape and its coverup. In our interview below, Wadleigh — who is co-credited on this new film and on The Invisible War with Kristin Johnson — talks about the specific challenges of shooting a film […]
by Scott Macaulay on Jan 23, 2015
