Authors — Scott Macaulay
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Positive Trauma: Editor Mathilde Bonnefoy on CITIZENFOUR
Paris-born editor Mathilde Bonnefoy has criss-crossed documentary and fiction, working with directors such as Wim Wenders (The Soul of a Man) and, most prominently, Tom Tykwer. Her first feature editing credit is the director’s time-bending international hit Run Lola Run, and she has continued to work with Tykwer on Heaven, Three and The International, among others. Long based in Berlin, Bonnefoy, as she relates below, was sought after by Poitras because of her work on Tykwer’s films and the “thriller” nature of CITIZENFOUR’s source material. Below, in the final days of post-production, I speak to Bonnefoy about encrypted workflows, working […]
by Scott Macaulay on Oct 20, 2014 -
Digital Tableaux: Cinematographer Dick Pope on Mr. Turner
“Turner was progressive,” says cinematographer Dick Pope. “He was not a Luddite. He was very forward-looking. And if he was making the decision today, whether to shoot on film or digital, with all the tools and control of the palette [digital] offers, Mike and I felt that he would choose digital.” “Mike,” of course, is Mike Leigh, and “Turner” is J.M.W. Turner, the 19th-century painter of roiling seas and fiery vistas containing a near-religious quality of apocalypse. Together, Leigh and Pope have made Mr. Turner, a rare artist biopic that imbues within its visual strategies a sense of its subject’s […]
by Scott Macaulay on Oct 20, 2014 -
Parting Shot
When it came time for writer/director Zachary Wigon to cast the mysterious heartbreaker of his cyber-age romantic thriller The Heart Machine, he immediately looked not to one of the current crop of chirpy uptalkers but to an actress who has brought an unusual gravity and intensity to several distinguished recent independent films, Kate Lyn Sheil. In Wigon’s picture, Sheil is the IP address-obscured object of desire, playing a geolocational game of hide-and-seek with a hipster Harry Caul, played by John Gallagher Jr. Of whether the film’s virtual romance (the couple fall for each other via Skype) is “real,” she told […]
by Scott Macaulay on Oct 20, 2014 -
Afternoon Smackdown: Pre-Vis’ing a Fight Scene
Action cinematographer Lawrence Ribeiro forwards this short video of an afternoon’s work — literally. Below, he explains how, with a camera and two top stuntmen, he can mock-up a dynamic fight scene. From Ribeiro: Here’s a chase and fight sequence we shot, in five hours, using two top stunt professionals and one camera. In 2nd unit, we’d consider this type of shooting a level above pre-visualization (previs). Previs is a critical tool for designing action sequences. Sometimes all a script will say is, “…and they fight.” So videos like this allow us to experiment with choreography, and save time and […]
by Scott Macaulay on Oct 19, 2014 -
See No Evil 2 Directors The Soska Sisters on Collaborative Directing
In the upcoming issue of Filmmaker, Esther Robinson writes about directors who work in pairs. Robinson’s focus is on how two directors is better than one when it comes to navigating the development and financial aspects of being a director, and she surveys a number of them on how they structure their work. But then there’s the also the basic question: how do they actually do it? Is everything discussed jointly? Does one talk to the actors and the other direct the camera? Is one more dominant in production and the other in post? In this short clip, Jen and […]
by Scott Macaulay on Oct 17, 2014 -
Five Questions for St. Vincent Writer/Director Ted Melfi
With his debut feature, St. Vincent, Ted Melfi may seem like one of those out-of-nowhere independent sensations that pops on the scene a few times a year. But as he explains in the interview below, he has actually been behind the camera for years — shooting all styles of commercials and music videos — and has been producing independent films for even longer. (And, as he further explains, all those out-of-nowhere people — they didn’t come from nowhere either.) For St. Vincent, Melfi drew on his own family experiences — and star Bill Murray’s unique mixture of irreverence and poignancy […]
by Scott Macaulay on Oct 17, 2014 -
“We’re Doing All the President’s Men, and Then We’re Doing The Parallax View“: Michael Cuesta on Kill the Messenger
Although it is a ’90s-set story dealing with an ‘80s political cover-up, Michael Cuesta’s Kill the Messenger, the true story of journalist Gary Webb, couldn’t be more of the moment. When filmmaker Laura Poitras is documenting the work of a new breed of crusading journalists, it’s enlightening to revisit the work of a writer like Webb and to remember the opposition he faced from not only the U.S. government but his fellow scribes in the mainstream press. In Kill the Messenger, Jeremy Renner delivers a quietly gripping turn as the San Jose Mercury News reporter who comes across information revealing […]
by Scott Macaulay on Oct 15, 2014 -
Little Accidents Director Sara Colangelo Wins Tangerine Juice Award at the Hamptons
Congratulations to Filmmaker 25 New Face Sara Colangelo, who was awarded today the Tangerine Juice Award at the Hamptons International Film Festival. Created to honor a female first- or second-time narrative feature director, the prize comes with $1,000 cash and five hours of consultation with Tangerine Entertainment. Starring Elizabeth Banks, Boyd Holbrook and Chloe Sevigny, Little Accidents is a drama set in the aftermath of the disappearance of a teenager in a small American coal-mining town. It premiered at Sundance 2014 and will be released by Amplify. “The competition for our award was tough this year,” said Tangerine co-founder Anne […]
by Scott Macaulay on Oct 11, 2014 -
Trailer Watch: I’m Not Patrick
Independent publisher Two Dollar Radio recently launched a microbudget filmmaking arm, and tonight they’ve dropped their first trailer. I’m Not Patrick is a black comedy about teen suicide directed by the press’s founder, Eric Obenauf. Watch the trailer above. Below is an excerpt of the press release from this Ohio-based publisher. I’m Not Patrick is a black comedy that follows Seth, a teenager whose twin brother, Patrick, has suddenly, tragically, committed suicide. Seth doesn’t know how to react, but everyone is eager to suggest what they imagine to be typical reactions to monozygotic suicide. Whether it’s the rival twins’ landscaping […]
by Scott Macaulay on Oct 8, 2014 -
Trailer Watch: Paul Thomas Anderson’s Inherent Vice
Paisley, mutton chops and “It’s a Wonderful World” — here’s the brand new trailer for Paul Thomas Anderson’s eagerly awaited Inherent Vice, adapted from Thomas Pynchon’s novel. Joaquin Phoenix, Benicio del Toro, Katherine Waterston, Owen Wilson and Reese Witherspoon all star in PTA/Pynchon’s woozy comedy about the end of the ’60s.
by Scott Macaulay on Sep 29, 2014
