Authors — Scott Macaulay
-
Five Questions for Do I Sound Gay? Director David Thorpe
In 2014 it would seem there are few societal taboos left for cinema to explore, but journalist-turned-director David Thorpe has found one with his debut documentary, Do I Sound Gay? Exploring, historically and personally, “the gay voice,” Thorpe listens to himself and others to find out why many gay men wish they sounded like someone else. Columnist Dan Savage, Star Trek’s George Takei and comedian Margaret Cho all make appearances in a film that seeks not so much to shatter stereotypes as explore the complex meanings behind them. Do I Sound Gay? premieres in the Toronto International Film Festival’s Mavericks […]
by Scott Macaulay on Sep 7, 2014 -
Five Questions for Pawn Sacrifice Director Ed Zwick
The “Match of the Century” — the 1972 chess tournament between American master Bobby Fischer and Russian star Boris Spassky — is brought to life in Pawn Sacrifice, the latest drama from director Ed Zwick (The Last Samurai, Legends of the Fall). Detailing not just the history of the event but the emotions, psychologies and even paranoias of its principal players, the film casts two great actors — Tobey Maguire and Liev Schreiber — in a picture not just about the sport of chess but also the Cold War rivalries of the time. Indeed, Pawn Sacrifice premieres at a time […]
by Scott Macaulay on Sep 7, 2014 -
Five Questions for The Reach Director Jean-Baptiste Leonetti
After screening his debut feature, Carre Blanc, at the Toronto International Film Festival in 2011, French director Jean-Baptiste Leonetti returns to the festival to world premiere his latest, The Reach. Described as a cat-and-mouse thriller about a corporate shark and the young guide he hires for a hunting trip across the Mojave desert, it stars Michael Douglas, whose capacity for embodying and, through his performances, critiquing American greed is unquestioned. Below we ask Leonetti about Douglas, maintaining tension in a two-hander, and the differences between French filmmaking and American. Filmmaker: In both this film as well as Carre Blanc, class […]
by Scott Macaulay on Sep 6, 2014 -
Five Questions for Spring Directors Justin Benson and Aaron Moorhead
“Before Sunrise with a supernatural twist” is how Toronto programmer Colin Geddes preps us for Spring, the second co-directed feature by Justin Benson and Aaron Moorhead. In their earlier Resolution, the two explored themes of friendship and substance abuse within a twisty, ironic horror narrative. Here, as Geddes indicates, they decamp for abroad, settling their film in Italy where a young American traveler (Lou Pucci) falls for a beautiful German woman (Nadia Hilker). A (“terror”) romance follows. Below, we talk to the two directors about shooting abroad and trying to stay original when working within the horror genre. Spring has […]
by Scott Macaulay on Sep 5, 2014 -
Five Questions for The Yes Men Are Revolting Director Laura Nix
Five years after political superheroes the Yes Men (Andy Bichlbaum and Mike Bonnano) made everything all right in The Yes Men Fix the World, our planet seems pretty screwed up again. So, once more the two hit the airwaves, corporate board rooms and tabloid front pages in The Yes Men Are Revolting, directing their activist wit towards the issue of climate change. Along the way, they are joined by Laura Nix, who produced the previous film and this time directs alongside them both. Nix’s directing credits include The Politics of Fur and The Light in Her Eyes, and below she […]
by Scott Macaulay on Sep 5, 2014 -
Sunshine Superman Director Marah Strauch on BASE Jumping, Interview Technique and Recreations as an Imaginative Space
Piling off cliffs and from airplanes, locking arms in the air or tumbling singly, the divers in Marah Strauch’s compelling documentary, Sunshine Superman, are simply hypnotic to watch. Seen mostly in archival footage culled from 250 hours of material, their forms take on a near-abstract quality — a quality that seduced first-time director Strauch to transition from experimental installation art work to documentary film. Her long-in-the-works Sunshine Superman, about pioneering BASE jumper Carl Boenish (he coined the acronym, which stands for building, antennae, span and earth) and his wife Jean, is a mixture of love story, human mystery and extreme […]
by Scott Macaulay on Sep 4, 2014 -
Are Too Many People Calling Themselves Storytellers?
Award-winning designer Stefan Sagmeister blasts the current co-option of the label “storyteller” in this provocative video. If you’re a novelist or filmmaker then, yes, Sagmeister says, you are a storyteller. But if you’re, for example, a roller coaster designer, then, he says, “No, fuckhead, you are not a storyteller!” Sagmeister’s absolutist stance has angered quite a few — check out the video’s comments thread. From my point of view, storytelling is as much a practice as job title. I think it’s possible to apply an understanding and embrace of narrative in multiple fields, not just writing and film. And if […]
by Scott Macaulay on Aug 24, 2014 -
Can Makeup Become Electronic? Projection Mapping a Model’s Face
We know that electronic actors are on the horizon, but what about electronic makeup? Technical producer and director Nobumichi Asai has projection mapped on buildings, cars and other physical objects, but in this concept video he maps in real time onto the human face. Writes Chris Davies at Slashgear: It’s the incredible handiwork of a team led by Nobumichi Asai, which brings together digital designers, CGI experts, and make-up artists. Combined, they create what seems to be the electronic equivalent of makeup. Technical details are scant at this stage, unfortunately. Judging by the video, however, there’s an initial scanning stage […]
by Scott Macaulay on Aug 24, 2014 -
Trailer Watch: Giuseppe Makes a Movie (Red Band)
From Cinelicious Pics comes this trailer for Adam Rifkin’s Giuseppe Makes a Movie, a portrait of the Ventura, CA-based no-budget cult filmmaker Guiseppe Andrews. Rifkin has known Andrews for 15 years, back from the days of Detroit Rock City, Said Rifkin to Filmmaker‘s Lauren Wissot, “This shy and respectful kid started cranking out no-budget films one after another, and every one of them was unlike anything I had ever seen before. I’m really hard to shock and these were crazy. Insane. But not a forced, ‘hipster trying to be weird for weird sake,’ kind of insane – these were genuine […]
by Scott Macaulay on Aug 18, 2014 -
How Do You Show a Text Message in a Film?
Not too long ago I was asked to read a script, and when I finished I had one question: what year was this script set in? I wondered because the whole script revolved around people in different cities being completely unable to communicate with each other, to know what was going on in each other’s lives. Yep, this present-day film took place in a world where mobile phones had not been invented. You’d be surprised at how often screenwriters ignore today’s modern means of communication. And not just phones — in order to be truly contemporary, filmmakers must incorporate text […]
by Scott Macaulay on Aug 15, 2014
