Columns
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“The Movie is Set 100% Outside”: DP Jo Willems on Shooting “The Long Walk” Completely in Sequence
Though 1974’s Carrie marked Stephen King’s first published novel, The Long Walks holds the distinction of being the earliest opus penned by the horror author. The story of a contest in which 100 teenagers march until only one is left alive, King began The Long Walk as a college freshman at the University of Maine in the late 1960s amid the Vietnam War and the looming threat of its televised draft. He submitted the story to a Random House contest for new novelists, but received only a form letter in response and The Long Walk went into a drawer. Following […]
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“Breathe To Feel”: Josh Pais Returns To Discuss His Book, “Lose Your Mind: The Path to Creative Invincibility”
Josh Pais returns to the podcast (first time was Ep. 77). Aside from being one of the most respected actors in the game, with over 150 credits in film and TV, Pais is the founder of Committed Impulse, a groundbreaking training born from his own acting process that has since become a “secret weapon” for thousands of top entrepreneurs, artists, doctors, lawyers, public speakers, and creators of all kinds. His work helps people break free from the tyranny of overthinking and drop into a state of embodied, spontaneous brilliance. And now—he has written a book! In Lose Your Mind: The […]
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“I Don’t Covet Shots, I Covet the Film”: DP Matthew Libatique on Highest 2 Lowest
In November of 2023, always-busy cinematographer Matthew Libatique embarked on a particularly prolific period that saw the three-time Oscar nominee lens a trio of films nearly back-to back. That grueling feat was predicated on the fact that a triumvirate of Libatique’s most frequent collaborators came calling: Spike Lee with Highest 2 Lowest (briefly in theaters, now on Apple TV+), Darren Aronofsky with Caught Stealing (now in theaters) and Bradley Cooper with Is This Thing On? (scheduled for release at the end of the year, premiering shortly at NYFF). “It wasn’t lost on me how rare of an opportunity it was […]
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“Acceptance Is What It’s About”: Ruby Cruz, Back To One, Episode 358
Watching Ruby Cruz’s remarkable and seemingly effortless performance in her latest film, The Threesome, I got a hunch that she was engaging with the work on some kind of intuitive level where connection was paramount. I also sensed that this might not be easy to talk about. In one sense I was right, the gifted young actor, who’s credits include Bottoms, Willow, Mare of Easttown and The Sex Lives of College Girls, approaches the work in an elusive way, but, lucky for us, she still manages to speak about the intangible and slippery aspects with an eloquence that is inspiring. […]
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“The More I Ingest the More Latitude I Have in What I Put Out Creatively”: Tim Blake Nelson, Back To One, Episode 357
Tim Blake Nelson is a celebrated actor, writer, and director. His nearly 100 screen credits include The Thin Red Line, Lincoln, The Ballad of Buster Scruggs, Watchmen, and O Brother, Where Art Thou? For his latest, the independent film Bang Bang, he plays an aging boxer whose glory days are long past. On this episode, he details how his process has changed by comparing the patience he has now to his approach for O Brother, Where Art Thou? where “fear inspired hubris” fueled him. He explains why it’s the actor’s job to retranslate poor direction, how his thirst for knowledge […]
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“Stunt-Vis was Never a Restriction”: DP Callan Green on Nobody 2
In Nobody, a government assassin turned middle-aged family man (Bob Odenkirk) breaks out of his humdrum suburban existence by instigating an escalating feud with the Russian mob. In the film’s sequel, out in theaters, a burnt-out Odenkirk now needs a break from his return to espionage. So, he packs up the family and heads to Plummerville, a run-down water park where he spent one of his happiest childhood summers. Action maestro Timo Tjahjanto (The Night Comes for Us) takes the directorial reigns for the follow-up, with New Zealand cinematographer Callan Green behind the camera. Green spoke to Filmmaker about the […]
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“The Entire Process is About Discovery and Surprise and Not About a Theory or a Thesis”: John Carroll Lynch, Back To One, Episode 356
John Carroll Lynch has delivered so many performances, on so many sets, for both the big and small screen, that it is almost ridiculous. Just a few highlights of his hundreds of credits include: The Drew Carey Show, Fargo, Zodiac, Big Sky, American Horror Story, The Trial of The Chicago 7, and his latest, Sorry Baby. On this episode, he gives us a deep dive into his approach to the work, and how it has evolved over the years. He explains the benefits of highlighting the text based on lexical categories, how directing his first feature Lucky (with Harry Dean […]
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DP Larkin Seiple on Shooting his First Horror Film, Weapons
When cinematographer Larkin Seiple finished the Apple+ feature Wolfs, he was set on taking a well-deserved break. It was going to take a special project to coax him back behind the camera before he’d decompressed, especially for a project outside his home base in L.A. Then the script for Weapons arrived the day after wrap. “I read the script in like an hour and I was like, ‘Shit. It’s really good. I don’t know if I’ll ever get the chance to shoot something like this again,’” said Seiple. Unfolding in overlapping chapters, writer-director Zach Cregger’s follow-up to Barbarian follows a […]
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“It Was Just that Kind of Movie…We’re Just Going to Figure Out How To Do It No Matter What”: Or Something star Mary Neely, Back To One, Episode 354
Mary Neely first came to the world’s attention during the pandemic with her viral videos, earning praise from Lin-Manuel Miranda and Andrew Lloyd Webber, as well as being named “Best Theater of 2020” by The New York Times and The Washington Post. Since then, she has been delivering great work on both sides of the camera, such as the TV pilot Stars Diner which premiered at SXSW this year, Valley Girl, Lyle Lyle Crocodile and Netflix’s Happiness For Beginners. Now, she and Kareem Rahma (“Subway Takes”) co-wrote and co-star in the true New York low-budget indie film Or Something. On […]
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“It Was Some Kind of a Dance That We Had Together That Was a Lot of Fun”To Kill A Wolf Star Ivan Martin, Back To One, Episode 353
You can see Ivan Martin’s work in Billions, The Sopranos, Suits, Ozark, Gaslit, What We Do In The Shadows, and much more. Currently, he stars in the exceptional indie film To Kill A Wolf, writer/director Kelsey Taylor’s modern take on Little Red Riding Hood. On this episode, he talks about the circumstances that brought that role his way, the connection he has with the character that made him feel like he could bring him to life, and the environment on set that made it all possible. He explains the roundabout way he got interested in acting when he was young, […]
