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Panavision’s Dan Sasaki on Customizing Lenses for Once Upon a Time In Hollywood
If you’re reading this story in hopes of gleaning the magic recipe behind Panavision’s increasingly popular “detuning” process, sorry to disappoint you. Panavision Senior Vice President of Optical Engineering Dan Sasaki will divulge no such details. “I wish I could. Unfortunately, that is a process we like to keep secret,” said Sasaki, who began his career at Panavision in 1986 as a lens service technician. “What I can say is that it’s a process that is continually evolving.” Sasaki will, however, happily talk about being a second-generation member of the Panavision family, the storied history of the C Series anamorphics, […]
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Back to One, Episode 67: Kevin Corrigan
Kevin Corrigan will always have a special spot in the Back To One pantheon, not just because he was the very first guest, but because he set the stage for the discussions on the craft of acting that were to come—personal, steeped in the work, confessional at times, often inspirational, always educational. In this hour, he shares some more inspiring personal experiences from a life in acting, and also talks about the work of those who’ve inspired him, from his friend Natasha Lyonne and his current co-star Pete Davidson, to Marlon Brando, Glenda Jackson, Taylor Negron, the actor Bob Dylan, […]
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“If I’m Not Nervous About Getting Fired Between Wrap and Dailies…I Probably Didn’t Push Myself Hard Enough”: Cinematographer David Klein Discusses his Emmy-Nominated Work on Deadwood: The Movie
When HBO pulled the plug on Deadwood a dozen years ago, it left the denizens of the lawless South Dakota boomtown dangling at the end of a Season 3 cliffhanger. The show’s ostensible hero (marshal Seth Bullock, played by Timothy Olyphant) and villain (saloon owner Al Swearengen, played by Ian McShane) were left equally battered and bruised by a common enemy in ruthless mining magnate George Hearst. Imagine if the original Star Wars trilogy ended after The Empire Strikes Back and you’ll get a sense of the incompleteness that has haunted Deadwood fans over the years – myself included. HBO […]
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Back to One, Episode 66: Jesse Eisenberg
While he might be best known for his Oscar-nominated performance as Mark Zuckerberg in The Social Network, Jesse Eisenberg’s preternatural ability for making unique characterization choices has won him roles in wildly original films, both indie and studio, such as The End of the Tour, Adventureland, Holy Rollers, American Ultra, Zombieland, and two of my favorites, The Squid and the Whale and The Double. Now he continues that trend with Riley Stearns’ The Art of Self Defense. In this half hour he talks about the effort he put into finding the right tone to play the absurdity in that film, […]
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Back to One, Episode 65: Emmy Harrington
I first was introduced to the incredible talents of Emmy Harrington on the set of Caveh Zahedi’s The Show About The Show, where she plays “Slut Machine,” and witnessed, first hand, her ability to adapt to all types of run-and-gun shooting environments and unorthodox directing styles and deliver a great performance take after take. You can also see her work in shows like High Maintenance and Jessica Jones, and an award-winning film she wrote, directed, and stars in — Two Little Bitches — is currently making the festival circuit. I sat down with her a couple of days after directing […]
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Back to One, Episode 64: David Zayas
David Zayas has so many credits on television, in movies, and on the stage that it’s hard to believe he was also a New York City police officer for 15 years. He’s played a lot of fictional cops too, so many he’s lost count, but he says his career highlight was portraying Angel Batista for eight seasons on Showtime’s hit series Dexter. Before that he dabbled on the other side of the law, playing Enrique Moralez on the HBO drama Oz. He was an early member of the LAByrinth Theater company with Paul Calderone, John Ortiz, and Phillip Seymour Hoffman, […]
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Back to One, Episode 63: Jacki Weaver
Jacki Weaver’s “big break” story is unique because she was finally embraced by Hollywood at age 63, landing an Oscar nomination for her incredible performance in the Australian film Animal Kingdom, after being a staple in the Australian theater and film world for 30 years. She went on to great roles in such films as Widows, The Disaster Artist, and Magic in The Moonlight, plus the acclaimed new version of Uncle Vanya on the stage with Cate Blanchett, not to mention her second Oscar nomination for Silver Linings Playbook. And this year she stars opposite Diane Keaton in the cheer-elder […]
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“There’s Something to Be Said for Eliminating Variables and Keeping Things Simplistic”: DP Mike Gioulakis on the Doppelgängers of Us
In Jordan Peele’s Us, a middle class family returns home from a day at the beach to find themselves under siege by murderous doppelgängers clad in red jumpsuits and wielding scissors. Instead of leaning primarily on face replacements, compositing and other post production tricks, cinematographer Mike Gioulakis emphasized clever camera placement and the use of doubles to create the illusion of Lupita Nyong’o and her clan battling their alter egos. With Us hitting Blu-ray and other home entertainment platforms last week, Gioulakis walked Filmmaker through some of the film’s most memorable shots. Filmmaker: Since we spoke for It Follows, you’ve shot two M. Night […]
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Back to One, Episode 62: Michael Kelly
Through six seasons on House of Cards and multiple Emmy nominations, Michael Kelly has brilliantly embodied the character of Doug Stamper, navigating him through the highs and lows of loyalty, devotion, and dark-heartedness, culminating with a new layer of antagonism in the final season. It was a tour de force performance. In this episode he sits down to talk about the nuts and bolts of his craft, his meticulous and elaborate script breakdown process, how David Fincher knocked him off his game, and why he will never stop worrying about the next job no matter what awaits him post-Stamper. Back […]
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Back to One, Episode 61: Christopher Abbott
In this first Back To One live podcast event from the Made In NY Media Center in Brooklyn, Christopher Abbott tells us some hilarious stories about his naive beginnings as a pavement-pounding young actor in New York, then he takes us into the nuts and bolts of the craft he’s developed both on the stage and in indie films over the past decade. And we find out what he makes of George Clooney’s claim that he’s going to be our next movie star. If you only know this talented actor from his breakthrough on Girls, it’s time to catch up. […]
