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“1.66 Just Felt Good”: DP Jarin Blaschke on Nosferatu
Over the course of his four feature films, Robert Eggers has gained a reputation as a filmmaker obsessed with meticulous period accuracy. After listening to Jarin Blaschke talk about moon size as a mathematical equation, it’s easy to see why Eggers has enjoyed working with the equally meticulous cinematographer for almost two decades. “I’m kind of a stickler about how big a moon is when a CG moon is in frame,” said Blaschke. “It needs to be 1/80th the width of the screen, because the moon is a half a degree wide and our lens takes in 40 degrees. So, […]
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“I Want Everyone to be Jarred by It…Especially the Men on Set”: Lucy Boynton, Back To One, Episode 330
Lucy Boynton is known for delivering exceptional performances in films like Sing Street, Bohemian Rhapsody, Chevalier, and The Greatest Hits. Her latest is the BritBox’s limited series A Cruel Love: The Ruth Ellis Story, about a woman convicted of killing her abusive lover who then became the last woman to be hanged in the UK. On this episode, she talks about why the challenge she faced portraying Ellis “wasn’t an actor issue,” but more about facing the traumas women are still dealing with decades later. She ponders how acting as a child served her into adulthood, explains why over-direction is […]
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Considerations: Anora, Acting Frontrunners and Other Post-Weekend Fallout
Every Tuesday Tyler Coates publishes his new Filmmaker newsletter, Considerations, devoted to the awards race. To receive it early and in your in-box, subscribe here. While this Sunday was the Super Bowl (and, because I’m always rooting for Bradley Cooper, I’m thrilled the Eagles won), Saturday was just as important for the awards race. If you had asked me on Saturday what would win best picture—and many people hounded me for an answer—my reply would have been: “I don’t know!!!” Hours before both the Directors Guild Awards and the Producers Guild Awards, NEON hosted a toast to Anoraand Sean Baker […]
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“It Doesn’t Have to Always Cost $200 Million”: DP Lol Crawley on Shooting The Brutalist (Mostly) in VistaVision
In The Brutalist, a creatively uncompromising Hungarian-Jewish architect (Adrien Brody) immigrates to Pennsylvania after World War II and struggles to complete an ambitious project financed by a wealthy industrialist (Guy Pearce). Creating a three-hour epic in 34 days for under $10 million doesn’t allow the luxury of boundless obstinance, yet it’s easy to draw parallels between the protagonist’s unyielding artistry and a team of filmmakers that insisted on using the VistaVision format whose heyday ended more than 60 years ago. With the film, which is up for 10 Academy Awards, still in theaters and now also on VOD, Oscar-nominated cinematographer […]
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“I’m Really Good at Getting a Laugh Out of Terrible Circumstances”: Griffin Dunne, Back To One, Episode 329
Griffin Dunne has balanced acting, directing, and producing for over 40 years in this business. Chilly Scenes of Winter, An American Werewolf in London, After Hours, Practical Magic, This is Us, to name just a small handful of his credits. For his latest, Ex-Husbands, he delivers a performance revelatory in its ease, miraculously blending lightness and dread. It’s so much fun, and even inspirational, to simply watch him walk around as this character, carrying this load. Hopefully, this is the start of a new chapter: Dunne as the contemplative man of a certain age who has seen it all. On […]
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Considerations: The Gascón Press Tour
Every Tuesday Tyler Coates publishes his new Filmmaker newsletter, Considerations, devoted to the awards race. To receive it early and in your in-box, subscribe here. In October, I told (warned?) a publicist friend that it wouldn’t surprise me if we saw some old-fashioned, Weinstein- and Rudin-style opposition campaigning this Oscar season. Back then, the prominent narrative was that the field was wide open without a clear frontrunner, and most of the studios and marketing agencies were operating with smaller budgets. By this time last week, the only controversies were about the use of AI to perfect the Hungarian accents in […]
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“Being Clean with the Words Gave Me More Freedom than Anything”: Margo Martindale, Back To One, Episode 328
In movies like Million Dollar Baby, August: Osage County, Blow The Man Down, and series like The Americans, Justified, and Sneaky Pete, “esteemed character actress Margo Martindale” loves to play people much different from herself. And she’s been so good at it for so long that she only started to get truly recognized for her work in her 60s. Three Emmys later, she’s able to pick and choose what she wants to do. Her latest, the Amazon series The Sticky, finds her number one on the call sheet and having a blast playing the bombastic maple syrup farmer Ruth Landry. […]
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Considerations: Phase 2 Begins
Every Tuesday Tyler Coates publishes his new Filmmaker newsletter, Considerations, devoted to the awards race. To receive it early and in your in-box, subscribe here. It rained in Los Angeles this weekend, and the way the phrase “we needed this” became a meme felt like a collective awkward laugh followed by a sigh of relief. For the past few weeks almost everyone has been on edge, many mourning massive losses from the fires in the Palisades and Altadena. Wind advisories meant our go-backs were still packed, phones facing up in case of Watch Duty notifications. (Oh, and a lot of […]
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Get In/On the Car: DP Terry Stacey on Den of Thieves 2: Pantera
The original Den of Thieves was all about the thin line separating insular tribes of cops and robbers in Los Angeles. In the breezier Den of Thieves 2: Pantera, Gerard Butler’s detective crosses that line to join forces with former nemesis O’Shea Jackson Jr. to rob the World Diamond Center in Nice. The heist franchise represents a line crossing for cinematographer Terry Stacey as well. The British DP began his features career lensing early aught indies (including American Splendor and films with Larry Fessenden, Allison Anders, Brad Anderson and Lisa Cholodenko) before working on a slew of studio romances and […]
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Actor and Teacher Brad Fleischer on the Importance of the Visceral Over the Intellectual in the Work of the Actor: Back To One, Episode 327
Brad Fleischer is an actor, teacher, coach, filmmaker, producer, and founding partner of GhostLight Media. He originated the role of Doug in Gruesome Playground Injuries alongside Selma Blair. On Broadway, he starred opposite Robin Williams in Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo, opposite Tony Schaloub in Golden Boy, and played the title character in the Olivier award winning Coram Boy. On the screen, Brad has worked with Robert De Niro in The Good Shepherd, Scott Frank and Liam Neeson in Walk Among the Tombstones, Greg Nicotero on The Walking Dead, among many others. For 17 years and counting, he continues […]
