You might know Robbie Tann from Preacher, The Deuce, or when he played Billy on Mare of Easttown, or Whitty in the “Mazey Day” episode of the latest season of Black Mirror. Currently he plays Shipley in this year’s most exciting and original sci-fi film, The Creator. On this episode, he tells how the run-and-gun style of shooting on that production, combined with the cast and crew’s infectious passion for the project, helped with all aspects of his work. He explains why he now bypasses a straightforward “roadmap” of preparation, focusing instead on letting the role seep into his unconscious. […]

You know Olli Haaskivi from his work in series such as Winning Time, Manifest, and The Sinner, and films like Motherless Brooklyn, Nancy and of course, this Summer’s blockbuster Oppenheimer, where he played scientist Edward Condon. On this episode he shares his experience of working with Christopher Nolan on that film (which he says seemed less sprawling than some student films he’s worked on!), why he felt the freedom to bring his ideas and “all of himself” (spoiler: Nolan is not afraid of actors!), and how all this affected the work in the moment. Plus he talks about his “this […]

Brit Marling is an inspiration. The talented multi-hypenate became an indie darling in 2011 with Another Earth and Sound of My Voice—collaborations with Mike Cahill and Zal Batmanglij respectively. She avoided various vapid roles and unfulfilling career paths and instead went on to star in (and co-create with Batmanglii) the hit Netflix series The OA, which was bafflingly cancelled after two seasons, despite a rabid and large fan base. The two are back with another series, FX’s A Murder At The End of The World—a cool Zoomer detective whodunit set in a remote super-hotel in Iceland. On this episode, she […]

Brandon K. McLaughlin remembers the exact moment he knew he wanted to work in the movie business. It was Halloween night and McLaughlin was eight years old. His uncle—a special effects technician—had invited him to set to watch the Disney adventure The Rocketeer being made. “I got to see them blow up the zeppelin while the Rocketeer was running on top of it,” McLaughlin said. “From that point on, I never wanted to do anything else. I was fascinated with everything that went into the magic of moviemaking, and the special effects department creates that magic, tricking the audience into […]

The SAG strike is over and Back To One returns in the most fitting way—with The Sixth Annual Kevin Corrigan Episode. The living patron saint of the indie actor fills us in on what’s been going on in his world over the past year, talks about playing off of Tim Blake Nelson in his latest film Bang Bang, takes us way back to his first time on a film set as an extra in 1987, describes a recent rewarding experience of performing his own ultra personal material, and ponders his strange case of involuntary lens spiking. Plus stories about “manhandling” […]

Eigil Bryld must be feeling funny lately. After a career peppered with reality-based dramas (You Don’t Know Jack and The Report), thrillers (Deep Water) and romantic period pieces (Tulip Fever and Becoming Jane), the Danish cinematographer has lightened up with a trio of comedies out this year—The Machine, Alexander Payne’s The Holdovers and No Hard Feelings. In the latter, Jennifer Lawrence plays a Montauk Uber driver who agrees to seduce the son (Andrew Barth Feldman) of a wealthy couple summering in the quaint Long Island enclave in exchange for a used Buick Regal. Bryld spoke to Filmmaker about lensing the […]

On big budget spectacles, the tail of VFX often wags the dog of principal photography. With The Creator—an $80 million sci-fi epic about a war between mankind and humanoid AI starring John David Washington—director Gareth Edwards sought to reverse that arrangement. The Monsters and Rogue One filmmaker has described the process of meticulously recreating previs on set as painting a target on the wall and trying to fire an arrow into the bullseye. With The Creator, Edwards wanted to fire the arrow first, then paint the target around it, with VFX ideation occurring later in the pipeline after being inspired by […]

Dogleg is one of the best films of the year. A unique and hilarious feat of cinematic inventiveness, it follows amateur director Alan, played by Al Warren, after he loses his fiancé’s dog at a gender reveal party on the day of an important shoot. Warren also wrote and directed the film, which took more than half a decade to finish. On this episode, he tells us why he was in no hurry to complete the film, and why he has taken a much more intentional and meaningful approach toward bringing it to the audience. He takes us back to […]

“Everything in your house has, at one time, been moved on a truck,” says one of the truckers featured in Long Haulers. Amy Reid’s film subtly demystifies what can be a uniquely alienating form of labor, and the film itself has recently emerged from relative invisibility. The titular vehicles are typically driven by men. Reid’s debut documentary follows the lives of three women who are among the nearly seven percent of long haul truckers working in the United States. Completed in 2020, Long Haulers might have then seemed incredibly timely given the global supply chain crisis, which was among the […]

On a hot July afternoon, a friend sent a video, a TikTok livestream, to a group chat, followed by a question: “What is this genre called?” A young man in a Spider-Man suit and hoodie was rhythmically swaying back and forth in a parking garage as he stared into the camera. He frequently broke his silence when he received a “gift” sent by one of the stream’s 2,000 viewers. Depending on the gift type, he repeated one of a few phrases, each with the same delivery: “Hey, thanks for the rose”; “Too much ice cream makes me cold”; “Nothing like […]