Aaron Sorkin
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“Someday We’re Going to be Shooting Through Coke Bottles Just to Get a Look That Isn’t Too Pristine”: DP Jeff Cronenweth on Being the Ricardos
According to their official credits, Being the Ricardos is the first time Aaron Sorkin has directed with Jeff Cronenweth behind the camera. Unofficially, that collaboration began a decade ago with a shot of an envelope. On the final day of production on 2010’s The Social Network—which earned Sorkin an Oscar for best screenplay and Cronenweth a cinematography nomination—director David Fincher dipped before the final shot to avoid the emotional wrap goodbyes, leaving Sorkin and Cronenweth in charge of the last insert. “It was the shot where [Mark Zuckerberg’s] partner is accepted into the social club and there’s an envelope slid […]
by Matt Mulcahey on Jan 12, 2022 -
“Make a Documentary of What’s Happening in Front of You”: DP Phedon Papamichael on Shooting Aaron Sorkin’s Courtroom Drama, The Trial of the Chicago 7
After violence disrupted the 1968 Democratic National Convention in Chicago, eight defendants were arrested for conspiracy to incite a riot — an event dramatized in Aaron Sorkin’s new The Trial of the Chicago 7. They included the countercultural figures Abbie Hoffman (played in the film by Sasha Baron Cohen), Jerry Rubin (Jeremy Strong) and Tom Hayden (Eddie Redmayne). In The Trial of the Chicago 7, writer and director Sorkin recreates the chaos surrounding the six-month trial, mingling day-to-day testimony with flashbacks of protestors and police preparing for demonstrations in places like Grant Park. In addition to following the defendants, Sorkin […]
by Daniel Eagan on Oct 16, 2020 -
“The Studios Don’t Really Make Movies Like This… We’re Like Dinosaurs”: DP Phedon Papamichael on Shooting Ford v Ferrari
Based on the real-life friendship between Ken Miles and Carroll Shelby, Ford v Ferrari unfolds deeply within the racing culture of the mid-1960s. Egged on by future Chrysler head Lee Iacocca, Henry Ford commits to an expensive attempt to defeat the Ferrari racing team at the 1966 24 Hours of Le Mans race. Shelby, an engineer and former racer, works with Miles to develop and test the GT40. Ford v Ferrari is the fifth collaboration between director James Mangold and cinematographer Phedon Papamichael. Christian Bale stars as Miles and Matt Damon as Carroll Shelby. Other performers include Tracy Letts (Henry […]
by Daniel Eagan on Dec 10, 2019 -
Back to One, Episode Two: Emily Mortimer talks Her Breakout Film, Being Right and Wrong for the Part, and Aaron Sorkin
Emily Mortimer is perhaps best known for her role as MacKenzie McHale in Aaron Sorkin’s beloved HBO series The Newsroom. Some of her other memorable performances are in Woody Allen’s Match Point, Martin Scorsese’s Shutter Island and Hugo and, as Phoebe, Jack Donaghy’s love interest, on the NBC series 30 Rock. In this hour she talks extensively about one particular, powerful scene in her breakout film, Nicole Holofcener’s Lovely & Amazing (which earned her an Independent Spirit Award for Best Supporting Actress), and about what it was like to play a character named “Emily Mortimer” in her HBO series Doll […]
by Peter Rinaldi on Apr 24, 2018 -
TIFF Critic’s Notebook 2: The Death of Stalin, Molly’s Game
In its own way, it’s an enlightening experience to attend, at least once, a Big TIFF Premiere, which I didn’t do during my first time attending last year. The Death of Stalin premiered in the Winter Garden, a venue on the seventh floor of a building whose ground level houses the Elgin theater; per Wikipedia — in a phrase which Googling only traces to there, so perhaps there’s a different way to refer to this — they are the world’s only surviving “stacked Edwardian theaters.” The Elgin seats 1,561, the Winter 992, so you can gauge the perceived star value and […]
by Vadim Rizov on Sep 9, 2017 -
The Viral Assault on Aaron Sorkin Continues
First there was the “Look here, internet girl” phenomenon and now there’s Kevin Porter‘s Supercut of recycled Aaron Sorkin dialogue, which is over 500,000 views so far on YouTube. The guy who wrote The Social Network is getting massively disrupted by viral internet commentary. From Porter: This video is a tribute to the work of Aaron Sorkin: the recycled dialogue, recurring phrases, and familiar plot lines. This is not intended as a critique but rather a playful excursion through Sorkin’s wonderful world of words. Sorkin is a smart guy. When will he use the internet for his own witty riposte? […]
by Scott Macaulay on Jul 8, 2012 -
On Aaron Sorkin and Listening to the Internet Girl
TV shows like Aaron Sorkin’s new The Newsroom cost tens of millions of dollars to develop and make. They assemble top-flight talent, from people like its creator to stars like Jeff Daniels to the veteran craftspeople who work below-the-line on each episode. Their marketers are expert, and they have the budgets to match the ambitions of their campaigns. So, it must be somewhat enraging to them that the military precision of the show’s roll-out can be disrupted by a young reporter’s take on a single set of less-than-artful interview responses by Sorkin. I’m referring, of course, to Sorkin’s now-famous “Look […]
by Scott Macaulay on Jun 27, 2012 -
AARON SORKIN ADDRESSES “SOCIAL NETWORK” SEXISM CHARGES
Amidst the widespread acclaim for David Fincher’s The Social Network have been criticisms that the film is sexist in its depiction of the Harvard social scene and the seemingly all-male world of computer programmers that combined to create Facebook. As Xeni Jardin noted in Boing Boing, the film fails the Bechdel test. Others have asked why screenwriter Aaron Sorkin didn’t create a role for Priscilla Chan, Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg’s longtime girlfriend, who was in the picture (although, apparently, not romantically so) during the timespan of the film. In the Daily Beast, Rebecca Davis O’Brien asked where in the film […]
by Scott Macaulay on Oct 11, 2010 -
FINCHER, SORKIN, EISENBERG PRESS CONFERENCE “THE SOCIAL NETWORK”
Here’s part one of five from yesterday’s press conference of the New York Film Festival’s opening day film, The Social Network, at Lincoln Center yesterday. Parts two through five can be seen at the film’s YouTube site.
by Scott Macaulay on Sep 25, 2010 -
Premiering The Social Network
Starting with Jesse Eisenberg, stills from today’s red carpet and press conference by Jamie Stuart, whose filmic ode to this year’s New York Film Festival will be up on the site soon.
by Scott Macaulay on Sep 24, 2010
