Exclusive interviews with actors, directors, and craftspeople — candid conversations about making movie magic, career, and any other random thought that crosses my mind.
After premiering at SXSW 2014 to rave reviews, Carlos Marques-Marcet‘s 10,000 KM has gone on to win the hearts and minds of festival filmgoers the world over. With a wide-spread limited release platform that sees 10,000 KM opening in 11 cities across the U.S. – a statistic that executive producer Pau Brunet called, “Pretty much...
I won’t easily admit to being one to be star-stuck but let’s just say I have developed a life-long BFF crush on Jason Schwartzman. From his debut in Wes Anderson’s electric Rushmore (and onward through a certifiable library of Anderson films) to his cult HBO amateur detective comedy Bored to Death to his truly standout...
Going into 2014’s SXSW, Patrick Brice was an unknown entity, opening the door for the horror knockout that was Creep. With Mark Duplass and an HD camera, Brice made one of the year’s best horror films with little to no dollar bills. All the more impressive is his follow-up, the hilarious and heartfelt The Overnight....
For years, Pixar implied the highest standard in animation. A fifteen year run that spanned from Toy Story to Toy Story 3 included such classics as Monsters, Inc., Finding Nemo, The Incredibles, Up, Wall-E, Ratatoiulle. For most studios, that amount of #winning would be tantamount to a lifetime of work. And though Pixar’s latest efforts...
Michael Winterbottom has been making films since 1990 but it wasn’t until 2010’s The Trip that international audiences pivoted their heads towards his product. Sure, 2007’s A Mighty Heart marked a turning point for Angelina Jolie‘s career – with Winterbottom’s somewhat acclaimed film demanding the actress be taken more seriously than her resume of late...
Six months ago, Alfonso Gómez Rejón‘s stock was of Jordan Belfort’s penny list variety. He himself had to push it on people. And that’s exactly how he landed a gig directing the Sundance-winning, indie-record-breaking, standing-ovation-inducing Me & Earl & The Dying Girl [our review here]. Says Rejón, “I had to fight for the job…. It...
There are few composers who intrigue me enough to want to pursue an interview: John Williams, Hans Zimmer, Alexandre Desplat. Atticus Ross. Unlike many of his contemporaries, Ross lends his talent out sparsely – completing just a pair of film scores each year while his peers often churn out four to seven. He earned his...
Nick Kroll first showed up on our televisions as a puka-shell wearing caveman in Cavemen, ABC’s short-lived, ill-fated adaptation of the popular Geico commercial. (Preparing for this interview, I watched an episode and Kroll’s bone-dry comic sensibilities are almost fully formed already, and it was surprisingly funny and apparently (ironically) ahead of its time.) Shortly...
Alex Garland has been lurking through the film world since the turn of the century, trying on all kinds of hats on all kinds of projects. His career began somewhat inauspiciously when Danny Boyle turned Garland’s 1996 Thailand travelogue nightmare into a critically flunky Leonardo DiCaprio project (though I’ve always had a bit of a...
In a move that surprised even me, Netflix scooped up their second film of the SXSW festival with off-kilter drama/comedy with an unexpected thriller bent Manson Family Vacation. Starring Jay Duplass and Linas Phillips, Manson Family Vacation tells the story of two brothers – the prodigal son and the black sheep – who reunite after...