Long before there was a Katniss Everdeen, future victor of the Hunger Games and Panem’s No. 1 revolutionary icon, there was Lucy Gray Baird — a young woman who also hailed from District 12 and found herself recruited as a tribute in a fascist world’s annual entertainment death march. She had a beautiful voice, a steel backbone, and enough wits to have the odds ever in her favor for the 10th edition of the Hunger Games. They were a little different back then — no one had figured out how to employ...
- 11/16/2023
- by David Fear
- Rollingstone.com
When it came time to recreate 1920s Los Angeles for Damien Chazelle’s sprawling Hollywood epic “Babylon,” production designer Florencia Martin wanted audiences to really feel the history of the central city.
“Damian and I met over Zoom for the first time actually, because we were in the pandemic, and started immediately sharing images of these depravity-stricken characters mixed in with a barren Los Angeles,” Martin tells Gold Derby in an exclusive video interview. “It’s unbelievable to look at these images of early Los Angeles and see how it was really a city in formation – which is how Damian wrote and wanted to kick off the film and the story. So we spoke about creating a world that was really visceral, that allowed the audience to step into all these amazing circumstances that our characters find themselves in. So you really wanted to create a world that was like...
“Damian and I met over Zoom for the first time actually, because we were in the pandemic, and started immediately sharing images of these depravity-stricken characters mixed in with a barren Los Angeles,” Martin tells Gold Derby in an exclusive video interview. “It’s unbelievable to look at these images of early Los Angeles and see how it was really a city in formation – which is how Damian wrote and wanted to kick off the film and the story. So we spoke about creating a world that was really visceral, that allowed the audience to step into all these amazing circumstances that our characters find themselves in. So you really wanted to create a world that was like...
- 12/22/2022
- by Christopher Rosen
- Gold Derby
Damien Chazelle’s “La La Land” was just the warm up for “Babylon,” his epic comedy-drama about Hollywood during the seismic shift from silents to talkies in the late 1920s — think “La Dolce Vita” meets “Nashville” by way of “The Wolf of Wall Street.” This allowed the Oscar-winning director to step out of his comfort zone with a wild, orgiastic ride through hedonistic excess and extreme living before the sound revolution transformed the movies into a cultural phenomenon.
Judging from the mixed response to Monday’s Academy screening, however, “Babylon” might have a bumpier Best Picture ride than its singing and dancing predecessor. It should be a major crafts player, though. That means likely nominations for some or all of Chazelle’s collaborators: cinematographer Linus Sandgren (Oscar winner for “La La Land”); production designer Florencia Martin; costume designer Mary Zophres; composer Justin Hurwitz (Oscar winner for “La La Land” score...
Judging from the mixed response to Monday’s Academy screening, however, “Babylon” might have a bumpier Best Picture ride than its singing and dancing predecessor. It should be a major crafts player, though. That means likely nominations for some or all of Chazelle’s collaborators: cinematographer Linus Sandgren (Oscar winner for “La La Land”); production designer Florencia Martin; costume designer Mary Zophres; composer Justin Hurwitz (Oscar winner for “La La Land” score...
- 11/16/2022
- by Bill Desowitz
- Indiewire
Hollywood movies transition from silents to talkies in Damien Chazelle’s “Babylon,” as decadence and extravagance are all the rage in the 1920s showbiz milieu embodied by Margot Robbie, Brad Pitt and Tobey Maguire.
“Babylon” production designer Florencia Martin is no stranger to recreating a certain period in Los Angeles. For Paul Thomas Anderson’s “Licorice Pizza,” it was the 1970s: “I’m telling the story of the story of the suburbs of America, of the San Fernando Valley and Ventura Boulevard,” he said then.
For the Netflix film “Blonde,” based on Marilyn Monroe’s life, Martin used locations that were “cookie cutter” America, symbolizing the perfect wife and perfect house as Monroe seemed to crave that type of post-war stereotype in her marriages while continuing her career as an actor. “The locations are simple and understated,” Martin says, adding that many were real-life locations frequented by the Hollywood star.
“Babylon” production designer Florencia Martin is no stranger to recreating a certain period in Los Angeles. For Paul Thomas Anderson’s “Licorice Pizza,” it was the 1970s: “I’m telling the story of the story of the suburbs of America, of the San Fernando Valley and Ventura Boulevard,” he said then.
For the Netflix film “Blonde,” based on Marilyn Monroe’s life, Martin used locations that were “cookie cutter” America, symbolizing the perfect wife and perfect house as Monroe seemed to crave that type of post-war stereotype in her marriages while continuing her career as an actor. “The locations are simple and understated,” Martin says, adding that many were real-life locations frequented by the Hollywood star.
- 11/9/2022
- by Jazz Tangcay
- Variety Film + TV
Filmmaker Sally Potter discusses a few of her favorite movies with hosts Josh Olson and Joe Dante.
Show Notes: Movies Referenced In This Episode
Orlando (1992)
Look At Me (2022)
The Roads Not Taken (2020)
Singin’ In The Rain (1952) – John Landis’s trailer commentary
On The Town (1949)
Seven Brides For Seven Brothers (1954) – John Landis’s trailer commentary, Glenn Erickson’s Blu-ray review
Whisky Galore! (1949) – Charlie Largent’s Blu-ray review
Battleship Potemkin (1925)
8 ½ (1963) – Allan Arkush’s trailer commentary
Monsieur Hulot’s Holiday (1953)
Jules and Jim (1962) – Michael Peyser’s trailer commentary
Au Hasard Balthazar (1966) – Charlie Largent’s Criterion Blu-ray review
Persona (1966)
On The Waterfront (1954) – John Badham’s trailer commentary
Sweet Smell Of Success (1957)
Citizen Kane (1941) – John Landis’s trailer commentary, Glenn Erickson’s Criterion Blu-ray review
The Third Man (1949) – George Hickenlooper’s trailer commentary, Randy Fuller’s wine pairings
Come And See (1985) – Larry Karaszewski’s trailer commentary, Glenn Erickson’s Criterion Blu-ray review
The Cranes Are...
Show Notes: Movies Referenced In This Episode
Orlando (1992)
Look At Me (2022)
The Roads Not Taken (2020)
Singin’ In The Rain (1952) – John Landis’s trailer commentary
On The Town (1949)
Seven Brides For Seven Brothers (1954) – John Landis’s trailer commentary, Glenn Erickson’s Blu-ray review
Whisky Galore! (1949) – Charlie Largent’s Blu-ray review
Battleship Potemkin (1925)
8 ½ (1963) – Allan Arkush’s trailer commentary
Monsieur Hulot’s Holiday (1953)
Jules and Jim (1962) – Michael Peyser’s trailer commentary
Au Hasard Balthazar (1966) – Charlie Largent’s Criterion Blu-ray review
Persona (1966)
On The Waterfront (1954) – John Badham’s trailer commentary
Sweet Smell Of Success (1957)
Citizen Kane (1941) – John Landis’s trailer commentary, Glenn Erickson’s Criterion Blu-ray review
The Third Man (1949) – George Hickenlooper’s trailer commentary, Randy Fuller’s wine pairings
Come And See (1985) – Larry Karaszewski’s trailer commentary, Glenn Erickson’s Criterion Blu-ray review
The Cranes Are...
- 11/8/2022
- by Kris Millsap
- Trailers from Hell
In the 94-year history of the Oscars, there is only one category, besides Best Actor and Best Supporting Actor, that has never been won by a woman. That would be Best Cinematography, which honors a movie’s lighting, framing and camerawork.
Those are hardly gender-specific achievements, though the Oscars, for better or worse, are a reflection of the opportunities offered in the film industry. And as such, there are deep institutional reasons why this specific category has such a poor track record for women.
The trivia stat could change on Sunday night. Ari Wegner, the Australian cinematographer of Jane Campion’s nomination-leader “The Power of the Dog,” is nominated for her thoughtful, intuitive work on the film. TheWrap’s Steve Pond predicts that Wegner will take home the trophy, giving her the edge over “Dune” Dp Greig Fraser (the cinematographer of Campion’s previous movie “Bright Star”), who has scored the BAFTA and ASC precursors.
Those are hardly gender-specific achievements, though the Oscars, for better or worse, are a reflection of the opportunities offered in the film industry. And as such, there are deep institutional reasons why this specific category has such a poor track record for women.
The trivia stat could change on Sunday night. Ari Wegner, the Australian cinematographer of Jane Campion’s nomination-leader “The Power of the Dog,” is nominated for her thoughtful, intuitive work on the film. TheWrap’s Steve Pond predicts that Wegner will take home the trophy, giving her the edge over “Dune” Dp Greig Fraser (the cinematographer of Campion’s previous movie “Bright Star”), who has scored the BAFTA and ASC precursors.
- 3/24/2022
- by Joe McGovern
- The Wrap
There’s never a bad time for a new superhero show, mind you. But with Amazon’s brilliantly bloody The Boys having been off air for five or so months now, the streaming world is particularly due for a new supe. With its list of new releases for March 2021, Amazon is going to be rectifying that.
The animated adaptation of Robert Kirkman’s comic series Invincible is set to arrive on Amazon Prime this March 26. Kirkman’s comic series is a colorful, thrilling, and violent take on superhero myths and the series that it inspired will feature a truly impressive cast. Take that all into account and this will be an important addition to the streaming superhero canon.
Also arriving in March is another big ticket item for Amazon. The long-awaited Coming to America sequel, Coming 2 America, will premiere on March 5. Eddie Murphy returns as Prince Akeem Joffer who...
The animated adaptation of Robert Kirkman’s comic series Invincible is set to arrive on Amazon Prime this March 26. Kirkman’s comic series is a colorful, thrilling, and violent take on superhero myths and the series that it inspired will feature a truly impressive cast. Take that all into account and this will be an important addition to the streaming superhero canon.
Also arriving in March is another big ticket item for Amazon. The long-awaited Coming to America sequel, Coming 2 America, will premiere on March 5. Eddie Murphy returns as Prince Akeem Joffer who...
- 2/27/2021
- by Alec Bojalad
- Den of Geek
‘The Voice’ will enable directors to create a proof-of-concept.
New projects by Vivarium director Lorcan Finnegan and Maudie filmmaker Aisling Walsh are among 27 chosen for the inaugural edition of The Voice, Screen Ireland’s development scheme for emerging and established directors.
Each director is eligible for up to €30,000 in funding across a maximum of two projects.
Finnegan has received funding for his TV drama Strange Coast. His second feature Vivarium debuted at Cannes 2019 in Critics’ Week, winning a distribution prize.
Walsh is receiving support for her as-yet-untitled feature film project about US photojournalist Dorothea Lange. The director’s fourth feature Maudie,...
New projects by Vivarium director Lorcan Finnegan and Maudie filmmaker Aisling Walsh are among 27 chosen for the inaugural edition of The Voice, Screen Ireland’s development scheme for emerging and established directors.
Each director is eligible for up to €30,000 in funding across a maximum of two projects.
Finnegan has received funding for his TV drama Strange Coast. His second feature Vivarium debuted at Cannes 2019 in Critics’ Week, winning a distribution prize.
Walsh is receiving support for her as-yet-untitled feature film project about US photojournalist Dorothea Lange. The director’s fourth feature Maudie,...
- 9/1/2020
- by Ben Dalton
- ScreenDaily
Romina Paula's Again Once Again is receiving an exclusive global online premiere on Mubi, showing from July 29 – August 27, 2020 in Mubi's Debuts series.For a long time, even before I became a mother, I had this image in my mind of a young woman coming back to her mother's house, as a mother herself, with her child. As usual in my life, I write ideas that later on become true, and so I end up having an autobiographical work when in fact, it's life that insists on being literal and acting out what I had written. So, long before having a kid, two audiovisual ideas, as I liked to call them, followed me. One was this, of a middle-aged woman going back to the house in which she grew up, to live with her kid and her mom in the only place on earth where she can still be a daughter.
- 7/28/2020
- MUBI
The actor lost four close family members in five years, and his life savings to Bernie Madoff – so why does he still think he is the luckiest man around?
You could spend a lifetime preparing to interview John Malkovich. For starters, there are his films, about 90 of them – mainstream, indie, European arthouse, schlocky, literary, self-referential, lots of stinkers and a few classics. But he says he doesn’t even like movies. So then there are his more esoteric projects: a photography exhibition by Sandro Miller in which Malkovich recreated iconic portraits, including Dorothea Lange’s Migrant Mother; collaborations with classical musicians in which he reads out venomous critiques of the great composers. Finally, there is his real love – theatre. Fortunately, Malkovich doesn’t expect you to have seen all his work. In fact, he gives the impression that he would be happy if you had seen none.
I first interviewed...
You could spend a lifetime preparing to interview John Malkovich. For starters, there are his films, about 90 of them – mainstream, indie, European arthouse, schlocky, literary, self-referential, lots of stinkers and a few classics. But he says he doesn’t even like movies. So then there are his more esoteric projects: a photography exhibition by Sandro Miller in which Malkovich recreated iconic portraits, including Dorothea Lange’s Migrant Mother; collaborations with classical musicians in which he reads out venomous critiques of the great composers. Finally, there is his real love – theatre. Fortunately, Malkovich doesn’t expect you to have seen all his work. In fact, he gives the impression that he would be happy if you had seen none.
I first interviewed...
- 5/21/2020
- by Simon Hattenstone
- The Guardian - Film News
Filmmaker Alma Har’el helped conceive Time’s 100 Women of the Year issue, designed to recognize the contributions of female leaders, innovators, activists, entertainers, athletes and artists who defined the century from 1920 through 2019. Along with original portraits, the magazine will release 100 covers reflecting the era of each year.
“I don’t think Time has ever done anything this big,” “Honey Boy” director Har’el says, speaking exclusively to Variety. “They usually do one of these covers a year. We’re doing 100 of them.”
“If I felt hungry to take solace in some of the histories of some of these women, I immersed myself in it in the most encompassing way I could,” she adds. The idea was born out of Ha’rel’s frustration and a need to “do something that takes me outside of myself.”
Har’el spent much of 2019 on the awards trail discussing “Honey Boy,” a drama written by and starring Shia Labeouf.
“I don’t think Time has ever done anything this big,” “Honey Boy” director Har’el says, speaking exclusively to Variety. “They usually do one of these covers a year. We’re doing 100 of them.”
“If I felt hungry to take solace in some of the histories of some of these women, I immersed myself in it in the most encompassing way I could,” she adds. The idea was born out of Ha’rel’s frustration and a need to “do something that takes me outside of myself.”
Har’el spent much of 2019 on the awards trail discussing “Honey Boy,” a drama written by and starring Shia Labeouf.
- 3/5/2020
- by Jazz Tangcay
- Variety Film + TV
For most of her Hollywood career, writer-producer Leslie Dixon kept secret the fact that she hailed from art world nobility as the granddaughter of photographer Dorothea Lange and painter Maynard Dixon.
“For many, many years I never told anybody about this, because I didn’t want people to think I came from money, which I most certainly did not. But when your grandparents’ work was going at Sotheby’s for $1.5 million, people might get the wrong idea,” she says. “Certainly, I was never going to touch the hem of [Lange’s] garment. I mean, that ...
“For many, many years I never told anybody about this, because I didn’t want people to think I came from money, which I most certainly did not. But when your grandparents’ work was going at Sotheby’s for $1.5 million, people might get the wrong idea,” she says. “Certainly, I was never going to touch the hem of [Lange’s] garment. I mean, that ...
- 6/21/2019
- The Hollywood Reporter - Film + TV
For most of her Hollywood career, writer-producer Leslie Dixon kept secret the fact that she hailed from art world nobility as the granddaughter of photographer Dorothea Lange and painter Maynard Dixon.
“For many, many years I never told anybody about this, because I didn’t want people to think I came from money, which I most certainly did not. But when your grandparents’ work was going at Sotheby’s for $1.5 million, people might get the wrong idea,” she says. “Certainly, I was never going to touch the hem of [Lange’s] garment. I mean, that ...
“For many, many years I never told anybody about this, because I didn’t want people to think I came from money, which I most certainly did not. But when your grandparents’ work was going at Sotheby’s for $1.5 million, people might get the wrong idea,” she says. “Certainly, I was never going to touch the hem of [Lange’s] garment. I mean, that ...
- 6/21/2019
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
“There’s actually a story arc for the house in Season 4 and it’s the same parallel arc for the characters: Everything is falling apart,” says Grace and Frankie production designer Devorah Herbert, who this year counts her second consecutive Primetime Emmy nomination in the half-hour narrative production design category for the Netflix series.
Together with costume designer Allyson B. Fanger, who counts her third nom for the series in the contemporary series costume category, the duo are responsible for telling a deeper, innate story about the aged protagonists of cosmopolitan Grace Hanson (Jane Fonda) and former hippie Frankie Bergstein (Lily Tomlin) in their colors, patterns, set designs and overall personal getsups. “If the sofa is going to be blue, not brown” says Fanger, that’s an important note that the production design immediately relays to her.
“It’s like one painting in its entirety,” says Fanger ,who needs to...
Together with costume designer Allyson B. Fanger, who counts her third nom for the series in the contemporary series costume category, the duo are responsible for telling a deeper, innate story about the aged protagonists of cosmopolitan Grace Hanson (Jane Fonda) and former hippie Frankie Bergstein (Lily Tomlin) in their colors, patterns, set designs and overall personal getsups. “If the sofa is going to be blue, not brown” says Fanger, that’s an important note that the production design immediately relays to her.
“It’s like one painting in its entirety,” says Fanger ,who needs to...
- 8/23/2018
- by Anthony D'Alessandro
- Deadline Film + TV
“I didn’t think about their age when I was thinking about who they were,” reveals “Grace and Frankie” costume designer Allyson B. Fanger. “I was thinking about who they were, and how they’d express themselves through dress.” Fanger has worked on all four seasons of this Netflix comedy about the title characters who become friends after their husbands (Martin Sheen and Sam Waterston) announce they’re in love with each other. She made a conscious effort not to make Grace or Frankie “look like old ladies,” which “is very in-keeping with the times.” Watch our exclusive video interview with Fanger above.
See Emmys 2018: Keep an eye on ‘Grace and Frankie’ in Best Comedy Series
From the beginning Fanger wanted to create a “distinctive character differentiation” between the two women. For Frankie, an eccentric art teacher, Fanger tried to “go outside of typical stereotypes of a bohemian woman or a hippie lady.
See Emmys 2018: Keep an eye on ‘Grace and Frankie’ in Best Comedy Series
From the beginning Fanger wanted to create a “distinctive character differentiation” between the two women. For Frankie, an eccentric art teacher, Fanger tried to “go outside of typical stereotypes of a bohemian woman or a hippie lady.
- 6/1/2018
- by Zach Laws
- Gold Derby
After making side trips to California’s Central Coast and Hawaii, Alexander Payne returns to his home state of Nebraska for his sixth directorial feature, a wistful ode to small-town Midwestern life and the quixotic dreams of stubborn old men. Sporting a career-crowning performance by Bruce Dern and a thoroughly impressive dramatic turn by “SNL”/“30 Rock” alum Will Forte, Payne’s first film based on another writer’s original screenplay (by debut feature scribe Bob Nelson) nevertheless fits nicely alongside his other low-concept, finely etched studies of flawed characters stuck in life’s well-worn grooves. Black-and-white lensing and lack of a Clooney-sized star portend less than “Descendants”-sized business, but critical hosannas and awards buzz should mean solid prestige success for this November Paramount release.
Just as “The Last Picture Show” was a movie made in the 1970s about the end of ’50s-era innocence, “Nebraska” feels, despite its present-day setting,...
Just as “The Last Picture Show” was a movie made in the 1970s about the end of ’50s-era innocence, “Nebraska” feels, despite its present-day setting,...
- 5/23/2013
- by Scott Foundas
- Variety Film + TV
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