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Moviemaking
Frank Darabont Comes Out of The Mist
Frank Darabont has had quite a rollercoaster of a film career. He has experienced both extraordinarily positive feedback from audiences and critics, for his uplifting prison epic The Shawshank Redemption, as well as ruthless critical backlash, for his Capra-aping story of memory loss in The Majestic. With his first film since The Majestic, Darabont looks to rebound from that career low point. To do so, he is going back to the well that has thus far treated him kindly: Stephen King texts.
November 26th, 2007 | Category: Moviemaker of the Week, Moviemaking | By Andrew Gnerre
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' . $phpAds_raw['html'] . ''; } ?>Noah Baumbach’s Wedding
Noah Baumbach made a splash in the independent film world with his debut film, Kicking and Screaming (no, not the movie about a children’s soccer team starring Will Ferrell, but the coming-of-age tale of four recent college graduates who struggle with the idea of entering the real world). Ten years later, a period during which he would release two feature films to lukewarm receptions, Baumbach struck back with The Squid and the Whale. The loosely autobiographical film, about two brothers dealing with their parents’ divorce, saw even more praise upon its release than his first film. The film won two awards at Sundance, for directing and screenplay, and was nominated for the Grand Jury Prize, as well as five Independent Spirit Awards and one Oscar.
November 18th, 2007 | Category: Moviemaker of the Week, Moviemaking | By Andrew Gnerre
The Coen Brothers Nail Old Men
It all started with Blood Simple back in 1984, when Joel and Ethan Coen showed the world that two moviemakers are better than one. Well, these two anyway. The movie landed three nominations and two wins at the Independent Spirit Awards two years later and the legacy began. In the years following, the Coen brothers, as they are affectionately referred to, would produce some of independent cinema’s most memorable scenes—and movies. After Nicolas Cage and Holly Hunter abducted a child yet somehow landed laughs in 1987's Raising Arizona, the brothers found themselves striking gold with a string of critical (and sometimes popular) hits, including Miller's Crossing, Barton Fink, The Hudsucker Proxy and 1996's Fargo.
Since landing a Best Writing Oscar statuette for their unique take on Midwestern values and awkward conversation in Fargo, Joel and Ethan Coen released movies unfortunately lesser received than their predecessors (the exceptions being the Oscar-nominated movies O Brother, Where Art Thou? and The Man Who Wasn't There—grand exceptions for sure). However, it is with this month's No Country for Old Men that the brothers seem to have regained the audience anticipation they inspire in so many.
November 11th, 2007 | Category: Moviemaker of the Week, Moviemaking | By Mallory Potosky
Ridley Scott, Original Gangster
Acclaimed moviemaker Sir Ridley Scott has tackled the Crusades, rejuvenated sword-and-sandal epics and given us icy visions of a robotic future. Now the director turns his attention to a different kind of period piece in American Gangster, out in wide release from Universal Pictures on November 2. American Gangster chronicles the rise of New York heroin hustler Frank Lucas (Denzel Washington) from drug apprentice to public superstar in the early 1970s, running a tight ship with a strict business ethic. Matched up against him is renegade cop Richie Roberts (Russell Crowe), his home life in shambles, but refusing to partake in the corruption overwhelming the police department.
November 4th, 2007 | Category: Moviemaker of the Week, Moviemaking | By Andre Ward
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' . $phpAds_raw['html'] . ''; } ?>Gavin Hood’s Moral Compass
Gavin Hood is certainly not playing it safe with his Hollywood directorial debut, Rendition. The film, which opened October 19, tells the story of Anwar El-Ibrahimi, a suspected Egyptian terrorist who “disappears” on an intercontinental flight. His American-born wife, played by Reese Witherspoon, and a CIA agent, played by Jake Gyllenhaal, are both forced to deal with the consequences of his mysterious detention.
October 21st, 2007 | Category: Moviemaker of the Week, Moviemaking | By Andrew Gnerre
David Slade Owns the Night
With 30 Days of Night, a graphic novel-inspired thriller that has vampires chomping through the Arctic darkness of a small Alaskan town, director David Slade makes a formidable foray into the cinema mainstream with but one independent feature under his belt. Having directed a long string of commercials and music videos, Slade premiered his first full-length movie, Hard Candy, at Sundance in 2005. The film quickly gained a cult following, which must have included producers Sam Raimi and Rob Tapert, who asked Slade to direct their innovative vampire flick. "David has a style and a way of working unique unto him," says Tapert. "He is a believer in lots of tight shots, close-ups with attention to details, which frenetically ramp up his movie."
October 21st, 2007 | Category: Moviemaker of the Week, Moviemaking | By Daniel Fritz
Shekhar Kapur
Dramas, even Oscar-nominated ones, rarely get sequels unless they're filled with web-crawlers, Decepticons, or Tyrannosaurus Rexes. So when Shekhar Kapur received a greenlight to film the period piece Elizabeth: The Golden Age--his return to the lace and frills first introduced in 1998's Elizabeth--it came as an interesting turn of events for many.
For the story's continuation, released to theaters Friday, October 12, 2007, Kapur convinced Aussie Cate Blanchett to reprise her Oscar-nominated role as the young monarch, with Geoffrey Rush returning as Sir Francis Walsingham. This time around Queen Elizabeth finds herself comfortably seated on the royal throne, just as intrigue and danger descend upon the court once again.
October 15th, 2007 | Category: Moviemaker of the Week, Moviemaking | By Andre Ward
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' . $phpAds_raw['html'] . ''; } ?>Ang Lee’s Lust
Looking for the careful attention to detail and confident touch of an experienced auteur for that sweeping tale of romance? These days it would seem the man to go to for just such a feat is director Ang Lee. In the past he delicately balanced comedy and period drama in his adaptation of Jane Austen's Sense & Sensibility; paved the way for Chinese language martial arts films to appeal to every segment of the American population through Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon; and turned the not-widely-accepted idea of homosexual love and devotion into engaging dinner conversation with Brokeback Mountain. He's back at it again this year, tackling the boundaries of affection during the Japanese occupation of China in the racy Lust, Caution.
October 8th, 2007 | Category: Moviemaker of the Week, Moviemaking | By Mallory Potosky
Robert Benton’s Feast of Love
The acclaimed writer/director behind Kramer Vs. Kramer and Twilight is back. Robert Benton's newest movie, Feast of Love, follows territory familiar to Benton's fans and is described as a "meditation on love and its various incarnations."
October 1st, 2007 | Category: Moviemaker of the Week, Moviemaking | By Brian Hickey
Sean Penn Goes Into the Wild
Sean Penn has spent the majority of his career in front of the camera. In 1982 when he made a splash in Amy Heckerling's Fast Times at Ridgemont High, he was the young, blonde, carefree surfer dude. By 2007, at the age of 47, Penn has turned himself into a thought- and discussion-provoking actor-writer-director-producer. Throughout his journey he has starred in Carlito's Way (1993), Dead Man Walking (1995), U Turn (1997) and 21 Grams (2003) and made a name for himself as the dark and brooding actor's actor. Now he's stepping behind the camera for the fourth time, detailing another man's life-changing journey in the drama Into the Wild, released in the U.S. on Friday, September 21.
September 24th, 2007 | Category: Moviemaker of the Week, Moviemaking | By Mallory Potosky
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' . $phpAds_raw['html'] . ''; } ?>David Cronenberg
David Cronenberg has had a long and interesting career. While most of his movies have been labeled "cult" fare (and not for the general public), his most recent pictures have begun changing that image. His last film, A History of Violence, was well received and featured such non-Cronenberg staples as a straightforward narrative and no weird monsters. His latest project, Eastern Promises, will further this idea of a "new Cronenberg."
September 16th, 2007 | Category: Moviemaker of the Week, Moviemaking | By Brian Hickey
James Mangold
Director James Mangold is feeling a western vibe. At least, that's what you could guess from his recent projects. He's following up his Johnny Cash biopic Walk the Line with 3:10 To Yuma, a remake of the classic Western. Mangold was 17 when he first saw the original version, and it has been with him ever since. "The characters are much more complicated than simple black and white hats, and the story presented not only the potential for action but also a kind of claustrophobia, unique among Westerns, one that forces these opposite characters into a very close and intense proximity," says Mangold.
The film followed him into other projects, as he drew inspiration from it while making Cop Land in 1997 and Identity in 2002. It was during the filming of the latter that he finally decided to go after 3:10.
September 10th, 2007 | Category: Moviemaker of the Week, Moviemaking | By Brian Hickey
Jennifer Aniston
People know little more of Jennifer Aniston than what the tabloids print or what they see nightly on repeats of “Friends.†For instance, did you know that she was also a moviemaker? As in, more than an actress that stands in front of the camera?
September 3rd, 2007 | Category: Moviemaker of the Week, Moviemaking | By Mallory Potosky
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' . $phpAds_raw['html'] . ''; } ?>Michael Bay
Like it or not, Michael Bay is a successful moviemaker. His films make obscene amounts of money, which in turn allows him to continue to practice his “craft,â€? a fairly reliable definition of success. Recently he has become a lightning rod for criticism on all aspects of his work, with an entire song devoted to him (“Why Does Michael Bay Keep Getting to Make Movies?â€?) in 2004â€(tm)s Team America: World Police. Heâ€(tm)s a guy that people really love to hate. His movies are considered bloated, heavy on effects and low on plot and reality. But with his latest effort, Transformers, breaking records and raking in money, Bay couldnâ€(tm)t care less what anyone else thinks.
Bay got started doing commercials and music videos. He created the original “Got Milk?â€? ad, which went on to win a commercial of the year award. His first feature, Bad Boys, made $150 million worldwide when it was released in 1995. The Rock and Armageddon both made buckets of cash and began to cement him as the action film director. His track recordâ€(tm)s first hiccup was 2001â€(tm)s Pearl Harbor. The movie, universally hated by critics (and most of the people who saw it), somehow still made a ton of money. His first major bomb was 2005â€(tm)s The Island, which only made $35 million at the box office--a sum total equal to just 30 percent of the movie’s total budget. This led to a very public fight between Bay, the actors and the producers about who exactly should be to blame for the colossal failure of the movie.
Bay is no stranger to public controversy, he recently engaged in an immature battle of words with Bruce Willis on the Internet about whether or not Bay was originally going to direct the latest Die Hard movie. He also recently posted--and then quickly deleted--a post on his Website criticizing two producers of Transformers for taking credit that was “rightfully� his.
Bay’s next project is still up in the air, but Transformers 2 will probably be in his horizons.
Sound Off: What about Michael Bay pisses you off the most? The gaping plot holes? The lack of reality? What about Michael Bay makes you happy? The wanton destruction and giant explosions? The sex appeal? Sound off in our “Comments” section.
July 9th, 2007 | Category: Moviemaker of the Week, Moviemaking | By MovieMaker Staff
Michael Moore
He has been an elected official (at the budding age of 18 no less), executive editor of Mother Jones magazine and a would-be priest. Now, as a video journalist and moviemaker, Michael Moore is conquering his next mountain: The U.S. healthcare system. In SiCKO, out in early release from The Weinstein Company on June 22, Moore documents the drawbacks and inconsistencies in the privatized system while promoting an elimination of private health insurance and a regulation of pharmaceutical companies. “One thing I said to my coworkers when we started was that we donâ€(tm)t need to spend a lot of time in the film telling the audience how bad the system is, because they already know,†Moore says. “That would be like making a movie now and pointing out that Bush is a lousy president.†Wait, didnâ€(tm)t he already do that?
In 2004 the moviemaker caused a worldwide stir when his scathing critique on the Bush administration, Fahrenheit 9/11, hit theaters sans support of its Disney distribution label. With the mouse house out of the picture, the Weinstein brothers, Lionsgate and IFC Films stepped up to promote and distribute what became the highest grossing documentary in box office history.
Moore, no stranger to controversy, has become synonymous with sociopolitical calls to action since first raising a popular ruckus with the release of 1989â€(tm)s Roger & Me. His attempts at meeting with General Motors CEO Roger Smith raised many an eye to the economic fate of Mooreâ€(tm)s hometown of Flint, Michigan. His next documentary, the Academy Award-winning Bowling for Columbine, expanded its scope to the nationâ€(tm)s gun control laws (or, rather, leniency) after the shooting rampage at Columbine High School. Its screening at Cannes marked the first documentary to be shown at the festival in 46 years and came home with the 55th Anniversary Prize.
“Ignorance is never a healthy thing,†Moore observes. “You canâ€(tm)t make the best decisions without having all of the information. Thatâ€(tm)s true in our daily life, and thatâ€(tm)s true in our political life.†Which is probably why we look to this passionate moviemaker to challenge us every few years.
Sound Off: Michael Moore confronts issues in his movies often by revealing only one side of the argument, explaining that the other side is what the public is bombarded with day in and day out. Some people find this deceitful while others find it necessary. What’s your view? Tell us what you think in our comments section!
June 24th, 2007 | Category: Moviemaker of the Week, Moviemaking | By MovieMaker Staff
Moviemaker of the Week: Steven Soderbergh
In 1989 Steven Soderbergh began the Sundance Revolution--the beginning of the independent film movement as we know it today--when he premiered his low-budget feature sex, lies, and videotape at the iconic Park City festival. Its unconventional story and exceptional performances created the fest’s first true bidding frenzy among attending distributors and earned its director quite a few awards, including the Palme d’Or at that year’s Cannes Film Festival.
Soderbergh returned to Cannes this May with the premiere of his most recent project, Ocean’s Thirteen, the second sequel to his hit 2001 crime caper, Ocean’s Eleven. Ready to defend one of their own, the Ocean’s band of characters reunites with the goal of taking down one of Sin City’s wealthiest casino owners. Like its predecessors, the movie stars an impressive assemblage of today’s hottest acting talent, including Brad Pitt, Matt Damon, Al Pacino, Andy Garcia, Don Cheadle and frequent Soderbergh collaborator George Clooney.
After directing Clooney in 1998’s Out of Sight, the moviemaking pair established a production company, Section Eight, out of which emerged most future directorial efforts from both men. In 2001 Soderbergh achieved a feat few before have ever experienced: Two Best Director Academy Award nominations for Erin Brockovich and Traffic--the latter of which brought him home the trophy.
“For me, as a producer, there’s Steven Soderbergh and then there’s everybody else,” explains Jerry Weintraub, who has worked on all three Ocean’s movies with the renowned director. “In everything we have done together, we have a wonderful partnership. Any accolade that can be said about the guy, he lives up to. He is simply great.”
June 3rd, 2007 | Category: Moviemaker of the Week, Moviemaking | By Mallory Potosky
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' . $phpAds_raw['html'] . ''; } ?>Moviemaker of the Week: Terry Sanders
As one half of the American Film Foundation, director Terry Sanders has contributed to the company’s three Oscar wins, 10 nominations, two Emmy awards and three nods from the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences. To date, the Foundation’s small team has completed over 60 films--and on May 15th, it will add one more to the list as Sanders premieres his latest film, Fighting for Life at the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum in Washington, D.C.
The movie, originally a documentary about the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences in Bethesda, turned into a larger-than-life account of the medical services provided to the armed forces fighting in Iraq and those who return home injured. From the National Naval Medical Center in Washington and Bethesda to the battlegrounds of Iraq and back to the now infamous Walter Reed Army Medical Center, Sanders follows one woman’s journey to cope with her new disfigurement and the other considerable results with which the country is embroiled.
According to Sanders, he and partner Freida Lee Mock were looking to “explore new cinematic territory and break new ground in the production of the extraordinary, powerful and entertaining award-winning films on the arts, sciences and humanities.” To that end, the American Film Foundation was formed in 1976. AFF is currently in production on the documentary Wrestling with Angels, which chronicles the life of playwright Tony Kushner and Tokyo Rose/American Patriot, about the first woman in America to be convicted of treason. For more information visit www.americanfilmfoundation.com. To read more about Fighting for Life, head to www.fightingforlifethemovie.com.
May 14th, 2007 | Category: Moviemaker of the Week, Moviemaking | By MovieMaker Staff
Moviemaker of the Week: Thelma Schoonmaker
She has been honored by Oscar, Eddie, BAFTA and Emmy. But 2007 marks the first time that Coolidge came calling for Thelma Schoonmaker, making it a banner year for this master editor, who was given an Oscar earlier this year for her work on The Departed.
The editor best-known as Martin Scorsese’s closest collaborator was on hand in Boston last week to receive the prestigious Coolidge Award at the historic Coolidge Corner Theatre in Brookline, MA. Initiated in 2004, the Coolidge Award seeks to honor “a film artist whose body of work is consistently challenging and original, breaks the boundaries of the medium and, in doing so, transports us to ever higher ground,” according to executive director Joseph Zina.
Following in the footsteps of previous Coolidge Award recipients—director Zhang Yimou, cinematographer Vittorio Storaro and actress Meryl Streep—Schoonmaker spent two days in Boston to take part in film and panel discussions, teach a master class in film editing and, of course, be handed her statue. With all events open to the public, the Coolidge Award is one accolade that rewards the recipient and his or her fans alike.
For more information, visit www.coolidge.org/award.
Sound Off: Of the almost 20 features Thelma Schoonmaker has edited since 1980, only one—Allison Anders’ Grace of My Heart in 1996—was not directed by Martin Scorsese (though he did serve as an executive producer). Who are your favorite close-knit, moviemaking teams?
--Jennifer M. Wood
April 16th, 2007 | Category: Moviemaker of the Week, Moviemaking | By MovieMaker Staff
Moviemaker of the Week: Robert Rodriguez
For independent moviemakers there is perhaps no better example of creativity and ingenuity than the $7,000 man, Robert Rodriguez. The San Antonio native began his meritorious career back in 1991 when he and high school chum Carlos Gallardo completed a feature-length action movie in a small Mexican border town. Rodriguez famously sold his body to science to raise funds and acted as the movie’s director, cinematographer, camera operator, lighting technician, editor and every other conceivable member of the production crew. He was the new golden boy of independent cinema once El Mariachi and the story behind it became talk show and festival circuit fodder.
The moviemaker’s path took a few unexpected turns beginning with the 1992 Toronto Film Festival, where both the El Mariachi media frenzy and a friendship with Quentin Tarantino began. From that first feature grew the high-budget, celebrity-strewn sequels Desperado and Once Upon a Time in Mexico, with Rodriguez still pulling the weight of multiple crewmembers. Together with Tarantino, Rodriguez has completed five films. Dimension Films will release their latest collaboration, Grindhouse, on April 6, 2007.
As two movies on one bill, Grindhouse references those theaters of old that screened back-to-back explicit and taboo exploitation movies. Rodriguez’s segment, “Planet Terror,” features Rose McGowan and Freddy Rodriguez as a scarred couple out for revenge. Making sure he still has a hand in everything, this gritty thriller is produced, edited and scored by the famed moviemaker himself.
Sound Off: Robert Rodriguez raised money for his first feature film by becoming a lab rat. What is the furthest you have gone to complete a film? Let us know in the Comments section!
--Mallory Potosky
March 26th, 2007 | Category: Moviemaker of the Week, Moviemaking | By MovieMaker Staff
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' . $phpAds_raw['html'] . ''; } ?>Zack Snyder
Most young boys outgrow their superhero fascination early on in life. Despite years of study, world travel and professional experiences, writer-director Zack Snyder can’t shake that side of himself. Perhaps his alter-ego began hiding during those late-night cram sessions at London’s Heatherlies School, peeking out every so often while Snyder studied at Pasadena’s Art Center College of Design or directed award-winning commercials in exotic locales. Or maybe the little boy in Snyder reemerged after having six kids of his own. Whatever the case, Snyder has finally unleashed his inner child on the perfect outlet: Writing and directing movies about the things he loves most!
In 2004, Snyder’s directorial debut, Dawn of the Dead, impressed critics expecting little more than a cliched, profit-seeking remake of the George Romero classic. His next undertaking, a screen version of Frank Miller‘s graphic novel 300 (which was released on March 9th), also seemed an impossible feat, but the buzz surrounding the movie is enough to silence skeptics (if not deafen them).
300, which tells the story of the Battle of Thermopylae, between the Spartans and the Persians, calls for a lot of action. But dialogue? “The way that he structures the prose is as important as the drawings to me,” Snyder says of Miller’s source material. “I wanted to think of a way to preserve and honor his prose, as well as his imagery in the film.” Looks like it’s mission accomplished: Gerard Butler, star of 300, says he could fill “six volumes about [Snyder] and his talent.”
Next up for Snyder? An adaptation of Alan Moore’s graphic novel Watchmen. Sounds like a job for a true moviemaking superhero.
March 12th, 2007 | Category: Moviemaker of the Week, Moviemaking | By Mallory Potosky
Moviemaker of the Week: Mark Forker
Most moviemakers dream of they day when they can put their harrowing days of small-budget projects behind them. While they’re off shooting an independent movie on a shoestring, visions of deeps pools of money, garish special effects and unlimited resources fuel their creative fire. So it might appear odd that someone would reverse-engineer his career, from point B to point A, especially when that person is firmly ensconced in big-budget Hollywood.
But that is what Mark Forker has done. During his 12 years working as a digital compositor and visual effects supervisor at Digital Domain, the visual effects company founded by James Cameron and Stan Winston, Forker has worked on such big-budget projects as Titanic, Apollo 13, The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. But he has left Hollywood for Philadelphia, where he is overseeing DIVE, the new visual effects and film finishing house division of Shooters Post & Transfer, an award-winning visual effects, design and post-production facility. As the head of DIVE, Forker works primarily with independent moviemakers on smaller budgets (though he will still provide visual effects supervision services to studios and moviemakers in Hollywood from time to time).
Forker is excited to be working with independent moviemakers, despite his years of working at Digital Domain. While he says the process of satisfying the director’s hunger for effects work is the same regardless of budget, cost will be significantly lower and there will be less bureaucratic and political meddling with his work at DIVE.
“The advantage of the smaller, indie-sized moviemaking process is I can spend more time on the creative process and less time managing ungodly amounts of work,†Forker says. “At the end of the day, there are less people and layers getting in the way of the directors creative vision.â€
Sound Off: Mark Forker and DIVE are making visual effects work more accessible to independent moviemakers. How important do you think visual effects are, or should be, to independent moviemaking? Let us know in our comments section!
February 28th, 2007 | Category: Moviemaker of the Week, Moviemaking | By MovieMaker Staff
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