Directing

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Brendan Moriarty Walks The Road to Freedom

by Hugh Cunningham | Published Sep. 29, 2011

The recent death of photojournalist Tim Hetherington—killed while covering political unrest in Libya—made more people aware of the danger faced by those who go into war zones to document and publicize human rights atrocities that would otherwise be far too easy for the world at large to ignore. Hetherington’s tragic death caught the world’s attention, and rightly so. Photojournalists are fully aware of the dangers they face but do not let those dangers stop them in their pursuit of the truth. So it was for photojournalist Sean Flynn, whose life and tragic death is the subject of director Brendan Moriarty’s The Road to Freedom, in theaters tomorrow. (1 comment)

Hillbillies and College Kids Fight to the Death in Eli Craig's Tucker & Dale vs. Evil

by Rebecca Pahle | Published Sep. 28, 2011

In the unconventional horror-comedy Tucker & Dale vs Evil, all best friends Tucker (Alan Tudyk) and Dale (Tyler Labine) want to do is spend a nice weekend fixing up Tucker's mountain cabin and doing some fishing. As luck would have it, a group of vacationing college kids—led by the popped collar-wearing frat boy Chad (Jesse Moss)—assume the scruffy, overall-wearing Tucker and Dale are Deliverance-style psycho killers. It's all downhill from there. Tucker & Dale director Eli Craig took the time to chat with MovieMaker about his genre-spanning debut film, which hits select theaters this Friday, September 30th. (No comments yet)

Mixed Reviews: Hopper, Huston and Monsters in the Movies

by Kyle Rupprecht | Published Sep. 27, 2011

Two Hollywood legends and 300-plus pages of nightmare fuel—check out MM's reviews of the newly-released Dennis Hopper: The Wild Ride of a Hollywood Rebel, John Huston: Courage and Art and Monsters in the Movies. (1 comment)

Carmen Marron Decides to Go For It!

by Carmen Marron | Published Sep. 27, 2011

Imagine you’re a guidance counselor working in a city where your life consists of teaching elementary students how to beat the odds in their community to achieve success. Your typical day involves going into classrooms and teaching kids to cope with their environmental pressures and helping them to use social skills to articulate their ideas, goals and fears. Though I didn't know it when I started working on my script for Go For It!, the title of my first movie would be my anthem during my quest to get that movie made. (No comments yet)

Andrew Haigh Explores Romance, Sex and Intimacy in Weekend

by Rebecca Pahle | Published Sep. 22, 2011

In Andrew Haigh's Weekend, the chance meeting between Russell and Glen isn't intended by either of them to lead to anything more than a one night stand. But over the next 48 hours, as they share their personal histories, beliefs and aspirations, a strong emotional connection develops between the two of them. The relationship between the two men, however brief in length, is one that will have a profound impact on both of them long after they've gone their separate ways. The fact that the romantic and sexual relationship that forms the heart of Weekend is between two men is garnering the film a lot of attention—though the fact that it's an excellent film is helping quite a bit more. (No comments yet)

Charles Martin Smith Spins a Dolphin Tale

by Charles Martin Smith | Published Sep. 22, 2011

From the moment I took on the project of directing Dolphin Tale, it was clear to me that the relationship between the boy, Sawyer, and Winter the dolphin was the movie’s emotional core. I wanted the audience to sympathize with and even envy Sawyer (What kid wouldn’t want to have a dolphin for a best friend?). But to have all these emotions ring true, Sawyer himself had to ring true. Because I introduced other elements of childhood wish fulfillment into the film, the film was in danger of feeling unreal and losing emotional resonance. Hazel and Sawyer had to be absolutely truthful characters, both in the writing and in the performing, to balance the film. This meant casting was crucial. (2 comments)

"But What I Really Didn't Want To Do Was Direct..."

Director Margaret Whitton on Arthur Penn, the power of wine, happy accidents and A Bird of the Air

by Margaret Whitton | Published Sep. 21, 2011

Some directors are born. Some have directing thrust upon them. And sometimes you become a director because there is no other alternative. Even after obsessing, developing and raising the dough for A Bird of the Air over 15 years, I had never thought of directing it. But when we suddenly lost our director and were in danger of losing a big chunk of the budget if we didn’t shoot by the end of the year, my producing partner Steven Tabakin and I did what any smart producers would do: We opened a bottle of wine. I’m not clear on exactly how it happened, but he convinced me to direct the film.
(1 comment)

Five Reasons Why Short Films Are Still Essential

by Warren Pereira | Published Sep. 15, 2011

I wrote and directed my first short film, Lacking Lewis, in early 2005. The supposed “final” cut, ready later that year, was awful. So I rewrote, re-shot, re-color corrected, re-edited, re-scored and re-sound mixed it more times than I care to admit.  By 2007, the film was better. It got into some festivals and even won a few awards. I was told that I was ready to make a feature and that any more time spent making short films would be a waste, but over the next four years, I made four more short films with the same meticulous work ethic as my first. The shorts garnered me multiple festival selections and awards, Oscar qualification, critical praise and even distribution. They connected me with amazingly talented artists whom I respect and who have taught me a lot. For anyone who thinks that making a short film is just an easily-ignored pit stop on the road to feature film stardom, I offer the following five reasons to make a short film. (4 comments)

My Golden Rules: Errol Morris

The Five Commandments of Cinema

by Errol Morris | Published Sep. 15, 2011

Oscar-winning documentarian Errol Morris (The Thin Blue Line, Gates of Heaven, The Fog of War), who explored the potential of photography to reveal truth in his book Believing Is Seeing: Observations on the Mysteries of Photography, presents his five golden rules for discovering truth through cinema. (No comments yet)

First-Time Tricks of the Trade

Confidence and Collaboration Are the Keys to Successful Directing

by Mark W. Travis | Published Sep. 15, 2011

Being a first-time director is like jumping into the deep end of a pool. You may have prepared for this job by directing short films, attending workshops, watching other directors work and reading lots of books. All of that is good, but when you embark on directing your first feature, you’re still jumping into the deep end, where there’s no lifeguard on duty and no one to yank you out if you drop below the water line. But there are some tricks you can learn quickly that will work for you if you are willing to embrace them enthusiastically.
(2 comments)

Tracy J. Trost Believes in The Lamp

by Samantha Husik | Published Sep. 7, 2011

It’s hard to regain one's faith once you’ve lost it. Director Tracy Trost explores this spiritual struggle in his latest film The Lamp, in which he offers viewers a much-needed message of hope. (No comments yet)

James Whitaker Captures Post-September 11th Rebirth

by Rebecca Pahle | Published Sep. 7, 2011

When Jim Whitaker, at the time an executive at Imagine Entertainment, visited New York City a month after the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, he knew at once that he wanted to do something to record the process of rebuilding Ground Zero. The resulting film, Rebirth, would take Whitaker a decade to complete. The film combines time-lapse photography of Ground Zero and interviews with five people whose lives were forever changed on September 11th to create a compellingly personal document on the power of hope and the ability of the human spirit to recover from near-unimaginable trauma over time.
(1 comment)

Don’t Go Near the Water…

Think staying away from the ocean will keep you safe? David R. Ellis brings the sharks to you in Shark Night 3D.

by Hugh Cunningham | Published Sep. 1, 2011

Each year, scientists learn more and more about the beauty and intricacy of our home planet. This increased knowledge impacts biology, medicine, anthropology... and the horror genre, which has evolved to reflect our understanding of all the deadly things we live with that can kill us. Traditional horror movie stapes like werewolves, mummies and (non-disco ball) vampires have recently started taking a back seat to more realistic (or semi-realistic) horror monsters in movies like Snakes on a Plane and Piranha 3D.

Sure, the idea that passengers on a plane would be terrorized by a batch of snakes is ridiculous, but seeing those passengers exposed to snake venom is disturbingly real. And while an earthquake would probably never set free a a school of prehistoric piranha (during Spring Break, no less), man-eating fish embarking on a feeding frenzy makes for a real enough visual to scare most any audience member.

Enter Shark Night 3D, directed by Snakes on a Plane‘s David R. Ellis, in which a group of college students find that the lake they’ve chosen as their vacation spot has been filled with hundreds of sharks. Is the concept outlandish? Yes. Is it believable? Well, sharks can’t survive outside of saltwater. However, Shark Night 3D establishes from the get-go that that the lake in question is a saltwater lake (yes, those exist). So if someone with a large disposable income, lots of free time and a murderous streak decided they wanted to create their own deadly version of Sea World... they might conceivably be able to pull it off. Scared yet?
(No comments yet)

André N. Anton is Defying Deletion

Documentary Short Increases Awareness of the Persecution of Assyrians in Iraq

by André N. Anton | Published Aug. 30, 2011

Defying Deletion: The Fight Over Iraq’s Nineveh Plains portrays the struggle of the Assyrian race since the 2003 U.S.-led invasion of Iraq. Assyrians are part of Iraq’s surviving indigenous population, but they are being persecuted and pushed to the brink of extinction. The emotionally-charged story told in Defying Deletion is an important one because of how this injustice has gone largely unreported by the mainstream media. Assyrians have faced persecution in Iraq—largely as a result of their Christianity—for generations, but in my documentary short Defying Deletion, I chose to focus on on post-Saddam Iraq, because the acuity of the current persecution threatens the very survival of the Assyrians as a people.
(90 comments)

Matthew Bate Documents an Audio Misadventure in Shut Up Little Man!

by Matthew Bate | Published Aug. 24, 2011

I used to hang around a friend’s record store, and one day another loiterer, a maven of obscure pop-culture knowledge named Ron, told me about this bizarre recording of two old men fighting called Shut Up Little Man. I went home and started listening to it, and it was so shocking and compelling that I couldn’t stop. As I researched the recordings I found that the writer Dan Clowes (Ghost World) and Devo, among others, had used Shut Up Little Man to inspire their art. I knew quite quickly that I wanted to make a film about the recordings. That film would become my first feature film, the documentary Shut Up Little Man! An Audio Misadventure. (No comments yet)

The Rules of Adaptation

Brighton Rock writer-director shares his dos and don'ts of adapting a novel for the movies

by Rowan Joffe | Published Aug. 22, 2011

The novel Brighton Rock, written by Graham Greene in 1938, is one of the most cherished classics of British 20th-century fiction. Ten years later it was adapted by Greene himself into what is widely regarded as the one of the best British films ever made. So why did I adapt the book again? The truth is, there were lots of reasons. Some were sound, some were quite irrational. In retrospect, this is the "advice" I would hesitantly give to anyone considering adapting a book for the big screen. (No comments yet)

Fright Night and Then Some

The best and worst horror remakes

by Kyle Rupprecht | Published Aug. 18, 2011

Horror movie remakes are a dime a dozen these days, with re-treads of such genre classics as Poltergeist, Hellraiser and Suspiria currently in production. The latest to hit theaters is Fright Night, a 3-D update of Tom Holland’s frightfully fun '80s flick, starred Chris Sarandon and Roddy McDowall, which reinvigorated the vampire genre. The movie revolves around high school student Charley Brewster (Anton Yelchin), who suspects that his charismatic new neighbor, Jerry Dandrige (Colin Farrell), is in fact a vampire. With nocturnal bloodsuckers being all the rage these days, Fright Night will hopefully be able to make a splash in the overcrowded "True Blood"/Twilight marketplace. With the film hitting theaters this weekend, MM thought it a perfect time to take a look back at some of the best and worst horror remakes of all time. (2 comments)

Jeff Warrick is Programming the Nation?

Mockumentary turns to documentary over the course of several years

by Jeff Warrick | Published Aug. 17, 2011

In the wake of the release of my documentary, Programming the Nation, in New York City, I’m constantly reminded of the age-old adage: “It’s about the journey, not the destination.” Looking back now, I realize how true this is. Somehow, upon receiving my B.A. in film and literature from UC Santa Cruz in 2000, I managed to complete several original screenplays. After graduating, I spent the next two to three years feverishly re-writing those screenplays in a concerted effort to get a green-light through the Hollywood Dream Machine. Even after successfully advancing to the top five percent of the Nicholl Fellowships in Screenwriting Competition (sponsored by the Academy of Motion Pictures) and signing with a WGA agent (who lived in Atlanta, since none in L.A. were interested!), my desire of making a feature film still did not come any closer to fruition. (3 comments)

Mixed Reviews: Shock Value

by Kyle Rupprecht | Published Aug. 9, 2011

It began in the late 1960s, and would last for about a decade—a cosmic shift in the landscape of horror movies. The “Old Horror” movies, which had been around for more than 30 years, featured cobwebs and musty old crypts; the “New Horror” movies were considerably more realistic and graphic. The central threat in these films came not from a supernatural entity, but from something more human—the neighbors down the street or maybe even a person living inside the protagonist's home. By placing the horror in everyday settings, these films became much more frightening to audiences, and still have the power to shock today. Jason Zinoman’s new book, Shock Value: How a Few Eccentric Outsiders Gave Us Nightmares, Conquered Hollywood, and Invented Modern Horror ($25.95, 274 pages, The Penguin Press) discusses in expert detail this critical time in movie history. (1 comment)

Greg Mottola Enters Alien Territory with Paul

by Aaron Hillis | Published Aug. 9, 2011

When Greg Mottola, the New York-based moviemaker behind such naturalistic, character-driven comedies as Superbad, Adventureland and The Daytrippers, was asked by Shaun of the Dead co-creators Simon Pegg and Nick Frost to direct Paul, their “pop culture mash-up” homage to the golden age of sci-fi blockbusters, even Mottola admits he wasn’t the most obvious guy for the job.
(3 comments)

Jim Mickle and Nick Damici Visit Stake Land

by Rebecca Pahle | Published Aug. 2, 2011

If you haven’t noticed, vampire movies have been enjoying a bit of a renaissance lately. Recent movies like Underworld, Blade and Twilight portray vampires as suave, sexy action stars, while Let the Right One In and Thirst have given vampire movies the intellectual, introspective treatment. Stake Land isn’t about a tormented, misunderstood vampire who’s actually very sensitive (and looks great in a billowing coat). (No comments yet)

Raja Gosnell Breathes New Life Into The Smurfs

by Kyle Rupprecht | Published Jul. 28, 2011

Before becoming one of the most successful family film directors working today (with such box office successes as Big Momma’s House, Scooby-Doo and Beverly Hills Chihuahua under his belt), Raja Gosnell worked for… Robert Altman? It’s true, Gosnell began his film career working as an assistant editor on several of Altman's films before becoming Chris Columbus’ editor-of-choice, cutting classic family comedies like Home Alone and Mrs. Doubtfire. (No comments yet)

A Look at the Life of an Honest Man

by Hugh Cunningham | Published Jul. 27, 2011

Dramatic stories are infinitely more compelling when we know that they are true. Like the story of Budd Dwyer: On January 22, 1987, Dwyer, the Treasurer of Pennsylvania, committed suicide during a televised press conference. (4 comments)

Exploring The Myth of the American Sleepover

by Hugh Cunningham | Published Jul. 21, 2011

"Coming of Age" is a genre of film to which everyone can relate. We're all capable of understanding the struggles and confusion that accompany one's adolescent years, as a kid awkwardly transforms into a adult and leans on his or her friends in order to endure those trying times. David Robert Mitchell's The Myth of the American Sleepover is one such story. Set in suburban Michigan (the site of Mitchell's own coming-of-age years), the film tells the story of a group of adolescents on the eve of the first day of the new school year. (No comments yet)

Sci-Fi Movies for People Who Hate Sci-Fi Movies

by Rebecca Pahle | Published Jul. 20, 2011

In Another Earth, out on July 22nd, Rhoda Williams is an MIT business student who caused the car accident that killed the wife and son of a young composer. On the night of the accident, a duplicate of Earth—which is hypothesized by scientists to be inhabited by the same people as the original planet—is discovered. Rhoda, racked with guilt, tries to win a chance to travel to the other Earth so that she can correct her mistake. Another Earth is a low-budget, introspective indie drama that's helped to put its leading actress-co-writer-producer Brit Marling on the map after it was a breakout hit at Sundance, where it won the Alfred P. Sloan Feature Film Prize and the Special Jury Prize for World Cinema. (7 comments)

To Hogwarts and Beyond

Cinema's best, worst and just plain creepiest boarding schools

by Rebecca Pahle | Published Jul. 14, 2011

Maybe you haven't heard, but July 15th sees the release of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2. At the start of the series, Harry was left on the steps of #4 Privet Drive, and in the seven books since he's enrolled at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, made some friends (and some rivals), discovered his arch enemy, found (and lost) his beloved godfather, become a central figure in the resistance against said arch enemy, witnessed the death of his mentor, gotten into some fights and done some camping, all while learning how to use magic. (No comments yet)

Spike Lee Confirmed to Direct Oldboy

by Jennifer M. Wood | Published Jul. 11, 2011

In the eight years since Chan-wook Park's Oldboy polarized audiences and won the 2004 Grand Prize Jury Award at Cannes, talks of an English-language remake have circulated. While a diverse slate of names has been bandied about as possible directors and stars—Steven Spielberg, Will Smith, Nicolas Cage, Danny Boyle and Matthew Vaughn among them—Mandate Pictures has confirmed that Spike Lee has officially signed on to direct a remake of the South Korean hit. (1 comment)

Michael Tully Explores Septien

by Samantha Husik | Published Jul. 6, 2011

Septien, which premiered at the 2011 Sundance Film Festival, is the story of Cornelius Rawlings—played by the film's writer-director Michael Tully—a man who returns home to Tennessee after disappearing 18 years earlier. The film explores the dynamic between Cornelius and his brothers—Amos (Onur Tukel) and Ezra (Robert Longstreet)—and the roles (caretaker, artist and athlete) that each brother plays in their dysfunctional little family. As the story unfolds we learn why Cornelius left home and how his brothers and a mysterious drifter help him overcome the pain of his past. (No comments yet)

Dan Hannon Visits The Pond

New Hampshire provides the location—and inspiration—for award-winning short film

by Hugh Cunningham | Published Jul. 5, 2011

Short films don't always get the respect they deserve. You can see Transformers anywhere, but it takes a dedicated fan to track down a short film he or she wants to see. Unless they are attached to the beginning of a Pixar movie, short films have a very limited theatrical exposure to the public. (2 comments)

Celebrating Richard Linklater's Slacker in Austin

by Hugh Cunningham | Published Jun. 28, 2011

On June 22nd, writer-director Richard Linklater (School of Rock) was in Austin, Texas at the Alamo Drafthouse. Why? To celebrate the 20th anniversary of Slacker, an American indie classic. In a celebration of life in Austin, the cast of the original film was there in support of the film and its upcoming sequel/reimagining, Slacker 2011. The event was presented by the Alamo Drafthouse and the Austin Film Society, an organization Linklater—who lives and works in Austin—founded in 1985. (8 comments)

Midnight in Paris Is Woody Allen's Biggest Hit in 25 Years

by Rebecca Pahle | Published Jun. 24, 2011

As of June 23rd, 2011, Woody Allen’s Midnight in Paris, starring Owen Wilson, Rachel McAdams, Michael Sheen, Kathy Bates and Marion Cotillard, has become the director’s highest-grossing film in 25 years. The critically-acclaimed film, which debuted at the Cannes Film Festival in mid-May and is still playing in wide release, has so far grossed $23.3 million, surpassing the box office gains of both Vicky Cristina Barcelona (2008) and Match Point (2005), the auteur’s two biggest commercial successes from recent years. (4 comments)

James Cameron Named National Geographic Explorer-in-Residence

by Hugh Cunningham | Published Jun. 23, 2011

James Cameron’s preference for geographically inconvenient film projects may have finally paid off. The Academy Award-winning moviemaker and alternative energy proponent was named Explorer-in-Residence by the National Geographic Society. (No comments yet)

Best Apps for Moviemakers 2011

From Pre-Production to Post, The Perfect Assistant Fits in the Palm of Your Hand

by Rebecca Pahle | Published Jun. 23, 2011

Ah, how things have changed in just one short year. When we published our first list of 25 must-have apps for moviemakers in last year’s Future of Moviemaking edition, the world of apps was still a relatively new one. Last year’s list included only one app exclusively for the then-brand-new iPad, and today’s newest technological toy du jour, the iPad 2, wasn’t even on the radar. (5 comments)

Social Media All-Stars

Four Case Studies in Social Media Success

by Jeffrey Goodman | Published Jun. 23, 2011

The world of independent movies is changing. Thanks to advances in technology—especially inexpensive HD cameras and the increased availability of consumer-friendly digital editing systems—it’s easier to make movies today than it ever has been before. That’s the good news. The bad news is that, since more movies are being made, distributors are paying less for finished movies. (2 comments)

My Golden Rules: Chris Weitz

by Chris Weitz | Published Jun. 23, 2011

Writer. Director. Producer. Actor. Chris Weitz has done it all. Here, he offers his 21 "golden rules" for life in the Hollywood fast lane. (4 comments)