Movie News: Inside The Old Guard; Shooting Relic; Happy Birthday, Tesla

In today’s Movie News Roundup: Gina Prince-Bythewood tells us about her journey to directing the new Charlize Theron film The Old Guard; the cinematographer of Relic shows us everything in his kit; the Russo Brothers agree with Anthony Mackey about Marvel needing more on-set diversity; and Starship Troopers gets another look. Plus: Watch the trailer for Tesla, which isn’t about the car company.

‘This Industry Is About Overcoming No’: The Old Guard, from Gina Prince-Bythewood (pictured), stars Charlize Theron as the leader of a band of ancient warriors. In our latest MovieMaker Interviews podcast, Prince-Bythewood tells us how she overcame a “soul-crushing” moment that almost sidelined her as a filmmaker — and how she’s applied the lessons from that victory to every moment of her career. It’s at the 9-minute mark, and you can listen on Apple or Spotify or right here:

https://shows.acast.com/moviemaker-interviews/episodes/gina-prince-bythewood-the-old-guard

Cartoons Recast: We made a list of white actors who will no longer play cartoon characters of difference races. And The Hollywood Reporter has a piece on how animators are looking for more thoughtful portrayals. Why are cartoons important? Because kids watch and take cues from them.

Shooting Relic: Relic cinematographer Charlie Sarroff wrote a terrific piece breaking down all the tools he used to shoot the atmospheric horror debut from Natalie Erika James — from his favorite light meter to his favorite rain jacket. It rains a lot on horror sets, especially.

Russo Brothers Back Anthony Mackey: Avengers: Endgame directors Joe and Anthony Russo say Anthony Mackey is right about the need for more behind-the-scenes diversity in Marvel movies. They made the comments while speaking to us about their latest episode of Russo Brothers Pizza Film School, which you can watch today on Instagram Live.

Would You Like to Know More? The New Yorker has a long essay about how the darkly satirical 1997 film Starship Troopers perfectly aligns with our national mood, and no kidding, The New Yorker, where have you been for the last 23 years? Still, I never pass on a chance to read about Paul Verhoeven movies. Aside: The story annoyingly reasserts the modern myth that the movie American Psycho is a repudiation of the book American Psycho, which you’ll find is not true if you talk to everyone involved in American Psycho.

Happy Birthday, Nikola Tesla: IFC Films is marking the inventor’s 164th birthday with the trailer for Michael Almereyda’s upcoming Tesla, a very unconventional biopic that stars Ethan Hawke as Tesla and Kyle MacLachlan as his friend and rival, Thomas Edison.) Emma Myers wrote an excellent feature about the film for the upcoming issue of MovieMaker Magazine, and we can’t wait for you to read it.

Have a great weekend, and don’t beat yourself up if you missed yesterday’s movie news.