It’s been a long decade’s wait since Catherine Breillat’s last feature, the semi-autobiographical Abuse of Weakness with Isabelle Huppert, but Last Summer shows the uncompromising French filmmaker in top form, at once fierce and precise. Returning to a favored subject—the desires and power dynamics in affairs between adolescents and usually much older adults—Breillat brings in another taboo this time: the messy sexual obsession between a lawyer, Anne (Léa Drucker), and her 17-year-old stepson, Théo (newcomer Daniel Kircher). After Théo comes back to stay at the family’s idyllic home outside Paris, the two carry on secretly until the truth becomes inescapable […]

The post “We Have Regressed Into an Obtuse and Rigid Moral Order”: Catherine Breillat on Last Summer first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.

The phrase “word-of-mouth indie theatrical hit” sounds as outdated in 2024 as “coming soon to LaserDisc.” And yet, the slapstick fur-trapping adventure comedy Hundreds of Beavers has graduated from its lengthy festival run to become that rarest of things, a star-free independent film that has already grossed more than double its $150,000 production budget during its self-distributed gradual cinema rollout (still continuing as of this writing, despite its release on VOD). First-time feature writer-director Mike Cheslik previously teamed with lead actor/producer/co-writer Ryland Brickson Cole Tews on the latter’s feature directorial debut, the black-and-white adventure comedy Lake Michigan Monster. In classic independent […]

The post Of Mascots and Men: Mike Cheslik and Ryland Brickston Cole Tews on Hundreds of Beavers first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.

There are few actors more well respected than the preternaturally gifted Julianne Nicholson. Recent notable credits include August: Osage County, Dream Scenario, Mare of Easttown (which won her an Emmy award), and, her latest, playwright Annie Baker’s first film, Janet Planet. In this episode, she talks in-depth about playing Janet in that remarkable film, her elusive preparation process, getting the environment to settle into her body, actually learning how to do acupuncture, why she lets her instinct lead the way, and much more. Back To One can be found wherever you get your podcasts, including Apple Podcasts, Google Play, and Spotify. […]

The post “It Was a Deeply Loving Set. Very Intimate. Very Small. Lots of Women”: Janet Planet Star Julianne Nicholson, Back To One, Episode 297 first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.

Dan Licata has come a long way since high school, where he shattered both of his legs by jumping off the roof of a Buffalo church. A ferociously funny comedian, he has written for Saturday Night Live and Joe Pera Talks with You and recently performed stand-up on Late Night with Seth Meyers. His chaotically brilliant new stand-up special For the Boys (available on YouTube) was shot at his high school alma mater in front of a crowd of 15-year-old boys, the perfect audience for his arrested pubescent persona—a blustery Jackass-fueled manchild who desperately wants to connect with the youth but […]

The post “This Industry is Crumbling Like a Nature Valley Bar”: Dan Licata on For the Boys first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.

The organizing principles of portmanteau films are often quite simplistic. A group of directors tackling a particular genre, for example, or films united by geography. An example of the latter is the straightforwardly-titled New York Stories, of which only Martin Scorsese’s “Life Lessons” is remembered much these days. Jim Jarmusch has made a few united around theme and setting — Coffee and Cigarettes, where famous actors sit down over a brew and a smoke; Night on Earth, where famous actors take cab rides in production-friendly cities around the world; and Mystery Train, where the stories are linked by a setting […]

The post “It Is Like a Palette Cleanser, In a Way…”: Yorgos Lanthimos on Following Poor Things with the Sardonic Portmanteau Film, Kinds of Kindness first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.

In Civil War, the United States has splintered into four clashing factions, but if you’re expecting a treatise on the country’s ideological divide from British writer-director Alex Garland, this is not that movie. America’s dysfunction is secondary to examining the toll on the journalists covering the conflict. The story follows a quartet of correspondents (including jaded photographer Kirsten Dunst and green Cailee Spaeny) as they travel to the war’s front in Washington D.C. in hopes of landing an interview with the embattled president (Nick Offerman). Cinematographer Rob Hardy, who’s lensed all of Garland’s projects since the novelist/screenwriter turned to the […]

The post Holding the Chicken: DP Rob Hardy on Civil War first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.

Every start of summer, the Cine Gear Expo comes to Los Angeles. Initially  held on the Paramount lot, the Expo had a short stint at the LA Convention Center for two pandemic years before landing this yearat the Warner Brothers lot in Burbank. The movie lot aspect assists greatly with vibes: While its chief competitor, NAB Show—held a few months earlier in the Las Vegas Convention Center—feels like a traditional trade show, at Cine Gear you can peruse the latest lenses as the iconic Animaniacs water tower looms in the distance, just visible behind a camera crane which swings around […]

The post Cine Gear Expo 2024: 17 Cameras, LED (and Traditional) Lights, Lenses and Remote Camera Controls We Loved first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.

It’s somewhat apt to say that Osgood Perkins owes much of his cinematic success to Satan. His 2015 debut as a writer-director, The Blackcoat’s Daughter, explores the sinister presence of the occult at a Catholic boarding school in Upstate New York. He leaned into a gothic ghost story for his 2016 follow-up, I Am the Pretty Thing That Lives in the House, eschewing devil worship for a clear nod to novelist Shirley Jackson. Longlegs, his third effort as sole writer and director, veers staunchly back toward Satanism, this time revolving around a series of murders committed by the eponymous killer. […]

The post “Polaroids Were Certainly a Key Touchstone Into This World”: Osgood Perkins on Longlegs first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.

John Early is an actor, comedian, writer, and wearer of many hats. His latest as a comedian and writer is the HBO special Now More Than Ever. His latest as an actor is the independent film Stress Positions. On this episode he talks about how these two projects came about, the differences between the John Early character and himself, the pleasure of working on the series Search Party, why he relishes straight-up acting, the comedy breakthrough he made in his new special, and much more.  Back To One can be found wherever you get your podcasts, including Apple Podcasts, Google […]

The post “That’s What’s Thrilling about Acting—Recreating Private Moments”: John Early, Back To One, Episode 296 first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.

You’ve probably heard Sean Murray’s music without knowing it. A composer for nearly 40 years, his work has appeared on dozens of soap operas, action movies and cultural touchstones like TV’s Buffy the Vampire Slayer and the Call of Duty video game series. His most fruitful collaboration has been with his longtime friend Jesse V. Johnson, a director of low-budget/high intelligence genre movies—the latest of which, Chief of Station, a spy thriller starring Aaron Eckhart, was released in May. Both Murray and Johnson are students of old Hollywood, and their films and scores honor the spirits of their idols.  Filmmaker: […]

The post Kill the Piano Player: Composer Sean Murray on Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Call of Duty and Jesse V. Johnson first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.