The Playlist

The Playlist's Woman Of The Year 2011: Jessica Chastain

By Oliver Lyttelton
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December 20, 2011 1:30 PM
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10 Comments

Features

To start things off, there was really only one choice for The Playlist's inaugural Woman of the Year 2011, an actress who was virtually unknown twelve months ago, but has appeared in no fewer than seven films that premiered at film festivals or went into wide release over the course of the year, without a real stinker in the bunch. Her roles ranged from an Israeli spy to an ethereal 1950s housewife, from a Texan FBI agent to a platinum-blonde bombshell forming an unlikely friendship with her maid (the latter a part that looks set to take her to the Oscars this year). Yes, it's Jessica Chastain. Who else?

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Stephen Daldry Talks Asperger's, Depicting 9/11 In 'Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close,' And The Oscars

By Todd Gilchrist
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December 20, 2011 12:30 PM
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3 Comments

Features

At present, up to the imminent release of “Extremely Loud And Incredibly Close,” Stephen Daldry is three-for-three in terms of films to Best Director Oscar nominations; there’s clearly something about the stories he tells hitting a nerve among Academy voters, no matter how challenging (“The Hours”) or even controversial (“The Reader”) his subject matter. 'Extremely Loud' suggests that he’s as interested as ever in posing hard questions and finding powerful answers, as he brings to life Jonathan Safran Foer’s novel about a child with Asperger’s who takes an extraordinary journey to come to terms with the death of his father during 9/11.

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The Playlist Staff Pick Their Most Underrated & Overrated Films Of 2011

By Oliver Lyttelton
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December 20, 2011 9:26 AM
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65 Comments

Features

One of the pecularities of our site is our insistence on writing in the third personn, something designed to create the impression of a collective, a hive mind, and it's served us fairly well so far. But the realities of this are a little trickier; we're not all programmed the same way, and our beloved readers, understandably, can be puzzled to see a film derided in a review, and then ranking highly in our end-of-year features. But the truth is, we're not all cut from the same cloth; one person's treasure can be another's trash, and the debates around The Playlist's proverbial water cooler rage on year-round (for some reason, we continue to fight about Polanski's "The Ghost Writer," two years after it came out).

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Interview: 'Ghost Protocol' Director Brad Bird Hopes Earthquake Epic '1906' Is Next, Would Like To Revive Sci-Fi Noir 'Ray Gunn'

By Drew Taylor
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December 20, 2011 8:03 AM
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1 Comment

Features

Brad Bird has made a bold, fascinating leap from animation to live action with this week's glorious popcorn epic "Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol." But we were curious as to what kind of connection he still has with Pixar, his former home base, as well as what else he is working on. In the second part of our lengthy interview with the filmmaker (you can read the first part here), he fills us in on Pixar, his live action historical epic "1906," the status of his animated film noir "Ray Gunn," what former Pixar owner Steve Jobs meant to him, and why Wall Street is so scared of Pixar.

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Steven Spielberg And His Cast On John Ford, Their Equine Co-Stars And Whether 'War Horse' Is A War Movie

By Jen Vineyard
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December 19, 2011 11:45 AM
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1 Comment

Features

Steven Spielberg shot "War Horse" during a break while his team of animators were working on "The Adventures of Tintin," but it's not a rush job -- the director took his time searching for cast members, sending his actors to boot camp to learn to ride, and waiting for the English weather to cooperate. At the press day and the film's premiere, Spielberg, screenwriter Richard Curtis, and the cast of "War Horse" revealed how they transformed the children's book and award-winning play into a film that has already garnered Golden Globe nominations for Best Drama and Best Score.

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Marrakech Film Festival '11: Jessica Chastain On Cannes, Overcoming Shyness And Wanting Isabelle Huppert's Career

By Jessica Kiang
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December 18, 2011 2:25 PM
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7 Comments

Features

Jessica Chastain has not had a normal year. Not so much breaking through as invading and colonizing multiplexes and arthouse theaters alike (we’ll have more on this in a special end-of-year piece coming soon), when we spoke to her during the Marrakech International Film Festival, she was nonetheless able to identify one defining experience amidst it all: the Cannes red carpet.

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Effects Supremo Joe Letteri Says Zack Snyder Is Placing Emphasis On In-Camera Effects In 'Man of Steel'

By Todd Gilchrist
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December 17, 2011 10:45 AM
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6 Comments

Features

There are few people in Hollywood who know more about special effects than Joe Letteri – which is probably why he’s earned five Oscars in the past eight years, and worked in some capacity on almost every major blockbuster released in Hollywood.

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The God Of Carnage: The Complete Films Of Roman Polanski

By Oliver Lyttelton
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December 16, 2011 2:54 PM
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12 Comments

Features

With a career marked by controversy and tragedy, triumphs and disasters, that Roman Polanski has shaken off personal obstacles and professional setbacks is a feat in itself.

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Bright Shining Stars: The Breakthrough Performances Of 2011

By Oliver Lyttelton
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December 16, 2011 12:51 PM
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21 Comments

Features

One of the many reasons that film never, ever gets dull is the constant changing of the guard. Every year sees a new heap of talent emerging, thanks to film festivals and canny casting directors, often coming from seemingly nowhere to fly off the screen, whether in a microbudget indie or a blockbuster, proving that talent can come out at any level.

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