The Playlist

Interview: Rick Springfield Talks David Fincher, Stanley Kubrick, And His New Epix Documentary 'An Affair of the Heart'

By Drew Taylor
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May 15, 2013 4:15 PM
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Interviews

Tonight on the Epix satellite channel, a new rock documentary called "An Affair of the Heart" airs. It charts both the professional life of "Jessie's Girl" singer Rick Springfield, as well as the fans whose lives he has legitimately touched. It's an impeccably crafted and well-told documentary, which combines riveting drama from both on and off the stage, and will give you a greater appreciation of the guy whose song you sing along to every time it comes on your car radio. We spoke to Springfield about his early collaborations with David Fincher, why he's such a fan of Stanley Kubrick, and his response to the outpouring of appreciation leveled at him this year (he also appears in Dave Grohl's great "Sound City" doc).

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Interview: Filmmaker Susan Ray Talks About The Life Of Nicholas Ray

By Diana Drumm
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May 14, 2013 6:59 PM
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Interviews

At the recently concluded 2013 TCM Classic Film Festival we got to sit down with filmmaker Susan Ray and discuss the subject of her 2011 documentary “Don’t Expect Much” (here’s our review from NYFF ’11) and late husband, director Nicholas Ray. Nicholas Ray began as an apprentice to famed architect Frank Lloyd Wright and then decided to move out to Hollywood, and the rest is cinematic history -- as early as 1953, Jean-Luc Godard wrote, “cinema is Nicholas Ray.”

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Ben Mankiewicz Talks TCM Classic Film Festival, Why 'Transformers' Is "Unwatchable" & The Movie He's Seen 40 Times

By Diana Drumm
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May 14, 2013 2:59 PM
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Interviews

Ben Mankiewicz is a man of many talents – weekend host on TCM (Turner Classic Movies), regular co-host of liberal YouTube show “The Young Turks” and its spin-offs “What The Flick?! Show” and “TYT Sports,” and he played a sportscaster on “Party Down.” And while it may seem like Mankiewicz plays to a particularly older audience, as a TCM host, Mankiewicz has an expanding flock of classic film fans and they’re not all blue-hairs -- just check out the twitter hashtag #TCMParty.

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Interview: Noah Baumbach Talks 'Frances Ha', Liking His 'Unlikeable' Characters, What's Next & More

By Erik McClanahan
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May 14, 2013 11:04 AM
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Interviews

We recently had the good fortune to speak with filmmaker Noah Baumbach as he starts the long, winding road of press for the upcoming release of his latest film, the sublime black-and-white character piece and uproarious comedy "Frances Ha," starring Greta Gerwig (who also co-wrote the screenplay with Baumbach). The writer/director, shot 'Frances' on the quick and quiet (hardly anyone knew it even existed until it premiered at the Telluride Film Festival last year), though he claims he didn't set out to keep the movie a secret.

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Interview: Ben Wheatley Talks The Dark, Twisted & Hilarious 'Sightseers,' Says 'Freakshift' Is Next & Casting Soon

By Jordan Hoffman
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May 8, 2013 3:57 PM
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Interviews

After a very successful run on the festival circuit Ben Wheatley's dark and somewhat ghastly comedy “Sightseers” is finally making itself available to theater-goers in hip cities and VODers across the country. It is, in my opinion, the most assured work from the British director of “Kill List” and “Down Terrace”, a very funny vacation-comedy about pair of social misfits/lovebirds visiting mundane historical sites and leaving a trail of corpses in their wake. Written by its co-stars Alice Lowe, Steve Oram and Wheatley's frequent collaborator (and wife) Amy Jump, “Sightseers” also boasts an executive producer stamp from Edgar Wright.

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Interview: Mark Romanek Talks Making 'One Hour Photo,' What Happened With 'Cinderella' & What Might Be Up Next

By Kevin Jagernauth
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May 7, 2013 1:01 PM
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Interviews

Even before Mark Romanek yelled action on "One Hour Photo," his debut feature film, he was already a trailblazer behind the camera. The filmmaker had made a name for himself as a music video director, helming iconic spots for Lenny Kravitz ("Are You Gonna Go My Way"), Nine Inch Nails ("Closer"), Madonna ("Bedtime Stories"), Michael Jackson ("Scream"), Fiona Apple ("Criminal"), Johnny Cash ("Hurt") and much, much more. His videos were bold and found Romanek easily able to switch genres musically and stylistically without batting an eye, delivering evocative spots that both defined Romanek and the artists he worked with. But when it came to his feature film, he largely kept the flashy stylization at bay.

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Interview: Kaya Scodelario On 'Emanuel & The Truth About Fishes,' Sean Durkin's 'Southcliffe' & Her Return To 'Skins'

By Oliver Lyttelton
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May 7, 2013 11:01 AM
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2 Comments

Interviews

Every year (at least in the last few), it seems there's at least one actress who, while already on many radars, comes to Sundance with a performance that launches her to true stardom. Carey Mulligan, Felicity Jones, Jennifer Lawrence, Elizabeth Olsen, Mia Wasikowska and Quvenzhane Wallis all went to Park City as complete or relative unknowns, and left at the top of casting wish-lists. This year, perhaps the most notable Sundance starlet to break out was Kaya Scodelario.

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Interview: Sarah Polley Talks The Ethics Of 'Stories We Tell,' Adapting 'Alias Grace' & Revisiting 'Take This Waltz'

By Charlie Schmidlin
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May 6, 2013 12:16 PM
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Interviews

Halfway into Sarah Polley's genre-swapping documentary, “Stories We Tell,” the actor/director takes a break from shooting “Mr. Nobody” with Jared Leto to take a phone call. Still dressed in Neanderthal costume and make-up from the scene, she walks outside, sits on a bench, and reads an email on her Blackberry. Its contents are the makings of a news story -- one that Polley had just intimately lived herself and one that comprises the focus of her stunning, humanistic look at family and memory.

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Hurt People Hurt People: Neil LaBute & Alice Eve On The Intricate Roleplaying Of ‘Some Velvet Morning’

By Kristin McCracken
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May 3, 2013 12:03 PM
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Some Velvet Morning, Alice Eve, Neil LaBute

Interviews

Since his award-winning debut feature “In the Company of Men” in 1997, Neil LaBute has developed a diverse career that spans writing and directing for both the stage and screen. Depicting unsettling and often cruel relationships between men and women, his work can be difficult to stomach, but there is no denying his unique voice. Over the years, LaBute has experimented with directing other people’s work, venturing into the horror (“The Wicker Man”), thriller (“Lakeview Terrace”) and comedy (“Nurse Betty,” “Death at a Funeral”) genres, to varying degrees of critical success. At the same time, he is a prolific playwright, with “The Mercy Seat,” “Fat Pig,” “reasons to be pretty,” and “The Shape of Things,” among others, making theatrical waves.

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Interview: Lake Bell On Her Love Of Movie Trailers & Her Directorial Debut 'In A World...'

By Oliver Lyttelton
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May 2, 2013 2:25 PM
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Interviews

Sundance London was something of a homecoming for actress/writer/director/producer Lake Bell. Though born in New York, Bell began her career studying acting at London's Rose Bruford College, a stone's throw away from the O2 complex where the festival was taking place. And what better place could there be for the international premiere of the feature directorial debut from the star, who's consistently impressed both in TV roles like "How To Make It In America" and "Children's Hospital," and on the big screen in the likes of "It's Complicated" and "Pride & Glory."

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