The Playlist

The obsessives' guide to contemporary cinema via film discussion, news, reviews, features, nostalgia, movie music, soundtracks, DVDs and more.

Interviews

Nick Nolte Wants His Money Back In 'Bitterroot'

By Kevin Jagernauth
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April 28, 2012 12:10 PM
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1 Comment

News

You need someone to play vulnerable and grizzled? Call up Nick Nolte. At 71, the actor's voice has never been more gravelly, nor his face more worn and he's been using it to great effect. He was outstanding in last year's unfairly slept-on "Warrior" and in many ways, he was emotional heartbeat of Michael Mann's canceled HBO series "Luck." He's been working at a clip lately, bagging supporting roles in Robert Redford's "The Company You Keep," "Gangster Squad" and "Parker" but now he's going to take a lead.

By Drew Taylor
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February 14, 2012 12:03 PM
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1 Comment

News

Yesterday, we ran our conversation with "Rango" director Gore Verbinski, where he shared his inspirations for the Best Animated Feature nominee and discussed the development of the film's distinct and unique aesthetic. But with a director as talented and in-demand as Verbinski, he's got a number of movies in the works, either as director or producer. So we asked him to fill us in on a number of his projects, including "The Lone Ranger," Cary Fukunaga's sci-fi flick, "Clue," Chris Milk's "Bitterroot" and Nicolas Winding Refn's heist movie.

By Drew Taylor
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January 11, 2012 7:08 PM
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3 Comments

News

Apparently Brad Parker, who has just made his debut on the Orin Pelli-produced post-apocalyptic thriller "The Diary of Lawson Oxford," left quite an impression. Variety reports he'll soon graduate to a much larger-scale action movie for Bad Robot and producers J.J. Abrams and Matt Reeves. (Parker, a visual effects vet, directed second unit on Reeves' underrated gem "Let Me In.") The untitled actioner will be released by Paramount Pictures, with a script by Michael Gilio (one of a thousand people who wrote a draft of "Carter Beats the Devil").

By Kevin Jagernauth
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January 10, 2012 4:10 PM
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2 Comments

News

Even if you don't know the name Chris Milk, you've seen his work, as he's directed music videos for Kanye West, U2, Green Day and Modest Mouse as well as that Google Chrome enabled "We Used To Wait" for Arcade Fire. Like so many other music video and commercials helmers, Milk is making the leap to feature filmmakering, lining up two projects last year: an adaptation of Danger Mouse and Daniele Luppi's album Rome (itself a tribute to spaghetti westerns and movie music) and the contemporary western of sorts "Bitterroot." Both projects come courtesy of the backing of Megan Ellison, and while we wait for those to get moving, Milk has knocked out another video.

By Kevin Jagernauth
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October 28, 2011 1:17 AM
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0 Comments

Megan Ellison's Annapurna Pictures To FinanceIt seems acclaimed music video director Chris Milk has found a new best bud in everyone's favorite young, billionaire movie producer/financier Megan Ellison. Earlier in the month it was announced the pair were teaming on an ambitious film adaptation of the album Rome, a record that teamed Gnarls Barkley/Beck producer Danger Mouse and Italian composer Daniele Luppi on an album of spaghetti Western homages. But it looks like he's going to get something a bit less high concept for his first crack at a feature film.

By Oliver Lyttelton
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October 5, 2011 1:45 AM
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0 Comments

With music videos being the background of filmmakers as disparate as Spike Jonze and Michael Bay, it's always worth keeping an eye on who's coming up in that world, and a few months ago, we picked five who seemed the most likely to break out. One was Chris Milk, an artist who's combined more traditional clips for people like Kanye West and Modest Mouse with boundary-pushing interactive videos. That Arcade Fire clip from last year, the Google Chrome one for "We Used To Wait," where it showed your childhood home on Google Maps? That was him.