Thompson on Hollywood

'Side by Side': Keanu Reeves Talks Film vs. Digital Divide with Cameron, Fincher and More [Clips, Q & A with Director Chris Kenneally]

Interviews

With "Side by Side," producer/interviewer Keanu Reeves and director Chris Kenneally decided to document the film industry's radical change and transformation. "We had questions that we wanted answers to and decided to go out and ask the great artists and technicians involved in moviemaking," says Kennealy. So he and Reeves interviewed the likes of David Fincher, James Cameron, Martin Scorsese, Christopher Nolan, Wally Pfister, David Lynch, Danny Boyle and Lena Dunham, and each argues the case for film and/or digital cinema.

By Sophia Savage
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August 16, 2012 3:05 PM
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VENICE PREVIEW: Bernard Rose Talks 'Boxing Day,' Third in Danny Huston Tolstoy Series, Starts Shooting 'Paganini'

Interviews

Transplanted Brit writer-director Bernard Rose and Hollywood scion Danny Huston have enjoyed a long and fruitful relationship. Casting Huston in "IVANSXTC," a llittle-seen 2002 success d'estime that in many ways presaged the indie digital age, jumpstarted the would-be director's career as an actor. Huston keeps coming back for more, because with Rose he winds up doing his best acting.

By Anne Thompson
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August 15, 2012 11:45 PM
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Immersed in Movies: Cinematographer Caleb Deschanel Talks 'Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter'

Features

Caleb Deschanel is no stranger to heightened reality, but nothing could prepare the five-time Oscar nominee for "Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter"...

By Bill Desowitz
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June 22, 2012 12:59 PM
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The Art of the Mystery Doc: Must-Sees 'Searching for Sugar Man' and 'The Imposter'

Features

Festival faves "The Imposter" (Indomina, July 13) and "Searching for Sugar Man" (Sony Pictures Classics, July 27) are two hit Sundance docs that play like features. In other words, their directors manipulate their stories so that we are left in the dark, eagerly following clues, seeking the answer to mysteries that unfold in surprising ways.

By Anne Thompson
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June 21, 2012 5:50 PM
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LAFF: Jonathan Demme Talks 'Passion for Filming Real Life,' Neil Young as 'Wandering Troubador' in 'Journeys' (VIDEO)

Features

New York flmmaker Jonathan Demme is showing at LAFF the latest film in his Neil Young concert trilogy, "Neil Young Journeys" (June 29), which debuted at Toronto. Demme likes alternating the long gestation and production periods necessary for fiction films with micro-budget documentaries. But good features are hard to find. "I can't dream up tentpole movies," he says. "I see these movies, many of them wonderful, like 'Iron Man.' I could never do that! It's a question of the necessity and passion for filming real life."

By Anne Thompson
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June 19, 2012 2:18 PM
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Director Peter Weir on Directing, 'Witness,' the Birth of the Australian Film Industry and More

News

Australian Peter Weir is one of our great living directors, having given us such primal and unsettling classics as "Picnic at Hanging Rock," "The Last Wave," "Witness," "The Truman Show" and "Master and Commander," to name only a few. In this excerpt from ex-Screen editor Mike Goodridge's book FilmCraft: Directing, Weir discusses his methods and stresses that the hardest challenges in directing a film are always "fundamentally creative."

By Beth Hanna
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June 15, 2012 3:22 PM
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New Screen Editor Wendy Mitchell Talks Future Challenges for the Venerable Brit Trade

News

Sure enough, Brit entertainment trade Screen International went in-house and promoted Head of Content Wendy Mitchell to succeed Mike Goodridge as editor. Mitchell, who started at the trade publication as a UK reporter in 2005, is Screen's first woman editor, and will run both monthly print magazine Screen International and ScreenDaily.com.

By Anne Thompson
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June 15, 2012 1:44 PM
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IN THE WORKS: Chris Nolan and Emma Thomas Back Oscar-Winning 'Inception' Cinematographer's First Feature (VIDEO)

News

That's what a director with clout does: he gives his long-time director of photography a chance to direct. Thus Christopher Nolan and Emma Thomas are backing Wally Pfister--who won the Oscar for "Inception" and just won an AFI Alumnae Award last week. He cited as his idol Franklin Schaffner ("Papillon" and "The Planet of the Apes").

By Anne Thompson
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June 13, 2012 2:11 PM
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'Safety Not Guaranteed' Director Colin Trevorrow Uses The Duplass Effect on TV Stars Plaza and Johnson

Features

Want to make a good movie? Think Seattle and serial collaborators Mark and Jay Duplass. Colin Trevorrow does not pull back on his praise of Mark Duplass, who helped to produce as well as starring in "Safety Not Guaranteed," which launched at Sundance in January to gushes of praise (here's Time).

By Anne Thompson
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June 13, 2012 7:17 AM
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SIFF Virgin Diary 3: 'Wuthering Heights,' 'Not A Hipster' Interview, Award Winners (VIDEO)

Festivals

My third day began with Andrea Arnold's exquisite "Wuthering Heights" at Capital Hill's Harvard Exit theater, built in 1925--- a charming theater and a long film to watch on a sunny Seattle afternoon, but it was well worth it.