Oscars 2023
Ugandan Political Leader and Subject of ‘Bobi Wine: The People’s President’ Reflects on the Impact of Oscar-Nominated Documentary
Bobi Wine, the 41-year-old musician and leader of the Ugandan National Unity Platform, can’t recall how many times he’s been arrested since he first became the voice and then the face of the movement to remove President Yoweri Museveni from office in his home country. Yet as the film documenting his plight, Bobi Wine: The […]
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The Making of ‘American Fiction’: “Tragedy and Comedy at the Same Time, and Often the Same Day”
In late 2020, Cord Jefferson, a journalist turned TV writer, was in a state of creative dismay. He had just gone through a crushing professional disappointment: A big-budget series project he had spent months writing and developing for Apple TV — Scraper, based on his first career, as a writer and editor at Gawker Media — […]
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‘Maestro’ DP Matthew Libatique on Telling Leonard Bernstein’s Story Onscreen With and Without Color
To tell the love story of Leonard Bernstein and his wife, Felicia Montealegre, Maestro director Bradley Cooper reteamed with his Oscar-nominated A Star Is Born cinematographer, Matthew Libatique, and used various film looks, starting with black-and-white before moving to color and a widescreen aspect ratio. Cooper, who also stars as the renowned composer and conductor […]
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‘American Symphony’ Director Matthew Heineman, Subject Jon Batiste Say There Were Many “Question Marks” While Making the Film
When director Matthew Heineman and musician Jon Batiste began their second collaboration after The First Wave — a harrowing documentary in which Heineman embedded himself in a New York hospital during the early days of the COVID pandemic, and for which Batiste provided the score — the project was much less fraught than its predecessor. […]
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‘Killers of the Flower Moon’ Makeup Department Head Reflects on Challenges and Responsibilities: “There Were a Lot of Emotions”
A long shooting schedule, continuity, COVID protocols and a large cast were all challenges met by the hairstyling and makeup teams for Martin Scorsese’s epic Killers of the Flower Moon, which was shot on location in Oklahoma from April through September 2021. Of course, their commitment to telling an authentic story was the first key responsibility […]
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Will Big Ensembles Clog the Supporting Oscar Categories?
In 2023, a number of outstanding ensembles dominated the year’s most celebrated films. As such, this season has delivered Oscar-worthy performances from two (or more) supporting actors and actresses in each film — which could result in the Academy nominating more than one supporting actor and/or actress from their respective features. Frontrunners include Danielle Brooks […]
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How Films Like ‘All of Us Strangers,’ ‘Passages’ and ‘Bottoms’ Usher in a New Era for Queer Storytelling
A film director sleeping with a young woman behind his husband’s back. A group of horny teenage girls starting a fight club. A middle-aged swimmer attempting to swim from Cuba to Florida. This year, queer stories seem to be breaking from common narrative tropes — coming out, persecution, HIV/AIDS — in a major way. But […]
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‘Maestro’ Editor Michelle Tesoro on Conducting the “Truthful” Story of Leonard Bernstein and Felicia Montealegre
Maestro was editor Michelle Tesoro’s first collaboration with director Bradley Cooper, who also stars as iconic composer and conductor Leonard Bernstein in the now-streaming Netflix drama. While they worked closely on the edit — “Bradley loves to be in the cutting room,” she notes — Tesoro says their work always centered on character and performance […]
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Hollywood Flashback: 50 Years Ago, ‘The Sting’ Hit the Oscar Jackpot
Sometimes lightning strikes twice — at least it did when Paul Newman and Robert Redford teamed up. The dazzling leading men made two movies together, both directed by George Roy Hill, that became Oscar juggernauts. The first, 1969’s Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, rounded up seven Academy Award nominations and four wins. Fifty years […]
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The Directors of ‘The Holdovers,’ ‘Saltburn’ and More on the Songs They Picked for Their Films’ Soundtracks
A key music choice can really make a movie scene sing, for lack of a better word — whether it be a surprising needle drop, a song to underscore a character’s motivation or even a opening credit track that sets the tone of a film. Four directors from this season’s biggest contenders spoke with THR […]
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Framing the Horrors of the Holocaust Through a 21st Century Lens: Making of ‘The Zone of Interest’
How, given the weight of history, and the history of all the other films on the subject, can you make a new film about the Holocaust? That was the central challenge facing British writer-director Jonathan Glazer and the creative team behind A24’s The Zone of Interest. “When Jon and I started, back in 2014, to talk […]
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‘Creed III’: When Michael B. Jordan Stepped Into the Directorial Ring (Guest Column)
I joined Outlier Society as president and became Michael B. Jordan’s producing partner after serving as president of production at Paramount Pictures. When I arrived at Outlier, the Creed III team was already in development on the script from a story by the franchise’s originator, the incomparable Ryan Coogler, to be written by King Richard […]
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