movies

Exclusive: Ava DuVernay Meets Her Barbie.

The pages of the Barbie collection Web site are filled with tall blondes and brunettes in impossible proportions, resplendent in red satin or pink tulle. There are also dolls commemorating The Hunger Games and Divergent, books turned films where young women rise to the weight of their impossible responsibilities—and look good doing it in skintight black pantsuits. There is one doll, though, that stands out in a black turtleneck and jeans, her hair in braids, her feet in tennis shoes.

Why John Carpenter Won't Watch His Own Films.

John Carpenter, the master of horror who directed Halloween, Village of the Damned, and Christine, among many more isn’t scared of much at this point. “I don’t get goose bumps much these days, I’m an old man,” he said recently. But there are still things that he is deathly disinterested—like his own films.

Film-maker Jim Jarmusch on his transition to rock star: 'Music is just a release'.

Jim Jarmusch has worked with stars ranging from Johnny Depp to Tilda Swinton. But in many of his movies, like Dead Man and Only Lovers Left Alive, the most emotional moments come not from the fine actors on screen, but from the music he chooses to score the films – and increasingly makes himself.

Ethan Hawke and Seymour Bernstein: Hollywood's unlikeliest double act.

Seymour Bernstein, the great classical pianist, quit the stage in 1977, deciding that a recital at the 92nd St Y in New York City would be his farewell – though he didn’t tell anyone of his decision. He didn’t return to the stage until last year, when actor Ethan Hawke asked him to play a small concert as a grand gesture for a documentary Hawke was directing about the now 87-year-old piano teacher, called Seymour: An Introduction.

Harmony Korine on Kids: 'It would be impossible to make that film now.'

The way that 19-year-old aspiring writer Harmony Korine met director Larry Clark sounds like a typical New York success story, told at bars in Kansas to make bright-eyed kids move to the Big Apple with nothing but a suitcase full of dreams. “I used to walk around with these movies that I made in high school in my backpack – films that I shot on 16mm – and I would put my grandma’s phone number on top of the VHS tape and if I saw someone I recognized, I would hand them the film,” explained Korine.

What It’s Like to Compete Against Yourself For an Oscar.

Alexandre Desplat is ready for his Oscar now.

The famed film composer has been nominated for an Academy Award six times for the scores he has written, for films including Argo, The King’s Speech, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, and The Fantastic Mr. Fox. While Desplat has won Golden Globes, BAFTAs and many other accolades, including a Grammy Award at this year’s ceremony, the Oscar has remained elusive. This year, though, Desplat is doubling down on his chances—he is nominated not once, but twice, for his scores for The Imitation Game and The Grand Budapest Hotel.

National Lampoon: the magazine that became a comedy empire.

he first time that the Simpsons’ writer, producer and showrunner Mike Reiss read National Lampoon magazine, he had swiped his older brother’s copy of the Lampoon’s Best of #4, which he remembers as a compendium of the greatest bits from the fourth year of the Lampoon’s existence. “That was the best stuff from the best year of probably the best humour magazine ever, and that was the first thing I saw. It hooked me,” said Reiss. “I remember thinking, if I get a lot better or if the magazine gets a lot worse, I bet I can work there.” He achieved his goal, joining the staff of the Lampoon after he graduated from college: “I didn’t get any better, but the magazine did get a lot worse.”

Oscar-Nominated for Jackie, Mica Levi Eyes a Glass Ceiling.

If Mica Levi were a betting woman, she would contact London’s bookies to place a wager on who will win the Academy Award for Best Original Score. “How often do you get to bet on yourself?” she asks, rhetorically.

David Byrne and Jonathan Demme on The Making of Stop Making Sense.

It’s been 30 years since the release of Stop Making Sense, the Jonathan Demme-directed Talking Heads concert pic that’s widely recognized as one of the greatest live music films of all time.

Stop Making Sense paired Demme — years before he won Best Director for Silence of the Lambs — with the band Talking Heads, just as the New York-based art rock group were becoming musical icons.