News

Editor’s Note: The following post contains spoilers for “House of the Dragon” Season 2, up to and including Episode 7.

Any “Game of Thrones” fan knows the significance of a penultimate episode. From “Baelor” to “The Rains of Castamere” to “Hardhome” and more, the world of Westeros holds nothing back ahead of its finale, and “House of the Dragon” Season 2 joins that noble tradition.

Episode 7, written by David Hancock and directed by Loni Peristere, spends half of its runtime on exposition — and the other half auditioning dragon riders for Rhaenyra (Emma D’Arcy) to win back the high ground in her family’s civil war. The hour contains some stunning score work from Ramin Djawadi and shots by cinematographer Vanja Cernjul, and an A story anchored by D’Arcy’s performance and Rhaenyra’s drive.

This episode felt very long, and it’s not because of the extended sowing sequence toward the end,...

Ron Howard’s Jim Henson Idea Man led all comers in the documentary categories as the nominations for the 67th Primetime Emmy Awards were announced, racking up eight altogether, three more than the next most-nominated doc.

Among its nominations are Outstanding Documentary or Nonfiction Special, Outstanding Directing for a Documentary/Nonfiction Program for Howard, recognition for writer Mark Monroe, cinematographers Igor Martinovic and Vanja Cernjul, picture editors Sierra Neal and Paul Crowder, the film’s sound editing and sound mixing teams, as well as David Fleming’s score.

“We’re so thrilled. What an honor from the Academy,” said Imagine Documentaries President Sara Bernstein, herself nominated for producing Jim Henson Idea Man. “We’re so excited.”

Jim Henson with Kermit the Frog, ca. early 1970s

The documentary explores the life and extraordinary creative output of the late Jim Henson, who created the Muppets and Fraggle Rock, directed Labyrinth, The Dark Crystal,...

When cinematographer Manuel Billeter sat down to read Julian Fellowes’ scripts for HBO’s “The Gilded Age,” he immediately connected with the story of main character Marian Brook (Louisa Jacobson). “Marian comes into the big city by herself without knowing much of how the city works,” notes the director of photography, something he felt was “intriguing” because he also came “to the city as a newcomer” some two decades ago. He shares that he thinks of his work on the show as an “homage” to his New York home. Watch our exclusive video interview above.

Billeter is one of two cinematographers on the series, sharing responsibility with Vanja Černjul. He talks about how they collaborated to “establish a look that is consistent throughout the episodes.” Černjul lensed the first two episodes, so Billeter had the opportunity to “observe and learn and adapt” to his style. For the cinematographer’s four episodes,...

Tiffany Haddish isn’t given much of a character to play, but at least she gets to sing

There’s an unwritten rule that when comedy professionals make movies about comedy professionals — be they stand-ups, late-night sketch stars, or talk-show gag-writers — the jokes made by the comedians-within-the-movie are almost never funny. That’s certainly the case with “Here Today,” although the thudding attempts at humor are the least of the movie’s problems.

Director, star, and co-writer Billy Crystal, back on the crying-on-the-inside beat some three decades after “Mr. Saturday Night,” wants viewers to chuckle and weep with this tale of a legendary comedy writer facing the grim realities of oncoming dementia, but “Here Today” takes pretty much everything “The Father” did right and does it wrong, and as a bonus, reduces the elemental force that is Tiffany Haddish to a magical caregiver.

Crystal stars as Charlie Burnz, a legendary...

It’s punishment more than practice that makes “The Perfection,” which is less a horror film per se than a grisly yet upscale grand guignol melodrama. Richard Shepard’s very tricky suspense film, co-written with the TV writing-producing team of Eric Charmelo and Nicole Snyder, has been a success for Netflix. The streaming service released the film earlier this year, picking it up after it made a stir at Fantastic Fest 2018.

The tale of classical musicianship and elaborate revenge is easier to admire than actually like, given somewhat repellent content grounded in character psychology that does not bear close scrutiny after these terse 90 minutes are over. Still, the icily well-crafted gamesmanship Shepard and company have devised certainly makes that time pass quickly, if uncomfortably.

The director has turned mostly to small-screen work since his last theatrical feature, “Dom Hemingway” (2013), including a dozen episodes of “Girls,” whose Allison Williams plays the lead here.

Don Kaye May 24, 2019

Director Richard Shepard Tells Us How He Conceived, Cast and Shot One of the Year’s Most Insane Movies.

You might not see another movie this year like The Perfection. Making its debut last fall at Austin’s Fantastic Fest, the movie stunned audiences there with its no-holds-barred approach to a story that could probably best be categorized as psychological horror. But in a way it’s difficult to place The Perfection into one neat genre box: think of something along the lines of Whiplash crashing head-on into Audition and that might give you an idea what lies in store for you.

The Perfection stars Allison Williams (Get Out) and Logan Browning (Dear White People) as Charlotte and Elizabeth, two incredibly talented cellists who are both students at the same esteemed music conservatory run by Anton (Steven Weber) and his wife Paloma (Alaina Huffman). Charlotte was a...

Making any movie is hard, but nothing is more challenging than creating a film that looks fun and effortless — and original. Warner Bros.’ “Crazy Rich Asians” succeeds on all three counts, and the film’s popularity proves that it struck a nerve with filmgoers.

“From the start, we wanted more than a romantic comedy,” director Jon M. Chu tells Variety. “We had something to say. That was not just from the writers; that’s from the actors, the crew, everyone; there was a sense of purpose.”

The film looks at family and tradition, but it’s fundamentally about identity, which is a struggle of the heroine (Constance Wu), her fiance (Henry Golding) and her future mother-in-law (Michelle Yeoh). But it’s also about the very different cultural identities of Chinese, Chinese-Americans and the specific subset of wealthy Chinese people living in Singapore.

With $238 million worldwide box office, it’s clear...

Making any movie is hard, but nothing is more challenging than creating a film that looks fun and effortless — and original. Warner Bros.’ “Crazy Rich Asians” succeeds on all three counts, and the film’s popularity proves that it struck a nerve with filmgoers.

“From the start, we wanted more than a romantic comedy,” director Jon M. Chu tells Variety. “We had something to say. That was not just from the writers; that’s from the actors, the crew, everyone; there was a sense of purpose.”

The film looks at family and tradition, but it’s fundamentally about identity, which is a struggle of the heroine (Constance Wu), her fiance (Henry Golding) and her future mother-in-law (Michelle Yeoh). But it’s also about the very different cultural identities of Chinese, Chinese-Americans and the specific subset of wealthy Chinese people living in Singapore.

With $238 million worldwide box office, it’s clear...

A surprise hit? This ultra-glamorous rom-com about life among the Singapore 1% would be a fantasy, if everything we see weren’t real. Constance Wu and Michelle Yeoh head an all-Asian cast in a celebration of ostentatious excess — yep, some folks aren’t hurting at all. As an expression of Asian ascendency and female power, the show may have opened a door to a whole new empire of crossover ethnic fantasies.

Crazy Rich Asians

Blu-ray + DVD

Warner Home Video

2018 / Color / 2:40 widescreen / 120 min. / Street Date November 20, 2018 / 35.99

Starring: Constance Wu, Henry Golding, Michelle Yeoh, Gemma Chan, Lisa Lu, Awkwafina, Harry Shum Jr, Ken Jeong, Sonoya Mizuno, Chris Pang, Jimmy O. Yang, Ronny Chieng, Remy Hii, Nico Santos, Jing Lusi.

Cinematography: Vanja Cernjul

Film Editor: Myron Kerstein

Original Music: Brian Tyler

Written by Peter Chiarelli, Adele Lim from the novel by Kevin Kwan

Produced by Nina Jacobson, John Penotti, Brad Simpson

Directed by...

Filming “Crazy Rich Asians” challenged cinematographer Vanja Cernjul with a scale nearly as epic as the holidays of the Singapore billionaire characters the story revolves around. The Croatian-born veteran of action and fantasy films and TV series, who is screening his new comedy at the EnergaCamerimage fest, was faced with dozens of locations to be covered and a score of characters.

In following the story of a dynastic family, how did you go about keeping the focus of your shots in constant motion between such an array of vivid characters?

My experience in TV [led] me to be flexible when necessary and quickly adjust to the reality of a location. On “Crazy Rich Asians” we had something like 38 locations over 42 shooting days, in two different countries and four cities. We shot at major landmarks in Singapore and needed to adapt to a lot of restrictions. It was essential to capture and...

Stars: Constance Wu, Henry Golding, Michelle Yeoh, Gemma Chan, Lisa Lu, Awkwafina, Harry Shum Jr., Ken Jeong, Sonoya Mizuno, Chris Pang, Jimmy O. Yang, Ronny Chieng, Remy Hii, Nico Santos, Jing Lusi | Written by Peter Chiarelli, Adele Lim | Directed by Jon M. Chu

Crazy Rich Asians follows Rachel Chu (Wu), an American-born Chinese economics professor, who travels to her boyfriend Nick’s (Golding) hometown of Singapore for his best friend’s wedding. Before long, his secret is out: Nick is from a family that is impossibly wealthy, he’s perhaps the most eligible bachelor in Asia, and every single woman in his ultra-rarefied social class is incredibly jealous of Rachel and wants to bring her down.

Jon M. Chu’s Crazy Rich Asians is by no means the simplistic romantic comedy venture many seem to label it as such. It’s far better than that slightly drab description. Within the first few frames,...

“All Americans think about is their own happiness,” asserts affluent Chinese mother Eleanor Sung-Young (Michelle Yeoh) in a belittling tone when scrutinized about the overpowering influence family has over her son’s future. Her severe declaration encapsulates the critical ideological duel in director Jon M. Chu’s lavish film “Crazy Rich Asians” (based on Kevin Kwan’s best-selling novel), where the pursuit of individual gratification is confronted with the notion of sacrificing one’s desires for the survival of tradition.

Those rousing cross-cultural observations, however, are displayed not in a hardboiled drama but in an utterly sumptuous romantic comedy that aesthetically lives up to its Hollywood pedigree.

Gallant Nick Young (British-Malaysian TV host Henry Golding) and NYU Economics Professor, Rachel Chu (“Fresh Off the Boat’s” Constance Wu), are two lovebirds setting out to meet his family in the thriving city-state of Singapore on the occasion of his best friend...

In the first season of HBO’s “The Deuce,” Eileen “Candy” Merrell (Maggie Gyllenhaal) goes from a Times Square prostitute to an entrepreneurial pornography director. Getting there, however, is not easy. As a prostitute, she tries to have control over her life by refusing to work for a pimp, even when Rodney (Method Man) tries to woo her away from her independent life with promises of protection from johns who physically abuse her. In a pivotal episode five scene, Rodney is both charming and menacing, smooth and brutal as he tries to persuade Candy to join him, and she tries to escape. It’s a dynamic the creators say grew very organically out of giving the actors space to experiment and play in — a feat that was also not easy because of what behind-the-scenes work went into creating a realistic New York City street of 45 years ago.

Scott Dougan

Art...

The Netflix series “Marco Polo” and the Fox series “Gotham” led all television programs in nominations for the American Society of Cinematographers’ television awards, the Asc announced on Wednesday. “Gotham” received two of the five nominations in the Episode of a Regular Series category, one each for cinematographers Christopher Norr and one for Crescenzo Notarile, while “Marco Polo” received one nomination in that category for Vanja Cernjul and another in the Television Movie, Miniseries or Pilot category for Romain Lacourbas. Other shows receiving nominations were “12 Monkeys,” “Game of Thrones,” “Blindspot,” “Casanova,” “The Man in the High Castle” and “Bessie.” Also Read:.

Energy Australia has released a campaign to show how people can be more energy efficient by using its services.

The campaign, created by Leo Burnett Sydney, follows the rebrand of Energy Australia from TRUenergy in August.

The campaign is running across TV, online, print, outdoor and in cinemas.

It is the second campaign for the rebranded client by Burnett, which also created Energy Australia’s new logo and brand identity.

Credits for Fridge and Treadmill

Client: EnergyAustralia

Agency: Leo Burnett, Sydney

Andy Dilallo, Chief Creative Officer

Iggy Rodriguez, Creative Group Head/Writer

Justin Carew, Creative Group Head/Art Director

Jason Young, Designer

Tc Miles, Strategy Director

Margot Fitzpatrick, Executive Producer Broadcast

Wendy Gilles, TV Producer

Paul Everson, Group Business Director

Libby Weston-Webb, Senior Business Director

Neil Duncan, Snr Business Manager

Harold Einstein, Director

Station Film, Production Company

Production Producer, Eric Liney

Production Facilitation, Curious Film

The Mill NYC, Post

Simon Lister,...

EnergyAustralia has created a new brand campaign to promote the integrated brand following the merger between TRUenergy and EnergyAustralia in 2011.

The campaign features a series of tongue in cheek TV ads in which representatives of the utility try to discover how consumers are using electricity.

The campaign will run across TV, online, in press, outdoor and in cinemas. The electricity and gas company has a new logo and brand identity created by Leo Burnett and is a very different look and feel to the previous work created by the agency for the brand’s Olympic swim team sponsorship.

Credits:

Client: Energy Australia

Creative agency: Leo Burnett Sydney

Andy Dilallo, Chief Creative Officer

Iggy Rodriguez, Creative Group Head

Justin Carew, Creative Group Head

Jason Young, Designer

Tc Miles, Strategy Director

Margot Fitzpatrick, Executive Producer Broadcast

Wendy Gilles, TV Producer

Paul Everson, Group Business Director

Libby Weston-Webb, Senior Business Director

Neil Duncan,...

As if HBO needed more nominations under their belt during their already active awards season, the network picked up four nods as part of the American Society of Cinematographers’ Outstanding Achievement Awards, which yesterday announced the contenders in their three television categories.

Boardwalk Empire picked up two nominations in the One-Hour Episodic Television category, Mildred Pierce secured a nod in the Television Movie/Miniseries contest, and the recently axed Bored to Death got a nod in the Half-Hour category.

Boardwalk will face PBS’s Downton Abbey, ABC’s Pan Am, and NBC’s Chase in its category, while Bored to Death...

HollywoodNews.com: The American Society of Cinematographers (Asc) has announced nominees in three television categories for the 26th Annual Outstanding Achievement Awards competition. The awards ceremony will be held here on February 12 at the Hollywood & Highland Grand Ballroom.

Nominees in the one-hour Episodic Television Series/Pilot Category are:

David Franco for HBO’s Boardwalk Empire (“To the Lost”)

Jonathan Freeman, Asc for Boardwalk Empire (“21″)

David Katznelson, Dff, Bsc for PBS’ Downton Abbey (Pilot)

John Lindley, Asc for ABC’s Pan Am (Pilot)

David Stockton, Asc for NBC’s Chase (“Narco Part 2″)

The finalists in the Television Movie/Miniseries category are:

Ed Lachman, Asc forHBO’s Mildred Pierce

Kevin Moss for Showtime’s Chicago Overcoat

David Moxness, Csc for ReelzChannel’s The Kennedys (“Moral Issues and Inner Turmoil”)

Martin Ruhe for PBS’ Page Eight

Wojciech Szepel for PBS’ Any Human Heart (“Episode 2″)

The third category, for a half-hour Episodic Series or Pilot,...

Los Angeles, December 28, 2011 – The American Society of Cinematographers (Asc) has announced nominees in three television categories for the 26th Annual Outstanding Achievement Awards competition. The awards ceremony will be held here on February 12 at the Hollywood & Highland Grand Ballroom. Nominees in the one-hour Episodic Television Series/Pilot Category are: David Franco for HBO’s Boardwalk Empire (“To the Lost”) Jonathan Freeman, Asc for Boardwalk Empire (“21″) David Katznelson, Dff, Bsc for PBS’ Downton Abbey (Pilot) John Lindley, Asc for ABC’s Pan Am (Pilot) David Stockton, Asc for NBC’s Chase (“Narco Part 2″) The finalists in the Television Movie/Miniseries category are: Ed Lachman, Asc for HBO’s Mildred Pierce Kevin Moss for Showtime’s Chicago Overcoat David Moxness, Csc for ReelzChannel’s The Kennedys (“Moral Issues and Inner Turmoil”) Martin Ruhe for PBS’ Page Eight Wojciech Szepel for PBS’ Any Human Heart (“Episode 2″) The third category, for a half-hour Episodic Series or Pilot,...

Here's a somewhat official first look at Alexis Bledel, Saoirse Ronan and James Gandolfini in "Precious" scribe Geoffrey Fletcher's directorial debut, the teenage assassin tale "Violet & Daisy." The images come courtesy of cinematographer Vanja Cernjul's reel (after the jump) and certainly exhibits something at least a bit more upbeat and vibrant than the drag that was "Precious." We're not sure what to expect at all with this but, so far, the black comedy has been described as "Thelma and Louise” meets “Superbad” and “Pulp Fiction” with "plenty of action and lots of girl power." The story finds Ronan and…...

Here is the first footge for Geoffrey Fletcher's Violet and Daisy. This is Fletcher's directorial debut, prior to this he wrote the screenplay for Precious. The film stars Saoirse Ronan (The Lovely Bones) and Alexis Bledel (Sin City) The two young actresses play a pair of young assassins whose assistant proves to be much more involved than they had initially planned. James Gandolfini is also stars in the movie.

The footage for the film poped up in video reel for the film’s cinematographer, Vanja Cernjul. This was spotted at Shadow and Act, and here are the time codes you want to check out to see the footage... 0:00-0:13, 1:57-2:00 and 2:16 - 2:25.

Check out the footge below and let us know what you think.

Source: Bleeding Cool (http://www.bleedingcool.com/2011/03/01/first-footage-from-violet-and-daisy-with-saoirse-ronan-and-alexis-bledel/)...

Saoirse Ronan isn't just in one movie about a teen assassin. The first one is Joe Wright's Hanna (trailer [1]), in which the actress plays a girl raised by her ex-cia father (Eric Bana) to undertake a cross-continental assassination mission. The other is Violet & Daisy, which was written by Oscar-winning Precious screenwriter Geoffrey Fletcher, who is also making his directorial debut. The film co-stars Alexis Bledel and James Gandolfini. It shot last year and photos and video have been elusive, but some first snippets of footage have come online via the demo reel for the film's cinematographer, Vanja Cernjul. Check out the very nice-looking moving images after the break. Be aware: the full clip below is not safe for work due to nudity. The Violet and Daisy segments (which are safe for work) run from 0:00-0:13; 1:57-2:00; and 2:16 to 2:25. You can pull a 1080p version,...

I believe what we have in the video below is a first look at footage from Precious screenwriter, Geoffrey Fletcher’s upcoming “‘Thelma and Louise’ meets ‘Superbad‘ meets ‘Pulp Fiction’” directorial debut, Violet & Daisy, which stars Alexis Bledel and Saoirse Ronan.

It’s cinematographer Vanja Cernjul’s reel, which surfaced on the web over the weekend. Scattered within it, are clips from several films he’s shot, including Violet And Daisy, which also stars James Gandolfini, Marianne Jean-Baptiste (as “a worldly shape-shifting assassin“) and Danny Trejo.

Ronan and Bledel play a pair of teenage assassins lured into what is supposed to be another quick and easy job, only to run into complications, when they learn that the man they’re supposed to kill is not who they expected.

The film was shot in New York City last fall, and is currently in post-production, with a probable release in theaters this year.

Release Date: March 26 Director/Writer: Raymond De Felitta Cinematographer: Vanja Cernjul Starring: Andy Garcia, Alan Arkin, Julianna Margulies, Emily Mortimer, Steven Strait Studio/Run Time: Anchor Bay Films, 103 mins. Functional dysfunction The Rizzos have problems. Patriarch Vince (played by a nuanced Andy Garcia) and his family aren’t talking to each other, and it’s clear things have been headed downhill for a while. The reappearance of Vince’s illegitimate son works as a sufficient catalyst to slowly bring the truth out of everyone, which leads to a satisfying if overly-determined conclusion....