creative arts
Dave Filoni on How ‘Ahsoka’ Brought Anakin Back
It was a moment Star Wars fans had been waiting for: the reunion of Ahsoka Tano (Rosario Dawson) and her former master, Anakin Skywalker (Hayden Christensen). Who better to direct that episode of Ahsoka than Dave Filoni, who created the title character (alongside George Lucas) for the animated series The Clone Wars? For Filoni, who […]
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Hollywood Flashback: How the 1980 ‘Shogun’ Was Pretty True to Japan
Paramount Television’s Shogun was arguably the original international event series. The five-part TV adaptation of James Clavell’s sprawling 1975 novel of the same name became a pop culture sensation when it aired on NBC in 1980, winning an Emmy for outstanding limited series and the Golden Globe for best television series in the drama category. […]
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‘Palm Royale’ Director on “Iconic Moment” Laura Dern Shared the Screen With Father Bruce Dern for the First Time Ever
In Palm Royale, about a woman named Maxine (Kristen Wiig) infiltrating the wealthy elite of Palm Beach, Florida, in 1969, Laura Dern plays Linda, the local feminist of the community. In episode six, titled “Maxine Takes a Step,” Dern shares the screen with her real-life father, Bruce Dern, for the first time ever. “It’s such […]
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‘The Gilded Age’ Hairstyling Head on Crafting Period-True ‘Dos: “I’m Constantly Chasing After Wigs”
h en Sean Flanigan joined The Gilded Age as the hairstyling department head in its first season, he drew inspiration directly from the real-life, late 19th century New York figures that influenced the HBO period drama, like Caroline Astor (Donna Murphy) and Alva Vanderbilt, after whom Carrie Coon’s character, Bertha Russell, is fashioned. “We follow […]
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A Makeunder Fit for a Drug Lord
In Netflix’s Griselda, Sofía Vergara transforms into notorious Colombian drug lord Griselda Blanco. Makeup artist Todd McIntosh, working with the show’s prosthetics constructor, Stephen Bettles, used a prosthetic nose, eyebrow covers and fake teeth for Vergara’s look, which he completed with the help of paint and makeup. “If you look at Griselda, she was not […]
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How to Build a Show Within a Show
Cooking Up Something New When Cat Smith first started conceptualizing the set for Lessons in Chemistry’s fictional cooking show Supper at Six, hosted by former chemist Elizabeth Zott (Brie Larson), she designed a typical 1960s housewife Colonial-style kitchen, complete with oak paneling and black wrought-iron hinges. Then she scrapped it. “The idea that Brie presented […]
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How to Sound Like a Con in ‘Ripley’
During Steven Zaillian’s Ripley, the viewer gleans a lot from things that aren’t said, whether that’s through telltale props, intricate sets or fabulous 1960s fashion. But it’s the show’s sound mixing that really becomes a key player in the Netflix series, adding tension and mystery to scenes with little dialogue or score. “Steve clearly planned […]
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How ‘Fallout’ Visually Nails a Post-Nuclear War America
How do you breathe humanity into a post-nuke, radiation-poisoned America? In Fallout, it comes down to Walton Goggins’ noseless Ghoul, a cyclops vault dweller, bloodthirsty mutated bears and a centuries-decayed Santa Monica Pier, just to name a few of the series’ cataclysmic details. Amazon MGM Studios’ adaptation of the popular Bethesda video game is set […]
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Mid-Century Suits Made the Men in ‘Palm Royale’, ‘The New Look’ and ‘Fellow Travelers’
The New Look 1943 Like his game-changing 1947 debut collection, Christian Dior’s (Ben Mendelsohn) classic pinstripe suits express multitudes about the world-weary designer and greater society in 1943 German-occupied Paris. Along with his cohorts and rival Coco Chanel (Juliette Binoche), Dior endeavors to survive World War II while grappling with grief and guilt after the Nazis […]
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In ‘The Gilded Age,’ Socialites Waged War Using Opera Houses
At the end of season two of The Gilded Age, a battle between two opera houses — the Metropolitan Opera and the Academy of Music — comes to a head, with Bertha (Carrie Coon) emerging victorious at last, gazing out over the star-studded premiere she facilitated. In order to re-create the opening of the Met […]
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Robert Downey Jr. Says His ‘Sympathizer’ Hair and Makeup Was a “Very Surreal Experience”
The star of HBO’s limited series has viewers seeing quintuple with his multiple characters and says, “Working with director Park Chan-wook was hands-on in a way you don’t get with CGI.”
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Brie Larson’s Lessons of Fashion Artistry Behind ‘Lessons in Chemistry’
Mirren Gordon-Crozier has worked with Brie Larson on four projects in the past 10 years, beginning with the actress’ breakout role in the 2013 independent drama Short Term 12. Yet when the costume designer heard Larson’s next lead part was in a period TV series, “I almost fell to the ground,” she says. What most […]
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