Latest news with #Metrograph
Time Out
31-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Time Out
Killer Films looks back on 30 years of indie classics for an upcoming Metrograph series.
Only a handful of production companies inspire audience cheers when their name pops up in a movie's credits. (Leo the Lion's MGM roar comes to mind, but maybe that's just fight or flight.) But you know when Killer Films' rabbit hops onto the screen with its dartboard-target body that you're about to get your indie world rocked. Recent hits like Materialists and May December are proof of this, but longtime fans of Todd Haynes and off-beat classics like Party Monster, Vox Lux and Kids can trace a long lineage of singular cinematic visions to the New York-based company, headed by producers Christine Vachon and Pamela Koffler. This August, Killer Films celebrates 30 years of movie magic with a two-week series at the downtown arthouse Metrograph, with several in-person intros and filmmaker Q&As. Five of the seven films will screen in 35mm, including Todd Haynes' I'm Still Here and Far From Heaven, Cindy Sherman's (only film!) Office Killer, Mark Romanek's One Hour Photo and John Cameron Mitchell's Hedwig and the Angry Inch. Janicza Bravo's Twitter-world masterpiece Zola and Todd Solondz's controversial Happiness will be shown in digital format. (You can find a full schedule of screenings and special events on Metrograph's website.) The history of Killer is inextricably linked to Haynes' groundbreaking career: his first feature, Poison, was the company's first production. Though it helped establish the emerging New Queer Cinema subgenre that brought us Gregg Araki, Cheryl Dunye and Gus Van Sant, the gloriously weird, unpinnable anthology based on the explicitly gay writings of Jean Genet is hardly anyone's idea of a solid first venture for a fledgling company. So how did that get made? 'I'll tell you exactly how,' said Vachon in an exclusive interview. 'It was a film that could be marketed to a very underserved audience, and that audience showed up for it and the movie was profitable. In fact, it broke records at the Angelika that went unbroken for a strangely long time, considering a lot of the queer audiences that went to see it came out scratching their heads, saying, I just wanted to see some boys kissing, what was that?, because it was a very experimental film. But a lot of them came out having had an experience that really changed them, and it changed how they saw movies for the rest of their lives.' Their success, Vachon believes, was due in part to a lack of options for queer media in the '90s. 'In those days, it almost felt like we were all in the same goldfish bowl,' she said, recalling how she'd promote Hedwig by personally handing out leaflets at local gay bars, or on a themed float at that year's Pride parade. ('That foam headdress was just such a great prop, it lent itself to a communal experience,' Koffler chuckled.) But Koffler also added that the audience loyalty they felt had an extra degree of intention: 'This was a time when there was no streaming or TV, and more movie theaters and ways to go to the cinema and see stuff.' Everyone who went to see a Killer film, wanted to see a Killer film. Still, it wasn't until 1999's Boys Don't Cry that Koffler thinks Hollywood stopped thinking of their company as that 'stinky little office in downtown New York.' Kimberly Peirce's biodrama about the murder of a trans man brought the company overnight success, and their first Oscar glories. (Hilary Swank won for Best Actress, Chloe Sevigny was nominated for Best Supporting.) Though she was hesitant about singing their 30th anniversary from the rooftops, as Vachon said she was game to do, Koffler feels a sage peace about their role in the industry. 'The business has changed so many times, in so many ways over the past thirty years, and we really do know what we're doing at this point,' she told me. 'So if anyone's gonna get to keep making things, I feel like we have a pretty good shot. We don't have a crystal ball, but we at least know how to figure out the path.' Below, Vachon and Koffler run down the history of Killer Films through a few of the movies screening at Metrograph. The conversation has been edited and condensed for clarity. Office Killer (1997) Koffler: [Producers] Ted Hope and James Schamus had cooked up a division for their company, Good Machine, called Good Fear, which was intended to make low-budget, artful horror films. But I think ours ended up being the only one… Vachon: I'd met Cindy a time or two through my partner, Marlene McCarty, when they were both represented by the same gallery, Metro Pictures. We managed to get to her pretty easily and just sat down with her and were like, 'What do you think?' Koffler: There's a kind of macabre cinematic vibe to her photographs, so it felt like a natural proposition to translate that into her tone and style in movies. Time Out: I've noticed its reputation has increased over the years versus the reception then. Koffler: I mean, we love that movie. There's something campy and out-there about it that we felt was of a piece with a sort of artifice, and some of the lines crack us up. 'Did you send me something by fax modem?' We quote that a lot. Time Out: Did you try to pull her back in for another movie after that? Vachone: I think she had a good experience, though you'd have to ask her. It was a good crew, a great cast and people were really happy to be there. It just felt like one of those movies where we were getting what the director wanted. The reviews were not good, and I think people came after her with knives out because she'd 'jumped out of her lane,' but she was sort of like, 'Whatever, I got my other thing, too.' And if she ever wanted to do another movie, I hope she'd come to us, but she may have felt like she did what she wanted to do with this one. Happiness (1998) Vachon: There was a lot of controversy in the press around its 'pedophile loving content' – I say sarcastically – and Good Machine took the movie over when October (which then morphed into USA Films, which then morphed into Focus Features) was owned by Universal, and they suddenly were longer able to distribute it. Time Out: Would you run into these sudden drops from distributors often? Vachon: I don't know the last time that's happened. I mean, we came under criticism for Swoon because it was at the height of the AIDS crisis and it was considered not a positive image. We got picked on by Stonewall veterans for Stonewall and then they all came to the after-party. And Kids had a journey as well. Time Out: I'm so fascinated by works that were pilloried by parts of the community in their time for 'negative representation.' This sounds so corny, but where did you find the strength to say, This is an artistic statement worth putting out there and hopefully, eventually we'll be vindicated? Vachon: You weren't pilloried the way you are now on social media. I think we just had a very strong sense of the stories we wanted to tell and we were like, Well, what's going to happen? It was definitely, in the AIDS era, an issue. Tom and Todd and I, back in those days, talked a lot about the fact that we weren't part of a community that had one positive image. But, like, what was that? A 40-year-old doctor who goes to the Pines every weekend? Honestly, what is that? Something we talked about on Swoon, for example, was that one of the leads, who was straight, was asked a lot how he felt playing a gay character. And he was like, W hy aren't you asking me how it feels to play a child murderer? Hedwig and the Angry Inch (2001) Time Out: I'm realizing Killer hasn't done any other stage adaptations other than this. Koffler: I guess our source material usually comes through the writers, directors, actors who bring us projects that inspire them. It's not like we've steered away from it. But this was such a unique underground phenomenon that felt very in sync with the kind of story we wanted to tell. Time Out: Was John Cameron Mitchell in your orbit at the time? Vachon: He'd actually auditioned for I Shot Andy Warhol to play Warhol. Jared Harris did an extraordinary job, but so did John. I think he and Todd [Haynes] and Tom [Kalin, the film's producer] were friends while he was developing the Hedwig character at various nightclubs. So, we were hearing about it. One Hour Photo (2002) Koffler: Mark wrote that script and sent it to us, saying he wanted us to produce it. Even though it wasn't his first feature, he really felt like this was somehow the restart of his intention to make movies, and we just figured it out. Searchlight [the distribution company] saw it as a thriller, and could be marketed like that, but creatively, Mark was really going for a dark character study and he rode that line really beautifully and made the exact film he wanted. It struck a chord, and it was our first movie that did some real box office. Vachon: Yeah, it was number three one weekend. Time Out: Were you interested in casting Robin Williams against type in this role? Koffler: My memory is that Mark had a vision that he felt Robin was gifted and was that character: the right age, and an affable, approachable, kind-hearted seeming character. A lot of comedians have that dark current of something sad, and Robin actually did have that underneath. Mark saw that. It wasn't stunt-casting the way we might think of it today, I don't remember it like that. Vachon: It was at a time when Robin was trying to shift into different types of movies and roles. If I remember correctly, his folks called us and said, 'I don't know if you're open to this, but…' We went, huh, and Mark really felt that it was something that he could work with. Zola (2020) Time Out: You've recently been in partnership with A24, do you feel a kindred downtown New York sensibility with them? Koffler: They're obviously committed to the theatrical experience and very attracted to strong, original storytelling. It was just inevitable that we'd overlap in films that they'd be right to distribute and finance. And they're in New York, so it does feel like there's an affinity. Thankfully, there's a lot of great distributors, and our movies are right for some and not for others, but it's been great to get to know those guys because we've now done five films with them. Time Out: How do you feel about maintaining an indie sensibility as you 'level up' in terms of reach? Vachon: It's always hard, especially these days, to say what exactly makes a movie an indie film? Our movies get their financing in all kinds of ways, often with a studio element, sometimes with a foreign sales element, an incentive, a bank loan, what have you. But if you sell a movie like May December to Netflix after you've made it, is it a Netflix movie, or what is it? So I resist those terms a little bit. I guess at the end of the day, is an independent film simply defined by it being the result of a reasonably singular vision, or is it completely about the financing? I did an interview years ago for The New York Times Magazine with Larry Gordon, the big deal Hollywood producer, where we kind of interviewed each other. He had just done Waterworld, and I think before we even began the interview, he said, And it's a little, like, it kinda is.
Yahoo
04-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
NYC Audiences Will Finally See ‘Twin Peaks' Season 3 the Way David Lynch Intended
It's one of the truly singular, transcendent, and masterful pieces of moving image art made this century, and this weekend New York City audiences will have the rare opportunity to see all 18 parts of David Lynch's 'Twin Peaks: The Return' on the big screen as part of MUBI and Metrograph's two-day marathon. Making the pilgrimage to New York is Dean Hurley, who was the re-recording mixer, supervising sound editor, and sound and music supervisor on 'Twin Peaks: The Return.' Appearing on the Filmmaker Toolkit podcast to discuss Lynch's use of sound and creative process, Hurley told IndieWire the marathon was more than an opportunity to see the series on the big screen. The Metrograph audience will also be the first to see the full version of the series, the way Lynch intended. More from IndieWire Brad Pitt Says Tom Cruise Dropped Out of 'Ford v. Ferrari' When He Realized He 'Would Not Be Driving That Much' Searching for the Ideal 4th of July Movie? Look No Further Than 'Drop Zone' 'It gets back to the whole, 'You may think you've seen the film, but you haven't,'' said Hurley, paraphrasing Lynch's iPhone rant that became an internet meme. 'These are the theatrical mixes and the one thing that I'm really excited about is this is the intention, this is how David mixed them, and this is how he experienced them.' Beyond his official titles, Hurley played a larger role in Lynch's creative life. The filmmaker hired Hurley in 2005 as engineer at his recording studio, a converted Hollywood Hills home he used as a 'Lost Highway' location. Hurley would become Lynch's jack-of-all-trades 'sound guy' who did everything from recording, mixing, session playing to post supervision and procuring instruments. Lynch preferred a DIY approach, working in the insular bubble of his studio. For Lynch, who took the sound designer credit on his films and 'Twin Peaks: The Return,' it is impossible to underestimate the importance sound played in all of his art. Sound was often the spark of emotional inspiration and his Hollywood Hills 'Asymetrical Studio' was a creative space where he spent a large portion of his waking hours. Lynch and Hurley recorded sounds used in 'The Return' a decade before scripts were completed. For example, Lynch had a library of recordings of electricity, which became a throughline across three seasons of 'Twin Peaks.' 'You might read electricity in [the script] and think, 'OK, I'm going to go out and record electricity,'' Hurley said on the podcast. 'But what David showed me is sounds in movies are exaggerated versions of themselves in real life… you jack them full of emotion, you make them larger than life when that sound carries that emotion, because we remember things differently.' Lynch preached to Hurley that at the heightened moments of our lives, we remember sound as louder and having far more impact than the reality. That's what the filmmaker wanted in his work. 'You need something that reaches into your caveman self, some primordial sound, that when you hear it your caveman self says, 'That's fucking dangerous,'' said Hurley. 'David loved volume, he loved extremes. His filmmaking could be summed up in extremes because he'll take an emotion and just jack it up to the nth degree, to this characterized version, a juiced up, steroidal version of that emotion, and especially with that atomic bomb sequence.' Hurley is, of course, referencing Part 8 of 'Twin Peaks: The Return,' one of the most celebrated episodes of television ever, in which an atomic bomb goes off. Hurley distinctly remembered working on Part 8 and Lynch yelling, ''Dean, jack this up to 11, I want to make ears bleed.' And I'm thinking, that's a major problem. This is a television show delivery system.' He and Lynch found themselves in paradox while mixing 'Twin Peaks: The Return.' 'The heartache on crafting one of his theatrical soundtracks is when you walk into a theater, it's what the director presents. If they want something super quiet and then they want to hit you over the head with a full-level, full-channel assault they can, and as an audience member you experience that as it's intended. Television is a different thing because you've got front-end compressors, treating the signal and squashing things into a band before they even go out.' Another major limitation is home speakers that make all of us theater managers able to adjust the decibel level with a click of our remotes. 'The power of the cinema and the standards of the presentation mode that was brought about with standards like THX, where you're tuning a room, it's playing at 85 decibels, you've got these giant crossover speakers with tweeter and fiberglass horns and 20-inch woofer, that has the potential to really move a ton of air in the theater,' said Hurley. 'And you can feel it physically, viscerally in a different way than on AirPods or a laptop speaker. I think that's what David was getting at with 'If you think you've seen it on the phone, it's a fucking joke.'' If you watch the video that inspired Lynch's famous meme, it's clear the filmmaker's rant stemmed from the deep 'sadness' Lynch felt about the delivery systems of how we experience his art. That sadness was something Lynch felt intensely while 'Twin Peaks: The Return' aired on Showtime, as it never had the emotional and physical impact of what Lynch felt in his studio. That frustration became anger while creating the 'nearfield' mix, the broadcast standard designed to limit sound for the home viewing experience. 'It was always hard for him because we would do mixes for things, [even] Criterion remasters, when he wanted to listen to them on his flat screen TV to see how they were playing,' said Hurley. 'He would get so emotional, like irate because he's like, 'The power isn't there.' And I'm like, 'It's there. Go in the studio and listen to it,' and it would verify that it's there. But a lot of these playback systems, it's exactly what he talked about with the phone. ' You think you're watching it,' but you can only watch so much coming out of two-inch cones.' After 'Twin Peaks: The Return' aired, Lynch instructed Hurley to create a theatrical mix for the full series. He previously created theatrical mixes for Parts 1 and 2 when they screened at the Cannes Film Festival. ''OK, Dean, go ahead, take the limiters off, put the mixes in a 85 decibel paradigm,'' Hurley remembered Lynch instructing. 'Because somebody said, I can't remember whether it was Sabrina [Sutherland], the producer, or David himself, 'Someday they're going to show these in a museum.'' Up until this weekend, beyond the Cannes premieres, Hurley said only Part 8 has screened publicly in its theatrical mix. Which is why the longtime collaborator, confidant, and friend is making the trip to New York for the marathon. 'This is what David was dreaming of when we did this mix,' said Hurley. 'This is how he experienced it while making it, and it'd make him happy it was finally being presented the way he intended.' Metrograph's two-day marathon of 'Twin Peaks: The Return' will take place July 5 and 6 to mark the 35th anniversary of 'Twin Peaks' Season 1. Dean Hurley will be in attendance to introduce the series for select showtimes and will also participate in a special pre-screening conversation. For more information, visit the Metrograph website. To listen to Dean Hurley's interview airing on July 10, subscribe to the Toolkit podcast on Apple, Spotify, or your favorite podcast platform. Best of IndieWire The Best Lesbian Movies Ever Made, from 'D.E.B.S.' and 'Carol' to 'Bound' and 'Pariah' The Best Thrillers Streaming on Netflix in June, from 'Vertigo' and 'Rear Window' to 'Emily the Criminal' All 12 Wes Anderson Movies, Ranked, from 'Bottle Rocket' to 'The Phoenician Scheme'
Forbes
17-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Forbes
Ariana Grande's Smashes Are ‘Defying Gravity' Yet Again
Ariana Grande's 'Popular' and 'Defying Gravity' return to U.K. vinyl and physical singles charts as ... More anticipation for the second Wicked movie builds. NEW YORK, NEW YORK - DECEMBER 03: (L-R) Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo attend as Universal Pictures presents special New York City WICKED Screening at Metrograph on December 03, 2024 in New York City. (Photo byfor Universal Pictures) Ariana Grande has essentially stopped promoting her most recent album Eternal Sunshine, and interest in the pop project has largely dwindled. While the singer's latest full-length continues to appear on a handful of album charts in the United Kingdom, none of the tunes pushed from the project — or its deluxe edition follow-up, Brighter Days Ahead — are still present. Grande does manage something of a comeback this week, though, as two recent 'popular' cuts 'defy gravity' and return to the charts. 'Popular' and 'Defying Gravity,' both from the first Wicked film, reappear on a pair of rankings apiece in the U.K. The former is credited solely to Grande, while the latter is a collaboration with her co-star Cynthia Erivo. Between the two, 'Popular' is the bigger hit at the moment. This frame, it reenters the Official Vinyl Singles chart at No. 18 and the Official Physical Singles ranking at No. 25. 'Defying Gravity' — arguably the more famous track from Wicked — is not far behind. The duet lands at No. 23 on the vinyl-only tally and No. 32 on the list of the top-selling tracks on any physical format, including CD, cassette, and wax records. In the past, both 'Popular' and 'Defying Gravity' have reached the top five on the two tallies on which they currently appear. Grande's solo tune missed out on becoming a No. 1 by just a single spot, while 'Defying Gravity' peaked in third place. The two tracks have spent four weeks each on the Official Vinyl Singles list. 'Defying Gravity' is now up to six frames on the Official Physical Singles chart, while 'Popular' has amassed seven stays on the roster. While 'Popular' and 'Defying Gravity' are Grande's only charting tunes in the U.K. at the moment, her album Eternal Sunshine does still manage to hold on — even though she's no longer pushing singles from the set. The Grammy-nominated project drops on all three rankings it finds a home on, and it barely manages to keep on the Official Physical Albums list, dipping to No. 99. The set appears dozens of spaces higher on both the Official Albums chart and Official Albums Streaming list, slipping slightly to Nos. 57 and 56, respectively, well over a year after it debuted.
Irish Examiner
03-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Irish Examiner
'Entirely phony': Clint Eastwood calls viral interview a fabrication
Clint Eastwood has claimed that a recent interview with him which went viral is a fabrication. Quotes from an alleged interview with the Oscar-winning actor and director had gone viral over the weekend and were picked up by a number of sites. Yet Mr Eastwood has now said that he never spoke to anyone from German-language Austrian newspaper Kurier. 'A couple of items about me have recently shown up in the news,' Eastwood said in a statement released to Deadline. 'I thought I would set the record straight. I can confirm I've turned 95. "I can also confirm that I never gave an interview to an Austrian publication called Kurier, or any other writer in recent weeks, and that the interview is entirely phony.' Mr Eastwood, who turned 95 over the weekend, had been originally quoted as saying he was in pre-production on his new movie and had rallied against 'an era of remakes and franchises'. Kurier is based in Vienna and has a circulation of approximately 100,000 copies. There is no official statement from Kurier or any details on how the interview was assembled. Mr Eastwood's most recent film Juror #2, which starred Nicholas Hoult, was released at the end of last year with no confirmed word on what his next film will be. In an interview to support the film with the Metrograph magazine, he addressed his legacy as a film-maker. 'That would be up to them, to the audiences, to answer,' he said. 'Up to the people on the outside. I just kind of go along. I consider this, again, emotional. It comes upon you. You have a story, you make a movie of it. You have to just go for it. "If you think too much about how it happened you might ruin it. I go back and look at films I've made, and I could easily ask, 'Why the heck did I make this?' I don't remember! It might have been a long time ago.' Mr Eastwood had recently paid tribute to co-star Gene Hackman after Hackman's death in February. 'There was no finer actor than Gene,' he said. 'Intense and instinctive. Never a false note.' He added: 'He was also a dear friend whom I will miss very much.' - The Guardian Read More Gene Hackman: A character actor who was spellbinding as tough guys and fools
Yahoo
22-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Miley Cyrus Calls Burnt House ‘Biggest Blessing'
recently revealed how the 2018 fire that burnt her house down became the 'biggest blessing' for her. She opened up about the tragic incident during an intimate preview screening of her upcoming album, 'Something Beautiful.' Sharing the emotional backdrop of the album, the pop icon showed her ability to find beauty in the bleakest moments. The loss of a home is devastating. Yet, losing her Malibu house during the 2018 Woosley Fire became a turning point for Miley Cyrus. It marked a moment of devastation that eventually sparked renewal and gratitude within the artist. The Grammy-winner offered a candid reflection on the tragedy during an intimate event in New York City on May 6. She was previewing her upcoming 'Something Beautiful' visual album at the event that involved a Q&A hosted by Spotify at Metrograph. According to PEOPLE, Cyrus recalled, 'Losing everything and being able to rebuild, and to be able to be purposeful and choose every piece that I'm gonna collect or also just about the people in my life.' She further explained, 'When my house burned down, a lot of my relationships also burned down, and that again just led me to such magic and to have so much gratitude.' This was in reference to the house she once shared with her ex-husband Liam Hemsworth. The pop superstar further reflected on what she would tell her younger self. She advised: 'Appreciate those darker times because, like I said, they are only leading you into the light.' Cyrus tactfully and proudly connected the reflection with her new era that began with 'Something Beautiful.' Acknowledging how she grew up with her fans since the 'Hannah Montana' and Disney days, she credited the support throughout her life. Cyrus' album preview became a poignant reminder of the tragic loss of her house during the Woosley Fire. She had posted an emotional post through her foundation, sharing a charred sign reading 'LOVE' amid the rubble. By reconnecting her album with the fire, she explained how the tragedy became a symbol of resilience. This eventually set the stage for 'Something Beautiful' on May 30. The post Miley Cyrus Calls Burnt House 'Biggest Blessing' appeared first on Reality Tea.
