Cinema of the United States
What happens when you let everyone in the world audition for a Hollywood studio film
Three people who participated in the viral #CrazyRichAsiansCasting campaign earned their first ever parts in a big motion picture. Here’s why director Jon M. Chu thought it was necessary to scour the globe for Asian actors for “Crazy Rich Asians.”
Julianne Moore leads the stars of this week’s new movies
Looking for a great movie to survive the cold weekend? The Takeaway’s Movie Date podcast says you might be pleasantly surprised by “The Wedding Ringer”‘s crass humor, but you’ll definitely by blown away by Julianne Moore’s Oscar-nominated turn in “Still Alice.”
How do you make a movie about jazz? Add plenty of blood
When Damien Chazelle wrote a film based on his experiences as a young jazz drummer, he got plenty of encouraging comments — and no funding. So he shot an intense, violent scene from the surprisingly bloody movie to showcase his project, and Whiplash is now highly sought after following a big win at Sundance.
Studio 360 – Episode 846 – Made in China – Ang Lee
The director’s new film, Lust, Caution, is set in World War II Shanghai, occupied by Japan. As if a Chinese movie by a Taiwanese director wasn’t edgy enough, the film is so erotic it made Lee himself intensely uncomfortable. Kurt talks with Lee and his screenwriter and producer, James Schamus.
Studio 360 – Episode 845 – The Great Gatsby – Segment 6
Gatsby Gets Schooled
Students in Garth Wolkoff’s English class in Brooklyn admire Gatsby, and find Daisy suspiciously ?chillax.? Azar Nafisi, who taught the book in Tehran, recounts the time her university students put the book on trial. The decadent capitalist Jay Gatsby, she says, should be a warning for radical Islamists.