Look, it should go without saying, but we watch a lot of director interviews, MasterClasses, and film commentary around here. Because that's a huge way to learn this difficult art of making movies—how does a director behave on set? What strange rules do they follow (looking at you, Nolan)? How do they talk to actors? How does a director discuss story and achieve their vision?

Filmmaker Theo…

At 96 years old, Clint Eastwood has officially retired from filmmaking. The actor and director left a mark on Hollywood that is staggering. He has four Oscars on his shelf, a bunch of characters that will be loved forever, and the respect of his peers.

There are dozens of lessons you could learn from the impact of his career. But the one I keep going back to is that he believes the second…

I'm on a contained story kick right now. My creative partner and I are fresh off a short film shoot and want to make something else, but we want to make it as easy on ourselves as possible in terms of production, and _cheap_. So, of course, my mind went straight to single-location, contained ideas.

While contained stories are easier to produce and one of the most practical formats for…

Obsession was one of the best films we saw at SXSW 2026. Imagine a late-night room full of horror film fans all totally bought into your world, gasping in all the right places, choking out laughter, even crying out, “Hell, no!” That was _Obsession_ in Austin, Texas.

The film originally premiered at TIFF Midnight Madness, promptly sold to Focus Features for $15 million, and then landed its…

Directors Ron Howard and George Lucas go way back. Lucas directed Howard in _American Graffiti_ , and Howard has described him as a mentor. If anyone was primed to be sold on _Star Wars_ , it was Howard.

But he just… really wasn’t, it turns out. He revealed as much during an in-depth conversation with Graham Bensinger.

Back then, when Howard asked Lucas what his next project would be, Lucas…

Have you been obsessed with the Backrooms since the beginning? I certainly have, so I am among the fans who are absolutely hype for the feature-length adaptation of the Internet’s favorite analog horror series to hit the big screens.

The person behind it, Kane Parsons, is about to become A24's youngest-ever feature director when _Backrooms_ opens theaters on May 29. He's 20 years old. Three…

There's no one out there like Quentin Tarantino. I appreciate all of his films, but I think the best part of him is his unabashed penchant fr telling the truth. Whether you agree with him or not, he does not filter himself. He says what he believes.

So when he gets asked a question about "How" he does something, you're going to get an answer.

For example, he just went off on "Video…

Back in March 2025, the Academy Museum opened _Director's Inspiration: Bong Joon-ho_ , which was the first exhibition ever dedicated entirely to the _Parasite_ filmmaker, featuring over 100 original objects from across his career, like storyboards, props, concept art, and creature models.

To mark the recent April addition of new _Mickey 17_ objects to the show, Director Bong hosted a special…

The Singers just won an Oscar for live-action short film. It’s a huge accomplishment for a film that didn’t take the usual approach to many elements of its production.

Director and cinematographer Sam Davis set out to make the short with no script, no shot list, and a cast of non-actors he spent a year hunting down on TikTok, Facebook, and Instagram. The result is a warm, funny, deeply felt…

I’ll admit pretty readily that I had fairly low expectations going into A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms. I remember how _Game of Thrones_ didn’t exactly stick the landing, and prestige TV tends to be hit-or-miss these days. I haven’t read the novella and didn’t know what the show was even about.

But as the opening episodes unfolded, and I realized we were going to stay with mostly one…

Before _Sinners_ , before _Black Panther_ , before _Fruitvale Station_ (and before his Oscar win last weekend), Ryan Coogler was a fresh, young USC grad student with a 16mm camera and a story he needed to tell.

His 2009 short _Locks_ is just six minutes long, set in Oakland, and follows a man with dreadlocks as he walks through his neighborhood. He sees two other men (also with dreadlocks)…

Imagine you’re Robert Eggers. Imagine you made _The Witch_. That’s a dream for many filmmakers, no matter your genre—you make a veritable hit that becomes a horror standard and part of a cultural lexicon.

Now imagine you hate that movie you made.

That’s the reality of Eggers’ relationship with _The Witch_ , a movie he says doesn’t live up to the vision in his head due to his own lack of…

Will Ropp spent most of the start of his career on the other side of the camera. As an actor, his credits include _The Way Back_ , _The Fallout_ , and _Love, Victor._ These projects put him in rooms with directors like Gavin O'Connor and Megan Park.

But with new and different aspirations in mind, he was definitely paying attention.

Now he's on the other side of the camera. _Brian_ _,_ his…

I think filmmaking comes with a lot of pressure. Every shot and camera move costs money, so you're usually drenched in sweat before the first frame.

That's why it was such an interesting thing to hear Martin Scorsese say that to get better at directing, you have to let your actors fail.

Directing actors can be one of the most intimidating parts of making a movie, especially if you're an…

I went to a one-day film festival over the weekend highlighting female filmmakers, and it only reinforced my love for shorts as an artform.

The filmmakers were given platforms to discuss their goals for their work—some wanted to highlight locations, causes, or the impacts of illnesses like Alzheimer’s or cancer.

All of them looked great. A few were from _first-time student filmmakers_, so…

Ryan Coogler and Maggie Gyllenhaal became directors by taking very different paths.

He played college football, went to film school, and made _Fruitvale Station_ before he was 30.

She spent decades in front of the camera (_Secretary_ , _The Dark Knight_ , _The Deuce)_ before stepping behind it with _The Lost Daughter_.

Now Coogler has the Oscar-nominated _Sinners_ , and Gyllenhaal has her…

Look, I'm not going to lie, when I wake up on a Monday and know I have all sorts of articles to write and other BS to do before I can do my heart's work, it can be a real bummer!

Well, it turns out, I'm not the only one who feels that way. Christopher Nolan also has that inside him, because he's been there before.

In a revealing sit-down with BAFTA Guru, the architect of _Inception_ and…

I've been thinking a lot recently about directing my first feature film. But what intimidates me the most about the endeavor is the idea of all the nuanced things a director does on set, aside from actually peering through a viewfinder and shouting "Action!".

And look, I've been on a real set, and I know that's not what they really do. It's so much more cerebral than that.

But I've found it…

I'm a huge fan of short films. I love watching them, talking about them, and planning my own.

Sometimes I’ll read a friend’s short film script and feel some initial concern, especially from beginning writer/directors. It’s long, or complicated with multiple locations, or has a big monster and difficult VFX needs. A short film like that can be really hard to pull off independently.

But…

Kevin Smith is just a guy who I think roots for everyone. And that kind of vibe is something we can always celebrate here.

He's such an interesting writer and director, who has found who he is in Hollywood and makes movies and TV shows that reflect that entirely.

So when he's giving encouragement, I tend to listen.

Drawing from his own journey of making _Clerks_ , Smith reflects on how his…

James Cameron recently sat down with journalist Graham Bensinger for a conversation about his legendary reputation for intensity—and how it's changed over the years.

Cameron will readily admit he was previously difficult to work with. But he’s changed. The director of _Titanic_ , _Avatar_ , and _Terminator_ opened up about a massive shift in how he approaches leadership, and he explains why…