Love Story
January 23, 2014
War Story is not a light movie, but you’d never know it by talking to star Catherine Keener and director Mark Jackson.
Richard Ayoade and Jesse Eisenberg on Dostoyevsky and Doppelgängers
January 23, 2014
Richard Ayoade’s dark comedy The Double is making the festival rounds: first at Toronto in September and now at the Sundance Film Festival.
The Real Housewife: Louise Lasser
December 6, 2013
On January 5, 1976, television sitcom luminary producer Norman Lear (All in the Family, The Jeffersons) unveiled his most unique creation, the soap-opera satire Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman. In her signature braids, actress Louise Lasser, already a co-star and ex-wife of Woody Allen, brilliantly portrayed the titular Mary, a housewife struggling with adversity on all sides.
Lightening Strikes Matt Porterfield
October 3, 2013
Matt Porterfield’s films are quiet and patient, suggesting more than they tell.
Kyle MacLachlan’s Fine Vintage
May 10, 2012
On a Sunday afternoon in March, a timid line of eager and excited fans lined up outside Vine Wine, a charming wine shop in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. Inside, Kyle MacLachlan poured tastings of his 2008 Cabaret and Baby Bear Syrah, new vintages from his Walla Walla-based wine partnership with Eric Dunham called “Pursued by Bear.”
Inventing the Abacus
January 27, 2012
The young, attractive, slightly deranged, eyeblack-wearing Paul Abacus (as he is called, though he may not be real) was something of a celebrity on the streets of Park City last week, followed by a pair of Steadicam-wielding dancers and a hoard of paparazzi performance artists whose flashes were attached to resin cameras and lit the falling snow like confetti.
Marina AbramoviÄ? Makes Sundance Shut Up
January 26, 2012
Born in 1946, Serbian performance art luminary Marina AbramoviÄ? visited Sundance this year in support of Matthew Akers’ documentary The Artist is Present, about her blockbuster and game-changing MoMA exhibition of the same name.
Tim and Eric (and Will Forte)’s Zero-Dollar Interview
January 25, 2012
Visionary comedians Tim Heidecker and Eric Wareheim stormed Sundance this year with their debut feature Tim and Eric’s Billion Dollar Movie, an absurdly funny film made on a low budget, and also co-starred in The Comedy, a drama.
How Dee Rees Built a Cocoon
December 15, 2011
Blowing up the indie film world is emerging writer and director, Dee Rees, whose new film Pariah is sweeping up awards and recognition—including a Gotham Independent Film Award for Breakthrough Director and two nominations for the Independent Spirit Awards.
Hear Him Now: Paul Marcarelli on His New Film and Ten Years as the Verizon Guy
October 17, 2011
Best known as the Verizon Guy, actor and writer Paul Marcarelli is now wearing a different hat—or different pair of eyeglasses, we should say—as screenwriter and producer for the chilling new drama The Green, about a gay high school teacher in Connecticut who is accused of inappropriate relations with one of his students.
Mike White Sees the Light
October 7, 2011
A two-time Amazing Race contestant, French bulldog enthusiast, and all-around indie darling, White is the creator of HBO’s new series Enlightened, a quietly funny portrait of Amy Jellicoe (Laura Dern), who is attempting to rebuild her life (and the lives of the people around her) with meditation and nature following a nervous breakdown.
Enjoy Your Rabbit: Amy Sedaris on Her Bunny and Her New Movie
June 23, 2011
Comedian, craft-master, advice columnist, and collector of fake meat products, Amy Sedaris lives in the West Village with her rabbit Dusty, the namesake of her catering business Dusty Food Cupcakes.
The Book of Bobby
April 4, 2011
The Book of Mormon, written by by South Park creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone with Avenue Q’s co-creator Robert Lopez, might be the most irreverent musical to ever come to Broadway, and it might also be one of the best stories Broadway has seen in recent years. We caught up with Lopez a week after opening night.
Darwin Deez, O Pioneer
March 24, 2011
A few years ago, Darwin Deez stood onstage alone with his electric guitar at the Sidewalk Café’s open mic in New York, his tight mop of curls framing his face like a Hasid’s, his neck and torso long as a bean pole, and wearing a simple white v-neck t-shirt or a sweater worthy of the Cosby Show.
Jon Hamm’s Return to Austin
March 22, 2011
On hiatus from Mad Men, Jon Hamm came to Austin last week—not for South By Southwest, but to shoot a music video for the French rock-and-roll band Herman Dune’s new single, “Tell Me Something I Don’t Know,” directed by Toben Seymour.
Yoko Ono on Lennon, Love, Feminism, and Japan
March 22, 2011
With a new dance hit “Move on Fast” and a forthcoming benefit show for Japan on March 27th at Columbia University’s Miller Theater, Yoko Ono attended at the South by Southwest music festival for an official interview and to belt her signature guttural cackles with the Plastic Ono Band at Sean Lennon’s Chimera Music showcase.
How Xavier Dolan Plays the Triangle
February 22, 2011
Handsome and brooding, Xavier Dolan was the 21-year-old darling of the Cannes Film Festival for the past two years. But he missed the New York premiere of his second feature film Heartbeats, a stylized and tender look at two best friends who fall in love with the same man, because his plane wouldn’t take off.
Miguel Arteta’s Film Family
February 15, 2011
“I like Howard Hawks’ definition of a movie: three great scenes and no bad ones,” said director Miguel Arteta (The Good Girl, Chuck and Buck) at the Cedar Rapids press conference this Monday, “and it’s harder than you think.”
Sundance 2011: Exploring The Woods with Matthew Lessner
January 28, 2011
Matthew Lessner, 27, who has previously directed music videos for The Dirty Projectors and The Raveonettes as well as a couple festival-sanctioned short films, lived in the woods for a month and made a feature film.
Sundance 2011: How Susan Sarandon Learned to Snowboard
January 27, 2011
Those wishing to tackle the Utah powder (Slash declined, but he sent his sons) were then fitted for boots and a board and shuttled to the slopes, where they received a lesson from a snowboarding professional like darling Sammy Luebke.