There is more than one queen that reigns over Wakanda. That queen is costume designer Ruth Carter, a 4-time Academy Award nominee (Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, Black Panther, Amistad and Malcolm X), and winner for 2018’s Black Panther. She is also an Emmy nominee for Roots, a 3-time Costume Designers Guild Award winner (Coming 2 America, Black Panther, Career Achievement Award), a 3-time Critics’ Choice Award winner (Black Panther, Dolemite Is My Name, Black Panther: Wakenda Forever), and so much more. 

Carter is responsible for the iconic outfits that Marvel favorites like Queen Ramonda (Angela Bassett), Shuri (Letitia Wright), Nakia (Lupita Nyong’o) wear. She was also tasked with creating the outfits for the newly-introduced world of Talokan, like Namor (Tenoch Huerta) and Namora (Mabel Cadena). Carter continues to raise the bar higher and higher, not only for the Marvel Cinematic Universe, but for any individual in the profession. In result, Carter was honored with her fourth individual Academy Award nomination for the film, where the film itself garnered five nominations (Best Supporting Actress, Best Original Song, Best Makeup and Hairstyling, Best Costume Design, Best Visual Effects).

When asked about The Hollywood Reporter article that was penned by The Woman King director Gina Prince-Bythewood around omissions of Black women for Academy Award nominations, Carter responded, “It’s not myopic representation. It’s global and I find representation in Bardo. I find representation in Everything Everywhere All At Once. I find representation in Pinocchio. I find representation in Camille Friend, in Angela Bassett, in myself, in Ludwig Göransson. There is a lack of representation of black voices and black images, and for that, I feel sad. Women directors, for that, I feel very sad. I do hail the efforts of those who have films that do speak to the Black community and such. I cannot turn my back on that type of representation as well this year.” 

We will find out the winners of the Academy Awards on Sunday, March 12.  

What’s next for Ms. Carter? She will continue to stay in the Marvel Cinematic Universe by designing for the reboot of Blade. While tight lipped, she did reveal that, “Mahershala [Ali] has been training for weeks… months. I think we are going to see another Mahershala that I haven’t seen yet because he is dedicated.” Blade will be directed by Yann Demange and will be released on September 6, 2024. 
Black Panther: Wakanda Forever stars Letitia Wright, Lupita Nyong'o, Critics’ Choice and Golden Globe winner Angela Bassett, Danai Gurira, Michaela Coel, Martin Freeman, and Julia Louis-Dreyfus. The film is currently streaming in the Academy screening room and on Disney+.

The year was 2015. A year in cinema that saw one of the greatest actions films ever made delivered to cinemas with George Miller’s Mad Max: Fury Road. The fourth installment in Miller’s Mad Max franchise was an experience like no other. A two-hour bonanza filled with thrilling car chase sequences, memorable characters, and a cinematic world unlike anything we’ve ever seen. Layered into this spectacle were social and political messages on climate change, warmongering, hoarding nature resources, and the power of feminism, all the while sharing the screen with a guy playing an electric guitar on top of a moving vehicle with flames coming out.

With stars Tom Hardy and Charlize Theron leading the charge in front of the camera, Miller and company gave the world an entertaining achievement that was not only loved by audiences and critics around the world and the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences with ten nominations and six wins, but it is almost a film may consider one of the best films of the last decade, some even going as far as to say of all time.

But the journey to the big screen is a story within itself, as there were twenty years of obstacles in pre-production, on-set, and even leading up to the test screenings for the final cut of the film. This is all documented in the new book by Kyle Buchanan, Blood, Sweat & Chrome: The Wild and True Story of Mad Max: Fury Road. Over the course of the book, we are told the history of this film struggles, leaving no stone unturned in terms of information about how hard it was for Miller to get this made, the monumental task of recasting the iconic Mad Max character, the extensive production that resulted into a behind the screen feud between the two leading stars of the picture, the constant fight to keep Miller’s version Fury Road his and only his, the legacy of this film and even a tease at the future of the franchise.

Buchanan, known for being a pop culture, awards season reporter (The Projectionist is his Oscar column) for The New York Times, former the senior editor at Vulture, makes an engrossing, stellar debut novel filled with loads of honesty and passion for Miller’s action epic. In taking in dozens of accounts from people involved with the project, along with mixing in talent within the industry, film historians, and journalists, he crafts a must read for any self-proclaimed cinephile.

In our audio conversation below, we talked about his first experience with seeing the film, when he knew he wanted to make this book, what he learned about director George Miller and actress Charlize Theron, why the Academy went for the film, and what the future of the Mad Max series looks like. We thank Kyle for his time and implore everyone, once they are done listening to the interview, to go purchase his book. You won’t regret it.

Blood, Sweat & Chrome: The Wild and True Story of Mad Max: Fury Road is available in stores and online wherever books are sold.

Ariana DeBose is a triple threat force to be reckoned with. From the moment she arrives on the screen of Steven Spielberg’s adaptation of the classic musical West Side Story, it is clear we are in the presence of singular talent that expertly performs any task she is assigned. Since the film’s release, she has become an overnight sensation and the front-runner to take the Best Supporting Actress prize at this year’s Oscars, but if you have followed her career, it’s not surprising that she is in this position.

DeBose began her career in 2009 as a contestant on the dancing show So You Think You Can Dance, where she finished in the Top 20. She then landed roles in musical productions of Bring It On, Motown, and Pippin, where she landed the understudy role and eventually, for Pippin, was the star of the show. These projects led her to the part of “the bullet” in the ensemble of the Broadway phenomenon, Hamilton.

From her time on Hamilton, she moved on to playing Disco Donna in Summer: The Donna Summer Musical, where she landed a Tony nomination for Best Featured Actress in a Musical. With this, DeBose was able to make the transition to the big screen and small screen, with prominent roles in Ryan Murphy’s The Prom and Schmigadoon! from AppleTV+. 

But it’s with West Side Story, and her layered, energetic, passionate interpretation on Anita, a role made famous by the legendary Rita Moreno, that has brought Ariana DeBose the most praise and accolades of her career to this point. And with her Oscar nomination, she is the first Afro-Latinx actor to be nominated for an acting prize, as well as one of the few nominees in the history of the Academy Awards to be openly out as a member of the LGTBQ+ community. This brings enormous pressures and power being in this position, but after speaking with her, it is clear she is taking it all in as gracefully as one can be at this monumental moment in their career.

Within the first moments of speaking with her, I marveled at how down to earth and open she is. As the conversation started, DeBose arrived on the zoom humming a song with subtle lyrics about getting set up for our chat. About five minutes in, as she is answering a question, her Airpods went out, and as she responded, she quickly configured her settings, all the while staying focused, smiling the entire time. Midway through, her cat started to crawl right next to her and she grab it and put them on her lap as we finished out our time together. Completely comfortable and authentic, she spoke to me about her love of musicals, the important relationships with her West Side Story co-stars, what she is going to look for in future projects, and so much more.

By the end, as we parted and exchanged goodbyes, she struck me by the way she said goodbye, as if it was a friend saying goodbye to someone they know, someone they will see again down the road. In a world that is harsh to navigate through, DeBose shows in this interview, and the variety of others she has done throughout this awards season, that her kindness, relatability, and comfort within who she is is infectious and leaves you with a smile on your face and a warm heart.  Good things happen to good people, and Ariana DeBose is beyond good, she is phenomenal. I hope our paths do cross again; till then, here is my full conversation with the recent Oscar nominee.

Last week, when the Academy announced Oscar nominations, hair and makeup designer Donald Mowat was on set in Spain, hard at work on his next project. When he found out that his fantastic work for Dune was nominated, it was the culmination of over 35 years of incredible creations being celebrated for the first time by his peers. For Mowat, an Academy member who over 20 years, he couldn’t believe it happened, and still can’t we I spoke with him recently, but takes a lot of pride in this honor because it’s for a movie and team he truly loves.

Known for working with actors Mark Wahlberg, Daniel Craig, Ryan Gosling, and Jake Gyllenhaal as their make-up artist, and being the department head for movies like First Man, The Fighter, Skyfall, Prisoners, Sicario, and Blade Runner 2049, Mowat’s dedication to his craft has garnered praise by many in the industry, thus making him one of the most reliable artists working today in the business. On Dune, he and his team’s collaboration built upon their director’s vision to create unique looks for each character and the story they are telling. Between extensive research and detailed “vision boards,” they were able to successfully separate the work on this film from any of the previous versions of Dune we had seen before.

I sat down with Mowat back at the 2021 Middleburg Film Festival, right before the release of the film and before he and his team have gone on to win award after award for their work on Denis Villeneuve’s sci-fi spectacle. In this interview, I asked him about his reaction to being nominated for his first Oscar nomination, what Dune has meant to him, his team’s work on the villainous Baron Vladimir Harkonnen (Stellan Skarsgård), dealing with weather difficulties on shooting on location in Budapest, and his excitement for working on Dune: Part 2. And while he’s a little nervous about the outcome of the Oscars in late March, he is mostly excited to get back together with Denis and the team behind Dune one last time to celebrate their epic achievement.

This audio interview, which runs 51m, might contain spoilers, so if you have not seen Dune, go watch the film and come back to this conversation.

Dune is available to buy on Blur-ray and DVD, as well as to own or rent on all VOD platforms. It will return to HBO Max in March 2022.

Dave Karger is a host on Turner Classic Movies (TCM), including the network's annual 31 Days of Oscar, which kicks off on March 1 this season.

An award-winning host, interviewer, and entertainment expert, Karger began guest hosting on TCM in 2016 and was named an official host in 2018. He has made more than 200 live appearances on NBC’s Today show and also serves as a Special Correspondent for IMDb. In 2018 he co-hosted ABC’s Live from the Red Carpet on Oscar night.

In 2015, Karger received the Publicists Guild Press Award honoring the year’s outstanding entertainment journalist. In 2014, he was named one of OUT Magazine’s “OUT 100,” acknowledging the most influential people in the LGBT community.  

From 2012 to 2016, he served as Chief Correspondent at Fandango, creating and hosting the original video series “The Frontrunners,” which received a 2013 Webby Award nomination for Best Variety Series. Before that, Karger spent 17 years as a senior writer at Entertainment Weekly, where he wrote more than 50 cover stories on subjects including George Clooney, Angelina Jolie, Elton John, Taylor Swift, Johnny Depp, Denzel Washington and Carrie Underwood.

In 2012 and 2013, he was the Academy’s official red-carpet greeter on Oscar night and only the third person ever to hold that post. Dave graduated cum laude from Duke University.

I sat down with Karger to talk about 31 Days of Oscar, the look of this year's race, the changes in the Academy over time and his own Oscar origin story.

For over to forty years, Nicolas Cage has given us one of the most diverse filmographies of all time. While being one of cinemas greatest action heroes with hits like The Rock, Gone in 60 Seconds, Con Air and Face Off, Cage also excels in prestige dramas about complex, emotionally rich characters in films like Leaving Las Vegas (for which he won the Oscar), Matchstick Men, Adaptation, and Joe. He can make you fall in love with him in films like Moonstruck and Raising Arizona, while discovering and protecting historical American secrets. Basically, the man can do anything and knock it out of the park, thus makes him one of, if not, the best actor of his generation.

But with his latest film, Pig, Cage takes his range and dramatic work to a whole new level as Rob, a reclusive chef who must confront his past after his beloved truffle hunting pig is kidnapped. Written and directed by Michael Sarnoski, and co-starring Alex Wolff and Adam Arkin, Cage is stunning in this film. When I reviewed Pig back July, I stated that “it’s not just one of the best performances of the year so far, but how it is the best work he has ever done,” and after seeing the film again, that statement firmly holds up. This sentiment was fleshed out a month later in an FYC piece for Cage to get a nomination for Best Actor at this year’s Oscars, noting that what the legendary actor was doing in this part was “an astonishing achievement” and that he delivers “a bloody, broken, delicious showcase that lingers well beyond the briskly efficient 92-minute runtime.”

After writing about this performance all year long, it only seemed fitting to go to the source and sit down to ask the actor about his incredible, career defining work in this movie. In the interview below, I spoke with Cage about his time making Pig, the bonds with Sarnoski and Wolff that grew on and off set, the lessons he learned in playing a chef, and his love of cinema. At the end, we concluded our chat with some interesting rapid-fire questions with answers lifelong fan of his movies have always wanted to know, as well as take a look at what he has coming in the not too distant future.

This interview runs 24m 31s.

Pig is available to rent or buy wherever you stream movies.

Stevie Martin and Lawrence Davis are two very well-established makeup and hair designers, having traversed the worlds of film and television with equal success and yes, respect.

Martin made her start in makeup designing when she started doing makeup for magazines before building her way to TV and film. She was one of the key makeup artists on projects such as The Hunger Games: Catching Fire, then returning for Mockingjay – Part 2, The Nice Guys and Sleepless, where she grew a reputation of her minimalist style and using no prosthetics.

Davis comes from a very ranged background of work, having even won an Emmy for his work on Hairspray Live! He went on to being one of the key hairstylists for daytime and primetime TV shows and specials like the Grammys, the Academy Awards, American Idol. From this he went onto movies and became a key hairstylist for projects such as In Time, Flight and Dumb and Dumber To. Through all of this he started working frequently with Jennifer Hudson, which is how he landed the role of Hair Designer Head for Respect.

We were curious how they both went about the daunting task of transforming Jennifer Hudson and Marlon Wayans into their respective roles as Aretha Franklin and Ted White, especially when the filmmakers asked for no prosthetics. Benji Bury had a sit-down discussion with them about how they climbed this high mountain.

Respect is currently available to rent or buy wherever you stream movies.

When Ridley Scott calls, Janty Yates answers. 2021 brought not one, but two Scott projects - The Last Duel and House of Gucci - and Yates was by his side on both. With The Last Duel, we are transported back into medieval France to meet Marguerite de Carrouges (Jodie Comer), Jacques Le Gris (Adam Driver) and Sir Jean de Carrouges (Matt Damon) as they fight for the truth. As for House of Gucci, we meet Patrizia Reggiani (Lady Gaga) in the late 1970s as she begins her relationship with Maurizio Gucci (Adam Driver). Yates’ costumes are standouts and she is receiving some of the best reviews of her career. 

Yates is no stranger to the awards attention. In 2001, she was the winner of Academy Award for Best Costume Design for Gladiator. She was also nominated for a Satellite Awards (where she is 4x nominee), a Saturn Award (where she is a 3x nominee) and a BAFTA. In addition to these accolades, she is also a 2x Costume Designers Guild Awards nominee (The Martian and De-Lovely). 

Yates has been racking up nominations left and right for critics prizes for both of her films of this year, including a Hollywood Critics Association nomination and a Broadcast Film Critics Association Awards nomination. 

Their collaboration continues with Kitbag, starring Joaquin Phoenix as Napoleon Bonaparte. Jodie Comer was originally cast as Joséphine Bonaparte but had to drop out due to COVID-influenced scheduling conflicts.

This audio interview runs 25m 19s.

To this day, 3x Oscar nominated production designer Arthur Max continues to transport us to his beautifully constructed worlds. In 2021, he took us to the castles of medieval France with The Last Duel and to the bustling streets of Italy in House of Gucci. Through tireless research and close collaboration, Max has been frequent go-to of Ridley Scott for over two decades. 

His three Oscars were for Best Achievement in Production Design (The Martian), Best Achievement in Art Direction (American Gangster) and Best Art Direction-Set Decoration (Gladiator). The accolades don’t stop there. He is also a 2x BAFTA nominee (1x winner for Gladiator), 7x ADG nominee (2x winner for The Martian and Gladiator), NBR Award winner for Gladiator, and many more. 

Their collaboration continues with Kitbag, starring Jodie Comer and Joaquin Phoenix as Joséphine Bonaparte and Napoleon Bonaparte. 

House of Gucci is out in theaters today and stars Lady Gaga, Adam Driver, Jared Leto, and Al Pacino. The Last Duel is on VOD today and stars Matt Damon, Adam Driver, Jodie Comer and Ben Affleck.

This audio interview runs 59m 27s.

I’ve been a fan of Robin de Jesús since Camp, nearly 20 years ago. 

But de Jesús is more than Camp, he's built a stellar career with work in television, film and of course, theater where he's a three-time Tony nominee, earning nods as Featured Actor in a Musical twice (2008's In the Heights and 2010's La Cage aux Folles) and Featured Actor in a Play for the 2019 revival of The Boys in the Band.

Born in Norwalk, Connecticut, he always loved to sing and would join his family in the Parranda, the Puerto Rican version of caroling, during Christmas and go from house to house wherein that house's family would then join and go to the next house until the group grew into most of the neighborhood. It gave him the outlet for his voice and also a creative outlet for his family ("they sort of identified as factory workers but at that time of year they were musicians") and it pushed him through his school years to explore the possibility of making it a career.

After 2003's Camp, his first feature film, de Jesús landed a career breakthrough, the part of Sonny in Lin-Manuel Miranda's In the Heights, a relationship that would bear fruit once again with the theatrical feature version of Jonathan Larson's tick, tick...BOOM!, bringing him full circle back to Miranda, who directs. His performance has earned him Hollywood Critics Association and Satellite nominations for Best Supporting Actor.

Throughout our 30m conversation, we talk about the electrifying response to the film's world premiere at AFI FEST in November and the actor gets candid about his well being and mental health during the shooting of the film ("I wasn't choosing the healthiest thoughts") and how he broke through it to recognize love and blessings in his work and being present in his own life. We talk about his onscreen co-star Andrew Garfield, the depiction of the friendship between a straight man and a gay man on film and what that means on a larger scale.

We also take a look at the state of representation of queer and Latino actors and what representation means to him, the difference between who should play certain roles and who even gets a seat at the table from the ground floor of auditions and casting, what his dream role is and more.

tick, tick...BOOM! is now streaming exclusively on Netflix.

This interview runs 33m with intro and music.