It was fascinating to learn that you had already been in the process of making a film about wildfires when the camp and woolsey fires occurred. Can you tell us about that?
Lucy Walker: That’s right. The reason I was able to really embed, and I knew what I was looking at and could just jump in, and start asking the right questions was because I’d actually been working on the film already for about a year at that point.
Can you talk about the germination of this idea, for you?
Jeymes Samuel: The film has been in my head since I was a kid.
Simon, this is an incredible true story. How did you come to write the script?
Simon Farnaby: I was brought up around golf—my father was a greenskeeper at a little club in northeast England. Golf’s a game I love, but I came at it like Maurice [Flitcroft], from a lower-class angle.
How did this film develop?
Barry had written an article for the Boston Phoenix about his experience testifying in front of the Senate Judiciary Committee. It’s just so funny and well written… it reminded me of a Frank Capra story.
How did you approach the preparation that went into portraying Dr. King?
After I read an early version of the script, I just knew this film and playing this man was going to be a part of my future.
Can you talk about the evolution of Caesar’s character from Rise of the Planet of the Apes to this film?
The approach to the role for me has always been to think of Caesar as having a human mind within an ape’s body.
Your relationship with Akira Kurosawa dates back to the beginning of your career. Can you share how you first encountered Kurosawa’s work and what drew you to reimagine it?
Spike Lee: People always assume that this film is a remake of Kurosawa’s High and Low, but it actually began with Ed McBain’s novel King’s Ransom.
Let’s start with the script, because it’s so beautifully rendered. It’s co-written, and I don’t believe the short film this grew out of was co-written. Can you talk about that?
Rashad Frett: This was during COVID, 2020. Lin Que Ayoung was a classmate at NYU, a year ahead of me, and she became the co-writer.
South Africa, 1990. When the crumbling Apartheid regime affords Marie Abrahams an opportunity to sell the family farm, her daughter Inge fights to keep their ancestral land.
The rolling hills of a little village in Puerto Rico where Elsa lives are covered in tropical forest. Elsa observes with concern the relationship between her son-in-law and her granddaughter. Nonetheless, she continues to go about preparing food, hanging out the washing, feeding the chickens and tending the garden.
New York, NY (December 8, 2022) – The National Board of Review announced today their 2022 honorees
THE NATIONAL BOARD OF REVIEW NAMES 2021 HONOREES New York, NY (December 2, 2021) – The National Board of Review announced today their 2021 honorees, with top awards including Licorice Pizza for Best Film; Paul Thomas Anderson for Best Director for Licorice Pizza; Will Smith for Best Actor for King Richard; and Rachel Zegler for […]
THE NATIONAL BOARD OF REVIEW NAMES 2018 HONOREES INCLUDING GREEN BOOK FOR BEST FILM OF THE YEAR & BRADLEY COOPER FOR BEST DIRECTOR OF THE YEAR The Organization’s Gala will be held on Tuesday, January 8, 2019 in New York City New York, NY (November 27, 2018) – The National Board of Review today announced […]
