MovieMaker

In The Beta Test, PJ McCabe and Jim Cummings play struggling Hollywood agents trying to project a veneer of success. When Cummings' Jordan receives an interesting offer in the mail, his job and engagement are threatened.

McCabe (pictured, left) and Cummings (right) tell us that interviews with real Hollywood agents — and their spouses — helped inform The Beta Test. They also talk about some of the sharp twists in their story, inspired in part by Eyes Wide Shut.

And they talk about why they believe the old Hollywood system is over, and what filmmakers should do now.

In addition to making the recent films Thunder Road and The Wolf of Snow Hollow, and playing cops in both, Cummings also has a small but crucial role in the new Halloween Kills, playing a cop who is curiously named... McCabe.

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Spencer director Pablo Larraín was drawn to Princess Diana — played by Kristen Stewart in the film — as both a mother and an unknowable cinematic figure. He didn't realize he was making a movie about motherhood at the beginning, but discovered it when he saw Stewart's interaction with the young actors who play princes Harry and William (Freddie Spry and Jack Nielen).

Larraín also talks with us about not treating the royal family as caricatures, why the film used real food in its opulent dining scenes, and how much of his "fable based on a true tragedy" is factual, and how much is novelistic imagination.

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A lot of Krysty Wilson-Cairns' life makes its way into Last Night in Soho — she even used to work at the Toucan, the pub where lead character Eloise (Thomason McKenzie) pours pints. Maybe it's because her life is fascinating. She explains how she went from hanging around a film set in Scotland to fetching coffee for the crew to writing the Oscar-nominated screenplay for 1917 with Sam Mendes. And how a night of drowning her sorrows with Edgar Wright led to her co-writing Last Night in Soho, which he directs.

We also get into some very nitty gritty details about screenwriting that will help anyone who has ever wanted to write a script: How do you write a film that unveils over one continuous shot, like 1917? What's the right amount of exposition? How much should you describe camera movements? (Not much!) And what are some of the secrets of a great collaboration?

Wilson-Cairns also tells us how Anya Taylor-Joy's character in Last Night in Soho didn't initially talk — and why it was essential to the story that she does. And she explains why there's no serum for cool.

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German-born Sandra Lipski was a teenager when she (somewhat accidentally!) landed her first acting job. From there, she moved to L.A. to become an actress and filmmaker, and decided to submit one of her films to to a film festival in Mallorca, the gorgeous Spanish island where she had spent much of her youth.

The only problem? Mallorca didn't have a film festival.

So she started one.

A decade later, the Evolution! Mallorca International Film Festival is stronger than ever, luring Oscar-winning talent and new filmmakers alike to a friendly, close-knit festival where people truly get to know each other and support each other's work... in one of the most beautiful settings on earth.

She also helps filmmakers plan their festival strategies through The Festival Key — and continues to make films.

You can learn more about Evolution! Mallorca, which runs from Oct. 27 through Nov. 2, right here.

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Vanessa Block produced and co-wrote the simmering story of Pig, in which Nicholas Cage plays a man who goes into the big city of Portland in search of his beloved truffle pig.

We talk about how her background in chemistry and pre-med led her to the Congo, and making the Oscar shortlisted documentary "The Testimony." We also talk about the misimpression that some audiences had about Pig, and what our presumptions say about us as moviegoers.

And she tells us where to get the best salted baguette in Portland.

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The Heartland International Film Festival, like every film festival, weathered a very hard 2020 for the entire film world. But this year, it comes roaring back with one of the greatest lineups you'll find anywhere in the world.

We talk with Greg Sorvig about how he and the Heartland team brought films like Spencer, King Richard, Belfast and The French Dispatch home to Indianapolis — and explains a little bit about the festival's history with the great Jimmy Stewart. And we talk about the festival's emphasis on a human touch. If you want to reach out to him directly, he doesn't mind.

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Director Alan Taylor had a unique challenge making the Sopranos prequel film The Many Saints of Newark: He had to make a film that worked for the millions of Sopranos fans worldwide, and for people who may never have seen a frame of the HBO series.

He talked with us about his first days working for Sopranos mastermind David Chase, Ray Liotta's very Sopranos performance, and the "fucking jaw-dropping" opening of The Many Saints of Newark.

This one is filled with spoilers.

Photo: Alessandro Nivola, Michael Gandolfini and Alan Taylor on the set of The Many Saints of Newark.

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Dan Delgado is the host of The Industry, a documentary podcast focused on lesser-known or forgotten movie history. On every episode he tells stories of Hollywood's weirdest decisions — and has a special place in his heart for the industry heroes who tried, and usually failed, to make something great.

On this special crossover episode of MovieMaker and The Industry, Dan talks about his VHS-shaped 1980s childhood, and how it led him to create the curious world of The Industry.

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Beckett stars John David Washington as an American tourist traveling with his girlfriend, played by Alicia Vikander. When things take a turn, he's caught up in intrigue he doesn't understand. Director Ferdinando Cito Filomarino, our guest in this episode, is well aware of the conventions of stories like this — and subverts them repeatedly.

We talk about how Beckett got its name and came to be, Washington's very specific line readings, and Filomarino's professional dynamic with Luca Guadagnino (Call Me By Your Name), a producer of Beckett. Filomarino also explains why he isn't too worried about the future of cinema.

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Down with the King stars rapper Freddie Gibbs as a rapper named Money Merc who disappears for a while to a rural farmhouse to work on his new album. But even as he saws lumber and butchers pigs, he can't escape the pressures of the rap game.

Our guests on this episode, director Diego Ongaro and cinematographer Daniel Vecchione, explain how they achieved the documentary-like feel of the film — and how they created a seemingly packed concert scene while following strict COVID-19 protocols. (Vecchione gives a shout out to BlackMagic Pocket Cinema 6K cameras with anamorphic lenses.)

They also talk about how Freddie Gibbs brought his character to life, and the cinematic allure of the Berkshires in Western Massachusetts, where they shot the film.

Down With the King premiered at the Cannes Film Festival in July.

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