Art & Crafts from The Ankler TheAnkler.com

The Tattooist of Auschwitz, based on a book by Heather Morris, follows the true story of Lali and Gita Sokolov, who fell in love as prisoners at the notorious concentration camp. The action moves between the chilling world of Auschwitz and Melbourne, Australia circa 2006, when Morris meets Lali (Harvey Keitel) and learns his history. “It’s an inspiring story of love and survival in the darkest place on earth,” says Claire Mundell, who produced the Peacock limited series. Mundell, interviewed by cinematographer Nicole Hirsch Whitaker (Netflix’s One Piece), reveqls how the project came together, from securing the IP rights to convincing Barbra Streisand to make her first-ever original song for TV, “Love Will Survive.”

Shogun always meant a lot to Michael Cliett, who has fond memories of watching the 1980 miniseries with his dad as a kid in Japan. So the Emmy-nominated visual effects supervisor leapt at the opportunity to work on FX’s lavish adaptation of the James Clavell novel. Cliett speaks with host Rob Legato, the Oscar-winning VFX legend behind Titanic, about creating an authentic representation of Japan in the year 1600. “Everything had to be grounded in reality,” Cliett says, including the show’s brutal violence, from a chain shot cannonball massacre to multiple beheadings. The goal is for his painstaking work to be “invisible,” Cliett says. “The last thing I want is for the audience to be thinking about the fact that they're watching a visual effect.”
Transcript here.

Guy Ritchie’s stylish crime series The Gentlemen brings together British entitled aristocrats to Thai underworld killers in a power struggle over drugs, land and money. To build the world where these characters collide, Ritchie turned to production designer Martyn John and costume designer Loulou Bontemps. The duo spoke with Jeannine Oppewall, the Oscar-nominated production designer behind Seabiscuit and L.A. Confidential, about the “amazing creative rhythm” and occasional aesthetic skirmishes with their “maverick” auteur. Says Bontemps. “He always wants to be surprised and he loves to be challenged.”

“Jon's very opinionated and combative, but not in a bad way,” says Gotham Chopra, who likens the Bon Jovi frontman to an elite athlete. “Really smart, strongly opinionated — but at the end of the day, respects talent and allows people to do their job.” And Chopra’s job, as EP and director of Hulu’s Thank You, Good Night: The Bon Jovi Story, was to pack the iconic glam-rock band’s four decades of monster hits and personal challenges into one docuseries. Moderated by award-winning editor Michael Ruscio, Chopra and editor-producer Alex Trudeau Viriato discuss their interviews with Bon Jovi, his current bandmates, former guitarist Richie Sambora and musical mentor Bruce Springsteen. Of Bon Jovi himself, Chopra says, “He would kick me out of his dressing room occasionally and be like, ‘Get the fuck out of here’. . . Over time, he also realized, ‘In order for us to get where we want to get . . . I'm going to have to let you in.’”

”It was a celebration of us being back together,” says first-time Oscars showrunner and Executive Producer Raj Kapoor. He’s talking about the instant classic showstopper “I’m Just Ken” that electrified audiences during the 96th Academy Awards, but as he notes, he’s also talking about the joy of returning to the movies. During this intimate conversation also with choreographer Mandy Moore and led by the inimitable Debbie Allen (who choreographed the Oscars a record 10 times), Kapoor and Moore share innumerable backstage tidbits that bring to life how they pulled off the “glamorous Hollywood take” on the Oscar-nominated song with the help of Ryan Gosling. (Just how many Kens can you fit on stage? 64!) Plus how Kapoor kept the show moving, brought energy to the production and just how John Cena ended up in that modesty pouch. 

On a December weekend, costume designer Holly Waddington (earlier credits include War Horse) missed a slew of holiday parties after getting called to meet Yorgos Lanthimos about Poor Things. She spent days in a mad dash, preparing imagery based on the script and eponymous novel. What she ended up pitching involved “strange Japanese dolls with these clothes [in which] the proportion of the cloth is far too big for the scale of the doll.” The surreality of the aesthetic that made it onscreen is discussed by Waddington, and the movie’s hair, makeup, and prosthetic designer, Nadia Stacey (both took home BAFTAs on Feb. 18), who join host Mona May. The trio dive into the visual influences of the film, working with Emma Stone, and the challenges of creating Dr. Baxter’s offbeat look.
Transcript here.