The DGA Interview:
Doing the Right Thing

Since breaking out with She’s Gotta Have It in 1986, Spike Lee has tackled issues of race, class and sex in America perhaps more than any other director. But his films are not just challenging—they’re also entertaining.

By Glenn Kenny

Picture This

The relationship between directors and production designers is one of the most crucial on a film. No wonder once the collaboration clicks, they often stick together. Several longtime teams explain how it works.

By Steve Pond

Feeling His Way

Jim Sheridan, director of In America and My Left Foot, goes by intuition in searching for the emotional truth of a film. If he doesn’t feel it, it’s not real.

By F.X. Feeney

Creative Leap

Thanks to CGI and new technology, anything is possible for commercial directors, who are making some of the most exciting 30-second films around.

By Jeanne Dorin-McDowell

In the Screening Room:
A Cookie Filled
with Arsenic

James Mangold leads us through the mean streets of Times Square in Sweet Smell of Success, directed by his mentor and teacher, Alexander Mackendrick.

By Robert Abele

Signs of Life

Joe Sargent has been making masterful movies for TV for over 40 years. But his latest film, Sweet Nothing in My Ear, about issues in the deaf community, took even him by surprise.

By David Mermelstein

An Epic Life

John Huston was a gambler, boxer, soldier, painter and actor in his 81 years. In photos from the set, here’s a look at some of his cinematic adventures along the way.

Profiles
On the Job With…

Football Gamer, Managing the Big Apple, Staging the News.

By David Geffner

Independent Voice
War Cries

It took Kimberly Peirce nine years to make her second film after Boys Don’t Cry. For Stop-Loss she tapped into soldiers’ homemade videos for her inspiration.

By Margy Rochlin

10 Questions
Legal Eagle

Top entertainment attorney Ken Ziffren talks about his role in the DGA negotiations and where the industry may be headed.

Funny Business
Trade Secrets

Here’s what happens if you pay too much attention to the trades.

By Andy Ackerman

Legends of the Guild
Tom Donovan

Celebrating one of the pioneers who led the merger of the Radio and TV Directors Guild with the Screen Directors Guild to form the DGA.

By Ann Farmer

Shot to Remember
The Emperor’s New Clothes

Bernardo Bertolucci revisits China’s Forbidden City to explain how he filmed the coronation of the child ruler in the nine-time Academy Award winner, The Last Emperor.

By James Greenberg

Critic’s Corner
Happy Endings

For a film to be critically successful, the ending doesn’t have to necessarily be realistic and downbeat. It just has to be right for the material.

By Ty Burr

DVD Classics
A Touch of Genius

Famous for his touch with sophisticated comedy, Ernst Lubitsch also laid the groundwork for the modern musical, as demonstrated in a new box set.

By Gary Giddins

Books
Old Hollywood,
New Hollywood,
Pixar and Antonioni

By John Patterson

Out of the Past
Newshound

Director Alan Pakula watches Robert Redford as Bob Woodward filing a Watergate story in All the President’s Men.