Category: Filmmakers
-
A 1992 Visit with Pioneering Director Mira Nair—and Her Infant Son, Zohran Mamdani
One of the week’s big newsmakers is Zohran Mamdani, the relative newcomer who decisively defeated former New York governor Andrew Cuomo (and his big-money machine) in the Democratic primary race for mayor of New York City. What I didn’t know before voting this past weekend is that Mamdani’s mother is the gifted film director Mira…
-
Remembering Robert Benton and ‘Nobody’s Fool’
Oscar-winning writer-director Robert Benton passed away on May 11, 2025, at his home in Manhattan at the age of 92. What an enviable career he had—art director for Esquire, co-writer of the undisputed classic Bonnie and Clyde, creator of the Best Picture winner Kramer vs. Kramer. I had the privilege of meeting Benton in January…
-
James Foley Talks ‘Glengarry Glen Ross’
James Foley died on May 6, 2025, at the age of 71. I had the good fortune to talk with the director in 1992 about one of his highest-profile films, the star-laden adaptation of David Mamet’s play Glengarry Glen Ross. Foley’s post-Glengarry credits included the John Grisham thriller The Chamber, Fifty Shades Darker, Fifty Shades…
-
Sean Baker Makes Academy Awards History with Four Oscars in One Night
Sean Baker set an Academy Awards record on Sunday, March 2, 2025, winning four personal Oscars as the writer, director, editor, and part of the producing team of his $6 million comedy-drama Anora. (Only Walt Disney had previously won four Oscars in a night, but for different films.) Throughout awards season Baker had been a…
-
Nick Park and Peter Lord’s ‘Chicken Run’ Turns 25
Four-time Academy Award winner Nick Park is back in the Oscar race with Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl, the latest delightful adventure featuring his irresistible stop-motion creations, eccentric inventor Wallace and his melancholy dog Gromit. Co-directed by Park and Merlin Crossingham, this Netflix release is the animated duo’s first screen appearance since the 2008 short A…
-
Remembering Visionary Director David Lynch
David Lynch has died at the age of 78. I had the pleasure of meeting the visionary director way back in 1984 to discuss his third feature, the much-maligned adaptation of Frank Herbert’s epic sci-fi novel Dune, which today has its staunch defenders. (I was frankly bored by Denis Villeneuve’s Oscar-nominated 2021 version and find Lynch’s…
Kevin Lally on Film 