As a visual effects supervisor, Eric Brevig has overseen the creation of some of Hollywood's most fantastical creations -- the Martian landscape in Total Recall, the underwater alien in The Abyss, pretty much everything in Men in Black. And through those efforts he's learned one simple lesson: "If I can construct something that looks like it was really there on the day that we were filming," he says, "to me that's a successful creation."

An obvious observation, sure; but one, Brevig says, with two important implications: One, "Sometimes the most difficult and complex shots in a film are not the most dramatic," he says, "they're the establishing shots that give you a great looking image with amazing scope." And two, "If you do it well enough, you never get credit for it." Take, for example, Brevig's tour of duty on Michael Bay's 2001 World War II epic Pearl Harbor. Though he received an Academy Award nomination for his 40-minute long attack sequence, he says, "It's somewhat less satisfying. When you're doing fantasy or scifi, audiences know that you've manufactured whatever is on the screen out of an imagination. But when I added 40 realistic looking planes to an airfield, they just assumed we rented 40 airplanes."

Continue reading "Recreated Attack in Pearl Harbor Comes Under Attack" »

Jazz pianist, composer and conductor Lalo Schifrin just published his autobiography, Mission Impossible: My Life In Music. He spoke to AMCtv.com about the music he has made with Clint Eastwood, for Dirty Harry and for fun.

Q: Clint Eastwood is known for his love of jazz. Did you have something to do with that?

A: This was a coincidence. I worked with Clint and director Don Siegel on a movie called Coogan's Bluff and that's where I met him, but we didn't talk to much about jazz. Then, we worked on Dirty Harry and we started to talk about music, but I didn't know how much he liked it until he was president of the jury of the Cannes Film Festival and I was a member of the jury. He had a villa with a piano and we played four hands every night after we finished our duties -- and I realized he was a good jazz piano player.

Q: Was he intimated about playing with you?

Continue reading "Composer Lalo Schifrin on Making Music with Clint Eastwood" »

For nearly 20 years Bruce Altman has been Hollywood's go-to white-collar baddie. (He plays the perfectly unlikable psychiatrist in Ridley Scott's 2003 film Matchstick Men.) Altman spoke with AMCtv.com about what makes therapists so troubling, and which character is the favorite of his career.

Q: What attracted you to the part of Dr. Klein in Matchstick Men?

A: I thought it was a great role. I remember as I was reading the script thinking to myself, "Wow, finally a psychiatrist is a nice guy!" I've watched other people play therapists, and usually they're always manipulating and doing terrible things. And then when I got to the end of the script my stomach dropped. I was really horrified by that.

Q: Hod do you identify with that type of role?

Continue reading "Matchstick Men's Bruce Altman Cultivates Our Fear of People in Power" »

Eric Garcia's stories stray far from the run-of-the-mill -- he's crafted tales about a secret society of dinosaurs and a finishing school that uses bondage. In 2002, he reinvigorated the con man genre with his novel, Matchstick Men. Garcia spoke to AMCtv.com about the film adaptation, which airs this week. 

Q: Why con men for Matchstick Men?

A: I've always been a fan of the crime genre in general, and scam artists in specific. I've tried to self-psychoanalyze my fascination with it over the years, but all I can come up with is this mundane reason: I think literary con men are cool. (The actual ones, the con men who prey on actual, hardworking folk, deserve whatever prison sentences they're given.) That said, there's something fascinating about watching them in action -- it may be some sort of combination of the twin American ideals of getting ahead and sticking it to the man. As a result of said fascination, I've always read a lot of literature about grifters, both fiction and nonfiction. I've watched and re-watched The Grifters and House of Games and, of course, The Sting countless times. I simply wanted Matchstick Men to be my contribution to the genre, a little story about playing with fire and the people who do it for a living. To me it was a small tale, a short period out of the lives of these characters.

Q: You had an amazing cast and crew working on this.

Continue reading "Matchstick Men Author Eric Garcia Wants Con Men Worthy of The Sting" »

Without Elliott Gould, would there be a Seth Rogen? Or a John Cusack? In classics like Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice, The Long Goodbye, and M*A*S*H, Gould defined the snarky leading man persona of the 1970s: An average-guy with razor sharp comedic timing.

Continue reading "With M*A*S*H, Elliott Gould Defined a Comedic Generation" »

Road House star Kelly Lynch answered fan questions after AMC's broadcast on Friday night. Read the full transcript below.

10:25:25 PM - AMCtv.com: Hi, Kelly. Thanks for coming to talk to the fans at AMCtv.com. Dan from New York wants to know, What's your fondest memory about making this particular movie?

10:27:16 PM - Kelly Lynch: I guess falling in love with all of the music around me. We had so many musicians from the Jeff Healey band, a fantastic singer and songwriter. Kathleen Willhoyt and John Doe from the punk band X. During downtimes somebody would set up some music somewhere and we would be singing and dancing or listening to someone playing. It was a really fun set, because there was so much fighting and conflict with the characters that during our downtime, between set-ups we were laughing and making music. It was really fun. Everybody was great.

10:28:04 PM - Kathy from Brandenton, Florida: I felt like the real heat came from your two-step with Sam Elliott. What are your thoughts on that?

10:28:30 PM - Kelly Lynch: Well I married a guy who looks weirdly like that character. At the time I had a huge crush on Patrick and Sam, I was surrounded by two great guys. You might have seen something there before I did, but Sam was great. Very astute.

10:29:27 PM - Agent Anderson from Moonville, SC:, What is your favorite scene in the movie Road House?

10:29:57 PM - Kelly Lynch: That's a good question. I kind of like the scene when I first meet Patrick. Two people from two different worlds have this instant chemistry when I'm stitching him up. It was obvious we were going to be together, and it sets the relationship up. He fell for a really smart woman, which I think is really great for a guy.

10:30:22 PM - Kelly Lynch: Just between us, I spent a month learning how to tie off stitches, and they hand me a staple gun.

10:30:25 PM - Kelly Lynch: I was so pissed off.

10:30:33 PM - Kelly Lynch: Like oh, this is cheating!

10:31:47 PM - John A. Gordon from North Carolina: What is your next big project?

Continue reading "Online Chat with Road House Star Kelly Lynch" »

Have you ever wondered what it's like to watch Patrick Swayze beat up club bouncers in person? Now's your chance to find out: Road House star Kelly Lynch spoke with fans of the movie on Friday, July 25 at 10:30PM ET | 9:30C. Click here to read a complete transcript of the conversation.

Jeff Garlin is best known for his role on HBO's Curb Your Enthusiasm as the faithful manager of sarcastic and cranky millionaire Larry David. Expect to hear more from him this summer -- he's the voice behind the Captain in Wall-E and will appear in the comedy, The Rocker, out this August.

Q: How did you get involved with Wall-E?

A: Pixar called me up and had me over to the offices to give me a big pitch with storyboards and everything. They didn't need to do that -- I mean, it's a Pixar movie! I play the Captain, one of the only speaking roles. It's like an old Buster Keaton movie. To have done what they've done, a love story between robots without almost any traditional dialog, is a feat.

Q: You're known for your improv skills. Did you go off script in Wall-E?

Continue reading "Q & A - An Interview With Wall-E's Jeff Garlin" »

Visionary lensman Ed Lachman is being recognized for his incredible contributions to film at Brooklyn's BAMcinématek this month. The cinematographer for Far From Heaven, Less Than Zero and A Prairie Home Companion talked to AMCtv.com about past projects and future plans.

Q: How do you choose your projects?

A: I like to work with first time directors because they're very open to ideas, or the feeling of what we can do together in collaboration. And I like working with female directors... this is maybe a strange thing to say, but I found working with female directors, ego doesn't become a part of the equation, that it's about the work.

Q: What are your memories of working with Robert Downey Jr on Less Than Zero?

A: I haven't seen that film in a long time. I always thought he was a wonderful actor and we were friendly. When he was doing the Chaplin film, I visited him on the set and he was just a great guy. I'm so glad he's back in his form.

Q: It's surprising how racy the film seems, even now.

Continue reading "Q&A - Cinematographer Ed Lachman on Censoring the Red Hot Chili Peppers and the Vitality of Robert Altman" »

The host of AMC's Cinemania talks about the show, his celebrity status, the future of Tivo and his secret life as an adult film star.

Q: You were on AMC's last movie show, The Movie Club. Did the Cinemania opportunity come out of that experience?

A: It actually had absolutely nothing to do with that. In fact, to be honest with you, I'm not sure if AMC even remembers I was on that show. I had hosted shows in the past, and I told my peeps, my representatives, that if I'm going to host anything in the future it has to be something that I'm enthusiastic about -- not just Celebrity Fit Cook-Off. But they said there was a movie show in development at AMC, and I am a movie buff, so I said definitely.

Q: Cinemania is all about knowing the minutiae of movies. Are you a big trivia buff?

A: Heck yeah. I kick ass. And I try to work that in a little bit. But the thing I have to remember is, I'm talking with the people who made the movie. They already know the answers to these, so they're not really impressed. So when I go, "It must have been really interesting working with the second AD Jack Salinger who also was the special effects coordinator on a little movie that came out in 1982," they're like, "Yeah, Jack's cool, he's a real nice guy." And I'm like, "Aren't you impressed that I knew that?" "No not really." They just figure some producer told me, I just want to raise my hand and go, "NO! NO! I really do love your movie! I really am a dork!"

Continue reading "Q&A - Cinemania Host Regan Burns" »