Alex Barron

1 month ago | nytimes.com | Alex Barron |Kate LoPresti |Tina Antolini |Wendy Dorr |Carole Sabouraud |Melissa Kirsch | +2 more

The 97th Academy Awards are on Sunday, bringing an end to an awards season that has been full of twists and turns. After some nominees picked up unexpected wins at previous ceremonies and others became ensnarled in online controversies, many races are still up in the air.

2 months ago | nytimes.com | Alex Barron |Kate LoPresti |Wendy Dorr |Sophia Lanman |Daniel Ramirez |Elisheba Ittoop | +1 more

One day, several decades ago, the writer Winnie Holzman was shopping in a Manhattan bookstore where a particular cover caught her eye. It showed a woman with a green face, a black hat pulled down over her eyes. The book was "Wicked" by Gregory Maguire, a retelling of L. Frank Baum's "Oz" stories from the perspective of the Wicked Witch of the West. "When I turned it over and read the little précis on the back, it blew my mind," Holzman said.

2 months ago | nytimes.com | Alex Barron |Kate LoPresti |Wendy Dorr |Sonia Herrero |James Poniewozik |Peter Keepnews | +6 more

This week, NBC's "Saturday Night Live" celebrates its 50th anniversary. "It seems strange to talk about 'Saturday Night Live' as a single show that's been around for 50 years," says The New York Times's chief television critic James Poniewozik. "It changes with the times. Administrations come and go.

2 months ago | nytimes.com | Tina Antolini |Alex Barron |Wendy Dorr |Daniel Ramirez |Elisheba Ittoop |Gilbert Cruz

The screenwriter Peter Straughan has become adept at taking well known - and beloved - books and adapting them for the big and small screens. He was first nominated for an Oscar for his screenplay of the 2011 film "Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy," based on the classic John le Carré spy novel, and then adapted Hilary Mantel's "Wolf Hall" trilogy into an award-winning season of television, with an adaptation of the third novel coming out soon.

2 months ago | nytimes.com | Alex Barron |Kate LoPresti |Wendy Dorr |Sophia Lanman |Elisheba Ittoop |Gilbert Cruz

Elijah Wald's 2015 book, "Dylan Goes Electric! Newport, Seeger, Dylan and the Night That Split the Sixties," traces the events that led up to Bob Dylan's memorable performance at the 1965 Newport Folk Festival. The book is about Dylan, but also about the folk movement, youth culture, politics and the record business. For the writer and director James Mangold, Wald's work provided an opportunity to tell an unusual story about the musician.