-
1 month ago | 
thewrap.com | Gregory Lawrence |Jose Alejandro Bastidas
Kate Hudson stole the show in 2022’s “Glass Onion: A Knives Out Story,” her last major comedic role. Hudson played a scandal-ridden fashion designer, skewering the shallow costumes a certain kind of rich social justice influencer wears with giddy, screwball aplomb.
-
Nov 27, 2024 | 
backstage.com | Gregory Lawrence
Mark Duplass. Greta Gerwig. Jim Cummings. These performers are well-known now, but like many others, they got their start in indie films. Through self-created projects and networks of similar artists and filmmakers, they broke out from the often cookie-cutter-feeling American movie scene to craft interesting, engaging, and wholly uncompromising performances. Inspired to make your mark as an actor in the indie film world?
-
Nov 12, 2024 | 
thewrap.com | Gregory Lawrence |Jose Alejandro Bastidas
“The Office,” “Parks and Recreation,” “Abbott Elementary” and now “St. Denis Medical,” the latest in a line of television workplace mockumentary comedies. Mentioning these previous titles shouldn’t be a knock against “St. Denis,” as it feels like it was designed to purposefully coast on these titles’ previously established rhythms, ensembles, dynamics and storylines.
-
Oct 31, 2024 | 
backstage.com | Gregory Lawrence
Comedy isn’t rocket science. It’s harder. At least with rocket science, you have objective formulas and figures to put together to achieve scientific facts (I think—I’m famously not a rocket scientist). With comedy, you encounter tons of subjectivity, different definitions of “being funny,” and anxieties about whether you need some kind of inherent “funny gene” to actually do it. So, let’s get into the big ideas of how to be funny.
-
Oct 14, 2024 | 
backstage.com | Gregory Lawrence
Slasher films have been much-maligned since they first carved their way into cinemas. (The Hollywood Reporter famously called “Friday the 13th” both “sick and sickening” and “blatant exploitation of the lowest order” in 1980.) But the curious, open-minded artist can find acting inspiration anywhere, even if it’s covered in blood and guts—especially an actor who’s looking to blend more classical training with contemporary genre thrills.
-
Oct 9, 2024 | 
backstage.com | Gregory Lawrence
If you believe in the phrase “two heads are better than one,” you’ll probably make a terrible surgeon, but you just might be right for a comedy double act. As the name suggests, the art form involves two people performing comedy in tandem. As such, their relationship is often what drives the laughs, especially with the audience’s understanding of their shared relationship.
-
Sep 24, 2024 | 
backstage.com | Gregory Lawrence
You’re walking down the street when the face of a movie star catches your attention. OK, fine. Then, a movie title. Sure, whatever. But then—a sentence or two that’s so delicious, you think to yourself: I gotta see this movie. What the heck just happened? Well, you read a really good movie tagline. This micro–art form is a great way to sell someone on experiencing a story. Knowing how to craft an effective tagline is a valuable tool for any screenwriter or filmmaker. Let’s get into it.
-
Aug 9, 2024 | 
backstage.com | Gregory Lawrence
The formula for a slasher film, one of the most ubiquitous, notorious, and oft-maligned subgenres of horror, feels simple enough: Put a person in a mask, give them a knife, then let them loose. Rinse, repeat. But if you look closer, you’ll find lots of intriguing and educational elements to unpack underneath the viscera. Let’s dig in.
-
Jul 8, 2024 | 
yahoo.com | Gregory Lawrence
The old adage about storytelling, so pervasive it’s basically a cliché, is “show don’t tell”. (So shouldn’t the word be “storyshowing”?) The idea is that the crafter of the story should not bluntly state or tell the themes and ideas of their work. Rather, they should present or show things happening that lead the viewer organically to the themes and ideas. Over three 40-ish minute episodes, “Mastermind: To Think Like a Killer” does nothing but tell, tell, tell.
-
Jul 7, 2024 | 
collider.com | Amanda Bynes |Dan Byrd |Gregory Lawrence |Jom Elauria |Greg Smith
Superbad Released in 2007, Greg Mottola's Superbad was a generation-defining, culture-calcifying comedy. It represents a certain height of the powers of Judd Apatow's film posse, and opened the door for a few other generations of comedy talent afterward, from writers Seth Rogen and Andrew Goldberg to stars Michael Cera and Jonah Hill. It introduced new iconography into the pop culture lexicon, especially Christopher Mintz-Plasse's work as the immortal "McLovin." Most importantly, Superbad is...
