Why ‘Wish’ Filmmakers Chose the Same Aspect Ratio as ‘Sleeping Beauty’

As the directors of Disney‘s Wish, Chris Buck and Fawn Veerasunthorn were in charge of creating a film to honor 100 years of Disney animated features. After looking at every film that came before it, they decided to use the theme of wishing upon a star and created a watercolor storybook style of animation to match.

Jazz Tangcay Artisans Editor Director Blitz Bazawule had a clear vision of what he wanted Shug Avery (Taraji P. Henson) to represent in “The Color Purple.” She was a bold, sexy, beautiful and extraordinary woman, but she was also loving and nurturing to Celie (Fantasia Barrino) and Sophia (Danielle Brooks). “Those were her sisters and there was a bond there,” Tym Wallace, the film’s makeup and hair department artist explains.

Jazz Tangcay Artisans Editor Choreographer Fatima Robinson fused hip-hop, dance, African history, tap, jazz and even Jamaican moves as she crafted the musical numbers in “The Color Purple,” but there was one person in particular whose energy she wanted to capture: Beyoncé. Specifically, the energy of Beyoncé’s “Renaissance.” Director Blitz Bazawule blends Alice Walker’s text and the Broadway musical to reimagine the classic as a vibrant movie musical. “American Idol’s” Fantasia Barrino plays Celie, a woman who slowly finds her voice with Shug Avery’s (Taraji P.

Dua Lipa has ventured into acting in films like Barbie and Argylle, and in both movies, John Cena was a co-star.

Jazz Tangcay Artisans Editor Many stories have been told about Westward expansion, but few have focused on the impact and consequences. John Williams’ 1960 novel “Butcher’s Crossing” follows William Andrews, a Harvard student who leaves his life behind to join a buffalo-hunting expedition, facing many harsh realities on his journey. Producer Molly Conners sat down with Variety for the film’s DVD release to discuss director Gabe Polsky’s journey adapting the story, financing the film, casting its star Nicolas Cage and working with the Blackfeet Nation to tell the story about the destruction of the buffalo population in 19th century America.

Jazz Tangcay Artisans Editor VFX supervisor Sean Konrad was tasked with bringing to life some iconic titans back for Apple TV+’s eight-part series “Monarch: Legacy of Monsters.” Among them are “Kong: Skull Island’s” Mother Longlegs and Godzilla, as well as some new monsters, including a crab-inspired titan and star-mole beast. Showrunner and writer Chris Black had always wanted to open the series on Skull Island to root the viewer in familiarity without having to rewatch past films. The opening episode sees Bill Randa (John Goodman) being chased through a bamboo forest that opens out onto a rock peninsula, before Mother Longlegs emerges.

Jazz Tangcay Artisans Editor When Greta Gerwig worked with costume designer Jacqueline Durran on “Little Women,” the pair went on a trip to a building in London’s Docklands to draw inspiration for the adaptation. “There were old file cabinets labeled ‘British Gardens 1830-1835′ and things you couldn’t find anywhere,” Gerwig recalls. “There were out-of-print books and original frames for making corsets and hoop skirts.” A few years later, the director would turn to Durran to help bring the aesthetic of “Barbie” to life.

Jazz Tangcay Artisans Editor Alexander Payne calls editor Kevin Tent his filmmaking partner. The two first met running in the same L.A. film school circles.

Jazz Tangcay Artisans Editor Based on the nonfiction book by David Grann, “Killers of the Flower Moon” stars Leonardo DiCaprio as Ernest Burkhart, a WWI vet who travels to Oklahoma to work for his wealthy uncle, William King Hale, played by Robert De Niro. It’s the early 1920s, and this part of Oklahoma sits on lots of oil, whose rights are owned by the Native American Osage and other tribes. They are prosperous, some even rich, and it’s here that Ernest meets Mollie (Lily Gladstone).

Jazz Tangcay Artisans Editor “The Color Purple” director Blitz Bazawule hesitated to take on the latest incarnation of Alice Walker’s sacred text. However, when he revisited the book, the first line (“Dear God, I’m 14 years old”) struck him as a way to navigate a familiar story and “keep expanding Celie’s imagination.” In the new musical movie adaptation, as Celie (Fantasia Barrino) is bathing Shug (Taraji P. Henson), an old record plays on a gramophone in the background.

Jazz Tangcay Artisans Editor Is “May December” camp or not? That’s the question the internet is currently obsessing over, but whether you fall on the “definitely” or “no, rude question!” side, one clue can be found in the dark comedy’s notably prominent score by Marcelo Zavros. Ten minutes into the Todd Haynes movie that’s loosely based on the story of Mary Kay Letournau, Julianne Moore, playing Gracie, the wife and mother, opens the fridge while getting ready for a family barbecue. As she casually comments, “I don’t think we have enough hot dogs,” the lush chords familiar from the 1971 movie “The Go-Between” burst loudly into the scene, lending the mundane moment an unexpected melodramatic punch.

Some of Hollywood’s best and brightest stars walked the red carpet at the world premiere of The Color Purple on Wednesday night (December 6) in Los Angeles.

Variety FYC Fest on Dec. 6 in Los Angeles. Variety‘s senior awards editor Clayton Davis, Senior Artisans Editor Jazz Tangcay and Senior Entertainment & Media Writer Matt Donnelly moderated several panels throughout the event.

Variety’s senior artisans editor Jazz Tangcay during Variety’s A Night With Artisans. The creatives who helped build the Los Alamos set for “Oppenheimer” or acquired 1,000 blankets for “Killers of the Flower Moon” shared their creative processes and stories from set. In six separate conversations, Tangcay spoke with the teams behind “Oppenheimer,” “Saltburn,” “Killers of the Flower Moon,” “Maestro,” “American Fiction” and “The Color Purple.” See the full Variety A Night With Artisans recap below.

Jazz Tangcay Artisans Editor Brainstorming about how “Trolls: Band Together” should look, the creatives decided they wanted to take the colorful creatures to a different world than the previous two installments of the animated franchise.In this tale, Queen Poppy (Anna Kendrick) learns that Branch (Justin Timberlake) was once part of her favorite boyband, BroZone. When his brother Floyd (Troye Sivan) is kidnapped by pop star villains voiced by Andrew Rannells and Amy Schumer, Branch and Poppy bring the band back together to rescue him, embarking on a grand adventure culminating in a huge concert that turns into a rollercoaster-esque car chase.

Jazz Tangcay Artisans Editor “I’m Just Ken,” the showstopping number performed by Ryan Gosling in “Barbie,” took Mark Ronson and co-songwriting partner Andrew Wyatt just two days to write. “But we needed the entire year to make it what it was,” notes Ronson. It’s been a contender to nab an Oscar original song nomination ever since it was first teased in the film’s trailer earlier this year.

Harrison Ford surprised SAG-AFTRA members during a nomination committee Q&A this afternoon when he showed up to talk about his role on Apple TV+’s “Shrinking.” Ford was keen to lavish praise on the cast of the comedy-drama television series, describing working with his co-stars as a uniquely different experience that rejuvenated his perspective on acting. “There are people who improvise as though it was an exercise in egos. That never happens with this bunch.

Jazz Tangcay Artisans Editor Disney Animation Studios’ chief creative officer Jennifer Lee had not yet written the script for “Wish” when Grammy nominated songwriter Julia Michaels wrote the demo for “This Wish” in 2020. But that demo, Lee says, “defined the whole movie; it became our North Star.” Celebrating 100 years of storytelling at Disney, “Wish” pays homage to the celestial entity so many have wished upon. Ariana DeBose voices Asha, its main protagonist and heroine, a 17-year-old who lives in the magical kingdom of Rosas, ruled by Disney’s newest villain, King Magnifico, voiced by Chris Pine.

Jazz Tangcay Artisans Editor Growing up, Kris Bowers felt like he was an outsider trying to fit in. These days, he is anything but that in Hollywood. The Oscar-nominated composer has scored a wide array of projects in the past five years, ranging from “Green Book” to “When They See Us,” and worked with Ava DuVernay and Shonda Rhimes repeatedly.

Cynthia Littleton Business Editor Writers of nine limited series ranging from “A Murder at the End of the World” to “Tiny Beautiful Things” traded shop talk and stories of how they crafted muscular worlds to tell extended, standalone stories. Ed Solomon of Max’s “Full Circle” astounded the crowd at Variety’s A Night in the Writers Room at Hollywood’s NeueHouse with the origin story of his 586-page spec script for the twisty thriller.