Welcome to the Special Spring 2020 Edition of SHOOT’s Directors Series. Our lineup of Director Profiles includes this year’s DGA Award winner for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in a Dramatic Series: Nicole Kassell, who was honored for Watchmen, the acclaimed HBO series for which she serves as a director and executive producer. Also in the mix from this year’s DGA competition is Joe Talbot, nominated for Best First Feature on the strength of The Last Black Man in San Francisco, which also won him the best dramatic directing award at the 2019 Sundance Film Festival. Talbot discusses his feature directorial debut as well as his short-form aspirations which entail joining m ss ng p eces for spots and branded content.
Our Profiles lineup additionally features:
- Jamie Babbit–a three-time Emmy nominee (Best Director and two Outstanding Comedy Series nods) for Silicon Valley–who discusses her wide-ranging exploits spanning TV (The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, Russian Doll, Awkwafina Is Nora From Queens), features (the upcoming The Stand-In with Drew Barrymore) and commercials (including this year’s Super Bowl spot for Olay produced by Independent Media).
- Joseph Kosinski whose recent endeavors span such wide-ranging fare as the much-anticipated Top Gun: Maverick and tongue-in-cheek cinematic style ad work for Taco Bell, the latter done via his spotmaking home, RESET Content.
- Anthony & Joe Russo–whose directorial achievements include the highest grossing film of all time, Avengers: Endgame–discuss their careers encompassing features, TV and short-form fare, the latter embodied in the exploits of their commercials/branded content studio, Bullitt.
- David Shane of production house O Positive discusses his latest Super Bowl spot, a tour de force comedy/visual effects effort for Rocket Mortgage starring Jason Momoa, as well as more sobering yet humorous public service Xmas-themed fare for the National Alliance of Mental Illness.
Meanwhile our lineup of promising, up-and-coming directorial talent includes: a director who scored a Grammy nomination this year for her music video work and recently landed at a prominent production house for branded content, commercials and music clips; a female filmmaker who is making inroads into a province not typically open to women–sheet metal, particularly groundbreaking truck advertising; and a director whose work reflects an affinity for crafting stories chronicling global youth culture and marginalized communities–while recently diversifying with the first installment in a new series of Nike films, and a music video for the debut single of a performing artist best known as a producer for the likes of IDK, AlunaGeorge, Joey Bada$$ and Jay Rock.
Rounding out our Directors Series offering is a Chat Room interview with accomplished cinematographer Paul Cameron, ASC who recently made his major directorial debut with an episode of HBO’s Westworld. He discusses that experience on a series for which he lensed the pilot episode, earning his first Emmy nomination in 2017, as well as ASC Award and Camerimage Jury Award nods.
So read on and enjoy. And as always, we welcome your feedback. Be well and stay safe.
Regards,
Robert Goldrich, Editor, SHOOT
In NBC’s “Brilliant Minds,” Zachary Quinto Plays Doctor–In A Role Inspired By Physician/Author Oliver Sacks
There's a great moment in the first episode of the new NBC medical drama "Brilliant Minds" when it becomes very clear that we're not dealing with a typical TV doctor.
Zachary Quinto is behind the wheel of a car barreling down a New York City parkway, packed with hospital interns, abruptly weaving in and out of lanes, when one of them asks, "Does anyone want to share a Klonopin?" โ a drug sometimes used to treat panic disorders.
"Oh, glory to God, yes, please," says Quinto, reaching an arm into the back seat. The intern then breaks the pill in half and gives a sliver to the driver, who swallows it, as the other interns share stunned looks.
Quinto, playing the character Dr. Oliver Wolf, is clearly not portraying any dour, by-the-rules doctor here โ he's playing a character inspired by Dr. Oliver Sacks, the path-breaking researcher and author who rose to fame in the 1970s and was once called the "poet laureate of medicine."
"He was someone who was tirelessly committed to the dignity of the human experience. And so I feel really grateful to be able to tell his story and to continue his legacy in a way that I hope our show is able to do," says Quinto.
He's a fern-loving doctor
"Brilliant Minds" takes Sack's personality โ a motorcycle-riding, fern-loving advocate for mental health who died in 2015 at 82 โ and puts him in the present day, where the creators theorize he would have no idea who Taylor Swift is or own a cell phone. The series debuts Monday on NBC, right after "The Voice."
"It's almost as if we're imagining what it would have been like if Oliver Sacks had been born at a different time," says Quinto. "We use the real life person as our North Star through everything we're doing and all the... Read More