Team Deakins

John Hillcoat, director known for The Proposition, The Road and George & Tammy, talks filmmaking roots from music videos to brutal Outback shoots. He discusses searching for authentic locations, battling studio interference, bringing cinematic language to TV, and his long obsession with adapting Blood Meridian. The conversation centers on violence, landscape, rehearsal, and surviving extreme production challenges.

Peter Bradshaw, Chief film critic at The Guardian and longtime film writer, recalls his path into criticism and early movie memories. He discusses balancing personal taste with rational analysis, revising past opinions, the impact of social media and AI on cinema, and why communal, affordable moviegoing still matters. Short, candid, and wide-ranging reflections on watching, judging, and loving films.

Malgosia Turzanska, a Polish-born costume designer known for Hamnet and Ain't Them Bodies Saints, shares her hands-on design process and career beginnings. She talks about research-driven period textures, collaborating with directors and DPs, fittings with actors, and practical techniques like distressing, dyeing, and balancing made vs. rented pieces.

Fiona Crombie, acclaimed production designer behind The Favourite, Hamnet and Snowtown, talks craft and creativity. She describes designing with tight budgets, collaborating with directors and cinematographers, and building immersive period spaces like her interpretive Globe. She also shares how limitations and reclaimed materials spark inventive solutions on set.

Hlynur Pálmason, an Icelandic writer-director known for image-driven films like A White, White Day and Godland, discusses his visual, in-camera approach. He talks about finding locations early, shooting economically, embedding photography into development, working with actors to find a film’s rhythm, and how Iceland’s landscape and history shaped his projects.

Martin Campbell, celebrated director of GoldenEye and Casino Royale, shares career-defining stories from his New Zealand roots to BBC drama and Hollywood. He discusses making Edge of Darkness with rare BBC freedom. He explains shaping GoldenEye and grounding Casino Royale in realism. He also talks about casting choices, shooting methods, and navigating studio notes.

Jack Fisk, a veteran production designer known for Days of Heaven, There Will Be Blood and Mulholland Drive, shares vivid on-location stories. He talks about building iconic sets, collaborating with cinematographers, scouting dangerous and remote sites, improvising practical effects, recreating period streets, and the rewards of hands-on, small-team filmmaking.

Nicholas Britell, acclaimed film and TV composer (Moonlight, Don’t Look Up), discusses his composing process and collaborations. He talks about scoring from script versus picture. He explains creating distinct themes and instruments for characters. He shares approaches to diegetic songs, TV time pressures, recording choices, and concerns about AI in music.

Christopher Blauvelt, a cinematographer known for natural-light, collaborative camera work, and Kelly Reichardt, an acclaimed director who often edits her own films. They recount how they met, their prep and natural-light lighting approach, creating 1970s atmosphere for The Mastermind, and the practical realities that shaped shooting and editing choices.

Fatih Akin, a Hamburg-born writer and director known for films about identity and cross-cultural stories. He talks about discovering cinema via Super 8 Bruce Lee films, fighting for creative control on Head-On, reshaping The Edge of Heaven in the edit, casting Diane Kruger for In the Fade, and adapting Hark Bohm’s memories into Amrum.