Interviews, 10/25.

With Hannah Takes the Stairs set to open in Austin, Spencer Parsons has a few points to make before getting his Chronicle interview started: "'Improv' has often been too often invoked in discussions of independent filmmaking since Cassavetes put that prankish title card at the end of Shadows, but no other American filmmaker I know, mumbling or not, engages in such radical and rigorous improvisation on every level. It's a dangerous sort of process to discuss, sure to be used as ammunition by detractors or to become the downfall of would-be disciples who think it can be easily imitated.... So I talked with Joe [Swanberg] and some of his chief collaborators about how they wouldn't have it any other way."

Meanwhile, dave at chained to the cinémathèque: "Hannah Takes the Stairs is one of the finest American independent films I've seen."

Shooting People "is helping filmmakers collaborate not just by accessing virtual communities, but also facilitating live gatherings, expanding into book publishing and even selling a DVD or two," writes Susan Gerhard, introducing her SF360 interview with Ingrid Kopp.

This week it's Before the Devil Knows You're Dead. Next month, The Savages. Then there'll be Charlie Wilson's War. We're seeing a lot of Philip Seymour Hoffman and, as William Georgiades notes in his profile, we'll be seeing a lot more, too. "In the last few months, he's wrapped production on screenwriter Charlie Kaufman's directorial debut, Synecdoche, New York, and directed a play in Australia and is now preparing to film Doubt, alongside Meryl Streep, after which he'll direct a play in New York."

In the LA Weekly, Ella Taylor talks with Amy Ryan about Gone Baby Gone.

For the Guardian, Stuart Jeffries meets Ben Kingsley. Also: Ed Pilkington on how Tony Kaye's Lake of Fire is being received in the US and Sarfraz Manzoor on the making of In the Shadow of the Moon.

Kim Voynar profiles Juno screenwriter Diablo Cody for indieWIRE.

James Mottram talks with Viggo Mortensen for the Independent.

The San Francisco Bay Guardian's Cheryl Eddy talks with Wes Anderson, Roman Coppola and Jason Schwartzman about, yes, The Darjeeling Limited.

In the Philadelphia City Paper, Sam Adams talks with Anton Corbijn about Control.

Posted by dwhudson at October 25, 2007 3:31 PM