SEASON 2 - EPISODE 86 - DIANNA FREAS - SET DECORATOR On this episode of the Team Deakins Podcast, we’re joined by set decorator Dianna Freas (FOR ALL MANKIND, LONE STAR, THUNDERHEART). Studying illustration and fine arts at Syracuse and Parsons, she later attended NYU and found her skills well suited to set design. After an early career period working as a co-production designer alongside husband and production designer Dan Bishop, Dianna transitioned to set decoration full time. Throughout...

SEASON 2 - EPISODE 85 - HANS ZIMMER - COMPOSER Composer Hans Zimmer (DUNE, INTERSTELLAR, THE LION KING) joins us on this episode of the Team Deakins Podcast. Hans takes us back to his early career working the espresso machine for composer Stanley Myers and later making runs for director Bernardo Bertolucci on THE LAST EMPEROR before reflecting on his experience composing the score for the South Africa-set, anti-apartheid film A WORLD APART. We later discuss the purpose of score in a film and...

SEASON 2 - EPISODE 84 - WIM WENDERS - WRITER / DIRECTOR Writer and director Wim Wenders (PERFECT DAYS; WINGS OF DESIRE; PARIS, TEXAS) joins us on this episode of the Team Deakins Podcast. Early on in the conversation, Wim recounts waiting in the toilet stalls as a student in Paris and watching over 1000 movies in a year before realizing working in film was his way forward. Wim walks us through his first three features, including a disastrous visit to the Venice Film Festival, and reveals how...

SEASON 2 - EPISODE 83 - PAUL SCHNEIDER - ACTOR On this episode of the Team Deakins Podcast, we speak with actor Paul Schneider (BRIGHT STAR, THE ASSASSINATION OF JESSE JAMES, GEORGE WASHINGTON). Growing up in a small town in North Carolina, Paul shares how working in film and television never crossed his mind until a pivotal viewing of Jane Campion’s THE PIANO. Attending film school following the encouragement and support of a high school teacher, Paul studied editing but found himself...

SEASON 2 - EPISODE 82 - GARRETT BROWN - INVENTOR OF THE STEADICAM On this special episode of the Team Deakins Podcast, we speak with the inventor of the Steadicam: Garrett Brown (YENTL, THE SHINING, BOUND FOR GLORY). He not only invented the tool but also frequently operated it, breaking the new system in on MARATHON MAN, ROCKY, and BOUND FOR GLORY in a single summer in the mid-1970s. With just a high-school level of understanding of physics, Garrett was able (after a long, isolated week in...

SEASON 2 - EPISODE 81 - RICK HEINRICHS - PRODUCTION DESIGNER Production designer Rick Heinrichs (GLASS ONION, STAR WARS: THE LAST JEDI, SLEEPY HOLLOW) joins us in conversation on this episode of the Team Deakins Podcast. From doodling on his homework to drafting the fantastical worlds of Tim Burton, we cover the breadth of Rick’s career in this conversation. Rick shares with us his experience studying at CalArts and learning how to think creatively from filmmakers like Alexander McKendrick...

SEASON 2 - EPISODE 80 - JUAN JOSÉ CAMPANELLA - WRITER / DIRECTOR On this episode of the Team Deakins Podcast, writer and director Juan José Campanella (THE SECRET IN THEIR EYES, VIENTOS DE AGUA, SON OF THE BRIDE) joins us for a conversation about his career (of which we have been longtime and passionate fans). After moonlighting as a film student and watching odd-paired double bills at local theaters in Buenos Aires, Juan attended film school at NYU and eventually returned to Argentina after...

SEASON 2 - EPISODE 79 - DAN BISHOP - PRODUCTION DESIGNER On this episode of the Team Deakins Podcast, we speak with production designer Dan Bishop (FOR ALL MANKIND, MAD MEN, PASSION FISH). From painting scenery on MY DINNER WITH ANDRE to designing the future on FOR ALL MANKIND, Dan has seen it all. We learn how he drew from history to design the world of MAD MEN, and he reveals when and how the series transitioned from film to digital. Later, Dan, after pointing out the tools of his trade...

Visual effects supervisor Pablo Helman (KILLERS OF THE FLOWER MOON, THE IRISHMAN, JARHEAD) joins us on this episode of the Team Deakins Podcast. Born in Argentina, Pablo spent his youth playing music professionally and touring South America with his band before graduating from UCLA and working for several effects houses before ultimately ending up at Industrial Light & Magic where, for the past 27 years, Pablo has hung his hat. Throughout the episode, Pablo shares how he approaches...

Costume designer Penny Rose (PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN, MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE, THE COMMITMENTS) joins us on this episode of the Team Deakins Podcast. Despite dressing actors at a local theatre (as a teenager) and later working alongside fashion designer Elio Fiorucci (as an interpreter), costume design didn’t occur to Penny as a career path until she found herself in the position (as the last-minute backup) on a commercial for director Adrian Lyne. Penny spent the next decade working with and...

Casting director Deb Aquila (CODA, LA LA LAND, SHAWSHANK REDEMPTION) joins us on this episode of the Team Deakins Podcast. Born and raised in Brooklyn, Deb grew up in an arts-loving family, whose encouragement to enter the field led her to attend NYU and study under Stella Adler. Pivoting into casting, Deb found herself working on the hit series MIAMI VICE for two seasons before growing into a veteran independent casting director. Deb breaks down what really goes on in the audition room and...

Cinematographer Luc Montpellier (WOMEN TALKING, AWAY FROM HER, AUTUMN HEARTS) joins us on this episode of the Team Deakins Podcast. Hailing from rural Canada, Luc reflects on his childhood growing up with a deep love for film and later knuckling down to get into film school, both by building his portfolio and threatening the school with an endless stream of applications until his acceptance. We learn how the Canadian government supports its country’s film industry and how that support has...

On this episode of the Team Deakins Podcast, we’re joined by editor Lisa Churgin (PITCH PERFECT, HOUSE OF SAND AND FOG, GATTACA) to discuss her career and the craft of editing. Lisa shares with us the moment she discovered filmmaking after leaving suburban New Jersey for New York City and how she survived bouncing between employment and unemployment before landing an editing gig on THE WARRIORS and working for director Woody Allen’s longtime editor Susan E. Morse. Lisa later laments the...

Production designer Inbal Weinberg (THE LOST DAUGHTER; SUSPIRIA; THREE BILLBOARDS OUTSIDE EBBING, MISSOURI) joins us on this episode of the Team Deakins Podcast. Despite her early love for European social realist films, Inbal embarked on the immigrant dream of making it in New York City and studied film at NYU before being asked by director Hal Hartley (her favourite filmmaker at the time) to design THE GIRL FROM MONDAY. Inbal reflects on working in America as a foreigner and how that...

Cinematographer Steve Yedlin (GLASS ONION, STAR WARS: THE LAST JEDI, LOOPER) joins us on this episode of the Team Deakins Podcast to discuss the nuts and bolts (and truth!) of cinematography. We touch on Steve’s early-career projects and on the start of his enduring creative partnership with director Rian Johnson during their time at USC. Later, we consider the benefits and shortcomings of film school and which parts of cinematography can really be taught, and we reflect on the nature of luck...

On this episode of the Team Deakins Podcast, we’re joined by actor and director David Oyelowo (LAWMEN: BASS REEVES, THE WATER MAN, SELMA) to discuss his career and his craft. A television-addicted latchkey kid in his youth, David later spent several years with the Royal Shakespeare Company before embarking on his career on the screen with chameleonic aspirations. While discussing his performance as Seretse Khama in A UNITED KINGDOM, we consider the steep barriers to entry for a global...

Actor, writer, and director Zach Braff (A GOOD PERSON, GARDEN STATE, SCRUBS) joins us on this episode of the Team Deakins Podcast. Zach fell in love with the arts at an early age, booking one of his first on-screen roles in Woody Allen’s MANHATTAN MURDER MYSTERY and later cutting his teeth in production while PA’ing on music videos in the late 90s. He shares how the stars aligned to cast his first choices in every role on GARDEN STATE and what the impetus was to write the script in the first...

Writer and director Cord Jefferson (AMERICAN FICTION, WATCHMEN, THE GOOD PLACE) joins us on this episode of the Team Deakins Podcast. Born and raised in Tucson, Arizona, Cord tells us why he never considered a career in the arts and how he wrote his way onto a journalism beat after college. After transitioning into writing television and surviving the Hollywood shuffle, Cord shares why he wrote AMERICAN FICTION following a huge professional failure in 2020 and how he realized the film with...

Production designer James Chinlund (THE BATMAN, THE AVENGERS, REQUIEM FOR A DREAM) joins us on this episode of the Team Deakins Podcast. Reflecting on his childhood, James recalls to us noting the relationship between crowds of worshipers and the inner sanctum of the Cathedral of St. John in New York while squirreled up above in its attic. While discussing James’ earlier work, we consider the balance a set or location needs between stripping it to its bare essence for the scene while avoiding...

On this episode of the Team Deakins Podcast, producer Ed McDonnell (SICARIO, PRISONERS, INSOMNIA) joins us in a lively conversation about his craft and his career. After producing a play at age 12 in his neighbor’s garage, he survived two brief stints in Washington and on Wall Street before leaving it all behind to work in Hollywood. While charting his quick rise from assistant to executive, Ed shares the most important lesson he learned after being fired for failing to read the room during a...

On this episode of the Team Deakins Podcast, cinematographer Oliver Stapleton (THE CIDER HOUSE RULES, THE GRIFTERS, MY BEAUTIFUL LAUNDRETTE) joins us in conversation. In addition to his career as a cinematographer, Oliver is also the Co-Head of Cinematography at the National Film and Television School (NFTS) in the UK. Oliver credits his life in film to his mother and her steady hand as the family camera operator, and he shares how he created his submission film to gain admission into the...

On this episode of the Team Deakins Podcast, director and cinematographer Reed Morano (THE HANDMAID’S TALE, I THINK WE’RE ALONE NOW, MEADOWLAND) speaks with us in a career-spanning conversation. We learn how after being drafted into the position of family documentarian, Reed soon found herself drawn towards the world of filmmaking. Reed reflects on how she may or may not have gotten her first job as a cinematographer on Craigslist after film school and how shooting FROZEN RIVER changed her...

On this episode of the Team Deakins Episode, casting director Ellen Lewis (KILLERS OF THE FLOWER MOON, THE DEVIL WEARS PRADA, GOODFELLAS) joins us to talk about all things casting—of which we knew very little before speaking with her. A disciple of veteran casting director Juliet Taylor, Ellen shares with us how they were first introduced and what she learned working with her for eight years. Ellen reveals how closely casting works with talent agents to find the right actor for a role and how...

On this episode of the Team Deakins Podcast, writer and director Rian Johnson (KNIVES OUT, STAR WARS: THE LAST JEDI, LOOPER) speaks with us about his career, and, in a pleasant change of pace, he even asks us a few questions! Rian first shares his childhood memory of attending a screenwriting seminar with his father and how that experience has since informed his craft. We later learn about the father-son story at the heart of LOOPER and reflect on the differences in crew cultures between...