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      How Superman Handles a Lois Lane Interview

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      James Gunn, the screenwriter and director of “Superman,” narrates a sequence featuring David Corenswet and Rachel Brosnahan.In “Anatomy of a Scene,” we ask directors to reveal the secrets that go into making key scenes in their movies. See new episodes in the series on Fridays. You can also watch our collection of more than 150 videos on YouTube and subscribe to our YouTube channel.A budding relationship gets in the way of dogged journalism in this scene from “Superman.”The film’s screenwriter and director, James Gunn, narrates the sequence in the above video, which involves a conversation between Lois Lane (Rachel Brosnahan) and Superman, a.k.a. Clark Kent (David Corenswet) in Lois’s apartment. The two are dating, and Clark agrees to be interviewed as Superman by Lois. She asks him about a recent incident in which he prevented one fictional country in the DC universe, Boravia, from invading another, Jarhanpur.“I think the fun thing about the scene, what I really love about it, is that it addresses so many different things in so many ways,” Gunn said during an interview in New York. “We’re talking about Lois and Clark’s relationship in a way that we’ve never seen it. But we’re also getting to know them as human beings more and seeing what their belief systems are, which is important for a movie like this. And also, we’re saying, if somebody like Superman did exist, how he could affect world politics in such an incredible and strange way.”“I just wanted to keep things simultaneously grounded, but also fast paced,” Gunn said. “There is a little bit of ‘His Girl Friday,’ ‘It Happened One Night’ in the dialogue, but also keep everything as real as we possibly can and make it a surprise for ‘Superman’ viewers.”Read the “Superman” review.Sign up for the Movies Update newsletter and get a roundup of reviews, news, Critics’ Picks and more. More

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      James Gunn Didn’t Want to Make ‘Superman.’ What Changed His Mind?

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      His hit reboot is meant to kick off years of new projects from the rebranded DC Studios. But for a long time, Gunn couldn’t figure out the character.“Today I have my wits about me,” James Gunn said. “I was going to die yesterday, I was so tired.”It was two weeks before the release of “Superman,” and I had met Gunn at the film’s Los Angeles press junket, just one stop on the director’s whirlwind, worldwide media tour. At the time, he was hopeful that the movie would connect with audiences, and it certainly has: “Superman” opened last weekend with $125 million at the domestic box office and earned an A- CinemaScore from audiences.Still, that success barely affords Gunn the opportunity to sleep any easier. “Because this is our first DC movie and I’m also the head of the studio,” he said, “I haven’t had a day off work for months.”Best known for directing Marvel’s “Guardians of the Galaxy” movies, Gunn was initially lured to DC Studios in 2018, when Marvel fired the filmmaker over resurfaced tweets. Though he was eventually rehired to finish the “Guardians” trilogy, his work on DC projects like “The Suicide Squad” and “Peacemaker” impressed the Warner Bros. Discovery chief executive David Zaslav, who tapped Gunn to run DC Studios alongside the producer Peter Safran.James Gunn with David Corenswet on the “Superman” set.Jessica Miglio/Warner Bros. “I’ve always had this desire to create a fictional universe,” said Gunn, 58. “I got hints of that with ‘Guardians’ and the cosmic universe of Marvel, but since I took on DC I knew that I was just going to have to go crazy for the first few years.” That commitment meant juggling many major projects simultaneously: At one point, Gunn was filming both “Superman” (with David Corenswet in the title role) and the second season of “Peacemaker” (starring John Cena and Gunn’s wife, Jennifer Holland) while also overseeing forthcoming DC projects like the film “Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow,” out next year from the director Craig Gillespie.“I also had to resign myself to the fact that I can’t do everything,” he said. “I give notes on all these other projects, but I can’t micromanage” them all, even though, he added, “I always want to do more. That’s been difficult, finding at least some boundaries.”We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      ‘No Sleep Till’ Review: Calm Before the Storm

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      This gauzy film builds an impression of Floridian malaise by trailing four locals the day before a hurricane.The naturalistic mood piece “No Sleep Till” captures a calm before a storm — specifically, the days before a hurricane is forecast to strike the coastal hamlet of Atlantic Beach, Fla.The film opens with a newscaster warning of the impending weather. The first-time writer-director, Alexandra Simpson, then follows four young locals — two stand-up comics on a road trip (Jordan Coley and Xavier Brown-Sanders), a teenager with a crush (Brynne Hofbauer) and a storm chaser living in his truck (Taylor Benton) — as they ignore the evacuation order and fritter away the hours before the hurricane hits.Eschewing traditional narrative, Simpson uses gauzy imagery to build an impression of Floridian malaise. Skateboarders land tricks on a concrete halfpipe. A motel guest wades into a pool illuminated by neon signage. A teenager slogs through a shift at a souvenir shop.As the storm grows nearer, the scenes take on an eerie feeling of liminality. In one weighted sequence, housing developers inspect a newly constructed residence. Simpson lingers on the wooden rafters, signaling at the irony of unchecked urban sprawl as climate disaster looms.“No Sleep Till” is an understated — and somewhat sleepy — film. Its mood of boredom tinged with dread sometimes verges on outright listlessness. It helps that Simpson uses a cast of first-time actors almost entirely from the area: When Mike (Brown-Sanders) punctures the film’s observational mode to articulate one of its themes — that he appreciates the hurricane because it gives him “an excuse to do something” — the sentiment feels organic.No Sleep TillNot rated. Running time: 1 hour 33 minutes. In theaters. More

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      Why Did the Indie Film Studio A24 Buy an Off Broadway Theater?

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      The Hollywood upstart has upgraded the Cherry Lane Theater for plays and more. Coming this fall: films chosen by Sofia Coppola, food from Frenchette and the voice of Barbra Streisand.In the two years since A24, the artistically ambitious film and television studio, purchased Manhattan’s Cherry Lane Theater, the historic West Village building has been dark, at least from the outside. But inside, the company behind “Moonlight,” “Everything Everywhere All at Once” and “Euphoria” has been quietly overhauling the facility, and in September Cherry Lane will reopen as the first live performance venue run by the indie powerhouse.The company says it plans a wide-ranging slate of programming, prioritizing theater — Cherry Lane describes itself as the birthplace of the Off Broadway movement — but also featuring comedy, music and film.Another attraction: food. A24 has enlisted the Frenchette Group, which runs several lauded eateries in Manhattan (including Frenchette, Le Rock and Le Veau d’Or), to open a small restaurant and bar at Cherry Lane. The restaurant, called Wild Cherry in a nod to the theater’s name, will be Frenchette’s second collaboration with a downtown cultural institution — it also operates a bakery cafe inside the Whitney Museum.Among the initial programming highlights will be a Sunday film series curated by Sofia Coppola (first film: Adrian Lyne’s “Foxes” from 1980) and a five-week run of “Weer,” a one-woman show from the clowning comedian Natalie Palamides (each half of her body plays a different partner in a romantic couple). There will also be a week of opening events, starting Sept. 8, that includes comedy, music, a play reading and a block party. The venue does not plan to announce a season, or to have subscribers — it wants the nimbleness to extend or add events as it goes.In keeping with theatrical tradition, Cherry Lane has a ghost light, which is used for practical and supernatural safety when other lights are off.Sara Krulwich/The New York Times“First and foremost, we really want this to be a place where people can be sure they’ll see a great, good quality piece of live performance,” said Dani Rait, who spent a decade at “Saturday Night Live,” helping to book hosts and musical guests, before A24 hired her to head programming at Cherry Lane. “And it’s an opportunity for discovery — for artists to have a stage and connect with audiences in a really intimate way.”We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      ‘Unicorns’ Review: Where Glitter Meets Grit

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      This movie, directed by Sally El Hosaini and James Krishna Floyd, follows Luke and Aysha, who meet by chance at a drag event.When Luke (Ben Hardy), a single dad in “Unicorns,” meets Aysha (Jason Patel), a drag queen, Luke thinks Aysha is a cisgender woman. After they kiss, there’s a palpable fear for Aysha’s safety when Luke recoils at the sight of her Adam’s apple.“Unicorns,” directed by Sally El Hosaini and James Krishna Floyd, follows in the cinematic tradition of straight men bonding with L.G.B.T.Q. characters — this time arriving at a moment when drag performers face renewed attacks.Their unlikely encounter begins at a nightclub in East London, when Luke, a white working-class guy, accidentally stumbles into the underground “gaysian” scene on his way to the bathroom. His eyes are fixed on Aysha, the night’s star performer. But why would Aysha — who later says that she receives death threats for doing drag — seek him out not once, but twice? First, by running in front of his car after his agitated reaction to their kiss, and then by showing up at his car repair shop in Essex. None of this clicks with who we discover Aysha to be: guarded by necessity.Whether the later conflict involving queer infighting comes off as a thoughtless subversion of expectations depends on if you identify more with Luke or Aysha. More effective are the subtleties within their blossoming romance, like during a karaoke duet sequence that shows Luke softening to Aysha’s charms. Hardy peels back the layers to reveal Luke’s sexual awakening so viscerally that it’s easier to overlook the film’s narrative shortcuts.UnicornsNot rated. Running time: 1 hour 59 minutes. In theaters. More

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      ‘Smurfs’ Review: Don’t Stop the Music

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      The lovable blue guys (and one gal) go on a mission to save Papa Smurf in this colorful romp with an impressive voice cast.Smurfs, the blue-skinned, white-clad wee creatures created by the Belgian comic artist Pierre Culliford, known as Peyo, in 1958, have come a long way.This feature film, ostensibly a reboot of a franchise that began in 2011 with a picture called “The Smurfs,” is the most lavish and possibly bizarre cinematic take on these folk. Here, Smurfette (voiced by Rihanna), leads her fellow Smurfs on a mission to save Papa Smurf (voiced by John Goodman), who has been kidnapped.The little fellas and lone Smurfette speak as the Smurfs always have — that is, they say things like “You Smurfs don’t know Smurf about Smurf.” The word “Smurf” can be a noun, verb or a gerund.Each Smurf in Smurf Village serves a specific function or has a specific trait; Brainy Smurf can solve problems, while Vanity Smurf is, well, vain. Into this mix arrives a Smurf who doesn’t know his function because he doesn’t have a name (voiced by James Corden). From this introduction the viewer is catapulted into a singing, dancing multidimensional romp in which, among other things, four books are responsible for maintaining balance in the universe. (I was disappointed to learn they were not Lawrence Durrell’s “Alexandria Quartet.”)The loopy plot allows the director Chris Miller to unleash visuals that get trippy to the extreme. There’s a clever sequence in which the characters traverse planes of reality that tell a short history of animation itself. It’s refreshing to see children’s animation makers use surrealism, instead of winking pop-culture references, to charm adults.The excellent voice cast features Goodman and Nick Offerman as dueling patriarchs. They’re all very zippy, or if you wish, Smurfy.SmurfsRated PG. Running time: 1 hour 32 minutes. In theaters. More

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      ‘I Know What You Did Last Summer’ Review: Nostalgia Is Overrated

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      This revival of a 1990s horror franchise fumbles its shot.Following a string of mid-to-meh horror reboots that seem only to reaffirm the original’s greatness (like “Black Christmas” in 2019, “Candyman” in 2021 and “Scream” in 2022), the latest resurrection, “I Know What You Did Last Summer,” has something big going for it: Its predecessor from 1997 is a bit of a dud.That’s not to say there aren’t plenty of us who think fondly of the coastal teen slasher, a major hit in its time starring (and perhaps buoyed by) its flashy ensemble cast, which included the It Girls Jennifer Love Hewitt (“Party of Five”) and Sarah Michelle Gellar (“Buffy”).Scored with grungy alt-rock tracks and set in the foggy fishing town of Southport, N.C., the film follows four high school grads stalked by a hook-wielding killer who somehow knows they’re the culprits behind a hit-and-run that took place the previous Fourth of July. Like a mash-up of “The Tell-Tale Heart” and a P.S.A. for drunk-driving, all inflected with the era’s pessimism for the future, the film remains a notable artifact of ’90s youth culture. But, frankly, I still find it generic — and weirdly low energy — for a masked-maniac movie.In other words, there’s room for improvement — but Jennifer Kaytin Robinson’s new version fumbles its shot.Back in Southport, 27 years after the events of the original, a new group of reckless friends triggers the wrath of another madman in slickers after a roadside incident. Ava (Chase Sui Wonders) is back from college to attend an engagement party for Danica (Madelyn Cline); she’s also eager to rekindle the flame with Milo (Jonah Hauer-King). At the same time, their once-estranged working-class pal, Stevie (Sarah Pidgeon), has re-entered the friend group, replacing the trust-fund brat, Teddy (Tyriq Withers), Danica’s ex, whose politically influential father (Billy Campbell) covered up the deadly accident. Then, the night after Danica opens a card at her bridal shower with the film title’s menacing words, her fiancé Wyatt (Joshua Orpin) gets gutted by a harpoon gun, kicking off the murder spree and opening up a mystery about who knows the group’s secret.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More