Movie Interviews

Joaquin Phoenix stars as Larry "Doc" Sportello, a private investigator with a pot-smoking habit, in Inherent Vice, Paul Thomas Anderson's film adaptation of the novel by Thomas Pynchon.

Arts

Adapting 'Inherent Vice' Made Director Feel Like A Student Again

6:40pm December 13, 2014

by NPR Staff

Paul Thomas Anderson is the first to make a novel by reclusive author Thomas Pynchon into a film. He says he studied the book, about a stoner detective, intensely and treated it as his Bible.

Queue Listen Now

Arts

Filmed Over 12 Years, 'Boyhood' Follows A Kid's Coming Of Age

1:32pm December 12, 2014

Writer-director Richard Linklater says picking the film's star was vital because he had to guess what he'd be like at 18. "I just went with a kid who seemed kind of the most interesting."

Queue Listen Now

Joaquin Phoenix stars as Larry "Doc" Sportello â a private investigator with a pot smoking habit â in Inherent Vice, Paul Thomas Anderson's film adaptation of the novel by Thomas Pynchon.

Arts

The 1970s, Ugly And Adrift In 'Inherent Vice'

5:03pm December 11, 2014

by Ella Taylor

Paul Thomas Anderson is a master of outlining times and places occupied by his strange dreamers. Inherent Vice, set in California in the 1970s, gets many things right, even if it's a bit too epic.

Chris Rock wrote, directed and stars in Top Five, a film about a standup comedian who is trying to reshape his career.

Arts

Chris Rock On Finding The Line Between Funny And 'Too Far'

1:52pm December 08, 2014

"No comedian wants to have to analyze and defend" jokes, says Rock, who wrote, directed and stars in the new film Top Five. He adds: "I'm not a politician; I'm not a thinker. I'm a comedian."

Queue Listen Now

Before becoming a monk, Nicky Vreeland apprenticed with the great photographers Richard Avedon and Irving Penn.

Arts

From Chic Manhattanite To 'Monk With A Camera'

11:51am December 06, 2014

by NPR Staff

A new film tells the story of how Nicky Vreeland — a trained photographer and grandson of a fashion icon — used his camera to help rebuild the Tibetan Buddhist monastery he now leads.

Queue Listen Now

In Inherent Vice, Joaquin Phoenix (left) plays a burned-out hippie private eye, while Josh Brolin is a Los Angeles Police Department detective -- Lt. Detective "Bigfoot" Bjornsen -- who is investigating a murder and kidnapping case.

Arts

After Decades Acting, Josh Brolin Still Wonders If He's 'Good Enough'

9:34am December 05, 2014

Brolin co-stars in an adaptation of Thomas Pynchon's novel Inherent Vice. He says as an actor he's always wondering: "Can I live up to what this person has written? There's always a fear around that."

Queue Listen Now

Paul Wong (Harry Shum, Jr.) leads the Green Dragons, a young, Asian-American gang that trafficked Chinese immigrants into the U.S. with help from the so-called "Snakehead Mama" (Eugenia Yuan).

Arts

A Tale Of Asian Gangs Unleashed In 'Green Dragons' Film

5:40pm November 30, 2014

by Hansi Lo Wang

The film Revenge of the Green Dragons is based on the true story of a Chinese-American gang in New York City that helped traffic unauthorized immigrants in the 1980s and 1990s.

Queue Listen Now

Benedict Cumberbatch stars as British mathematician and scientist Alan Turing in The Imitation Game; Charles Dance plays Commander Denniston. Director Morten Tyldum says the movie is set up like a mystery — "like a puzzle you're piecing together."

Arts

In 'Imitation Game,' An Outsider Takes Center Stage

6:29pm November 29, 2014

by NPR Staff

Director Morten Tyldum says he wanted the film, about World War II code breaker Alan Turing, to show "how important it is to actually celebrate those who are different than us instead of fear them."

Queue Listen Now

Documentary Recalls The Talented, Difficult Life Of Bing Crosby

12:05pm November 29, 2014

Bing Crosby has long been the voice of the Christmas season, and now he's the subject of a new American Masters documentary. NPR's Scott Simon talks to Kathryn and Mary Crosby about his legacy.

Queue Listen Now

Keira Knightley, Matthew Beard, Matthew Goode, Benedict Cumberbatch, and Allen Leech in The Imitation Game.

Arts

Benedict Cumberbatch Lifts Above Biopic Formula In 'Imitation Game'

7:25pm November 26, 2014

by David Edelstein

Cumberbatch stars as British mathematician and World War II code breaker Alan Turing in a film directed by Morten Tyldum and co-staring Keira Knightley as Turing's comrade in arms.

Queue Listen Now