Entertainment
How 'Shōgun' cinematographer Sam McCurdy helps create a visual portrait
![How 'Shōgun' cinematographer Sam McCurdy helps create a visual portrait How 'Shōgun' cinematographer Sam McCurdy helps create a visual portrait](https://ca-times.brightspotcdn.com/dims4/default/2e44600/2147483647/strip/true/crop/1973x1036+0+224/resize/1200x630!/quality/75/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcalifornia-times-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2F55%2Ffe%2Fee9525374f44842b9959ae1ac557%2Fsam-mccurdy-7313.jpg)
Cinematographer Sam McCurdy knew he was part of something special during his nearly year-long tenure on FX’s “Shōgun,” where he shot five episodes of the 10-part historical epic set in 1600s Japan. But the U.K. native noticed something different leading up to its premiere as the network rolled out one of its biggest campaigns to launch a show in recent history.
“I remember driving into Los Angeles from Altadena going over the canyon roads, and somewhere in the middle of Glendale there were posters for the show,” he says. “I was like, ‘Oh, they made it way out here. That’s really cool.’ And I remember seeing trailers at the cinema too. There was something that felt old-school about ‘Shōgun.’ It was more like an event.”
The sprawling reach paid off, both critically and among audiences, as the premiere broke FX domestic and international streaming records. When Emmy nominations were announced, the success continued as creators Justin Marks and Rachel Kondo told the L.A. Times’ Tracy Brown it was “surreal” for “Shōgun” to lead the way with 25 nominations, including nods for series, acting, production design, costume design, sound, editing and visual effects.
“We don’t do this for the awards, we do it because we love the work,” says McCurdy, who was nominated for the gripping, albeit harrowing episode “Crimson Sky,” in which one of the series’ more beloved characters dies. “But I will be eternally grateful to production designer Helen Jarvis and costume designer Carlos Rosario for putting a kind of quality in front of the camera that I hadn’t seen for years. It was breathtaking. The costumes, the set design, everything was just incredible to photograph every day.”
Production nestled in British Columbia connecting with the lush Canadian surroundings for exteriors, including an old cedar mill to fill in for the fishing village of Osaka, while Mammoth Studios in Burnaby was home to the ornate sets built for the palace quarters, ceremonial hall and samurai houses. Cinematographer Christopher Ross established the visual table in the first two episodes (the pilot “Anjin” earned him his own Emmy nom) and it was up to McCurdy to expand the language to support a magnetic story of civil unrest among five council regents ruling the country, with two of them — Toranaga (Hiroyuki Sanada) and Ishido (Takehiro Hira) — in a chess match for power.
Cosmo Jarvis as John Blackthorne and Anna Sawai as Toda Mariko in “Shōgun.”
(Katie Yu / FX)
McCurdy also illuminated a blooming relationship between a captured Englishman named John Blackthorne (Cosmo Jarvis) and an interpreter in Lady Toda Mariko (Anna Sawai), which peaks in Episode 4, “The Eightfold Fence.” Teaming with director Frederick E.O. Toye, the pair discussed a theme of romance. “That gave us a shorthand for the visual language that was gentler and softer, where the camera movement was always around them trying to bring them together,” notes McCurdy. Highlighting the dance were scenes of Blackthorne and Mariko conversing atop a rocky outcrop and later in a softly lit natural pool before eventually sharing a bed. The cinematographer composed shots with longer lenses and had characters share the frame to outline their affection. “I like to think we did it subtly enough for viewers to take it on as a wave of feeling as opposed to us being pragmatic with our rules,” he says.
However, the relationship comes to a halt when Mariko’s husband, Buntaro (Shinnosuke Abe), thought to have been killed, unexpectedly returns. “Episode 5 was the breakup and we go with more visceral, harder framing,” McCurdy says. A perfect example of the stylistic choice occurs during a tense dinner scene where Blackthorne attempts to outdrink Buntaro while sharing war stories. It leads to Buntaro showing off his archery skills by having Mariko stand outdoors in the pathway. The shots narrowly miss her as he aims for the garden beyond. “The camera movement becomes more rigid and pointed then,” McCurdy notes. “Instead of gliding into a closeup, we go to a closeup and stay or move around to change your perspective.”
For Episode 7, “A Stick of Time,” which sees Toranaga’s half-brother enter the fray, an almost monochromatic color palette was introduced with the entire episode devoid of sunlight. “If it wasn’t for the firelight, it is almost a black-and-white episode,” McCurdy says. “In prep, Justin [Marks] had noted that ‘a mist rolls into town,’ and when I spoke to him about it he said it was the prevailing mist that was going to take over for the rest of the episodes. So we wanted to embrace the British Columbia climate and dig into the mist, the rain, the dirt, the mud and everything else. That was like music to my ears.” The painterly aesthetic was helmed by Japanese filmmaker Takeshi Fukunaga, who brought his own sensibilities to set. “He had a real way of dealing with the cast that was unlike anybody else,” McCurdy says. “It was the first time the cast could sit and chat in their own language and you could really feel the ease and how comfortable everyone was.”
In “Crimson Sky,” McCurdy sought to “drive the Mariko story” by showcasing “the weight the character earned through the rest of the season.” What it meant was lensing a visual narrative around Mariko’s strength and connecting the camera to her perspective. “We were going to treat Mariko very singularly,” he says. “She was going to stand proud of everybody else in the great hall scene, in the fight sequence or anywhere within her own space.” The resulting decision comes in a pinnacle moment when Mariko tries to lead her retinue out of Osaka only to be stopped by castle guards. With each shot, including overhead views, the camera reinforces Mariko’s bold ambitions as she becomes the focal point of the story
Even with each episode meticulously planned, McCurdy gave way to the performances, especially in Episode 10 when Blackthorne invites Usama Fiji (Moeka Hoshi) to say goodbye to her infant child who was sentenced to death as part of her husband’s seppuku. “The time between Episodes 4 and 5 and 9 and 10 gave us a chance to know how to subtly play with the characters,” notes McCurdy. “It’s a scene where you naturally respond to the performance and you don’t want to force anything. You don’t want to over-cover it so that it becomes a fiasco in the edit. The cast always informed us how we were going to photograph something, and it was always about their performances.”
![](https://newspub.live/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/np-logo.png)
Movie Reviews
‘WE ARE ZOMBIES’ (2024) – Movie Review – PopHorror
![‘WE ARE ZOMBIES’ (2024) – Movie Review – PopHorror ‘WE ARE ZOMBIES’ (2024) – Movie Review – PopHorror](https://pophorror.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/wearezbanner.jpg)
I just watched We Are Zombies , the latest release from Screambox. The film starts by closing in on a zombie walking down the street. Sound familiar? Do the similarities end there?
Check out the trailer below, then read on for my thoughts.
Synopsis
When the dead are back, what do we do with them? RKSS (Turbo Kid, Summer of ’84) offers a fresh take on the undead in the SCREAMBOX Original We Are Zombies, streaming everywhere August 13.
In a city infested with the living-impaired — also known as non-cannibal zombies — three slackers after easy money must fight small-time crooks and an evil megacorporation to save their kidnapped grandma.
The directing team RKSS — François Simard, Anouk Whissell, and Yoann-Karl Whissell — wrote and directed the film. The story is based on the comic book series The Zombies That Ate the World.
It stars Alexandre Nachi (1991), Derek Johns (The Boys), Megan Peta Hill (Riverdale), Vincent Leclerc (The Revenant), Benz Antoine (Death Race), and Carlo Mestroni (Assassin’s Creed II) star.
Here’s a look at the poster art!
My Thoughts
What i loved about this movie was the storyline and how it stayed consistent. I love the characters and the zombies. I love the music and the way they used historical figures like Mother Theresa. What I didn’t like about the film was the amount of gore. I felt there should have been more gore and more blood. Yes, there were a couple of scenes, but for my money, I could have used some additional. I also wish they would have explored more of the girls storyline.
Final Thoughts
In closing, I would recommend this movie to anyone who likes action, horror and zombie flicks. Also fair warning it is raunchy, so might not want to show kids unless they are teens.
If I get the chance to watch it again, I will.
We are Zombies is streaming on ScreamBox as of August 13th.
Movie Reviews
‘Toxic’ Review: Unstinting Lithuanian Teen Drama Follows Catwalk Dreams In a Concrete Nightmare
![‘Toxic’ Review: Unstinting Lithuanian Teen Drama Follows Catwalk Dreams In a Concrete Nightmare ‘Toxic’ Review: Unstinting Lithuanian Teen Drama Follows Catwalk Dreams In a Concrete Nightmare](https://variety.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/Toxic-Akis-bado.jpg?w=1000&h=563&crop=1)
The mean girls of your average Hollywood teen movie wouldn’t last a morning in the ruthless adolescent playground of “Toxic,” where economic exploitation and unforgiving body image standards rule the bullies and their prey alike. Set in an industrial Lithuanian town where even the asphalt has seen better days, Saulė Bliuvaitė‘s impressively tough-minded debut feature is uncompromising in its depiction of the punishment and self-abuse endured by girls enrolled at a fly-by-night modeling academy — where the vague promise of an escape to pretty much anywhere is enough to motivate frightening extremes of disordered eating and body modification. Sobering but not without glimmers of tenderness and humor as female friendship takes root in a hopeless place, this Locarno competition entry can expect a healthy festival run, with interest from edgier arthouse distributors.
“Toxic” promises something severe from its opening shot, as 13-year-old Marija (Vesta Matulytė) stands alone, tensely quivering in a bathing suit, in a high school changing room while her classmates verbally attack her — picking most cruelly on the limp she’s had from birth. The high angle of DP Vytautas Katkus’ camera has the effect of pinning this already vulnerable figure like a specimen in a petri dish, though Bliuvaitė won’t always favor such forensic detachment. The film’s alternation between chilly composure and kinetic movement roughly corresponds with Marija’s wavering sense of self, while occasional segues into the heightened, languid mise-en-scène of music videos feel reflective of a future she and her peers have imagined for themselves.
Marija is new to this unnamed town, a dead-end assortment of graveled lots, concrete blocks and prefab houses, where her flighty mom has sent her to live with her unassuming florist grandmother. Friendless and bored, she has few social options but to confront her tormentors in the hope of making their grade. After one brutal brawl over a stolen pair of jeans, she finally finds an ally in small, spiky blonde hellion Kristina (Ieva Rupeikaitė), who can acknowledge what the other, appearance-fixated bullies are loath to admit about Marija: She’s tall and physically striking, in a way that can open doors for working-class girls without obvious prospects. Inner beauty counts for little in this scene, but a simple observation that she’s pretty is about as warm a gesture as Marija has ever known.
Kristina is already enrolled at a local modeling school, the squat gray premises of which belie their claims of sending successful graduates to catwalks in Paris and Tokyo. Given her disability, Marija hasn’t ever considered modeling, but in an effort to stay close to her new sort-of-friend, she follows suit — only to swiftly be singled out as an especially promising candidate. The education on offer, such as it is, is a soul-sapping routine of endless walking instruction and daily body measuring, with gold stars for weight loss. This priority is so all-consuming that even the already reed-like Kristina seeks dangerous extra credit, dumping her dinners outside her bedroom window, and procuring a black-market tapeworm to further hollow out her insides.
It’s an unnerving reminder of the punishing physical standards to which young women are still held, even as body positivity has superficially taken hold in popular culture. Marija’s rising social stock as a potential supermodel gets the two girls increased attention from older local boys, though they’re unprepared for the intricacies of sex as currency — while Kristina naively attempts to barter her body for money, as the modeling school’s financial demands predictably and extortionately spiral.
Bliuvaitė’s script doesn’t go deep into the corrupt specifics of an industry everyone already knows is rotten. She’s more interested in the fraught, complex relationship between two girls who become emotionally dependent on each other, even as they stoke each other’s most damaging insecurities — leading the audience to consider for themselves whether a possibly toxic friendship is better than none. An extraordinary pair of performances by the two leads (Matulytė achingly recessive and physically tranquil, Rupeikaitė a pinwheel of belligerent, fretful energy) gradually suggest two halves of one more collected being. It’s hard not to be moved as Marija and Kristina’s regard for each other evolves from a kind of conditional mutual exploitation into something more candid and wounded: no sparkly friendship bracelets here, just fragile, hard-earned care.
Entertainment
Missouri woman who tried to grab Graceland arrested for allegedly defrauding Presley estate
![Missouri woman who tried to grab Graceland arrested for allegedly defrauding Presley estate Missouri woman who tried to grab Graceland arrested for allegedly defrauding Presley estate](https://ca-times.brightspotcdn.com/dims4/default/021c7ef/2147483647/strip/true/crop/5184x2722+0+377/resize/1200x630!/quality/75/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcalifornia-times-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fc1%2Fec%2F9447a6524720b6e18d9c9fce8fec%2Fvirus-outbreak-memphis-in-may-01409.jpg)
Federal authorities on Friday arrested and charged a Missouri woman in connection with the scheme to fraudulently auction Elvis Presley’s historic Graceland mansion.
Lisa Jeanine Findley — otherwise known as Lisa Holden, Lisa Howell, Gregory Naussany, Kurt Naussany, Lisa Jeanine Sullins and Carolyn Williams — was charged with mail fraud and aggravated identity theft, according to a news release by the U.S. Department of Justice.
Findley, 53, allegedly posed as three different people from Naussany Investments & Private Lending LLC, claiming the late Lisa Marie Presley, Elvis’ daughter, had borrowed $3.8 million from it and offered Graceland as collateral.
Authorities allege that Findley created several fake documents to carry out the scam, including a creditor’s claim with the Superior Court of California in Los Angeles, a deed of trust with the Shelby County Register’s Office in Memphis and loan documents containing the forged signatures of Presley and Florida notary Kimberly L. Philbrick.
Riley Keough, Presley’s daughter who inherited Graceland, sued Naussany Investments in May to stop the foreclosure sale of the Memphis property after Findley allegedly published a fraudulent notice in a local newspaper that the mansion was up for auction.
Philbrick submitted an affidavit in support of Keough’s lawsuit that said she did not notarize any documents involving Presley. (She’s also since done interviews reiterating that her signature was forged.)
“I have never met Lisa Marie Presley, nor have I ever notarized a document signed by Lisa Marie Presley,” Philbrick’s affidavit read. “I do not know why my signature appears on this document.”
Chancellor JoeDae Jenkins ruled in favor of Keough’s lawsuit to stop the sale, while also indicating the court would move forward with deciding whether the loan and deed of trust were fraudulent.
No representatives for Naussany Investments were present at the May hearing. Hours after Jenkins’ ruling, a person purporting to be a Naussany Investments representative submitted a statement that said the company intended to drop its claims on Graceland, according to the Associated Press.
Naussany Investments was listed in court documents as being located in Kimberling City, Mo., but CNN found the firm’s claimed phone number was no longer in service and could not find any business by that name.
Authorities allege that Findley then posed as an identity thief from Nigeria and wrote to the Presley family, Tennessee state court and members of the press. The New York Times reported in May that it had received a set of emails, faxed from a toll-free number, in choppy Luganda, a Bantu language widely spoken in Uganda.
“We figure out how to steal,” the thief wrote to the New York Times. “That’s what we do.”
Referencing Keough, the message reportedly continued: “Yo client dont have nothing to worries, win fir her. She beat me at my own game.”
Findley will appear on Friday in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Missouri. If found guilty, Findley faces at least two years in prison for aggravated identity theft and a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison for mail fraud.
-
Ohio4 days ago
Ohio taxpayers sent families $966 million for private school tuition: Capitol Letter
-
World5 days ago
What could an EU Commissioner do to tackle the housing crisis?
-
Politics1 week ago
Trump says Biden had the 'right to run,' but Dem Party 'took it away'
-
News1 week ago
Newly released video shows chaos and confusion after Trump assassination attempt
-
World1 week ago
‘Islamophobic, alarmist’: How some India outlets covered Bangladesh crisis
-
Politics1 week ago
Trump campaign frames election is 'complete contrast' against Harris record
-
Politics1 week ago
Tim Walz 'misspoke' about using weapons ‘in war,' Harris campaign says: report
-
Politics1 week ago
Progressive women's groups silent on second gentleman Doug Emhoff's affair