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Talkhouse

Sonny Mallhi’s latest film, the horror movie Hurt, is out now through Gravitas Ventures. Born and raised in Chicago, he has spent many of the past 15 years developing screenplays with top-tier screenwriters and up-and- coming directors, giving rise to numerous projects around town including The Departed and The Grudge. Sonny has produced several films, including The Lake House, starring Sandra Bullock and Keanu Reeves; The Strangers starring Liv Tyler; House at the End of the Street starring Jennifer Lawrence; Old Boy directed by Spike Lee; and The Monster starring Zoe Kazan. In 2011, Sonny undertook a new role as writer and producer of the feature film, The Roommate, which was the number one film at the box office. Sonny made his directorial debut with the film Anguish in 2015. He also directed Family Blood for Blumhouse Productions and Netflix in 2018 and produced the recent acclaimed film The Dark and the Wicked.

Sonny Mallhi

Film

“What Am I Doing Here?”

Filmmaker Pete Chatmon’s book <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Transitions-Directors-Journey-Motivational-Handbook/dp/161593331X/ref=mp_s_a_1_1" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Transitions: A Director’s Journey &amp; Motivational Handbook</a> is out now from Michael Wiese Productions. His debut feature as writer-director, Premium, starred Dorian Missick, Zoe Saldana and Hill Harper, and played on Showtime after a limited theatrical run. Chatmon also wrote, produced, and directed 761st, a documentary on the first Black tank battalion in WWII, narrated by Andre Braugher. He has directed episodes of television for numerous shows, including Insecure, Silicon Valley, You, Grey’s Anatomy, Black-ish, Blindspotting and It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia. He is currently co-executive producer and producing director on Hulu’s Reasonable Doubt. Chatmon’s career began in 2001 with the Sundance selection of his NYU thesis film, 3D, starring Kerry Washington, and his most recent short film, BlackCard, premiered on HBO. His podcast, Let’s Shoot! with Pete Chatmon is available on YouTube, iTunes, and all podcast platforms.

Pete Chatmon

Exclusive Book Extract: Pete Chatmon on Discovering His Passion for Film

Shaina Feinberg (she/her) is an award-winning American filmmaker and writer. She spent her twenties making a stoner, punk sketch show called The Spew. She has been on This American Life, was a resident at Space on Ryder Farms (2018) and Twenty Summers (2021), a Reel Families for Change grantee (2022) and a recipient of the Reboot Studios grant (2023). Her film My Mom&#8217;s Eggplant Sauce (2022) played festivals around the world, including Hot Docs, Rotterdam International Film Festival and Palm Springs, won her a Best Director award and is featured on Short of the Week. Her short doc A Brief History of Hating My Face (2023), was commissioned by the New York Times. Her film Cleo From 8:20 to 2:35 premiered at the Aspen Film Festival (2024). Shaina is the author of three books, has written for The New Yorker, The Washington Post and Tablet and writes regularly for the New York Times. Her films and books have been written about in The New Yorker, The New York Times, Bust, Broadly, Logo, THEM, Indiewire and more. She is currently working on a film about Joan Darling, the first woman to be nominated for an Emmy in directing. She lives in Brooklyn with her partner and their two children.

Shaina Feinberg

Revisited: 9½ Weeks, Fatal Attraction and Me

Marnie Ellen Hertzler is a filmmaker living and working in Baltimore, Maryland. <a href="https://memory.is/crestone" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Crestone</a>, her debut feature which she wrote, produced and directed is now on PVOD through Utopia. Crestone follows a group of SoundCloud rappers who live in solitude, growing weed and making music for the internet. When an old friend arrives to make a movie, reality and fiction begin to blur. Her films have screened at Locarno Film Festival, Rotterdam International Film Festival, MoMA, and more. In 2018, Marnie was named one of Filmmaker Magazine&#8216;s “25 New Faces of Independent Film.”

Marnie Ellen Hertzler

Revisited: What I Learned From Being Geralt of Rivia

Writer-director Edgar Wright&#8216;s latest film, the documentary <a href="https://www.focusfeatures.com/the-sparks-brothers/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Sparks Brothers</a>, is in theaters through Focus Features from June 18. Wright first made his mark in the late 1990s with the British TV comedy series Spaced, written by Jessica Hynes and Simon Pegg, and starring Hynes, Pegg and Nick Frost. Wright reteamed with Pegg and Frost on his 2004 breakthrough feature, the international smash hit zombie comedy Shaun of the Dead, and also on the two subsequent parts of the “Three Flavors Cornetto Trilogy,” Hot Fuzz (2007) and The World&#8217;s End (2013), both of which were also big hits. Wright co-wrote and directed the star-studded Scott Pilgrim vs. the World (2010), based on the graphic novels by Bryan Lee O&#8217;Malley, and wrote and directed the 2017 critical and commercial hit, Baby Driver, an action thriller starring Ansel Elgort, Kevin Spacey, Jon Hamm and Jamie Foxx. He lives in Los Angeles. (Photo by Adrienne Pitts.)

Edgar Wright

Podcast

Revisited: Edgar Wright Talks with Ron and Russell Mael (Sparks) on the Talkhouse Podcast

Vincent D’Onofrio is currently appearing as Jelly Fallwell in the biopic <a href="https://www.searchlightpictures.com/films/theeyesoftammyfaye/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Eyes of Tammy Faye</a>, out now through Searchlight Pictures. He can currently be seen in EPIX’s new drama series The Godfather of Harlem starring opposite Forest Whitaker, and recently made his directorial debut with The Kid, starring Ethan Hawke, Dane DeHaan and Chris Pratt. D’Onofrio first gained attention for his haunting portrayal of an unstable Vietnam War recruit in Stanley Kubrick’s Full Metal Jacket; his other early film appearances include Mystic Pizza, JFK Oliver Stone’s and Robert Altman’s The Player. His recent major films include The Magnificent Seven and Jurassic World, and he played Kingpin in Netflix’s popular Marvel series Daredevil. D’Onofrio starred as Detective Robert Goren in over 100 episodes of the series Law &amp; Order: Criminal Intent and received an Emmy nomination in 1998 for his guest appearance in the Homicide: Life on the Street episode “The Subway.” D’Onofrio directed, produced and starred in the short film Five Minutes, Mr. Welles and recently appeared in the Academy Award-winning short The New Tenants. (Image by Todd Williamson / January Images.)

Vincent D’Onofrio

Revisited: Three Great Things: Vincent D’Onofrio

Neil Gaiman has written highly acclaimed books for both children and adults and is the first author to have won both the Carnegie and Newbery Medals for the same work – The Graveyard Book. The L.A. Times has described his multi-million-selling graphic novel series Sandman as “the greatest epic in the history of comic books.” Many of his books, including Coraline and Stardust, have been made into films; Neverwhere has been adapted for TV and radio; American Gods and Good Omens have been adapted into major TV series. He has also written two amazing episodes of Doctor Who and appeared in The Simpsons as himself. In 2013, he published his first adult novel for seven years, The Ocean at the End of the Lane, which received stellar reviews and was a bestseller around the world. For more on Neil Gaiman, visit <a href="https://www.neilgaiman.com/">neilgaiman.com</a>. (Photo by Kimberly Butler.)

Neil Gaiman

Revisited: “Miyazaki Makes Films for Whole People”: Neil Gaiman on How Do You Live?

Matt Yoka directed and produced the documentary <a href="https://www.whirlybirdmovie.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Whirlybird</a>, about a husband-and-wife helicopter news duo who covered L.A.&#8217;s most historic events, which premiered at Sundance 2020 and is out now in theaters through Greenwich Entertainment. He began his career working on a wide range of TV with Vice Media (Vice Does America, Epicly Later&#8217;d, Huang&#8217;s World and the HBO special World in Disarray). During this time he also developed a distinct visual style directing music videos for record labels like Drag City and Sub Pop, collaborating most often with the artist Ty Segall. Whirlybird, his debut feature, draws inspiration from his childhood in Los Angeles and his research at USC&#8217;s Annenberg School of Journalism, where he received a Master’s Degree. He currently lives in L.A. and drives a 2006 Toyota Sienna.

Matt Yoka

Revisited: The Day Kobe Bryant Died

Stacy Rukeyser is an award-winning creator, showrunner and executive producer whose new show is the Netflix hit Sex/Life, about a suburban mother who takes a fantasy-charged trip down memory lane. Previously, Stacy was the showrunner and executive producer of the critically acclaimed, award-winning drama UnREAL, about the inner workings of a reality TV show. Her other writing credits include the Golden Globe Award-winning and Emmy® Award-nominated series Without a Trace, as well as Crash, One Tree Hill, October Road, Standoff, Greek and The Lying Game. A cum laude graduate of Princeton University, she resides in Los Angeles with her husband and two sons.

Stacy Rukeyser

Revisited: The Revolutionary Act of (Female) Desire

Australian writer, director and actor Joy Hopwood’s latest film, the romantic comedy Rhapsody of Love, is out now through Quiver Distribution. She wrote the screenplay for The Casting Game and made her feature debut as writer-director with The Script of Life. She is currently in post-production on her third directorial feature, the rom-com musical Get a Life, Alright.

Joy Hopwood

Changing the Narrative of How Asians are Represented on Screen

Daniela De Carlo’s latest feature, <a href="https://www.theblackoutmovie.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Blackout</a>, was released by Gravitas Ventures and is now available for streaming on <a href="https://www.amazon.com/gp/video/detail/B08T728J94/ref=atv_dp_share_cu_r" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Amazon Prime</a>. Originally from Argentina, she worked her way up from P.A. to writer-director-producer, collaborating along the way with a myriad of industry heavyweights such as Alexander Payne, Martin Scorsese, Peter Bogdanovich, David E. Kelley, and Tony Scott. In 2010, she helmed the romcom Qualquer Gato Vira-Lata for Buena Vista International, which opened wide in Brazil to unprecedented box office success, and was one of six Hispanic directors on the 2014 feature drama Blue Lips. She was awarded the NBC/Universal Directing Fellowship and appointed to the USA Network show Royal Pains, and as a recipient of the inaugural NBC Female Forward program, recently helmed an episode of the primetime show Chicago Med. She is currently developing a biopic series about Xuxa, the most famous Brazilian pop star of all time. Daniela will exec produce, write and direct, in partnership with Xuxa and Gullane Filmes. She lives in Los Angeles. (Photo by Sari Thayer.)

Daniela De Carlo

Postcards From Hollywood: Blowing Up the Papaya with Tarantino

Virgil Williams is an Oscar-nominated screenwriter whose new feature, A Journal for Jordan, directed by Denzel Washington and starring Michael B. Jordan, comes out December 24 through Sony Pictures. His last big-screen adaptation, Netflix’s Mudbound, netted him Oscar, Critics Choice, Writers Guild, NAACP Image and USC Scripter Award nominations alongside co-writer and director Dee Rees for their work adapting Hillary Jordan’s novel. He also executive-produced the film, which starred Carey Mulligan, Mary J. Blige, Rob Morgan, Jason Clarke, Jason Mitchell, and Garrett Hedlund. A trailblazing Afro-Latinx voice in Hollywood for nearly two decades, Virgil is a veteran television writer and producer, whose extensive credits include the groundbreaking, Emmy-winning dramas ER and 24, as well as Fox’s The Chicago Code.