The Old and the New
Backtrack to October 2001 and I’m sitting in a Manhattan cinema watching Martin Scorsese introduce the first ever publicly screened footage from his dream project Gangs of New York. The movie has just been delayed on account of 9/11, but Scorsese is telling a story about the day George Lucas visited the set. Lucas was in the middle of shooting Star Wars: Episode II at the time, the first digitally shot live-action blockbuster. As he surveyed the massive facades constructed on the stages of Rome’s historic Cinecittà Studios, he told Scorsese that nobody would ever build sets on this scale again. This was the end of it. From now on, he said, everything would be done digitally. “We got our picture taken,” says Scorsese, “and I told him I’m the old and he’s the new.”
When I first reported this story — for a long-since expired film magazine — I was just starting my career. But it has stuck with me, becoming a perfect encapsulation of the sort of transition moments in the film industry I’ve been lucky enough to cover again and again. Over the last two decades I’ve reported on the wholesale transition from celluloid to digital, covered the rise of disruptor studios such as Pixar and Marvel, written features about the myriad new waves of filmmaking talent emerging from South Korea, Mexico, Romania and Greece, and reported on the impact of #MeToo and the game-changing rise of streaming — often interviewing those at the forefront of these changes. (I also gave Michael Mann’s once-derided/now-revered Miami Vice a five-star review the week of release, so clearly I know what I’m talking about.) The point is, I love the way film responds to the world and vice versa. It’s why I keep doing what I do.
It’s also why I’ve decided to launch this site. I’ve been covering film professionally since 2000 and wanted to look back a bit while also keeping track of what I’m working on now. Click on words to find a selection of articles I’ve written over the years. On this blog I’ll be covering current releases and anything else that springs to mind. And if you want to get in touch click on contact or go to my twitter feed.
Thanks for stopping by.