You’ve probably seen enough TV series to have come across this name more than once. From the mid-‘90s and all the way into the ‘10s, David Nutter’s directorial career has spanned an impressive number of television pilots—of the 20 he has directed thus far, 16 were picked up by networks. So, if you’ve got a show you want to see take off, Mr Nutter is the man you want handling your pilot.

With several prestigious awards under his belt, including 3 Emmys and a Hugo, the American director has demonstrated a marvellous versatility in terms of theme and style when shooting his pilots, establishing a remarkable streak that has turned him into a favourite of many showrunners. For good reason, too, so it’s worth taking a moment to analyse David Nutter’s evolution as a director and understand what it is, exactly, that makes him so… awesome.

©HELEN SLOAN/HBO

The Early Days

David lost his father at a young age, and he was raised by a single mother. Growing up, the future storyteller found comfort and magic in the world of comic books. He would often cut characters out and study their angles, sometimes coming up with characters of his own—a director’s persona was gradually shaping up before he even knew it.

Alas, Mr Nutter grew up imagining himself as the next Frank Sinatra, enrolling in the University of Miami to pursue a musical education. It wasn’t long before he realized that it wasn’t a road he truly wished to take, so he enrolled in a Super 8 film class in the early ‘80s with the intention of perhaps going on to write music for movies, instead. It was during that particularly formative period that he decided to become a director, blaming Warren Beatty’s ‘Reds’ (1981) for the final nudge.

©MACALL B. POLAY/HBO

The Budding Career

‘Cease Fire’ (1985), starring Don Johnson, was David Nutter’s first credited project, the first of few features he has ever done. But it was ’21 Jump Street’ (1987-1991), created by Stephen J. Cannell and Patrick Hasburgh, and featuring a young, wide-eyed Johnny Depp, that propelled Nutter into the television industry. He directed three episodes of the series and worked on a few other projects before he was brought on to do the pilot for ‘Space: Above and Beyond’ (1995-1996), a sci-fi adventure series created by Glen Morgan and James Wong. That was his very first pilot. I suppose you never forget your first.

Shortly afterwards, Mr Nutter joined Morgan and Wong on Chris Carter’s ‘The X-Files’ (1993-2018), for which he directed 15 of what would later become some of the show’s most memorable episodes. Worth mentioning here: ‘Ice’, inspired by the John Carpenter classic ‘The Thing’ (1982); ‘Beyond the Sea’, which sees Brad Dourif delivering a most brilliant performance; ‘Firewalker’, starring the young but decidedly promising Bradley Whitford; and ‘Little Green Men’, which kickstarted the series’ second season and further cemented ‘The X-Files’ as a grand work of science fiction mystery.

©GAGE SKIDMORE/COMICCON

The Pilot Whisperer

After ‘Space: Above and Beyond’ and his work on ‘The X-Files’, David Nutter’s talents were in high demand, reason for which he was able to carefully choose what projects he wished to be involved with—a privilege few TV directors have, if you think about it. Given how well he got along with Chris Carter, it’s no surprise that Mr Nutter was asked to direct the pilot for ‘Millennium’ (1996-1999), followed by three more episodes in the series, including one of my own personal favourites, ‘Gehenna’.

A year later, he gave the feature-length format another shot with ‘Disturbing Behavior’ (1998), starring the most wide-eyed James Marsden, Katie Holmes, and Nick Stahl I’ve ever seen. In an interview with DGA’s Quarterly Magazine, Nutter described the project as ‘a terrible experience’, the worst he’s ever had. The flop was quickly smothered by another television hit, however, as Nutter was given the opportunity to shoot the pilot for ‘Roswell’ (1999-2002) and James Cameron’s ‘Dark Angel’ (2000-2002), both tremendous successes with their respective audiences.

©20TH CENTURY FOX TELEVISION

He was reunited with his beloved comic book medium soon afterward upon shooting the pilot for ‘Smallville’ (2001-2011), the first television success of superhero-inspired tales since… whew, ‘The Flash’ (1990-1991). That same year, Nutter won his first Emmy award for his directing work on ‘Band of Brothers’ (2002), a precious accolade that would later triple through another alignment with HBO.

The pilot for ‘Supernatural’ (2005-2020) sort of made history, as it spawned one of the longest running and most beloved shows of the small screen. Nutter stayed with the series for one more episode before moving on. Four years later, he directed the pilot for ‘Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles’ (2008-2009), starring Lena Headey and Summer Glau, and ‘The Mentalist’ (2008-2015), the latter remembered as high among the best scripted TV series of the entire decade. Mr Nutter only had 9 weeks to prepare, shoot, and edit the memorable episode which graced us with Simon Baker’s first and truly stellar performance as Patrick Jane.

©WBEI/WARNER BROS. TELEVISION

While I won’t be listing all of his pilots here, I will mention the work he did for ‘Arrow’ (2012-2020) and ‘The Flash’ (2014), the latter a CW reboot of the popular DC Comics speedster superhero, as both pertain to Nutter’s appreciation of the comic book medium. Of course, while he is recognized as ‘the pilot whisperer’ by most in the industry, his streak of successful firsts was broken ten years ago, when CBS chose not to pick up Rina Mimoun’s ‘The Doctor’. It hasn’t stopped him from directing exceptional episodes, though.

The Magnificent Contributions

Some of Nutter’s non-pilot works can be traced across multiple genres and networks, from his ‘100,000 Airplanes’ episode for Aaron Sorkin’s ‘The West Wing’ (1999-2006) and Michael Crichton’s ‘ER’ (1994-2009) to ‘Join the Club’ for ‘The Sopranos’ (1999-2007), which earned him yet another Emmy nod, and the 10 episodes he executed for ‘Entourage’ (2004-2011). By then, he was a darling of the Home Box Office for their serialized projects.

One of his best-loved forays into established series was the ‘Game On’ episode he did for ‘Homeland’ (2011-2020). Claire Danes’ character was tragically complicated and struggled against so many inner demons, yet she was able to go in and out of Carrie Mathison’s skin with the flip of a switch. Much like James Gandolfini before her, it became clear to Nutter that actors want to be directed, whether they’re dealing with the pilot or any of the episodes that follow.

©HBO/HOME BOX OFFICE

Every other year, John Wells and Paul Abbott’s ‘Shameless’ (2011-2021) requested David’s experienced guidance for some of its episodes. The results were as expected—hilarious, profound, and startlingly dynamic. But it was Nutter’s work on HBO’s ‘Game of Thrones’ (2011-2019) that brought him two more Emmy awards, and deservedly so.

He did 9 episodes for the ‘A Song of Ice and Fire’-inspired series, including the infamous ‘The Rains of Castamere’ and ‘The Dance of Dragons’. For the former, Nutter explained in an interview that the stakes were ridiculously high and the pressure almost crushing, as he’d been invited to do The Red Wedding earlier during season 2. By the time he got around to shooting the actual scene, the director decided to tackle the banquet massacre sequentially.

‘In some respects, I looked at it almost as an opera. It was all about how I set up the tables in the room, how I positioned who was going to sit where. […] It was sort of like dominos, where we could keep the tonality going so when we got to the really intense stuff, we were shooting it one after the other and building on top of the drama—building to a climax’, Nutter told DGA’s Quarterly Magazine. Yet it was the finale of season 5, ‘Mother’s Mercy’, that got the Emmy for Outstanding Directing.

©HBO/HOME BOX OFFICE

The Director’s Approach

For David Nutter, the craft of televised storytelling hangs on the emotional element. He won’t pick up an episode—be it a pilot or not—if the screenplay doesn’t move him, if the story being told doesn’t stir him on a deeper level. As a director, he follows the script, first and foremost, which is why the writing is so important. ‘I don’t like to be noticed. I don’t want to be someone whose shot takes you out of the dramatic sequence or takes you out of the emotional story that you’re trying to tell’, he says. The focus is always on making the story connect with the audience.

Working closely with the writers, Nutter is keen on forging tight bonds with the cast and crew, as well, which is why he dedicates a significant amount of time in dealing with the actors individually, taking them to hang around the sets and filming locations prior to the actual shooting so they can get a feel for their world and their characters within it. Over the years, he has built lasting rapports with specific industry professionals across different projects. Why, he’s done 10 pilots with editor Paul Karasick alone.

©HBO/HOME BOX OFFICE

Another aspect of his work is in the storyboard. Mr Nutter does many and plenty and more on top, in order to get as deep into the story as possible before the cameras even roll. This helps develop and illustrate the tone and attitude of the episode, which then translates into an organic cohesion between the show’s production departments—from the director of photography to the editor and the VFX technicians, to name but a few.

Given his success as a TV director, it’s normal to hear David Nutter say he is bombarded with pitches almost every day. Yet it’s the script that he’s usually interested in. Sure, the pitch might get a screenwriter through the door, perhaps, but if the story doesn’t captivate the director, he simply won’t touch it.

©HBO/HOME BOX OFFICE

And while he prefers pilots with their complete ‘birthing process’, he has also developed a keen sense of understanding for the directors that come in after him. After ‘Arrow’, Nutter arranged a big breakfast with the other directors, making sure they all sat down and watched the episode prior to starting work on the show. ‘A lot of times directors in television will come to a series, and they kind of feel like the odd man out’, he said.

He gladly references Sidney Lumet and Mark Rydell when describing his approach to helping the actors find their characters in the pilot. He declares himself a fan of rehearsals—most of the times. Other times, he says, blocking rehearsals altogether helps produce a certain kind of honesty one won’t get after a thorough repetition.

©JASON LAVERIS/FILMMAGIC

Nutter also acknowledges that there’s a common thread for the pilots of his choice. ‘I’m attracted to shows where the characters have a void in their life. It’s that deep emotional thing the audience can grasp onto that I try to bring out as a director.’

David Nutter has already established himself as the kind of specialist that any showrunner would want to work with. His devotion and detailed involvement have brought him additional executive producer credits since ‘Millennium’ on almost every episode under his care. He has directed the pilots for some of my all-time favourite series, and so I’ve learned to pay more attention to the opening credits of any show that I might be into next. There’s a chance he’ll be the creative engine behind that one, too.

There are few people on the screen that have had a lasting impact on my senses. Few performances that I am tempted to go back to, over and over, and enjoy as much as I did the first time. Which is why I’m so pleased to talk about Cara Gee. Truth be told, I knew nothing about her before ‘The Expanse’ (2015), but once she came up in season 2, I was struck and intrigued. By the end of season 5, I was irreversibly enthralled, having watched her grow and shine.

Born in Calgary, Alberta, Ms Gee is a proud Ojibwe and one of the few First Nations actors in the entire film and TV industry. While I do believe that North America can and should do infinitely better in terms of Indigenous representation, I am glad that Cara Gee has broken through and asserted herself as the exquisite artist that she is.

©THE 39TH ANNUAL AMERICAN INDIAN FILM FESTIVAL 2014

She got her start in theatre, building up a grand reputation on the Toronto scene. Among her most memorable stage performances one will find Margaret Atwood’s ‘The Penelopiad’, a rewriting of ‘The Odyssey’ from Penelope’s perspective; Daniel MacIvor’s ‘Arigato, Tokyo’, which follows a Canadian author on a publicity tour in Japan falling in love amidst the sacred stages of Noh theatre and the vibrant dance clubs; and ‘The Rez Sisters’, a two-act play written by Cree Canadian writer Tomson Highway which blends the sometimes darker aspects of living on a First Nations reserve with humour and bits of Aboriginal spirituality.

Her TV break came with the role of Alicia Pratta in ‘King’ (2011-2012), the Canadian procedural created by Bernard Zukerman and Greg Spottiswood, followed by an appearance in ‘Republic of Doyle’ (2010-2014). Shortly afterwards, Cara Gee made her way onto the silver screen and into the international limelight as Lena in ‘Empire of Dirt’ (2013), an independent feature film directed by Peter Stebbings. It brought her a Best Actress nomination at the 2^nd Canadian Screen Awards for her portrayal of a single First Nations mother struggling to bridge an ever-growing generational gap from her mother to her daughter.

Its theme of First Nations pride prompted the actress to address her own heritage during an interview with Toronto Now, where she said: ‘I wish my granny [an activist and defender of First Nations rights] were here so she could see this… Part of the struggle of being First Nations is that so much has been taken from us. My granny was the last person in our family to speak Ojibway. She had babies in the ‘50s, and she didn’t teach them the language because they’d get beaten by their teachers for speaking it. It was easier not to know it.’

‘EMPIRE OF DIRT’ (2013), ©REDCLOUD STUDIOS

One year later, ‘Inhuman Condition’ cast Cara Gee as Tamar, one of its leads, an anxious and vulnerable young woman with a mysterious supernatural affliction that caused her to accidentally murder 306 people as a child. The web series was created and written by R.K Lackie and had a great run on the KindaTV YouTube channel in 2016, after having been selected for funding by The Independent Production Fund back in 2014.

But it was 2017 that became the take-off point for this remarkable First Nations actress when she took on the role of Camina Drummer in ‘The Expanse’, developed by Mark Fergus and Hawk Ostby for television and based on the eponymous novels by James S.A. Corey—a penname used by Daniel Abraham and Ty Franck, who also serve as executive producers alongside showrunner Naren Shankar. At first, Camina Drummer was a recurring role, a faithful assistant to Fred Johnson and Belter head of security of Tycho Station. By season 4, however, the character became known as one of the best female leads of science fiction due to Ms Gee’s stupendous performance, which is driven gloriously by a most artful emotional intensity.

‘THE EXPANSE’ (2015), ©ALCON ENTERTAINMENT/AMAZON PRIME VIDEO

Going from a Belter nobody to captain of Medina Station and ultimately captain of her own crew on the Dewalt, a scavenger ship run by a polyamorous family, Camina Drummer can be effortlessly described as a masterpiece for both theatrical skill and social representation. Cara Gee may not be the first Indigenous lead on the small screen, but she is certainly one of its best—and she has put plenty of her Indigenous identity into Drummer.

In response to a comment by Mr Shankar from the New York Comic Con talks back in 2019 referring to the historical precedents incorporated into the show’s political world-building, Ms Gee said: ‘I think that’s why having such a diverse cast is such a huge asset to the story because we all bring our unique points of view to this story. I’m an indigenous woman and so, for me, of course I look at Belter issues from that perspective, and I think that’s part of what makes this story special.’

She went on to add that, for her, Belter issues such as access to clean air and water are painfully relevant, considering that there are still so many First Nations reserves that do not have access to clean water across the North American continent. When the Ring Gate opened in season 3, thus providing an opportunity for human exploration, one cannot help but observe the historical reference made to the European invasion of America—which makes Cara Gee’s presence on the show downright crucial.

‘THE EXPANSE’ (2015), ©ALCON ENTERTAINMENT/AMAZON PRIME VIDEO

Another aspect that makes Drummer such a wonderful character in terms of representation is her positioning at the head of a polyamorous family, one of the many reasons why season 5 has been such a spectacular rollercoaster ride, to begin with. In the show, her plural marriage is sometimes referred to as a ketubah, and it’s a place of comfort and solace for her character after having experienced traumatic losses (Klaes Ashford, Fred Johnson, and presumably Naomi Nagata). For Ms Gee, this development was enticing, to say the least.

‘I was so excited that we got to represent this polyamorous Belter family. I think that respectful representation of polyamory is nowhere to be seen in the television landscape, and I’m so proud that we did that. I think that for our queer fans to see Drummer finally get hers is so satisfying’, she told Screen Rant in an interview, adding that ‘nobody shipped Drummer and Naomi harder than me and Dominique. […] So, to finally see her – I wouldn’t say happy under the circumstances of the show – but happy with the relationship, is really beautiful. The relationship between all of those polyamorous characters is so tender and vulnerable.’

‘THE EXPANSE’ (2015), ©ALCON ENTERTAINMENT/AMAZON PRIME VIDEO

Alas, the good times do not last. Drummer is soon forced to make gut-wrenching choices as captain of her crew/family, to whom she is bound through a love and devotion as powerful as the emotions that once bound her to the aforementioned and recently departed.

She has no choice but to cooperate with Marco Inaros, the terrorist whom she once spared only to watch him kill her friend Ashford by tossing him through an airlock. If she wishes to keep her ship and her people safe, Drummer must join Inaros’s Free Navy. Oksana, her partner and lover advises her to make this sacrifice, while Drummer becomes consumed with rage and guilt. Unavoidably, she hits rock bottom and comes apart completely before she finds the strength and resolve needed to push through and rise against Inaros’s tyranny.

‘THE EXPANSE’ (2015), ©ALCON ENTERTAINMENT/AMAZON PRIME VIDEO

The entire performance of Cara Gee as Camina Drummer is a spectacular tour de force, unlike anything I have ever seen. Her emotional intensity breaks boundaries and transfers itself onto the viewers. Her power transcends the screen and the universe itself, as she is broken down into bits and pieces for everyone to see before she comes back up and smashes into anyone and anything threatening to take those she loves away. She doesn’t plan on making the same mistakes twice.

Having followed the show since the beginning, I find myself genuinely impressed by Ms Gee’s range as an actress, effortlessly going from the proud, strong and ruthless Drummer of earlier seasons to the softer and deeply emotional Drummer of this penultimate arc in the series. Knowing that this is still the early stage of her acting career, I can’t help but feel excited as I look forward to what other projects await her in the future, given that ‘The Expanse’ is set to end with its sixth season later this year.

‘THE EXPANSE’ (2015), ©ALCON ENTERTAINMENT/AMAZON PRIME VIDEO

Despite her onscreen growth, however, Cara Gee has yet to abandon her first love, the theatre. As early as 2019, she played May in Sam Shepard’s ‘Fool for Love’, a story that explores the fiery love-hate dynamic of a couple. The play ran from July until August of that year at Soulpepper Theatre Company and was met with a plethora of radiant reviews. In an interview with Muskrat Magazine, Ms Gee delved into the complexity of May and Eddie’s relationship and the play’s treatment of toxic masculinity:

‘We are seeing a couple who are really struggling with violence. It’s not just Eddie. May is also perpetrating physical violence against Eddie – we are looking at how we break this cycle, and what actions they should take to treat each other with kindness and respect. We see a lot of them getting it wrong. We see a lot of a certain kind of entitlement to each other’s bodies.’

 ‘FOOL FOR LOVE’ (2019), ©DAHLIA KATZ

In 2018, Cara Gee played Phoebe to Kristian Bruun’s Damon in ‘Red Rover’, a romantic comedy that follows a lonely geologist who is disappointed in his life on Earth and tries to qualify for a one-way mission to Mars. Directed by Shane Belcourt, the film sparkled on the independent circuit, earning Ms Gee a Rising Star Award at the Whistler Film Festival.

Two years later, she appeared as Françoise in ‘The Call of the Wild’ (2020) alongside Omar Sy and Harrison Ford—an adventure film based on Jack London’s 1903 novel and directed by Chris Sanders of ‘Lilo & Stitch’ (2002) fame. It was met with a mixture of hot and cold, truth be told, but mostly because of the audience’s discontent with what the Razzie Awards called ‘that totally fake-looking CGI dog’.

‘THE CALL OF THE WILD’ (2020), ©20TH CENTURY STUDIOS

Her star is still rising, though. According to multiple sources, Cara Gee and Mpho Koaho, the latter known for his roles in ‘Falling Skies’ (2011-2015) and ‘Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency’ (2016-2017), are set to star in ‘Levels’, a forthcoming sci-fi thriller written and directed by Adam Stern, with principal photography set to begin this year. Marking Stern’s feature directorial debut, the story follows Joe, a man who risks everything (including reality itself, according to the logline) to discover the truth about his girlfriend’s death.

When talking about his choice to work with Ms Gee, Stern said: ‘Cara’s phenomenal work as Drummer on “The Expanse” consistently blows me away, a combination of elegance and ferocity that’s perfect for Aislinn. I can’t wait to see [her] breathe life into [this role].’

My thoughts exactly.

Somehow, I assumed Ennio Morricone would live forever. But on 6 July 2020, the Maestro died following complications from a fall. Before he left, Morricone wrote his own obituary of profound humility. Many composers do not seem to live very long (Elliott Carter, Nicolas Slonimsky and Irving Berlin are among too few centenarians). Though he died at the age of 91, Morricone demonstrated he had the energy to live to be a hundred.

There has never been a more prolific composer working in film than Ennio Morricone. Until his passing, he may have been the most prolific living composer in any genre, having written nearly 500 film and television scores. The startling quantity of his output may wrongly downplay its quality. Morricone pioneered a new musical style for Italian spaghetti westerns, in which he employed unusual instruments, such as the new surf guitar and the mournful harmonica. His music for westerns, in particular Sergio Leone’s “Dollars Trilogy” and “Once Upon a Time in the West”, deservedly brought him recognition early in his career. But to define Morricone merely as a western composer is a misrepresentation. The 500 credits comprise no more than 20 such films. The challenge faced by anyone attempting to understand Ennio Morricone is accepting that it is impossible to do him full justice.

ENNIO MORRICONE HAS PASSED AWAY. WE NOW HAVE THE REST OF OUR LIVES TO APPRECIATE HIS MUSIC. SOURCE: AP PHOTO/MICHAEL SOHN.

In the pantheon of film composers beginning their career around 1960 and after, Ennio Morricone will always radiate from the center. Only Jerry Goldsmith could compare to Morricone’s incredibly versatile, psychologically incisive, and powerful thriller music. Only John Williams could compete with Morricone’s masterful command of the classical orchestra and chorus to create memorable themes of sublime elegance. Only Georges Delerue could rival Morricone’s gift of writing beautiful melodies that from their first note haunt listeners. To fellow Italians, the Maestro, as they call him, was second to none. Early in his career Morricone was a counterpart to the older Nino Rota. Only Riz Ortolani approached the seductiveness of Morricone’s tunes for Italian filmic erotica. Ennio Morricone achieved it all in one score consistently throughout his seventy-year journey in cinema.

MORRICONE CONDUCTING IN AMSTERDAM. PHOTO BY JELMER DE HAAS.

The Maestro had a unique capacity to keep reinventing himself and constantly surprise. He often acknowledged the indebtedness for his classical training to his teachers, such as Goffredo Petrassi, a fine composer of concertos and Morricone’s composition professor who died aged 98. Morricone was a polystylist who honoured the needs of the larger picture. Nevertheless, his music consistently stands on its own when experienced apart from the film, a mark of a great composer. Morricone embraced and originally adapted the Classical concerto, the Baroque concerto grosso, the Romantic symphony and twentieth-century chamber music. He brought new richness to rock and beat. He experimented with jazz and electronic music, and even improved on pop.

Many of Morricone’s works still await rediscovery. That Morricone was a fertile concert hall composer is unfairly neglected. His cantata “Voci dal silenzio” (2007) explores subtle choral harmonies and contains stunning colouristic effects. The “Mass for Pope Francis” (2015) follows the liturgy of the Roman Catholic Mass ordinary but involves striking dissonances and complex antiphonal chanting. In addition, Morricone has written more than 60 concert works, including piano concertos, symphonic pieces, choral music and one opera.

From 1964 to 1980, Morricone was a part of Gruppo di Improvvisazione Nuova Consonanza, or “The Group”. The collective recorded improvisations, experimenting with contemporary avant-garde techniques, such as serialism, musique concrète and free jazz. To experience Morricone performing on his instrument of choice, you can listen to his unorthodox trumpet sounds on The Group albums released by RCA and Deutsche Grammophon. “Omaggio a Giacinto Scelsi”, one of their striking compositions, uses a microtonal manipulation of a single note with uncanny sonoristic effects in honour of the eponymous pioneer of the technique.

GRUPPO DI IMPROVVISAZIONE NUOVA CONSONANZA IN 1978 PHOTOGRAPHED BY ROBERTO MASOTTI.

The Maestro’s most cherished music belongs to cinema. The famous film projection montage in “Cinema Paradiso” (1988) would feel empty without Morricone’s ineffably poignant theme. Clint Eastwood’s deadpan stares in “A Fistful of Dollars” (1964) would lose their edge without the surf guitar combined with mariachi trumpets, wordless grunts and whistles. It would be hard to feel sympathy for Jeremy Irons were it not for the wistful flute and plaintive string harmonies that bespeak his doomed love for Lolita. It is also Jeremy Irons as Father Gabriel in “The Mission” (1986), through whose oboe Morricone expresses that even in tragedy life on earth may be as it is in heaven. The composer also liked writing wordless vocal parts for Edda Dell’Orso. Her ethereal voice embodied “The Ecstasy of Gold” in the epic finale of “The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly” (1966). Morricone again captured ecstasy, of an extraterrestrial encounter, in “Mission to Mars” (2000), brilliantly combining electronic music with a large chorus. Sean Connery’s death in “The Untouchables” (1987) could not be sadder with the elegiac saxophone bidding farewell to the hero.

“THE MISSION” SOUNDTRACK ALBUM COVER. COPYRIGHT: VIRGIN RECORDS, 1986

While Morricone is better known for his melancholy melodies, it would be an oversight not to emphasize his superb skill in expressing drama. Unmistakably the Maestro’s output contains some of the most unsettling music you will ever hear. Listening to the soundtrack for “The Thing” (1982) is not for faint ears. Morricone crafted a masterpiece of chilling electronica, a sonic incarnation of the frozen landscape. To musically render the nefarious alien, the Maestro turned to the art of fugue. Years later, Quentin Tarantino reused Morricone’s piece “Bestiality”. In his bizarre and not altogether coherent fashion, Tarantino employed in his films a number of preexisting Morricone works. If nothing else, the maverick director receives credit for introducing the Maestro to new audiences.

“THE THING” SOUNDTRACK ALBUM COVER. COPYRIGHT: GEFFEN RECORDS, 2020

Morricone’s exciting music for Italian and French crime films has fascinated me for years. The relentless percussive piano rhythms with screeching electric guitars chasing Charles Bronson in “Città violenta” (1970) presented a brash new sonority for cinema. In “Le Professionnel” (1981), Morricone treated Jean-Paul Belmondo’s secret agent with an engrossing study of a theme and variations. Recently, I had a chance to see “Ripley’s Game” (2002). Morricone’s music immediately drew me into John Malkovich’s world of intrigue. The Maestro succeeded in blending the sounds of the bass guitar with the harpsichord. The final 14-minute piece on the album, entitled “Collage per Ripley”, presents an alluring collection of seamlessly integrated motifs from the film, featuring bold instrumental combinations and a tapestry of mysterious timbres. In the film, the harpsichord solos nimbly oscillate between diegetic and non-diegetic sound. Separate from the film, the music seeps through your skin. However, its depth does not yield to one hearing only. Repeated listening helps peel off the layers of the collage. Is multiplicity not a mark of art that stands the test of time?

“CITTÀ VIOLENTA” SOUNDTRACK ALBUM COVER. COPYRIGHT: GDM, 2012

Having established himself in major genres, Morricone rejected complacency. Music was a passion and an art, but also a craft and a discipline; the Maestro was always hard at work, exploring new directions. In 1997, he wrote a one-hour symphony for a rediscovered silent film adaptation of Shakespeare’s “Richard III” (1912). By contrast, the composer succeeded in humanizing Arnold Schwarzenegger in “Red Sonja” (1985), a brawny accomplishment. Morricone’s music for “Days of Heaven” (1978) presents part of his most endearing legacy. He enriched Terrence Malick’s stunning cinematography with simple, gorgeous pastoral lyricism. The score joins the camera in painting bucolic landscapes and conspires to ignite a ruinous conflagration. Morricone again proved a musical storyteller par excellence with a score that also enjoys an independent life.

Though he received an Academy Award nomination for “The Mission”, Morricone lost out to Herbie Hancock’s “Round Midnight”, which contained only 20 minutes of original music. Fellow nominee James Horner was so impressed with Morricone’s score that he voted for it instead of his “Aliens”. Nominations followed, but similarly to Jerry Goldsmith, the Oscars were not in Morricone’s favour, as if implying the irrelevance, or the irreverence, of the Best Original Score category. Morricone garnered popular success and critical acclaim for his work in American films, but he never really embraced Hollywood. His decision to remain in Italy and not to move to America empowered him to keep composing with a more European perspective.

In retrospect, the Academy made amends for their omission when they bestowed on Morricone the Honorary Award for his lifetime achievement in film scoring. Incredibly, the 2007 Academy Awards ceremony marked Morricone’s first trip to Hollywood. In his acceptance speech, interpreted by Clint Eastwood, Morricone thanked the Academy with his characteristic modesty and sincerity. The composer was accompanied by his loving wife Maria Travia, who was moved to tears when he expressed his deepest gratitude to her. Aged 78, Morricone knew and promised the audience he would continue composing, and with a renewed resolve. He honoured the promise with his distinctive prolificacy, composing several scores each year. In 2016, at the age of 87, Ennio Morricone finally received the Academy Award for Best Original Score. After years of admiration, Quentin Tarantino invited the Maestro to write music for his film “The Hateful Eight” (2015), an idiosyncratic re-imagining of the western genre. Morricone supplied a dark, intensely suspenseful, string-driven score that earned him his first Oscar.

AT THE 88TH ACADEMY AWARDS, MORRICONE WINS AN OSCAR FOR “THE HATEFUL EIGHT”. HIS ACCEPTANCE SPEECH IS MARKED BY CHARMING GRACIOUSNESS AND SELF-EFFACING GENEROSITY.

Morricone will be sorely missed. Borrowing and recycling prevail in today’s cinema while experimentation tends to be discouraged for fear of financial loss. Mediocrity is often allowed to be the common denominator for the arts. Some of the most original recent films have no musical score at all. Melodic themes appear to have fallen out of fashion. Emotions are forced on audiences by super powers and visual effects, rather than elicited by a subtle human touch that music can be. Morricone never tried to push sentiment, instead he possessed the rare power of generating our excitement, evoking our terror, and moving us to tears, often without our realization that music is the emotional heart of the film. His music is always honest. It shows a cultured sensibility, a passion for storytelling, a mastery of the craft, daring innovation with economy of means, and a deep understanding of the human nature.

The passing of Ennio Morricone marks the end of an era in music and in cinema. Time will reveal if the modern computer driven-approach to film scoring deserves a place in history. It is unlikely that Ennio Morricone will ever by eclipsed by another composer, or a computer. Consider also the magnitude of the long list of directors with whom Morricone collaborated: Bernardo Bertolucci, Franco Zeffirelli, Giuseppe Tornatore, Roland Joffé, Sergio Corbucci (Italy); Roman Polanski, Henri Verneuil (France); Don Siegel, Mike Nichols, Brian De Palma, Barry Levinson, Oliver Stone, Warren Beatty, and John Carpenter (USA). No composer since Georg Philipp Telemann (over 3000 compositions) and Johann Sebastian Bach was as successfully prolific as Morricone. Collecting his albums creates a full-time job for soundtrack aficionados. Some report more than 800 titles in their library. The list expands with several labels specializing in restoration and publication of Morricone’s music.

Our Maestro is more than a film composer. An unfounded divide seems to separate the worlds of concert and media music. When music is written to an image, the image somehow subjugates the music, therefore the music is artistically inferior to the so-called absolute or classical music. This holds true most of the time. However, Morricone bridges the divide. While he spent most of his career composing for film, to call him a film composer does not do him justice. Morricone’s music serves the moving image, but it also transcends it. Film composers count as success the achievement of this transcendence with a theme or two in a single score. In contrast, many Morricone scores are fit for a concert performance in their entirety. They are aesthetically and artistically complete without the film.

I have spent the last two years researching Mozart’s music. While on the whole I would not compare anyone to Mozart, I dare say Morricone was capable of writing beautiful melodies of irresistible charm and natural effortlessness like Mozart. Doubters are encouraged to seek out the video in which Morricone discusses how he writes a melody before listening to, for instance, the curiously titled collection “When in Doubt Turn to Ennio Morricone”. A box of tissues at hand is strongly advised, even for stoics including Clint Eastwood, to go with the near six-hour themependium. Not one tune repeats or resembles any of the other 99. Moreover, the 100 still represents a fraction of the sum total of Morricone’s melodies.

ENNIO MORRICONE USED SILENCE AS A MUSICAL SOUND. PHOTO: ENNIO MORRICONE OFFICIAL WEBSITE

Despite his age, the amazing Morricone increasingly put more energy into conducting his music around the world. Morricone’s concert tour tempo kept climbing into his late 80s. Yet he never returned to a city with the same programme. Unnamed agencies repeatedly advertised in certain cities in Europe his concerts as “the last”. Morricone gave one of his final concerts in Prague at the age of 90. The opportunists may retreat now that the ruse is true. Nevertheless, Morricone lives on.

Our deepest condolences to Ennio Morricone’s family, friends and all those who know his music.

Juilliard-trained dramatic soprano Meagan Miller is one of the leading Wagnerian specialists of her generation. Throughout her career, the versatile artist has performed diverse music of many eras and in nine different languages on some of the most important stages all over the world, including New York’s Metropolitan Opera.

Born in Wilmington, Delaware, the American soprano grew up in Ohio and Pennsylvania. She began her vocal training at the Washington and Lee University in Virginia before transferring to the Juilliard School of Music in New York. Her teachers at the renowned conservatoire included Cynthia Hoffmann, Marilyn Horne, Ruth Falcon, and Hilde Zadek.

MEAGAN MILLER AS MINNIE IN ‘LA FANCIULLA DEL WEST’, PALERMO, ©STUDIO CAMERA

In 1999, Miller was one of five winners at the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions, where she performed ‘Martern aller Arten’ from Die Entführung aus dem Serail and ‘Ain’t It a Pretty Night?’ from Carlisle Floyd’s Susannah. The New York Times described her interpretation of ‘Martern aller Arten’ as proving ‘her agility, thrust and command of intonation’ and that ‘her voice is strong and brilliant’.

In 2008, Miller garnered both the George London/Kirsten Flagstad Award and the George London Foundation Vienna Prize.

After her early years performing in various American opera houses including New York City Opera, Orlando Opera, Kentucky Opera, Syracuse Opera, Eugene Opera, San Francisco Opera’s Merola Program, Opera Theatre of Saint Louis, and the Minnesota Opera, among others, the soprano made her debut at the Vienna Volksoper in 2009 as the title heroine in Strauss’s Ariadne auf Naxos and soon after performed this role at the Bavarian Staatsoper.

Miller’s Viennese operatic debut brought her many more roles on the stages of some of the most prestigious opera houses in Europe, including the State Operas of Vienna, Munich and Hamburg. During that time, she began to establish herself as a powerhouse in the late-Romantic German repertoire. Her performance as Eva in Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg at Leipzig Opera is but one example of a memorable Wagnerian performance.

MEAGAN MILLER AS ARIADNE IN ARIADNE AUF NAXOS, VOLKSOPER WIEN, ©DIMO DIMOV

In November 2013, Meagan Miller made her first Metropolitan Opera appearance in the role of the Empress in Strauss’s Die Frau ohne Schatten. The Kaiserin is a demanding role, considered to be one of opera’s most difficult parts. Miller however, rose to the occasion showing off her skill and stamina with great panache, winning over one of the toughest opera crowds in the world.

Meagan Miller’s wide repertoire also includes Mozart roles such as the Countess in The Marriage of Figaro, Don Giovanni‘s Donna Anna and Donna Elvira, and Fiordiligi from Così fan tutte. As a concert and lieder singer she performs works from the Baroque to the present, having premiered many pieces written specifically for her voice. Most notably, she has collaborated with American classical composer Libby Larsen on ‘Try Me, Good King: The Last Words of the Wives of Henry VIII’, a song cycle written based on the text taken from the dying letters and execution speeches of the ill-fated wives of the iconic British king.

DIE LIEBE DER DANAË, BARD SUMMERSCAPE, ©CORY WEAVER

Other noteworthy performances include Minnie in Puccini’s La fanciulla del West at the Teatro Massimo Palermo, Elisabetta in Verdi’s Don Carlo at the Deutsche Oper Berlin, as Elisabeth in Tannhäuser at the Hungarian Staatsoper Budapest, and her debut at the Vienna Staatsoper as Strauss’s Daphne. In fact, Vienna is where Meagan makes her home with her husband and two young children.

Miller has recorded CDs of Beethoven, Brückner, Libby Larsen, and Richard Strauss, and her most recent recording, the title role in the world premiere full studio recording of Cesar Franck’s opera, Hulda, comes out in Fall 2020 on Naxos Records.

A passionate advocate for the next generation, Meagan is a lecturer, master teacher, voice teacher, and stage director for select projects.

As it happens, on Thursday, 28 May, at 01:00 p.m. EDT, Meagan will appear as a guest mentor on Erik Liberman’s Bridge to Broadway, an online training platform that connects young professionals with Broadway actors, directors, music directors, composers, lyricists, casting directors, and vocal coaches in behind-the-scenes conversations. Fans will get a chance to find out more about Meagan and ask her any questions.

Of the directors who carved their place into the history of cinema, Guillermo del Toro stands out as an inventive visionary, a master of the whimsical dread, and a father of monsters and curious creatures. His films are different from most in the fantasy genre, the result of multiple influences that have shaped the Mexican director over the years. Mr del Toro’s Lovecraftian accents and fatherly love for horror tale monsters are but two of the elements that have defined his cinematic art since before he even picked up his father’s Super 8 to film his own version of ‘Planet of the Apes’ (1968).

Starting with ‘Cronos’ (1993), his first feature-length movie, and going through ‘The Devil’s Backbone’ (2001), ‘Pan’s Labyrinth’ (2006), to his more recent ‘Pacific Rim’ (2013), ‘Crimson Peak’ (2015), and ‘The Shape of Water’ (2017), it is easy to spot the director’s love of everything weird and spine-tingling. But if one wishes to truly understand Guillermo del Toro, one must first journey from his Guadalajara childhood all the way into Bleak House, his beloved museum of creepy, fantastic and otherworldly. There is plenty to unpack.

‘PAN’S LABYRINTH’ (2006), ©ESTUDIOS PICASSO/WILD BUNCH

Monsters, Cinema, Death

These are the three things that best describe del Toro’s imagination and its cinematic manifestations. In ‘At Home with Monsters: Inside His Films, Notebooks, and Collections’, the companion book to the eponymous Los Angeles County Museum of Art exhibit from 2016, he writes: ‘When I was a child—a very young child—a hairline fracture became evident in my soul. I felt growingly disfranchised, puzzled, and at odds with the adult world. It was made up of rules and notions that were both alien and unexplained, and life came to feel like a rigged game. It was entirely composed of lies.’

As adults, we lie about almost everything—how much money we make, how tall we are, what our natural hair colour is, what our dreams are made of. We lie to others and we lie to ourselves, and yet we frown upon fantasy and consider it childish. It was this sense of creative injustice that fuelled del Toro’s love of stories ever since he was a little boy.

‘THE DEVIL’S BACKBONE’ (2001), ©EL DESEO/TEQUILA GANG

Born in Guadalajara, Mexico, in 1964, Guillermo del Toro was mostly raised by his Catholic grandmother. His childhood, which he frequently revisits in his films, was marred by repressed Catholicism and bullying classmates. It was saved by books, movies, and horror comics. He started drawing at a young age, much like the orphaned Jaime in ‘The Devil’s Backbone’, and he hasn’t stopped since. His notebooks are standalone works of art that have nurtured his imagination and have given birth to memorable monsters. It’s where he records ideas, lines of dialogue, various lists and images—food for his films, he’ll say.

His love of cinema comes from this period, too. He devoured pretty much any B-movie and horror film that he could find, as well as the more classical works from Alfred Hitchcock and Luis Buñuel. He loved the Universal monster movies that made it to Mexican television, and he voraciously consumed fan magazines. Del Toro taught himself English in order to understand the slang and puns of American periodicals like ‘Famous Monsters of Filmland’.

A YOUNG GUILLERMO DEL TORO WITH RON PERLMAN

In his teenage years, he worked as a projectionist for his local cinema club, watching several movies every week and passionately discussing them with other cinephiles. It was Luis Buñuel’s ‘Los Olvidados’ (1950) that proved the art value of cinema to a young del Toro, his love of film only matched by his love of comic books. Moebius (Jean Giraud), Frank Frazetta and Richard Corben count as his earlier influences in illustration. This later transpired into adulthood through his work on two Hellboy films with Mike Mignola.

There are a couple of other elements that were absorbed into his cinematic work. One came in the form of James Whale’s ‘Frankenstein’ (1931), as del Toro identified with the outsider status of Boris Karloff’s confused and abused monster. He found in Frankenstein an eloquent analogy to his directorial approach, since his movies are collages of used, discarded and different source materials that were given new life and purpose.

BORIS KARLOFF AS ‘FRANKENSTEIN’ (1931)

Growing up in ‘60s and ‘70s Guadalajara, Guillermo del Toro had several disturbing confrontations with death, the second other seminal element. He saw corpses in the streets more than once, as well as in a morgue and in the catacombs beneath the local church. He was pummelled by the notion of the original sin and even subjected to the horrors of exorcism because of his grandmother, in a useless attempt to obliterate his obvious love of monsters and fantasy. Today, the director is an outspoken critic of institutional Catholicism, saying: ‘The fantastic is the only tool we have nowadays to explain spirituality to a generation that refuses to believe in dogma or religion.’

In his films, the prospect of immortality that is promised in Catholic doctrines as a reward for obeying the church is translated into an arrogant desire that ultimately leads to the self-destruction of those who chase such wild dreams. In the end and despite the array of both wonderful and terrible experiences, del Toro walked into adulthood with a clear sense of belonging in the world of horror fantasy. ‘I really think I was born to exist in the genre’, he says. ‘I adore it. I embrace it. I enshrine it. I don’t look upon it or frown upon it in a way that a lot of directors do. For me, it’s not a steppingstone, it’s a cathedral.’

ANGEL OF DEATH SCULPTURE, INSPIRED BY ‘HELLBOY II: THE GOLDEN ARMY’ (2008)

Themes, Influences, Inspiration

In his films, del Toro often asks an interesting question: what happens when two opposing frameworks for understanding the world confront one another? Different protagonists fight against forces of disorder, struggling in their own way. Some refuse to admit the futility of this war, while others learn to accept chaos, emerging victoriously with greater powers of their own.

Colour plays an essential role in the way he communicates his cinematic vision. In an interview with Keith McDonald and Roger Clark, Guillermo del Toro points to Federico Fellini as a key influence. The Italian director once said: ‘When I transitioned into colour, I made a point of having the colour tell the story.’ Following in his footsteps, Mr del Toro applied similar purpose to colour in his movies. For example, he patterned ‘Cronos’ with the colours of the alchemical process—black, red, white, and gold, with an addition of water and fire elements into the overall canvas.

‘Colour gives you the key of the film in the same way that some songs are better in one key than another, and [the keys] define the genre of the song’, the director said.

‘CRONOS’ (1993), ©CNCAIMC/GRUPO DEL TORO

Many of del Toro’s creations feature children as central characters. They are witnesses, victims, or agents. Frequently, they are able to perceive alternate realities, producing unfiltered emotions in a way that adults cannot. Most importantly, the director refuses to shield his young protagonists from fear, abandonment, harm, or death. Well read in folklore and fable literature, del Toro insists that children cannot be protected, that they are vulnerable—and fairy tales often prove it. His films will sometimes reference classic illustrated editions of children’s stories from the 19^th century, with one instance being Ophelia in ‘Pan’s Labyrinth’, who is dressed similarly to Alice in Wonderland as rendered by Arthur Rackham.

‘PAN’S LABYRINTH’ (2006), ©ESTUDIOS PICASSO/WILD BUNCH

Victoriana is a copious source of inspiration for Guillermo del Toro. The Victorian Period, loosely considered to cover the Romantic era and the Edwardian age, is thoroughly represented by Charles Dickens in the director’s mind. He named his beloved Los Angeles personal residence/museum of curiosities after the English writer’s ‘Bleak House’ novel. Houses in both Victorian novels and his films are endowed with pasts as complicated and unresolved as their inhabitants. Mr Dickens’s memorable melange of realism and fantasy is but one of his many influences that can be found across the whole span of del Toro’s work.

INSIDE BLEAK HOUSE, ©JOSHUA WHITE/JWPPICTURES.COM/LACMA

Filled with puzzles, talismanic items, secret keys and quests for forbidden knowledge, his films draw their strength from a vast collection on the topics of magic, witchcraft, and the occult. Many of his characters are scientists, whom he considers ‘contemporary successors to the monks and alchemists who explored the boundaries between the holy and the unholy’—this is brilliantly exemplified by the fourteenth-century alchemist who kickstarts the present-day action in ‘Cronos’ with his scarab-like device that gives immortality along with a thirst for blood.

Guillermo del Toro also cites H.P. Lovecraft as one of the key influences in his creative life, whose work is foundational to both the horror and science fiction genres. The American writer’s vivid expressions of madness, transformation and monstrosity have been the source of inspiration and frustration to numerous directors, and Mr del Toro is no exception. There is a smidge of Lovecraft in almost each of his films. ‘Lovecraft did something very interesting with the traditional Gothic and horror narrative. He brought a scientific and existential point of view to it’, says del Toro in his exhibition book.

LIFE-SIZE STATUE OF H.P. LOVECRAFT IN BLEAK HOUSE, ©CHRIS MOORE

However, it’s the freaks and the monsters that are the true building blocks of his films. To him, they’re all fascinating—the movie ones as much as those found in nature, literature, in myths and in art. ‘It’s either tragedy or superiority that makes a good monster’, del Toro notes. These creatures are beautiful and heroic in their individuality, and they are also mirrors of society’s hypocrisy. According to the director, ‘the conventional standards of perfection that surround us in commercial culture are corrosive, demonizing the imperfections that characterize us all.’

While he usually identifies with the tragic type of monster, Mr del Toro is equally skilled at creating truly horrifying and indestructible fiends, too. The creation process begins with him thinking of the monster as a character, not merely a mixture of terrifying elements or a force that impacts the plot in one way or another. The creature must be visually convincing from every single point of view. Most importantly, his monsters strive to be instantly recognizable, impossible to forget, and downright iconic.

Many of them have insect-like features and behaviours. They’re designed for survival, usually in an elegant manner, but they still manage to cause an emotional reaction of fear and revulsion in most people.

‘PACIFIC RIM’ (2013), ©WARNER BROS.

Bleak House

‘I built a house made of books, art, film, and monsters. A house of many stories: dark and stormy stories. A house with secret passages and sliding bookshelves and portraits that follow you as you walk by. I dreamt it all those years ago, alone in the dark, but I only got to build it at age forty-four’, Guillermo del Toro speaks fondly of his home. It inspired an extraordinary exhibition that could be admired at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA), the Minneapolis Institute of Art, and the Art Gallery of Ontario in recent years. Parts of his collections were taken from Bleak House and put on display for the whole world to see the creepy and wondrous things that make his mind click.

Bleak House isn’t just Guillermo del Toro’s residence. It is a cornucopia of objects, notebooks, maquettes, drawings, paintings, film concept art, and artefacts—assemblies of film memorabilia, art, and literature which he considers to be essential sources of inspiration. Bleak House feeds his very soul. These collections grow organically, not chaotically. Del Toro is precise and personally involved in the arrangement and curation of every object. There is purpose in this dedication, as Bleak House is crucial to his working process.

GUILLERMO DEL TORO IN BLEAK HOUSE WITH A LIFE-SIZE STATUE OF SCHLITZIE AND H.R. GIGER ORIGINAL ARTWORK, ©JOSH WHITE/JWPICTURES.COM

Life-size sculptures of Hans and Schlitzie from ‘Freaks’ (1932), Edgar Allan Poe, and H.P. Lovecraft are among the more memorable ‘residents’, along with a plethora of monster figurines, and portraits and/or miniatures of Forrest Ackerman, celebrated magazine editor and literary agent who once represented Ray Bradbury and Isaac Asimov, giants of science fiction; makeup effects legend Dick Smith, whom the director studied under; and revered stop-motion animator Ray Harryhausen.

The house is crafted into thematic sections, and there is an enormous head of Frankenstein’s monster adorning the foyer. A history section includes busts of magicians Harry Houdini, Howard Thurston, Chung Ling Soo, and Jean-Eugène Robert-Houdin. In the rain room, there is a life-size sculpture of Boris Karloff in chair as he’s transformed into Frankenstein’s monster by renowned horror makeup artist Jack Pierce. Linda Blair as Regan MacNeil from ‘The Exorcist’ (1973) is also present.

THE FOYER OF BLEAK HOUSE, ©JOSH WHITE/JWPICTURES.COM

One will find thousands of books, as well, of both fiction and non-fiction. Among his most prized possessions, Mr del Toro mentions the entire collection of ‘Man, Myth & Magic: An Illustrated Encyclopaedia of the Supernatural’, a twenty-four volume set that was published in 1970, and which the director loved to pore over as a child. Alas, Bleak House is any fantasy and horror aficionado’s dream home.

Into the Future

Guillermo del Toro has recently finished penning the script for Disney’s upcoming ‘Pinocchio’ (2021) and ‘Nightmare Alley’ (2021), along with a sequel to ‘Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark’ (2019). Mr del Toro has also found a certain joy in animation with ‘Trollhunters: Tales of Arcadia’ (2016-2018), and he is currently moving ahead with ‘Wizards’, the third instalment of the Arcadia series.

For almost a decade, the director has struggled with a repeatedly cancelled adaptation of Lovecraft’s novella, ‘At the Mountains of Madness’, originally published in 1936. Refusing to surrender and constantly surrounded by portraits and busts of the writer at Bleak House, del Toro continues to plot and work on a way to bring this particular story to the silver screen.

GUILLERMO DEL TORO IN BLEAK HOUSE NEXT TO A LIFE-SIZE STATUE OF EDGAR ALLAN POE, ©JOSH WHITE/JWPICTURES.COM

Refusing distinctions between high and low culture, Guillermo del Toro is utterly unapologetic about what moves him in this life. Having found inspiration in the comics of Bernie Wrightson and Alan Moore, in TV shows like ‘The Twilight Zone’ (1959-1964) and ‘The Outer Limits’ (1963-1965), in the moving images of Federico Fellini and James Whale, and in the art of Francisco Goya and James Ensor, he uses his influences as instruments for crafting deeply philosophical themes.

Like an alchemist, del Toro takes these bits and pieces and transmutes them into incredible film worlds where monsters and innocents are given new purpose, driven by the very mystery and uncertainty that defines the human condition.

I will never forget the day I discovered Neil Gaiman. I borrowed a copy of ‘American Gods’ from a colleague in film school, and I remember being unable to put it down. A little over a day later, I’d finished it, and my mind had just opened up to incredible new possibilities in terms of creating fantasy with compelling characters and unique worlds.

From a literary point of view, Mr Gaiman has earned his spot among the titans of his genres—yes, genres, because he is an incredibly versatile writer, authoring now-classical oeuvres such as ‘The Sandman’ series for DC Comics/Vertigo, the aforementioned ‘American Gods’, ‘Neverwhere’ and ‘Stardust’, among many others. Perhaps still a youngling at heart, he is able to delight readers of any age with his fantasy stories—from the brave Coraline who stumbles upon a strange and sinister version of her home, to Nobody ‘Bod’ Owens who was raised in a cemetery by ghosts, to Shadow Moon, the ex-con who finds himself sucked into a war between the gods themselves.

NEIL GAIMAN, ©MASTERCLASS

Neil Gaiman isn’t afraid of the strange or the unfamiliar. Maybe that’s what makes him a master storyteller—a fact further evidenced by his Masterclass course, which is, by far, one of the best things that any aspiring writer could spend their money on. His mind is clearly full of wonders, and we can only strap in and enjoy the ride.

Most of his novels have been or are currently being adapted for the screen, which makes him quite the asset for the cinematic industry. ‘The Sandman’ is getting its own TV series, as is ‘Anansi Boys’, following the roaring success of Canada Film Capital and Fremantle’s production of ‘American Gods’ (2017), which is currently distributed by Starz!, Amazon Prime and StudioCanal. Pretty much everything that Mr Gaiman touched has turned to gold, so no wonder he’s in demand.

Young Neil

Born in Portchester, Hampshire in 1960, Neil Gaiman was raised in a predominantly Jewish and Scientologist family—although, when asked about his personal religious views, he once said: ‘I think we can say that God exists in the DC Universe. I would not stand up and beat the drum for the existence of God in this universe.’

A VERY YOUNG NEIL GAIMAN, ©NEIL GAIMAN

Able to read from the age of four, young Neil devoured literary materials perhaps too complex for a child. When he was about ten years old, he completed the works of Dennis Wheatley, whose ‘The Ka of Gifford Hillary’ and ‘The Haunting of Toby Jugg’ left quite the impression on him. But it was J.R.R. Tolkien’s ‘The Lord of the Rings’ trilogy that really set him on the path of someday becoming a writer.

C.S. Lewis, Lewis Carroll, Mary Shelley, Rudyard Kipling, Edgar Allan Poe, Ursula K. Le Guin, Harlan Ellison, and Lord Dunsany also count as early influences on young Neil. When he was only nineteen, he wrote a letter to his favourite science fiction author, R.A. Lafferty, asking for advice on becoming an author. Mr Lafferty wrote back with an encouraging message, filled with literary advice. That was a pivotal point in the early days of Mr Gaiman’s career, though perhaps the most influential author is still Roger Zelazny—easily noted from Neil’s writing style and choice of topics.

Of Journalism and Other Things

In the early 1980s, Neil took up journalism to learn about the publishing world and to make connections that would eventually get him published. He spent his days conducting interviews with agents, publishers and writers, and writing book reviews, particularly for the British Fantasy Society. He published his first short story, titled ‘Featherquest’, in Imagine Magazine in May 1984.

His discovery of Alan Moore’s ‘Swamp Thing’ gave him the drive and the courage to write his own book. He started with a biography of the band Duran Duran that same year, then quit journalism altogether in 1987, stating that ‘British newspapers regularly publish untruths as fact.’

NEIL GAIMAN, ©DAVID J. MURRAY/CLEAREYEPHOTO.COM

After releasing ‘Don’t Panic: The Official Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy Companion’ in the late ‘80s, Neil Gaiman went on to write the opening of what later became his critically acclaimed collaboration with Terry Pratchett on ‘Good Omens’. He also formed a friendship with comic-book writer Alan Moore, which, in turn, got Neil into writing comic books of his own. It was around this time that he also met and became friends with his favourite artist, Dave McKean, producing ‘Violent Cases’ and ‘The Tragical Comedy or Comical Tragedy of Mr Punch’. These two works got him a job with DC Comics in February 1987.

He wrote the limited series ‘Black Orchid’ for them and was later noticed by Karen Berger, later head of DC Comics’ Vertigo division, who invited Neil to rewrite an old character of theirs, The Sandman, but with his own spin on the previously unexplored entity. Needless to say, it was smooth sailing from thereon, as ‘The Sandman’ is, to this day, one of the most compelling and exquisite comic book collections ever written.

MORPHEUS, ‘THE SANDMAN’, ©DC COMICS/VERTIGO

The series, following Morpheus, the ageless and anthropomorphic personification of Dream, began in January 1989 and concluded in March 1996. Working with Mike Dringenberg, Neil introduced Death, Dream’s older sister, in ‘The Sandman’, and she became almost as popular as the title character himself. DC’s Vertigo line was, in fact, launched in 1993 with a limited series named ‘Death: The High Cost of Living’, which was a resounding success. This further established Neil Gaiman as a preeminent writer of comics, and he even ended up as a co-writer with Jamie Delano for the ‘Swamp Thing’ series centred on Rick Veitch. Unfortunately, an editorial decision from DC caused both Gaiman and Delano to withdraw from the project.

Neil produced a number of additional stories for the DC Universe, including some Batman, Riddler and Poison Ivy-related tales, but he didn’t stick to that side of the aisle for long. In 2013, his Angela character, created with Todd McFarlane for his ‘Spawn’ series, was introduced into the Marvel Universe as part of the last issue for the ‘Age of Ultron’ miniseries. That whole collaboration ended with a lawsuit, however, which led to a joint ownership of the characters he created for McFarlane. One thing that stands out about Neil is that he understood the publishing industry and all its facets from a very young age. It helped him protect his literary works in the long run.

In the comic book world, Neil was known as a creator of characters, though he didn’t always stick around for the writing part, focusing mostly on his work for ‘The Sandman’. In an interview, and with regards to his passion for comics above other forms of storytelling, he said: ‘One of the joys of comics has always been the knowledge that it was, in many ways, untouched ground. It was virgin territory. When I was working on Sandman, I felt a lot of the time that I was actually picking up a machete and heading out into the jungle. I got to write in places and do things that nobody had ever done before. […] But with comics I felt like – I can do stuff nobody has ever done. I can do stuff nobody has ever thought of. And I could and it was enormously fun.’

The Books of Strange and Wonderful

Neil Gaiman’s first novel, a collaborative effort with Terry Pratchett titled ‘Good Omens’ was published in 1990. It was an instant success, chronicling the struggles of an angel and a demon who really don’t want the world to end, despite the fact that the Apocalypse has already begun.

In 1996, the novelisation of his teleplay for the BBC mini-series ‘Neverwhere’ came out, and the world was never the same again, even though he has since revised the novel twice—the first time to familiarize the American audience with the London Underground, and the second time because he simply felt he could do much better than the original. It’s a defining trait of Mr Gaiman’s, in fact, to try harder, to give more than what he’s already gifted us with.

‘NEVERWHERE’ COVER, ©WILLIAM MORROW/HARPERCOLLINS PUBLISHERS

Influenced by Victorian fairy tales but with a fun and fresh twist of its own, ‘Stardust’ hit the bookstores in 1999. However, it was ‘American Gods’, published in 2001, that changed everything. It became an instant bestseller, gathering award after award for years before the idea of a TV adaptation was even considered. Fun and maybe a little terrifying fact: it almost didn’t get published because it was considered too long.

He followed it up with ‘Anansi Boys’ in 2005. Though not a direct sequel to ‘American Gods’, the book does tap into that specific universe by following Mr Nancy’s two sons—one a demigod and the other a simple Englishman, as they explore and eventually get tangled in their common heritage. In 2008, Mr Gaiman published ‘The Graveyard Book’, a work that was heavily influenced by Rudyard Kipling’s ‘The Jungle Book’, securing its spot on the New York Times Bestseller Children’s List for fifteen consecutive weeks.

‘THE OCEAN AT THE END OF THE LANE’ COVER, ©HARPERCOLLINS PUBLISHERS

With ‘The Ocean at the End of the Lane’, released in 2013 and voted Book of the Year at the National Book Awards, Neil touched on the search for one’s self-identity and the ‘disconnect between childhood and adulthood’ in a most fascinating style. ‘The Ocean at the End of the Lane’ was adapted for the stage and ran from 3 December, 2019 until 25 January of this year, at the National Theatre’s Dorfman venue in London. In-between the novels, he has also published several children’s books (‘Coraline’, ‘Mirror Mask’, and ‘The Wolves in the Walls’ among them), along with several collections of short stories, such as ‘Smoke and Mirrors’ and ‘Trigger Warning’. 

Most recently, Neil Gaiman has given us a beautiful retelling of Viking myths with ‘Norse Mythology’, where he took the time to compile, chisel and whittle through various pieces of folklore in order to produce a brilliant rendition of the Norse gods and their world, from their early days to their end in Ragnarok. 

Neil Gaiman, Executive Producer and Screenwriter

One thing is clear at this point and considering his illustrious career thus far. Much like with Stephen King, Neil Gaiman’s works are not easy to adapt for the screen. There have been a couple of misses, like with ‘Beowulf’ (2007), directed by Robert Zemeckis and featuring the voices of Angelina Jolie, Ray Winstone, and Crispin Glover, or the ‘Eternals’ animated series (2014).

‘MIRRORMASK’ (2005), ©SONY PICTURES

But everything else that has come from his stories has been exceptional from beginning to end. Take the case of ‘Mirrormask’, directed by Dave McKean, as a first example. Considered by most as an ‘underground art film’, ‘Mirrormask’ follows a young girl named Helena through a fantasy world of opposing kingdoms, playing mainly on the metaphor of a girl trapped in another world as a symbol of growing up. Its ‘Alice in Wonderland’-esque allure turns it into a magical children’s movie, and it certainly stands out through its overall visual design.

In 2007, ‘Stardust’ made it onto the big screen with a screenplay by Jane Goldman and Matthew Vaughn, the latter also its director. Featuring brilliant performances from Charlie Cox, Claire Danes, Michelle Pfeiffer, and Robert De Niro, ‘Stardust’ brought the fairy tale back into the world of cinema in a most unexpected and charming fashion.

‘Coraline’ (2009), adapted for the screen and directed by Henry Selick, made its mark as a peculiar but truly unforgettable film for children. Starring Dakota Fanning and Teri Hatcher, ‘Coraline’ is also a stunning work of stop-motion animation. Nominated for the 2010 Academy Awards and Golden Globes, it won a BAFTA Children’s Award for Best Feature Film.

MICHAEL SHEEN AND DAVID TENNANT IN ‘GOOD OMENS’ (2019), ©AMAZON PRIME/BBC STUDIOS

His masterpieces remain ‘Good Omens’ (2019), starring David Tenant and Michael Sheen, and ‘American Gods’ (2017-present), with Ricky Whittle, Emily Browning, and Ian McShane. The former, produced and distributed by Amazon Studios and BBC Studios, was written by Neil Gaiman and directed by Douglas Mackinnon. The latter, created by Bryan Fuller and Michael Green, has 16 episodes written by Mr Gaiman, along with his extensive involvement as an executive producer. Both are exceptional works of television, not only because of their source material, but also because the source material’s author stayed on and made sure his vision was accurately represented on the screen.

Neil is not one to shy away from changes between a book and a screenplay. But one could easily tell he was not directly involved in the writing and production of ‘Lucifer’ (2015), except for him voicing God. Based on a character created by Neil for DC Comics which was first seen in ‘The Sandman’, the FOX-then-Netflix production paired Lucifer Morningstar with an LA detective to solve crimes while dealing with his complicated and frustratingly divine family—it’s basically a supernatural cop procedural and hard to love. 

Aside from Tom Ellis and Lesley-Ann Brandt’s stellar performances, however, the show steers so far away from the original comics that it’s hard to even take it seriously, sometimes. In a Twitter Q&A, Neil has stated that ‘Lucifer’ is its own show, and on another occasion, he expressed relief when Netflix saved the series after FOX’s cancellation. Had Tom Kapinos and the original producing network relied more on Neil’s comics, I’m certain we would’ve seen something infinitely superior than what has somehow made it through 5 seasons. It’s a fun show, mind you, but the ‘real’ Lucifer Morningstar’s stories are infinitely more complex and fascinating, since he’s got more important things to do than solve crimes in Los Angeles.

‘AMERICAN GODS’ (2017-PRESENT), ©STARZ!

That being said, ‘The Sandman’ has finally been greenlit for the screen. Netflix ordered a series which boasts Neil Gaiman, David S. Goyer, and Allan Heinberg as its creators. Little is known about the project so far, but given that the author himself is involved, there’s little doubt that it might fail. ‘The Sandman’ is one of Neil’s most precious works, and he will do everything in his power to do it and its metaphysical characters justice, though he has repeatedly said that he prefers being a novelist before a showrunner. Then again, if you want something done right… 

‘The Graveyard Book’ and ‘The Thing About Cassandra’ have also been announced. According to The Guardian and as of 2017, Neil is also in the process of writing ‘The Seven Sisters’, a sequel to ‘Neverwhere’ which is partly inspired from his work with the UN’s refugee agency. It doesn’t have a formal release date, but those of you familiar with Neil’s writing will likely agree that we’re in for quite the treat.

And to think that, according to an interview with MTV, George R.R. Martin was once approached by a ‘skinny British kid dressed in all black’ who had an idea for a character he wanted to introduce in Mr Martin’s ‘Wild Cards’ anthology—he blew that kid off, since he didn’t have any credits to his name. That same kid gave us ‘The Sandman’ just years later.

When he first appeared as teenager Sam Weir in the highly acclaimed TV comedy ‘Freaks and Geeks’ (1999), John Francis Daley surprised us with his thespian flair, starring alongside Linda Cardellini, James Franco, Seth Rogen, Jason Segel, and Busy Philipps. Merely a child at the time, Daley became an easily recognizable presence in Hollywood, quickly establishing himself as a rising star.

CREDIT: NBC UNIVERSAL MEDIA

He emerged in the spotlight again years later as Dr Lance Sweets in the FOX procedural drama ‘Bones’ (2007), where his dynamic with Emily Deschanel and David Boreanaz’s characters made him into a fan favourite. With other film and TV roles under his belt, however, Mr Daley quickly proved that acting was not his only talent.

CREDIT: 20TH CENTURY FOX TELEVISION

Shortly before season 10 of ‘Bones’ began filming, Daley branched out into directing for the National Lampoon’s reboot of ‘Vacation’ (2015), after he’d already delivered exquisite screenplays for ‘Horrible Bosses’ (2011), ‘Horrible Bosses 2’ (2014), and ‘Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2’ (2013). Dr Lance Sweets was killed, and Mr Daley was free to expand his artistic career.

As an actor, he captured many hearts with his big brown eyes and his childlike appeal, but as a writer, Daley creates great comedy, remarkably high above the average and far from the norm. Today, John Francis Daley is even better known as one of the writers behind ‘Spider-Man: Homecoming’ (2017) and as one half of the directorial duo responsible for ‘Dungeons & Dragons’.

CREDIT: DAVID LIVINGSTON/GETTY IMAGES

Born in Wheeling, Illinois, and raised in Nyack, New York, John Francis Daley received plenty of artistic influences from his parents. R.F. Daley, his father, was an esteemed Broadway actor, and the two even met on-screen once during young Mr Daley’s guest appearance on ‘Boston Public’ (2000), as TV father and son. His mother was a piano teacher and an accomplished musician. That, too, played a significant part in his artistic evolution.

Mr Daley got his first taste of acting when he played Danny in the Nyack middle school production of ‘Grease’. His break came with the role of Young Tommy in the US and international tours of ‘The Who’s Tommy’, a Broadway hit that further pushed him into the Hollywood spotlight. His first love, however, was not acting.

‘I had always been interested in screenwriting, ever since I could write things down as a child. Obviously, I started as an actor, professionally, but screenwriting was always something that I had great interest in,’ the actor/writer/comedian/director once said in an interview with Collider. Slowly, but surely, Daley began to make his mark in the writers’ room, as well.

Jonathan Goldstein & John Francis Daley. CREDIT: ROB LATOUR/REX/SHUTTERSTOCK

Upon meeting Jonathan Goldstein, the path to writing and directing films became clear and impossible to ignore. The duo teamed up for ‘Horrible Bosses’, after both had already written their share of episodes for ‘Bones’, where Daley was still involved at the time. ‘The Incredible Burt Wonderstone’ (2013) followed, starring Steve Carell, Steve Buscemi, Jim Carrey, and a host of other Hollywood heavyweights, and it garnered numerous positive reviews during its premiere at the SXSW film festival.

The duo then tried their hand at animation, penning the screenplay for ‘Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2’ alongside Erica Rivinoja, Phil Lord, and Christopher Miller. ‘Vacation’ followed after ‘Horrible Bosses 2’, and it was where Mr Daley said goodbye to his steady acting work. As an emerging writer and director, the move made all the sense in the world.

‘Once you see the entertainment world from both sides, you really get a greater understanding of how it all operates. As an actor going into screenwriting, I was able to understand what type of dialogue feels natural and what an actor could actually say.’

Mr Daley was obviously more than just the boy-faced Lance Sweets or Sam Weir. He was writing, and he was writing well, particularly in the comedy genre.  Following the release of ‘Vacation’, an evolution in Mr Daley’s writing style can be observed. A shift from clean and goofy comedy to the darker type—gritty, violent, but tremendously hilarious, nonetheless. The free-wheeling writing that borders on black comedy, rife with blunt-force physical trauma and dry humour is a formula that seems to simply… work. 

And that is the formula that later brought ‘Game Night’. Mr Daly truly excelled here. Making good comedy these days is never an easy task, but the film certainly proved that it could still be done, especially if the casting is a perfect fit for the characters involved—in this case, Rachel McAdams and Jason Bateman, who were beyond fantastic.

CREDIT GENEVIEVE/WIKIPEDIA

Not wanting to adhere strictly to the comedy genre, Mr Daley followed up on his ‘Game Night’ success by joining the writers’ team of ‘Spider-Man: Homecoming’, along with his friend and co-writer, Mr Goldstein. The film’s success propelled the duo higher into the Hollywood stratosphere, as the team have recently been confirmed to take on ‘Dungeons & Dragons’, Hasbro’s iconic roleplaying board game, thus bringing it to the silver screen. It’s an ambitious project that has already captured the interest and excitement of the game’s gargantuan fandom. 

They’re also scheduled to bring the ‘M.A.S.K.’ animated TV series to the big screen, as well as a comedic nod to the classic ‘The Six Million Dollar Man’, which is titled ‘The $40,000 Man’. Little-known fact, the latter was actually Daley and Goldstein’s first project together, and it is now finally getting its shot at production, after New Line Cinema picked it up.

Hopefully everyone understands why it is already causing some serious giggles. ‘The $40,000 Man’ follows a legendary astronaut and American hero who is horribly injured in a car crash and is rebuilt as a bionic man by the government on a side-splittingly limited budget. ‘We were thinking about the whole concept of “The Six Million Dollar Man”, and we thought that it would be funny if the government didn’t have enough money’, Mr Daley said to The Hollywood Reporter.

Setting the laughter aside, what truly sets him apart as a screenwriter is the ability to take his acting experience and put it into his writing. ‘Once you see the entertainment world from both sides, you really get a greater understanding of how it all operates. As an actor going into screenwriting, I was able to understand what type of dialogue feels natural and what an actor could actually say,’ he told Collider.

CREDIT: JUSTIN STEPHENS/20TH CENTURY FOX TELEVISION

Though still very young and with plenty of years ahead, John Francis Daley shows tremendous potential as a screenwriter and as a director. While most of his work is closely tied to Jonathan Goldstein for now, we are wondering what his solo projects will look like. His versatility is a noticeable advantage, as he naturally delves into multiple aspects of the film industry. Furthermore, his affinity for music has turned him into a keyboard player and vocalist in his own band, Dayplayer, which ultimately makes him the aforementioned Jack of artistic trades.

He’s no stranger to unemployment, either, his ascension in the cinematic world being anything but easy. Mr Daley held his ground, more than once, when negotiating his contracts. For a while, he was practically jobless after a producer failed to meet his quote. The hiatus did help him establish his credibility as a bankable TV personality, and his more recent accomplishments prove it.

His discerning nature, along with the clarity in his choices so far put Daly farther ahead of other writers and directors of his generation. His ability to work seamlessly in front of and behind the camera gives him more room to play, where his characters and plots are involved. 

His sense of humour is undoubtedly the most powerful driver for his creativity, and it’s even more valuable when he is able to insert it into almost anything he writes. A more recent example, aside from ‘The $40,000 Man’ is ‘The Creeps’, which Universal Picture has just picked up, and it’s described as a coming-of-age comedic horror. That is a genre cross that no one has dared explore, until now.

With such a diverse array of incoming projects, we can’t help but simply look forward to Mr Daley’s continuous evolution, tackling the challenges he’s so gleefully taken on. His talent is undeniable. His drive is equally robust. And his partnership with Mr Goldstein is certainly taking him to new levels of excellence in the cinematic universe.