John Carpenter on horror classic The Thing: ‘It was an enormous failure and I got fired’
‘Audiences hated the ending. They wanted to know who the Thing was. But I don’t care. That’s how I wanted it’
October 2023
Long-lost Star Wars X-Wing model auctioned for a record-breaking $3.1m
Spacecraft discovered in cardboard box belonging to late model-maker Greg Jein becomes the ‘most expensive Star Wars screen-used prop sold at auction’
September 2023
Long-lost Star Wars X-Wing model to be auctioned, bids starting at $400,000
Model of spacecraft used in 1977 Star Wars film was thought to be lost for decades, but was found in the collection of Oscar-nominated model-maker Greg Jein
August 2023
Marvel VFX artists take first step toward unionisation amid Hollywood strikes
During a wave of action by actors and writers, the comic-book film giant faces calls to remedy its ‘toxic relationship’ with technical artists
July 2023
‘It’s exactly as they’d have done it in the 1910s’: how Barbenheimer is leading the anti-CGI backlash
Old-school practical effects date back to the silent era and are created with artistry and care. Is the novelty of CGI green-screen action wearing off in favour of craft models?
March 2022
Hollywood’s No 1 penis-maker: ‘Chris Hemsworth keeps his next to Thor’s hammer!’
What’s behind the sudden rise in penises on screen? And who do the stars turn to when they need a great prosthetic member? We meet the master craftsman who tailors each stand-in schlong like a bespoke suit
January 2022
Conversations with experts
Are films really getting longer? We ask the expert
Sarah Atkinson, professor of screen media, on whether the trend for big, epic films is leading to big, epic runtimes
November 2021
Netflix scoops up Game of Thrones visual effects whiz Scanline
US streaming service says it will let new Canadian subsidiary work for a variety of clients
February 2021
Women in technology
'I can count the senior women on both hands': VFX's gender problem
It’s a booming industry encompassing tech and art, and where training is readily available. So why aren’t more women working in visual effects?
October 2020
Ray Harryhausen's art raid: where the effects genius found his terrifying monsters
From his sword-swinging skeletons to a horn-headed cyclops, a new show reveals how the gruesome godfather of special effects plundered antiquity for ideas – and his own art collection
March 2020
Is this the future of film? How to finish a shoot when the coronavirus strikes
When the pandemic halted his war thriller, Timur Bekmambetov popped his leading actor inside a video game and completed the shoot from 1,200km away. Will movies now have to be made this way?
October 2019
Week in geek
'Of course Marvel is cinema!' Why the Scorsese backlash is justified
Kevin Smith, Taika Waititi and James Gunn reject veteran film-maker’s dismissal of superhero movies as ‘theme park’ fare – while his output exposes a debt to spectacle and innovation
September 2019
How we made
How we made A Nightmare on Elm Street
‘The character has never left me. If I’m stuck in traffic in LA, I’ll do the Freddy voice and shout: “Get out of my way!”’
June 2019
'It's ghost slavery': the troubling world of pop holograms
Dead stars from Whitney Houston to Maria Callas are going on tour again. As Miley Cyrus explores the issue in a new Black Mirror, we uncover the greatest identity crisis in music today
May 2019
Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker – what we learned from the Vanity Fair special
JJ Abrams and co have hinted the finale will involve less CGI, more new characters … and screen time for Carrie Fisher
January 2019
Weatherwatch
Weatherwatch: no business like fake snow business
Classic Hollywood snow scenes aren’t what they seem – the snow could be made of anything from cornflakes to asbestos
May 2018
Jordan Wolfson: 'This is real abuse – not a simulation'
Creepy and vengeful, Wolfson’s puppet boy is violently smashed to the floor at Tate Modern – then threatens to fight back. But is the controversial US artist just yanking our chain?
April 2018
Through the looking glass: the Alice exhibition taking crowds down a rabbit hole
Designed by Anna Tregloan, the exhibition has creative and immersive rooms that house more than 300 objects
March 2018
'The stench of it stays with everybody': inside the Super Mario Bros movie
In 1993, the makers of The Killing Fields and Chariots of Fire bought the film rights to the world’s biggest video game. The result was a commercial disaster. But that’s only part of the story
January 2017
A cut above: Artem's special effects studio – in pictures
Artem has been producing special effects for film, theatre and TV for nearly 30 years, teaming designers from a range of disciplines as diverse as architecture, interior design, sculpture, graphic design, illustration and engineering
