The Treatment

Between them, actor Danny McBride and director Jody Hill have brought the 70's anti-hero to comedy, first with the indie film, The Foot Fist Way, and now, with Eastbound &  Down on HBO. It's awfully...funny.

Mad Men's creator Matthew Weiner discusses Midwestern manners, Carnal Knowledge and Jon Hamm.

With such films as The Puffy Chair and Cyrus, actress Katie Aselton has worked a lot in improvisation. With her new film, The Freebie, she also directs a film that doesn't rely a script.

The stark minimalism of Never Let Me Go might scare off most film directors. That very quality drew Mark Romanek (One Hour Photo; music videos, including Nine Inch Nails Closer & Hurt, Beck’s Devil’s Haircut) to the material. He talks about making loneliness visual.

Writer/director Sean Baker is best known for Greg the Bunny and Warren the Ape on TV. His feature film,  Prince of Broadway, is gritty and stark. It’s all more similar than you’d think.

Actor Philip Seymour Hoffman (Capote, Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead, The Savages, The Talented Mr Ripley, Magnolia) has worked with a dream list of directors: like Sidney Lumet, Paul Thomas Anderson, the Coen Brothers and Mike Nichols. With Jack Goes Boating, the Oscar-winning director becomes one. Was it a dream come true?

The Australian musical Bran Nue Dae, starring Missy Higgins, Geoffrey Rush, Rocky McKenzie and Jessica Mauboy, happens to be a comedy of aborigines. It's the Mama Mia of race. Director Rachel Perkins (First Australians, Radiance, One Night the Moon) talks about her brand new take on the subject. .

Writer-director Will Gluck likes self-aware characters. He wrote for the TV soap-satire Grosse Pointe and co-created the show The Loop. His newest film is the updated version of The Scarlett Letter. Does Easy A make the grade?

It makes sense that Jennifer Salt is now a screenwriter. The first act of her career was as an actress working with Robert Altman, Brian de Palma and Woody Allen. Her second act includes writing on Nip/Tuck and co-writing Eat Pray Love

From the three Austin Powers movies to the two Focker films, Jay Roach has made some definite left turns. His newest, Dinner for Schmucks, is a departure that still lines up...