The Treatment

Director Edward Zwick has made films (The Siege, Glory, Blood Diamond) about social causes, but also about social responsibility. His newest, Defiance, examines that as deeply as any of his others.

In the 20 years since Sex, Lies and Videotape, director Steven Soderbergh (Out of Sight, Erin Brockovich, Oceans Eleven/Twelve/Thirteen) has made 20 films. His newest, the epic Che, is both formalist and intimate.

In just six films, director David Fincher (Seven, Panic Room, Fight Club) has established themes and textures. So much so that his latest, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, both conforms and contradicts that work.

Elvis Mitchell hosts actress-teacher-writer Jenny Lumet, whose screenplay Rachel Getting Married has been made into a critically acclaimed film, starring Anne Hathaway and directed by Jonathan Demme.

Director Darren Aronofsky is know for portraying anguish in his films (Pi, Requiem for a Dream, The Fountain) with dazzling stylistic flourish. With The Wrestler, the tale unfolds with a stark minimalism.

Frost/Nixon, from director Ron Howard (Happy Days, Arrested Development, Apollo 13, A Dangerous Mind) is the the interview as blood sport, with a fallen president and a desperate talk-show host going toe to toe...

You may know actor Richard Jenkins in his role as the dead father in Six Feet Under, or his films with the Coen Brothers, Mike Nichols of the Farley Brothers. Now the cosmic character actor stars in The Visitor.

There's probably no director working who's made films focusing on a characters with a compact with loneliness the way that Marc Forster has. (Finding Neverland, Monster's Ball, The Kite Runner) He's brought James Bond into that world in which Bond has to figure out his own compact with loneliness. The new bond film is Quantum of Solace.

For writer-producer Tim Kring (Chicago Hope, Crossing Jordan), his series Heroes was a way to bring a full meal to audiences...

Though Seinfeld and The New Adventures of Old Christine are different shows, both took times to catch on. Julia Jouis-Dreyfus talks about the move from cult hit to the mainstream.