United States
With ten years of experience in entertainment journalism and film criticism, Karen is a Los Angeles-based film critic, podcaster, and writer. She worked as a staff writer and then assistant editor for the entertainment site AwardsCircuit.com until it closed in 2020. She then spent two years as the Awards Editor at We Live Entertainment. She currently freelances with bylines at Variety and Awards Daily, in addition to her work with Citizen Dame, the podcast and website she co-owns and edits. Additionally, she co-hosts the Watch and Talk film and TV podcast.
Karen is particularly interested in the craft of filmmaking, celebrating marginalized filmmakers, and analyzing entertainment awards races. Her work has taken her to film festivals including Sundance, SXSW, Hamptons International Film Festival, AFI, and Animation Is Film, as well as red carpet events and press rooms for the Independent Spirit Awards, the Critics Choice Awards, ACE Eddies, and the Oscars.
One of the most talked-about scenes in a movie this year involves a symphony of sickness in Ruben Östlund's " Triangle of Sadness." For director of photography Fredrik Wenzel and production designer Josefin Åsberg, the planning for such a complex scene began two years before principal photography.
Interviews and Features
Main title creators Mark Bashore and Katrina Crawford were given a unique challenge in creating the title sequence for "The Rings of Power," a series from the world of J.R.R. Tolkien that would introduce fans of "The Lord of the Rings" to the much older and less familiar Second Age.
Makeup department head Zoe Hay and hair department head Michael Reitz accepted a unique creative opportunity when they joined NBC's " This Is Us" six years ago. They were tasked with aging family matriarch Rebecca Pearson, played by Mandy Moore, from age 16 to 80.
Working on " Our Flag Means Death," a half-hour comedy now streaming on HBO Max, production designer Ra Vincent was excited for the challenge of crafting "a theatrical play ... on the high sea."
Supervising sound editor Jane Tattersall, sound designer Brennan Mercer and re-recording mixers Matthew Chan and Lou Solakofski knew the stakes were high for Paramount+ series " Halo," based on the wildly popular Xbox video game, which for years had been trying to make the leap to movie theaters.
Gary Oldman has become a legend in his own time, with such iconic characters as Lee Harvey Oswald, Dracula, Sirius Black, and Commissioner Gordon. Since the early days of his career, Oldman has embraced a wide range of parts, has played in every imaginable genre, and has become one of the most recognizable actors in the business, even with his chameleon-like ability to disappear into every new role.
Delroy Lindo has graced screens big and small for years, a fascinating actor who is always a welcome face in such notable genre movies like Congo, Ransom, Get Shorty, and Gone in Sixty Seconds. His credits include celebrated films from Malcolm X to The Cider House Rules and voice work in the beloved Pixar movie, Up.
Amanda Seyfried has enjoyed a remarkable career in her first twenty years on screen. The actress got her start in soap operas before landing her breakout role in the 2004 hit Mean Girls. Before long, she was starring in such beloved movies as Mamma Mia!, Jennifer's Body, and the HBO series, Big Love.
Nicole Beharie is doing as well as anyone could during a global pandemic. From taking time for herself, training, dancing, praying, and connecting with others. The star of indie hit, Miss Juneteenth, won Best Actress at this year's Gotham Awards and we were delighted to talk with her about what it was like to hear she had won the season's first major prize.
Yahya Abdul-Mateen II is a very busy man these days. In just three years, he has appeared in The Greatest Showman, Us, Aquaman, and more. Last year, he took on his biggest role to date, starring opposite Regina King in HBO's epic limited series, Watchmen.