The Treatment

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...

Actress Patricia Clarkson ( The Station Agent, Vicky Cristina Barcelona ) moves from impulsive characters -- like her roles in High Art and Whatever Works , to thoughtful ones -- like her role in the new film Cairo Time . 

Many of us think we’ve first met Steve Carell ( Little Miss Sunshine, The Forty Year Old Virgin ) when he was a correspondent on The Daily Show . Many of us know him from The Office . But he’s made a big splash in movies this last year alone with three big films, including his latest, Dinner for Schmucks.

After Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz , writer-director Edgar Wright turns to the graphic novel Scott Pilgrim vs the World for his first adaptation. Find out how he makes it his own.

Documentary filmmaker Lucy Walker ( Devil's Playground, Blindsight )  has made films in improbable worlds: Amish teenagers, blind mountaineers, and, with Countdown to Zero ,  the nuclear arms issue. Walker and former CIA officer Valerie Plame Wilson talk "phishing."

After a decade of making independent films with personal and political points Salt director Phillip Noyce ( Dead Calm, Patriot Games, Rabit-Proof Fence, Quiet American ) has returned to the big screen with a sleeper-spy action film. See if it's spiced up his career.  

Christopher Nolan's made Batman, The Joker and a Scandinavian film noir his own. With Inception, he returns to his roots, bringing an original script to the big screen.

Elvis hosts actor John C. Reilly ( Magnolia, Boogie Nights, Criminal ) to talk about his latest feature, Cyrus , directed by Mark and Jay Duplass, in which he plays the lead role, along side Jonah Hill, Marisa Tomei and Catherine Keener.

Director Ralph Ziman ’s career has taken him from documentary ( Hearts and Minds) to music videos ( Faith No More ) to feature film ( The Zookeeper ). His South African film noir, Gangster’s Paradise: Jerusalema , is the brave grim world his hero wants to create.

From indie film to Martin Scorsese, from Parks & Recreation on NBC to Party Down on Starz, Adam Scott The finale of Party Down is one more piece on his tray. 

Sundance has been good for writer-director Debra Granik ( Down to the Bone ). She won all three time she competed. Her newest, Winter's Bone , got the Grand Jury Prize this year. It's the importance of film festivals.

From the obscure to the mainstream, forgotten masters to the next wave of directors, the Los Angeles Film Festival expands its reach with new directors Rebecca Yeldham and David Ansen .

As screenwriters, you know David Levien and Brian Koppelman for Rounders and Oceans 13 . Their second film as directors, Solitary Man , is a drama about a different kind of a gamble. 

Organizing chaos and finding surprise in an enterprise that demands consistency are contradictions that attract director Ken Loach ( Kes, Hidden Agenda, Cathy Come Home, My Name is Joe, The Wind That Shakes the Barley, Sweet Sixteen, Bread and Roses ) in his newest film, Looking for Eric .

Lovely and Amazing, Friends with Money ... Nicole Holofcener plays it close to the vest with her titles, like her newest, Please Give . She gives a little away when she joins Elvis.

It's the voice, not just his own speaking voice but the way a character sounds that matters to Michael Caine ( Get Carter, The Italian Job, The Cider House Rules, Alfie, The Dark Knight, Zulu ) . His new film is Harry Brown , and he'll discusses sound.

Director Sylvain White ( Stomp the Yard, I'll Always Know What You Did Last Summer, Trois: The Escort ) has crossed genres, going from African American romantic thriller, to slasher film, to musical to action-adventure with his newest, The Losers ....

Matthew Vaughn worked as Guy Ritchie's producer before turning to directing. His three movies as filmmaker -- Layer Cake, Stardust and his newest, Kick Ass -- are all adaptations. It's two-fisted inspiration from the printed page.  

Who'd guess that you'd find parts of director Shawn Levy's ( The Pink Panther, Big Fat Liar ) life in movies from Night at the Museum to Cheaper by the Dozen to his newest, Date Night . Make a date to hear about it. Elvis hosts director Shawn Levy to talk about his latest film, Date Night , starring Tina Fey and Steve Carell.

From stuntman to director. If it's not a first, it's close. First-time director Nash Edgerton ( Spider, The Magician, The Pitch , music videos for Missy Higgins, Ben Lee and Bob Marley) talks about his film, The Square . He's gone from taking falls to taking responsibility.