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The latest film from writer-director Matt Ruskin begins in media res as an attentive neighbor overhears an attack on a female tenant in the unit next door. As he bangs on the door, the words “Inspired by a True Story” appear onscreen as the attacker turns up the radio to disguise the murder.

There are several attack scenes in Boston Strangler, which follows real life journalist Loretta McLaughlin (Kiera Knightley) as she embarks on an obsessive investigation of a serial killer targeting women in Boston from 1962 and 1964.

This first attack is the sparsest: it’s all strategic framing and sound effects to imply violence. This won’t always hold true, however; several other sequences of gendered violence are more explicit and sustained. But while the female victims were sexually assaulted and strangled, Ruskin and director of photography Ben Kutchins are careful not to sensationalize the crimes.

The gendered nature of...

Bleak atmosphere and a David Fincher-inspired aesthetic are the first things that audiences will notice when watching “Boston Strangler.” Writer-director Matt Ruskin pulls us into this true-crime tale, centered on the dedicated reporters determined to solve Boston’s serial killings in the early 1960s, using similarly desaturated color, frame composition and camera movements. A distant cousin to “Zodiac,” with splashes of “Seven” mixed into its homages, this thriller falls short of its influences yet carves out a small space of its own. It makes a searing indictment of the sloppy, sexism-laced police work that might’ve resolved the case, and pays tribute to the two women who broke the investigation wide open.

Happily married mom of three Loretta McLaughlin (Keira Knightley) is a lifestyle reporter at the Record American, a newspaper continually scooped by its competitors. Hoping to break out of the staff role she’s relegated to and into the homicide beat,...

To be a male serial killer of women one must be a misogynist. “Duh,” you’re probably saying, and yet we’re surrounded by sexy serial killer media, from Zac Efron as Ted Bundy to whatever Ryan Murphy is up to these days. It’s refreshing, then, that the historical crime drama “Boston Strangler” centers on a female journalist as she tracks that eponymous killer while avoiding glamorizing or sexualizing his actions.

Keira Knightley plays Loretta McLaughlin, a dogged journalist and mother of three who sees a way out of covering the lifestyle beat when she connects three similar murders. As she seeks justice for a growing tally of victims, her own womanhood is an inextricable part of the story.

The film begins in Ann Arbor, 1965, where a woman living alone is strangled to death. Her body is posed, nylon stockings tied around her neck in a sadistic, giftwrappy bow.

Stars Matthew Rhys and John Lithgow, along with cinematographer David Franco and production designer John P. Goldsmith, joined Deadline to talk all things Perry Mason during the HBO panel at Contenders Television: The Nominees awards-season event.

The show was originally intended as a limited series but instead proved so popular HBO has made it a regular series that is already renewed for a second season. It is competing in the Drama categories for Emmys and certainly presents a vision of the celebrated Erle Stanley Gardner creation that really has not been seen before, beginning with an origin story set in 1930s Los Angeles that in some ways is akin to hardboiled film noir tales more familiar to fans of Humphrey Bogart films than the infamous Raymond Burr TV series of the ’50s and ’60s.

That is actually what intrigued Rhys, who plays the title role and is Emmy nominated for...

Deadline’s two-day Contenders Television: The Nominees continues Sunday morning, with the second half of our award-season gala presentations that total 34 shows and 117 speakers from 16 networks and studios. The panels highlighting this year’s Emmy-nominated shows launched Saturday with a focus on comedies, documentaries, reality and specials (read our print coverage here). Today, the lineup pivots to spotlight dramas, limited series and movies, with things getting underway at 9 a.m. Pt.

To watch today’s Contenders livestream, click here.

Yes, our well-established event is virtual again due to the ongoing pandemic, but the range of the participants and projects is a powerful testament to the breadth and depth of the best of TV in 2021.

In fact, Emmy history has already been made this year. Mj Rodriguez’s nomination for Pose marks the first lead acting nod for a trans performer. Bowen Yang has become the first Chinese-American man to be...

HBO’s 1930s-set “Perry Mason” required production designer John P. Goldsmith to step even further back in time than the original incarnation of the show, as seen in the 1950s. Furthermore, since the titular character (played by Matthew Rhys) was working as a private investigator (not yet a lawyer) in the new drama, Goldsmith and visual-effects supervisor Justin Ball had to steep the series in a noir style to reflect the kind of gritty justice that might be served.

The process started with Goldsmith researching real-life 1930s Los Angeles. He relied on the internet — in particular waterandpower.org, where he pulled from archives of roads, dams, signs, buildings and everything he needed to begin the process to recreate the old world on new soundstages. He also found crime scene archives from the Los Angeles Police Department a helpful resource.

When researching the design of his exteriors, it was all about looking up.

The cover story of our 2013 Fall issue, All is Lost proved a herculean exercise in filmmaking. Nearly dialogue free, J.C. Chandor’s sophomore feature plots its arc from the timeless motif of man versus nature, miraculously abstaining from repetition. Chandor exhibits a clear confidence in silence, allowing the surroundings and sun-stained face of Mr. Robert Redford to propel the story forward. Despite its effortless looks, making the movie was surely no cakewalk. In this behind the scenes video from HitFix, key players including underwater d.p. Peter Zuccarini, production designer John P. Goldsmith and editor Pete Beaudreau discuss their experiences in realizing […]...

The cover story of our 2013 Fall issue, All is Lost proved a herculean exercise in filmmaking. Nearly dialogue free, J.C. Chandor’s sophomore feature plots its arc from the timeless motif of man versus nature, miraculously abstaining from repetition. Chandor exhibits a clear confidence in silence, allowing the surroundings and sun-stained face of Mr. Robert Redford to propel the story forward. Despite its effortless looks, making the movie was surely no cakewalk. In this behind the scenes video from HitFix, key players including underwater d.p. Peter Zuccarini, production designer John P. Goldsmith and editor Pete Beaudreau discuss their experiences in realizing […]...

Here’s a first look at All Is Lost. Lionsgate, Roadside Attractions, Academy Award-winner Robert Redford, and Academy Award-nominated writer/director J.C. Chandor (Best Writing, Original Screenplay for Margin Call) jointly announced that principal photography has wrapped on the open water thriller All Is Lost at Baja Studios in Rosarito, Mexico. Chandor wrote and directed the film, and Redford stars in a solo performance of one man lost at sea and his battle against the elements to stay alive. Before The Door Pictures. Neal Dodson and Washington Square Films. Anna Gerb are producing.

“After an intense two months of shooting on the water, we.re headed home and have finished production on schedule,. said Dodson and Gerb. .Jc is making an audacious film with a brave performance at its center.”

The director of photography is Frankie DeMarco and the editor is Pete Beaudreau, both of whom collaborated with Chandor on Margin Call.

In this third and final part of our video interview series for Straw Dogs, director Rod Lurie illuminates us on what a straw dog is as well as comments on the violence in the film. He also talks more about who Charlie is and where the fine line between good and evil lies.

Location manager F. Stanley Pearse, Jr., production designer Tony Fanning, and art director John Goldsmith also offer up some behind-the-scenes production gems.

Rod Lurie directed the Straw Dogs remake, which stars James Marsden, Kate Bosworth, Alexander Skarsgard, Dominic Purcell, James Woods, Laz Alonso and Rhys Coiro.

Check out our Straw Dogs video interview from the past couple of days:

Part 1 - Alexander Skarsgard, Dominic Purcell & Laz Alonso

Part 2 - James Marsden, Kate Bosworth & James Woods

Scroll through our Straw Dogs Image Gallery, and then check out three video clips from the original Straw Dogs by Sam Peckinpah starring Dustin Hoffman.