Spider-Man: Homecoming 2017
John Watts jumps from two tiny films to the A-list; Ryan reads him as a Russo-type the Marvel people like.
The Big Picture · Discussion · Interview
Matt Reeves Puts Humanity in 'The Planet of the Apes' | The Big Picture (Ep. 18)
July 14, 2017/ 50 min/ Sean Fennessey · Chris Ryan
Chris Ryan on how directors get vaulted into franchise jobs, then Matt Reeves on the mocap grind behind War for the Planet of the Apes and his coming Batman.
19 films across 2 segments.
AI-generated This episode was transcribed and analyzed with AI models. The matches aren't perfect — expect the occasional misheard title or a link to the wrong film.
The franchise-director trackSean Fennessey and Chris Ryan
Cop Car 2015
One of Watts's two pre-Marvel movies. Ryan notes he directs kids well.
Clown 2014
Watts's small horror film, the other pre-Homecoming credit.
Baby Driver 2017
Used as the yardstick: does Watts have a non-franchise swing of his own in him?
The Book of Henry 2017
Colin Trevorrow's misfire; Ryan thinks it's unfair to judge his Star Wars off it.
Transformers: The Last Knight 2017
Bay goes back to the well; poorly received, soft box office.
Dunkirk 2017
Nolan's other choice: still big, but an intense, fat-free IMAX ride rather than a Transformers-scale blockbuster.
Pain & Gain 2013
Ryan's alt-history: Bay has spent a decade trying to make Nolan movies like this one.
13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi 2016
The other Bay passion project; couldn't find an audience.
Matt Reeves on 'War for the Planet of the Apes'
Matt Reeves on
War for the Planet of the Apes 2017
His second Apes film; the first with no scene lacking apes. Shot on Alexa 65, a year of writing with Mark Bomback, over a year in post matching Andy Serkis's face onto Caesar shot by shot.
Matt Reeves on
Dawn of the Planet of the Apes 2014
He stepped in after Rupert Wyatt left and made it in two years, not the usual three; a crash course in motion capture he chose War to build on.
Matt Reeves on
Rise of the Planet of the Apes 2011
Where Reeves first felt full emotional identification with a CG character.
Matt Reeves on
Planet of the Apes 1968
The endpoint the trilogy is written toward; you get the Statue of Liberty reveal only once, so the whole burden shifts from what to how.
Matt Reeves on
Beneath the Planet of the Apes 1970
His childhood favorite of the sequels; the mutants unmasking and praying to the bomb freaked him out.
Matt Reeves on
Cloverfield 2008
An independent film made at Bad Robot, not the studio picture people assume; Abrams told him the VFX were the easy part.
Matt Reeves on
Let Me In 2010
A remake he turned down until it became the most personal thing he could make; John Ajvide Lindqvist told him to do it.
Matt Reeves on
Let the Right One In 2008
The Tomas Alfredson original he loved and was reluctant to remake.
Matt Reeves on
The Pallbearer 1996
His first film, a Miramax comedy with David Schwimmer and Gwyneth Paltrow; he was after Hal Ashby-style 'painful comedies' and it didn't fully work.
Matt Reeves on
The Batman 2022
Next up: a noir, heavily point-of-view take that finds a parallel between Batman and Caesar as tortured men trying to do right in a corrupt world.
Also mentioned raised along the way
Name-checked in the director talk Doctor StrangeGuardians of the GalaxyCitizen KaneSaving Private RyanAtonementLone Survivor
Touchstones in the Reeves interview 2001: A Space OdysseyShampooHarold and Maude
Not films filtered out: TV, games, ads
TV FelicityThe Twilight Zone
Podcasts The Watch
Ads Mack Weldon