After last year’s bombastic and CGI-laden “How the Grinch Stole Christmas,” Ron Howard has returned to classic filmmaking with “A Beautiful Mind,” a probing glance into the mental synapses of mathematics genius and Nobel Prize-winner John Forbes Nash Jr.
“This film is 180 degrees from Grinch,’” said Mike Hill, who has co-edited Howard’s films since 1982. [...]

After a stint in the U.S. Navy as a member of the Combat Camera Group in Vietnam, Gary Graver decided to take a chance on his career.
A longtime admirer of director Orson Welles, Graver called up his idol at his Beverly Hills bungalow and offered his services as a cinematographer.
Welles took the young man up [...]

Late last year, Council Bluffs native John Jackson was busy working on the made-for-cable movie, “A Breed Apart,” in Budapest. (It premieres on STARZ! this spring.)
On his flight back, he read the script for Alexander Payne’s latest project, “About Schmidt.”
By December, he was committed to working as the film’s casting director.
Although he enjoys working with [...]

Being a volunteer can change a person’s life.
Judy Hoppe of Lincoln, Neb., should know.
Because of her involvement with the Friends of the Mary Riepma Ross Film Theater, she recently took a foray into the film industry.
As a good friend of Nebraska Film officer Laurie Richards, Hoppe found out about director Alexander Payne’s latest film, “About [...]

After more than two decades as an actor, Peter Riegert decided to take his career in a new direction.
“I had read a short story by O. Henry about six years ago and decided it would make a nice short,” he said. “I wanted to investigate the possibilities of directing a film, and the best way [...]