Check the Gate

Check the Gate is a recurring column in which Brad Gullickson goes one-on-one with directors in an effort to uncover the reasoning behind their creative decisions. Why that subject? Why that shot?

Explore the entire Check the Gate archive below

Wild Indian Lyle Mitchell Corbine Jr Interivew

‘Wild Indian’ Took Years to Write But Only 17 Days to Shoot

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We chat with filmmaker Lyle Mitchell Corbine Jr. about his first feature and how years of creative thought ultimately paid off.

Demonic Neill Blomkamp

Neill Blomkamp Cobbled ‘Demonic’ Together Using Old Ideas and Available Assets

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We chat with the director about what he learned from his last feature and how making a self-financed horror film delivered much-needed mental relief.

Navot Papushado Gunpowder Milkshake Interview

Navot Papushado on the 99 Movies Stuffed Inside ‘Gunpowder Milkshake’

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We chat with the director about why all contract killer movies begin with an eye towards Hitchcock, Kurosawa, and Leone.

Neil Marshall The Reckoning

Neill Marshall Explains How ‘Hellboy’ Heartache Birthed ‘The Reckoning’

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We chat with director Neil Marshall about ‘The Reckoning’ and how it rekindled his love for making movies.

Godzilla Vs Kong Adam Wingard

Adam Wingard on Shooting ‘Godzilla vs. Kong’ as an Immersive 800 MPH Brawl

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We chat with the director about attaching cameras to fins and fists and why these two titans reign over all others.

Russo Brothers Cherry

Anthony Russo Explains How Six Tones are Better than One in ‘Cherry’

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We chat with the director about his new film and how he and his brother jumbled genres to capture life in chaos.

Jay Baruchel Random Acts Of Violence

Jay Baruchel Makes His Camera a Ghost for ‘Random Acts of Violence’

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We chat with the director about finally making the horror film that lingered in his head for over a decade.

Brett Harvey Danny Trejo Documentary

Danny Trejo Documentary ‘Inmate #1’ Reveals a Life Caught in a Rewrite

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We chat with director Brett Harvey about how he shaped Trejo’s larger-than-life persona into a message of hope.

Archive Gavin Rothery Interview

Director Gavin Rothery Chases Small Sci-Fi in ‘Archive’

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We chat with first-time director Gavin Rothery about transitioning from a conceptual artist on ‘Moon’ to behind the camera on the similarily themed ‘Archive.’