(Left to Right) John David Washington, Zendaya, and Sam Levinson.

EXCLUSIVE: Even though there’s been a couple of notable film productions recently jockeying for the distinction of being the first in the US to go before the cameras following the COVID-19 shutdown, we can tell you first that a brand new Zendaya and John David Washington movie from "Euphoria" creator Sam Levinson, “Malcolm & Marie,” has been shooting quietly all along during the pandemic. It has already completed production — arguably the first to do so on the feature film side.

Filming for “Malcolm & Marie” took place between June 17-July 2 at the Caterpillar House, an environmentally conscious glass architectural marvel in Carmel, CA – all compliant with WGA, DGA and SAG-AFTRA approvals and COVID-19 safety protocols.

The ‘Caterpillar House’ shooting location in Carmel, CA.

While the pic’s logline is largely under wraps, I hear the movie has some echoes of Netflix’s “Marriage Story,” while resonating a number of social themes that the world is experiencing right now.

How exactly did “Malcolm & Marie” spring so quickly into production?

On Monday, March 16, Levinson received the call from HBO that “Euphoria’s” Season 2 had to shut down. I understand that one night during quarantine, Zendaya phoned him and asked if he could write and direct a movie during quarantine. Within six days, Levinson had cracked “Malcolm & Marie.” When it came to thinking about who could spar with Zendaya, Levinson kept seeing and hearing in his head “BlacKkKlansman” Golden Globe nominee and "Tenet" star Washington.

Given the filmmaker and the cast’s focus to tell stories in a safe way during uncertain times, Levinson, his production partner and wife Ashley Levinson (producer of “Bombshell,” EP of “Green Knight,” co-EP of Queen & Slim), longtime producer Kevin Turen, Washington and Zendaya took it upon themselves to bankroll “Malcolm & Marie” during pre-production and production.

Before shooting, Sam Levinson was writing a script for New Regency when Yariv Milchan and Michael Schafer said they wanted to support the financing of “Malcolm & Marie” and donate their proceeds to charity. Both are EPs on the movie along with Aaron L. Gilbert, Will Greenfield, Washington, Zendaya and Scott Mescudi (aka Kid Cudi) the latter of whom is also an investor in “Malcolm & Marie.” Co-EPs are Katia Washington, Harrison Kreiss, Stuart Manashil and Kenneth Yu.

John David Washington and Zendaya on the set of Malcom & Marie.

Turen and Ashley Levinson worked with doctors, lawyers, WGA, DGA and SAG to meet the requirements necessary to go into production. They called a few of their creative collaborators such as “Euphoria” DP Marcell Rév to shoot, and production designer Michael Grasley.

The production employed a lean crew who wore multiple hats with everyone looking out for each other, i.e., co-EP Kreiss became the default for everything from tracking scripts, stocking craft services and standing in for lighting.

“Malcolm & Marie” found an ideal location in Feldman Architecture’s Caterpillar House. Not only was it legal to shoot on private property in Monterey County, but the Caterpillar House, on 33 acres of land, I hear, accentuated the emotion and choreography of Levinson’s screenplay while providing privacy for the production and distance from anyone outside the quarantine group.

The Caterpillar House is the first LEED Platinum Custom Home on California’s Central Coast and allowed the production to use very little A/C or heat, with the home’s glass doors providing fresh air.

Co-EP Katia Washington spearheaded all the health and safety protocols and created the guidelines that were presented to the production’s doctors, unions, crew and cast. After consulting with the unions and with the oversight of their doctor, a plan was hammered out. The entire team would take multiple COVID tests and head up to Monterey for a two-week quarantine before filming began.

For two weeks, cast and crew wore masks, social distanced had their own separate dwellings with individual HVAC units, took hikes, rehearsed in the parking lot, and ate in designated spots food prepared by a chef who had been quarantined with the group. No one was allowed to leave the property.

While the set crew and actors were quarantined, there was a separate pod that included the production designer, set dresser and grips who worked together to prep the house for production. I’m told that this group were held to a similar protocol; they were tested for COVID before working, wore protective gear, and stayed on a separate property to maintain the healthiest working environment possible. While in Carmel, there was another pod that oversaw the logistical and administrative duties. The production had runners who helped with shipping costumes, transporting film and assisting with other needs.

Zendaya in Sam Levinson’s HBO show Euphoria.

Once cleared, production began with no more than 12 people on set at any given moment. Some of the precautions taken included temperature checks at the beginning and end of every day. Extra time was always allowed for the crew to sanitize the set and gear. No crew member could be in close contact with the actors without the proper personal protective equipment. Sets were pre-dressed well in advance to limit crews, and the director would check in on a video call in advance.

The cast and crew were shuttled in each day in large SUVs from the quarantine location, with cast in a separate car with the same driver to minimize exposure. Cast members would be in charge of handling their own costumes and mic-ing themselves. Actors would be held in a separate holding area while waiting on set, maintaining distance from the crew. As for food, it was always individually wrapped (no cafeteria style), with boxed water available, disposable plates and cutlery, and coffee served on set by one designated person in disposable cups.

Those curious how this nimble production pulled this off and followed thorough safety protocols can read through the detailed guidelines below. There are takeaways here for film and TV productions both big and small: [guidelines used to shoot Malcom & Marie can be found at this site].

Article by: Anthony D'Alessandro for the New York Post.

From Joe Dante’s The Movies That Made Me to a niche show all about the Marx Brothers, there are plenty of options for every sort of cinephile.

The local multiplex is closed. Film production has ceased. The summer blockbuster season is in jeopardy. But that doesn’t mean we can’t keep talking about the movies.

Podcasts are stepping into the void, keeping film buffs engaged during the duration of the pandemic. The gold standard, of course, is Karina Longworth’s You Must Remember This, an impressively-researched storytelling podcast that explores early Hollywood history (and sometimes its more recent past, as in Longworth’s spinoff series Make Me Over). But whatever your movie-love, there is probably a podcast for it. Here are eight that may broaden your cinematic horizons or inspire you to take fresh looks at familiar and favorite films.

Gilbert Gottfried’s Amazing Colossal Podcast

The movies loom large in nearly every episode of this podcast that lovingly but irreverently celebrates a bygone era of Show Business, with a capital S and B. Gilbert Gottfried and cohost Frank Santopadre are encyclopedic film buffs and champions of character actors. The podcast, which features freewheeling conversations with filmmakers, actors, producers, screenwriters, historians, and iconic musicians and entertainers, recently marked its 300th episode. In its early years, mini-episodes focused on a specific classic, obscure, or under-seen film, such as Treasure of the Sierra Madre, The Terror of Tiny Town, and Local Hero.

Try this episode: “Scott Alexander and Larry Karaszewski.” The comedy writers and biopic masters are here to talk Dolemite is My Name. But before getting to the main event, the discussion digresses to “a bunch of other things nobody cares about,” like the obscure spy spoof The Last of the Secret Agents? and Otto Preminger’s mind-boggling, psychedelic ’60s farce Skidoo. This podcast is made for people who do care about those things.

The Marx Brothers Council Podcast

Embraced by rebellious college students in the 1970s, the Marx Brothers would seem to be made for these times with their "I'm against it” philosophy, which pricked the bubbles of high society, government, and authority. The podcast was inspired by the Marx Brothers Council Facebook group, hosted by Marx historians and aficionados Matthew Coniam, author of The Annotated Marx Brothers; Noah Diamond, who recreated and mounted a production of I’ll Say She Is, the brothers’ long-lost Broadway musical, and wrote a book about it; and Bob Gassel. Special guests have included Joe Adamson, author of Groucho, Harpo, Chico and Sometimes Zeppo; Frank Ferrante, who recently marked the 35th anniversary of performing his one-man show, An Evening with Groucho; and screenwriters Scott Alexander and Cinco Paul.

Try this episode: “You’ll Duck Soup the Rest of Your Life.” An exhaustive examination of the comedy classic that conventional wisdom ranks as the Marx-iest of Marx Brothers films. But Coniam, for one, is against it, and he makes an interesting case that much of the film’s comedy is uncharacteristic of the pure Marxian spirit. Wrong, but interesting.

The Movies That Made Me

Joe Dante, director of Gremlins and founder of the instantly addictive Trailers from Hell website, and Josh Olson, the Oscar-nominated screenwriter of A History of Violence,welcome filmmakers, actors, and screenwriters to talk about films—some that you recognize, some that you’ve hardly even heard of—that rocked their worlds. Dante may or may not have seen every movie ever made, as Olson joked in an episode, but he has seen the 1958 sci-fi obscurity Space Master X-7—which blew recent guest Laraine Newman’s mind. “I am so impressed you know this stuff,” she exclaimed. The ground covered in each episode is staggering. In the Newman episode alone, references are made to such disparate films as the under-seen 1980 new age satire Serial, David Cronenberg’s remake of The Fly, and Verotica, which from the sound of it has The Room-like potential for so-bad-it’s-good cult status.

Try this episode: “Roger and Julie Corman.” The legendary producer and New Hollywood mentor and his wife share their top 10 lists of beloved films. Fun fact: The Bucket of Blood and Little Shop of Horrors producer’s favorite film is Sergei Eisenstein’s 1925 silent film Battleship Potemkin.

The Plot Thickens: I’m Still Peter Bogdanovich

Director Peter Bogdanovich gets the Hitchcock/Truffaut treatment as Turner Classic Movies launches its first podcast. This seven-episode documentary is a meticulous career retrospective that chronicles the rise, fall, and comeback-ish of Bogdanovich, who became one of New Hollywood’s earliest successes with a Preston Sturges–like run of critical and commercial successes, starting with The Last Picture Show. This was followed by a string of flat-out flops and personal tragedy before he began to get his groove back. The podcast is culled from 15 hours of conversations with TCM’s Ben Mankiewicz. Bogdanovich is a mesmerizing raconteur and a great mimic (he does an uncanny Hitchcock). His story is the stuff Hollywood dreams and nightmares are made of.

Try this episode: Only the first two episodes, which dropped on April 28, were made available for preview. Episode two spotlights how Roger Corman gave Bogdanovich his first opportunity to direct with the well-received Targets. Subsequent episodes will be released weekly; I can’t wait for the one on At Long Last Love.

Pure Cinema Podcast

Those not fortunate enough to live in a city with a repertory movie house can live vicariously through this podcast run by L.A.’s New Beverly Cinema, which is owned and curated by Quentin Tarantino. Episodes devoted to previewing the theater’s monthly schedule are especially fun as they may cover everything from the sophisticated stylings of director Blake Edwards to a tribute to martial arts auteur Jimmy Wang Yu. The theater is temporarily closed during the shutdown, but the podcast continues to produce new episodes with an impressive lineup of guests, including Tarantino himself.

Try this episode: “Essential Comedies (with Edgar Wright).” The director of Baby Driver and Shaun of the Dead shares 10 films from his list of his 100 favorite comedies.

Scriptnotes

Screenwriters John August (Charlie and the Chocolate Factory) and Craig Mazin (Chernobyl) “discuss screenwriting and things that are interesting to screenwriters.” But anyone interested in film will benefit from these insightful and illuminating conversations and interviews that delineate the art, craft, and business of screenwriting.

Try this episode: “How to Listen.” This is a craft episode. It includes a fascinating exercise in devising realistic dialogue in which August and Mazin analyze clips of real-life speakers in conversation. The podcast attracts great guests too: “The One With Phoebe and Ryan” is an engaging discussion with Phoebe Waller-Bridge and Ryan Reynolds.

The Rewatchables

You know them; you love them; you watch them again and again. What else can possibly be left to say about such films as Tommy Boy, Basic Instinct, or The Karate Kid? Plenty, it turns out. Bill Simmons hosts.

Try this episode: “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off.” Master of his suburban universe, Ferris Bueller is to high schoolers what Indiana Jones is to archeologists, one observer notes. But is Day Off a Ferris movie, or a Cameron movie? That question kicks off this wide-ranging discussion of John Hughes’ teen classic.

Unspooled

On the podcast How Did This Get Made?, Paul Scheer, along with June Diane Raphaeland Jason Mantzoukas, snark their way through so-called bad movies or cinematic misfires. On Unspooled, Scheer and film critic Amy Nicholson reconsider some of the greatest movies of all time, as ranked in 2007 by the American Film Institute. Do these canonical films really belong on the list? How do they hold up? How have they influenced contemporary filmmakers? Fresh and intriguing takes on venerable movies make for entertaining listening. How Did This Get Made? is entertaining, too—but ever since they ripped on Road-House, that podcast is dead to me.

Try this episode: “Easy Rider.” Beyond pondering Easy Rider’s portrayal of the pursuit of freedom in 1960s America, this episode takes some interesting detours (Stagecoach, The Grapes of Wrath, Sullivan’s Travels) as Scheer and Nicholson consider Dennis Hopper’s and Peter Fonda’s game-changing road 1969 road movie.

Article by: Donald Liebenson for Vanity Fair.