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Matt Zoller Seitz

Features Writer
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@mattzollerseitz
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Matt Zoller Seitz is a critic and filmmaker who joined New York Magazine and Vulture in 2012 as a television critic. He has been writing about television and film for over 30 years and has written multiple books on popular culture, including the New York Times best sellers The Wes Anderson Collection, Mad Men Carousel, TV: The Book, and The Sopranos Sessions and the forthcoming The Deadwood Bible: A Lie Agreed Upon.

  1. conspiracy theories
    The Secret History of the Mad Men Lawn-Mower SceneIt was cruel, it was shocking, and it ended with fan interpretations not even the filmmakers could have anticipated.
  2. remembrance
    Kris Kristofferson Became What Elvis Wanted to BeA music star, a movie star, and a man whose roles and songs were knitted together.
  3. case files
    Why Was the Miami Vice Pilot So Good?When the pastel-soaked, cocaine-coated cop show aired 40 years ago, contemporary TV was born.
  4. a long talk
    L-R: WINNIE HOLZMAN;CLAIRE DANES
    Nothing on TV Felt Like My So-Called LifeWinnie Holzman reflects on writing the pilot more than 30 years ago: “Every character was trying to figure out who they were.”
  5. goth excellence
    Guillermo del Toro on the Misunderstood Beauty of Crimson Peak“The thing that will always, pun intended, haunt that movie is that it was sold as a horror movie.”
  6. confession
    I’m In the Tank for M. Night ShyamalanTrap is unrealistic, lacking in thrills, and a stunning example of just how masterful the writer-director’s twistless storytelling can be.
  7. remembrance
    The Comedy Team of Bob NewhartHe played straight man and comic at the same time.
  8. tv review
    Shōgun Teaches You How to WatchThe Emmy-winning Japanese saga of court intrigue luxuriates in the language of taking and holding power.
  9. a long talk
    A Royale LineageThe Carol Burnett Show inspired her career. Now Kristen Wiig stars in a TV show with her hero.
  10. performance review
    Nicolas Cage Will Always Go BigHe’s made a career out of not subtle, not small, unrealistic characters. The risk of Longlegs is the point.
  11. remembrance
    Shelley Duvall Stood OutNo one looked like her. No one sounded like her. No one thought like her. And everyone in Hollywood knew it.
  12. remembrance
    No One Could Tee Up a Bullfrog Like Bill CobbsHe built a career on wise, one-shot characters, and he made everything from Demolition Man to The Sopranos better because of it.
  13. remembrance
    Donald Sutherland Was Some Kind of Movie StarFew actors committed as ferociously. Few actors were so damned much fun to watch.
  14. cold cases
    The Sopranos SwipeThawing the mystery behind the series’ most perplexing freeze-frame moment.
  15. better things
    Babes Was a Labor of LoveIn directing a feature about motherhood, Pamela Adlon found the sweet spot between slapstick and body horror.
  16. remembrance
    Dabney Coleman Was the Perfect Onscreen JerkMaybe likeability is overrated.
  17. have a light?
    Everyone in This TV Show Should Be SmokingAny period piece set between 1800 and 2000 that isn’t choked by cigarette haze is fundamentally compromised.
  18. the old oak
    ‘Hope Is Political’Ken Loach on the end of his 60-year filmmaking career and what he’s learned about power and the working class.
  19. a long talk
    Alex Garland Honestly Doesn’t Know If Civil War Is Irresponsible“I do sometimes think there’s a part of me that is thoughtful and there’s a part of me that is delinquent.”
  20. a long talk
    Giancarlo Esposito Finds Elegance in Every Bad GuyThe Gentleman and Parish are giving one of Hollywood’s greatest journeymen his long-deferred shot at antihero stardom.
  21. performance review
    The Coiled Ferocity of ZendayaChallengers is the ultimate example to date of what has become a distinctively Zendaya screen energy.
  22. backstories
    What’s Real and What’s Not in Dune: Part Two’s Biggest Action ScenesCinematographer Greig Fraser breaks down the “magic tricks” that made sandworm riding, bazooka attacks, and gladiator fights look convincing.
  23. let’s go
    The 100 Fights That Shaped Action CinemaWhether the scenes featured fists, firearms, or blades, the result was always the same: The crowd was pleased.
  24. in conversation
    Made for Jessica LangeHer haunting role in Mother Play, like so much of her work, is one only she could perform.
  25. un phénomène social
    ‘We Made Something a Little Fake’Amélie director Jean-Pierre Jeunet reflects on the very French, very successful fairy tale he imagined after leaving Hollywood.
  26. a long talk
    Gus Van Sant’s Maysles MasqueradeThe director imagined a reality where the brothers documented — then scrapped — footage of the Black and White Ball for Feud: Capote vs. the Swans.
  27. remembrance
    It Was a Pleasure Just to Watch Carl Weathers MoveThe actor’s wattage was so bright it practically burned a hole in the screen. It’s why he left the Rocky franchise as its star.
  28. a long talk
    Reservation Dogs’ Gary Farmer Has Seen it All“As I look back on everything, it seems to me that having a career at all is pretty special in itself.”
  29. remembrance
    Norman Jewison Could (and Did) Do It AllThere are contortionists who can’t fold themselves into as many different shapes as the late Moonstruck director did during his career.
  30. encounter
    Josh Gates Is Adventure TelevisionHow the Expedition Unknown host became every dad’s favorite reality-TV star.
  31. remembrance
    Listening to Andre Braugher“When he acted, the words were notes; the sentences, lyrics; every monologue, an aria.”
  32. a long talk
    Sam Esmail Didn’t Mean for Leave the World Behind to Be So TimelyThe director on the script’s eerie synchronicity with current events and his evolving sense of how much information to give the audience.
  33. exit interview
    A Darker, Sadder SuccessionMonths after his masterpiece finale, Jesse Armstrong ponders the real tragedy of his show’s ending.
  34. finding heavenly light
    ‘It’s Probably the Longest Movie Ever Made Without a Plot’Philip Kaufman on the film fibs, demons, and labia that made The Right Stuff just right.
  35. a long talk
    Sterlin Harjo Lays Reservation Dogs to Rest“We’ve watched this world grow from four kids to a whole community.”
  36. a long talk
    ‘The Thing Is, to Me, a Movie Is Alive’Carl Franklin on how noir and the blues shaped One False Move, and the story behind that final shot.
  37. sex scenes
    It’s All in Franz Rogowski’s GazeThe star of the summer’s most intimate, explicit movie, Passages, reveals what’s behind his now-famous stare.
  38. backstories
    Reservation Dogs’ American Horror StoryIn telling a story of Indian boarding school abuse, director Danis Goulet sought to honor, not exploit: “Our people have to have agency.”
  39. remembrance
    A Hollywood Director PossessedWilliam Friedkin made movies like The Exorcist and Sorcerer his way, no matter what changes transformed his industry.
  40. remembrance
    The Eyes of Angus CloudHe did not seem “of” Euphoria. Yet somehow that made him the most believable actor on the show and one of the most distinctive on TV.
  41. remembrance
    It Was Easy to Get Pee-wee HermanHe was one of many characters Paul Reubens inhabited. Any of them could have been stars.
  42. grand old actor phase
    Harrison Ford and the Ravages of TimeIn his “grand old actor” phase, Ford has treated his characters’ alienation and sadness as a brittle core around which fantastic visions can be wound.
  43. encounter
    The Objects Wes Anderson Hoards in His New York OfficeAn afternoon with the Asteroid City director in an apartment he describes as “not very well maintained” and “a bit abandoned.”
  44. characters talking
    How Genndy Tartakovsky Cracked the Code to Quiet AnimationHis best films and TV shows rest on long, wordless sequences that challenge the audience to figure out his stories for themselves.
  45. backstories
    The Tragedy of Hope“With Open Eyes” needed to feel like “a slow boil toward that final boardroom scene,” says Succession director Mark Mylod.
  46. remembrance
    Kenneth Anger Never Cooled OffBut the filmmaker’s renegade aesthetic is all over the mainstream, from Martin Scorsese to David Lynch.
  47. a long talk
    ‘I Told My Assistant, “They’re Gonna Fire Me”’Ewan Roy’s eulogy stole the show in Succession’s penultimate episode. James Cromwell thought it would end his career.
  48. a long talk
    Walking on the MoonSuccession’s Jeremy Strong on Kendall’s elusive moment of triumph — and what it has cost him.
  49. backstories
    Building Succession’s Haunted HouseFor the first episode without Logan, director Lorene Scafaria wanted to keep the claustrophobia alive.
  50. backstories
    ‘It Needed to Be an Unbroken Performance’Director Mark Mylod breaks down the exhausting 28-minute take that changed the course of Succession.
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