Director Leslie Iwerks Talks 100 Years of Warner Bros at Cannes (EXCLUSIVE)

This year will mark the 100th anniversary of the legendary Warner Bros. studios. On this occasion, you can now stream a new four-part special on Max, 100 Years of Warner Bros. Directed by Academy award nominee Leslie Iwerk, granddaughter of Disney Legend, Ub Iwerks, co-creator of Mickey Mouse and Oswald the Lucky Rabbit, Leslie Iwerks is a director, writer and producer, whose work includes The Imagineering Story, The Pixar Story, Industrial Light & Magic: Creating the Impossible. 

This time, Leslie Iwerks dives into the history of the Warner Brothers, and gathered over 60 testimonies from Hollywood’s most renowned filmmakers and actors, highlighting their relationships with the legendary studio: From Martin Scorsese to Patty Jenkins, Oprah Winfrey, Linda Carter, Keanu Reeves, Alfonso Cuarón, or Baz Luhrmann, 100 Years of Warner Bros. will give you a never-seen-before insight into the making of your favorite WB films. 

Director Leslie Iwerks Talks 100 Years of Warner Bros

The first two specials were presented at the Cannes Film Festival in competition for Cannes Classic, on May 23rd, and we had the chance to speak with Leslie Iwerks about her own relationship to WB, the future of cinema, how Warner Bros. is paving the way for the next 100 years and the secret to its longevity.

You can watch our full interview with Leslie Iwerks down below:

To celebrate this anniversary, Warner Bros. will be releasing a collection of Blu-Ray 4k Ultra HD, with over 30 of their most famous movies, from The Wizard of Oz to Blade Runner, East of Eden, and The Exorcist. 

Movie theaters will also celebrate 100 years of cinematographic history with Warner Bros. by re-releasing some of their most famous movies, which will be a great occasion for movie lovers to experience once again (or for the first time) the magic of these movies on the big screen. Live concerts, honoring the most iconic scores of Warner Bros. movies will also be part of this once-in-a-lifetime series of celebrations. 

‘’I think during covid, everybody was scarred that movie theaters were going to shut down’’ says Iwerks during our Zoom meeting from her hotel room in Cannes, where we just missed each other from a couple of days. 

‘’But as we saw, and you’ll see in the four specials, Elvis was a huge draw for audiences of all ages (…) and that really helped people back in after Covid. But David Zaslav and the team at Warner Bros. are vey focus on theatrical releases and, they’re big movie lovers, big theatrical movies experience lovers. And that’s the future.’’

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