Mark Russell doesn’t have many peers. This is what happens when your the visual effects supervisor for relatively low budget films. Having gleaned how to use the tools of the effects craft while working for Dreamworks in the late 90s, where Russell worked on such effects laden Steven Spielberg pictures as Amistad, Minority Report and Artificial Intelligence, he has quickly made a name for himself as someone who can deliver high powered special effects work for films outside of the studio system’s auspices. This year he’s had two fairly high profile successes, Alex Rivera’s cyberpunk goes south of the border techno thriller Sleep Dealer, which was a favorite at Sundance this year, and Charlie Kaufman’s forthcoming Synecdoche, New York, in which Philip Seymour Hoffman plays a theater director undergoing one mindbending mid-life crisis. On the strength of these, Russell was recently named one of the 25 New Faces in Independent Film. We caught up with him to talk about what’s so appealing about Warren Beatty’s Reds, Sigur Ros and Caleb Carr’s The Alienist.

What films or television shows have you seen recently? 

Part 1 of Reds. Yes, Warren Beatty’s Reds. An epic. It involves alot of sitting. I didn’t have the energy to get through part 2 yet, but wow. It’s everything you want in a movie. I’ve been trying to watch How I Met Your Mother. I’ve gotten through half of the first season. I like it, but only in small chunks.

Did they stick with you? Why?

Reds is a beautiful and amazing film, so naturally, it’s stuck with me. The performances are superb.  Jack Nicholson is absolutely amazing in it, not self-conscious like he is these days. How I Met Your Mother not so much. 

Does your interest in them have anything to do with your own work as a filmmaker?

I’m always interested in seeing work that has stood the test of time, and is inherently epic in presentation. That’s the type of work I’m trying to do.

How often do you read fiction? Do you wish you read more?

I generally try to read a few books a month, but lately I haven’t been able to motivate. Must be the heat. Or how busy I am. Poor excuse.

What would be your ideal literary adaptation and why?

I would like to make The Alienist. Caleb Carr wrote such an amazing novel about a time in New York that we can’t even understand, let alone visualize. It has all the cool science of a good episode of CSI - the original, not Miami or the other one, but it’s really about the people.

How, if at all, has reading informed your filmmaking?

For me, reading a book is a great exercise in storytelling. It can often be like reading the technical blueprint to a movie. It lays out all of the information that you could possibly need, but it’s up to you to decide what the most important elements are to bring out the story visually.

What are you listening to recently?

I’ve been listeneing to the new Sigur Ros album.

If you could collaborate with one musician on a film, who would it be and why?

I would like to collaborate with Pete Yorn. His album musicforthemorningafter got to me at a time and in a way that I will never forget.