The tattoos, motorcycles and horror of the web series “Chopper” are a far cry from other imaginations of Ichabod Crane and the legend of Sleepy Hollow. The series offers a 21st-century interpretation of what the Headless Horseman would look like today. Read more...

Photo: UCLA alumnus Martin Shapiro is the writer and creator of “Chopper,” a 21st-century take on “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow” that tells the story of a headless outlaw biker who collects the souls of sinners in the afterlife. Shapiro and fellow alumnus J.C. Christofilis are working to adapt the nine-episode web series into a feature film.

A week after then-high school senior Tom Leach applied for his first job, he was on a plane to New York to interview Hugh Jackman for his new movie “Van Helsing.” “I think (my parents) assumed that I would get a job at the local grocery store bagging groceries,” Leach said. Read more...

Photo: Rising in the reality television show ranks as one of Hollywood’s youngest producers, UCLA Producers Program alumnus Tom Leach recently made Forbes’ “30 Under 30: Entertainment” list.

The Richard Stark novel “Flashfire” is reimagined for the big screen in “Parker,” a crime thriller starring Jason Statham as Parker and Jennifer Lopez as Leslie, a forty-year-old divorcee returning to the work force and struggling to make ends meet. Read more...

Photo: Jason Statham stars in the new action flick “Parker.” Directed by Taylor Hackford, the film is based on the popular book series of the same name by author Richard Stark.

With dual citizenship in the U.S. and in Greece, UCLA alumna Alethea Avramis finds a way to add dimension to her filmmaking while she is caught between two cultures. Read more...

Photo: The accomplishments of MFA Production/Directing candidate Alethea Avramis, who filmed her festival offering “The Foreigner” in her ancestral homeland of Greece, include the film’s nomination for Best International Short at Raindance in London. Her passion for film grew while she was an undergraduate at UCLA.

By most technical standards, Miguel Gomes’ “Tabu” is a film out of time. It’s shot in gauzy black and white, it’s framed in boxy Academy ratio, and the latter half of the film, titled “Paradise” and without dialogue, is devoted to a love story set in Portuguese-colonized Africa. Read more...