Gilbert Cruz

Gilbert Cruz, a senior editor, oversees arts coverage for TIME.com, which he joined in 2007 after a stint at Entertainment Weekly. During his four years at TIME, he has edited the magazine's Briefing section, 10 Questions page and served as Education Staff Writer. A Bronx native, Cruz is a graduate of Georgetown University. He has seen Jaws at least 30 times.

Articles from Contributor

Origins: “Walking Dead” Director Frank Darabont on His Influences

AMC’s The Walking Dead will wrap up its first season this Sunday and in honor of the finale we have a little treat for you.

Best known for directing a pair of critically-acclaimed prison movies based on Stephen King stories — The Green Mile and The Shawshank Redemption — Frank Darabont is the man behind the runaway AMC hit zombie …

Origins: What Influences James Cameron

Each film he directs is more epic than the last. Terminator, Aliens, The Abyss, Terminator 2: Judgment Day, Titanic…and, of course, Avatar. That last film, a 3-D extravaganza that quickly became the highest-grossing movie of all time, was re-released August 27 with nine additional minutes of footage. Cameron spoke to TIME’s Rebecca …

Origins: Chatting With Pulitzer Prize Winner Junot Diaz

If the title character of author Junot Diaz’s Pulitzer Prize-winning novel The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao were a real person, he would probably read Techland — Oscar is well versed on Lord of the Rings, the Fantastic Four and all things nerdy. Alongside pop culture sits the Dominican Republic and its former dictator Rafael …

Origins: Chatting With Up Director Pete Docter

Pete Docter is a Pixar guy. He was one of the animation studio’s first employees, and has directed Toy Story and Toy Story 2, Monsters, Inc., and last year’s almost unanimously acclaimed Up. That last film is only the second animated movie to be nominated for a Best Picture Oscar. Between that, and its nomination for Best Animated …

Origins: Eli Roth, the “Hostel” Guy

The Hostel director and Inglourious Basterds co-star talks to TIME contributing nerd Gilbert Cruz about his creative influences.

At NYU film school in the early ’90’s, Eli Roth decorated his entire dorm floor as a shrine to Reservoir Dogs. “I thought it was the most important American film to come along in 50 years, the movie that …

Origins: Guillermo del Toro

The Hobbit director talks to TIME contributing nerd Gilbert Cruz about his creative influences.

Guillermo del Toro might be one of Hollywood’s ultimate horror film nerds. In a semi-homage to Forrest J. Ackerman (the godfather of all things genre), the director of Pan’s Labyrinth, Blade II, and the Hellboy films purchased a second …

Forget the Beatles. The Rock Band Network Wants You

Ben Trokan sounds a bit mystified as he talks about the first few times he played Rock Band. “I was terrible at it,” he says with a laugh. “And I can actually play all those instruments too — even the drums!” Trokan is the lead singer of Robbers on High Street, a New York City-based indie band that’s about to record its third album. But …