Names and faces

For more than a decade, cinematographer Wally Pfister brought director Christopher Nolan’s cinematic visions to life. Now, he’s the one calling the shots. His directorial debut, the new sci-fi mystery Transcendence, has many elements of a Nolan blockbuster - eye-popping visual effects, a mind-bending story and an A-list lead in Johnny Depp. In the film to be released Friday, the mind of Depp’s terminally ill scientist, Will Caster, is uploaded into a computer after his death, spawning an eerily unruly machine. At the heart of the story is the disrupted relationship of Will and his wife, Evelyn, played by Rebecca Hall. Transcendence, which was executive-produced by Nolan and written by first-time screenwriter Jack Paglen, hooked Pfister because of the emotional weight put on the study of husband and wife and the increasing reliance on technology. “We start to wonder where it’s all going to go,” he said. Depp agreed, saying in a recent joint interview that “we are dependent on technology. It’s got us.” Depp, 50, first met Pfister, 52, when they worked on Paul McCartney’s 2012 video for his romantic ballad “My Valentine,” in which Depp and Natalie Portman starred and Pfister was the director of photography. For his first directing gig, Pfister, who’s worked on films such as Memento and The Dark Knight Rises, steered clear of doing a big action film. “I’d done a lot as a cinematographer,” he said. “What was important was telling some sort of character-driven story. Exploring human emotion. That is the logical reason to jump from visual storytelling to narrative.”

When the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival schedule was released in March, fans of Bruce Springsteen noticed his May 3 concert time of one hour and 50 minutes. The Times-Picayune reported that would make for a much shorter show than typical E Street Band performances, which can go for three hours. Now Jazz Fest producers have revised the schedule so Springsteen can play two hours and 45minutes. Festival organizers said Monday that Springsteen is now to perform at 4:15 p.m., nearly an hour earlier than previously scheduled, and end at 7 p.m.