The satirical spy-thriller “The Sympathizer” hopes to make a mark at the Primetime Emmys this year, as HBO/Max has submitted the show for 27 Emmy categories. The hopeful bids from creators Park Chan-wook and Don McKellar include acting recognition for breakout performer Hoa Xuande and superstar Robert Downey Jr., as well as outstanding limited or anthology series.
Based on Viet Thanh Nguyen’s 2015 debut novel, “The Sympathizer” tells the story of “The Captain” (Xuande), a North Vietnamese soldier in the South Vietnamese army who is forced to flee to the United States with his general near the end of the Vietnam War. While living within a community of South Vietnamese refugees, he continues to spy on the community, struggling between his original loyalties and his new life.
Fresh off his Oscar win for supporting actor in “Oppenheimer,” Downey aims to become the first male actor to win an Oscar and...
Based on Viet Thanh Nguyen’s 2015 debut novel, “The Sympathizer” tells the story of “The Captain” (Xuande), a North Vietnamese soldier in the South Vietnamese army who is forced to flee to the United States with his general near the end of the Vietnam War. While living within a community of South Vietnamese refugees, he continues to spy on the community, struggling between his original loyalties and his new life.
Fresh off his Oscar win for supporting actor in “Oppenheimer,” Downey aims to become the first male actor to win an Oscar and...
- 5/14/2024
- by Clayton Davis
- Variety Film + TV
Exclusive: Nicolas Cage, FKA twigs, Noah Jupe and Souheila Yacoub are set to star in Egyptian-American director Lotfy Nathan’s The Carpenter’s Son exploring the rarely told story of the childhood of Jesus with a horror take.
Paris-based Cinenovo and L.A.-based Spacemaker are producing. Goodfellas is overseeing international sales apart from in North America, which it will co-rep with Anonymous Content and WME.
Nathan has taken inspiration from the apocryphal Infancy Gospel of Thomas for the screenplay. Dating back to the 2nd Century Ad, the text recounts the childhood of Jesus.
Per the official synopsis, “The Carpenter’s Son tells the dark story of a family hiding out in Roman Egypt. The son, known only as ‘the Boy’, is driven to doubt by another mysterious child and rebels against his guardian, the Carpenter, revealing inherent powers and a fate beyond his comprehension. As he exercises his own power,...
Paris-based Cinenovo and L.A.-based Spacemaker are producing. Goodfellas is overseeing international sales apart from in North America, which it will co-rep with Anonymous Content and WME.
Nathan has taken inspiration from the apocryphal Infancy Gospel of Thomas for the screenplay. Dating back to the 2nd Century Ad, the text recounts the childhood of Jesus.
Per the official synopsis, “The Carpenter’s Son tells the dark story of a family hiding out in Roman Egypt. The son, known only as ‘the Boy’, is driven to doubt by another mysterious child and rebels against his guardian, the Carpenter, revealing inherent powers and a fate beyond his comprehension. As he exercises his own power,...
- 5/6/2024
- by Melanie Goodfellow
- Deadline Film + TV
Showtime’s satirical thriller “The Curse,” created by stars Nathan Fielder and Benny Safdie and also starring Emma Stone, has exclusively shared its Emmy submission plans with Variety.
The three multi-hyphenates will have more than one chance at recognition across various categories for producing, acting, directing, writing and editing.
“The Curse” explores the tumultuous lives of a married couple (Fielder and Stone), who encounter a string of misfortunes while filming an HGTV series in New Mexico. Their challenges are compounded by a dubious “curse” and a manipulative producer (Safdie), which together threaten both the show and their relationship.
Stone, fresh off her second best actress Oscar win for her role in Yorgos Lanthimos’ “Poor Things,” is eyeing her first Emmy nod. She seeks recognition for her portrayal of Whitney, the co-host of the couple’s show about eco-friendly homes. Additionally, Stone is vying for a guest comedy actress nod for...
The three multi-hyphenates will have more than one chance at recognition across various categories for producing, acting, directing, writing and editing.
“The Curse” explores the tumultuous lives of a married couple (Fielder and Stone), who encounter a string of misfortunes while filming an HGTV series in New Mexico. Their challenges are compounded by a dubious “curse” and a manipulative producer (Safdie), which together threaten both the show and their relationship.
Stone, fresh off her second best actress Oscar win for her role in Yorgos Lanthimos’ “Poor Things,” is eyeing her first Emmy nod. She seeks recognition for her portrayal of Whitney, the co-host of the couple’s show about eco-friendly homes. Additionally, Stone is vying for a guest comedy actress nod for...
- 4/24/2024
- by Clayton Davis
- Variety Film + TV
Angus Cloud is appearing onscreen for one of the last times in heist movie “Your Lucky Day.”
The “Euphoria” star, who died at age 25 in July 2023, leads writer-director-actor Daniel Brown’s feature directorial debut. Cloud plays drug dealer Sterling, who holds a convenience store hostage after he witnesses an older wealthy man win a $156 million lottery. Jessica Garza, Elliot Knight, and Mousa Hussein Kraish play witnesses, with Sterling Beaumon cast as a cop. The film is adapted from writer Brown’s 2010 short film of the same name, with Rider Strong in the role of Sterling.
“I had written the character based on people I had grown up with: guys who sold drugs and would start fights with frat boys or their stepdads, but who were also super protective and loyal to their friends,” Brown told Entertainment Weekly. “[Cloud’s] stories and outlook were so right on for the character, I just had to go for it.
The “Euphoria” star, who died at age 25 in July 2023, leads writer-director-actor Daniel Brown’s feature directorial debut. Cloud plays drug dealer Sterling, who holds a convenience store hostage after he witnesses an older wealthy man win a $156 million lottery. Jessica Garza, Elliot Knight, and Mousa Hussein Kraish play witnesses, with Sterling Beaumon cast as a cop. The film is adapted from writer Brown’s 2010 short film of the same name, with Rider Strong in the role of Sterling.
“I had written the character based on people I had grown up with: guys who sold drugs and would start fights with frat boys or their stepdads, but who were also super protective and loyal to their friends,” Brown told Entertainment Weekly. “[Cloud’s] stories and outlook were so right on for the character, I just had to go for it.
- 10/6/2023
- by Samantha Bergeson
- Indiewire
Euphoria actor Angus Cloud died from “acute intoxication” from a lethal mix of methamphetamine, fentanyl, cocaine and benzodiazepines, the Alameda County Coroners office confirmed to Deadline today.
The overdose was determined to be accidental.
The 25-year-old actor died at his family’s home in Oakland, California, on July 31. At that time, his family said that the actor, who played Fezco on the HBO series, was struggling with grief over the death of his father a week prior.
“Last week he buried his father and intensely struggled with this loss,” the family said in July. “The only comfort we have is knowing Angus is now reunited with his dad, who was his best friend. Angus was open about his battle with mental health and we hope that his passing can be a reminder to others that they are not alone and should not fight this on their own in silence.”
Cloud...
The overdose was determined to be accidental.
The 25-year-old actor died at his family’s home in Oakland, California, on July 31. At that time, his family said that the actor, who played Fezco on the HBO series, was struggling with grief over the death of his father a week prior.
“Last week he buried his father and intensely struggled with this loss,” the family said in July. “The only comfort we have is knowing Angus is now reunited with his dad, who was his best friend. Angus was open about his battle with mental health and we hope that his passing can be a reminder to others that they are not alone and should not fight this on their own in silence.”
Cloud...
- 9/21/2023
- by Greg Evans
- Deadline Film + TV
Fans are getting to know Angus Cloud better now that he’s gone.
This week, the late “Euphoria” star’s mother shared links to clips from her son’s casting tapes, when helped him land an audition for the HBO drama.
Read More: Zendaya Shares Tribute Mural To Late ‘Euphoria’ Co-Star Angus Cloud In His Hometown Of Oakland
“This was just sent to me by Jennifer Venditti who scouted Angus in Brooklyn,” Lisa Cloud wrote on Facebook.
In the clips, 19-year-old Cloud is interviewed about his life and interests.
Asked how he would describe himself, the actor said, “Probably goofy, I don’t know. I just kind of, like, do whatever is in front of you. I try to take full advantage of—I don’t know to explain it—but we call it peppin.’ It’s just when you engage in any random spontaneous activity.”
Read More: Angus Cloud...
This week, the late “Euphoria” star’s mother shared links to clips from her son’s casting tapes, when helped him land an audition for the HBO drama.
Read More: Zendaya Shares Tribute Mural To Late ‘Euphoria’ Co-Star Angus Cloud In His Hometown Of Oakland
“This was just sent to me by Jennifer Venditti who scouted Angus in Brooklyn,” Lisa Cloud wrote on Facebook.
In the clips, 19-year-old Cloud is interviewed about his life and interests.
Asked how he would describe himself, the actor said, “Probably goofy, I don’t know. I just kind of, like, do whatever is in front of you. I try to take full advantage of—I don’t know to explain it—but we call it peppin.’ It’s just when you engage in any random spontaneous activity.”
Read More: Angus Cloud...
- 8/10/2023
- by Corey Atad
- ET Canada
The casting tapes that helped Angus Cloud land his “Euphoria” role have been shared over a week after the late actor’s sudden death.
Cloud’s mother Lisa Cloud posted a link to the clips on Facebook. “This was just sent to me by [‘Euphoria’ casting director] Jennifer Venditti who scouted Angus in Brooklyn. It’s his first tape,” she captioned. “After this was seen by the creators of ‘Euphoria,’ he was asked to read for Fezco. It really captures my son’s extraordinary spirit.”
In the video, Cloud is asked how he would describe himself, to which he responds “probably goofy” and a fan of spontaneity. Some of his adventures, he says, led to breaking into the San Francisco and Oakland zoos, with Cloud and his friends entering the cages of kangaroos and warthogs.
“That shit was really sketchy,” Cloud says.
As for his emotional state, Cloud explains, “I...
Cloud’s mother Lisa Cloud posted a link to the clips on Facebook. “This was just sent to me by [‘Euphoria’ casting director] Jennifer Venditti who scouted Angus in Brooklyn. It’s his first tape,” she captioned. “After this was seen by the creators of ‘Euphoria,’ he was asked to read for Fezco. It really captures my son’s extraordinary spirit.”
In the video, Cloud is asked how he would describe himself, to which he responds “probably goofy” and a fan of spontaneity. Some of his adventures, he says, led to breaking into the San Francisco and Oakland zoos, with Cloud and his friends entering the cages of kangaroos and warthogs.
“That shit was really sketchy,” Cloud says.
As for his emotional state, Cloud explains, “I...
- 8/9/2023
- by Samantha Bergeson
- Indiewire
Lisa Cloud, the mother of late “Euphoria” actor Angus Cloud, recently shared to Facebook a link to her son’s first casting tapes, which helped him nab a formal audition for the role of Fezco “Fez” O’Neill on the Emmy-winning HBO drama (via Rolling Stone). Angus was just 19-year-old when he was discovered on the street and offered a chance to enter the “Euphoria” audition process.
“This was just sent to me by Jennifer Venditti, who scouted Angus in Brooklyn,” Lisa Cloud wrote on Facebook. “It’s his first tape. After this was seen by the creators of ‘Euphoria,’ he was asked to read for Fezco. It really captures my son’s extraordinary spirit.”
Fans of the late actor can watch his casting tapes here.
In the videos, the then-unknown Angus Cloud is asked a series of questions about his life, such as how he would describe himself to a stranger.
“This was just sent to me by Jennifer Venditti, who scouted Angus in Brooklyn,” Lisa Cloud wrote on Facebook. “It’s his first tape. After this was seen by the creators of ‘Euphoria,’ he was asked to read for Fezco. It really captures my son’s extraordinary spirit.”
Fans of the late actor can watch his casting tapes here.
In the videos, the then-unknown Angus Cloud is asked a series of questions about his life, such as how he would describe himself to a stranger.
- 8/9/2023
- by Zack Sharf
- Variety Film + TV
Angus Cloud’s mother, Lisa, has shared a link to the casting tape that earned the then-unknown 19-year-old the chance to audition for Fezco on Euphoria.
Lisa Cloud shared the video on Facebook, saying it was sent to her by Jennifer Venditti, the casting director who scouted Angus in Brooklyn. “After this was seen by the creators of Euphoria, he was asked to read for Fezco,” Lisa said. “It really captures my son’s extraordinary spirit.”
The clip isn’t a traditional audition but a short interview in which Cloud...
Lisa Cloud shared the video on Facebook, saying it was sent to her by Jennifer Venditti, the casting director who scouted Angus in Brooklyn. “After this was seen by the creators of Euphoria, he was asked to read for Fezco,” Lisa said. “It really captures my son’s extraordinary spirit.”
The clip isn’t a traditional audition but a short interview in which Cloud...
- 8/9/2023
- by Jon Blistein
- Rollingstone.com
Zendaya said she would choose to remember her Euphoria co-star Angus Cloud for “all of the boundless light, love and joy he always managed to give” in a tribute to the late actor shared on Instagram.
“Words are not enough to describe the infinite beauty that is Angus (Conor),” Zendaya wrote Tuesday, Aug. 1, one day after Cloud’s sudden death. “I’m so grateful I got the chance to know him in this life, to call him a brother, to see his warm kind eyes and bright smile, or hear...
“Words are not enough to describe the infinite beauty that is Angus (Conor),” Zendaya wrote Tuesday, Aug. 1, one day after Cloud’s sudden death. “I’m so grateful I got the chance to know him in this life, to call him a brother, to see his warm kind eyes and bright smile, or hear...
- 8/1/2023
- by Jon Blistein
- Rollingstone.com
When I met Angus Cloud last summer, he was still adjusting to his life as the 24-year-old fan favorite of HBO’s then-second-biggest series of all time after “Game of Thrones.” Moving so quickly from being a waiter to starring in “Euphoria” would have driven anyone else to madness, fervently devising strategies for making it all last. But on the day I grabbed dessert with him, all Cloud wanted was to buy the baseball cap worn by the ice cream parlor employees.
Getting to know Cloud, who died on Monday at age 25, was the funniest, strangest experience of my career. As a journalist, my work on each story is meant to end on the day of publication; my subjects are not my friends, and the impact of my writing on their reputations is for the world to decide. But Cloud made that detachment difficult for me. He was widely loved,...
Getting to know Cloud, who died on Monday at age 25, was the funniest, strangest experience of my career. As a journalist, my work on each story is meant to end on the day of publication; my subjects are not my friends, and the impact of my writing on their reputations is for the world to decide. But Cloud made that detachment difficult for me. He was widely loved,...
- 8/1/2023
- by Selome Hailu
- Variety Film + TV
Angus Cloud, who played the soft-spoken and beloved character Fezco on Euphoria, died on Monday at the age of 25.
The Oakland native, who had never acted before the hit show, was scouted for the series while walking down a street in Brooklyn. “[The] first time I watched myself on TV I didn’t like it,” he told Rolling Stone in 2021. “I’m like, ‘What the fuck, I suck at this. Why did they pay me to do that?’” But fans disagreed, and fell in love with his portrayal of a drug...
The Oakland native, who had never acted before the hit show, was scouted for the series while walking down a street in Brooklyn. “[The] first time I watched myself on TV I didn’t like it,” he told Rolling Stone in 2021. “I’m like, ‘What the fuck, I suck at this. Why did they pay me to do that?’” But fans disagreed, and fell in love with his portrayal of a drug...
- 8/1/2023
- by Charisma Madarang
- Rollingstone.com
A lot of people loved Angus Cloud, the star of Euphoria who abruptly died today at the age of 25, for his voice — that syrupy laconic drawl that sounded like a podcast at .5x speed. But I loved him for his eyes, these wet Easter-egg blue pools of emotion rimmed with dusky lashes, the kind that grandmas say are wasted on boys, the kind that not even the most talented beauty vlogger could ever hope to recreate. The second he fixed those eyes on the troubled Rue (Zendaya) in their first scenes together,...
- 7/31/2023
- by Ej Dickson
- Rollingstone.com
Hollywood is in shock over the sudden death of Angus Cloud. The breakout “Euphoria” actor died at age 25 following mental health struggles and drug addiction.
HBO released a statement through the “Euphoria” Twitter handle, saying “We are incredibly saddened to learn of the passing of Angus Cloud. He was immensely talented and a beloved part of the HBO and Euphoria family. We extend our deepest condolences to his friends and family during this difficult time.”
Sam Levinson, the creator of “Euphoria,” wrote in a statement to Deadline that Cloud was “too special” and talented to die so young.
“There was no one quite like Angus. He was too special, too talented and way too young to leave us so soon,” said Levinson wrote in his statement. “He also struggled, like many of us, with addiction and depression. I hope he knew how many hearts he touched. I loved him. I always will.
HBO released a statement through the “Euphoria” Twitter handle, saying “We are incredibly saddened to learn of the passing of Angus Cloud. He was immensely talented and a beloved part of the HBO and Euphoria family. We extend our deepest condolences to his friends and family during this difficult time.”
Sam Levinson, the creator of “Euphoria,” wrote in a statement to Deadline that Cloud was “too special” and talented to die so young.
“There was no one quite like Angus. He was too special, too talented and way too young to leave us so soon,” said Levinson wrote in his statement. “He also struggled, like many of us, with addiction and depression. I hope he knew how many hearts he touched. I loved him. I always will.
- 7/31/2023
- by Wilson Chapman and Samantha Bergeson
- Indiewire
“Euphoria” star Angus Cloud is dead at the age of 25, TMZ first reported.
In a statement, Cloud’s family said that the actor’s passing came shortly after the passing of his father.
“It is with the heaviest heart that we had to say goodbye to an incredible human today. As an artist, a friend, a brother and a son, Angus was special to all of us in so many ways. Last week he buried his father and intensely struggled with this loss. The only comfort we have is knowing Angus is now reunited with his dad, who was his best friend. Angus was open about his battle with mental health and we hope that his passing can be a reminder to others that they are not alone and should not fight this on their own in silence.”
“We hope the world remembers him for his humor, laughter and love for everyone.
In a statement, Cloud’s family said that the actor’s passing came shortly after the passing of his father.
“It is with the heaviest heart that we had to say goodbye to an incredible human today. As an artist, a friend, a brother and a son, Angus was special to all of us in so many ways. Last week he buried his father and intensely struggled with this loss. The only comfort we have is knowing Angus is now reunited with his dad, who was his best friend. Angus was open about his battle with mental health and we hope that his passing can be a reminder to others that they are not alone and should not fight this on their own in silence.”
“We hope the world remembers him for his humor, laughter and love for everyone.
- 7/31/2023
- by Christian Blauvelt and Wilson Chapman
- Indiewire
Angus Cloud, the actor responsible for the beating heart of "Euphoria" as Fezco "Fez" O'Neill has tragically died. The news was first reported by TMZ, which included a statement from Cloud's family.
"It is with the heaviest heart that we had to say goodbye to an incredible human today," his family wrote. "As an artist, a friend, a brother, and a son, Angus was special to all of us in so many ways." The statement continued with the acknowledgement that Cloud had lost his father the week prior, and was struggling severely with his death. "The only comfort we have is knowing Angus is now reunited with his dad, who was his best friend," they wrote. "Angus was open about his battle with mental health and we hope that his passing can be a reminder to others that they are not alone and should not fight this on their own in silence.
"It is with the heaviest heart that we had to say goodbye to an incredible human today," his family wrote. "As an artist, a friend, a brother, and a son, Angus was special to all of us in so many ways." The statement continued with the acknowledgement that Cloud had lost his father the week prior, and was struggling severely with his death. "The only comfort we have is knowing Angus is now reunited with his dad, who was his best friend," they wrote. "Angus was open about his battle with mental health and we hope that his passing can be a reminder to others that they are not alone and should not fight this on their own in silence.
- 7/31/2023
- by BJ Colangelo
- Slash Film
Angus Cloud, who played the slow-talking, big-hearted Fezco on Euphoria, died Monday. He was 25.
In a statement to Rolling Stone, the Oakland Police Department confirmed Cloud’s death just after 11:30 a.m. on Monday, and said he was pronounced dead at the scene. Officials did not specify a cause of death and said this is an active death investigation.
“It is with the heaviest heart that we had to say goodbye to an incredible human today,” Cloud’s family wrote in a statement to Rolling Stone. “As an artist,...
In a statement to Rolling Stone, the Oakland Police Department confirmed Cloud’s death just after 11:30 a.m. on Monday, and said he was pronounced dead at the scene. Officials did not specify a cause of death and said this is an active death investigation.
“It is with the heaviest heart that we had to say goodbye to an incredible human today,” Cloud’s family wrote in a statement to Rolling Stone. “As an artist,...
- 7/31/2023
- by Kory Grow
- Rollingstone.com
Angus Cloud, the actor best known for playing the drug dealer Fezco “Fez” O’Neill on HBO’s “Euphoria,” died Monday in Oakland, Calif. He was 25.
The Oakland Fire Dept. said it responded to a medical emergency at approximately 11:30 a.m., and the patient was “already deceased.” The cause of death was unknown, the fire department said. The Oakland Police Dept. confirmed that it remains an “active death investigation.”
“It is with the heaviest heart that we had to say goodbye to an incredible human today,” Cloud’s family said in a statement. “As an artist, a friend, a brother and a son, Angus was special to all of us in so many ways. Last week he buried his father and intensely struggled with this loss. The only comfort we have is knowing Angus is now reunited with his dad, who was his best friend. Angus was open about...
The Oakland Fire Dept. said it responded to a medical emergency at approximately 11:30 a.m., and the patient was “already deceased.” The cause of death was unknown, the fire department said. The Oakland Police Dept. confirmed that it remains an “active death investigation.”
“It is with the heaviest heart that we had to say goodbye to an incredible human today,” Cloud’s family said in a statement. “As an artist, a friend, a brother and a son, Angus was special to all of us in so many ways. Last week he buried his father and intensely struggled with this loss. The only comfort we have is knowing Angus is now reunited with his dad, who was his best friend. Angus was open about...
- 7/31/2023
- by Zack Sharf
- Variety Film + TV
‘Euphoria’ Star Javon ‘Wanna’ Walton Signs With Jake Paul’s Mvp Boxing Promotion Company (Exclusive)
The “Euphoria” Season 2 finale made it clear that Ashtray knows how to fight. So does the 17-year-old who plays him.
Javon “Wanna” Walton has signed with Most Valuable Promotions, the boxing promotion company co-founded by Jake Paul and Nakisa Bidarian. Mvp will work with Walton on brand building, content creation and event marketing as he finishes his amateur career, with his professional debut set for 2024. His first appearance with Mvp will take place on Aug. 2 in Dallas, where he will participate in the open workouts as part of the Jake Paul vs. Nate Diaz fight week.
Along with his role in “Euphoria,” Walton is known for playing Stan in “The Umbrella Academy” on Netflix, with other credits including Amazon Prime Video’s “Utopia” and the upcoming Hulu series “Under the Bridge.” In a 2022 interview with Variety, he said that it was his boxing career that led him to acting — after...
Javon “Wanna” Walton has signed with Most Valuable Promotions, the boxing promotion company co-founded by Jake Paul and Nakisa Bidarian. Mvp will work with Walton on brand building, content creation and event marketing as he finishes his amateur career, with his professional debut set for 2024. His first appearance with Mvp will take place on Aug. 2 in Dallas, where he will participate in the open workouts as part of the Jake Paul vs. Nate Diaz fight week.
Along with his role in “Euphoria,” Walton is known for playing Stan in “The Umbrella Academy” on Netflix, with other credits including Amazon Prime Video’s “Utopia” and the upcoming Hulu series “Under the Bridge.” In a 2022 interview with Variety, he said that it was his boxing career that led him to acting — after...
- 7/24/2023
- by Selome Hailu
- Variety Film + TV
Euphoria star Angus Cloud is reportedly being sought by Los Angeles authorities in relation to a hit-and-run incident in the city.
The 24-year-old Californian actor plays drug dealer Fezco in the lauded HBO drama about a recovering teen addict played by Zendaya.
TMZ first reported that Cloud and another male were driving an SUV that rear-ended a Toyota in Marina Del Rey before driving away without stopping.
The publication reports that at least one passenger in the Toyota allegedly suffered injuries to her legs and arms.
Law enforcement sources reportedly told TMZ that “while the Euphoria star is not officially a suspect in the case, his name has been floated for possible involvement,” and they would like to make contact with him.
California Highway Patrol (Chp) confirmed with The LA Times on Wednesday (22 February) that the investigation was ongoing.
“At this time we’re only receiving information that they were...
The 24-year-old Californian actor plays drug dealer Fezco in the lauded HBO drama about a recovering teen addict played by Zendaya.
TMZ first reported that Cloud and another male were driving an SUV that rear-ended a Toyota in Marina Del Rey before driving away without stopping.
The publication reports that at least one passenger in the Toyota allegedly suffered injuries to her legs and arms.
Law enforcement sources reportedly told TMZ that “while the Euphoria star is not officially a suspect in the case, his name has been floated for possible involvement,” and they would like to make contact with him.
California Highway Patrol (Chp) confirmed with The LA Times on Wednesday (22 February) that the investigation was ongoing.
“At this time we’re only receiving information that they were...
- 2/23/2023
- by Tom Murray
- The Independent - TV
Killing Eve‘s Sandra Oh, Kieu Chinh (Dynasty) and Nguyen Cao Ky Duyen (Paris By Night) are set for key recurring roles in The Sympathizer, a drama series adaptation of Viet Thanh Nguyen’s Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, produced by and co-starring Robert Downey Jr.
The Sympathizer is an espionage thriller and cross-culture satire about the struggles of a half-French, half-Vietnamese communist spy during the final days of the Vietnam War and his resulting exile in the United States.
Described as a “blistering exploration of identity and America, a gripping spy novel and a powerful story of love and friendship,” the novel is hailed as a new classic of war fiction and has been compared to the works of Kafka, Orwell, and le Carré.
Oh will play Ms. Sofia Mori, a liberated feminist who in the midst of a love triangle begins to awaken to the complexity of her own Asian American identity.
The Sympathizer is an espionage thriller and cross-culture satire about the struggles of a half-French, half-Vietnamese communist spy during the final days of the Vietnam War and his resulting exile in the United States.
Described as a “blistering exploration of identity and America, a gripping spy novel and a powerful story of love and friendship,” the novel is hailed as a new classic of war fiction and has been compared to the works of Kafka, Orwell, and le Carré.
Oh will play Ms. Sofia Mori, a liberated feminist who in the midst of a love triangle begins to awaken to the complexity of her own Asian American identity.
- 11/10/2022
- by Denise Petski
- Deadline Film + TV
The Casting Society of America has revealed the nominees for the 38th Artios Awards, the annual ceremony that recognizes the year’s achievements in television, film and theatre casting.
In the TV category, Netflix and HBO/HBO Max tied with 11 nods. Netflix’s series include “Inventing Anna,” “Maid” and “Ozark,” while HBO and HBO Max were recognized for “Succession,” “Euphoria,” “The Gilded Age,” and more. The following streamers tied at five nominations each: Apple TV+ was nominated for shows like “Severance,” “Pachinko,” and “Ted Lasso.” Hulu got nods for “The Dropout,” “Dopesick” and others.
Broadway productions that received nominations include the revival of “Company,” “Mj the Musical,” “Music Man,” “Take Me Out,” and “Potus.” Films that did not receive non-theatrical releases (such as “Deep Water” and “The Adam Project”) were also recognized. Theatrical release nominations will be announced in January.
Also Read:
Amanda Mackey, Who Cast ‘A League of Their Own,...
In the TV category, Netflix and HBO/HBO Max tied with 11 nods. Netflix’s series include “Inventing Anna,” “Maid” and “Ozark,” while HBO and HBO Max were recognized for “Succession,” “Euphoria,” “The Gilded Age,” and more. The following streamers tied at five nominations each: Apple TV+ was nominated for shows like “Severance,” “Pachinko,” and “Ted Lasso.” Hulu got nods for “The Dropout,” “Dopesick” and others.
Broadway productions that received nominations include the revival of “Company,” “Mj the Musical,” “Music Man,” “Take Me Out,” and “Potus.” Films that did not receive non-theatrical releases (such as “Deep Water” and “The Adam Project”) were also recognized. Theatrical release nominations will be announced in January.
Also Read:
Amanda Mackey, Who Cast ‘A League of Their Own,...
- 10/18/2022
- by Harper Lambert
- The Wrap
The Casting Society (CSA) announced the television, theatre, short film and short form series nominees for the 38th Artios Awards, and Netflix and HBO/HBO Max are leading the pack with 10 nominations each. Next in line for the ceremony honoring the contribution of Casting Professionals in each category are Apple TV+ and Hulu all follow, both with 5 nominations.
The winners will not be revealed until March 9, 2023, as submissions for feature film nominees don’t open up until November 1. Those nominees will be announced on January 6, 2023.
Honorees for the Hoyt Bowers Award For Excellence In Casting, Lynn Stalmaster Award For Career Achievement, Marion Dougherty New York Apple Award, Rosalie Joseph Humanitarian Award, and the Associate Casting Director Spotlight Award, will also be presented that evening, with honorees announced at a later date.
The Artios Awards will return for an in-person gala at The Beverly Hilton Hotel. The annual celebration will also mark CSA’s 40th year.
The winners will not be revealed until March 9, 2023, as submissions for feature film nominees don’t open up until November 1. Those nominees will be announced on January 6, 2023.
Honorees for the Hoyt Bowers Award For Excellence In Casting, Lynn Stalmaster Award For Career Achievement, Marion Dougherty New York Apple Award, Rosalie Joseph Humanitarian Award, and the Associate Casting Director Spotlight Award, will also be presented that evening, with honorees announced at a later date.
The Artios Awards will return for an in-person gala at The Beverly Hilton Hotel. The annual celebration will also mark CSA’s 40th year.
- 10/17/2022
- by Marcus Jones
- Indiewire
Click here to read the full article.
Casting Society (CSA) announced the television, theater, short film and short form series nominations for the 38th annual Artios Awards, which honor the contribution of casting directors in these categories.
Netflix earned 10 nominations, with original films The Adam Project and The Harder They Fall earning nods alongside series like Inventing Anna, Maid and Ozark. HBO and HBO Max also earned a combined 10 nominations including for Barry, Hacks, The Gilded Age and Succession. Apple TV+ and Hulu picked up five noms each.
Submissions for feature film nominees will open on Nov. 1 and nominees will be announced on Jan. 6, 2023. Honorees for the Hoyt Bowers Award For Excellence In Casting, Lynn Stalmaster Award for Career Achievement, Marion Dougherty New York Apple Award, Rosalie Joseph Humanitarian Award and the Associate Casting Director Spotlight Award, will be presented that evening and honorees announced at a later date.
The...
Casting Society (CSA) announced the television, theater, short film and short form series nominations for the 38th annual Artios Awards, which honor the contribution of casting directors in these categories.
Netflix earned 10 nominations, with original films The Adam Project and The Harder They Fall earning nods alongside series like Inventing Anna, Maid and Ozark. HBO and HBO Max also earned a combined 10 nominations including for Barry, Hacks, The Gilded Age and Succession. Apple TV+ and Hulu picked up five noms each.
Submissions for feature film nominees will open on Nov. 1 and nominees will be announced on Jan. 6, 2023. Honorees for the Hoyt Bowers Award For Excellence In Casting, Lynn Stalmaster Award for Career Achievement, Marion Dougherty New York Apple Award, Rosalie Joseph Humanitarian Award and the Associate Casting Director Spotlight Award, will be presented that evening and honorees announced at a later date.
The...
- 10/17/2022
- by Tyler Coates
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
The Casting Society is out with the TV, theater, short films and shortform series nominations for its 38th annual Artios Awards. Netflix and the combined HBO/HBO Max lead the field with 10 noms each, and Apple TV+ and Hulu are next with five apiece.
ABC, AMC, Disney+, Fox and Nickelodeon are the only other outlets with multiple noms, landing two each. See the full list below.
Related: 2022-23 Awards Season Calendar – Dates For The Oscars, Golden Globes, Grammys, Guilds, Festivals & More
The Artios Awards, which honor casting professionals, will unveil its film nominees November 1. Winners will pick up their statuettes during an in-person ceremony March 9 at the Beverly Hilton.
“We are so excited for the Artios Awards to take place in person after two years of it being virtual,” CSA President Destiny Lilly said. “Casting directors are a small community, and to be able to see each other in person...
ABC, AMC, Disney+, Fox and Nickelodeon are the only other outlets with multiple noms, landing two each. See the full list below.
Related: 2022-23 Awards Season Calendar – Dates For The Oscars, Golden Globes, Grammys, Guilds, Festivals & More
The Artios Awards, which honor casting professionals, will unveil its film nominees November 1. Winners will pick up their statuettes during an in-person ceremony March 9 at the Beverly Hilton.
“We are so excited for the Artios Awards to take place in person after two years of it being virtual,” CSA President Destiny Lilly said. “Casting directors are a small community, and to be able to see each other in person...
- 10/17/2022
- by Erik Pedersen
- Deadline Film + TV
“Euphoria,” the teen drama created by Sam Levinson, became a hit largely thanks to the power of social media. But that level of attention — the series is HBO’s second-most-watched of all time behind “Game of Thrones” — doesn’t come without its drawbacks.
Angus Cloud, who plays “Euphoria’s” warmhearted drug dealer Fezco, has found himself largely misunderstood by many of his fans, who often assume he’s just like his character in real life. In an interview for the cover of Variety’s Power of Young Hollywood issue, Cloud opened up about these comparisons.
“It does bother me,” Cloud, 24, says, “when people are like, ‘It must be so easy! You get to go in and be yourself.’ I’m like, ‘Why don’t you go and do that?’ It’s not that simple. I brought a lot to the character. You can believe what you want. It ain’t...
Angus Cloud, who plays “Euphoria’s” warmhearted drug dealer Fezco, has found himself largely misunderstood by many of his fans, who often assume he’s just like his character in real life. In an interview for the cover of Variety’s Power of Young Hollywood issue, Cloud opened up about these comparisons.
“It does bother me,” Cloud, 24, says, “when people are like, ‘It must be so easy! You get to go in and be yourself.’ I’m like, ‘Why don’t you go and do that?’ It’s not that simple. I brought a lot to the character. You can believe what you want. It ain’t...
- 8/10/2022
- by Selome Hailu
- Variety Film + TV
Casting a show full of high schoolers gives casting directors the unique opportunity of finding and potentially casting fresh, new talent to help catapult to stardom — you know, if the story is any good. It also tasks them, no matter what, with the job of finding the exact right person for each role in the series — which is part of why "Euphoria" casting director Jennifer Venditti almost cast someone else in the role of Rue, now played by Zendaya.
In an interview with Variety, Venditti revealed that despite the fact that someone may be perfect for a role, an actor's mental preparation and preservation...
The post Euphoria Almost Cast Someone Else in Zendaya's Role appeared first on /Film.
In an interview with Variety, Venditti revealed that despite the fact that someone may be perfect for a role, an actor's mental preparation and preservation...
The post Euphoria Almost Cast Someone Else in Zendaya's Role appeared first on /Film.
- 8/9/2022
- by Lex Briscuso
- Slash Film
It's nearly impossible to think of anybody other than Zendaya as Rue on Euphoria—but it came awfully close to happening. When it came time to cast the intense HBO drama, the network nearly went in a drastically different direction. "There was a young woman who had been street scouted by my team," casting director Jennifer Venditti told Variety Aug. 8, "who was a magical person and had a similar trajectory as Rue and had come around to the other side." For non-Euphoria viewers, Rue is a recovering drug addict on the show. "With a TV show, it can be many years [of work]," Venditti explained. "We all loved her, but when we went through the rigor of the process, we...
- 8/8/2022
- E! Online
The acting awards tend to be among the most anticipated recognitions doled out at the Emmys every year, while several below-the-line awards are announced off-the-air. It makes sense, given that the lead, supporting and guest actor categories are where all the A-list names are housed, but it’s one of the quieter races that provides the TV Academy with talent to root for in the first place: the Emmy awards for casting.
Among the 20 nominations earned by “The White Lotus” are noms for stars Connie Britton, Jennifer Coolidge, Alexandra Daddario, Natasha Rothwell, Sydney Sweeney, Murray Bartlett, Jake Lacy and Steve Zahn. Casting director Meredith Tucker describes the process to cobble together those actors as “fast and furious.”
“We didn’t start casting until after Labor Day, and they wanted everyone in Hawaii by Oct. 15,” she says. “But we were one of the few new shows that was actively casting. Most...
Among the 20 nominations earned by “The White Lotus” are noms for stars Connie Britton, Jennifer Coolidge, Alexandra Daddario, Natasha Rothwell, Sydney Sweeney, Murray Bartlett, Jake Lacy and Steve Zahn. Casting director Meredith Tucker describes the process to cobble together those actors as “fast and furious.”
“We didn’t start casting until after Labor Day, and they wanted everyone in Hawaii by Oct. 15,” she says. “But we were one of the few new shows that was actively casting. Most...
- 8/8/2022
- by Selome Hailu
- Variety Film + TV
Get in touch to send in cinephile news and discoveries. For daily updates follow us @NotebookMUBI.NEWSThe official poster for the the 54th Directors' Fortnight is by multidisciplinary artist Cecilia Paredes. In a statement, the festival points out that Paredes' photo-performance is "both visible and invisible, the artist blends into the image she creates, much like filmmakers do in their films." Following the release of Joel Coen's The Tragedy of Macbeth, Ethan Coen is setting out to make his own solo directorial debut with a still-untitled "lesbian road trip project that Coen and [his wife, Tricia Cooke] initially wrote in the mid-2000s." Gus Van Sant is set to direct the second season of Ryan Murphy's anthology series Feud, which will be based on Laurence Leamer's book Capote’s Women: A True Story of Love, Betrayal, and a Swan Song for an Era. Playing one such woman will be Naomi Watts,...
- 4/6/2022
- MUBI
Deep in the bowels of Wall Street, the legacy of Kim’s Video lives on. At the Alamo Drafthouse’s new downtown Manhattan location, just a few blocks from the New York Stock Exchange, the arrival of a movie rental store that hasn’t fully been appreciated for 12 years seems like some sort of anti-capitalist lark.
For Alamo Drafthouse founder Tim League, however, the decision to ingest the collection of roughly 55,000 DVDs and VHS tapes once housed at the iconic East Village mainstay Kim’s Video & Music is an experiment with no real downside. “Free movie rentals is not a great business model, but we have the space,” League said in an interview last week, a few hours before Kim’s reopened in the lobby of the new location. “We’re already paying the rent, we already have people at the box office, and we have air conditioning. It’s...
For Alamo Drafthouse founder Tim League, however, the decision to ingest the collection of roughly 55,000 DVDs and VHS tapes once housed at the iconic East Village mainstay Kim’s Video & Music is an experiment with no real downside. “Free movie rentals is not a great business model, but we have the space,” League said in an interview last week, a few hours before Kim’s reopened in the lobby of the new location. “We’re already paying the rent, we already have people at the box office, and we have air conditioning. It’s...
- 4/6/2022
- by Eric Kohn
- Indiewire
“They say you can see the whole universe in opals, that’s how old they are.”
Adam Sandler in Uncut Gems will be available on 4k and Blu-ray November 23rd as part of The Criterion Collection
This jolt of pure cinematic adrenaline affirmed directors Josh and Benny Safdie as heirs to the gritty, heightened realism of Martin Scorsese and John Cassavetes. Adam Sandler delivers an almost maniacally embodied performance as Howard Ratner, a fast-talking New York jeweler and gambler in relentless pursuit of the next big score. When he comes into possession of a rare opal, it seems Howard’s ship has finally come in—as long as he can stay one step ahead of a wife (Idina Menzel) who hates him, a mistress (Julia Fox) who can’t quit him, and a frenzy of loan sharks and hit men closing in on him. Wrapping a vivid look at the...
Adam Sandler in Uncut Gems will be available on 4k and Blu-ray November 23rd as part of The Criterion Collection
This jolt of pure cinematic adrenaline affirmed directors Josh and Benny Safdie as heirs to the gritty, heightened realism of Martin Scorsese and John Cassavetes. Adam Sandler delivers an almost maniacally embodied performance as Howard Ratner, a fast-talking New York jeweler and gambler in relentless pursuit of the next big score. When he comes into possession of a rare opal, it seems Howard’s ship has finally come in—as long as he can stay one step ahead of a wife (Idina Menzel) who hates him, a mistress (Julia Fox) who can’t quit him, and a frenzy of loan sharks and hit men closing in on him. Wrapping a vivid look at the...
- 9/6/2021
- by Tom Stockman
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
“I’m never not doing something,” Dominic Fike tells Variety from the passenger seat of a car.
While the 25-year-old artist would usually be writing songs or recording with cross-generational music royalty, these days he’s on set filming Season 2 of “Euphoria.”
“It feels like a long music video,” says Fike, who is known for his eccentric and stylized videos but had never considered himself an actor before landing a main role on the hit HBO show.
Fike describes his character as a “homie” who hangs out with Rue and Jules, played respectively by Zendaya and Hunter Schafer, who Fike calls “the nicest people ever.”
“They’re both really funny,” Fike says of his co-stars. “We were doing a scene the other day and had to keep redoing it because we just couldn’t stop laughing.”
Fike originally auditioned for the hit HBO series when casting director Jennifer Venditti asked...
While the 25-year-old artist would usually be writing songs or recording with cross-generational music royalty, these days he’s on set filming Season 2 of “Euphoria.”
“It feels like a long music video,” says Fike, who is known for his eccentric and stylized videos but had never considered himself an actor before landing a main role on the hit HBO show.
Fike describes his character as a “homie” who hangs out with Rue and Jules, played respectively by Zendaya and Hunter Schafer, who Fike calls “the nicest people ever.”
“They’re both really funny,” Fike says of his co-stars. “We were doing a scene the other day and had to keep redoing it because we just couldn’t stop laughing.”
Fike originally auditioned for the hit HBO series when casting director Jennifer Venditti asked...
- 8/6/2021
- by Ethan Shanfeld
- Variety Film + TV
Thursday night featured an opportunity to celebrate the people behind the scenes who put people on the screens. The Casting Society of America announced the winners of the 36th Artios Awards, recognizing the best casting efforts in feature films, television, and theatre. Hosted by Yvette Nicole Brown, it was the first virtual ceremony effort from the organization, as Hollywood continues to make adjustments in light of the ongoing pandemic.
It was also a big night for TV shows a little longer in the tooth, as many of the awards went to series that were already in competition for the 2020 Emmy Awards, meaning that the winners will have little, if any, insight as to this year’s Emmy race. That said, wins for “Normal People,” “Succession,” and “What We Do in the Shadows” are always as welcome as they are well-deserved.
On the film side, two Best Picture nominees were Artios victors,...
It was also a big night for TV shows a little longer in the tooth, as many of the awards went to series that were already in competition for the 2020 Emmy Awards, meaning that the winners will have little, if any, insight as to this year’s Emmy race. That said, wins for “Normal People,” “Succession,” and “What We Do in the Shadows” are always as welcome as they are well-deserved.
On the film side, two Best Picture nominees were Artios victors,...
- 4/16/2021
- by Libby Hill
- Indiewire
Updated with full list of winners: The Trial of the Chicago 7, Borat Subsequent Moviefilm, Soul, One Night in Miami and Minari took the top film honors at the Casting Society of America 36th annual Artios Awards, which were handed out in a virtual ceremony tonight.
Check out the full winners list in 29 categories spanning film, TV and theater below.
On the film side, marquee winners were The Trial of the Chicago 7, Borat Subsequent Moviefilm, Soul (Animation), One Night in Miami and Minari.
Succession, What We Do in the Shadows, Euphoria, The Great and Normal People scooped some of the television trophies.
As for the boards, Jim Carnahan was a triple winner Thursday for casting the New York stage shows Little Shop of Horrors and A Soldier’s Play and Harry Potter and the Cursed...
Check out the full winners list in 29 categories spanning film, TV and theater below.
On the film side, marquee winners were The Trial of the Chicago 7, Borat Subsequent Moviefilm, Soul (Animation), One Night in Miami and Minari.
Succession, What We Do in the Shadows, Euphoria, The Great and Normal People scooped some of the television trophies.
As for the boards, Jim Carnahan was a triple winner Thursday for casting the New York stage shows Little Shop of Horrors and A Soldier’s Play and Harry Potter and the Cursed...
- 4/16/2021
- by Erik Pedersen
- Deadline Film + TV
“Borat Subsequent Moviefilm,” “Minari,” “One Night in Miami,” “Soul” and “The Trial of the Chicago 7” were among the feature films honored by the Casting Society of America at the 2021 Artios Awards.
The 36th annual Artios Awards, held by the Casting Society of America in its first-ever worldwide virtual ceremony, honored excellence in casting across feature films, television and theater on Thursday night.
Television winners included “A Black Lady Sketch Show,” “Euphoria,” “Normal People,” “Queer Eye,” “Succession” and “What We Do in the Shadows.”
The Hoyt Bowers Award went to Robi Reed and Tara Rubin, the first time two casting directors were honored for this award.
The European Chapter Artios Awards also made a presentation to Suzanne Smith with the Capelier-Shaw Award for Excellence in Casting.
The Associate Spotlight Award was presented to associate casting directors Michael Rios and Gianna Butler.
“Tonight’s Artios Award ceremony once again celebrated the...
The 36th annual Artios Awards, held by the Casting Society of America in its first-ever worldwide virtual ceremony, honored excellence in casting across feature films, television and theater on Thursday night.
Television winners included “A Black Lady Sketch Show,” “Euphoria,” “Normal People,” “Queer Eye,” “Succession” and “What We Do in the Shadows.”
The Hoyt Bowers Award went to Robi Reed and Tara Rubin, the first time two casting directors were honored for this award.
The European Chapter Artios Awards also made a presentation to Suzanne Smith with the Capelier-Shaw Award for Excellence in Casting.
The Associate Spotlight Award was presented to associate casting directors Michael Rios and Gianna Butler.
“Tonight’s Artios Award ceremony once again celebrated the...
- 4/16/2021
- by Jazz Tangcay
- Variety Film + TV
Two films starring Sacha Baron Cohen, “Borat Subsequent Moviefilm” and “The Trial of the Chicago 7,” were among the film winners at the Casting Society of America’s 36th annual Artios Awards, which were presented on Thursday evening in a virtual ceremony hosted by Yvette Nicole Brown.
“Borat” won in the big-budget comedy category, while “Chicago 7” won for big-budget drama.
In other film categories, the award for casting studio or independent films went to “The 40-Year-Old Version” for comedy and “One Night in Miami” for drama. “Minari” won the award for a low-budget film, while “The Surrogate” won for micro budget. “Soul” won the award for casting an animated film.
Television winners included “The Great,” “Euphoria,” “What We Do in the Shadows,” “Succession” and “Normal People.”
Awards for theater, which was closed for most of 2020, included the Broadway shows “Slave Play,” “Tina: The Tina Turner Musical” and “A Soldier’s Play.
“Borat” won in the big-budget comedy category, while “Chicago 7” won for big-budget drama.
In other film categories, the award for casting studio or independent films went to “The 40-Year-Old Version” for comedy and “One Night in Miami” for drama. “Minari” won the award for a low-budget film, while “The Surrogate” won for micro budget. “Soul” won the award for casting an animated film.
Television winners included “The Great,” “Euphoria,” “What We Do in the Shadows,” “Succession” and “Normal People.”
Awards for theater, which was closed for most of 2020, included the Broadway shows “Slave Play,” “Tina: The Tina Turner Musical” and “A Soldier’s Play.
- 4/16/2021
- by Steve Pond
- The Wrap
Netflix and HBO have emerged with the most nominations for television, theater and short form series at the 36th Annual Artios Awards, which were announced by the Casting Society of America (Csa) on Friday.
Streaming giant Netflix led with 12 nominations overall, and HBO followed with eight, while Hulu received six and Amazon Prime Video received four. Several casting directors such as Alexa L. Fogel, David Rubin, Victoria Thomas and Robert J. Ulrich landed multiple nominations for their work across shows.
The Csa previously announced the three honorees for the 2021 event, with the Actors Fund receiving the Rosalie Joseph Humanitarian Award and the Hoyt Bowers Award going to Robi Reed and Tara Rubin, the first time two casting directors will be honored for this award. The feature films submission opened January 6 and nominations will be announced in March.
The Artios Awards honor the contribution of casting directors in more than 20 categories across film,...
Streaming giant Netflix led with 12 nominations overall, and HBO followed with eight, while Hulu received six and Amazon Prime Video received four. Several casting directors such as Alexa L. Fogel, David Rubin, Victoria Thomas and Robert J. Ulrich landed multiple nominations for their work across shows.
The Csa previously announced the three honorees for the 2021 event, with the Actors Fund receiving the Rosalie Joseph Humanitarian Award and the Hoyt Bowers Award going to Robi Reed and Tara Rubin, the first time two casting directors will be honored for this award. The feature films submission opened January 6 and nominations will be announced in March.
The Artios Awards honor the contribution of casting directors in more than 20 categories across film,...
- 1/8/2021
- by Jazz Tangcay
- Variety Film + TV
The Casting Society of America on Friday unveiled nominations for its 36th annual Artios Awards in the categories of television, theater, short film and short-form series. The noms for the casting honors come ahead of a planned virtual winners ceremony April 15.
The Csa opened its feature film submission period Thursday; noms in those categories will be announced in March.
On the TV side, Netflix leads all networks today with 12 nominations, followed by rival HBO with eight and Hulu with four. Among the nominees include Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences president David Rubin, who scored mentions for HBO’s Big Little Lies and Hulu’s Little Fires Everywhere. Victoria Thomas earned four noms, for Apple’s The Morning Show and HBO’s Insecure, Watchmen and A Black Lady Sketch Show.
In theater, Jim Carnahan, Karyn Casl and Tara Rubin were among the casting director with multiple noms. Rubin, along with Robi Reed,...
The Csa opened its feature film submission period Thursday; noms in those categories will be announced in March.
On the TV side, Netflix leads all networks today with 12 nominations, followed by rival HBO with eight and Hulu with four. Among the nominees include Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences president David Rubin, who scored mentions for HBO’s Big Little Lies and Hulu’s Little Fires Everywhere. Victoria Thomas earned four noms, for Apple’s The Morning Show and HBO’s Insecure, Watchmen and A Black Lady Sketch Show.
In theater, Jim Carnahan, Karyn Casl and Tara Rubin were among the casting director with multiple noms. Rubin, along with Robi Reed,...
- 1/8/2021
- by Patrick Hipes
- Deadline Film + TV
The Casting Society of America (Csa) announced the television and theatre nominations for the 36th Artios Awards, honoring the contributions of casting directors to the arts. The winners will be announced on Thursday, April 15, 2021 in a virtual ceremony, the first-ever for the organization.
Netflix again outstripped its competitors, with 12 Artios Award nominations, followed by HBO with eight, Hulu with six, four for Amazon Prime Video, and three for the now-defunct Quibi.
The Csa previously shared three honorees for this year’s Artios Awards. The Hoyt Bowers Award will recognize Robi Reed and Tara Rubin, the first time two recipients will be honored with the award and the Actors Fund will receive the Rosalie Joseph Humanitarian Award.
The feature films submission opened January 7 and nominations will be announced in March.
The television nominations are listed below:
Television Pilot and First Season – Comedy
“The Great” (Hulu) — Rose Wicksteed
“Modern Love” (Amazon Prime Video) — Laura Rosenthal,...
Netflix again outstripped its competitors, with 12 Artios Award nominations, followed by HBO with eight, Hulu with six, four for Amazon Prime Video, and three for the now-defunct Quibi.
The Csa previously shared three honorees for this year’s Artios Awards. The Hoyt Bowers Award will recognize Robi Reed and Tara Rubin, the first time two recipients will be honored with the award and the Actors Fund will receive the Rosalie Joseph Humanitarian Award.
The feature films submission opened January 7 and nominations will be announced in March.
The television nominations are listed below:
Television Pilot and First Season – Comedy
“The Great” (Hulu) — Rose Wicksteed
“Modern Love” (Amazon Prime Video) — Laura Rosenthal,...
- 1/8/2021
- by Libby Hill
- Indiewire
One after the other, HBO’s incendiary new series “Euphoria” unveils acting discoveries. Exciting ones. Plus-size model and Instagram phenomenon Barbie Ferreira sizzles as zaftig Kat, who prefers controlling her virtual online sex partners to the vulnerability of building an intimate rapport with a real boy (Austin Abrams). “I don’t do virgins,” she tells him, not long after painfully losing her own maidenhead at a blowout party.
She is among several breakouts in this series created by showrunner Sam Levinson (the ex-addict scion of Hollywood royalty Barry), who wowed Sundance 2018 with hacking thriller “Assassination Nation,” which Neon picked up for $10 million (it grossed $2.5 million domestic). For “Euphoria,” Levinson hired again his “Assassination Nation” casting team of veteran Mary Vernieu and Jessica Kelly (Chrystie Street Casting).
Of course, their job is to give the showrunner options to choose from before HBO finally approves. But it’s unusual for casting directors...
She is among several breakouts in this series created by showrunner Sam Levinson (the ex-addict scion of Hollywood royalty Barry), who wowed Sundance 2018 with hacking thriller “Assassination Nation,” which Neon picked up for $10 million (it grossed $2.5 million domestic). For “Euphoria,” Levinson hired again his “Assassination Nation” casting team of veteran Mary Vernieu and Jessica Kelly (Chrystie Street Casting).
Of course, their job is to give the showrunner options to choose from before HBO finally approves. But it’s unusual for casting directors...
- 7/30/2019
- by Anne Thompson
- Thompson on Hollywood
One after the other, HBO’s incendiary new series “Euphoria” unveils acting discoveries. Exciting ones. Plus-size model and Instagram phenomenon Barbie Ferreira sizzles as zaftig Kat, who prefers controlling her virtual online sex partners to the vulnerability of building an intimate rapport with a real boy (Austin Abrams). “I don’t do virgins,” she tells him, not long after painfully losing her own maidenhead at a blowout party.
She is among several breakouts in this series created by showrunner Sam Levinson (the ex-addict scion of Hollywood royalty Barry), who wowed Sundance 2018 with hacking thriller “Assassination Nation,” which Neon picked up for $10 million (it grossed $2.5 million domestic). For “Euphoria,” Levinson hired again his “Assassination Nation” casting team of veteran Mary Vernieu and Jessica Kelly (Chrystie Street Casting).
Of course, their job is to give the showrunner options to choose from before HBO finally approves. But it’s unusual for casting directors...
She is among several breakouts in this series created by showrunner Sam Levinson (the ex-addict scion of Hollywood royalty Barry), who wowed Sundance 2018 with hacking thriller “Assassination Nation,” which Neon picked up for $10 million (it grossed $2.5 million domestic). For “Euphoria,” Levinson hired again his “Assassination Nation” casting team of veteran Mary Vernieu and Jessica Kelly (Chrystie Street Casting).
Of course, their job is to give the showrunner options to choose from before HBO finally approves. But it’s unusual for casting directors...
- 7/30/2019
- by Anne Thompson
- Indiewire
A Massachusetts mom has posted chilling photos of her 3-year-old son splashing in the water in the same spot where an alligator attacked and killed toddler Lane Graves at Walt Disney World - pictures that she believes were taken just minutes before tragedy struck. Jennifer Venditti Roye tells People she is sharing the photos because she wants to stop the online parent-shaming of Lane's mom and dad. Her point is that she had no reason to believe it was dangerous for her son to wade into a few inches of water, despite the "No Swimming" signs. "It could have been him,...
- 6/16/2016
- by Dave Quinn, @NineDaves
- PEOPLE.com
From the streets to the screen, the unbelievable story of Arielle Holmes is a fascinating example of the rare occurrence when cinema and reality blend almost unnoticeably. New York-based filmmaker duo Josh and Benny Safdie followed Holmes story from her days as a heroin addict living destructively to her film debut starring as a version of herself in a film based on a book she wrote about those very experiences. To call it a miraculous story would be to minimize it, because it's even more improbable than it sounds. Once again, reality overpowers fiction.
Enthralled by Holmes, the Safdie brothers decided to make a film about her life and have her star in it, a choice that might seem risky for some but that felt absolutely correct for the filmmaking team. The result is “Heaven Knows What” an exquisitely raw and ferociously truthful film about people lost in a corrosive lifestyle. Drug addiction and emotional dependency go hand in hand as Harley (Arielle Holmes) tries to regain her boyfriend’s love while finding ways to support her habit and stay alive. Humanizing their characters while never condoning or passing judgment, the directors explore the realities of their lives with a documentary-like visual style that is as vivid as it is heart-wrenching.
An accomplishment both in technique and emotional power, “Heaven Knows What” is an eye-opening experience brimming with unflinching truth. We had the chance to talk to the Safdie team about their latest film and how they manage to put so much of the real world into each frame.
Aguilar: Arielle Holmes is evidently the driving force of this incredibly truthful and bold project. At what point in her journey did you meet her? How did you find her and her story and decided to make a film about it?
Josh Safdie: I found Arielle, that’s what happened really. I was doing research in the Diamond District. I was there for like a year and a half and I thought I knew every person who was a part of the fabric of that street, which is 47th between 5th and 6th, in Manhattan, New York.
One day at the end of the workday I went to the subway with my producer Sebastian Bear-McClard and saw Arielle. When I saw her she was dressed in a really nice dress, which I later found out she spent all of her money on, and she appeared clean because she’d washed herself in a public bathroom that morning. She woke up that morning on the steps of a Buddhist church.
At the time she paid for her habit and for her dress moonlighting as a dominatrix at a place called Pandora’s box. I knew none of this when I met her, all I knew was this was a beautiful girl who had real composure to her and who had a real star quality to her. I wanted to try to find a way to put her in this other movie we were trying to do, but when I met up with her to get to know her better, I soon realized that she had a very different life.
It was the one you see in the film, and we didn’t agree to make this movie until months later. I knew her when she attempted to kill herself, it happened in the time span of me getting to know her. I was just trying to hook her up with other jobs and just be her friend, and I eventfully asked her to start writing about her life. I directed the writing and I paid for it. The book is pretty special, she wrote most of it in Apple stores.
Aguilar: Once you were so invested in her story, was it a logical step to have her star in the film?
Benny Safdie: It was logical
Josh Safdie: Yes, we wanted to make the movie because of her.
Aguilar: Did you have any concerns about the fact that she probably had never acted before?
Josh Safdie: No. Never. That’s not unusual for us. She was a star, we just needed to figure out a way to work with her star quality and find her greatest strengths during the rehearsal period. We put her on camera a lot before we started filming to see how she acted with the camera. We actually found that the more regimen we gave her the better she was. If we just turned on the camera and have her improvise it was Ok, but she needed the structure of a script to be even better.
Benny Safdie: She wanted to take her own emotions to another level.
Aguilar: She is incredible in the film. Is this perhaps her first film of many to come?
Josh Safdie: She did another film in the wintertime, a Sci-Fi, and right now she is acting in another one, a big one.
Aguilar: The rest of the cast is also outstanding. Was there a mix of professionals actors and non-actors? They are all so great is impossible to differentiate.
Josh Safdie: Caleb Landry Jones, who plays Ilya, is an actor. He’s been in “X-Men,” “Byzantium,” “Antiviral,” and others, he is a young Hollywood actor who was introduced to me through one of our casting directors Jennifer Venditti. He was by far the most professional. Then there was Eleonore Hendricks who played a very small role as Erica. Buddy Duress, who played Mike, the dealer, was a real revelation to us. He blew us away with his rawness and his energy. He got arrested the day we finished filming the movie and he was in jail for a year, now he is out and he is in an acting class and he is doing pretty great. He was like a street legend, everyone knew him in the streets, and he’d been in and out of jail his whole life. Oddly enough we had a similar upbringing, so I could have easily made the left when he made the left, instead a made a right, and did what I ended doing. Now I think that he will hopefully make the right. Necro, who plays Skully, is a pretty big underground rapper, who I was a big fan of.
Aguilar: The entire cast disappears completely into their roles. It’s hard to even think these are actors playing a part.
Benny Safdie: The goal is to make it seem like nothing has been done.
Josh Safdie: Testament to the success of the film is when people see the film and think Buddy, playing Mike, is the big professional in the movie. Everyone hears “Oh, there is a big actor in the movie,” because Caleb has a real following, but when people see the movie they think Caleb is the non-professional actor and Buddy is the professional. That’s a real testament to Caleb’s performance as well.
Benny Safdie: It’s a matter of complete immersion into the fabric of that world, and accepting it. At the same it’s also about mixing the professionals and the firs-time actors. We use improvisation as a form of getting the people’s language right. We use it as a tool to get the dialogue perfect. It always sound better when it’s coming from someone’s own voice as opposed to from above, from us. If somebody doesn’t feel comfortable saying it a certain way we change it, and then that makes that person more comfortable.
Aguilar: Surely Arielle’s own experiences informed a lot of your choices. Did she ever come to you and say, “This didn’t happen that way” or “This doesn’t sound right”?
Josh Safdie: That’s funny because when she said that, most of the time it was in accordance to whether or not something happened the way it should have in real life, and we had changed it because it needed to be changed so that somebody watching the movie could feel how she felt. But then that actually helped her because when she started understanding the reasoning behind it and it made her acting even better. She realized, “Ok, I can make myself emotional more extreme to get the point across.”
Aguilar: Shooting a film like this in NYC was probably a great challenge. Did you guys shoot inconspicuously or on the fly to get such a realist and raw visual style?
Josh Safdie: No, it was all very structured because we were shooting a lot of our close-ups from a block away. There was not much freedom to the movements of the actors. Some scenes we did like 13 or 14 takes, sometimes we shot scenes twice. We would shoot them and then we would go back to the same location on another day when we had some free time. We would reshoot the scene if after watching the dailies we felt like it wasn’t quite right.
Benny Safdie: In New York you are not allowed to shoot without a permit if you have a tripod. We pretty much shot the whole movie with tripods or Steadicam, and if you have something like that on the street you need to legally have a permit or you’ll get stopped. We wouldn’t have been able to do it without it, so we had to be very regimented with how we shot just based on the equipment we were using. We had that restriction upon us and for the actors, like Josh said, they had to be on their marks perfectly or else we’d miss it.
Aguilar: The constraints are definitley not noticeable, the city feels and the characters feel completely free.
Josh Safdie: We did not block the sidewalks. we allowed the city to exist as the city, we were just using it to our advantage.
Benny Safdie: At some point you let the city live within the frame and let the actors live on their own within that circle, and it all kind of folds into itself.
Aguilar: Tell me about the film’s structure. The way it starts and the way it ends, it feels like an endless cycle in a sense.
Josh Safdie: That’s the cycle of the lifestyle. You kind of can’t get out of it, it’s almost impossible to get out of it. The reality of that lifestyle is that the two ways out are usually prison or death, or you get cast in a movie and you make that movie [Laughs]. Ariel Pink, a great musician who did a song for the movie and who was also in the film at one point, came to the L.A. premier at AFI Fest, and someone asked him about heroin and his reply was, “ You do heroin and get a movie made out of you.” He said it as a joke because he is a cynical guy, but it’s very rare to get out. Breaks don’t usually come, they are few and far between, and there are a lot of people who are stuck in that lifestyle. It takes a lot of courage to get out of it, and a lot of will power. It’s a trap.
Benny Safdie: It’s a physical addiction to the drug, and then there is the mental addiction to this lifestyle that you think you are living.
Aguilar: It is a lifestyle. Even as chaotic as their lives seem, they do have a certain structure and specific patterns and things they have to do to continue living this way.
Benny Safdie: Exactly, it’s just a different structure. It’s not the one that we follow, but it is a structure. We were just talking about the rent that they have to pay, it's only $15, for the tow of them that’s $30 a night, that’s cheap, that’s nothing. But $30 a night, that’s $900 a month, with that money you can find yourself a pretty descent room.
Josh Safdie: That’s without mentioning their habit, which adds to thousands of dollars a year.
Benny Safdie: And also, who would rent a room to somebody like that? At the same time that’s a lot of money that they are raising, that they are earning by having to get up 8:00 to make sure that they make the morning rush.
Aguilar: The music in the film is something that I really enjoyed and that feels cohesive with the story being told, in particular the ominous track that includes the lyrics, “explore the power of the mind.”
Josh Safdie: That’s funny because there are two pieces of music in the movie that are from Arielle’s life, which her boyfriend, the real Ilya, and Arielle turned me on to. It’s hardstyle music, it’s from a very hardcore electronic scene, and it’s by a very famous DJ called Headhunterz. There is also a big movement in Australia called Melbourne shuffle, which is basically like punk and stomp out music, except that it’s hardcore electronic, but it’s also very beautiful and classical. I consider it to be “Invincible music,” it makes you feel like you are invincible when you listen to it, it’s superhero music. The piece of music you mention, we always say that is diagetic because it’s inside of her head, the movie is just hearing what’s inside of her head.
Benny Safdie: When that track comes in it’s very different than when the music is playing in the beginning of the movie. It comes in and it’s so motivated by what’s happening on screen. It might as well be the sound effects from the park, they are interchangeable.
Aguilar: Did you guys look at any other films that depict addiction to see how it has been represented before?
Josh Safdie: No, we looked to that world itself. If we were looking for any inspiration or any way to be guided, we looked to the world and the characters themselves.
Benny Safdie: We knew there were some pitfalls that other films fall into not just by accident but by the nature of making a movie about somebody who loves a drug. We had conversations about how to film the shooting of the drug, and how to shoot the drug in certain ways to avoid glorifying it, or fetishizing it.
Aguilar: On a more specific note, the film premiered in 2014, but for the theatrical release you include a note in the credits dedicating the film to the real life Ilya, who sadly passed away this year. Is what we see in the film Arielle's premonition?
Josh Safdie: In her writings, Arielle mentions she had a vision in which he had died. She thought he was dead, but in reality he wasn’t. He was in a fire, and he survived the fire. The irony is that Ilya died on April 12th this year under different circumstances.
Benny Safdie: It’s very strange.
Aguilar: The way you approach the subject is so truthful and uncompromising, were you ever concern about audiences having an uncomfortable reaction or that it could be perceived as provocative?
Josh Safdie: I never feel uncomfortable, or dark or heavy. I’m actually very excited by everything in the movie because I kind of previewed a little bit of the mindset that the characters have. I never saw the movie as dark. It is what it is.
"Heaven Knows What" is now playing in Los Angeles at the Acrlight Hollywood and in NYC at the Landmark Sunshine Cinema...
Enthralled by Holmes, the Safdie brothers decided to make a film about her life and have her star in it, a choice that might seem risky for some but that felt absolutely correct for the filmmaking team. The result is “Heaven Knows What” an exquisitely raw and ferociously truthful film about people lost in a corrosive lifestyle. Drug addiction and emotional dependency go hand in hand as Harley (Arielle Holmes) tries to regain her boyfriend’s love while finding ways to support her habit and stay alive. Humanizing their characters while never condoning or passing judgment, the directors explore the realities of their lives with a documentary-like visual style that is as vivid as it is heart-wrenching.
An accomplishment both in technique and emotional power, “Heaven Knows What” is an eye-opening experience brimming with unflinching truth. We had the chance to talk to the Safdie team about their latest film and how they manage to put so much of the real world into each frame.
Aguilar: Arielle Holmes is evidently the driving force of this incredibly truthful and bold project. At what point in her journey did you meet her? How did you find her and her story and decided to make a film about it?
Josh Safdie: I found Arielle, that’s what happened really. I was doing research in the Diamond District. I was there for like a year and a half and I thought I knew every person who was a part of the fabric of that street, which is 47th between 5th and 6th, in Manhattan, New York.
One day at the end of the workday I went to the subway with my producer Sebastian Bear-McClard and saw Arielle. When I saw her she was dressed in a really nice dress, which I later found out she spent all of her money on, and she appeared clean because she’d washed herself in a public bathroom that morning. She woke up that morning on the steps of a Buddhist church.
At the time she paid for her habit and for her dress moonlighting as a dominatrix at a place called Pandora’s box. I knew none of this when I met her, all I knew was this was a beautiful girl who had real composure to her and who had a real star quality to her. I wanted to try to find a way to put her in this other movie we were trying to do, but when I met up with her to get to know her better, I soon realized that she had a very different life.
It was the one you see in the film, and we didn’t agree to make this movie until months later. I knew her when she attempted to kill herself, it happened in the time span of me getting to know her. I was just trying to hook her up with other jobs and just be her friend, and I eventfully asked her to start writing about her life. I directed the writing and I paid for it. The book is pretty special, she wrote most of it in Apple stores.
Aguilar: Once you were so invested in her story, was it a logical step to have her star in the film?
Benny Safdie: It was logical
Josh Safdie: Yes, we wanted to make the movie because of her.
Aguilar: Did you have any concerns about the fact that she probably had never acted before?
Josh Safdie: No. Never. That’s not unusual for us. She was a star, we just needed to figure out a way to work with her star quality and find her greatest strengths during the rehearsal period. We put her on camera a lot before we started filming to see how she acted with the camera. We actually found that the more regimen we gave her the better she was. If we just turned on the camera and have her improvise it was Ok, but she needed the structure of a script to be even better.
Benny Safdie: She wanted to take her own emotions to another level.
Aguilar: She is incredible in the film. Is this perhaps her first film of many to come?
Josh Safdie: She did another film in the wintertime, a Sci-Fi, and right now she is acting in another one, a big one.
Aguilar: The rest of the cast is also outstanding. Was there a mix of professionals actors and non-actors? They are all so great is impossible to differentiate.
Josh Safdie: Caleb Landry Jones, who plays Ilya, is an actor. He’s been in “X-Men,” “Byzantium,” “Antiviral,” and others, he is a young Hollywood actor who was introduced to me through one of our casting directors Jennifer Venditti. He was by far the most professional. Then there was Eleonore Hendricks who played a very small role as Erica. Buddy Duress, who played Mike, the dealer, was a real revelation to us. He blew us away with his rawness and his energy. He got arrested the day we finished filming the movie and he was in jail for a year, now he is out and he is in an acting class and he is doing pretty great. He was like a street legend, everyone knew him in the streets, and he’d been in and out of jail his whole life. Oddly enough we had a similar upbringing, so I could have easily made the left when he made the left, instead a made a right, and did what I ended doing. Now I think that he will hopefully make the right. Necro, who plays Skully, is a pretty big underground rapper, who I was a big fan of.
Aguilar: The entire cast disappears completely into their roles. It’s hard to even think these are actors playing a part.
Benny Safdie: The goal is to make it seem like nothing has been done.
Josh Safdie: Testament to the success of the film is when people see the film and think Buddy, playing Mike, is the big professional in the movie. Everyone hears “Oh, there is a big actor in the movie,” because Caleb has a real following, but when people see the movie they think Caleb is the non-professional actor and Buddy is the professional. That’s a real testament to Caleb’s performance as well.
Benny Safdie: It’s a matter of complete immersion into the fabric of that world, and accepting it. At the same it’s also about mixing the professionals and the firs-time actors. We use improvisation as a form of getting the people’s language right. We use it as a tool to get the dialogue perfect. It always sound better when it’s coming from someone’s own voice as opposed to from above, from us. If somebody doesn’t feel comfortable saying it a certain way we change it, and then that makes that person more comfortable.
Aguilar: Surely Arielle’s own experiences informed a lot of your choices. Did she ever come to you and say, “This didn’t happen that way” or “This doesn’t sound right”?
Josh Safdie: That’s funny because when she said that, most of the time it was in accordance to whether or not something happened the way it should have in real life, and we had changed it because it needed to be changed so that somebody watching the movie could feel how she felt. But then that actually helped her because when she started understanding the reasoning behind it and it made her acting even better. She realized, “Ok, I can make myself emotional more extreme to get the point across.”
Aguilar: Shooting a film like this in NYC was probably a great challenge. Did you guys shoot inconspicuously or on the fly to get such a realist and raw visual style?
Josh Safdie: No, it was all very structured because we were shooting a lot of our close-ups from a block away. There was not much freedom to the movements of the actors. Some scenes we did like 13 or 14 takes, sometimes we shot scenes twice. We would shoot them and then we would go back to the same location on another day when we had some free time. We would reshoot the scene if after watching the dailies we felt like it wasn’t quite right.
Benny Safdie: In New York you are not allowed to shoot without a permit if you have a tripod. We pretty much shot the whole movie with tripods or Steadicam, and if you have something like that on the street you need to legally have a permit or you’ll get stopped. We wouldn’t have been able to do it without it, so we had to be very regimented with how we shot just based on the equipment we were using. We had that restriction upon us and for the actors, like Josh said, they had to be on their marks perfectly or else we’d miss it.
Aguilar: The constraints are definitley not noticeable, the city feels and the characters feel completely free.
Josh Safdie: We did not block the sidewalks. we allowed the city to exist as the city, we were just using it to our advantage.
Benny Safdie: At some point you let the city live within the frame and let the actors live on their own within that circle, and it all kind of folds into itself.
Aguilar: Tell me about the film’s structure. The way it starts and the way it ends, it feels like an endless cycle in a sense.
Josh Safdie: That’s the cycle of the lifestyle. You kind of can’t get out of it, it’s almost impossible to get out of it. The reality of that lifestyle is that the two ways out are usually prison or death, or you get cast in a movie and you make that movie [Laughs]. Ariel Pink, a great musician who did a song for the movie and who was also in the film at one point, came to the L.A. premier at AFI Fest, and someone asked him about heroin and his reply was, “ You do heroin and get a movie made out of you.” He said it as a joke because he is a cynical guy, but it’s very rare to get out. Breaks don’t usually come, they are few and far between, and there are a lot of people who are stuck in that lifestyle. It takes a lot of courage to get out of it, and a lot of will power. It’s a trap.
Benny Safdie: It’s a physical addiction to the drug, and then there is the mental addiction to this lifestyle that you think you are living.
Aguilar: It is a lifestyle. Even as chaotic as their lives seem, they do have a certain structure and specific patterns and things they have to do to continue living this way.
Benny Safdie: Exactly, it’s just a different structure. It’s not the one that we follow, but it is a structure. We were just talking about the rent that they have to pay, it's only $15, for the tow of them that’s $30 a night, that’s cheap, that’s nothing. But $30 a night, that’s $900 a month, with that money you can find yourself a pretty descent room.
Josh Safdie: That’s without mentioning their habit, which adds to thousands of dollars a year.
Benny Safdie: And also, who would rent a room to somebody like that? At the same time that’s a lot of money that they are raising, that they are earning by having to get up 8:00 to make sure that they make the morning rush.
Aguilar: The music in the film is something that I really enjoyed and that feels cohesive with the story being told, in particular the ominous track that includes the lyrics, “explore the power of the mind.”
Josh Safdie: That’s funny because there are two pieces of music in the movie that are from Arielle’s life, which her boyfriend, the real Ilya, and Arielle turned me on to. It’s hardstyle music, it’s from a very hardcore electronic scene, and it’s by a very famous DJ called Headhunterz. There is also a big movement in Australia called Melbourne shuffle, which is basically like punk and stomp out music, except that it’s hardcore electronic, but it’s also very beautiful and classical. I consider it to be “Invincible music,” it makes you feel like you are invincible when you listen to it, it’s superhero music. The piece of music you mention, we always say that is diagetic because it’s inside of her head, the movie is just hearing what’s inside of her head.
Benny Safdie: When that track comes in it’s very different than when the music is playing in the beginning of the movie. It comes in and it’s so motivated by what’s happening on screen. It might as well be the sound effects from the park, they are interchangeable.
Aguilar: Did you guys look at any other films that depict addiction to see how it has been represented before?
Josh Safdie: No, we looked to that world itself. If we were looking for any inspiration or any way to be guided, we looked to the world and the characters themselves.
Benny Safdie: We knew there were some pitfalls that other films fall into not just by accident but by the nature of making a movie about somebody who loves a drug. We had conversations about how to film the shooting of the drug, and how to shoot the drug in certain ways to avoid glorifying it, or fetishizing it.
Aguilar: On a more specific note, the film premiered in 2014, but for the theatrical release you include a note in the credits dedicating the film to the real life Ilya, who sadly passed away this year. Is what we see in the film Arielle's premonition?
Josh Safdie: In her writings, Arielle mentions she had a vision in which he had died. She thought he was dead, but in reality he wasn’t. He was in a fire, and he survived the fire. The irony is that Ilya died on April 12th this year under different circumstances.
Benny Safdie: It’s very strange.
Aguilar: The way you approach the subject is so truthful and uncompromising, were you ever concern about audiences having an uncomfortable reaction or that it could be perceived as provocative?
Josh Safdie: I never feel uncomfortable, or dark or heavy. I’m actually very excited by everything in the movie because I kind of previewed a little bit of the mindset that the characters have. I never saw the movie as dark. It is what it is.
"Heaven Knows What" is now playing in Los Angeles at the Acrlight Hollywood and in NYC at the Landmark Sunshine Cinema...
- 5/29/2015
- by Carlos Aguilar
- Sydney's Buzz
The entertainment industry is constantly changing, and it's important to stay aware of what’s going on. Want to find out who’s casting? What projects are happening? What’s coming up? Call Sheet highlights will help you stay in-the-know: UTA's opening it's doors to the mass exodus of CAA agents including comedy comedy headers Jason Heyman, Martin Lesak, Gregory McKnight, and Greg Cavic. “Heroes Reborn” added more Heroes alum to its roster. The La Padura/Hart cast series just nabbed Jimmy Jean–Louis, to reprise his role as The Haitian. Mindy Marin Casting is taking flight with Tom Cruise’s new project "Mena," which follows the real life story of drug trafficker and pilot Barry Seal. The Shia Labeouf starrer "American Honey," cast by Jennifer Venditti of JV8INC, is gearing up to shoot this June in Texas and West Virgina. Former Steppenwolf associate artistic director and casting director...
- 4/8/2015
- backstage.com
The Sundance Institute announced today the participants for its annual Creative Producing Labs and Creative Producing Summit, which will take place in Sundance, Utah starting July 18.
From the 18-22, ten projects will participate in the Labs (five narrative, four documentaries) and receive ongoing support throughout the year. Following the Labs, from the 22-24, leaders in the independent film community will partake in the Summit that will include case study sessions, panels, roundtable discussions, one-on-one meetings and pitching sessions.
Summit panelists include Josh Braun (Submarine Entertainment), Victoria Cook (Frankfurt Kurnit Klein & Selz), Liesl Copland (William Morris Endeavor), Eric d’Arbeloff (Roadside Attractions), Marian Koltai-Levine (Pmk*Bnc), Alex Kruglov (Hulu.com), Tim League (Alamo Drafthouse), Susan Margolin (New Video), Celine Rattray (Maven Pictures), John Sloss (Cinetic Media), Dan Steinman (Creative Artists Agency), Ricky Strauss (Participant Media) and Nancy Utley (Fox Searchlight). Click here for a full list of panelists.
The Fellows and...
From the 18-22, ten projects will participate in the Labs (five narrative, four documentaries) and receive ongoing support throughout the year. Following the Labs, from the 22-24, leaders in the independent film community will partake in the Summit that will include case study sessions, panels, roundtable discussions, one-on-one meetings and pitching sessions.
Summit panelists include Josh Braun (Submarine Entertainment), Victoria Cook (Frankfurt Kurnit Klein & Selz), Liesl Copland (William Morris Endeavor), Eric d’Arbeloff (Roadside Attractions), Marian Koltai-Levine (Pmk*Bnc), Alex Kruglov (Hulu.com), Tim League (Alamo Drafthouse), Susan Margolin (New Video), Celine Rattray (Maven Pictures), John Sloss (Cinetic Media), Dan Steinman (Creative Artists Agency), Ricky Strauss (Participant Media) and Nancy Utley (Fox Searchlight). Click here for a full list of panelists.
The Fellows and...
- 7/12/2011
- by Jason Guerrasio
- Filmmaker Magazine - Blog
Variety critic Leslie Felperin responded to her son's diagnosis by watching every movie about autism she could find
Some parents go into understandable denial when confronted with the evidence that their child is on the autism spectrum, and some become consumed with a zealous need to seek a cure or ameliorate the symptoms with therapies. Given my profession, my way of dealing with our three-year-old son's diagnosis of an autistic spectrum condition (Asc) has been to try and understand the condition as best I could through reading books and watching movies about people with autism. So for the last two years, my husband Tom and I have been working our way – frequently in tears, sometimes laughing with recognition – through as many features and documentaries about people with the condition as we could source. It seems to me from where I'm sitting (on the sofa and in the cinemas) that there are far more,...
Some parents go into understandable denial when confronted with the evidence that their child is on the autism spectrum, and some become consumed with a zealous need to seek a cure or ameliorate the symptoms with therapies. Given my profession, my way of dealing with our three-year-old son's diagnosis of an autistic spectrum condition (Asc) has been to try and understand the condition as best I could through reading books and watching movies about people with autism. So for the last two years, my husband Tom and I have been working our way – frequently in tears, sometimes laughing with recognition – through as many features and documentaries about people with the condition as we could source. It seems to me from where I'm sitting (on the sofa and in the cinemas) that there are far more,...
- 4/4/2011
- by Leslie Felperin
- The Guardian - Film News
I entered the world of documentaries and Hot Docs late in the game -- when I first dove into festival coverage for Cinematical back in ol' 2007 -- but oh, I fell quickly and hard. That first year, Hot Docs immediately became the prime movie hurrah, trumping my long love of the Worldwide Short Film Fest and more than holding its own against the hustle and Hollywood bustle of the Toronto International Film Festival. At first I believed that it was because I always picked great films. Very rarely did one disappoint.
But there was another aspect plucking at the strings of fan love. Having written the Girls on Film column for over a year now (Happy Anniversary as of April 20!), I realized that I was also enamored with the festival because of the strong and thriving female voice that it, and the world of documentaries, celebrates. It's not unnatural to...
But there was another aspect plucking at the strings of fan love. Having written the Girls on Film column for over a year now (Happy Anniversary as of April 20!), I realized that I was also enamored with the festival because of the strong and thriving female voice that it, and the world of documentaries, celebrates. It's not unnatural to...
- 5/4/2010
- by Monika Bartyzel
- Cinematical
As part of a new effort to bring attention to under seen independent films and to support one of New York City's last independent video stores for specialty films, Hammer to Nail and Cinema Nolita have teamed up to host a series of weekly late night screenings in Nolita's space on Mulberry St. Tonight at 11pm, Jennifer Venditti, who Filmmaker selected as one of its 25 New Faces in Independent Film in 2007, will be on hand to screen her SXSW Jury prize winning doc Billy the Kid. In a piece for H2N last fall, Cullen Gallagher had this to say about the film: Unlike the exaggerated characters in even the best high school movies, there’s something unshakably authentic to this fifteen year-old-kid from Brunswick, Maine with a rat tail who wears...
- 3/22/2009
- by Brandon Harris
- Filmmaker Magazine - Blog
By Michael Atkinson
Context and perspective can be everything -- it's not difficult to simply view Jennifer Venditti's adroit and honest documentary "Billy the Kid" (2007) as a sympathetic portrait of a working-class high schooler inflicted with Asperger's. You can, if you insist on doing so, take it clinically, or as yet another small-framed nonfiction slice of life bearing with it a fashionable special-needs public issue. Too bad about Billy P., a 15-year-old Maine kid living in a converted mobile home with his remarried mom, remembering an abusive father, and mixing uncomfortably with his neurotypical teenage contemporaries in school, who largely tolerate him but keep him at arm's length. Billy himself is a lively piece of work, chattering endlessly from a headful of old movies and entertaining dreams of being a rock star, but you need only to watch his tense body language and searching eyes for a few seconds to understand that he's disconnected,...
Context and perspective can be everything -- it's not difficult to simply view Jennifer Venditti's adroit and honest documentary "Billy the Kid" (2007) as a sympathetic portrait of a working-class high schooler inflicted with Asperger's. You can, if you insist on doing so, take it clinically, or as yet another small-framed nonfiction slice of life bearing with it a fashionable special-needs public issue. Too bad about Billy P., a 15-year-old Maine kid living in a converted mobile home with his remarried mom, remembering an abusive father, and mixing uncomfortably with his neurotypical teenage contemporaries in school, who largely tolerate him but keep him at arm's length. Billy himself is a lively piece of work, chattering endlessly from a headful of old movies and entertaining dreams of being a rock star, but you need only to watch his tense body language and searching eyes for a few seconds to understand that he's disconnected,...
- 11/4/2008
- by Michael Atkinson
- ifc.com
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