While Tom Holland‘s certainly faced high stakes and big drama in his movie career (heck, no one remembers him at the end of ‘Spider-Man: No Way Home’) and in ‘Uncharted’ he risked life and limb to recover artifacts.
But his small screen work definitely goes down some darker paths –– witness Netflix’s ‘The Devil All the Time’ and Apple’s ‘Cherry’ –– and his next gig with the latter also has some seriously dark overtones. How dark? Try a psychological thriller digging into the faulty recollections of a man accused of a terrible crime.
Tom Holland in ‘The Crowded Room,’ premiering June 9, 2023 on Apple TV+.
What’s the story of ‘The Crowded Room’
‘The Crowded Room’ follows Danny Sullivan (Holland), a man who is arrested following his involvement in a shooting in New York City in 1979. The thriller series is then through a series of interviews with curious interrogator Rya Goodwin (Amanda Seyfried), and Danny’s life story unfolds, revealing elements of the mysterious past that shaped him, and the twists and turns that will lead him to a life-altering revelation.
Who is the mysterious man who saved Danny from bullies when he was younger? And how does his daughter Ariana (Sasha Lane) fit into it all? Why can’t Danny remember chunks of his life? Could he be innocent as Rya feels, or is he much more nefarious?
Akiva Goldsman created the 10-episode limited series, adapting Daniel Keyes’ 1981 non-fiction novel, the title of which we won’t reveal here as it nods to the truth of the tale and constitutes a giant spoiler. So don’t go googling if you’re curious because you’ll end up ruining the story for yourself.
As for Holland, next up, he’s down to star in a Fred Astaire biopic and there’s the prospect of another ‘Spider-Man’ entry, though little is known about that, and it could well end up being impacted by the writers’ strike in any regard. In a much earlier state is World War II drama ‘Beneath a Scarlet Sky’, which will see him playing a man who helps Jews escape to Switzerland.
The first three episodes of ‘The Crowded Room’ will launch on Apple TV+ on June 9th, followed by one new episode weekly through July 28th.
(L to R) Amanda Seyfried and Tom Holland in ‘The Crowded Room,’ premiering June 9, 2023 on Apple TV+.Amanda Seyfried in ‘The Crowded Room,’ premiering June 9, 2023 on Apple TV+.(L to R) Thomas Sadoski and Amanda Seyfried in ‘The Crowded Room,’ premiering June 9, 2023 on Apple TV+.Sasha Lane in ‘The Crowded Room,’ premiering June 9, 2023 on Apple TV+.(L to R) Sasha Lane and Tom Holland in ‘The Crowded Room,’ premiering June 9, 2023 on Apple TV+.(L to R) Jason Isaacs and Tom Holland in ‘The Crowded Room,’ premiering June 9, 2023 on Apple TV+.Lior Raz in ‘The Crowded Room,’ premiering June 9, 2023 on Apple TV+.(L to R) Zachary Golinger and Emmy Rossum in ‘The Crowded Room,’ premiering June 9, 2023 on Apple TV+.
(L to R) Jamie Lee Curtis, Stephanie Hsu, Ke Huy Quan, Michelle Yeoh, and James Hong in A24’s ‘Everything Everywhere All at Once.’
As awards season trundled onward, Sunday night saw the Critics Choice Association Awards handed out at the Fairmont Century Plaza Hotel in Los Angeles.
The star-studded affair (albeit slightly less star-studded thanks to the super-spreader event that was the Golden Globes, which saw the likes of Jamie Lee Curtis, Brendan Gleeson and Colin Farrell all laid low with Covid) blends film and TV awards, and in an attempt to keep the running time to a strict three hours (successfully, as it stands) weirdly squashed together certain categories, which meant that the likes of ‘Barry’s Henry Winkler and ‘Abbott Elementary’s Sheryl Lee Ralph ended up taking the stage at the same time, and taking turns to give their speeches one after the other.
That was still better for those in some other categories, such as Cinematography and Best Animated Series, which were burned through in brief on-screen mentions without any of the recipients coming up to accept their trophies.
Hosted by Chelsea Handler, the show had the usual mix of celebrity presenters, memorably Seth Rogen, who joked that the CW, where the awards show was airing, had zero nominations at the ceremony.
It was another good night for the team behind ‘Everything Everywhere All at Once’, which won five awards, including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Supporting Actor for Ke Huy Quan, Best Editing and Best Original Screenplay.
Though the movie’s Michelle Yeoh had been predicted to repeat her run of wins as Best Actress, that award went to Cate Blanchett for ‘Tár’, as the Critics Choice Ceremony had the feel of Everything Wins Something.
Brendan Fraser in director Darren Aronofsky’s ‘The Whale’ from A24.
Brendan Fraser continued his own winning streak, offering up an emotional speech as he accepted Best Actor for ‘The Whale’. Angela Bassett gave a stirring speech as she took home Best Supporting Actress for ‘Black Panther: Wakanda Forever’. Popular action movie ‘RRR’, meanwhile, was named Best Foreign Language Film along with winning Best Song for “Naatu Naatu”.
Other buzzed about movies made do with one win each, such as ‘Avatar: The Way of Water’s effects, and ‘Elvis’ hair and make-up team.
On the TV front, it was a triumphant night for ‘Better Call Saul’, the ‘Breaking Bad’ spin-off enjoying some well-earned respect for its final season as it won Best Drama, Best Actor in a Drama for star Bob Odenkirk and Best Supporting Actor in a Drama for Giancarlo Esposito.
‘Abbott Elementary’ continued to do well, winning two awards, while Jennifer Coolidge was back on another stage, offering another funny speech as she won another trophy for ‘The White Lotus’.
Blending first-timers (such as Jeremy Allen White for ‘The Bear’) and repeat winners (Jean Smart for ‘Hacks’ or Winkler for ‘Barry’), the TV categories, like their movie counterparts also spread the love around various shows.
‘The Dropout’, which stars Amanda Seyfried as Elizabeth Holmes, won for Seyfried and Best Limited Series, while ‘Weird: The Al Yankovic Story’ landed Best Actor (for Daniel Radcliffe, who wasn’t present) and Best TV Movie.
Jean Smart in ‘Hacks’ Season 2 for HBO Max. Photos by Karen Ballard.
In ‘A Mouthful of Air’ Amanda Seyfried plays Julie, a woman struggling with severe depression. Finn Wittrock plays her husband Ethan, and both actors spoke to Moviefone about their new film.
Moviefone: What discussions, Amanda, did you have with director-writer, Amy Koppelman about this movie and your character?
Amanda Seyfried: We had met about a year and a half before we made the movie, and we just talked about… The script was in its kind of first, second draft, and we talked about kind of collaborating on our own experiences, to add to Julie’s world, to kind of create a more 3-D Amy, Amanda version of Julie. So that was interesting. It was a really interesting process, because I’ve never been able to do that and have that much to say, that much perspective to give to a story. It was interesting and cathartic and also just powerful for me because I felt… By the time we got to set, it was something that I really deeply understood, even though I’m not Julie, and I’m not going through what Julie’s going through. There are some aspects that are very much me, mean very much Amy. So that was interesting, and it made for a more, a deeper experience, which you don’t get so often, especially with low-budget movies and not when you don’t have enough time in a movie.
MF: I think it was going to be confusing for people who don’t suffer from depression, who has never experienced it within themselves or with a loved one because from the outside, Julie seems like she has this great life. I mean, beautiful kids, a wonderful loving husband, a great career, yet she struggles.
Seyfried: That’s what’s so important is that it is so jarring as someone, I mean, who knows many people, especially people in my family who have suffered from actual depression. I have not. You can’t ask someone to think differently. You can’t show somebody their life and say, “Look at your life”, because the illness, the disease itself is preventing you from being able to see clearly at them, and that’s the thing, you feel any mental illness, I know in my experience, I feel so alone because I feel like I’m the only one in the world suffering and the truth is so many people are. In this country, especially, we don’t have the right healthcare yet, but infrastructure that we will one day, I think. It’s just, you got to show that contrast because it’s jarring.
How could you be so unhappy, so sad, so self-loathing, if this is your life? It’s just… That’s the disease and that’s why we have to take it seriously and that’s why we have to shine a light on it because there is a stigma attached to mental health, that there isn’t with cancer and there isn’t with other diseases, you have kidney disease, you can see it, but here this is in your brain. This is something that is not so physical, but it is, and so I think that’s why we’re lacking.
Amanda Seyfried & Finn Wittrock in ‘A Mouthful of Air’
MF: And Finn, how does this affect your friends, your family, and everybody around you?
Finn Wittrock: Yeah, I think Ethan kind of represents the loved ones who are kind of stranded or left behind or just left in the dark about what’s going on inside of someone who’s suffering. I think the point of having a good relationship between them and having actual real love there was to show how powerful and insidious the illness can be. There’s no easy way to point to she’s like this because her husband isn’t nice to her. You can’t create such an easy paradigm and so it makes it more mysterious and more complicated, and I think that’s kind of the point, really.
Seyfried: Yeah.
MF: And what is Ethan actually, what is his reaction? Because it’s also very hard on him.
Wittrock: Yeah. I think it’s very lonely. There’s so much, she needs so much. He’s trying to give her what she needs but at the same time, because of that, he feels she’s so fragile that he can’t really ask for anything for himself. So it kind of becomes a one way street, kind of in a sad way.
Seyfried: He’s so patient and so devoted, but at the same time, he can’t reach her anymore and that’s a whole other experience.
Wittrock: I think he’s a guy who’s always thought he could fix stuff, he could make it okay, and now he’s finding himself sort of lost in the midst of this.
‘A Mouthful of Air’ is now in theaters.
As we head into spooky season, here’s a guide to a wide variety of new horror films from female filmmakers to get your skin crawling. With such a rich crop of startlingly original titles from filmmakers with bold visions and unique points of view, there’s bound to be something for everyone’s particular penchant. Whether you’re looking for mind-blowing body horror, creatures like vampires, witches or ghosts, or just good old fashioned blood, guts and gore – something wicked awaits you.
Adriana Barraza in ‘Bingo Hell’
The fifth installment in the anthology Welcome To The Blumhouse, Gigi Saul Guerrero’s film stars Oscar-nominated actress Adriana Barraza as Lupita, the lynchpin of a group of elderly persons living in the slowly gentrifying enclave known as Oak Springs. When the owner of the community center mysteriously disappears and the bingo hall is taken over by a huckster named Mr. Big (a wonderfully slimy Richard Brake) promising suspiciously big payouts, Lupita rallies the group to fight back. Filmed in New Orleans, Guerrero’s gruesome, wry film is perfect for fans of ‘The Outer Limits.’
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Asjha Cooper, Frabrizio Guido and Mason Beauchamp in ‘Black As Night’
Written by Sherman Payne, Maritte Lee Go’s addition to Welcome To The Blumhouse follows awkward teenager Shawna (Asjha Cooper) as she tackles body issues and battles vampires over one fateful summer. When her mother falls victim to a gang of vampires preying on the most vulnerable residents of New Orleans – drug addicts and the unhoused struggling after Hurricane Katrina – Shawna vows to not only avenge her death, but put an end to their bloody reign in the Big Easy forever.
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Zena Grey, Erika Cimino, Carlson Young, Brianne Tju and Alice Carroll Johnson in ‘The Blazing World’
Loosely inspired by Margaret Cavendish’s 1666 satirical, proto-science fiction of the same name, Carlson Young’s fantasy horror-thriller had its world premiere at the 2021 Sundance Film Festival. Young stars as Margaret Winter, a self-destructive young woman still reeling from her twin sister’s accidental drowning, who returns home only to find herself in an alternate dreamlike dimension where her sister may still be alive. Udo Kier, Dermot Mulroney, Vinessa Shaw round out the film’s impressive cast.
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Lauren Beatty in ‘Bloodthirsty’
Co-written by mother-daughter team Wendy Hill-Tout and Lowell Boland, follows indie musician Grey Kessler (Lauren Beatty) as she battles her anxiety while working on her sophomore album. When mysterious producer Vaughn (Greg Bryk) offers his mansion and services, Grey is elated. However as his abusive process pushes her into the darker recesses of her psyche, she finds herself transforming in more ways than one. Shot on location in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, the result is a unique, transfixing, and gore-filled twist on the werewolf genre.
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Yahya Abdul-Mateen II in ‘Candyman’
Co-written with Win Rosenfeld and producer Jordan Peele, Nia DaCosta’s entry into the Candyman franchise, first adapted from by Clive Barker’s “The Forbidden” in 1992 by Bernard Rose, picks the story back up twenty-seven years after the events of the first film. Chicago-based visual artist Anthony McCoy (Yahya Abdul-Mateen II) finds himself drawn to the urban myth of Candyman and the Cabrini-Green housing project. Little does he know his connection to the lore runs deeper than just the power of artistic inspiration. Although critical reception was split, after its initial release DaCosta became the first American Black woman director with a number one at the box office.
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Niamh Algar in ‘Censor’
Set at the height of the Video Nasty controversy in the early 1980s England, Enid Baines (Niamh Algar) works as a censor for the British Board of Film Classification. Years early Enid’s sister went missing and is presumed dead, but when Enid discovers an old exploitation film that parallels the events of her sister’s disappearance, she becomes obsessed with finding the woman she believes may be her long lost sister. Shot on a mixture of 35mm, Super8 and VHS, Bailey-Bond’s film is a visceral and disquieting debut.
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Fear Street Trilogy – directed by Leigh Janiak
Ted Sutherland and Sadie Sink in ‘Fear Street’
Set in 1994, 1978, and 1666 respectively, the trilogy relates the twisted relationship between the communities of Shadyside and Sunnyvale as it unpacks the curse of Sarah Fier, a witch who was burned at the stake. Inspired by the iconic book series by R. L. Stine, director Leigh Janiak infuses a fresh new point of view by centering the films on a queer love story, while mainting plenty of gore.
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Cecilia Milocco in ‘Knackningar (Knocking)’
Directed by Frida Kempff and written by Emma Broström, the film stars Cecilia Milocco as a woman named Molly who is recovering from a nervous breakdown after experiencing an extreme loss. After checking out of a psychiatric ward and moving into a new apartment complex, she begins hearing mysterious knocking sounds. Paranoia sets in when no one in the mysterious complex believes her.
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Brea Grant in ‘Lucky’
The life of self-help author May (Brea Grant) spirals out of control when she finds herself battling a mysterious faceless assailant night after night. When no one seems to notice or care, she is pushed to her physical and psychological limits as she attempts to rid him from her life for good. Kermani and writer-star Grant’s incisive look at the terror of just being a woman in this world will linger in your mind long after its flashy finale.
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Barbara Hershey in ‘The Manor’
Also part of Welcome To The Blumhouse, writer-director Axelle Carolyn’s gothic thriller stars Barbara Hershey as Judith Albright, a woman who moves to Golden Sun Manor assisted living after suffering a mild stroke. While fighting for her agency, she begins to believe there is a sinister presence haunting the residents of the manor. Teaming up with fellow resident Roland (Bruce Davison), the two attempt to escape their confines rather than succumb to the evil forces surrounding them.
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Kiera Thompson in ‘Martyr’s Lane’
While living in a remote vicarage with her parents and surly older sister, 10-year-old Leah (Kiera Thompson) meets a strange girl in tattered angel wings while playing in the woods. Each time the girl visits Leah finds new clues to an old mystery that may cause her family’s fraught dynamics to unravel completely. Although she doesn’t quite stick the landing, with this film writer-director Ruth Platt offers a unique twist on the ghost story genre.
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Martina García in ‘Phobias’
In this anthology film each director brings a unique phobia to graphic life. Using a frame narrative to connect the five entries, their stories cross paths at a government testing facility where a crazed doctor attempts to weaponize fear. Watch out for a chilling performance from Macy Gray.
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Rose Williams in ‘The Power’
Set during power outages caused by a miners’ strike in early 1970s London, the film centers around Val (Rose Williams), a nurse in training. Spending her first night working in the East London Royal Infirmary in near total darkness, she begins to suspect there is something sinister lurking in the walls.
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Jennifer Ehle in ‘Saint Maud’
After a critically praised debut at the Toronto International Film Festival in 2019, writer-director Rose Glass’s psychological horror debut finally hit stateside earlier this year. Having recently converted to Roman Catholicism, hospice nurse Maud forms an unhealthy obsession with a former dancer in her care (Jennifer Ehle). Featuring a shocking finale, Oscar-winner Danny Boyle is among the film’s most ardent supporters, calling it “genuinely unsettling.”
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Romane Denis in ‘Slaxx’
In this horror-comedy, co-written with Patricia Gomez, writer-director Elza Kephart tackles the real life horrors caused by fast fashion. As a possessed pair of jeans goes on a killing spree inside a hip boutique overnight, new hire Libby McClean (Romane Denis) fights to escape the denim demon.
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Najarra Townsend in ‘The Stylist’
One day a lonely hair stylist (Najarra Townsend) who works from home snaps and kills a client (Brea Grant), leading her down a path of continued bloodlust that changes her life forever. Praised for its sharp comedy and stylish kills, Gevargizian’s film is a welcome entry into the slasher canon.
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Agathe Rousselle in ‘Titane,’ directed by Julia Ducournau
In this Cannes Palme d’Or-winning flick Alexia, a showgirl (Agathe Rousselle) at a motorshow with a titanium plate implanted in her head from a childhood crash, gets impregnated by a Cadillac and goes on a serial killing spree. On the run from the cops, she impersonates the long lost son of a fire chief named Vincent (Vincent Lindon). Equally as tender as it is disgusting, Ducournau is the reigning queen of body horror with heart.
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Amanda Seyfried in ‘Things Heard & Seen’
Based on the novel “All Things Cease to Appear” by Elizabeth Brundage, Berman and Pulcini use the philosophies and mysticism of Swedish pluralistic-Christian theologian and scientist Emanuel Swedenborg to put a new spin on the ghost story genre, while also exploring the dynamics of a fatally toxic marriage. The impressive cast includes Amanda Seyfried as Catherine, James Norton, Natalia Dyer, Karen Allen, and F. Murray Abraham.
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Madeleine Sims-Fewer in ‘Violation’
Playing both the 2020 Toronto International Film Festival and the 2021 Sundance Film Festival, this Canadian horror-drama follows Miriam (Madeleine Sims-Fewer), a traumatized woman on the edge of divorce who returns home for the first time in years. After her estranged sister and brother-in-law betray her trust, she seeks revenge in a most deranged and vicious manner. Praised for its rage and intensity, Sims-Fewer and Mancinelli’s film is a bold take on the revenge genre.
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A sink test scene in ‘Witch Hunt’
Set in a version of contemporary America where witches are real and witchcraft is illegal, a teenage girl (Gideon Adlon) faces her own prejudices as her mom (Elizabeth Mitchell) begins offering assistance to the orphaned children of witches seeking asylum in Mexico. While the metaphor isn’t always in the best taste, Callahan’s film continues the tradition of using the witch genre as a mode to express cultural criticism.
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Welcome to Female Filmmakers in Focus, where you will find a recommendation for films directed by women to seek out each week. This week features an interview with filmmaking duo Shari Springer Berman and Robert Pulcini about their new horror thriller ‘Things Heard & Seen,’ plus Berman on Susan Seidelman’s groundbreaking debut feature ‘Smithereens’
Things Heard & Seen (directed by Shari Springer Berman and Robert Pulcini)
Amanda Seyfried in ‘Things Heard & Seen’
Shari Springer Berman and Robert Pulcini were both raised in New York City. They received master’s degrees in film from Columbia University. They married in 1994 and have alternated whose name comes first in the credits of their films ever since. After making several documentaries, Berman and Pulcini received an Academy Award nomination for Best Adapted Screenplay for their first narrative film ‘American Splendor’ in 2003.
Based on the novel All Things Cease to Appear by Elizabeth Brundage, ‘Things Heard & Seen’ stars Amanda Seyfried and James Norton as Catherine and George, a couple who move to a remote home in the Hudson Valley, New York. While George starts a professorship at a small liberal arts college teaching art history, Catherine has given up a promising career in art restoration to raise their daughter Franny. Things get a bit weird when both Franny and Catherine suspect they are not alone in their home. Both the novel and film are inspired by the theological writings of 18th century thinker Emanuel Swedenborg, who in turn inspired many of the painters from the area’s Hudson River School of painters in the mid-19th century. Unique in its use of Swedenborgian theory to create a sense of unease, the film also features stunning cinematography, and is anchored by a strong performance from Seyfried, fresh off her first Oscar nomination.
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Shari Springer Berman and Robert Pulcini spoke to Moviefone about their latest film.
Moviefone: How did you first get involved in this project? Robert Pulcini: For decades now we have been talking about a movie to film in the Hudson Valley because we live there part time. We spent a lot of time talking about the light, the landscape, and the history of the Hudson River School of painters. All these things came together in this one book [‘All Things Cease to Appear ‘by Elizabeth Brundage] that I found.
MF: How did you discover the book?
RP: I was reading the local paper and there was a profile of the writer and it got a wonderful New York Times review, so I bought it. Once Shari signed off on it, we reached out. Elizabeth had been a fan of our movies.
MF: How did you find the locations in the Hudson Valley to shoot? Shari Springer Berman: The real challenge of this movie was finding the right house. It’s a character in the story. We looked at hundreds of farm houses all up and down the Hudson Valley. We didn’t want it to look like your classic haunted, scary house. We didn’t want Second Empire. We didn’t want anything Victorian. We wanted something very simple, which was the way it was described in the book. It needed to be on a lot of land, somewhat in the middle of nowhere, or else there wouldn’t be this feeling of abandonment. It needed to have a big huge barn. We were really getting frustrated and then Bob sent me a text: “We’re going to go look at a house on Skunk’s Misery Road. I really think this is going to be it.” I thought it was a joke. The minute we got there, everybody knew this is our house.
MF: Before working on this project had you heard of Swedenborg? SSB: I vaguely was aware of him, but after we read the book we went down the Swedenborg rabbit hole. There’s still a community of people who follow him. They do these tutorials online that are really amazing, but complex. You could spend hours and hours listening and studying his philosophy and his spiritualism. He was remarkable. We tried to make it more of a metaphysical movie, make it more about the continuum of life and death. RP: You see a lot of horror movies that use a Catholic framework for their horror, but I’d never seen Swedenborgian spirituality in a story like this.
MF: Besides George Inness, were there any other visual references for the film? SSB: One day when we got the green light to make the movie, I’m a member of the Met, so I was like “Let’s go to the Met!” They had a Thomas Cole exhibit. We felt like it was a weird Swedenborgian, like cosmic coincidence. Cole was a contemporary of Inness, and one of the founders of the Hudson River School. RP: Also, we watched the movie ‘Barry Lyndon,’ even though it’s referencing a different style of painting, it’s the ultimate landscape painting movie. It’s miraculous. Oddly enough, that was the first movie our cinematographer Larry Smith worked on. He came up under Stanley Kubrick, so we talked a lot about how that movie was made.
MF: How did you achieve the Inness-like visuals? RP: We wanted the landscape to be soft. We talked about how much detail we want to see. There was one painting in particular, called Kaaterskill Falls. We basically replicated it with exactly where Thomas Cole had stood when he painted it. SSB: We sent the cinematographers out there. It was hard to get there. They had to hike up a mountain to get there. They were able to recreate the exact frame of the painting. It’s in the movie, we cut to the actual Kaaterskill Falls and then later when George is teaching one of the slides is the painting. Bob always says he thinks about what people will see the second time they watch a movie, so that’s the kind of thing you might catch on a second viewing.
MF: Can you talk about working with Amanda Seyfried and F. Murray Abraham? SSB: I mean obviously ‘Mean Girls’ is like a revelation. I remember really way back she was in this HBO series called ‘Big Love’. She was brilliant in it and it was right after ‘Mean Girls’. She’s got endless talents. So, she was someone I always wanted to work with. Elizabeth, the writer of the book, when we told her that we cast Amanda she flipped out and said that was the face she had imagined when she wrote the book. RP: One of things the novelist did so well is she presented this community of characters, and you really don’t know quite how to feel about them as you’re experiencing them. So, Murray has that kind of twinkle in his eye. He’s such a charismatic actor, aside from being such a fantastic actor, that I felt like he really fit the bill perfectly. I think what’s interesting is you end up sympathizing with people in the story that you don’t initially think you’re going to. He was just a dream to work with. He brought the gravitas that he brings to everything. It was just a perfect match.
Smithereens (directed by Susan Seidelman)
Susan Berman in ‘Smithereens’
MF: Can you recommend another film directed by a woman for our readers to seek out?
SSB: This is a love letter to New York, Susan Seidelman’s first movie ‘Smithereens’. It’s like New York in the late-70s/early-80s. New York is completely a mess. It’s the very beginning of independent filmmaking. It’s just a movie that inspired me to want to be a director. A woman made it. It was the New York that I grew up in. It was very inspiring and real. I remember seeing that movie, and it really did inspire me to want to be a director, or to think that I could be a director. It made me think, “Oh, I could do that!” I met her once, and I was fangirling like crazy. I was like, “Oh my god, you have no idea.” and she seemed so lovely. I told her she really inspired a lot of people, a lot of women of my generation to become directors. She deserves her props.
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‘Things Heard & Seen’ is now available on Netflix.
Best Picture nominees ‘Judas and the Black Messiah,’ ‘Nomadland,’ ‘Promising Young Woman,’ ‘Sound of Metal,’ ‘Mank,’ ‘Minari,’ ‘Trial of the Chicago 7,’ & ‘The Father’
Early in the morning on March 15th, Nick Jonas and Prianka Chopra-Jonas announced the nominations for the 93rd Academy Awards. Here are the nominees for this years’ awards:
BEST PICTURE
‘The Father’
‘Judas and the Black Messiah’
‘Mank’
‘Minari’
‘Nomadland’
‘Promising Young Woman’
‘Sound of Metal’
‘The Trial of the Chicago 7’
DIRECTOR
Thomas Vinterberg, ‘Another Round’
David Fincher, ‘Mank’
Lee Isaac Chung, ‘Minari’
Chloe Zhao, ‘Nomadland’
Emerald Fennell, ‘Promising Young Woman’
ACTOR IN A LEADING ROLE
Riz Ahmed, ‘Sound of Metal’
Chadwick Boseman, ‘Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom’
Anthony Hopkins, ‘The Father’
Gary Oldman, ‘Mank’
Steven Yeun, ‘Minari’
ACTRESS IN A LEADING ROLE
Viola Davis, ‘Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom’
Andra Day, ‘The United States vs. Billie Holiday’
Vanessa Kirby, ‘Pieces of a Woman’
Frances McDormand, ‘Nomadland’
Carey Mulligan, ‘Promising Young Woman’
Sacha Baron Cohen, ‘The Trial of the Chicago 7’
Daniel Kaluuya, ‘Judas and the Black Messiah’
Leslie Odom Jr., ‘One Night in Miami’
Paul Raci, ‘Sound of Metal’
Lakeith Stanfield, ‘Judas and the Black Messiah’
ANIMATED FEATURE FILM
‘Onward’
‘Over the Moon’
‘A Shaun the Sheep Movie: Farmageddon’
‘Soul’
‘Wolfwalkers’
ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
‘Borat Subsequent MovieFilm’
‘The Father’
‘Nomadland’
‘One Night in Miami’
‘The White Tiger’
ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
‘Judas and the Black Messiah’
‘Minari’
‘Promising Young Woman’
‘Sound of Metal’
‘The Trial of the Chicago 7’
FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM
‘Another Round’ – Denmark
‘Better Days’ – Hong Kong
‘Collective’ – Romania
‘The Man Who Sold His Skin’ – Tunisia
‘Quo Vadis, Aida?’ – Bosnia and Herzegovina
‘The Father’
‘Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom’
‘Mank’
‘News of the World’
‘Tenet’
CINEMATOGRAPHY
Sean Bobbitt, ‘Judas and the Black Messiah’
Erik Messerschmidt, ‘Mank’
Dariusz Wolski, ‘News of the World’
Joshua James Richards, ‘Nomadland’
Phedon Papamichael , ‘The Trial of the Chicago 7’
‘Burrow’
‘Genius Loci’
‘If Anything Happens I Love You’
‘Opera’
‘Yes-People’
DOCUMENTARY (SHORT)
‘Colette’
‘A Concerto Is a Conversation’
‘Do Not Split’
‘Hunger Ward’
‘A Love Song For Latasha’
ORIGINAL SONG
‘Fight For You’ from ‘Judas and the Black Messiah’
‘Hear My Voice’ from ‘The Trial of the Chicago 7’
‘Husavik’ from ‘Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga’
‘lo Sì (Seen)’ from ‘The Life Ahead (La Vita Davanti a Se)’
‘Speak Now’ from ‘One Night in Miami…’
ORIGINAL SCORE
‘Da 5 Bloods’
‘Mank’
‘Minari’
‘News of the World’
‘Soul’
Delayed by the pandemic, the Oscars ceremony will be on Sunday, April 25 on ABC.
Universal and Blumhouse Productions have just shared a behind-the-scenes clip featuring the film’s stars Kevin Bacon and Amanda Seyfried. Both of these actors have experience with scary movies: Bacon starred in ‘Stir of Echoes,’ ‘Hollow Man,’ and the original ‘Friday the 13th,’ and Seyfried starred in ‘Jennifer’s Body,’ ‘Red Riding Hood,’ and ‘Gone.’
The official synopsis promises an updated take on the classic haunted house story…
Theo Conroy (Bacon) is a successful middle-aged man whose marriage to his much younger actress wife, Susanna (Seyfried) is shredding at the seams, frayed by her secretiveness, his jealousy, and the shadow of his past.
In an effort to repair their relationship, Theo and Susanna book a vacation at a stunning, remote modern home in the Welsh countryside for themselves and their six-year-old daughter, Ella (Avery Essex). What at first seems like a perfect retreat distorts into a perfect nightmare when Theo’s grasp on reality begins to unravel and he suspects that a sinister force within the house knows more than he or Susanna have revealed, even to each other.
‘You Should Have Left’ will be available on demand on June 18.
This latest Blumhouse production features Kevin Bacon and Amanda Seyfried as a couple that’s rented entirely the wrong house. From the official synopsis:
Theo Conroy (Bacon) is a successful middle-aged man whose marriage to his much younger actress wife, Susanna (Seyfried) is shredding at the seams, frayed by her secretiveness, his jealousy, and the shadow of his past.
In an effort to repair their relationship, Theo and Susanna book a vacation at a stunning, remote modern home in the Welsh countryside for themselves and their six-year-old daughter, Ella (Avery Essex). What at first seems like a perfect retreat distorts into a perfect nightmare when Theo’s grasp on reality begins to unravel and he suspects that a sinister force within the house knows more than he or Susanna have revealed, even to each other.
The film is written and directed by David Keopp, whose screenwriting credits include Jurassic Park, Carlito’s Way, and Panic Room. Keopp wrote and directed Premium Rush and Stir of Echoes (the latter a previous callobaration with Bacon). ‘You Should Have Left’ is based on a best-selling novel of the same name from German writer Daniel Kehlmann, and will be available On Demand and on streaming platforms on June 19, 2020.
A lot of actors and actresses would jump at the chance to join a superhero flick, but Amanda Seyfried is not one of them. The actress may have passed on the chance to play Gamora in Marvel’s “Guardians of the Galaxy,” a role that ultimately went to Zoe Saldana.
“I turned down one once, and they haven’t called me back since,” Seyfried said. “And it was a big one.”
She gave a clue about the role in question when she explained her decision: She said she “didn’t want to be green for six months out of every year.” That seemed like a good description of Gamora, as SlashFilm pointed out.
In spite of the film’s success, Seyfried seems to have made the right choice. She shared that she wanted to live her life and finds it “so much more fulfilling to be in a scene with another human doing human things.”
Watch Seyfried discuss the decision below, starting around 6:02.
You won’t be seeing Seyfried in any superhero flicks anytime soon, but “The Art of Racing in the Rain” opened in theaters Aug. 9.
In the new movie, the Scooby gang will team up with other characters in the Hanna-Barbera universe to save the world from the evil Dick Dastardly. Tracy Morgan will voice another classic Hanna-Barbera character, Captain Caveman.
It’ll be the first team up for the “Mean Girls” and “High School Musical” alums.
