In theaters via Searchlight Pictures on November 21st is ‘Rental Family’, a comedy drama about the lies we tell others (and ourselves) that explores a fascinating real-world service in Japan through the eyes of an American actor.
Films that view Japan through the lens of outsiders can sometimes be distancing. Yet in ‘Rental Family’, co-writer/director Hikari has found an emotionally satisfying way into the unusual business of performers playing family members to help strangers through awkward social situations that not only has solid things to say about how we interact, but also tells a satisfying story.
Hikari co-wrote the script with collaborator Stephen Blahut, and together, they have crafted a sensitive, well-sketched portrait of a man seeking his place in a changing world who finds it in the seemingly fake world of pretend relatives.
While there are initially concerns that one of the subplots –– about Fraser’s character pretending to be a journalist interviewing a famed filmmaker whose faculties are failing –– might seem less effective than the main story of his bonding with a young girl needing a father to help her pass a school admissions test –– it all gets tied together and works well.
Fraser, who won the Oscar for ‘The Whale’, is, if anything, even better here, his big frame juxtaposed with his fellow Tokyo residents for both comic and emotional effect. He’s superb in the role of a struggling actor looking to find meaning, and his scenes with Shannon Gorman as young Mia are particularly effective.
Yet the movie also boasts great roles for the likes of Takehiro Hira and Mari Yamamoto, never neglecting to explore the inner worlds of the rental family company’s employees.
A movie such as this could, in the wrong hands, turn out mawkish and saccharine, but Hikari walks the line with such elegance and care that ‘Rental Family’ never has to lean on stereotype or crude laughs.
It’s a beautifully-crafted and effective comedy drama.
Set in modern-day Tokyo, ‘Rental Family’ follows an American actor (Brendan Fraser) who struggles to find purpose until he lands an unusual gig: working for a Japanese “rental family” agency, playing stand-in roles for strangers.
As he immerses himself in his clients’ worlds, he begins to form genuine bonds that blur the lines between performance and reality. Confronting the moral complexities of his work, he rediscovers purpose, belonging, and the quiet beauty of human connection.
Moviefone recently had the pleasure of speaking with Brendan Fraser and Takehiro Hira about their work on ‘Rental Family’, Fraser’s first reaction to the screenplay, Hira’s approach to his character, working with director Hikari, and shooting on location in Japan.
(L to R) Takehiro Hira and Brendan Fraser star in ‘Rental Family’.
You can read the full interview below or click on the video player above to watch our interview.
Moviefone: To begin with, Brendan, can you talk about your first reaction to the screenplay and why you were excited to play this character?
Brendan Fraser: First reaction, sign me up! Second reaction was that I love the premise of a rental family for how unusual that really and truly is. Then to learn that this really is a business, where I think it has been since the 1980’s or something like that. There are some 300 of them still exist in today, probably more now. But I felt like, of course it makes sense to have actors stand in for these surrogate mothers, fathers and brothers to the client’s needs. But the story itself deviates from that make believe pretend, and it gets real when they stop pretending and are genuinely affected by the relationships that are forged. I mean, take one look at little Shannon Mahina Gorman, and you can’t not fall in love with this kid, just like Philip does. He did not expect it. He didn’t even know he was looking for anything like that. But in her innocence and in his need to discover who he is and his paternal instincts that he didn’t know he had, something magical happens between the two of them. That’s really what the movie is about, when make believe stops and reality begins.
MF: Takehiro, can you talk about the unusual business that your character operates and why he recruits Phillip for this unique job?
Takehiro Hira: Because he’s a token white guy. Well, to be honest with you, in Japan, if you or let’s say, over the age of 70 and if you have gray hair and a big beard, you can get a job as a Santa Claus. That’s happened. I mean, you will see them all over the town during the Christmas period. So, along that line, you know, he’s found (the right person for the) part.
MF: Finally, Brendan, what was your experience like working with director Hikari and shooting on location in Japan?
BF: Hikari, well, she is her namesake. Light. Fire, energy and light. The experience of shooting and Japan was unique, singular to me. I traveled there several times before, but I was always trapped in a hotel room answering questions to journalists, with respect. So, this time I got to get out into the city, get good and lost, and eat a lot of good food. Make friends with people that I still feel are now my family and leave the experience after having worked with her, knowing that it is true. I do feel I am claimed by the cast and crew of ‘Rental Family’. I’ll be their guy forever, I will. It was so positive.
A lonely American actor (Brendan Fraser) living in Tokyo starts working for a Japanese rental family service to play stand-in roles in other people’s lives. Along the way, he finds surprising connections and unexpected joys within his new family.
(L to R) Brendan Fraser and Rachel Weisz in ‘The Mummy.’ Photo: Universal Pictures.
Preview:
A new entry in ‘The Mummy’ franchise is in development.
Brendan Fraser and Rachel Weisz are in talks to return to their roles.
Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett will direct for Universal.
Back in 1999, Brendan Fraser and Rachel Weisz delivered a great on-screen partnership as dashing, roguish hero Rick O’Connell and practical English Egyptologist Evelyn Carnahan for ‘The Mummy.’
Fraser returned for two sequels and Weisz for one (more on that below), but since then, fans have wanted to know if they might both be back, given their winning chemistry.
Things went dormant after that (aside from an ill-fated attempt to launch a Classic Monsters Cinematic Universe with the Tom Cruisereboot in 2017, and more recent reports of ‘Evil Dead Rise’s Lee Cronin developing a new take), but the signs and portents are pointing to a return for the original duo.
As for the new movie, it’ll have a script from David Coggeshall (‘The Family Plan’) and while details are mostly being kept in a sarcophagus, the Reporter’s sources are suggesting that it’ll be a sequel that wipes away the events of ‘Tomb of the Dragon Emperor.’ Okay by us!
Where else can we see Brendan Fraser and Rachel Weisz?
(L to R) Brendan Fraser and Rachel Weisz in ‘The Mummy.’ Photo: Universal Pictures.
Fraser won an Oscar for 2022’s ‘The Whale’ and will next be seen in heartwarming drama ‘Rental Family,’ which lands in theaters on November 21.
Taking as its inspiration the infamous slaying of President John F. Kennedy in Texas in 1963, ‘Assassination’ will dig into the issue of who truly orchestrated the killing.
The film focuses on ground-breaking female crime reporter Dorothy Kilgallen played by Jessica Chastain.
When she suspects that Lee Harvey Oswald did not act alone, she uses her fame and influence to find President John F. Kennedy’s real killer. Kilgallen’s journey will put her up against the CIA, mafia bosses and the FBI, all who would love nothing more than to make her and this story disappear.
Levinson has financing for this one and is busy putting the pieces together. He’s looking to start the cameras rolling early next year in Boston.
Who else is in ‘Assassination’?
Oscar® nominee, Al Pacino arrives on the red carpet of The 92nd Oscars® at the Dolby® Theatre in Hollywood, CA on Sunday, February 9, 2020.
In addition to Leto –– assuming he actually locks in his deal –– and Chastain, the cast will include the starry likes of Al Pacino, Brendan Fraser and Bryan Cranston.
And on the creative team front, the script is co-written by David Mamet, who in a rare case of collaboration, worked with Levinson and ‘Elvis’ writer Sam Bromell.
The new movie is produced by Corey Large and Jason Sosnoff, with Large also providing financing. John Burnham, Bernie Gewissler, Pia Patatian and Jordan Nott are the executive producers.
It’s quite a team and sounds intriguing, though it’ll have to go some to compete with the likes of ‘JFK’ and ‘Parkland.’
Bona fide legend Pacino has a number of movies on the way. He’s in the cast for Johnny Depp’s directorial debut, ‘Modi: Three Days on the Wing of Madness’ and has the likes of ‘The Ritual,’ ‘Killing Castro,’ ‘Hand of Dante,’ ‘Easy’s Waltz’ and ‘Billy Knight’ making their way through post-production.
He’s more personally involved in his next Shakespeare-based film, starring in and producing a new adaptation of ‘King Lear’ called ‘Lear Rex,’ directed by Bernard Rose. That movie should be in theaters later in 2025 and also features Chastain.
Talking of, she’s starring in Michael Franco’s new crime drama pic ‘Dreams’ and is a producer on a variety of other projects, including ‘Losing Clementine’ and ‘Wayland.’
On the TV front, she’s starring in a new series called ‘Savant’ about a deep-cover investigator who infiltrates hate groups and looks to bring down the nation’s most violent men.
1KrYll3RaBjKcPjmkRboB1
Fraser, who scored an Oscar for his performance in ‘The Whale,’ has ‘Rental Family’ on the way and is at work on new World War II drama ‘Pressure,’ in which he plays President Dwight D. Eisenhower.
He’ll also be seen in comedy drama movie ‘Everything’s Going to Be Great,’ which will be out next year.
Perhaps most excitingly, he’ll reprise the role of Hal in a limited series revival of sitcom ‘Malcolm in the Middle,’ with co-stars Frankie Muniz and Jane Kaczmarek also returning for a four-episode update of the family’s story from original series creator Linwood Boomer.
The new episodes will appear on Disney+, but a date has yet to be set for that one.
When will ‘Assassination’ be in theaters?
Despite having funding in place and a shoot date, the film is still locking in a distribution home and has yet to secure a release date.
(L to R) Josh Brolin and Peter Dinklage star in ‘Brothers’.
Moviefone recently had the pleasure of speaking with Josh Brolin and Peter Dinklage about their work on ‘Brothers’, how the project came together, playing brothers, their relationship with their mother, working with the rest of the cast, and Brolin’s intimate scene with an Orangutan.
You can read the full interview below or click on the video player above to watch our interview.
Moviefone: To begin with, Peter, can you talk about how this project came together and what it was like playing Josh Brolin’s brother?
Peter Dinklage: Well, we all created this mad world together. I mean, (screenwriter) Macon Blair, executed it, as in his brilliant way as he does, so it never felt like, you’re up for this next movie and here’s the screenplay. It was more organic than that, with Josh and me and Macon. So, I don’t remember sitting down and reading the screenplay for the first time. In a way, it just seeped into my DNA. So, Josh and I wanted to make a comedy, we wanted to play brothers, and we just had this somewhat flimsy idea of wanting to make this. Everything followed suit, which we were really shocked and surprised that people fell for it. Suddenly we have Glenn Close playing our mom. It was incredible. But I just loved making this movie. Let us entertain you and whatever madcap way it comes about, here we go. I love just breaking the rules of that normal, traditional process, what people think you need to do, the steps you need to take to make a movie. It’s not necessarily true. That’s how you get Glenn Close.
MF: Josh, can you talk about the dynamic between these two brothers and what was it like working on that relationship with Peter?
Josh Brolin: I mean, I think when we pitched this idea, we pitched it to several different places. Because Peter and I didn’t really know each other before, that dynamic and that volley started to surface while we were doing that. I think we were figuring out the movie as we were pitching the movie, even though we had a general base idea. I mean, it all came out of people saying, “God, you and Dinklage look alike. You guys should do a movie together. Look at how big your heads are.” Then, me calling Peter and saying, “Hey, do you want to do this thing?” He was like, “Yeah,” immediately. Then you go, “Okay. So, we have this blank canvas. What do we do?” You bring in Macon Blair and you start throwing around ideas and sitting around breakfast tables and saying, “What if it was this? What happened in your family that’s interesting?” What Macon was so good at is just there’s this umbrella of absurdity over it all. How absurd it is in the family dynamic. The family dynamic is absurd anyway, so what about those movies that used to really exploit that and that we grew up on? ‘Cannonball Run’, Peter mentioned earlier, or ‘48 HRS‘, or ‘Midnight Run’. Whether it’s family members or not, what is the absurdity of how we behave toward each other? I think that that’s what this spring-boarded from.
MF: Peter, can you talk about how the dynamic between these two brothers changes when their mother arrives and what it was like having Glenn Close play your mom?
PD: Glenn Close is a monster. I highly advise not getting anywhere within 20 yards of her. She’s one of the greats. It was insane to be finally working with her. I never knew it would happen, but I was kicking myself every day. I like the idea that Macon had of, I’m grifting Josh’s character just to get the family back together. I’m conning him. I’m pretending we’re going one direction, but it’s to get back to our mother, who we both love, but it’s a complicated relationship, as it is with most of our moms. But really, my character is sort of the glue that’s trying to put the family back together, which is lovely and sweet. But at the end of the day, he also wants to get something out of it. Get the riches. He’s got dollar signs in his eyes. He can’t help that. But it was so much fun making this movie. We were down in Atlanta for a couple of months during COVID, where everybody was masked except for the actors, so you play a game of, what does the lower half of people’s face look like? It’s like Bizarro when you finally see them without the mask. We all lived through that, and it was just fun in that time to make a comedy as zany as this with these incredible people. I think it was just such a soothing bomb to what we were all going through. You don’t want to make a movie about COVID during COVID. You want to make a movie like this.
MF: Josh, can you talk about your character’s relationship with his wife, and how his brother’s return and the journey they go on together jeopardizes his marriage?
JB: What it does is it challenges his loyalty to his family, which always comes up. In my own family, I think you spend time with your family and there’s irritations and you leave, and you go, “Okay. We had dinner together. I’m not going to do that again for two years if I can help it.” Yet two weeks later you’re back. You know what I mean? You can’t say no. There’s just something that is enmeshed that you can’t break. I think Jady knows that. When he comes and he has this manipulation with his mom and they get together to get Moke back on the team, because he’s the guy who’s the great safe-cracker, and it’s just once that innate thing happens, you can’t let go of it. It’s almost like an addiction. It’s a weird addiction factor with your family. I love watching that dynamic, especially between Peter and me.
MF Josh, there was one scene in this movie that I thought was one of the funniest scenes I’ve seen in a film in a longtime, and that was the scene where you appear with an Orangutan. Can you talk about shooting that sequence, and did you know right away that it would be so hilarious?
JB: I knew it was a winner when everybody read it. I know that everybody who read the script mentioned that scene. Again, it was the first scene that they all mentioned. It’s one of those things that you start to get nervous about doing it because if they love reading it so much, is this going to translate? But listen, we had fun with it and whatever it ended up being, it was 1000% conviction. For better or worse, we lent ourselves to what was written.
MF: Peter, you also have a very funny scene where you “rage dance” with Marisa Tomei. Was that scene improvised or in the script?
PD: The tone of this movie, it’s so crazy, that to have a traditional sex scene just seemed like to fly in the face of the rest of the movie. So, to have these oddball people, these prison pen-pals, dance to hardcore speed metal, that’s their most intimate moment. That’s their most intimate thing they can think of, it’s so Macon Blair, our writer, and me and Marisa, it’s just such in the spirit of the film to have that juxtaposed with the sexier scene of Josh and the Orangutan. Literally Marisa and I didn’t need an intimacy coordinator, they did, Josh and the Orangutan. You know what I’m saying? So, that’s the fun part of it.
MF: Finally, Peter, can you talk about the personal rivalry between Jady and Farful, and what was it like working with Brendan Fraser?
PD: One of the nicest human beings on this planet is Brendan Fraser. He had just come from the movie, ‘The Whale’, so I think he had to get something out of his system. He had to get off that couch and run around in Atlanta with us. You need a bad guy, and nothing better than a bad guy than a crooked cop trying to grift me, the anti-hero that is Jady. I think he screamed all his dialogue. I sort of was in scenes with him and he was so pitched at 11, there were times where I was like, “Is this going to work? Is this too much?” But that’s the genius of Brendan Fraser because it worked perfectly. He knew that, as an actor, and it’s always difficult to tell if it’s going to match the rest of the tone of the movie. Our movie is so all over the place tonally, that Max (Barbakow), our director, just made it all work. It was incredible. But Brendan is incredible. He’s so much fun to work with and he made it so much more fun, those scenes of torture and humiliation.
DjhnzqpuGIjvC2aQS19kb3
What is the plot of ‘Brothers’?
A reformed criminal’s (Josh Brolin) attempt at going straight is derailed when he reunites with his sanity-testing twin brother (Peter Dinklage) on a road trip for the score of a lifetime. Dodging bullets, the law, and an overbearing mother (Glenn Close) along the way, they must heal their severed family bond before they end up killing each other.
In the early 1920s, members of the Osage Nation are being murdered or dying mysteriously on their land in Oklahoma, which has made them incredibly wealthy due to the vast deposits of oil underneath their feet. World War I veteran Ernest Burkhart (Leonardo DiCaprio) comes to live in the town of Gray Horse with his uncle, William Hale (Robert De Niro), and soon marries a rich Osage Nation woman named Mollie (Lily Gladstone). But Burkhart finds himself drawn into a far-ranging conspiracy that may claim his wife and her entire family.
YCvga3O8OlBkT03VQ1SPw
Who is in the cast of ‘Killers of the Flower Moon’?
At first glance, ‘Killers of the Flower Moon’ seems tailor-made for master filmmaker Martin Scorsese. Both a crime thriller and a penetrating look at a seemingly forgotten chapter of early 20th century American history, the film is on the surface a true epic. Clocking in at 206 minutes and immersing the viewer in the world of the Osage Nation and the corrupt, nearly lawless environs of the American South that threatened their existence, the film is bolstered by the sterling work of its cast and crew. But Scorsese makes two errors that prevent ‘Killers’ from joining the upper echelons of his filmography, and at points nearly stop the movie in its tracks.
Story and Direction
(L to R) Lily Gladstone and Martin Scorsese in ‘Killers of the Flower Moon,’ coming soon to Apple TV+.
In the late 1800s, the U.S. government pushed the Osage Nation out of its native land in Ohio and Mississippi and onto a rough area of Oklahoma known as “Indian territory”. But the joke was on the government, because the land was sitting atop a vast reservoir of oil; by the turn of the 20th century, the Osage were among the wealthiest people in the United States.
All this is laid out succinctly in the opening moments of “Killers of the Flower Moon,” along with the fact that, as the 1920s roll around, members of the Osage are either being outright murdered or passing away from mysterious ailments such as a “wasting disease.” And with the local authorities in the pockets of equally rich white land barons and businessmen who have established themselves in the nearby town of Gray Horse, none of these supremely suspicious deaths are investigated.
Into this toxic situation comes returning WW1 vet Ernest Burkhart (DiCaprio), ostensibly looking for work but soon – at the suggestion of his uncle, cattle baron William King Hale (De Niro) — courting and marrying Mollie (Gladstone), whose family is among the richest in the Osage Nation. But as Mollie falls ill and other members of both her family and the Nation continue to perish, it becomes clear that this is all a grand conspiracy to seize the Osage Nation’s oil rights and the immense fortunes that come with them – even as its mastermind, Hale, acts as benefactor, friend, and supporter of the Nation.
With nearly all the local law enforcement either in Hale’s pocket or killed themselves, Mollie and several members of the Nation plead for help from President Calvin Coolidge. He dispatches agents of the newly formed Bureau of Investigation (later known as the FBI), led by Tom White (Jesse Plemons), to get to the bottom of the killings.
(L to R) Robert De Niro and Jesse Plemons in ‘Killers of the Flower Moon,’ coming soon to Apple TV+.
It’s easy to see why this material appealed to Scorsese: it’s both a generational crime saga – albeit not set in the usual Mafia confines he’s known for – and a searing indictment of the underside of American capitalism and institutional racism, as white interlopers use any means necessary to steal from the Osage what rightfully belongs to them, with – at first – hardly any consequences.
From a technical and artistic standpoint, ‘Killers’ is a marvel in every sense. The sets, the costumes, the period details, and the cinematography by Rodrigo Prieto all capture the texture of life in a very rough part of the United States some 100 years ago. The portrayal of the Osage Nation seems accurate and respectful, and late musicianRobbie Robertson’s powerful yet subtle score combines a throbbing, relentless modern bass line with Indigenous musical cues.
Yet ‘Killers’ falls short in two major areas: the pacing of the film is languid and curiously lacking in tension, as the plot and villains are telegraphed early on and much of the film is filled with odd editing choices – such as the presentation of a murder onscreen after it’s been described at least twice (including in a courtroom scene just prior), making the actual staging of it seem almost gratuitous. Another truly bizarre addition is Scorsese’s final scene, which wraps up the story in a strange expository sequence that nearly takes us out of the film.
But the movie’s biggest flaw is using Ernest Burkhart – an important but secondary player in the book – as the main character. The central character is clearly Mollie Burkhart, although she is relegated to the background for much of the film’s second half. The other major character in the book is BOI agent Tom White (a subdued Plemons, in the role DiCaprio was originally supposed to play), who arrives two-thirds of the way through the film and is also given short shrift as a character. Yet he and Mollie are essentially the moral compasses of the story, while Burkhart appears to have no inner core whatsoever and just allows himself to be manipulated by the people and events around him. This adds to the lack of energy and urgency that this hefty film so desperately needs.
(L to R) Lily Gladstone and Leonardo DiCaprio in ‘Killers of the Flower Moon,’ coming soon to Apple TV+.
It’s kind of astonishing to realize that Leonardo DiCaprio and Robert De Niro have not worked together onscreen since 1993’s ‘This Boy’s Life,’ and that the two of them – who have starred in five and nine previous Martin Scorsese pictures, respectively – have never shared the screen under Scorsese’s direction before. So it’s kind of momentous to see them together here.
In the end, however, it’s De Niro who comes across the strongest. His Hale is a masterful portrayal of an unapologetic monster, a man who apparently sees no moral disparity in the way he both seemingly cares for the Osage Nation and ruthlessly plots their slaughter in pursuit of money and power. He remains calm and self-composed, fatherly and yet stern, and professes his love for specific people even as he knows he’s condemning them to death. It’s no secret that Robert De Niro, in the latter stages of his career, has worked in a lot of less than stellar films; but it’s clear that working with his old friend and collaborator brings out the very best in this still vital actor.
As we detail above, DiCaprio is trapped with a character who is positioned as the film’s nominal protagonist (we wouldn’t call him a hero) while also part of the treachery and depravity that drives the film’s narrative. As such, the character seems strangely passive throughout, if not outright stupid at times, his face seems screwed up in a permanent grimace. De Niro’s Hale is clearly defined throughout the movie; DiCaprio’s Ernest Burkhart is not, and that muddies the good work that Leo is doing. He still delivers in several scenes, especially one between Ernest and Mollie that is one of the few truly heartbreaking moments in a film that should have a lot more of them.
Speaking of which, the third component of the film’s main triumvirate is also its standout. With a modest list of film and TV credits behind her, Lily Gladstone is simply riveting to watch here as Mollie. It’s a shame that the character is waylaid in bed for much of the film’s second half, because Gladstone brings dignity yet humanity to the character – she’s not put on a pedestal as some shining example of an Indigenous person, but is a human being with her own flaws and blind spots. And her grief, rage, and horror as she realizes what is happening to her and her people is palpable and intense.
How Accurate Is The Story?
(L to R) JaNae Collins, Lily Gladstone, Cara Jade Myers and Jillian Dion in ‘Killers of the Flower Moon,’ coming soon to Apple TV+.
David Grann’s book is meticulously researched, all the more impressive considering how much of the history of these events remains murky or was outright destroyed as the perpetrators covered their tracks. Scorsese and co-screenwriter Eric Roth may have brought certain aspects of the story forward in a manner that departs from the book, but the major elements of the story remain the same. And it’s the little details that cement the film’s devotion to presenting an accurate portrayal of the Osage Nation and the events of the time.
In fact, some of those details may not be clear to viewers the first time around, especially if one hasn’t read the book. For instance, wealthy Osage members, particularly women, are labeled “incompetents,” deemed incapable of handling their own money. It’s mentioned in the movie often and a perfect example of the level of accuracy and detail that Grann’s book strives for, and which Scorsese, Roth and their team replicate.
Final Thoughts
‘Killers of the Flower Moon’ is worth seeing for its tremendous performances by Lily Gladstone, Robert De Niro, and others, as well as its incredible production design, detailed immersion in the world of Gray Horse, Oklahoma and the Osage Nation, and haunting score from Robbie Robertson. But viewers will feel every minute of the film’s three-and-a-half-hour length, and the decision to see most of the story through the eyes of Leonardo DiCaprio’s Ernest Burkhart is a nearly fatal flaw that robs the film of a point of view or moral center.
‘Killers of the Flower Moon’ receives 6 out of 10 stars.
(L to R) Leonardo DiCaprio and Lily Gladstone in ‘Killers of the Flower Moon,’ coming soon to Apple TV+.
Based on a true story and told through the improbable romance of Ernest Burkhart (Leonardo DiCaprio) and Mollie Kyle (Lily Gladstone), ‘Killers of the Flower Moon’ tracks the suspicious murders of members of the Osage Nation, who became some of the richest people in the world overnight after oil was discovered underneath their land.
YCvga3O8OlBkT03VQ1SPw
Who is in the cast of ‘Killers of the Flower Moon’?
(L to R) Lily Gladstone and Martin Scorsese in ‘Killers of the Flower Moon,’ coming soon to Apple TV+.
Moviefone recently had the pleasure of attending a virtual press conference, along with other members of the press, for ‘Killers of the Flower Moon,’ featuring Oscar-winning director Martin Scorsese. The legendary filmmaker discussed his new movie, what attracted him to the story, shooting in Oklahoma, historical accuracy vs. emotional truthfulness, casting Lily Gladstone, reuniting with DiCaprio and De Niro, and the music of the late great Robbie Robertson.
You can read about the press conference below or click on the video player above to watch excerpts from the interview.
Scorsese on Accurately Representing the Osage Community
(L to R) JaNae Collins, Lily Gladstone, Cara Jade Myers and Jillian Dion in ‘Killers of the Flower Moon,’ coming soon to Apple TV+.
The iconic director began by discussing how he and his production team went about accurately representing the Osage community in ‘Killers of the Flower Moon.’
Martin Scorsese: Well at first, it was very important for me, as soon as I saw the book, and I said, “Well, if you want me to be involved with anything that has to do with indigenous people and Native Americans, I had an experience in the 70s where I began to become aware of the nature of what their situation was and still is.” I’d been blindly unaware of that, I was too young. It’s taken me years and I’m fascinated by how do you really deal with that culture in a way that is respectful? How truthful can we be and still have authenticity and respect, dignity and deal with the truth, honestly, as best we can. Having said that, that story, when I read it, indicated to me that this would probably be the one that we could deal with that way. Particularly by getting involved with the culture of the Osage and actually placing cultural elements, rituals, spiritual moments. People talk about mystical realism or something. Now this is real. You see the dream. The dream is real. The ancestors come. So for me, I wanted to know how, I wanted to play with that world in contrast with the white European world. I felt that this could have afforded us the possibility. Ultimately what happened was that we were dealing with the script on the basis of the David Grann’s book, which is excellent, but the book also has the subtitle, the ‘Birth of the FBI.’ For about a year and a half to two years, I was doing ‘The Irishmen’ and that sort of thing, and Eric Roth and I were working and we felt that we took the story of the birth of the FBI as far as we could take it, and I wanted to keep balancing with the Osage and it was getting bigger and bigger and more diffused. Ultimately this was supplemented by the times that we went out to Oklahoma and met with the Osage. My first meeting was with Chief Standing Bear and his group, Julie and Addie Roanhorse and Chad Renfro, and it was very different than what I expected. They were naturally cautious. I had to explain to them that I’m going to try and deal with them as honestly and truthfully as possible. We weren’t going to fall into the trap. We think of the cliche of victims or the drunken Indian, this sort of thing, and yet tell the story as straight as possible. What I didn’t really understand the first couple of meetings was that this is an ongoing situation, an ongoing story out in Oklahoma. In other words, these are things that really weren’t talked about in the generation I was talking to and in the generation before them. It was the generation before them that this happened to and so they didn’t talk about it much. The people involved are still there, meaning the families are still there, the descendants are still there. What I learned from meeting with them, having dinners with them, including Margie Burkhart, I think she was the relative of Ernest Burkhart. She pointed out, and a number of other people pointed out that you have to understand, a lot of the white guys there, a lot of the European Americans, particularly Bill Hale, they were good friends. One guy pointed out, he said Henry Roan was his best friend, and yet he killed him. People just didn’t believe at the time that Bill would be capable of such things. So, what is that about us as human beings that allows for us to be so compartmentalized in a way? After they saw ‘Silence,’ they sort of felt a little more comfortable with me doing this. Margie Burkhart said, one has to remember that Ernest, her ancestor loved Mollie and Mollie loved Ernest. It’s a love story. Ultimately what happened is that the script shifted that way, and that’s when Leo decided to play Ernest instead of Tom White. By that point, we started reworking the script and it became really, instead of from the outside in coming in and finding out who’d done it, when in reality it’s who didn’t do it. It’s a story of complicity. It’s a story of sin by omission, and silent complicity certain cases. That’s what afforded us the opportunity to open the picture up and start from the inside out.
Shooting in Oklahoma
(L to R) Robert De Niro and Jesse Plemons in ‘Killers of the Flower Moon,’ coming soon to Apple TV+.
Scorsese was determined to shoot the film in Oklahoma, where the story is based. He talked about the first time he visited Oklahoma and how he began to visualize shooting the movie there.
MS: Well, I think the first time was in 2019. It was a little confusing because of shooting ‘Irishman,’ doing the CGI, which was a longer post-production, four or five months, and then COVID hitting, but I know we were there before COVID. We at least had two trips there before COVID. For me, I am a New Yorker. I grew up in the lower East side of New York. I’m very urban. I don’t understand weather that much or where the sun is when you’re on the set. I was very surprised to learn that it’s set in the West. That’s because I was driving down Sunset Boulevard one time about 30 years ago, and I saw the sun setting and I said, it’s great. It’s “Sun-set Boulevard.” The sun sets in the West, I go, “oh, now I get it.” Anyway, when I got there, all I can tell you is those prairies are quite something and they open your mind and your heart. They are just beautiful. Especially driving on these roads, straight roads were prairie and on both sides, wild horses, bison and cows, but the wild horses just out to pasture for the rest of their lives and it was like idyllic. So I said, “Where do I put the camera at this point? How much of the sky? How much of the prairie?” Should it be 1.85 or should it be 235? We got to go 235. You’re going to want to see more of this land. Then I began to realize that the land itself could be sinister. In other words, you’re in a place like this and you don’t see people for miles. You could do anything. Particularly, it turns out a hundred years ago, for me, 1920 is like fifty years ago because I was born in 1942, so the 1920s are to me the way the 1990’s are now to younger people. So when they told me, “Marty, this is a hundred years ago,” I keep thinking, “why are we making a period piece? It’s like normal.” I mean, yes, they were old cars. So I said, “It’s not really a Western, it’s normal.” But when I saw that and I realized this is a place where you don’t need the law. I mean, you have the law, but the law isn’t working that way. You can make the law work for you if you’re smart enough, as we know now, many people do. What I mean by that is that it’s still a wide open territory. You have law, but it’s a wide open territory. So the place, as beautiful as it is, can shift to being very sinister. What I wanted to capture ultimately was the very nature of the virus or the cancer that creates this sense of an easygoing genocide. That’s why we went with the story with Mollie and Ernest because that’s the basis of the love. The love is the basis of trust. So when there’s betrayal that way, that deep, and we know that for a fact that it was that way. Here’s our story.
‘Killers of the Flower Moon’ director Martin Scorsese.
Scorsese also talked about balancing historical accuracy with what he calls the “emotional resonance” of the movie.
MS: This was a constant, historically accurate, and I should say the word “truthful.” You can have a ritual and you shoot a ritual is the way it should be, but it may have been slightly different at the time. We had a lot of support from the Osage authority, the experts who were giving us the indication of how to go about these things, Johnny Williams, and a number of other people. So with them, we tested the accuracy of the rituals, the weddings, the funerals, everything that happened at the funerals, all of this sort of thing. In some cases there was wiggle room because quite honestly, I think the last two generations of Osage forgot about or was taken out of their experience because they had to become white European, they had to become Christians, Catholics, or whatever. So they forgot about all that. In fact, there’s a new resurgence of the learning of the language. We had language teachers there, and Lily Gladstone learned the language and so did Leo, and so did De Niro who really fell in love with it and wanted to do more scenes in Osage. But I suggested that maybe it’s too much for him, but he just liked the sound of it. They were all learning again to put their culture back together through this movie and we were going with them. So what actually happened was, we would ask, does this person put the blanket on this way, is that right? Well, one person would say yes, I would say maybe no. Another one would say, you have a little room here to play with it and have some creative license. So that’s the way we did it throughout every scene that way. That was done a lot in pre-production and during the shoot. So we had that as a basis. There are ways that were never insistent, but there were ways they got to me, certain information where it was Marianne Bower, for example, one of our producers and she’s like my archivist, and she was able to help keep it all together between myself and the Osage.
Casting Lily Gladstone
(L to R) Lily Gladstone and Leonardo DiCaprio in ‘Killers of the Flower Moon,’ coming soon to Apple TV+.
The director discussed casting actress Lily Gladstone as Mollie Burkhart and why her casting was pivotal to the film’s success.
MS: Well, I believe Ellen Lewis showed her to me in ‘Certain Women,’ Kelly Reinhardt’s film. I thought she was terrific and then COVID hit and we weren’t able to meet. So after the pandemic was calming down, we met on Zoom. I was very impressed by her presence, the intelligence and the emotion that’s there in her face, but you see it. You feel it, but it’s all working behind the eyes. You could see it happening. Also, her activism, which wasn’t overtaking the art, in other words, the art was in the activism in a sense. So the art takes over and in a way which we think then would be more resonant later on after you see the movie, you may be thinking about it more rather than a person preaching at you. I think the first big scene we did was one of my favorite scenes where she has dinner with Earnest alone and she’s questioning him, a little bit of an interrogation. “What are you doing here? Are you afraid of him? What’s your religion?” All this sort of thing. Then you begin to see the connection between the two. When she says, “Ha, coyote wants money.” And surprisingly he said, “That’s right, I love money.” So she knows, this is the other thing, she knows what she’s getting into. Even her sisters later, which is also a scene that we put in with the Osage and the Native American actors. They said, “What if we’re talking about the guys while they’re playing that game and we’re talking about my husband and talking about that guy with the blue eyes likes you and, you know, I don’t think he just wants money. It doesn’t matter. He’s nice. He wants to settle down.” Why don’t we just show that that’s how it could happen? So that’s the way the script was ultimately created by these moments. So with Lily, there was that scene, and of course the scene where he’s driving her in the taxi and it’s only one shot. He says something about, “I want to see who’s going to be in this horse race.” And she says something in Osage and He goes, “What’d you say?” And she says it in Osage again. And he says, “Well, I don’t know what that was, but it must’ve been Indian for handsome Devil.” That’s an improv, and you see her laugh for real. So that moment you have the actual relationship between the two actors. These were the two moments. We felt very comfortable with her. Also we had a feeling that we needed her. We needed her to help us tell the story of the women there. We would always check with her and work with her on the script. There were scenes that were added and rewritten constantly.
Reuniting with Leonardo DiCaprio and Robert De Niro
(L to R) Robert De Niro and Leonardo DiCaprio in ‘Killers of the Flower Moon,’ coming soon to Apple TV+.
Martin Scorsese has made ten movies with Robert De Niro, and five with Leonardo DiCaprio, but ‘Killers of the Flower Moon’ marks the first Scorsese movie to feature both actors. The director discussed his working relationship with both De Niro and DiCaprio.
MS: Well, in the case of Robert De Niro, we were teenagers together, and he’s the only one who really knows where I come from, people I knew and that sort of thing. Some of them are still alive. He knows them. I know his friends, his old friends, and we had a real testing ground in the 70’s where we tried everything and we found that we trusted each other. It was all about trust and love. That’s what it is. That’s a big deal because very often if an actor has a lot of power, and he had a lot of power at that time, an actor could take over your picture, the studio gets angry with you, and the actor comes in and takes it over. With him I never felt that. I never felt that. There was a freedom. There was experimenting and also, he’s not afraid of anything. He wasn’t afraid to do something. He just did it. Years later he told me he worked with this kid, Leo DiCaprio, a little boy in ‘This Boy’s Life.’ He said, “You should work with this kid sometime,” but it was just casual. With him, something like that, a recommendation at that time, I think in the early 90’s, is not casual. He says it casually, but he rarely said that. He rarely gave recommendations. So years go by and I’m presented with Leo with ‘Gangs of New York,’ and we worked together in ‘Gangs.’ He made ‘Gangs’ possible actually. He loved the pictures I’d made and he wanted to explore the same territory. So we developed more of a relationship when we did ‘The Aviator.’ Towards the end of it, there was something happening in maturity with him, not quite sure, but we really clicked in certain scenes and that led to ‘The Departed,’ and then we became much closer. That was a project where Bill Monaghan, me, and other people, we were writing all the time and recreating that character that he played of Billy. During that time, he really found out that even though it’s a thirty years difference, he has similar sensibilities. He’ll come to me and he’ll say, listen to this record. It’s Louis Jordan and Ella Fitzgerald. I grew up with it. He’s not bringing me anything new, but he likes it. That’s interesting. He’ll call me and says, “I had a cold and I was looking at Criterion Films and I wanted to catch up on some of these classics, and I saw this incredible movie. It’s a Japanese picture. It’s called ‘Tokyo Story.’ Did you ever see it?” This was last year, I said, “yeah.” I mean, it took me a few years to catch up. I couldn’t even understand Ozu‘s style, seeing it for the first time in the early 70’s because we used Orson Welles’ cameras, and this guy got it from watching it on a big screen TV. That’s very interesting to me to be open that way to older parts of our culture, newer parts of our culture, of course, and the curiosity that he has about other people and other cultures. There’s a trust. Even if we can’t get it right away, we know we’ll come up with something. Maybe other people have relationships where they come up with it faster. Well, we don’t. We just work it through. For example, the scene between Leo and Bob in the jail at the end. That scene ultimately was finally written, I think a few days before we shot it, working with the two of them and working with Marianne and everybody because we had said so much, and it could have gone so many different ways, but what does the picture really need? How much more is there for them to say to each other after all that’s happened? So we went that way. It’s trust. Particularly doing ‘The Wolf for Wall Street,’ by the way he came up with wonderful stuff that was outrageous. So I pushed him, he pushed me, then I pushed him more than he pushed me, and suddenly everything was wild. It’s really quite something. He had a good energy too on the set. That was also important. Very important, because in the mornings, I’m not really good and I’d get on set and then I’d see him or Jonah Hill or Margot Robbie, or him and Lily, and suddenly they’re all like, “Hey.” I said, “Okay, let’s work.”
The importance of Music in his Movies
(L to R) Martin Scorsese and Robbie Robertson at a screening of ‘The Last Waltz’ at the Toronto International Film Festival in 2019.
Finally, Scorsese discussed the importance of music in his movies, and how it influences the way he moves his camera. He also spoke about his longtime collaborator, the late musician Robbie Robertson, and his musical contributions to ‘Killers of the Flower Moon.’
MS: The way I like to make pictures, for the most part I’ve learned, not intentionally, but I feel it is like the pacing of music. The boxing scenes in ‘Raging Bull’ are like the ballet scene in ‘The Red Shoes’ where everything is seen and felt from inside the ring, inside the fighter’s head. The way everything is felt and seen inside the dancer’s head of Moira Shearer in ‘Red Shoes.’ The covering of the band singing ‘The Weight’ in ‘The Last Waltz,’ doing it in a studio was very much according to the music, to the different bars of music and how a camera would move, et cetera. Sometimes I played the music back on the set in the case of ‘Goodfellas’, a number of times. The end of ‘Layla,’ for example, was played back as we were doing the camera moves. For me, ultimately a movie is more like, I’m trying to get to a movie being a piece of music. I think that’s why I do these music documentaries at the same time, I’m trying to get to the pacing and rhythm of something that can be played. For example, you play a symphony and you live with it. “I’ve heard the Beethoven Symphony so many times, I don’t want to hear it again.” No, you play it. “Well, I like the third movement. I want to hear the second movement again.” No, I mean, you live with it. Or Baroque music, anything by Bach or Philip Glass let’s say. In a case like this, very often if a film is playing on TCM, I take the sound off and I just watch. It’s living with me. I live with it. If it’s a Hitchcock or it’s a Ford or a newer one, whatever, I’m looking, and I can tell there’s a musical rhythm to the pacing of the camera and the edit. What I mean by the camera, it’s the size of the people in the frame, the editing and camera movement. I could feel it. So that’s how I exist in a sense. So for me, it’s really about getting the pace of music. That’s done very carefully on set, but also even more carefully in the editing. That’s why this picture is more like somebody pointed out recently, a Bolero, where it starts slower and moves slowly and encircles, and then suddenly gets more intense, and suddenly goes more and more until it explodes that way. So I felt it. I couldn’t verbalize the way I am now, but I felt it in the shoot and in the edit. A lot of the music that kept pushing me was what Robbie Robertson had put together, particularly that base note that he was playing. When Ernest drops her off for the first time at Mollie’s house, she looks at him, she turns, and all of a sudden you hear, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom. I said, “I wanted something dangerous and fleshy and sexy, but dangerous.” That beat took us all the way through. Then he sent me some hymn and I picked up music from Harry Smith’s Anthology of Folk Music, all this sort of thing. One particular piece called the ‘Indian War Whoop’ by Hoyt Ming and his Pep Steppers was very important. ‘Bulldoze Blues’ by Henry Thomas, which became ‘Going up the Country’ by Canned Heat. All of this, and ‘See See Rider Blues’ by Ma Rainey, and of course Emmett Miller singing ‘Lovesick Blues,’ which became the great ‘Lovesick Blues’ by Hank Williams later on, but this was the first. So it’s all that’s in there, but the drive of the movie is what Robbie put down, and we pulled it through that way.
(L to R) Leonardo DiCaprio and Lily Gladstone in ‘Killers of the Flower Moon,’ coming soon to Apple TV+.
Michelle Yeoh in ‘Everything Everywhere All at Once.’ Photo Credit: Courtesy of A24.
Awards season is rapidly reaching its endpoint with the Oscars just a couple of weeks away, and Sunday evening it was the turn of the Screen Actors Guild Awards to recognize performers’ work.
And like some other recent ceremonies, it was a case of some repeat winners continuing their triumph tour, with the likes of Michelle Yeoh and Brendan Fraser picking up more hardware for their trophy cabinets.
WRQZaCyl9bpOi032c7Ljx4
Which awards did ‘Everything Everywhere All at Once’ win at the Screen Actors Guild ceremony?
‘Everything Everywhere All at Once’ has been on something of a rollercoaster ride this season and made SAG Awards history by becoming the first movie to win all four main film categories. The ensemble win was the icing on a cake that had already seen stars Michelle Yeoh, Ke Huy Quan (who has been getting up to accept plenty of awards this season so far) and Jamie Lee Curtis win.
The movie beat out ‘The Banshees of Inisherin’, which had been tipped to at least score something, given that Martin McDonagh’s film had earned the same number of nominations as ‘EEAAO’.
ZKQ8GWKD9aJYlk1hTQfV15
What do the SAG Awards mean for the Oscars?
While they are limited in scope, the SAG Awards are certainly a boost for ‘Everything Everywhere’, which had lost out at a few recent ceremonies. Michelle Yeoh is still not a lock for Best Actress, but we can imagine bookies slashing the odds on Quan and ‘The Whale’s Fraser if they hadn’t already.
And finally, ‘Top Gun: Maverick’ picked up the Stunt Ensemble trophy, adding to its collection of largely technical recognition.
Monica Barbaro and Tom Cruise on the set of ‘Top Gun: Maverick’ from Paramount Pictures, Skydance and Jerry Bruckheimer Films.
Here is the complete film winners’ list:
Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture
Jennifer Coolidge in HBO’s ‘The White Lotus.’ Photograph by Fabio Lovino/HBO.
Who won the TV categories at the SAG Awards?
On the TV front, Mike White’s ‘The White Lotus’ continued its sweep of awards, while there was disappointment ahead for team ‘Better Call Saul’, as Jason Bateman won another trophy for ‘Ozark’.
‘Abbott Elementary’ kept up its own win tally, though the show’s creator and star Quinta Brunson was pipped to the Comedy Actress post by perennial winner Jean Smart of ‘Hacks’. Despite much appreciation for them both, ‘Only Murders in the Building’ duo Steve Martin and Martin Short lost out again, this time to ‘The Bear’s Jeremy Allen White.
As for the TV Movie/Limited Series awards, it was a case of movie stars doing TV as Sam Elliott took home the trophy for ‘Yellowstone’ prequel ‘1883’ and Jessica Chastain was named Best Female Actress in the category for ‘George & Tammy’. Plus, much like the movie categories, the SAG Awards are among the few awards bodies that recognize achievements in stunt work, and team ‘Stranger Things’ took that prize.
Here are the TV winners…
Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series
“Bad Boys, Bad Boys, wotcha gonna do?” If you’re Will Smith and Martin Lawrence, apparently you’re gonna make a fourth movie in the successful action comedy franchise.
Yes, with Will Smith seemingly persona grata again despite that little incident at last year’s Oscar ceremony, the actor took enthusiastically to Instagram for a new video which included him driving to Martin Lawrence’s house to announce that a fourth ‘Bad Boys’ is indeed now in the works.
Featuring a funny moment where the pair realize that it might have been a mistake to call the last movie ‘Bad Boys for Life’ (since ‘Bad Boys 4 Life’ would really work for this one), it’s mostly the excited actor teasing fans about what he’s actually announcing.
(L to R) Martin Lawrence as Detective Lieutenant Marcus Miles Burnett and Will Smith as Detective Lieutenant Michael Eugene ‘Mike’ Lowrey in ‘Bad Boys for Life.’
But whatever it ends up being called, the fourth film will see the return of directors Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah, who oversaw that last movie, which ended up being one of the few movies released in 2020 ahead of the incoming pandemic and making more than $426 million worldwide. So of course Sony and producer Jerry Bruckheimer would want to try and get another going.
‘Bad Boys For Life’ saw an older Mike (Smith) and Marcus (Lawrence) tackling their latest case, a mother-son drug trafficking duo who proved to be a dangerous threat.
Nothing is yet known about what the cops will be dealing with this time, but the script will come from ‘For Life’s Chris Bremner. And we’re all but guaranteed cars crashing and things blowing up, plus comedy squabbling between our heroes. Will anyone be slapped? Let’s find out!
It’s certainly better news for the directors, who have had mixed fortunes of late. Following the praise and box office bonanza of ‘For Life’, they were in demand, squeezing in indie movie ‘Rebel’, worked on episodes of ‘Ms. Marvel’ (which boasted a fun visual style) and also cranked out ‘Batgirl’ with high hopes for more cinematic success.
(L to R) Leslie Grace, co-director Adil El Arbi, and Michael Keaton on the set of ‘Batgirl.’ Photo courtesy of Adil El Arbi’s Instagram.
Yet ‘Batgirl’ not only fell victim to Warner Bros. Discovery cost-cutting, consigned to the shelf when still in post-production.
And the knocks have kept coming. The movie, which stars Leslie Grace, Brendan Fraser, J.K. Simmons, and Michael Keaton has now been described as “ not releasable” by producer and DC Studios co-CEO Peter Safran. Having spent a couple of months figuring out the future of the DC movie, TV and video game universe with James Gunn––who outlined their plans yesterday––Safran was doing press for the big new announcement when he was asked about the ‘Batgirl’ situation.
“I saw the movie,” he said. “There are a lot of incredibly talented people in front of and behind the camera in that film, but that was not releasable. It happens sometimes. “I think [Warner Discovery CEO David] Zaslav and the team made a bold and courageous decision to cancel it, because it would have hurt DC and those people involved. I spoke to Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah last week. We’d love to be in business with all of them.”
It’s an unusually candid answer for a controversial subject, especially about a movie that plenty of fans still want to see. But perhaps El Arbi and Fallah will get a do-over at DC. Once they finish wrangling Smith and Lawrence, that is.
Directors Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah from Disney+’s ‘Ms. Marvel.’
uzuFhrQ0tse12sw0EntJ66
DwVcyZO0
(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.
