Based on the film ‘L’Emploi Du Temps’ by Laurent Cantet and Robin Campillo, the pic follows Vincent (Sandler), who after being fired from his job can’t bring himself to tell his wife and family.
Rather than reveal the truth, he spins a web of lies to conceal his situation. He escalates his lies further when he creates an investment scheme and asks friends to contribute, and the deception threatens to overwhelm his life and his family.
‘Time Out’: the director talks
Here’s Cooper on why he decided to tackle the remake:
“I first encountered Laurent Cantet’s film in 2001, and it’s lived with me ever since. I’ve been thinking about revisiting it for years, but now felt like the right moment — we’re living in a time where questions of identity, work, and self-worth have become impossible to ignore.”
Scott Cooper attends the UK Premiere of 20th Century Studios’ ‘Springsteen: Deliver Me from Nowhere’ during the 69th BFI London Film Festival at Royal Festival Hall, London on October 15th, 2025. Photo by StillMoving.Net for The Walt Disney Company Limited.
(L to R) Benicio Del Toro, Mia Threapleton and Michael Cera star in ‘The Phoenician Scheme’.
Moviefone recently had the pleasure of speaking with Benicio del Toro, Michael Cera and Mia Threapleton about their work on ‘The Phoenician Scheme’. Del Toro discussed his experience reuniting with director Wes Anderson and what he enjoys about working with him, while Cera talked about what it was like to join Wes Anderson’s company of actors and explore the unique worlds he creates on screen, and Threapleton discussed her character’s estranged relationship with her father and why she accompanies him on his journey.
You can read the full interview below or click on the video player above to watch our interviews.
Moviefone: To begin with, Benicio, can you talk about reuniting with director Wes Anderson after ‘The French Dispatch’ and what do you enjoy about working with him?
Benicio del Toro: Well, I enjoy everything, especially the final product. But the character for ‘The Phoenician Scheme’ is a much more challenging character, full of contradictions, with a hell of an arc that it required a lot of motivation to say the least. It kept me up at night, put it that way, to make sure that I deliver what needs to be delivered day in, day out. But I think that Wes’s foundation as a filmmaker, aside from the fact of the visionary he is, also, he’s an incredible writer. He really is. We were talking about this. The script reads like a novel. You could publish it and it would read like a novel. Usually, I get many scripts, I’ve done many movies, and in many of them, I create the backstory of my character. Here, I think you get the backstory of all our characters that have arcs. Michael’s, Mia’s and me, we all have arcs, but we also get the backstory, which it reads like a novel would do that. So, I think that’s the thing that makes Wes’s projects for me so powerful, beyond just a comedy or a beautiful story. Something that his movies always have, is that you can touch them, but the foundation is a story and the writing, and I think that’s really one of his strengths.
MF: Michael, what was it like for you to join Wes Anderson’s company of actors and have an opportunity to explore the unique worlds he creates on screen?
Michael Cera: It’s such a wonderful group to join. Wes just populates his productions with the most amazing people you can think of, and Mia included in that. It’s so much fun to come in. It’s always an exciting thing about jumping into a project that has this caliber of people working on it, and yeah, the worlds are just so much fun. This movie is an anthology in a way where it’s like the three of us are this unit that hop from story to story, and each one of those was brought to life by the various guest players that would come in for that week or two weeks to work on their sequence and inject a whole new energy and atmosphere into the movie. It was just amazing, and it’s great seeing those people show up and bring that character to life in front of your eyes too, and see what they look like suddenly, and sound like.
MF: Finally, Mia, can you talk about Sister Liesl’s estranged relationship with her father and why she decides to help him on his journey?
Mia Threapleton: I think when we meet her, she has her own reasons for agreeing to meet with him, which are not just because she’s been invited, but she has a lot of unanswered, long time burning questions. Because he’s invited her, I think she realizes, “Okay, he wants something from me. Well, I will acquiesce to this, but I can also get him to give me the answers that I want as well.” So, it’s a little bit like a business negotiation initially, and then by the end of that conversation, I think she realizes, “Okay, actually this is a lot larger than I thought that it was going to be, and maybe he can give me more answers over time. Maybe I’ll find out more information.” I think because of her upbringing within a convent, she literally says it. “I forgive you. We’re taught to.” So, I think there is this forgiving side of her, but I also think that she sees that he is very complex and complicated and wants to understand that more. But perhaps that’s one of the many reasons why she decides to stick it out with this rapscallion, if you will.
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What is the plot of ‘The Phoenician Scheme’?
Wealthy businessman Zsa-zsa Korda (Benicio del Toro) appoints his only daughter, a nun (Mia Threapleton), as sole heir to his estate. As Korda embarks on a new enterprise, they soon become the target of scheming tycoons, foreign terrorists and determined assassins.
‘Moon Knight’ episode 3 opens with Layla getting herself a fake ID. We’re told she hasn’t been back to Egypt in a while, and that her father was involved in a dig site. It’s implied that Layla is not safe on her trip.
Cut to Arthur Harrow scouring the Egyptian desert and finding Ammit’s tomb. He knows Marc is there, but it doesn’t matter to him. Marc is seen chasing after someone, an informant who knows about the dig site, only for him to get murdered by two of Harrow’s men.
A fight ensues, and before Marc can kill them – Steven stops “him.” But then Moon Knight continues to fight and brutally murders the other men. It is hinted at that neither Marc nor Steven are controlling the hero at the time, leaving the possibility of a third alter.
Khonshu blocks out the sun, the god claiming it’s a “sign none of them could ignore.” He tells Steven the avatars are gathering, and that the last time he was seen by the gods, he was banished. A gate opens up, and Marc is allowed into the gathering.
He’s welcomed by another avatar, and their bodies are slowly taken over by the other Egyptian gods, and Khonshu calls them to judge Harrow. He’s summoned, and Harrow instantly begins to lie, claiming the moon god was the one to find Ammit’s tomb.
Harrow begins to use Marc’s disorder against him. Claiming he doesn’t know his own name, and knowing about his other alters. The gods asked to speak to Marc, and while he doesn’t deny being ‘unwell,’ he still tries to get them to see his point of view, but due to Khonshu’s reputation, the other gods excuse him and go off.
But a woman, who was the avatar of a goddess, explains one person knew about Ammit’s tomb, but their own sarcophagus was sold on the black market. Marc instantly goes to find it, only to be intercepted by Layla and begrudgingly excepts her help.
Layla tells him that she’s aware of where the body is, and a touching scene occurs, where we get more backstory on Marc. It was only recently that he had begun losing “control” of Steven and allowing him to take over, with no further details given.
Marc and Layla go to meet the black-market dealer, Anton (Gaspard Ulliel), who has the sarcophagus. While he claims to be a collector, it’s obvious that he is one sketchy guy. They find the coffin, while Marc and Steven talk about ‘unlocking’ the sarcophagus. They get into a fight, Steven begging to take over but Marc keeping him at bay.
Steven begins to explain to Marc the puzzle, only for the arms dealer to stop him. Harrow then shows up and tries to get Anton to take his side. He starts to convince everyone to turn against one another, including Layla on Marc because of her father’s death and the fact that he has been lying to her about it.
Then all hell breaks loose. Khonshu yells at Marc to summon the suit, and Harrow destroys the sarcophagus. We then get what is probably the coolest fight scene in the show so far. Specter in the full suit kicking ass, while also having Steven at the same time trying to stop the violence.
Of course, he breaks through, changing to Steven. It’s a matter of seconds before he’s literally impaled and yelling for Marc to take over. He gets held down, Layla’s hurt, and that causes Marc to go berserk and kill everyone.
The two of them escape, and Layla begins to question Marc about what Harrow brought up. He promises Layla that what he said wasn’t true. But Marc doesn’t deny the fact that she truly doesn’t know him as they drive into the desert.
Marc and Layla attempt to put together the pieces from the coffin. She tells him they need Steven’s help. But Khonshu claims the alter won’t give Marc the body back. He grumbles about it but walks away, letting Steven take over.
He explains how ancient Egyptians used both sun and the stars to navigate the desert. Steven finishes the destroyed piece, and explains why the stars won’t help them, but Khonshu says he knows where the stars were the night of the burial. “I remember every night.” He drawls and explains he can turn back the stars to that night. But that it would come at a cost.
Steven and Khonshu begin to turn back the sky like a clock. It’s a gorgeous sequence, and quiet honestly, one of my personal favorites in this cinematic universe thus far. The two of them change the constellations back to where they were in the past.
Khonshu is imprisoned by the other gods for obviously breaking multiple rules he wasn’t supposed to. The god and his power fade away, trapped in a stone. Marc will now most likely die, as Khonshu was keeping him alive.
We’re shown Harrow led to the gods chamber by one of the avatars. Harrow speaks with the statue, explaining how he was glad that Khonshu let him go when he did. He claims he owes everything to the god, and the episode ends.
So, we learned a couple of important things from this episode. The first one is that the other gods do exist. We meet them for the first time, even if we only see them as their avatars. There is no confirmation that the gods are actually gods (and not weird celestials like they are in the comics), but we finally know they do exist in this world and it’s not just Khonshu. What this could mean for the future isn’t know, but this confirms that it’s not just the Greek gods that rule in place of heroes and celestials.
One scene from the episode that should be important is Khonshu changing the sky. It’s showed prominently in the show that everyone saw the sky changing. Not just Layla and Steven. What am I getting at with this? Well, ‘Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness’ releases on May 5th, and the last episode of ‘Moon Knight’ releases on May 4th … so are we going to see Doctor Strange in ‘Moon Knight?’
Benedict Cumberbatch in ‘Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness’ from Marvel Studios.
Next to Wanda Maximoff & the Sorcerer Supreme, Marc Specter is the next main magic user in the MCU. While not fully magical himself, he fits the bill. Strange would see the stars changing and want answers, and it would be a great way to connect the Disney+ series to the timeline (even if Oscar Isaac has been on record saying the show is “disconnected” from the movies.)
Another major Easter egg that showed up in this episode was the name drop of Madripoor. While it’s been mentioned before, it was first shown in ‘The Falcon & the Winter Soldier’ and later in ‘Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings’. Madripoor is basically the MCU’s version of the black market. That’s where the cage match in ‘Shang-Chi’ took place, and where Sharon Carter calls herself the Power Broker. It would make sense Layla & Anton would make deals on artifacts in Madripoor.
Once again, Marvel gives us another great episode. With a mixture of both character drama and action, we can only guess where the next few take us.
Premiering on Disney+ beginning March 30th is the new Marvel Studios series ‘Moon Knight,’ which is based on the popular comic book character of the same name. Oscar Isaac (‘Dune’) stars as Marc Spector, a mercenary with dissociative identity disorder who is granted the powers of an Egyptian moon god, making him a superhero. The result is a series that feels more like a movie and is one of the best origin story projects Marvel Studios has ever produced.
The series begins by introducing us to Steven Grant (Oscar Isaac), a meek gift shop clerk who happens to work at a museum in the Egyptian history wing. Grant has strange visions of an Egyptian god, loses track of large amounts of time, and wakes up unaware of why he is chained to his own bed. Grant soon discovers that he actually shares a body with mercenary Marc Spector (also Isaacs), who has dissociative identity disorder and was chosen by the Egyptian god Khonshu (voiced by F. Murray Abraham) to be the hero Moon Knight.
Grant also meets Spector’s wife, Layla El-Faouly (May Calamawy) and discovers that a cult led by Arthur Harrow (Ethan Hawke) are pursuing them to retrieve a valuable artifact that they have in their possession. With the artifact, Harrow will have ultimate power and now Marc and Steven must work together as Moon Knight (or Steven’s alter ego – Mr. Knight) if they want to stop the cult leader from taking over the world.
As much as I love Marvel, one of the issues I’ve had with the Disney+ shows are that even at six to eight episodes, they always feel like they are one or two episodes too long. But as I have screened four out of six of the ‘Moon Knight’ episodes, I can tell you that the series is tight, and at least in the first four episodes, there is no filler. Moon Knight’s story is complicated, and the series benefits from the fact that it has six hours to tell his origin, without feeling rushed or truncated. But it also doesn’t waste its time and everything that happens seems necessary and important to telling the character’s story.
In some ways this is the least Marvel project Marvel Studios has produced, certainly on Disney+, but also still feels very much like it takes place in the MCU. The prior Marvel shows were all heavily dipped in MCU folklore with references to S.H.I.E.L.D. or The Blip, for example, and appearances from characters that belong to other Marvel franchises. But while ‘Moon Knight’ doesn’t have any direct MCU references or cameos (at least not in the first four episodes), it still feels very much like a Marvel movie and very much exists in the same universe as ‘Doctor Strange‘ and ‘Shang-Chi.’
It’s hard enough to introduce one new character to an audience, but with superhero projects you essentially have two characters to introduce, the hero and their alter-ego. With this series, they have the difficulty of introducing not just Marc Spector and Moon Knight, but also Steven Grant and Mr. Knight, with all four characters portrayed by the same actor, Oscar Isaac.
In the comics, Spector is the main character and the focus is usually on him, when it’s not on Moon Knight. But the series made the wise choice to focus the series, at least initially, on Steven Grant. Like the audience (at least those not familiar with the source material), Steven has no idea what is going on in his life, and as the audience we get to learn about Marc, Layla, Arthur Harrow, and Khonshu, at the same time Steven does. It was a risky choice, but ultimately works and serves the series well.
The supporting cast is very good, especially Oscar winner F. Murray Abraham who voices Khonshu. May Calamawy creates a strong and really fun character in Marc’s wife, Layla. She has great chemistry with Isaac (no matter which character he is playing), and the character takes some odd twists and turns in the later episodes.
But a hero is only as strong as the villain he has to battle, and Ethan Hawke creates a very strong villain in Arthur Harrow. In fact, calling him a villain is not even fair as the character would tell you he’s the hero of his own story, and Hawke walks that line well. Channeling inspiration from cult leader David Koresh, as well as psychiatrist Carl Jung and even the Dalai Lama, Hawke plays the role in a sympathetic yet commanding way.
But the series’ success really hinges on finding an actor that can realistically portray all the aspects of the lead character, and Oscar Isaac fills that role exceedingly well. Isaac really creates two separate characters with Steven and Marc, and he is so good that at times you really believe they are two different people and you forget that the same actor is playing both roles. The series handles the character’s DID quite well, and Isaac’s performance is extremely believable and sympathetic.
In the end, at least for the first four episodes, ‘Moon Knight’ is an extremely tight, dark, and very enjoyable superhero series that is just as good as any Marvel movie without getting bogged down by the MCU mythology.
‘Moon Knight’ (first four episodes) receives 4.5 out of 5 stars
‘Moon Knight’ premieres on Disney+ beginning March 30th.
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.
