Good morning: In today’s edition of The Industry, we look at:
Spielberg’s American Fiction, Donald Sutherland’s screen legacy, Riz Ahmed’s existential crisis, Villeneuve and Eggers Bros. and a soulm8ate.
Let’s go!
INVISIBLE NATION
 |
The cinematic texture of Invisible Nation pairs intimate close-ups of the president of Taiwan, with long-lensed wide shots of her citizens, hungry to maintain their freedom.
The documentary follows the first female president of Taiwan through a myriad of scenarios where she seems outmeasured.
In one scene, she is dwarfed by a war helmet and in another by a crowd of thousands, which she leads in prayer. During the film, she hints at her own struggle to become recognized:
“When I was young I was very shy, I never dreamed of being a president.”
The director, Vanessa Hope, broke down her core driver for making the film:
“The discrimination, threat of violence, marginalization, and domination that Taiwan faces, that contribute to the vulnerability of its democracy, is not unlike the second class status and poor treatment most women face around the world which jeopardizes democracy everywhere.”
Cinema like Invisible Nation gives the oppressed a voice.
The film’s producer Ted Hope explained:
“Everything specific to its situation, it’s also universal. You know, you see a woman president with an outside bully… all of these things where people just can’t be seen or heard in an invisible nation, and we’re just trying to make sure that people get seen and heard.”
At a time when freedom around the world is under threat from authoritarianism, documentaries that ground the struggle to the individual level become a universal driver for change.
When the specter of violence stifles freedom, we must listen.
For More:
Check out the Invisible Nation trailer and showtimes here.
THE INDUSTRY NEWS
|
|
Steven Spielberg goes down the river with Percival Everett (writer: American Fiction’s source novel). The project is James, a retelling of Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.
Here’s the line-up:
- James (based on the novel by Everett)
- Writer/EP: Everett (his first screenplay)
- Director attached: Taika Waititi (Jojo Rabitt)
- EP: Spielberg
- Production Company: Amblin Partners
- Distributor: Universal
Here’s the official synopsis:
When the enslaved Jim overhears that he is about to be sold to a man in New Orleans, separated from his wife and daughter forever, he decides to hide on nearby Jackson Island until he can formulate a plan. Meanwhile, Huck Finn has faked his own death to escape his violent father, recently returned to town.
Like in American Fiction (trailer), Everett will continue to deliver lacerating observations about America, this time through Jim’s eyes. The director Taika Waititi seems fined-tuned to expose these racial hypocrisies as he did in Jojo Rabbit (trailer) with a similar comedic pizazz.
Mark Wahlberg and Paul Walter Hauser (I-Tonya) will star in Balls Up, an action comedy directed by Peter Farrelly for Amazon MGM Studios and produced by Skydance.
The film follows two marketing executives who are fired after mishandling a client sponsorship and end up in trouble after attending a soccer match, leading to a nationwide pursuit.
Written by Paul Wernick & Rhett Reese, who just wrote Marvel’s Deadpool & Wolverine.
Paul Walter Houser is looking like he’s going to have a busy year.
Voila MoviePass is back! An investment from a Comcast owned investment company will allow for a rebirth. The new plan:
- Charge more for subscriptions
- Advertise on Comcast TV
Stacy Spikes, co-founder of MoviePass stated:
“Today’s investment will accelerate our mission to bring new technology and innovation to the film community that will spur growth and drive higher traffic to theaters.”
I am sure a vast majority of you reading this probably flashed that little red card a few (hundred) times. That is until the company went bankrupt in 2019. That $9.95 a month for unlimited movies actually was too good to be true. The unstable business model led to its downfall.
It seems like a great flywheel for Comcast’s Universal Pictures, whose recent film The Fall Guy is coming off $60 M in losses.
Tidbits:
Amazon snipes a first-look deal with Jason Hall (writer: American Sniper). The studio will have a first look at all his future writing projects. Hall’s last three scripts, Sony’s Gran Turismo (2023), Thank You for Your Service (2017), and Warner Bros.’s American Sniper (2014), have collectively grossed $679 M at the worldwide box office.
Lionsgate comes to a deal with DirectTV. Five of its streaming channels will now appear in the service:
- Ebony TV
- MovieSphere
- HerSphere
- Are We There Yet? (TV series)
- Anger Management (TV series)
This partnership underscores DirectTV’s commitment to expanding its content offerings and providing a diverse range of genres to its audience.
THE ACTOR SPOTLIGHT
|
|
Decorated actor Donald Sutherland has passed away at age 88 leaving behind a legacy of over 60 years on the silver screen.
The honorary Oscar winner’s son, TV star Kiefer Sutherland (24, Designated Survivor), was the first to break the news in a heartbreaking tribute honoring his father:
“I personally think one of the most important actors in the history of film. Never daunted by a role, good, bad, or ugly. He loved what he did and did what he loved, and one can never ask for more than that. A life well lived.”
From Hawkeye Pierce, the cocky but excellent US surgeon in the war comedy M*A*S*H (1970, clip), to the unapologetically evil President Snow in The Hunger Games films clip, Donald Sutherland’s range was unmatched.
His first major breakthrough was in the 1967 American World War II flick, The Dirty Dozen, and shortly after as the neurotic commander Oddball in Kelly’s Heroes (1970). His success skyrocketed in the 70s and only continued to grow for decades upon decades after in films like:
- Don’t Look Now (1973)
- A grounded supernatural masterwork
- Trailer
- My favorite performance of his
- National Lampoon’s Animal House (1978)
- Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978)
- The lead in a remake of the horror classic
- Ordinary People (1980)
- Dir: Robert Redford’s Oscar-winning film
- Clip
- JFK (1991)
- A mysterious man named Mr. X
The Canadian actor died in Miami of a long illness. He will be missed.
Riz Ahmed takes on comedy. He stars and will co-showrun an Amazon Comedy Series, for which he also serves as writer and producer.
Here’s the official synopsis:
A struggling actor named Shah Latif (Ahmed), who’s on the cusp of landing a breakthrough role when he finds himself thrust into a full-blown existential crisis and trippy conspiracy thriller all at the same time.
Ahmed stated:
“I’ve wanted to tell this story for a long time… it’s personal, bold and a lot of fun. It feels so good to be writing and creating it now with this incredible team.”
This is generally against type for Ahmed, whose last comedic role that comes to mind was in HBO’s Girls (clip), where he plays Lena Dunham’s baby daddy. He has also joined the cast of Wes Anderson’s new film Phoenician Scheme.
Ahmed has an immense flair for stylized performance, with the most pronounced example being Nightcrawler (2014). Watch how he slips into the skin of a nervous freelancer while meeting Jake Gyllenhaal for the oddest job interview of all time (clip).
Ahmed usually plays characters that get the short end of the stick (The Night Of, Sound of Metal), which births a squirmy physicalization that might feel at home in this new project with Amazon.
Tidbit:
Jonathan Majors has landed his first role in Merciless (dir: Martin Villeneuve – Denis’ brother) after being sentenced to 1-year in-person domestic violence intervention program.
Official Synopsis:
When the woman he loves is overtaken by a malevolent force, a top CIA interrogator is willing to go even darker to defeat it.
Majors’ career had hit a major inflection point with Creed 3 (2023), the unreleased Sundance film Magazine Dreams (2023), and a major role as a Marvel villain until he was found guilty of domestic violence last December.
Michael Chernus is a gloriosuly naive oddball in Severence. He plays Adam Scott’s brother-in-law, who writes a self-published self-help book that becomes a bible for the “innies.” Chernus will now play the serial killer John Wayne Gacy in Devil In Disguise, a drama series adapted from Peacock’s docu-series of the same name (trailer.) No question, Chernus will get the laugh just right.
FESTIVALS AND RESOURCES
|
|
Upcoming Class: Microbudget Producing. Gotham is reintroducing their two-part Microbudget Producing class. This course will teach you effective filmmaking and business strategies for producing a film with a budget of $200K—or even less.
Led by writer/director/producer Paul Harrill (Light From Light, Something Anything), the class will guide you step-by-step through the development, planning, and production stages.
Topics include:
- Building a lean budget from your screenplay or concept
- Navigating funding options, such as self-finance and crowdsourcing
- Managing production stages to stay on (or under) budget without compromising the project’s integrity
- Finding producing partners
- Discussing regional production strategies
Don’t miss this opportunity to learn cost-effective techniques for bringing your film project to life.
Dates: June 25 & 27 from 5 – 8 PM ET. Get 10% off with code MICROGOTHAM.
Register here.
INDIE FILMMAKER SPOTLIGHT
|
|
Max and Sam Eggers make their directorial debut in A24’s The Front Room.
The brother duo has solidified themselves as major players in the indie horror space after working on their eldest brother Robert Egger’s (The Witch, The Lighthouse) films. Their new horror is based on a short story by the award-winning and bestselling novelist Susan Hill.
Here is the official synopsis:
Everything goes to hell for newly pregnant Belinda (Brandy) after her mother-in-law (Kathryn Hunter) moves in. As the diabolical guest tries to get her claws on the child, Belinda must draw the line somewhere…
The new haunting trailer feels like a stylized and contained Get Out.
Singer-turned-actress Brandy will star as the lead, making her highly anticipated return to horror since her last performance in the 1998 slasher film I Still Know What You Did Last Summer. Brandy will act opposite British actress Kathryn Hunter, who was most recently seen as a tattoo-covered brothel owner in Poor Things (2023).
Most notably, Max Egger co-wrote the eerie noir film The Lighthouse (2019) (trailer) alongside his brother, Robert, and Sam Egger co-wrote Harry Mavromichalis’ 2018 documentary drama film Olympia (2018).
The Front Room will premiere in theaters nationwide on Sept. 6th of this year.
Brit Marling’s creative partnership with Zal Batmanglij brought us A Murder at the End of the World and the OA. Now that partnership has been imbued with longevity thanks to them signing a multi-year partnership with the production company Sister, who is behind:
- Eric (Netflix series)
- Starring Benedict Cumberbatch
- Trailer
- KAOS (Netflix series)
- Starrning Jeff Goldblum as Zeus
- Teaser
- Good Grief
Marling stated:
“With the arrival of algorithmic storytelling — both in the programming directives and the authorship of the stories themselves — it’s more important than ever for outside the box thinkers to band together and make innovative, original works that look forward rather than backwards. We can think of no better partners than the hive mind at Sister to dive into the future with.”
When Marling and Batmanglij are together, there’s an explosion of ideas and we can’t wait for what they come up with next.
Tidbit:
Liked M3GAN? Now a spinoff SOULM8ATE is being developed by Blumhouse and Atomic Monster. Here’s the official synopsis:
A man acquires an artificially intelligent android to cope with the loss of his recently deceased wife. In an attempt to create a truly sentient partner, he inadvertently turns a harmless lovebot into a deadly soulmate.
Hopefully, we’ll get another viral dance sequence. Coming early 2026.
ON THIS DAY
1957. 7th Berlin International Film Festival: 12 Angry Men wins Golden Bear.
That’s all for the week. See you Monday!
—
Written by Gabriel Miller, Spencer Carter, and Madelyn Menapace.
Editor: Gabriel Miller.
