Adam Sandler and The Ross Brothers
Good morning: In today's edition of The Industry, we look at:
Happy Gilmore 2, Keira Knightley sees dead people, Dune before Dune, Andy Samberg goes crazy, and a blind assassin.
Let’s go!
(Included in today's edition is a chat I had with the Ross Brothers)
GASOLINE RAINBOW
The Ross Brothers make movies differently and we love it.
The Industry interviewed the directing duo to understand how they created their blisteringly authentic film, Gasoline Rainbow.
Premiering at the Venice Film Festival, the film follows five disaffected teenagers from small-town Oregon who embark on one last adventure: the Pacific coast, 500 miles away.
The Ross Brothers dissected their guiding principle:
“Everyone becomes the author of their experience, no cut, no action. [Our shoots are] always just a living and breathing space that is pre-ordained and populated by people having a real experience.”
The Ross Brothers led their cast of teenage non-actors cross-country, placing them into scenarios designed to capture not only their kinetic energy but also laceratingly visceral moments of character growth.
One standout is when Nathaly, one of the more stoic leads, opens up about her father’s deportation to two strangers in a grimy pool hall.
The Ross Brothers explained how they captured this unscripted moment:
“We created that situation with the two older women, Erin and Ange, to hopefully try to draw her out. They are very boisterous, they love to engage in conversation, and they're very empathic. Our hypothesis was if we put them together, maybe that would help draw the Nathaly out.”
It worked.
What arises is a major energy shift in the film where an outside force breaks under Nathaly’s surface. Thereafter, she is much more confident, much more herself.
The Ross Brothers' method fosters a loose cinematic language that births astonishing moments, maintaining a vigor throughout the film that mirrors the character's youth.
Their commitment to capturing truthful interactions makes this film distinctively alive and beautifully unpredictable.
Gasoline Rainbow is now playing in theaters across the US.
For More:
Check out the Gasoline Rainbow trailer and showtimes here.
THE INDUSTRY NEWS
Netflix’s Upfront. Here’s the breakdown:
40 M Ad Tier users
70% watch 10+ hrs/month
Launching an in-house ad tech platform
For advertisers to leverage insights and measure success
Newly announced film/series:
Adam Sandler and Christopher McDonald (Shooter McGavin) will return
Kathyrn Bigelow’s new film
Synopsis: The White House’s real-time response efforts to an incoming ballistic missile attack on American soil
3 Body Problem
Renewed for Season 2
Nobody Wants This (comedy film)
Starring: Kristen Bell and Adam Brody
Synopsis: Centered on the unlikely relationship between an outspoken, agnostic woman, Joanne (Bell), and an unconventional rabbi, Noah (Brody)
First look still
Netflix’s Chief Content Officer Bela Bajaria stated:
“At a time when competition is pulling back, we’re investing in more of what our audiences want.”
Not announced at Upfront is Netflix's newly greenlit Keira Knightley film, The Woman in Cabin 10.
Here’s the official synopsis:
A travel journalist (Knightley) assigned to cover the launch of a luxury yacht witnesses a passenger tossed overboard in the dead of night, no one believes her story as all on the ship have been accounted for.
No release date has been set.
Warner Bros Discovery Upfront.
A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms (GOT spinoff)
Release date: 2025
Dune Prophesy
Set 10,000 years before Dune
Release date: Fall 2024
The Last of Us Season 2
Conan O’Brien Must Go
Renewed for Season 2
O’Brien stated:
“This latest travel show has been so fun and rewarding that I suspected it was all a cruel prank. My apologies in advance to the next six countries.”
Our vote: drifting in the Martian desert of Wadi Rum, Jordan.
The Robots Go Crazy at Amazon. Andy Samberg is set to star in the action comedy The Robots Go Crazy, which will be produced by the Lonely Island production company Party Over Here. Andrew Laham (Shang Chi) will be writing the script.
Samberg and the Lonely Island group consists of himself, Akiva Schaffer, Jorma Taccone, and Ali Bell. They started as Samberg's writing arm when he was on SNL but have since made some pretty fun projects:
Popstar: Never Stop Stopping (2016)
Brigsby Bear (2017)
I Think You Should Leave (2019)
Palm Springs (2020)
The Robots Go Crazy pitch package has just landed at Amazon.
Tidbit:
The full trailer for Wicked has dropped. Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande star in this two-part film adaptation of the Wizard of Oz musical. It’s an origin story that has an uncharacteristically contentious yet saccharine sister-like relationship at the heart. Erivo’s performance as the wicked witch has an alluring mystical quality that remains somehow grounded.
Apple’s heist. Reuniting the Synchronic (2019) pair Anthony Mackie (Captain America) and Jamie Dornan (Fifty Shades of Grey) is the new, nearly-greenlit Apple series 12 12 12.
Official synopsis:
A disgraced FBI agent (Mackie) and an American career criminal (Dornan) who play a zero-sum game of cat and mouse across Europe. At the center of it all is the daring, epic raid on a bank vault deep beneath the streets of Zurich.
The reasoning behind the numerical title is that the series bridges three heist timelines:
12 months before
12 hours during
12 days after
Tarantino and Nolan will be watching.
THE ACTOR SPOTLIGHT
Donnie Yen is the best part of John Wick 4. His blind assassin character is absurd yet enthralling (clip). Yen will now star in a standalone film centering on that character from Lionsgate.
Yen stated:
“The reason these films resonate so deeply is because, like myself, Chad [director], Basil, and Erica [franchise producers] push themselves to create action, fights, and stunts that are not only thrilling, inventive and artistic, but also expressive of character, story, and emotion. Caine is an incredible character with a haunted past, and I am excited to return to the role.”
Yen has been at the height of both Chinese and American martial arts cinema:
Hero (2002)
Jet Li vs. Donnie Yen (full fight scene, Matrix-style)
Ip Man 1 2, 3, 4 (2008 - 2019)
Mulan (2020)
“Lower Your Sword” (clip)
The Assassin Caine film will begin shooting next year in Hong Kong and falls under director Chad Stahelski’s deal with Lionsgate to build out the series.
Ella Purnell is radioactive right now; it probably has something to do with the success of Fallout. Everyone is talking about her portrayal of Lucy from vault 33, she brought a sense of wonder and naivety that slowly morphs over the season as she goes from vault dweller to a formidable denizen of the wasteland. Season 2 can't come soon enough. Judging by Fallout's massive effects budget, that might be a while. Till then, Purnell has signed on for Craig Roberts' The Scurry, a twisted horror comedy in which she will play a park ranger battling for her life against a pack of killer squirrels.
Kirsten Dunst is getting on a long flight. She will join double Palme d’Or winner Ruben Östlund’s new film, The Entertainment System is Down, starring Keanu Reeves. Östlund is creating a little laboratory of terror in this film by cutting off transcontinental flight passengers from their entertainment system. It should be akin to the banquet sequence in Triangle of Sadness. Daniel Brühl (Inglorious Bastards) will also star.
Tidbits:
John Malkovich plays a Romanian conductor in The Yellow Tie, currently at the Cannes Market. Here’s an epic first look still. Yes, Maestro!
Natasha Lyonne has been cast in The Fantastic Four but will not be part of the Fantastic Four, played by: Pedro Pascall, Vanessa Kirby, Joseph Quinn, and Ebon Moss-Bachrach.
FESTIVALS - CANNES DAY 2
While there was a flurry of reviews over the merits and demerits of George Miller’s Mad Max prequel and accusations about Francis Ford Coppola’s questionable on-set behavior for Megalopolis, the most alluring bit of drama may be from the haunting fable Animale, the Cannes Critics Week closing night film which dropped a slow-mo clip where a woman gets into a ring with a bull.
Also released was the posthumous release of This Life of Mine, the cripplingly personal opening film for the Director’s Fortnight.
Here’s the synopsis:
Barbie, once an attractive, devoted mother and partner, faces newfound challenges as she turns 55, descending into darkness, violence, and absurdity while grappling with her identity, relationships, and life's complexities.
Sadly, this is Sophie Fillières's (dir: If You Don't, I Will, 2014) final film.
Here’s a review.
INDIE FILMMAKER SPOTLIGHT
First-time writer/director Agathe Reidinger’s French drama Wild Diamond is a hot topic of conversation following its premiere at Cannes.
After directing several music videos, commercials, and short films, Reidinger’s debut feature competes for the Palme d'Or, a huge honor and accomplishment for a young filmmaker.
Official synopsis:
Liane, 19, lives with her mother and sister in Fréjus in the south of France. Consumed by aspirations of beauty and stardom, she auditions for a reality show called Miracle Island.
Despite the protagonist’s willingness to suffer for her celebrity, Reidinger approaches the young “trainwreck” with remarkable empathy and presents a very over-the-top but authentic commentary on social media’s impact and the age of the “influencer.”
Wild Diamond acts as a prequel story of Reidinger’s 20-minute short film, Waiting for Jupiter (2018, trailer), following Liane’s participation in the reality show, which she believes is the start of the rest of her new life.
We’re excited to hear what this bold filmmaker makes next.
Talk about a funny duo! Will Ferrell and Ramy Youssef are co-creating Golf, a 10-episode comedy series set at Netflix.
Ferrell will play a fictional golf legend while details of Youssef’s character are being kept under wraps.
Ramy Youssef has gained several awards for his Hulu show, Ramy, which he created and stars in as the titular character. It follows a story similar to his own, a millennial Muslim born to immigrant parents living in his politically divided New Jersey neighborhood. While it has not yet been officially renewed, Youssef says Ramy will end with season 4.
The recent news of his Netflix collaboration with Ferrell follows a successful award-season run with Poor Things (2023). In this Yorgos Lanthimos film, Youssef played the lovable Max McCandles in his first major film role (clip).
After getting his start as a standup comedian, the Queens native this year starred in his second HBO stand-up comedy special, Ramy Youssef: More Feelings, following his first widely popular special, Ramy Youssef: Feelings (2019).
Tidbit:
Oscar winner Kenneth Branagh (director/writer: Belfast) is set with his latest project, The Last Disturbance of Madeline Hynde. Jodie Comer (Killing Eve) is set to star.
INTERNATIONAL NEWS
Motel Destino is an official selection at Cannes. Judging from the poster and the insane sex, snake and fire-filled teaser, you could probably anticipate this synopsis:
The neon-hued Motel Destino, a roadside sex hotel steaming under the burning blue skies of the northeastern coast of Brazil, is run by hot-headed Elias and his restless younger wife Dayana. The unexpected arrival of 21-year-old Heraldo, on the run after a botched hit, disrupts the established order. As the tropical noir plays out, loyalties and desires intertwine to reveal that destiny has its own enigmatic design.
Yeah, it's going to be a fun one.
The director, Karim Aïnouz’s previous film, Firebrand, starring Alicia Vikander and Jude Law, was only slightly less pulpy. Vikander plays the 6th wife of the tyrannical King Henry VIII (Law), who teeters on the verge of executing her.
ON THIS DAY
1929. 1st Academy Awards Best Picture goes to Wings.
See you tomorrow!
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Written by Gabriel Miller, Madelyn Menapace, and Spencer Carter.
Editor: Gabriel Miller.