Charlie Kaufman’s Dream Scenario
Good morning: In today's edition of The Industry, we look at:
Charlie Kafuman’s Dream, Ron Howard’s Eden.
Let’s go!
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Charlie Kaufman thrives by altering states of reality.
For his next project, he will write and direct Later The War, based on a short story, Debby’s Dream House.
If the structure of the short story is to be followed, then Eddie Redmayne will star as a neurotic dream manufacturer who, in an attempt to fulfill his wife’s (Tessa Thompson) dream of buying a home, takes a lucrative promotion as a nightmare manufacturer.
This is fertile Kaufman territory as the short story uses the conceit of manufactured dreams to examine how we grapple with our waking nightmares.
In the short story, the dream manufacturer states:
“Building all those nightmares had left me immune to my own, and that’s exactly what troubled me. I had been sure that dealing with such dark material damaged the soul.”
And it does damage his soul. By creating nightmares, the character awakens his own: that his wife is cheating on him.
All of Kaufman’s characters have a compulsive drive to actualize their nightmare scenarios:
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004) - Jim Carrey’s desire to erase his pain guarantees cycles of heartbreak.
Synecdoche, New York (2008) - Philip Seymour Hoffman’s obsession with artistic truth creates a suffocating replica of his deteriorating life.
I'm Thinking of Ending Things (2020)- Jesse Buckley’s doubts warp reality into a surreal, unsettling spiral.
Charlie Kaufman’s films suggest that our attempts to control our fears only tighten their grip on us.
We are all always manufacturing our dreams and our nightmares, we don’t need a factory to do it.
For More:
Full short story featuring some odd cover art of Charlie Kaufman.
Synecdoche, New York (2008) is a glorious, insane vision. Check out the trailer (Apple TV+ link takes you to the film, and you have to scroll down to see the trailer.)
THE INDUSTRY TLDR
Ron Howard’s Eden drops a non-English trailer. The film stars Sydney Sweeney, Vanessa Kirby, Ana de Armas, and Jude Law.
Dwayne Johnson’s Seven Bucks Productions has signed a first-look TV deal with 20th Television.
Technicolor lays off almost all of its 440 UK employees.
Andor Season 2 is here with a very misleading trailer.
Debbie McWilliams. The casting director of the last 13 bond films is retiring from casting.
J.K. Simmons joins Brad Pitt in Paramount Pictures’ Heart of the Beast by director David Ayer (The Beekeeper).
Drew Starkey (Queer) is cast as Anya Taylor-Joy’s husband in Apple TV+’s series Lucky.
A24’s latest series is an untitled Crisis PR drama with Mean Girls’ Lizzy Caplan set to star.
What Does That Nature Say to You by Dir: Hong Sang-Soo (A Traveler's Needs) gets US distribution by Cinema Guild.
Director Philip Barantini pushes Stephen Graham to the brink in Netflix’s Adolescence.
Max has found its first Italian scripted original in Portobello.
THE INDUSTRY NEWS
So we have the first trailer for Ron Howard’s Eden, starring Sydney Sweeney, Vanessa Kirby, Ana de Armas, Jude Law, and Daniel Brühl—just not one in English.
The film, which premiered at TIFF to mixed reviews, currently has no US distribution.
Here’s the synopsis:
Follows a group of people fueled by a profound desire for change; in order to turn their back to society they leave everything behind and set their futures on the harsh landscape of the Galapagos.
The film is dark and insane, with Armas stating:
“Having this crazy threesome relationship, and being a woman of opposites…what was the craziest I could get? How far could I go?”
Here’s the German trailer, even dubbed it looks like a wild ride.
The $30-$50 M budget is making this a hard sell to distributors. With such a starry cast, we’re hopeful it will get picked up eventually. But who knows? Howard’s last film, Thirteen Lives (2022), was straight to Prime.
Dwayne Johnson and Dany Garcia’s Seven Bucks Productions has signed a first-look TV deal with 20th Television, bringing the company fully under Disney’s umbrella after a prior film deal with the studio.
Not really a surprise looking at the Rock's past and upcoming Disney-focused catalog: Moana (Animated and Live Action), Jungle Cruise, and an untitled film about monster trucks.
Under this pact, Seven Bucks will develop and EP a variety of TV, including comedy, drama, adult animation, and unscripted series, with a focus on Disney’s networks and streaming platforms.
DC shakes things up: With James Gunn's DCEU about to kick into high gear and release its first feature, Superman, in July. Gunn and partner Peter Saffran recently announced a proposed slate, their goal being two live-action features and one animated feature per year, not including the goal of 2 duos of live-action and animated TV series, respectively.
All of this is the game plan that will accompany the (roughly 2-year) phase referred to as God's and Monsters.
Here's a breakdown and timeline. I can’t believe how many years they pushed back Batman 2:
https://theindustry.co/p/dc-shakes-things-up
Building an MCU competitor is going to be quite a task, and Gunn has a lot of catching up to do.
As Technicolor lays off almost all of its 440 UK employees amidst its US shutdown (see yesterday’s report), one of its subsidiary brands, commercial VFX/Color house The Mill, is jumping to work at Dream Machine FX, which houses a number of top VFX companies that have worked on Shogun, The Creator, M3GAN, and Challengers.
The UK offices issued a letter to employees yesterday [Monday, Feb 24th] that they will be filing for Administration, a legal process where an appointed administrator takes control of the company.
We’ll keep you updated as this develops.
Andor Season 2 is here, and Disney doesn't know what to do with it. Finally, the conclusion to what many have lauded as the greatest Star Wars media since the original trilogy, with the worst trailer it possibly could be given.
This critically acclaimed gritty political war drama has been spliced together to look like a family-friendly action comedy, even with Ben Mendelsohn's return as his Rogue One counterpart. There is just something really wrong with an electric guitar and Steve Earle singing over galactic conquest.
Despite all of this, it's been a long time coming, hopefully, Disney trusts what it has on its hands and gives us a satisfying conclusion. Stay tuned for the revolution April 22nd.
McWilliams. Debbie McWilliams. The casting director of the last 13 bond films, starting with For Your Eyes Only (1981) is retiring from casting.
She stated:
“I have now hung up my casting hat and have moved on to other film-related projects.”
Working hand in hand with Barbara Broccoli, the Bond producer who recently sold all creative rights to James Bond to Jeff Bezos. McWilliams helped to cast Timothy Dalton, Pierce Brosnan, and Daniel Craig in the 007 role.
It’s upsetting that more and more of the creative contributors to the spy series are moving on. I want the new Bond creators to hold themselves to the high standards of the previous team… or face piranhas.
THE ACTOR SPOTLIGHT
J.K. Simmons is everywhere. The Whiplash (2014) actor is joining Brad Pitt in Paramount Pictures’ Heart of the Beast, director David Ayer (The Beekeeper). The dramatic thriller has been in development since 2017 and is the duo’s second collaboration after the award-winning actor starred in Ayer’s directorial feature debut Harsh Times (2005).
Heart of the Beast synopsis:
A former Army Special Forces soldier and his retired combat dog attempt to return to civilization after suffering a catastrophic accident deep in the Alaskan wilderness.
Simmons is probably best known for his multi-year spanning role as the wisecracking newspaper head J.Jonah Jameson in Sony’s Spider-Man movies (scenes) and most recently starred in last year’s bizarre Christmas action film Red One (2024, trailer) as none other than a jacked Santa Claus.
Regardless of the size of his role or the size of his muscles, Simmons consistently gives powerfully memorable performances.
Filming is set to begin next month in New Zealand.
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Drew Starkey is Lucky. The Queer actor has been cast in a new TV series for Apple TV+ called Lucky.
Here’s the breakdown:
Star/EP: Taylor-Joy
Co-star: Annette Bening
Creator/Co-showrunner/writer/EP: Jonathan Tropper (EP/writer: Apple TV+’s See)
Synopsis:
A young woman (Taylor-Joy) who left behind the life of crime she was raised in years ago, but must now embrace her darker, criminal side one final time in a desperate attempt to escape her past.
Starkey will play Taylor-Joy’s husband. It’ll be interesting to see the power dynamics of that relationship. In Queer, Drew Starkey is the object of Daniel Craig’s desire. His performance dances on the razor’s edge of titillation, driving Craig mad over whether or not he is interested.
INDIE FILMMAKER SPOTLIGHT / INTERNATIONAL NEWS
Berlin Competition film What Does That Nature Say to You by Dir: Hong Sang-Soo (A Traveler's Needs starring Isabelle Huppert), 4x Silver Bear winner, gets US distribution by Cinema Guild.
Here’s the synopsis:
A young poet drops his girlfriend off at her parents' house and is amazed by its size. He bumps into her father, meets her mother and sister, and they all end up spending a long day together; fueled by conversation, food and libations.
Cinema Guild’s president, who also distributed Traveler's Needs, stated:
“The film is a testament to Hong’s mastery of nuance and simplicity. It is beautifully acted and deeply affecting.”
The film will be released later this year.
A24’s latest series is an untitled Crisis PR drama.
Mean Girls’ Lizzy Caplan is set to headline the new timely drama series which has already sparked interest with major streamers like Hulu, Netflix, and Amazon, among others. The untitled series comes from American Horror Story: Delicate (2023) showrunner and American Crime Story: Impeachment (2016) writer Halley Feiffer, who, in addition to penning the pilot, will also EP alongside Caplan’s Westborn banner.
The show will follow New York’s premier crisis PR fixer, Abbey Abelman (Caplan), as she helps high-profile clients navigate the worst days of their lives while striving to maintain her own image as a happily married mother of three without any crisis of her own to hide.
There is no word yet on when production on the intriguing PR-based show will begin.
Tidbits:
From Netflix’s Boiling Point (2021) to Netflix’s Adolescence (2025). Director Philip Barantini loves pushing Stephen Graham, who stars in both pieces, to the brink. In Boiling Point, Graham plays a restauranter who is having the worst night of his life (trailer), in the new four-part limited series Adolescence, Graham is a father whose son is accused of murder. Through the gripping trailer, we see Graham grapple with his responsibilities as a father, which pushes him to the brink. Both Boiling Point and Adolescence are shot as long takes. It is wild to see how the winding camera is both propulsive and predatory, stalking Graham’s every movement until we see him stop moving and break down.
Adolescence is produced by Plan B and hits Netflix March 13th.
The writer behind The X-Files, Frank Spotnitz, is making his return to sci-fi. Plus a look at Max’s first Italian scripted series:
https://theindustry.co/p/we-come-in-peace
ON THIS DAY
1976. Rashida Jones is born in LA.
See you tomorrow!
Written by Gabriel Miller, Spencer Carter, and Madelyn Menapace.
Editor: Gabriel Miller.
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