Jon Hamm’s Sandwich and The Good Half

Good morning: In today's edition of The Industry, we look at:

Nick Jonas’ new stage, Emmy’s unfrosted, Russo Brothers’ return, Luc Besson’s dark muse, double Utopia and a Crumb Catcher.

Let’s go!

(Included in today's edition are chats I had with directors Robert Schwartzman and  Chris Skotchdopole)

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THE GOOD HALF

The Good Half. Utopia.

Cheers to participating.

In Robert Schwartzman’s film The Good Half (trailer), there’s an emotional black hole at the center of the lead character’s life following his mother’s death.

The Industry interviewed Schwartzman, who co-founded indie distributor Utopia, to find out his process for bringing this deeply personal story to life.

Here’s the official synopsis:

Renn Wheeland (Nick Jonas) returns home to Cleveland for his mother's funeral. Once there, he forges new relationships while healing old ones, before confronting his problems and trying to face his grief.

Schwartzman discussed what resonated with him about the story:

“My experience with loss, you know, I felt like, oh, here's a story where I can actually tell something that might be more close to home for me. So maybe I can find myself in this character… the confusion, the being in denial, not wanting to open up about it, like all these little themes that are part of it, felt so honest, and I wanted to go there.”

Renn (Jonas) delivers a dialed-in cynical performance.

What’s great is when the characters in the film draw him out. In one poignant scene, an old friend in Cleveland, a tie shop manager, remembers a childhood memory.

There’s not much of Nick Jonas performing in the film; in fact, much of his power comes in his silent grief. But when he does take the stage, in two back-to-back moments—one at a karaoke night and one during a eulogy—it’s electric.

Schwartzman explained how he approached Jonas’ superstar musician persona:

“It's about deconstructing the person we know to make them into something, rebuild them into something we need for the story, to support the story. It's a very human story.”

Schwartzman shared that on the day they were filming the eulogy, Jonas asked that they shoot his close-up first as he felt super dialed in. Schwartzman agreed and what was birthed is a disarmingly truthful on-screen moment.

Utopia and Fathom Events will release The Good Half in theaters nationwide on July 23rd and 25th with exclusive virtual Q&A with Nick Jonas, Robert Schwartzman and special guest moderator Kiernan Shipka.

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