Paul Schrader: Myth and Mortality
Good morning: In today's edition of The Industry, we look at:
A Cover Story on Paul Schrader’s new film.
In The Industry News: Divergant’s Inheritance. Don Cheadle John Wick. Searchlight’s Clean Break.
Actor Spotlight: John Krasinski’s River. Mary Elizabeth Ellis is ditched.
Festivals: The Black List’s Paradox.
Indie Filmmaker Spotlight/International News: The Scarlet Drop. And Cambodia.
Let’s go!
Paul Schrader is a mythological storyteller.
His cinema chronicles self-aggrandizing characters unraveling at the edges of reality, from the isolated rage of Robert De Niro in Taxi Driver (1976) to the tortured faith of Ethan Hawke in First Reformed (2017).
In our interview, Schrader detailed his latest film, Oh, Canada—a reflection on mortality, abandonment, and the myths we construct to reinforce our sense of self.
The film, which premiered at Cannes, stars Richard Gere as Leonard Fife, a documentarian on his deathbed who turns the camera inward to dismantle the polished narrative he’s spent decades building.
Through fragmented layers of present, past, and fantasy, Oh, Canada tracks Fife’s journey from a youthful idealist (played by Jacob Elordi) to a perpetual abandoner of jobs, wives, and, ultimately, the Vietnam War.
Schrader stated:
“We all create our own story, our version of ourselves, our childhood stories. And to greater and lesser degrees, we come to believe them.”
Fife, the prime deserter, reaches biblical depths when he disowns his son, perpetuating a cycle of abandonment that leaves his legacy hollow.
Oh, Canada offers a striking meditation on the fragile nature of identity. With this film, Schrader reaffirms his place in cinema, using its power to challenge the illusions we live by.
For More:
I interviewed Paul Schrader about Oh, Canada yesterday. He also breaks down his rehearsal process with actors and shares Martin Scorsese’s golden rule on set:
https://theindustry.co/p/paul-schrader-oh-canada-interview
THE INDUSTRY NEWS
Phoebe Dynevor is putting aside classy soirées for the world of espionage. Former Bridgerton star is making her action debut with Inheritance, an upcoming thriller from Divergent director Neil Burger.
Official Synopsis:
When Maya (Dynevor) learns that her father was once a spy, she suddenly finds herself at the center of an international conspiracy. In her quest for answers, Maya becomes a target and must travel the globe, mastering her father’s skills and unraveling the mysteries of his past in this gripping espionage thriller.
Burger’s greatest commercial success was his adaptation of Veronica Roth’s popular YA dystopian series Divergent (2014), which grossed almost $300 M at the box office. He would then go on to direct the two following films (Insurgent, 2015 and Allegiant, 2016) that, despite not doing as well as the first, brought the trilogy’s total box office number to $765 M worldwide.
His most recent directorial venture, the Colin Farrell-led Voyagers (2021) from Lionsgate, was considered a major flop, making only $4 M at the box office against a $30 M budget.
It’s not rare to see such high highs and extremely low lows from an already-established director. Still, Burger has already expressed his want to continue Maya’s story with a possible Inheritance sequel, of course, dependent on the success of the first film that has yet to premiere.
The distributer, IFCFilms, for their part, has had three break-out hits in the past decade:
Boyhood (2014)
$25.3 M domestic
Late Night with the Devil (2024)
$10 M domestic
The Death of Stalin (2017)
$8 M domestic
Inheritance is in theaters everywhere Jan. 24th. Watch the trailer here and decide for yourself if this will be another Voyagers or the possible start of a new spy franchise the people have wanted!
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The infinitely brilliant Don Cheadle leads the new film Canyon. The team is stacked:
Writer: Derek Kolstad (John Wick, Nobody)
Dir: Colin Tilley (Kendrick Lamar’s Alright music video)
Here’s the synopsis:
During a sweltering night, Canyon, a jazz musician and hitman (Cheadle), becomes an unexpected guardian to a young woman caught in the crossfire of warring crime families.
This is a fantastic role for Cheadle, who has an extraordinary ability to exude charm and danger. Just watch him in The Devil in a Blue Dress (1995) with the Denzel Washington clip.
Alcon Entertainment (prod company: The Garfield Movie (2024), Bladerunner (2049) is developing.
Julianna Baggott's short stories are selling like hotcakes. The latest is Baggage Claim:
Prod Company: Fifth Season, Selena Gomez’s Wondermind
Writer: Yvonne Hana Yi (Mr & Mrs Smith)
Synopsis:
Bethany is a bored thirtysomething whose life is going nowhere. She’s stuck working in baggage claim, the musty basement where other people’s unhappy memories are stored after a costly procedure that promises them peace of mind. These memories are stored as smells in vials and can be reclaimed for up to thirty days. Bethany is a huffer, addicted to smelling other people’s baggage. It works out fine, until she falls in love with the memories of someone.
Baggott signed with WME in 2023, and her website claims this is one of her 20 projects in various stages of development.
Recently, Universal Pictures has acquired the rights to her short The Hider, with Robert Downey Jr. potentially starring and producing along with his wife, Susan Downey.
It's a good run for spec scripts. Last week, we reported on Fifth Season snapping up AI thriller Alignment for a cool $3 M.
Now Searchlight Pictures has acquired Clean Break, a spec script by newcomer Ryan Brennan, marking his first major sale.
The thriller follows a pool hustler whose dangerous attraction to a rival leads to deadly consequences.
Produced by Scott Free, the project is overseen by Searchlight's Taylor Friedman and Daniel Yu, with Brennan gaining recognition after the script, previously titled I’ll Fucking Kill You, landed on the Black List.
Tidbit:
Jim Abrahams, legendary co-creator of hit slapstick comedies like Airplane! and The Naked Gun series, passed away at 80. A pioneer of the spoof genre alongside Jerry and David Zucker, Abrahams redefined satire with iconic works. Known for his sharp humor and innovative filmmaking, his legacy endures.
Let's honor his legacy with this hilarious scene from Naked Gun. Clip.
He will be missed.
Netflix is reteaming up with writer Harlan Coben, adapting his novel I Will Find You into an eight-episode limited series for the streamer.
Official Logline:
An innocent father serving life for the murder of his own son receives evidence that his child may still be alive — and must break out of prison to find out the truth.
This marks a reunion between Netflix and Coben who collaborated earlier this year on the show adaptation Fool Me Once and the forthcoming miniseries Missing You, premiering Jan. 1st.
Squid Game Season 2 full trailer. The first season pinched a universal nerve when it was released in September 2021. The show was an apt metaphor for the rat race of capitalism. Its first season is the most-watched season of TV in Netflix’s history, with 1.65 billion viewing hours logged in the first month of its premiere (182,000 years).
Season 2 is releasing on December 26th. And Season 3 sometime in 2025.
Wicked earned the highest-ever box office for a Monday in November with $15.8 M, bringing its domestic total to $128.3 M and $178.7 M worldwide.
Walt Disney Co. will pay $43.3 M to settle a gender pay discrimination lawsuit, benefiting over 14,000 female employees (each will get $3.3K).
THE ACTOR SPOTLIGHT
John Krasinski is deepening his relationship with Prime Video in the upcoming thriller series from the streamer Silent River starring opposite The Americans Matthew Rhys.
Told through the lens of two men - played by Krasinski and Rhys - whose lives are far more connected than they realize, Silent River explores the cracks of small-town America in the wake of discovering a serial killer among them.
Beyond just being in front of the camera, Krasinski will be directing the pilot and several other episodes as well as EPing with his Sunday Night in an extension of their overall deal with Amazon MGM Studios.
This news comes shortly after the announcement of a feature-length film continuation of Tom Clancy's Jack Ryan, which ran for four seasons (2018-2023) on Prime Video and saw Krasinski as the titular CIA analyst.
Krasinski will be reunited with fellow Jack Ryan alum Aaron Rabin, who created Silent River not long after writing the Nobody 2 script for Universal.
Vernon Sanders, head of television for Amazon MGM Studios said:
“With John and Matthew Rhys attached to star in this wonderful story from Aaron Rabin, our global customers will be on the edge of their seats throughout this thought-provoking, psychological thriller.”
While the Jack Ryan movie is in pre-production, the status of Silent River is currently unknown.
Milly Shapiro scared me to death in Hereditary. Maybe it was the CLICK, maybe it was the decapitation, maybe it was the fact that the Sundance screening, I went to cranked the volume to 11. Either way, the little sister in Hereditary is starring in her next horror film, The Hallowarrior.
Here’s the synopsis:
Desperate for companionship on a post apocalyptic Halloween night, the Last Girl on Earth gets more than she bargained for, when something far more sinister arrives on her doorstep.
If you had a hard time watching her in Hereditary, this first look image isn’t doing any favors. Production just wrapped. No release date has been set.
Tidbits:
Michael Marantz’s (dir. The White Rabbit) upcoming western thriller, After, has just wrapped filming in Massachusetts with a cast made up of:
Dónall Ó Héalai (Monster)
Tracy Spiridakos (Chicago P.D.)
Andy Richter (Conan)
Kevin Pollak (The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel)
Karren Karaguilan (Anora)
Melia Kreiling (Emily in Paris)
Ben Shenkman (Billions)
Micheál Neeson (Somewhere Quiet)
Gabriella Piazza (Mission: Impossible - The Final Reckoning)
There is no official premiere date set for After.
Oscar-nominated Thomas Haden Church has joined the cast of Tires Season 2, Netflix's comedy series co-created by breakout comedian Shane Gillis. Church will play Phil, the wealthy but immature father of Shane (Gillis). Season one of Tires left off with an unexpected marketing success that would change business drastically for the small tire shop.
Season 1 trailer here
Season 2 will arrive on Netflix sometime in 2025.
Mindy Kaling is serving as a producer in the acclaimed new live-action short Anuja, exploring themes of child labor and girls' education set in New Delhi, India. After a recent festival run, the coming-of-age film is picking up awards left and right, with The Office actress sharing that Anuja is one of her personal favorite projects of the year.
Mary Elizabeth Ellis (Always Sunny, Red One) has joined the cast of the Irish wedding comedy Ditched. Based on Caroline Grace-Cassidy and Lisa C. Carey’s novel Bride Squad Runaway, the film follows sports journalist Lauren (Ellis) and her friends Ava (Jade Jordan) and Kate (Amy de Bhrún) on a chaotic road trip after Ava is left at the altar. Mary Elizabeth Ellis is probably best known as The Waitress in Always Sunny, playing the opposite of her real-life husband, Charlie Day.
From the heights of absurdity to a very poignant Alway Sunny Clip.
Ditched will film in Dublin and Ireland’s Wild Atlantic Way next May.
Michael C. Hall is the inner voice of Patrick Gibson in Dexter: Original Sin (prequel series). Paramount+’s new trailer is a little bit too network TV for my taste, but the combo of Gibson and Hall is alluring and sinister. Streaming Friday, December 13 (when else).
FESTIVALS
The Black List and Tubi's "To Be Commissioned Initiative" is a collaborative effort to discover and develop five feature film scripts.
The competition received 2000+ submissions and selected 5. Here is my favorite:
Marigold Paradox
Writer: Monisha Dadlani
Synopsis:
A couple’s elaborate wedding weekend is jeopardized when their future selves travel back in time to stop the matrimony.
All projects can be found here.
Selected scripts will be purchased by Tubi and developed with the Black List as an executive producer.
INDIE FILMMAKER SPOTLIGHT / INTERNATIONAL NEWS
Stagecoach. The Searchers. The Scarlet Drop.
Wait, what was that last John Ford title? Even for Western aficionados, Ford has a long list of features: he directed 130 films in 50 years. He kicked off his career in 1917 with a flurry of silent films, most of which are now lost.
But The Scarlet Drop (1918), Ford’s 8th feature film, has been discovered in a Chilean Warehouse… the day before it was set to be demolished.
A professor at a Chilean university who specializes in film restoration stated:
“The film is 106 years old. It was stored in conditions we don’t know about. I think there are films that decide to live,”
He continued:
“I once found a Richard III starring Laurence Olivier, all the reels had vinegar disease, they had to throw it all away. That one is from 1955, this one from 1918. And this has survived much better. It decided to make itself known, which I find miraculous.”
Here’s the synopsis:
A man declined admission to fight in the American Civil War joins a gang of marauders and winds up as a fugitive.
No word on the re-release date but we’ll keep everyone posted. For now, some words of wisdom from John Ford, played by David Lynch - clip.
Gather Around she's got a story to tell: The documentary Liza: A Truly Terrific Absolutely True Story celebrates Liza Minnelli's extraordinary career and life, featuring rare footage and interviews with stars like Ben Vereen, Michael Feinstein, and Mia Farrow. Directed by Bruce David Klein, the film debuts January 24, 2025, showcasing Minnelli's journey as a global icon and Hollywood royalty.
Watch her stellar vibrance and vulnerability in the trailer.
Cambodia’s Oscar Submission is Meeting with Pol Pot.
Synopsis:
Democratic Kampuchea (Cambodia) - 1978. Three French journalists are invited by the Khmer Rouge to conduct an exclusive interview of the regime’s leader, Pol Pot. The country seems ideal. But behind the Potemkin village, the Khmer Rouge regime is declining and the war with Vietnam threatens to invade the country. The regime is looking for culprits, secretly carrying out a large-scale genocide.
A dreamy expedition keeps slipping into a nightmare (Trailer). Strand Releasing is distributing in North America, and it will be theatrically released in 2025.
ON THIS DAY
1920. The first American superhero film, The Mark of Zorro is released in New York.
See you tomorrow!
Written by Gabriel Miller, Spencer Carter, and Madelyn Menapace.
Editor: Gabriel Miller.
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