Tye Sheridan's Tree of Life

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Tonight I went to the premiere of Jean-Stéphane Sauvaire’s Asphalt City, starring Sean Penn and Tye Sheridan.

Let’s go!

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TYE SHERIDAN'S TREE OF LIFE

Asphalt City. Vertical Entertainment. Roadside Attractions.

Tye Sheridan's first role was in Tree of Life (2011, ​still​).

Sheridan emerged from director Terrence Mallick’s nationwide casting search, outcompeting more than 10,000 boys.

For Sheridan, who has gone on to work with a range of directors:

• Mud (2012)

  • Dir: Jeff Nichols

• Ready Player One (2018)

  • Dir: Steven Spielberg

• Card Counter (2021)

  • Dir: Paul Schrader

Asphalt City was the most reminiscent of that early working environment.

At the post-premiere screening Q&A, Sheridan explained:

“I've had experience with non-actors, and I think it's really fun. Actually, the very first film I ever worked on, never read a script, I never memorized any lines. I just showed up and was doing whatever the director asked me to do in that moment and reacting.”

And that’s what Asphalt City feels like.

It is an unforgiving look at the psychological brutality endured by two New York City EMTs as they provide treatment for the bloodied, beaten, and dying. Sheridan and his burned-out partner, played brilliantly by Sean Penn, force medicine into their patients’ bodies, which ironically erodes their own life force.

Sheridan spent months riding around with EMTs and learning to emulate them on-screen:

“I don't know if you guys are familiar with [director] Jean-Stéphane's other films…[see: A24’s A Prayer Before Dawn] the camera is everywhere. It's almost like you're watching a documentary and things feel so real, and the camera can see anything at any moment. So I think knowing that as an actor coming in to be one of his films, especially playing a medic, you knew you had to nail that.”

And Sheridan does, in his rawest performance to date.

It’s not an easy film to watch but that makes the moments of lightness and humor (yes, there are some!) a glorious reprieve.

The film is out today in theaters.

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