Two-time Oscar winner Sean Penn has excelled in a number of fields, including acting, writing and directing. But it’s his career as a performer that has brought him the most acclaim. Let’s take a look back at 15 of his greatest films as an actor, ranked worst to best.
Penn entered the Oscar race for the first time with his performance as a death row inmate in Tim Robbins’s “Dead Man Walking” (1995), for which he competed in Best Actor. Subsequent lead nominations as a jazz guitarist in Woody Allen’s “Sweet and Lowdown” (1999) and a mentally handicapped father in “I Am Sam” (2001) quickly followed.
He hit the Oscar jackpot with Clint Eastwood’s “Mystic River” (2003), which cast him as a criminal grieving the murder of his daughter. Just five years later, he returned to the winner’s circle with his lead role in “Milk” (2008), Gus Van Sant’s...
Penn entered the Oscar race for the first time with his performance as a death row inmate in Tim Robbins’s “Dead Man Walking” (1995), for which he competed in Best Actor. Subsequent lead nominations as a jazz guitarist in Woody Allen’s “Sweet and Lowdown” (1999) and a mentally handicapped father in “I Am Sam” (2001) quickly followed.
He hit the Oscar jackpot with Clint Eastwood’s “Mystic River” (2003), which cast him as a criminal grieving the murder of his daughter. Just five years later, he returned to the winner’s circle with his lead role in “Milk” (2008), Gus Van Sant’s...
- 8/12/2023
- by Zach Laws and Chris Beachum
- Gold Derby
Sean Penn’s ‘Black Flies’ Jolts Cannes With Splattered Brains, Mike Tyson and Raves for Tye Sheridan
“Black Flies,” the Sean Penn and Tye Sheridan film about emergency medical first responders, smacked the Cannes Film Festival in the face with a brutal world premiere on Thursday.
Splattered brains, dead dogs, an addict giving birth with a needle dangling from her arm — these and a litany of other horrors confronted Penn and Sheridan, who play veteran and rookie paramedics, respectively, at the New York Fire Department. Interestingly enough, the black-tie screening at the Grand Palais enjoyed the dose of reality, giving the film a five-minute standing ovation.
“We carry the misery,” a weary Penn tells Sheridan in the film of their chosen profession. That’s an understatement, as chaos unfolds neighborhood by neighborhood in a portrait of an unforgiving city.
“Black Flies” stars Sheridan as Ollie Cross, a young paramedic in New York City who is mentored by Penn’s more-experienced Emt. The two are forced to face extreme violence during their shifts,...
Splattered brains, dead dogs, an addict giving birth with a needle dangling from her arm — these and a litany of other horrors confronted Penn and Sheridan, who play veteran and rookie paramedics, respectively, at the New York Fire Department. Interestingly enough, the black-tie screening at the Grand Palais enjoyed the dose of reality, giving the film a five-minute standing ovation.
“We carry the misery,” a weary Penn tells Sheridan in the film of their chosen profession. That’s an understatement, as chaos unfolds neighborhood by neighborhood in a portrait of an unforgiving city.
“Black Flies” stars Sheridan as Ollie Cross, a young paramedic in New York City who is mentored by Penn’s more-experienced Emt. The two are forced to face extreme violence during their shifts,...
- 5/18/2023
- by Matt Donnelly and Zack Sharf
- Variety Film + TV
Very few personalities in Hollywood are as controversial as Sean Penn. One of the most gifted actors of his generation, Penn’s also been a lightning rod for controversy, with his often antagonistic relationship with the press and sometimes misguided moves, such as his now infamous interview with drug baron El Chapo. Yet, he’s also a noted humanitarian, participating in rescue efforts in the wake of Hurricane Katrina and being a tireless advocate for Haiti following the 2010 Earthquake. He’s also been an outspoken supporter of Ukrainian president Zelensky.
In this episode of Wtf Happened to this Celebrity, we look at the scope of Sean Penn’s career. We chart his earlier days as perhaps the most talented young actor to emerge in the early eighties, stealing scenes in Taps and later becoming a star thanks to turns in movies like Fast Times at Ridgemont High, At Close Range,...
In this episode of Wtf Happened to this Celebrity, we look at the scope of Sean Penn’s career. We chart his earlier days as perhaps the most talented young actor to emerge in the early eighties, stealing scenes in Taps and later becoming a star thanks to turns in movies like Fast Times at Ridgemont High, At Close Range,...
- 2/17/2023
- by Chris Bumbray
- JoBlo.com
Click here to read the full article.
It may have been music critic Robert Christgau who once observed that the hardest works to write about are the ones that earn a B+, or are just on the cusp of A-. Mind you, that might have been said by Roger Ebert or a critic for The Hollywood Reporter or any reviewer since the beginning of time. The point is, it’s the imperceptible flaws that curb enthusiasm which are almost as impossible to define as whatever makes something extraordinary. What is the ineffable deficit between very good and great?
In a sense, Dreamin’ Wild is about that margin of error. Based on a true story recounted in a work of journalism called Fruitland by Steven Kurutz, it’s a tale of two musician brothers, Don and Joe Emerson (Casey Affleck and Walton Goggins, respectively). In the early 1980s as teenagers, the boys made an album,...
It may have been music critic Robert Christgau who once observed that the hardest works to write about are the ones that earn a B+, or are just on the cusp of A-. Mind you, that might have been said by Roger Ebert or a critic for The Hollywood Reporter or any reviewer since the beginning of time. The point is, it’s the imperceptible flaws that curb enthusiasm which are almost as impossible to define as whatever makes something extraordinary. What is the ineffable deficit between very good and great?
In a sense, Dreamin’ Wild is about that margin of error. Based on a true story recounted in a work of journalism called Fruitland by Steven Kurutz, it’s a tale of two musician brothers, Don and Joe Emerson (Casey Affleck and Walton Goggins, respectively). In the early 1980s as teenagers, the boys made an album,...
- 9/7/2022
- by Leslie Felperin
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
There’s bound to be a critically reviled premiere at every film festival. But no debut in recent years has been more horrific than the premiere of Sean Penn’s “The Last Face” at the 2016 Cannes Film Festival (our F-grade review here). Penn’s passion project, starring Javier Bardem as a relief doctor in Africa who falls in love with Charlize Theron’s international aid worker, was torn to shreds by the Cannes audience.
Continue reading Javier Bardem Talks About Cannes Flop, Sean Penn’s ‘The Last Face’: “It Was A Disaster,” The Debut “Like A Funeral” at The Playlist.
Continue reading Javier Bardem Talks About Cannes Flop, Sean Penn’s ‘The Last Face’: “It Was A Disaster,” The Debut “Like A Funeral” at The Playlist.
- 5/31/2022
- by Ned Booth
- The Playlist
Well, not every Cannes film can be a winner.
During a 75th anniversary celebration of the festival, Academy Award winner Javier Bardem opened up about the box-office and critical bomb “The Last Face,” which premiered at Cannes in 2016.
“It was a disaster!” Bardem admitted, via Deadline.
The “Dune” actor and four-time Oscar nominee starred as a relief doctor stationed in war-torn Africa who falls in love with an international aid organization worker played by Charlize Theron in the Sean Penn-directed drama. The Cannes Competition entry was panned by IndieWire, with critic Eric Kohn simply stating that “The Last Face” is Penn’s “worst movie” to date. The film ultimately landed a D rating and was ripped to shreds by critics and audiences at the time.
Now, six years after its Cannes premiere, Bardem is embracing the critically panned project.
“It was a great disaster,” Bardem said. “It’s good...
During a 75th anniversary celebration of the festival, Academy Award winner Javier Bardem opened up about the box-office and critical bomb “The Last Face,” which premiered at Cannes in 2016.
“It was a disaster!” Bardem admitted, via Deadline.
The “Dune” actor and four-time Oscar nominee starred as a relief doctor stationed in war-torn Africa who falls in love with an international aid organization worker played by Charlize Theron in the Sean Penn-directed drama. The Cannes Competition entry was panned by IndieWire, with critic Eric Kohn simply stating that “The Last Face” is Penn’s “worst movie” to date. The film ultimately landed a D rating and was ripped to shreds by critics and audiences at the time.
Now, six years after its Cannes premiere, Bardem is embracing the critically panned project.
“It was a great disaster,” Bardem said. “It’s good...
- 5/27/2022
- by Samantha Bergeson
- Indiewire
Javier Bardem addressed a packed Salle Bunuel on Friday as part of the Cannes Film Festival’s 75th birthday celebrations. Dressed down, relaxed and very, very funny, the actor addressed a wide range of topics in a Q&a that covered a lot of ground, from his marriage to Penélope Cruz to his experience on the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise.
Asked about Denis Villeneuve’s upcoming Dune sequel, he was surprisingly forthcoming. “I’ve read the new draft,” he said, “and I think they’ve done an amazing job of putting together the pieces in a way that is gonna surprise people. They won’t be surprised [by what happens], obviously, because they’ve read the book, but they’ll be surprised by the way they put it together. I was very moved by it. It’s a movie that is full, and you can feel the weight of it, and at...
Asked about Denis Villeneuve’s upcoming Dune sequel, he was surprisingly forthcoming. “I’ve read the new draft,” he said, “and I think they’ve done an amazing job of putting together the pieces in a way that is gonna surprise people. They won’t be surprised [by what happens], obviously, because they’ve read the book, but they’ll be surprised by the way they put it together. I was very moved by it. It’s a movie that is full, and you can feel the weight of it, and at...
- 5/27/2022
- by Damon Wise
- Deadline Film + TV
Americana Trauma: Penn Returns with Hysterical Melodrama
After the formidable misfire of his last directorial effort The Last Face (2016), Sean Penn unfortunately doesn’t fare much better with his labor-of-love follow-up Flag Day, ‘based on a true story’ from the memoir Film Flam Man by Jennifer Vogel. A film about an ‘unique’ familial dysfunction in America’s heartland, Vogel’s woe is horribly maligned in a script from Brit scribe Jez Butterworth and the clearly out of touch Penn, who casts daughter Dylan Penn in curiously underwhelming lead role, which he usurps most suspiciously whenever he’s also on screen.
Like an overworked Sam Shepard melodrama beneath the hubris of a John Huston lens, Penn apes all his favored darlings for this seedy beat caricature which can’t quite hit the high notes of the trauma porn it aims to be.…...
After the formidable misfire of his last directorial effort The Last Face (2016), Sean Penn unfortunately doesn’t fare much better with his labor-of-love follow-up Flag Day, ‘based on a true story’ from the memoir Film Flam Man by Jennifer Vogel. A film about an ‘unique’ familial dysfunction in America’s heartland, Vogel’s woe is horribly maligned in a script from Brit scribe Jez Butterworth and the clearly out of touch Penn, who casts daughter Dylan Penn in curiously underwhelming lead role, which he usurps most suspiciously whenever he’s also on screen.
Like an overworked Sam Shepard melodrama beneath the hubris of a John Huston lens, Penn apes all his favored darlings for this seedy beat caricature which can’t quite hit the high notes of the trauma porn it aims to be.…...
- 8/27/2021
- by Nicholas Bell
- IONCINEMA.com
This review of “Flag Day” was first published after the film’s July 2021 premiere at the Cannes Film Festival.
Sean Penn has served on the jury at the Cannes Film Festival, leading the panel that gave the 2008 Palme d’Or to the French drama “The Class.” He’s acted in a number of films that have played the fest, including Terrence Malick’s 2011 Palme winner “The Tree of Life.” And he’s been in the Main Competition section as a director twice in the past, for “The Pledge” in 2001 and “The Last Face” in 2016.
All of that makes him a familiar face on the Croisette — but the last of those films also makes him a Cannes vet with something to prove. “The Last Face” was booed at its Cannes press screening and eviscerated by reviewers, with TheWrap’s Ben Croll calling it “a spectacularly misjudged mix of humanitarian intentions and gonzo-terrible execution.
Sean Penn has served on the jury at the Cannes Film Festival, leading the panel that gave the 2008 Palme d’Or to the French drama “The Class.” He’s acted in a number of films that have played the fest, including Terrence Malick’s 2011 Palme winner “The Tree of Life.” And he’s been in the Main Competition section as a director twice in the past, for “The Pledge” in 2001 and “The Last Face” in 2016.
All of that makes him a familiar face on the Croisette — but the last of those films also makes him a Cannes vet with something to prove. “The Last Face” was booed at its Cannes press screening and eviscerated by reviewers, with TheWrap’s Ben Croll calling it “a spectacularly misjudged mix of humanitarian intentions and gonzo-terrible execution.
- 8/18/2021
- by Steve Pond
- The Wrap
It’s a family affair for Sean Penn and his new film Flag Day. Directed and starring the two-time Oscar winner, Penn enlisted his real-life daughter Dylan Penn to take on the role of his fictional daughter Jennifer Vogel, a woman who is coming to terms with the complicated relationship between her and her con artist father. This is the first major film role for Dylan Penn, who bears an uncanny resemblance to her father as well as her mother Robin Wright. Her brother, Hopper Penn, has also taken on a role in the film which co-stars Josh Brolin, Norbert Leo Butz, and Dale Dickey.
The script is penned by the Tony-winning scribe of The Ferryman, Jez Butterworth, and the first trailer has now arrived. In addition to a strong cast, Penn also enlisted some all-star talent for the film’s soundtrack, which includes original songs from Cat Power, Eddie Vedder,...
The script is penned by the Tony-winning scribe of The Ferryman, Jez Butterworth, and the first trailer has now arrived. In addition to a strong cast, Penn also enlisted some all-star talent for the film’s soundtrack, which includes original songs from Cat Power, Eddie Vedder,...
- 7/29/2021
- by Stephen Hladik
- The Film Stage
Sean Penn delivered a filmmaking misfire in 2016 with his dramatic flop “The Last Face,” but his directing career gets back on track with “Flag Day.” The true-story crime drama finds Penn directing his daughter, Dylan Penn, who earned strong reviews earlier this month after the movie world premiered at the 2021 Cannes Film Festival. While “Flag Day” did not earn the towering acclaim of Penn’s 2007 effort “Into the Wild,” it did get several critics back in Penn’s corner.
The official synopsis for “Flag Day” from MGM reads: “Jennifer Vogel’s father John was larger than life. As a child, Jennifer marveled at his magnetizing energy and ability to make life feel like a grand adventure. He taught her so much about love and joy, but he also happened to be the most notorious counterfeiter in US history. Based on a true story and directed by Sean Penn, ‘Flag Day...
The official synopsis for “Flag Day” from MGM reads: “Jennifer Vogel’s father John was larger than life. As a child, Jennifer marveled at his magnetizing energy and ability to make life feel like a grand adventure. He taught her so much about love and joy, but he also happened to be the most notorious counterfeiter in US history. Based on a true story and directed by Sean Penn, ‘Flag Day...
- 7/28/2021
- by Zack Sharf
- Indiewire
A Hero Don’t let the now infamous mishap cloud Saturday night’s historic achievement: with the Palme d’Or handed out to Titane, Julia Ducournau is only the second female director to win Cannes’s top prize in the festival’s history, twenty-eight years after Jane Campion did so with The Piano. It’s a towering achievement, whose surprise was spoiled thirty minutes earlier than planned by Jury President Spike Lee, who began the awards ceremony by reading out the big winner, effectively putting the whole Moonlight vs La La Land Oscar debacle to shame. It was an astonishing finale worthy of this very unusual year, and as I type these last words—no longer in a press lounge besieged by paparazzi and fellow journalists, but from the comforts of home—I’m still genuinely baffled by it all.Running a fest in the midst of a pandemic was no small feat.
- 7/19/2021
- MUBI
Justin Kurzel’s ’Nitram’ and Joachim Lafosse’s ’The Restless’ were the final two films to land on the grid.
Ryusuke Hamaguchi’s Drive My Car finished top of Screen’s 2021 Cannes jury grid, after the final two films reviewed by our ten critics were unable to match its winning score of 3.5.
Justin Kurzel’s Nitram received a mean score of 1.8, including three ones (poor) and three twos (average). The Telegraph’s Robbie Collin and Tim Robey were outliers though, awarding it a top score of four (excellent). The film, starring Caleb Landry Jones, follows the events leading up to a mass shooting in Tasmania.
Ryusuke Hamaguchi’s Drive My Car finished top of Screen’s 2021 Cannes jury grid, after the final two films reviewed by our ten critics were unable to match its winning score of 3.5.
Justin Kurzel’s Nitram received a mean score of 1.8, including three ones (poor) and three twos (average). The Telegraph’s Robbie Collin and Tim Robey were outliers though, awarding it a top score of four (excellent). The film, starring Caleb Landry Jones, follows the events leading up to a mass shooting in Tasmania.
- 7/17/2021
- by Melissa Kasule
- ScreenDaily
So far at the 2021 Cannes Film Festival, we’ve seen a woman having sex with a car, nuns having sex with each other and Adam Diver and Marion Cotillard singing while having sex. But can we get our minds off sex for a minute and start thinking about the prestige side of Cannes — namely, what films might actually win the Palme d’Or when the jury announces its picks on Saturday?
That’s a tricky question, because as this year’s pandemic-altered festival nears its end, the awards picture remains extremely murky.
Sure, the attention went to Julia Ducournau’s “Titane” (woman/car sex), Paul Verhoeven’s “Benedetta” (nun/nun sex) and Leos Carax’s “Annette” (singing sex). But are those legitimate contenders to take the top award from a jury headed by Spike Lee and also including actors Maggie Gyllenhaal, Melanie Laurent, Mylene Farmer, Tahar Rahim and Kang Ho Song,...
That’s a tricky question, because as this year’s pandemic-altered festival nears its end, the awards picture remains extremely murky.
Sure, the attention went to Julia Ducournau’s “Titane” (woman/car sex), Paul Verhoeven’s “Benedetta” (nun/nun sex) and Leos Carax’s “Annette” (singing sex). But are those legitimate contenders to take the top award from a jury headed by Spike Lee and also including actors Maggie Gyllenhaal, Melanie Laurent, Mylene Farmer, Tahar Rahim and Kang Ho Song,...
- 7/16/2021
- by Steve Pond
- The Wrap
Sean Penn and daughter Dylan on the red carpet before the premiere of Flag Day Photo: Courtesy of Cannes Film Festival
As a champion of the underdog both onscreen and through his political activism Sean Penn has impeccable credentials which he chooses to flout only modestly.
He returns to Cannes with Flag Day, his sixth film as a director in 30 years after the likes of The Indian Runner (1991), The Crossing Guard (1995) and Into The Wild (2007). Also in the mix was the humanitarian drama The Last Face with Charlize Theron and Javier Bardem, which was presented in Cannes in 2016, and was roundly trounced by both audiences and critics.
Flag Day has been well-received, with Penn playing the part of notorious criminal and swindler John Vogel as well as directing the screenplay based on a memoir Film Flam Man: A True Family History by Vogel’s daughter Jennifer. Penn’s daughter Dylan plays Jennifer.
As a champion of the underdog both onscreen and through his political activism Sean Penn has impeccable credentials which he chooses to flout only modestly.
He returns to Cannes with Flag Day, his sixth film as a director in 30 years after the likes of The Indian Runner (1991), The Crossing Guard (1995) and Into The Wild (2007). Also in the mix was the humanitarian drama The Last Face with Charlize Theron and Javier Bardem, which was presented in Cannes in 2016, and was roundly trounced by both audiences and critics.
Flag Day has been well-received, with Penn playing the part of notorious criminal and swindler John Vogel as well as directing the screenplay based on a memoir Film Flam Man: A True Family History by Vogel’s daughter Jennifer. Penn’s daughter Dylan plays Jennifer.
- 7/12/2021
- by Richard Mowe
- eyeforfilm.co.uk
‘Compartment No. 6’, ‘Bergman Island’ also land on the grid, which is halfway done.
Ryusuke Hamaguchi’s Drive My Car has motored to the top on Screen’s 2021 Cannes Jury Grid, whilst Sean Penn’s Flag Day has received the lowest score so far this year.
With a mean score of 3.5 from jurors, Drive My Car – an adaptation of Haruki Murakami’s short story – moved ahead of previous grid leader Annette. The film scored at least a three (good) from all our critics, with five scores of four (excellent).
It was not a happy return for Sean Penn on the grid,...
Ryusuke Hamaguchi’s Drive My Car has motored to the top on Screen’s 2021 Cannes Jury Grid, whilst Sean Penn’s Flag Day has received the lowest score so far this year.
With a mean score of 3.5 from jurors, Drive My Car – an adaptation of Haruki Murakami’s short story – moved ahead of previous grid leader Annette. The film scored at least a three (good) from all our critics, with five scores of four (excellent).
It was not a happy return for Sean Penn on the grid,...
- 7/12/2021
- by Melissa Kasule
- ScreenDaily
Whatever else you might want to say about Flag Day, there’s no denying it’s a personal piece of filmmaking, a large factor in its actor-director’s perennial presence at Cannes. And the biggest source of its appeal and novelty is the fact that blood is thicker than water: Sean Penn has devised a first starring vehicle for his daughter Dylan Penn, casting himself as her errant but vastly loving father to unveil the wild, true saga of American con artist and forger John Vogel. There’s a special cinematic history of these cross-generational family duos: Ryan and Tatum O’Neal in Paper Moon, Laura Dern and her mother Diane Ladd in numerous films, even Clint and Scott Eastwood––and Penn’s filmmaking is definitely inspired by that former collaborator (alongside Malick). The problem: Flag Day is about a tenth as good as these endeavors.
A piece of would-be American classicism,...
A piece of would-be American classicism,...
- 7/12/2021
- by David Katz
- The Film Stage
He was added “last minute” during the press conference for the 2021 Palme d’Or line-up and clearly there is something that Thierry appreciates in Sean Penn‘s work. He first came to Cannes a filmmaker with The Indiana Runner Directors’ Fortnight (1991) and saw his third film The Pledge break into the Competition in 2001. Reuniting with Eddie Vedder (2007’s Into the Wild), no one can forget the Cannes selection mistake of The Last Face. Would Flag Day be redemption?
Starring Sean Penn, Dylan Penn and a bit part for Hopper Jack Penn, this sank to the bottom of our ranking with an abysmal score of 1.6.…...
Starring Sean Penn, Dylan Penn and a bit part for Hopper Jack Penn, this sank to the bottom of our ranking with an abysmal score of 1.6.…...
- 7/11/2021
- by Eric Lavallée
- IONCINEMA.com
Just a few days on the heels of “Stillwater,” another American entry in the Cannes Film Festival main competition section explores the complicated relationship between a father and daughter rooted in down-home Americana and close brushes with the law. “Flag Day” marks Sean Penn’s latest directorial return to Cannes since the critically-lambasted “The Last Face” from 2016.
Continue reading ‘Flag Day’: Sean Penn’s Family Drama Is A Fine Showcase For Dylan Penn, But Otherwise Plays It Safe [Cannes Review] at The Playlist.
Continue reading ‘Flag Day’: Sean Penn’s Family Drama Is A Fine Showcase For Dylan Penn, But Otherwise Plays It Safe [Cannes Review] at The Playlist.
- 7/11/2021
- by Caroline Tsai
- The Playlist
The sixth day of the Cannes Film Festival was relatively uneventful, until “Flag Day” director Sean Penn decided to rail against Donald Trump in his press conference for the film.
The conference followed the film’s premiere, which stars his daughter Dylan Penn, and received mediocre reviews from viewers, with some calling the drama as “forgettable as they come.”
In Sunday’s trend roundup of the festival, grey hair seems to be making a comeback on the red carpet, and Twitter users are applauding the actresses who have decided to embrace the color.
See below for TheWrap’s roundup of Cannes, day 6:
Cannes Film Festival
Sean Penn’s ‘Flag Day’ Premieres
Sean Penn’s “Flag Day” premiered at the festival on Saturday, marking the third time he’s been in Main Competition section as a director — the other times for “The Pledge” in 2001 and “The Last Face” in 2016.
TheWrap’s Steve Pond wrote,...
The conference followed the film’s premiere, which stars his daughter Dylan Penn, and received mediocre reviews from viewers, with some calling the drama as “forgettable as they come.”
In Sunday’s trend roundup of the festival, grey hair seems to be making a comeback on the red carpet, and Twitter users are applauding the actresses who have decided to embrace the color.
See below for TheWrap’s roundup of Cannes, day 6:
Cannes Film Festival
Sean Penn’s ‘Flag Day’ Premieres
Sean Penn’s “Flag Day” premiered at the festival on Saturday, marking the third time he’s been in Main Competition section as a director — the other times for “The Pledge” in 2001 and “The Last Face” in 2016.
TheWrap’s Steve Pond wrote,...
- 7/11/2021
- by Beatrice Verhoeven
- The Wrap
Sean Penn defiantly swims against the Hollywood current with “Flag Day,” a labor of love that harkens back to another era of moviemaking. Jennifer Vogel’s memoir “Flim-Flam Man: A True Family History,” published in 2004, resisted film financing over 18 years, said producer William Horberg (“The Queen’s Gambit”) at the Cannes afterparty at the Martinez. Back at the start, producer Michael De Luca loved the project, and after many detours and obstacles, when the MGM studio head saw the nearly finished film, enthusiastically acquired it for release in 2021 (just as the studio was acquired by Amazon). Horberg was joyful at the film’s good fortune.
Like many other well-reviewed films at Cannes, a robust theatrical future is by no means assured for this old-fashioned ’70s-’80s father-daughter story, which marks Penn’s first time acting in his own film, after helming six features. Thanks to Matt Damon, Penn said at Sunday’s press conference,...
Like many other well-reviewed films at Cannes, a robust theatrical future is by no means assured for this old-fashioned ’70s-’80s father-daughter story, which marks Penn’s first time acting in his own film, after helming six features. Thanks to Matt Damon, Penn said at Sunday’s press conference,...
- 7/11/2021
- by Anne Thompson
- Indiewire
Sean Penn defiantly swims against the Hollywood current with “Flag Day,” a labor of love that harkens back to another era of moviemaking. Jennifer Vogel’s memoir “Flim-Flam Man: A True Family History,” published in 2004, resisted film financing over 18 years, said producer William Horberg (“The Queen’s Gambit”) at the Cannes afterparty at the Martinez. Back at the start, producer Michael De Luca loved the project, and after many detours and obstacles, when the MGM studio head saw the nearly finished film, enthusiastically acquired it for release in 2021 (just as the studio was acquired by Amazon). Horberg was joyful at the film’s good fortune.
Like many other well-reviewed films at Cannes, a robust theatrical future is by no means assured for this old-fashioned ’70s-’80s father-daughter story, which marks Penn’s first time acting in his own film, after helming six features. Thanks to Matt Damon, Penn said at Sunday’s press conference,...
Like many other well-reviewed films at Cannes, a robust theatrical future is by no means assured for this old-fashioned ’70s-’80s father-daughter story, which marks Penn’s first time acting in his own film, after helming six features. Thanks to Matt Damon, Penn said at Sunday’s press conference,...
- 7/11/2021
- by Anne Thompson
- Thompson on Hollywood
by Cláudio Alves
After the virulently negative reviews that befell The Last Face, it's surprising to see Sean Penn back in the main competition so soon. Flag Day marks Penn's third directorial effort to vie for the Palme d'Or after winning big in Cannes as an actor. The reactions, so far, seem primarily positive, and that's a big step-up from last time. Another main competition screening was Finnish director Juho Kuosmanen's Compartment No. 6, which some have already compared to Before Sunrise. Back in 2016, he won the Un Certain Regard section with The Happiest Day in the Life of Olli Mäki, so this promotion to the big league feels especially earned. To celebrate the occasion, our alternative program shall focus on these directors' earlier successes…...
After the virulently negative reviews that befell The Last Face, it's surprising to see Sean Penn back in the main competition so soon. Flag Day marks Penn's third directorial effort to vie for the Palme d'Or after winning big in Cannes as an actor. The reactions, so far, seem primarily positive, and that's a big step-up from last time. Another main competition screening was Finnish director Juho Kuosmanen's Compartment No. 6, which some have already compared to Before Sunrise. Back in 2016, he won the Un Certain Regard section with The Happiest Day in the Life of Olli Mäki, so this promotion to the big league feels especially earned. To celebrate the occasion, our alternative program shall focus on these directors' earlier successes…...
- 7/11/2021
- by Cláudio Alves
- FilmExperience
Not to be outdone by Matt Damon, Sean Penn looked like he was about to cry at the Saturday night premiere of “Flag Day.”
The drama earned a four-minute standing ovation broken up by remarks from Penn, praising his daughter, Dylan Frances Penn, for her debut lead role in a movie.
Penn takes on double duties in the film, as both director and actor, playing John Vogel, a real life bank robber and con artist. The character’s birthday falls on June 14, thus inspiring the film’s title.
Dylan plays his daughter Jennifer, an aspiring journalist who struggles with her fractured relationship with her family.
“To this cast, this crew, this audience and, in particular, this daughter — thank you,” Penn said.
“Flag Day” is based on Jennifer Vogel’s 2004 memoir. The film is a family affair for Penn. Dylan’s younger brother Hopper plays her character’s adrift sibling onscreen.
The drama earned a four-minute standing ovation broken up by remarks from Penn, praising his daughter, Dylan Frances Penn, for her debut lead role in a movie.
Penn takes on double duties in the film, as both director and actor, playing John Vogel, a real life bank robber and con artist. The character’s birthday falls on June 14, thus inspiring the film’s title.
Dylan plays his daughter Jennifer, an aspiring journalist who struggles with her fractured relationship with her family.
“To this cast, this crew, this audience and, in particular, this daughter — thank you,” Penn said.
“Flag Day” is based on Jennifer Vogel’s 2004 memoir. The film is a family affair for Penn. Dylan’s younger brother Hopper plays her character’s adrift sibling onscreen.
- 7/10/2021
- by Ramin Setoodeh and Matt Donnelly
- Variety Film + TV
“Flag Day” starts and ends with a high-stakes car chase, but that big pursuit is an anomaly. A minor-key movie less invested in grand gestures than the intimate two-hander at its center, “Flag Day” isn’t about crimes so much as the personal toll they take on innocent bystanders. Sean Penn’s first directorial effort since 2016’s “The Last Face” compensates for that misstep, if only just, with that lays out most of its emotional cards from the first act and offers few surprises along the way. In the process, however, it allows Penn to pass his talent to the next generation, with his daughter Dylan Penn taking the lead in a stirring turn that injects the central family tension with authenticity.
The younger Penn plays real-life journalist Jennifer Vogel, whose 2014 tome “Flim-Flam Man: The True Story of My Father’s Counterfeit Life” has been faithfully adapted by screenwriters Jez...
The younger Penn plays real-life journalist Jennifer Vogel, whose 2014 tome “Flim-Flam Man: The True Story of My Father’s Counterfeit Life” has been faithfully adapted by screenwriters Jez...
- 7/10/2021
- by Eric Kohn
- Indiewire
As a filmmaker, Sean Penn has always had a flinty integrity, but the movies he directs work so hard to channel the values of ’70s films — they’re moody and fatalistic, with furrowed brows, and move at a pace of drop-dead deliberation — that early on, in the days of “The Indian Runner” (1991) and “The Crossing Guard” (1995), you could just about feel the sweat of his downbeat virtue. I think that changed when Penn made “Into the Wild” (2007), a film as dark as any other film in his desolation row, but it was directed with an open-eyed adventure and skill that turned it enthralling. After that, Penn made his one and only dud, but now he’s back with “Flag Day,” his sixth feature as a director in 30 years, and it’s one of his best.
It’s suffused with what you might call the Penn Darkness Factor. “Flag Day” tells...
It’s suffused with what you might call the Penn Darkness Factor. “Flag Day” tells...
- 7/10/2021
- by Owen Gleiberman
- Variety Film + TV
Penn is excellent as real-life con artist John Vogel, opposite his daughter Dylan who also does well as Vogel’s journalist daughter Jennifer
Sean Penn … he’s still got it. He may have exasperated audiences with The Last Face, his previous directorial outing at Cannes, an earnest Western-aid-saviour drama that pretty much got him booed off the red carpet. But as an actor he’s still got the chops: a fierce masculine presence, a buzzard-like watchfulness always liable to break into a scornful grimace or lethal grin. His seductive address to the camera is almost unrivalled. Moreover, as a director, he knows how to bring the horsepower. And so it proves in this very watchable and well-made family drama.
Penn directs and stars as notorious criminal, swindler and counterfeiter John Vogel, wanted in the 90s by the FBI for forging thousands of $100 bills from a Minnesota copy shop. His story...
Sean Penn … he’s still got it. He may have exasperated audiences with The Last Face, his previous directorial outing at Cannes, an earnest Western-aid-saviour drama that pretty much got him booed off the red carpet. But as an actor he’s still got the chops: a fierce masculine presence, a buzzard-like watchfulness always liable to break into a scornful grimace or lethal grin. His seductive address to the camera is almost unrivalled. Moreover, as a director, he knows how to bring the horsepower. And so it proves in this very watchable and well-made family drama.
Penn directs and stars as notorious criminal, swindler and counterfeiter John Vogel, wanted in the 90s by the FBI for forging thousands of $100 bills from a Minnesota copy shop. His story...
- 7/10/2021
- by Peter Bradshaw
- The Guardian - Film News
Sean Penn’s directing career has followed an erratic trajectory, channeling raw feeling in his 1991 debut The Indian Runner, peaking with the ruminative 2007 survival drama Into the Wild and taking a nosedive with 2016’s tone-deaf The Last Face, which used a backdrop of human rights violations in Africa to spin a tortured romance between beautiful Westerners. He returns to the Cannes competition five years after that fiasco with Flag Day, which is a significant improvement even if its sincere intentions can’t get past the prosaic portrait of a con man making a reckless grab for the American Dream.
This is Penn’s first time directing ...
This is Penn’s first time directing ...
- 7/10/2021
- The Hollywood Reporter - Film + TV
Sean Penn’s directing career has followed an erratic trajectory, channeling raw feeling in his 1991 debut The Indian Runner, peaking with the ruminative 2007 survival drama Into the Wild and taking a nosedive with 2016’s tone-deaf The Last Face, which used a backdrop of human rights violations in Africa to spin a tortured romance between beautiful Westerners. He returns to the Cannes competition five years after that fiasco with Flag Day, which is a significant improvement even if its sincere intentions can’t get past the prosaic portrait of a con man making a reckless grab for the American Dream.
This is Penn’s first time directing ...
This is Penn’s first time directing ...
- 7/10/2021
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
When Charlize Theron appears at Cannes in F9: The Fast Saga, it will be her fifth film at the festival.
It won’t be the best — that would probably be 2015’s Mad Max: Fury Road, which screened out of competition. Nor will it be the worst — that honor goes to 2016’s The Last Face, a Sean Penn film that screened in competition, where it was heckled mercilessly.
Theron’s first appearance in the Cannes lineup was in 2000’s competition contender The Yards, directed by James Gray. The unlikely crime drama, set in the world of New York commuter rail maintenance, was based on a corruption scandal ...
It won’t be the best — that would probably be 2015’s Mad Max: Fury Road, which screened out of competition. Nor will it be the worst — that honor goes to 2016’s The Last Face, a Sean Penn film that screened in competition, where it was heckled mercilessly.
Theron’s first appearance in the Cannes lineup was in 2000’s competition contender The Yards, directed by James Gray. The unlikely crime drama, set in the world of New York commuter rail maintenance, was based on a corruption scandal ...
When Charlize Theron appears at Cannes in F9: The Fast Saga, it will be her fifth film at the festival.
It won’t be the best — that would probably be 2015’s Mad Max: Fury Road, which screened out of competition. Nor will it be the worst — that honor goes to 2016’s The Last Face, a Sean Penn film that screened in competition, where it was heckled mercilessly.
Theron’s first appearance in the Cannes lineup was in 2000’s competition contender The Yards, directed by James Gray. The unlikely crime drama, set in the world of New York commuter rail maintenance, was based on a corruption scandal ...
It won’t be the best — that would probably be 2015’s Mad Max: Fury Road, which screened out of competition. Nor will it be the worst — that honor goes to 2016’s The Last Face, a Sean Penn film that screened in competition, where it was heckled mercilessly.
Theron’s first appearance in the Cannes lineup was in 2000’s competition contender The Yards, directed by James Gray. The unlikely crime drama, set in the world of New York commuter rail maintenance, was based on a corruption scandal ...
MGM has acquired one of the hot Cannes Film Festival acquisitions titles, director Sean Penn’s father-daughter coming-of-age drama “Flag Day,” marking the lead film debut of his daughter Dylan Penn (“Elvis & Nixon”), which will have its world premiere on the Croisette. (Check out our full list of 2021 Cannes acquisitions here.)
Thirty years ago, Cannes veteran Penn premiered his first film as a director, MGM’s “The Indian Runner,” in 1991, and has continued to bring his films to the festival throughout, from Best Actor-winning “She’s So Lovely” to eventual Oscar-winner “Mystic River” and “The Last Face.” He also served as the president of the jury in 2008.
Playwright and screenwriter Jez Butterworth (“Edge of Tomorrow”) adapted Jennifer Vogel’s 2005 memoir “Flim-Flam Man: The True Story of My Father’s Counterfeit Life.” “Hearing the love and enthusiasm that Mike and his team at MGM have for bringing the movie to audiences...
Thirty years ago, Cannes veteran Penn premiered his first film as a director, MGM’s “The Indian Runner,” in 1991, and has continued to bring his films to the festival throughout, from Best Actor-winning “She’s So Lovely” to eventual Oscar-winner “Mystic River” and “The Last Face.” He also served as the president of the jury in 2008.
Playwright and screenwriter Jez Butterworth (“Edge of Tomorrow”) adapted Jennifer Vogel’s 2005 memoir “Flim-Flam Man: The True Story of My Father’s Counterfeit Life.” “Hearing the love and enthusiasm that Mike and his team at MGM have for bringing the movie to audiences...
- 6/11/2021
- by Anne Thompson
- Indiewire
MGM has acquired one of the hot Cannes Film Festival acquisitions titles, director Sean Penn’s father-daughter coming-of-age drama “Flag Day,” marking the lead film debut of his daughter Dylan Penn (“Elvis & Nixon”), which will have its world premiere on the Croisette. (Check out our full list of 2021 Cannes acquisitions here.)
Thirty years ago, Cannes veteran Penn premiered his first film as a director, MGM’s “The Indian Runner,” in 1991, and has continued to bring his films to the festival throughout, from Best Actor-winning “She’s So Lovely” to eventual Oscar-winner “Mystic River” and “The Last Face.” He also served as the president of the jury in 2008.
Playwright and screenwriter Jez Butterworth (“Edge of Tomorrow”) adapted Jennifer Vogel’s 2005 memoir “Flim-Flam Man: The True Story of My Father’s Counterfeit Life.” “Hearing the love and enthusiasm that Mike and his team at MGM have for bringing the movie to audiences...
Thirty years ago, Cannes veteran Penn premiered his first film as a director, MGM’s “The Indian Runner,” in 1991, and has continued to bring his films to the festival throughout, from Best Actor-winning “She’s So Lovely” to eventual Oscar-winner “Mystic River” and “The Last Face.” He also served as the president of the jury in 2008.
Playwright and screenwriter Jez Butterworth (“Edge of Tomorrow”) adapted Jennifer Vogel’s 2005 memoir “Flim-Flam Man: The True Story of My Father’s Counterfeit Life.” “Hearing the love and enthusiasm that Mike and his team at MGM have for bringing the movie to audiences...
- 6/11/2021
- by Anne Thompson
- Thompson on Hollywood
Cannes Film Festival’s chief Thierry Fremaux was in a cheerful mood when he announced his sprawling Official Selection during Thursday’s press conference at the Normandie Theater in Paris. Not only because it was the first live event in many months, but most importantly because in spite of all the ups and downs caused by the ongoing pandemic, this year’s lineup is strong, appealing and surprising. Both big-name auteurs like Wes Anderson (“The French Dispatch”), Leos Carax (“Annette”), Paul Verhoeven (“Benedetta”), as well as Asghar Farhadi (“A Hero), Jacques Audiard (“Les Olympiades”) and Andrea Arnold (“Cow”) and filmmakers who will be making their debuts in competition, like Julia Ducournau (“Titane”), Nabil Ayouch (“Casablanca Beats”), Sean Baker (“Red Rocket”), Ildikó Enyedi (“The Story of My Wife”) and Mia Hansen-Løve (“Bergman Island”) were included in the selection. Fremaux was still in a euphoric state of mind several hours after the announcement,...
- 6/3/2021
- by Elsa Keslassy
- Variety Film + TV
“Cinema is not dead.” It was a fitting opening remark to begin the morning press conference announcement of the 2021 Cannes Film Festival, where festival director Thierry Frémaux announced 63 films from around the world set to premiere at this year’s July gathering. Arriving on the Croisette one year after the 2020 edition was canceled, the lineup delivers a dense assemblage of cinema from around the world, some of which has waited for its big moment since the days before the pandemic.
What we don’t know is how big Cannes will be. France’s own entry guidelines continue to evolve with the pandemic, and many countries still don’t know if they’ll be able to travel. However the practicalities play out, Cannes has thrown down the gauntlet with this year’s selection. It doesn’t emphasize movie stars, and it may not fuel constant Oscar buzz, but it compensates with...
What we don’t know is how big Cannes will be. France’s own entry guidelines continue to evolve with the pandemic, and many countries still don’t know if they’ll be able to travel. However the practicalities play out, Cannes has thrown down the gauntlet with this year’s selection. It doesn’t emphasize movie stars, and it may not fuel constant Oscar buzz, but it compensates with...
- 6/3/2021
- by Eric Kohn
- Indiewire
Paul Verhoeven, Oliver Stone, Sean Baker, Asghar Farhadi, Tom McCarthy and Sean Penn are among the directors who will be represented in the official selection of the 2021 Cannes Film Festival, which will take place from July 6-17 in the south of France.
Verhoeven, Baker and Farhadi will be represented in the main competition with “Benedetta,” “Red Rocket” and “A Hero,” respectively. “Spotlight” director McCarthy will screen his Matt Damon film “Stillwater” out of competition, while Stone will present the first two hours of his four-hour documentary about the John F. Kennedy assassination, “JFK Revisited: Through the Looking Glass.”
As previously announced, the festival will open with Leos Carax’s musical “Annette,” with music by the band Sparks, and will also include Wes Anderson’s “The French Dispatch,” which was originally scheduled to premiere in Cannes last year.
After the Cannes press release had been sent out and general delegate Thierry...
Verhoeven, Baker and Farhadi will be represented in the main competition with “Benedetta,” “Red Rocket” and “A Hero,” respectively. “Spotlight” director McCarthy will screen his Matt Damon film “Stillwater” out of competition, while Stone will present the first two hours of his four-hour documentary about the John F. Kennedy assassination, “JFK Revisited: Through the Looking Glass.”
As previously announced, the festival will open with Leos Carax’s musical “Annette,” with music by the band Sparks, and will also include Wes Anderson’s “The French Dispatch,” which was originally scheduled to premiere in Cannes last year.
After the Cannes press release had been sent out and general delegate Thierry...
- 6/3/2021
- by Steve Pond
- The Wrap
Hopefully March will bring respite from crippling snow storms and frigid temperatures for much of the globe. And if it doesn’t? Well, Hulu’s got some new streaming options at least!
Hulu’s list of new releases for March 2021 are relatively slight on Hulu originals. Thankfully, one beloved original of note is coming back this month. Solar Opposites will premiere all episodes of its second season on March 26. This sci-fi animated comedy from Rick and Morty co-creator Justin Roiland is a breath of fresh alien air.
On the movie side of things, Hulu is premiering Boss Level on March 5. This actioner will star the delightful Frank Grillo and the decidedly less delightful Mel Gibson. Speaking of delightful though, the documentary Kid 90 will arrive on March 12. This comes from Punky Brewster star Soleil Moon Frye and features hours of footage she shot in the ’90s that will depict what...
Hulu’s list of new releases for March 2021 are relatively slight on Hulu originals. Thankfully, one beloved original of note is coming back this month. Solar Opposites will premiere all episodes of its second season on March 26. This sci-fi animated comedy from Rick and Morty co-creator Justin Roiland is a breath of fresh alien air.
On the movie side of things, Hulu is premiering Boss Level on March 5. This actioner will star the delightful Frank Grillo and the decidedly less delightful Mel Gibson. Speaking of delightful though, the documentary Kid 90 will arrive on March 12. This comes from Punky Brewster star Soleil Moon Frye and features hours of footage she shot in the ’90s that will depict what...
- 2/27/2021
- by Alec Bojalad
- Den of Geek
Exclusive: The cast for The CW’s Painkiller is coming together as the Black Lightning spinoff has added Sibongile Mlambo, Alexander Hodge and James Roch.
Painkiller is planned as a planted pilot spinoff that will air as the seventh episode of Black Lightning’s fourth season which is currently airing on The CW. Jordan Calloway will reprise his role as the titular character while Black Lightning showrunner Salim Akil will write, exec produce and direct. Mlambo, Hodge and Roch will assume their roles should Painkiller be greenlit for production.
Mlambo is set to star as Maya, who is described as a “strikingly attractive woman yet is icy and mysterious”. She is a natural leader who immediately gives the impression that she is someone who expects results and is not to be messed around with.
Hodge will step into the role of Philky, a “ruggedly handsome with long raven hair, ink art on his body,...
Painkiller is planned as a planted pilot spinoff that will air as the seventh episode of Black Lightning’s fourth season which is currently airing on The CW. Jordan Calloway will reprise his role as the titular character while Black Lightning showrunner Salim Akil will write, exec produce and direct. Mlambo, Hodge and Roch will assume their roles should Painkiller be greenlit for production.
Mlambo is set to star as Maya, who is described as a “strikingly attractive woman yet is icy and mysterious”. She is a natural leader who immediately gives the impression that she is someone who expects results and is not to be messed around with.
Hodge will step into the role of Philky, a “ruggedly handsome with long raven hair, ink art on his body,...
- 2/16/2021
- by Dino-Ray Ramos
- Deadline Film + TV
Exclusive: Adèle Exarchopoulos, who in 2013 became the youngest winner of the Cannes Film Festival’s Palme d’Or for her co-starring role in Blue Is the Warmest Color, has signed with UTA.
The move comes as the French-born actor has several projects in the works. In film, that includes the French crime drama Bac Nord directed by Cédric Jimenez and Quentin Dupieux’s fantasy comedy Mandibles. On TV, she co-starred with Jonathan Cohen on the recent first season of the Canal+ reality TV dating spoof comedy La Flamme.
Exarchopoulos was just 19 when she, co-star Léa Seydoux and director Abdellatif Kechiche in a rare feat shared the top Cannes honor for the drama. That led to roles including in Sean Penn’s The Last Face with Charlize Theron and Javier Bardem, Michaël R. Roskam’s Racer and the Jailbird, Ralph Fiennes’ The White Crow and Justine Triet’s Sibyl.
Her credits...
The move comes as the French-born actor has several projects in the works. In film, that includes the French crime drama Bac Nord directed by Cédric Jimenez and Quentin Dupieux’s fantasy comedy Mandibles. On TV, she co-starred with Jonathan Cohen on the recent first season of the Canal+ reality TV dating spoof comedy La Flamme.
Exarchopoulos was just 19 when she, co-star Léa Seydoux and director Abdellatif Kechiche in a rare feat shared the top Cannes honor for the drama. That led to roles including in Sean Penn’s The Last Face with Charlize Theron and Javier Bardem, Michaël R. Roskam’s Racer and the Jailbird, Ralph Fiennes’ The White Crow and Justine Triet’s Sibyl.
Her credits...
- 12/12/2020
- by Patrick Hipes
- Deadline Film + TV
Us producer explained differences between producing at different budget levels in Mpa-dhu workshop in Tiffcom.
Us producer Jon Kuyper outlined the differences between producing $100m studio movies and an $8m straight-to-dvd project at the Mpa-dhu workshop (Oct 22) at Tiffcom.
He also touched on producing Ridley Scott’s upcoming TV series for TNT, Raised By Wolves, and how all the rules change when budgeting and scheduling episodic drama.
During his seven years as an in-house producer at Warner Bros, Kuyper supervised production on big-budget studio movies including George Miller’s Mad Max: Fury Road, Baz Luhrmann’s The Great Gatsy and...
Us producer Jon Kuyper outlined the differences between producing $100m studio movies and an $8m straight-to-dvd project at the Mpa-dhu workshop (Oct 22) at Tiffcom.
He also touched on producing Ridley Scott’s upcoming TV series for TNT, Raised By Wolves, and how all the rules change when budgeting and scheduling episodic drama.
During his seven years as an in-house producer at Warner Bros, Kuyper supervised production on big-budget studio movies including George Miller’s Mad Max: Fury Road, Baz Luhrmann’s The Great Gatsy and...
- 10/24/2019
- by 89¦Liz Shackleton¦0¦
- ScreenDaily
Us producer explained differences between producing at different budget levels in Mpa-dhu workshop in Tiffcom.
Us producer Jon Kuyper outlined the differences between producing $100m studio movies and an $8m straight-to-dvd project at the Mpa-dhu workshop (Oct 22) at Tiffcom.
He also touched on producing Ridley Scott’s upcoming TV series for TNT, Raised By Wolves, and how all the rules change when budgeting and scheduling episodic drama.
During his seven years as an in-house producer at Warner Bros, Kuyper supervised production on big-budget studio movies including George Miller’s Mad Max: Fury Road, Baz Luhrmann’s The Great Gatsy and...
Us producer Jon Kuyper outlined the differences between producing $100m studio movies and an $8m straight-to-dvd project at the Mpa-dhu workshop (Oct 22) at Tiffcom.
He also touched on producing Ridley Scott’s upcoming TV series for TNT, Raised By Wolves, and how all the rules change when budgeting and scheduling episodic drama.
During his seven years as an in-house producer at Warner Bros, Kuyper supervised production on big-budget studio movies including George Miller’s Mad Max: Fury Road, Baz Luhrmann’s The Great Gatsy and...
- 10/24/2019
- by 89¦Liz Shackleton¦0¦
- ScreenDaily
Sean Penn celebrates his 59th birthday on August 17, 2019. The two-time Oscar winner has excelled in a number of fields, including acting, writing and directing. But it’s his career as a performer that has brought him the most acclaim. In honor of his birthday, let’s take a look back at 15 of his greatest films as an actor, ranked worst to best.
Penn entered the Oscar race for the first time with his performance as a death row inmate in Tim Robbins’s “Dead Man Walking” (1995), for which he competed in Best Actor. Subsequent lead nominations as a jazz guitarist in Woody Allen’s “Sweet and Lowdown” (1999) and a mentally handicapped father in “I Am Sam” (2001) quickly followed.
SEEWoody Allen movies: Top 25 greatest films ranked worst to best
He hit the Oscar jackpot with Clint Eastwood’s “Mystic River” (2003), which cast him as a criminal grieving the murder of his daughter.
Penn entered the Oscar race for the first time with his performance as a death row inmate in Tim Robbins’s “Dead Man Walking” (1995), for which he competed in Best Actor. Subsequent lead nominations as a jazz guitarist in Woody Allen’s “Sweet and Lowdown” (1999) and a mentally handicapped father in “I Am Sam” (2001) quickly followed.
SEEWoody Allen movies: Top 25 greatest films ranked worst to best
He hit the Oscar jackpot with Clint Eastwood’s “Mystic River” (2003), which cast him as a criminal grieving the murder of his daughter.
- 8/17/2019
- by Zach Laws and Chris Beachum
- Gold Derby
Durban–Director Ashley Lazarus, whose film about the interracial friendship between two young boys during the apartheid era became a South African cult classic in the 1970s, is set to return to the big screen with a film that builds on his life-long passion for early-childhood education.
“Teacher Wanted” is the inspirational story of a teacher who fights to win over the unruly students in a struggling township school. It stars Themba Ntuli as a teacher who, like the actor himself, was born with a hormone deficiency that stunted his growth, giving him the appearance of a 12-year-old boy.
“The idea comes from our passion for early education. It comes from my love for the youth,” says Ntuli, who is an ambassador for the Early Education Foundation in South Africa.
The film – which turns on the teacher’s uncanny ability to relate to his students, because of his youthful look...
“Teacher Wanted” is the inspirational story of a teacher who fights to win over the unruly students in a struggling township school. It stars Themba Ntuli as a teacher who, like the actor himself, was born with a hormone deficiency that stunted his growth, giving him the appearance of a 12-year-old boy.
“The idea comes from our passion for early education. It comes from my love for the youth,” says Ntuli, who is an ambassador for the Early Education Foundation in South Africa.
The film – which turns on the teacher’s uncanny ability to relate to his students, because of his youthful look...
- 7/23/2019
- by Christopher Vourlias
- Variety Film + TV
It wasn’t too long ago that news broke out of Sundance that Saban Films had acquired Lizzie, and now the company has obtained the Us distribution rights to a new supernatural thriller starring Nicolas Cage called Between Worlds.
Press Release: Los Angeles – Saban Films, who has been one of the most active U.S. distributors on the Croisette this week, has acquired U.S. distribution rights to writer/director Maria Pulera’s supernatural thriller Between Worlds which stars Nicolas Cage, Penelope Mitchell, Franka Potente, and Hopper Penn. Eric Banoun and David Hillary produced alongside Pulera via their company Rise Up, LLC. Saban Films is planning a day-and-date theatrical/VOD release.
Between Worlds follows Joe (Cage), a down-on-his-luck truck driver haunted by the memory of his deceased wife and child. He meets Julie (Potente) a spiritually gifted woman who enlists Joe in a desperate effort to find the lost soul of her comatose daughter,...
Press Release: Los Angeles – Saban Films, who has been one of the most active U.S. distributors on the Croisette this week, has acquired U.S. distribution rights to writer/director Maria Pulera’s supernatural thriller Between Worlds which stars Nicolas Cage, Penelope Mitchell, Franka Potente, and Hopper Penn. Eric Banoun and David Hillary produced alongside Pulera via their company Rise Up, LLC. Saban Films is planning a day-and-date theatrical/VOD release.
Between Worlds follows Joe (Cage), a down-on-his-luck truck driver haunted by the memory of his deceased wife and child. He meets Julie (Potente) a spiritually gifted woman who enlists Joe in a desperate effort to find the lost soul of her comatose daughter,...
- 5/17/2018
- by Tamika Jones
- DailyDead
Saban Film has picked up U.S. distribution rights to writer-director Maria Pulera’s supernatural thriller Between Worlds, which stars Nicolas Cage (National Treasure, Ghost Rider), Penelope Mitchell (The Vampire Diaries, Hemlock Grove), Franka Potente (The Conjuring 2, The Bourne Supremacy) and Hopper Penn (War Machine, The Last Face).
Eric Banoun and David Hillary produced alongside Pulera via their company Rise Up. Saban Films is planning a day-and-date theatrical/VOD release.
Between Worlds follows Joe (Cage), a down-on-his-luck truck driver haunted by the memory of his deceased wife and child. He meets Julie (Potente) a spiritually gifted woman who enlists Joe in a...
Eric Banoun and David Hillary produced alongside Pulera via their company Rise Up. Saban Films is planning a day-and-date theatrical/VOD release.
Between Worlds follows Joe (Cage), a down-on-his-luck truck driver haunted by the memory of his deceased wife and child. He meets Julie (Potente) a spiritually gifted woman who enlists Joe in a...
- 5/15/2018
- by Alex Ritman
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Saban Film has picked up U.S. distribution rights to writer-director Maria Pulera’s supernatural thriller <em>Between Worlds,</em> which stars Nicolas Cage (<i>National Treasure</i>, <i>Ghost Rider</i>), Penelope Mitchell (<em>The Vampire Diaries</em>, <em>Hemlock Grove</em>), Franka Potente (<em>The Conjuring 2</em>, <em>The Bourne Supremacy</em>) and Hopper Penn (<i>War Machine</i>, <i>The Last Face</i>).
Eric Banoun and David Hillary produced alongside Pulera via their company Rise Up. Saban Films is planning a day-and-date theatrical/VOD release.
<i>Between Worlds</i> follows Joe (Cage), a down-on-his-luck truck driver haunted by the memory of his deceased wife and child. He meets Julie (Potente) a spiritually gifted woman who enlists Joe in a desperate effort to ...
Eric Banoun and David Hillary produced alongside Pulera via their company Rise Up. Saban Films is planning a day-and-date theatrical/VOD release.
<i>Between Worlds</i> follows Joe (Cage), a down-on-his-luck truck driver haunted by the memory of his deceased wife and child. He meets Julie (Potente) a spiritually gifted woman who enlists Joe in a desperate effort to ...
- 5/15/2018
- The Hollywood Reporter - Film + TV
In festival shorthand, every buzzy film finds a precedent from a previous edition. Blow away the press but get no love from the jury? You’re this year’s “Toni Erdmann.”
Die on the vine, inspiring jeers and sarcastic applause before the credits even come to a close? You’re this year’s “The Last Face” (sorry to break the bad news).
And so, should people in Cannes start referring to Christophe Honoré’s “Sorry Angel” as this year’s “Bpm (Beats Per Minute),” that might have more to do with passions it inspires and with the possible awards in its future than with the fact that both films happen to be AIDS stories set in Paris during the early 1990s. Although there is of course that factor.
If anything, Honoré’s deliberately paced, willfully unsentimental character study is like the yin to the yang of last year’s Cannes Grand Prize winner, “Bpm.” Whereas Robin Campillo’s Act-up drama argued that the personal was political, and did so with lightning-bolt urgency, Honoré’s film is a more subdued rumination on community and connection.
Also Read: 'BlacKkKlansman' Star Laura Harrier on Going From Spider-Man's Homecoming to Cannes Red Carpet
Campillo stood up to shout Silence = Death; Honoré wants to explore more quiet places.
He does so by the telling the story of two men. Jacques (Pierre Deladonchamps) is a thirtysomething novelist living in Paris. He’s HIV-positive, but his relative good health has held out enough for him to spend just as much time worrying about his poor finances and stalled career. All the way in Brittany, 22-year-old student Arthur (Vincent Lacoste) has yet to even begin a career — or, for that matter, come out of the closet.
These are two men, not two men in love. Though Arthur and Jacques do end up meeting, connecting and falling into bed, “Sorry Angel” is not a film about their — or any — coupling. Rather, Honoré uses the two, and Jacques’ fiftysomething neighbor Mathieu (Denis Podalydes), to explore the intergenerational community that these men create for each other.
Also Read: 'Everybody Knows' Film Review: Penélope Cruz, Javier Bardem in Strongest Cannes Opener in Years
Set 25 years ago, close enough to the present to not feel too much like a period piece but just before the technological, medical and political advances that would forever alter Lgbtq life, the film navigates the fluidity of interpersonal relationships. A lover today may become a mentor tomorrow and perhaps a caregiver further down the line.
And so we have, with our two leads, opposite sides of the same coin. Sexually assertive and unashamed of his preference for men, Arthur is not quite “out” because for him there’s a full stop between sexuality and identity. And through his interactions with Jacques — out and fully socialized in Gay Paris but with a physical confidence diminished by illness — he may not find a partner, but he discovers a sense of self.
Read original story ‘Sorry Angel’ Film Review: AIDS Drama Explores the Quiet Places At TheWrap...
Die on the vine, inspiring jeers and sarcastic applause before the credits even come to a close? You’re this year’s “The Last Face” (sorry to break the bad news).
And so, should people in Cannes start referring to Christophe Honoré’s “Sorry Angel” as this year’s “Bpm (Beats Per Minute),” that might have more to do with passions it inspires and with the possible awards in its future than with the fact that both films happen to be AIDS stories set in Paris during the early 1990s. Although there is of course that factor.
If anything, Honoré’s deliberately paced, willfully unsentimental character study is like the yin to the yang of last year’s Cannes Grand Prize winner, “Bpm.” Whereas Robin Campillo’s Act-up drama argued that the personal was political, and did so with lightning-bolt urgency, Honoré’s film is a more subdued rumination on community and connection.
Also Read: 'BlacKkKlansman' Star Laura Harrier on Going From Spider-Man's Homecoming to Cannes Red Carpet
Campillo stood up to shout Silence = Death; Honoré wants to explore more quiet places.
He does so by the telling the story of two men. Jacques (Pierre Deladonchamps) is a thirtysomething novelist living in Paris. He’s HIV-positive, but his relative good health has held out enough for him to spend just as much time worrying about his poor finances and stalled career. All the way in Brittany, 22-year-old student Arthur (Vincent Lacoste) has yet to even begin a career — or, for that matter, come out of the closet.
These are two men, not two men in love. Though Arthur and Jacques do end up meeting, connecting and falling into bed, “Sorry Angel” is not a film about their — or any — coupling. Rather, Honoré uses the two, and Jacques’ fiftysomething neighbor Mathieu (Denis Podalydes), to explore the intergenerational community that these men create for each other.
Also Read: 'Everybody Knows' Film Review: Penélope Cruz, Javier Bardem in Strongest Cannes Opener in Years
Set 25 years ago, close enough to the present to not feel too much like a period piece but just before the technological, medical and political advances that would forever alter Lgbtq life, the film navigates the fluidity of interpersonal relationships. A lover today may become a mentor tomorrow and perhaps a caregiver further down the line.
And so we have, with our two leads, opposite sides of the same coin. Sexually assertive and unashamed of his preference for men, Arthur is not quite “out” because for him there’s a full stop between sexuality and identity. And through his interactions with Jacques — out and fully socialized in Gay Paris but with a physical confidence diminished by illness — he may not find a partner, but he discovers a sense of self.
Read original story ‘Sorry Angel’ Film Review: AIDS Drama Explores the Quiet Places At TheWrap...
- 5/10/2018
- by Ben Croll
- The Wrap
A version of this story first appeared in TheWrap magazine’s Cannes edition.
The Cannes Film Festival has laid down some new, or at least updated, rules this year. No selfies on the red carpet. No Netflix films. No press screenings in advance of premieres.But what does that mean? Is the 71st Cannes Film Festival a bold new reinvention of the venerable institution, or simply a tweaking of a format that’s been going strong for decades? And will they take away attention from the films that ought to be at the heart of any Cannes experience?
We think it’s a tweak, and we think attention will go right back to the films once Cannes gets underway on Tuesday.
For starters, those three rules were widely touted in the press as being brand new additions to this year’s festival, but that isn’t really true. General Delegate Thierry Frémaux, for instance, told guests not to take selfies three years ago. A de facto Netflix ban — i.e., no competition berths without a French theatrical release — was announced even before last year’s festival began, along with the note that it wouldn’t go into effect until 2018. And the cutback on advance press screenings has been hinted about, if not officially instituted, for more than six months.
Also Read: Quelle Horreur! Cannes Film Festival Bans Selfies on Red Carpet
Still, the rules do have a chance to change the Cannes experience. Take selfies, for instance. In 2015, Frémaux said that those photos are “ridiculous and grotesque” and slow down the red carpet. But his plea to stop them didn’t really work, as plenty of guests still found it irresistible to snap a shot at the top of the stairs that lead into the Grand Théâtre Lumière.
Every Cannes premiere, and lots of Cannes press screenings as well, becomes a staging ground for innumerable selfies. Yes, the festival could deploy some of its security guards to try to stop the practice, in the same way that those guards have been known to police women’s footwear and men’s neckware. But here’s guessing that at best it’ll make people take faster, sneakier selfies.
The Netflix ban is more significant, though it’s not really a ban. The streaming company is still welcome to submit its films to Cannes, but it can’t have them in the main competition unless it commits to a French theatrical release. But that release is governed by the Media Chronology Law, which requires a clearly untenable 36-month window between theatrical and screening.
Also Read: Netflix Bails on Cannes Over Theatrical Release Mandate
Lots of major Hollywood studios are perfectly happy with the out-of-competition slots that are still open to Netflix: That’s where Disney is showing “Solo: A Star Wars Story” this year and where Warner Bros. showed “Mad Max: Fury Road” in 2015, among others. If Netflix really wants to be one of the big boys, maybe that’s where it belongs — but the company also backs auteurs like Bong Joon-Ho and Noah Baumbach, so on the heels of its 2017 competition entries “Okja” and “The Meyerowitz Stories,” its feelings were hurt by the competition ban, and it opted not to submit anything to the festival.
The absence of Netflix won’t change the artistic complexion of the competition much, but this year it robbed the festival of what could have been a true highlight: the Cannes Classics screening of Orson Welles’ final, unfinished film, “The Other Side of the Wind,” whose completion Netflix financed.
That’s not a Cannes upheaval by any means, but it is a shame.
Also Read: Cannes Lineup Reaches From Spike Lee to Jean-Luc Godard
Of the recent changes, the change in press screenings has the biggest chance to truly impact the festival, at least in the way the 4,000 accredited press members experience it and the way movie fans read about it.
In general — though there are lots of exceptions to this — Cannes holds black-tie premieres in the Grand Théâtre Lumière for two of the main competition titles each day, one in the afternoon or early evening and the other later in the evening. In the past, the earlier premiere was usually screened for the press the night before in the Salle Debussy, while the later one got an 8:30 a.m. press screening in the Lumière on the morning of its premiere.
That timing meant that tweets and reviews had been circulating for hours before the official premiere took place. For a movie that wins raves, like “Toni Erdmann,” “Bpm” and “Son of Saul” in recent years, that simply built up expectations; for widely panned efforts like “The Sea of Trees,” “The Last Face” and “The Search,” it meant that the savage reviews cast a pall over the premiere, and made the inevitable standing ovations seem more like a forced reaction to those mean critics and press-screening boobirds.
This year, the early-premiere films will hold their press screenings simultaneously with the public screenings, which will give the critics and the invited guests an equal shot at spreading the word. Realistically, though, one of those groups is more eager to make their opinion known than the other, so there’s not much a few thousand invited guests can do to stem the tide of vitriol if a movie is hated.
But it’ll be nicer for the filmmakers, because they won’t know that the critics hate their film until after the premiere, rather than walking the red carpet already feeling like a failure.
For the late premieres, the press may have to wait until the morning after to get a look. This will delay the formation of a critical consensus until the filmmakers have had a night of hearing nothing but nice things from their invited guests. But it may also create incentive for the most well-connected press members to snag premiere invites and scoop their colleagues.
And watch out, Cannes filmmakers: It could well make that morning-after press audience even crankier than usual, and less inclined to soft-pedal their criticism since they’ve been denied their position as the first voices.
Will the press grumble? Of course they will. Will they adjust? Naturally. And as they adjust, attention in Cannes should turn to an intriguing batch of films, one that’s uncharacteristically heavy on newcomers to the competition (Nadine Labaki, David Robert Mitchell, Kirill Serebrennikov, Eva Husson … ) and light on filmmakers who in the past were given all-but-automatic berths at the festival (Naomi Kawase, Paolo Sorrentino … ).
So Cannes will present some intriguing matchups: Jean-Luc Godard, such a cinematic eminence that his 1965 movie “Pierrot le Fou” inspired this year’s poster, vs. A.B. Shawky, a young Egyptian-American director who landed in the competition with his first film, “Yomeddine.” Nuri Bilge Ceylan, whose “Winter Sleep” won the Palme d’Or in 2014 but didn’t land a foreign-language Oscar nomination, vs. Pawel Pawlikowski, who has never been in the Cannes competition but whose 2013 film “Ida” won the Oscar.
Then there’s Spike Lee with “BlacKkKlansman,” sure to be a hot-button title; and Terry Gilliam with “The Man Who Killed Don Quixote,” the troubled production that will close the festival unless a lawsuit blocks the screening; and Lars von Trier’s “The House That Jack Built,” that will return the Danish provocateur to the festival that declared him persona non grata in 2011 after his press-conference comments about being a Nazi and sympathizing with Hitler.
Plus the festival will present the world premiere of “Solo: A Star Wars Story,” and Christopher Nolan presenting a 50th anniversary screening of “2001: A Space Odyssey,” and films from two directors, Jafar Panahi and Kirill Serebrennikov, who likely won’t be allowed to leave their home countries and come to Cannes.
Chances are, that’s enough to make most of us forget that we aren’t supposed to take selfies and aren’t seeing any Netflix movies.
Read original story Cannes Film Festival 2018 Preview: No Selfies, No Netflix, No Problem At TheWrap...
The Cannes Film Festival has laid down some new, or at least updated, rules this year. No selfies on the red carpet. No Netflix films. No press screenings in advance of premieres.But what does that mean? Is the 71st Cannes Film Festival a bold new reinvention of the venerable institution, or simply a tweaking of a format that’s been going strong for decades? And will they take away attention from the films that ought to be at the heart of any Cannes experience?
We think it’s a tweak, and we think attention will go right back to the films once Cannes gets underway on Tuesday.
For starters, those three rules were widely touted in the press as being brand new additions to this year’s festival, but that isn’t really true. General Delegate Thierry Frémaux, for instance, told guests not to take selfies three years ago. A de facto Netflix ban — i.e., no competition berths without a French theatrical release — was announced even before last year’s festival began, along with the note that it wouldn’t go into effect until 2018. And the cutback on advance press screenings has been hinted about, if not officially instituted, for more than six months.
Also Read: Quelle Horreur! Cannes Film Festival Bans Selfies on Red Carpet
Still, the rules do have a chance to change the Cannes experience. Take selfies, for instance. In 2015, Frémaux said that those photos are “ridiculous and grotesque” and slow down the red carpet. But his plea to stop them didn’t really work, as plenty of guests still found it irresistible to snap a shot at the top of the stairs that lead into the Grand Théâtre Lumière.
Every Cannes premiere, and lots of Cannes press screenings as well, becomes a staging ground for innumerable selfies. Yes, the festival could deploy some of its security guards to try to stop the practice, in the same way that those guards have been known to police women’s footwear and men’s neckware. But here’s guessing that at best it’ll make people take faster, sneakier selfies.
The Netflix ban is more significant, though it’s not really a ban. The streaming company is still welcome to submit its films to Cannes, but it can’t have them in the main competition unless it commits to a French theatrical release. But that release is governed by the Media Chronology Law, which requires a clearly untenable 36-month window between theatrical and screening.
Also Read: Netflix Bails on Cannes Over Theatrical Release Mandate
Lots of major Hollywood studios are perfectly happy with the out-of-competition slots that are still open to Netflix: That’s where Disney is showing “Solo: A Star Wars Story” this year and where Warner Bros. showed “Mad Max: Fury Road” in 2015, among others. If Netflix really wants to be one of the big boys, maybe that’s where it belongs — but the company also backs auteurs like Bong Joon-Ho and Noah Baumbach, so on the heels of its 2017 competition entries “Okja” and “The Meyerowitz Stories,” its feelings were hurt by the competition ban, and it opted not to submit anything to the festival.
The absence of Netflix won’t change the artistic complexion of the competition much, but this year it robbed the festival of what could have been a true highlight: the Cannes Classics screening of Orson Welles’ final, unfinished film, “The Other Side of the Wind,” whose completion Netflix financed.
That’s not a Cannes upheaval by any means, but it is a shame.
Also Read: Cannes Lineup Reaches From Spike Lee to Jean-Luc Godard
Of the recent changes, the change in press screenings has the biggest chance to truly impact the festival, at least in the way the 4,000 accredited press members experience it and the way movie fans read about it.
In general — though there are lots of exceptions to this — Cannes holds black-tie premieres in the Grand Théâtre Lumière for two of the main competition titles each day, one in the afternoon or early evening and the other later in the evening. In the past, the earlier premiere was usually screened for the press the night before in the Salle Debussy, while the later one got an 8:30 a.m. press screening in the Lumière on the morning of its premiere.
That timing meant that tweets and reviews had been circulating for hours before the official premiere took place. For a movie that wins raves, like “Toni Erdmann,” “Bpm” and “Son of Saul” in recent years, that simply built up expectations; for widely panned efforts like “The Sea of Trees,” “The Last Face” and “The Search,” it meant that the savage reviews cast a pall over the premiere, and made the inevitable standing ovations seem more like a forced reaction to those mean critics and press-screening boobirds.
This year, the early-premiere films will hold their press screenings simultaneously with the public screenings, which will give the critics and the invited guests an equal shot at spreading the word. Realistically, though, one of those groups is more eager to make their opinion known than the other, so there’s not much a few thousand invited guests can do to stem the tide of vitriol if a movie is hated.
But it’ll be nicer for the filmmakers, because they won’t know that the critics hate their film until after the premiere, rather than walking the red carpet already feeling like a failure.
For the late premieres, the press may have to wait until the morning after to get a look. This will delay the formation of a critical consensus until the filmmakers have had a night of hearing nothing but nice things from their invited guests. But it may also create incentive for the most well-connected press members to snag premiere invites and scoop their colleagues.
And watch out, Cannes filmmakers: It could well make that morning-after press audience even crankier than usual, and less inclined to soft-pedal their criticism since they’ve been denied their position as the first voices.
Will the press grumble? Of course they will. Will they adjust? Naturally. And as they adjust, attention in Cannes should turn to an intriguing batch of films, one that’s uncharacteristically heavy on newcomers to the competition (Nadine Labaki, David Robert Mitchell, Kirill Serebrennikov, Eva Husson … ) and light on filmmakers who in the past were given all-but-automatic berths at the festival (Naomi Kawase, Paolo Sorrentino … ).
So Cannes will present some intriguing matchups: Jean-Luc Godard, such a cinematic eminence that his 1965 movie “Pierrot le Fou” inspired this year’s poster, vs. A.B. Shawky, a young Egyptian-American director who landed in the competition with his first film, “Yomeddine.” Nuri Bilge Ceylan, whose “Winter Sleep” won the Palme d’Or in 2014 but didn’t land a foreign-language Oscar nomination, vs. Pawel Pawlikowski, who has never been in the Cannes competition but whose 2013 film “Ida” won the Oscar.
Then there’s Spike Lee with “BlacKkKlansman,” sure to be a hot-button title; and Terry Gilliam with “The Man Who Killed Don Quixote,” the troubled production that will close the festival unless a lawsuit blocks the screening; and Lars von Trier’s “The House That Jack Built,” that will return the Danish provocateur to the festival that declared him persona non grata in 2011 after his press-conference comments about being a Nazi and sympathizing with Hitler.
Plus the festival will present the world premiere of “Solo: A Star Wars Story,” and Christopher Nolan presenting a 50th anniversary screening of “2001: A Space Odyssey,” and films from two directors, Jafar Panahi and Kirill Serebrennikov, who likely won’t be allowed to leave their home countries and come to Cannes.
Chances are, that’s enough to make most of us forget that we aren’t supposed to take selfies and aren’t seeing any Netflix movies.
Read original story Cannes Film Festival 2018 Preview: No Selfies, No Netflix, No Problem At TheWrap...
- 5/7/2018
- by Steve Pond
- The Wrap
The 2018 Cannes Film Festival will open with the world premiere of Asghar Farhadi’s Spanish-language drama “Everybody Knows,” starring Penélope Cruz and Javier Bardem. The decision makes the drama the second Spanish-language film to open Cannes after Pedro Almodóvar’s “Bad Education” in 2004. The opening selection was first reported by Variety.
“Everybody Knows” stars the Oscar-winning Cruz as a mother who travels with her family from Buenos Aires back to her small hometown outside Madrid, Spain for a celebration. The family’s trip is plagued by unexpected events that threaten to tear the loved ones apart.
Cannes has never hid the fact it loves auteur filmmakers and star-studded casts, so the combination of Farhadi, Cruz, and Bardem made “Everybody Knows” a no-brainer for the opening night slot. Both actors are no strangers to the Croisette. Cruz shared the best actress trophy for “Volver” in 2006, while Bardem was recently at Cannes...
“Everybody Knows” stars the Oscar-winning Cruz as a mother who travels with her family from Buenos Aires back to her small hometown outside Madrid, Spain for a celebration. The family’s trip is plagued by unexpected events that threaten to tear the loved ones apart.
Cannes has never hid the fact it loves auteur filmmakers and star-studded casts, so the combination of Farhadi, Cruz, and Bardem made “Everybody Knows” a no-brainer for the opening night slot. Both actors are no strangers to the Croisette. Cruz shared the best actress trophy for “Volver” in 2006, while Bardem was recently at Cannes...
- 4/4/2018
- by Zack Sharf
- Indiewire
If the saying goes that love conquers all, then Wim Wenders follows that adage to the very depths of the ocean in “Submergence.” The sadly soggy drama will perhaps interest fans of Alicia Vikander and James McAvoy, but unfortunately, there’s not much else to recommend outside of that.
Based on the book by J.M. Ledgard, with a script by Erin Dignam (Sean Penn’s widely panned “The Last Face,” so, you know, temper expectations) the story follows a British secret agent and a bio-mathematician who fall in love, and yes, the movie is as preposterous as that sounds.
Based on the book by J.M. Ledgard, with a script by Erin Dignam (Sean Penn’s widely panned “The Last Face,” so, you know, temper expectations) the story follows a British secret agent and a bio-mathematician who fall in love, and yes, the movie is as preposterous as that sounds.
- 3/2/2018
- by Kevin Jagernauth
- The Playlist
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