Heatseeking filmmaker Olmo Schnabel has signed for representation with WME, and with Black Bear for management.
Schnabel’s breakout directorial effort “Pet Shop Days” played both the Venice International Film Festival and SXSW this cycle, scoring distribution from Utopia for a 2024 theatrical release. Starring Jack Irv, Darío Yazbek Bernal, Willem Dafoe and Peter Sarsgaard, the film tells of a drug lord scion on the run from his powerful family. Slumming it in New York in a haze of sex and drugs, he seduces an equally lost young man and pulls him into the city’s underbelly.
The provocative debut also hit festivals in Chicago, Montclair, Morelia, Santa Barbara and Sarasota. Schnabel was also awarded the Leffest Lisboa Film Festival’s Tap Revelation Award.
Schnabel just wrapped “In the Hand of Dante” for production shop Twin, which stars Oscar Isaac, Jason Momoa, Gerard Butler and Gal Gadot. The film is a...
Schnabel’s breakout directorial effort “Pet Shop Days” played both the Venice International Film Festival and SXSW this cycle, scoring distribution from Utopia for a 2024 theatrical release. Starring Jack Irv, Darío Yazbek Bernal, Willem Dafoe and Peter Sarsgaard, the film tells of a drug lord scion on the run from his powerful family. Slumming it in New York in a haze of sex and drugs, he seduces an equally lost young man and pulls him into the city’s underbelly.
The provocative debut also hit festivals in Chicago, Montclair, Morelia, Santa Barbara and Sarasota. Schnabel was also awarded the Leffest Lisboa Film Festival’s Tap Revelation Award.
Schnabel just wrapped “In the Hand of Dante” for production shop Twin, which stars Oscar Isaac, Jason Momoa, Gerard Butler and Gal Gadot. The film is a...
- 4/5/2024
- by Matt Donnelly
- Variety Film + TV
Exclusive: Oscar-nominated actor Willem Dafoe is set to join the ensemble cast of of Sony Pictures’ SNL 1975 (working title), which will be directed by Jason Reitman and based on the real-life behind-the-scenes accounts of the opening episode of Saturday Night Live. Reitman and Gil Kenan penned the script.
Dafoe will play David Tebet, who was VP Talent Relations at NBC when SNL launched.
On October 11, 1975, a ferocious troupe of young comedians and writers changed television forever. SNL 1975 is the true story of what happened behind the scenes that night in the moments leading up to the first broadcast of NBC’s Saturday Night Live. It depicts the chaos and magic of a revolution that almost wasn’t, counting down the minutes in real time to the infamous words, “Live from New York, it’s Saturday Night!”
The screenplay is based on an extensive series of interviews conducted by...
Dafoe will play David Tebet, who was VP Talent Relations at NBC when SNL launched.
On October 11, 1975, a ferocious troupe of young comedians and writers changed television forever. SNL 1975 is the true story of what happened behind the scenes that night in the moments leading up to the first broadcast of NBC’s Saturday Night Live. It depicts the chaos and magic of a revolution that almost wasn’t, counting down the minutes in real time to the infamous words, “Live from New York, it’s Saturday Night!”
The screenplay is based on an extensive series of interviews conducted by...
- 3/29/2024
- by Justin Kroll
- Deadline Film + TV
Exclusive: Westworld‘s Angela Sarafyan has joined the cast of Amazon MGM Studios and MRC’s Viola Davis action thriller feature, G20.
She joins a big roster that also includes Anthony Anderson (black-ish), Marsai Martin (black-ish), Ramón Rodríguez (Will Trent), Antony Starr (The Boys), Douglas Hodge (The Great), Elizabeth Marvel (The Color Purple), Sabrina Impacciatore (The White Lotus), Clark Gregg (Painkiller), Christopher Farrar (Home Team), John Hoogenakker (Waco: The Aftermath) and MeeWha Alana Lee (Umma).
Pic is directed by Patricia Riggen (The 33). G20 sees terrorists overtake the G20 Summit, with American President Danielle Sutton (Davis) then bringing all her statecraft and military experience to defend her family, her fellow leaders and the world. Noah and Logan Miller penned the screenplay, with revisions by Caitlin Parrish, Erica Weiss, and Jason Hall. Mad Chance’s Andrew Lazar is producing alongside JuVee Productions’ Davis and Julius Tennon.
Sarafyan was a series regular...
She joins a big roster that also includes Anthony Anderson (black-ish), Marsai Martin (black-ish), Ramón Rodríguez (Will Trent), Antony Starr (The Boys), Douglas Hodge (The Great), Elizabeth Marvel (The Color Purple), Sabrina Impacciatore (The White Lotus), Clark Gregg (Painkiller), Christopher Farrar (Home Team), John Hoogenakker (Waco: The Aftermath) and MeeWha Alana Lee (Umma).
Pic is directed by Patricia Riggen (The 33). G20 sees terrorists overtake the G20 Summit, with American President Danielle Sutton (Davis) then bringing all her statecraft and military experience to defend her family, her fellow leaders and the world. Noah and Logan Miller penned the screenplay, with revisions by Caitlin Parrish, Erica Weiss, and Jason Hall. Mad Chance’s Andrew Lazar is producing alongside JuVee Productions’ Davis and Julius Tennon.
Sarafyan was a series regular...
- 3/21/2024
- by Anthony D'Alessandro
- Deadline Film + TV
Steve Buscemi’s “The Listener” is heading to the Sarasota Film Festival.
The 26th edition of the Florida fest will feature live and in-person screenings and events that will take place across Sarasota beginning on April 5. The 10-day fest will feature 23 narrative features, 41 documentary features and 81 short films.
Buscemi will be in Sarasota to participate in a Q&a following the screening of “The Listener,” which will serve as the closing night film. About a crisis hotline worker enduring the pressures of her job, the film starring Tessa Thompson made its world premiere at Venice Film Festival in 2022.
Lynn Dow’s “Bull Street,” starring Loretta Devine and Amy Madigan, will open the fest on April 5. The drama centers on a South Carolina small-town lawyer (Malynda Hale) as she faces local politics and an unwavering judge (Madigan) when her estranged father’s family tries to evict her and her grandmother (Devine) from her home.
The 26th edition of the Florida fest will feature live and in-person screenings and events that will take place across Sarasota beginning on April 5. The 10-day fest will feature 23 narrative features, 41 documentary features and 81 short films.
Buscemi will be in Sarasota to participate in a Q&a following the screening of “The Listener,” which will serve as the closing night film. About a crisis hotline worker enduring the pressures of her job, the film starring Tessa Thompson made its world premiere at Venice Film Festival in 2022.
Lynn Dow’s “Bull Street,” starring Loretta Devine and Amy Madigan, will open the fest on April 5. The drama centers on a South Carolina small-town lawyer (Malynda Hale) as she faces local politics and an unwavering judge (Madigan) when her estranged father’s family tries to evict her and her grandmother (Devine) from her home.
- 3/21/2024
- by Addie Morfoot
- Variety Film + TV
“Pet Shop Days,” the directorial debut from Hollywood scion Olmo Schnabel, has been acquired by Utopia for theatrical distribution in North America.
A Venice Film Festival premiere that just lit up SXSW, the provocative coming-of-age film stars stars Jack Irv, Dario Yazbek Bernal, Willem Dafoe, Peter Sarsgaard and Emmanuelle Seigner. Martin Scorsese, Jeremy O. Harris and Michel Franco (“New Order”) all serve as executive producers.
Bernal (Netflix’s “House of Flowers”) stars as Alejandro, the son of a Mexican crime lord on the run from his past in New York City. There he meets Jack (Irv), a 20-something living with his wealthy parents Francis (Dafoe) and Diana (Seigner) while working in a pet shop. In a haze of drugs and sex, Alejandro seduces Jack and drags him into the city’s criminal underbelly.
Shot on 35mm film by Hunter Zimny, the film generated buzz out of Venice for its daring lead performances.
A Venice Film Festival premiere that just lit up SXSW, the provocative coming-of-age film stars stars Jack Irv, Dario Yazbek Bernal, Willem Dafoe, Peter Sarsgaard and Emmanuelle Seigner. Martin Scorsese, Jeremy O. Harris and Michel Franco (“New Order”) all serve as executive producers.
Bernal (Netflix’s “House of Flowers”) stars as Alejandro, the son of a Mexican crime lord on the run from his past in New York City. There he meets Jack (Irv), a 20-something living with his wealthy parents Francis (Dafoe) and Diana (Seigner) while working in a pet shop. In a haze of drugs and sex, Alejandro seduces Jack and drags him into the city’s criminal underbelly.
Shot on 35mm film by Hunter Zimny, the film generated buzz out of Venice for its daring lead performances.
- 3/14/2024
- by Matt Donnelly
- Variety Film + TV
Exclusive: UK-French sales company Alief has acquired world sales rights to Megan Seely’s dark comedy Puddysticks in which she co-stars alongside Mamoudou Athie and Dan Bakkedahl.
Seely plays Liz, a burned-out videogame designer who discovers a mysterious society of adults who heal their darkest secrets through childlike play.
Led by the alluring figure of Sylvester Cromwell (Bakkedahl), the group compels each member to reveal their most shameful memory as part of the process but when Liz finally musters the courage to share her darkest trauma, her world turns upside down.
Puddysticks is actress, writer and filmmaker Seely’s first feature length film after well-travelled short film My Loyal Audience, TV show Every Year On My Half Birthday and taking co-writing credits on 2017 feature The Mad Whale.
Her acting credits include the Filipino and American musical The Girl Who Left Home and Twist.
Seely plays Liz, a burned-out videogame designer who discovers a mysterious society of adults who heal their darkest secrets through childlike play.
Led by the alluring figure of Sylvester Cromwell (Bakkedahl), the group compels each member to reveal their most shameful memory as part of the process but when Liz finally musters the courage to share her darkest trauma, her world turns upside down.
Puddysticks is actress, writer and filmmaker Seely’s first feature length film after well-travelled short film My Loyal Audience, TV show Every Year On My Half Birthday and taking co-writing credits on 2017 feature The Mad Whale.
Her acting credits include the Filipino and American musical The Girl Who Left Home and Twist.
- 2/6/2024
- by Melanie Goodfellow
- Deadline Film + TV
Exclusive: Annette Bening is joining Maggie Gyllenhaal’s Frankenstein lore feature at Warner Bros; the studio making it official that this is a go-project. Cameras roll in Q1. This package with its attachments has been out there since it was at Netflix, and the deals have finally closed with everyone. Jessie Buckley is the star of the movie which follows Frankenstein’s pursuit of love.
There’s already been word out there about the cast, including Buckley, and it’s a murderers’ row with Christian Bale, Penélope Cruz, and Peter Sarsgaard. Bale and Buckley have been circling this project well before the strikes.
Logline: A lonely Frankenstein travels to 1930s Chicago to seek the aide of a Dr. Euphronius in creating a companion for himself. The two reinvigorate a murdered young woman and the Bride is born. She is beyond what either of them intended, igniting a combustible romance, the...
There’s already been word out there about the cast, including Buckley, and it’s a murderers’ row with Christian Bale, Penélope Cruz, and Peter Sarsgaard. Bale and Buckley have been circling this project well before the strikes.
Logline: A lonely Frankenstein travels to 1930s Chicago to seek the aide of a Dr. Euphronius in creating a companion for himself. The two reinvigorate a murdered young woman and the Bride is born. She is beyond what either of them intended, igniting a combustible romance, the...
- 1/12/2024
- by Anthony D'Alessandro
- Deadline Film + TV
After skipping Venice due to the actors’ strike, a busy Willem Dafoe is back on the festival trail, attending the 20th edition of the Marrakech Film Festival with his wife, filmmaker and actor Giada Colagrande. He spoke to Variety about his ties to Morocco, why he’s “happy to be promoting and starting to work again” now that the strike is over, and his role in Tim Burton’s upcoming “Beetlejuice 2.”
How does it feel to be back in Marrakech?
I’m happy to be back. Morocco for me is “The Last Temptation of Christ,” a film that was a beautiful experience. And I loved shooting it because it demanded a lot of me and it was really full on. And it was very in the nature of Morocco. And we were working with an incredible Moroccan crew. So that’s my association. I’ve always heard Marrakech was...
How does it feel to be back in Marrakech?
I’m happy to be back. Morocco for me is “The Last Temptation of Christ,” a film that was a beautiful experience. And I loved shooting it because it demanded a lot of me and it was really full on. And it was very in the nature of Morocco. And we were working with an incredible Moroccan crew. So that’s my association. I’ve always heard Marrakech was...
- 11/26/2023
- by Nick Vivarelli
- Variety Film + TV
Victor Erice’s “Close Your Eyes” won best film at the 17th edition of Leffest Lisboa Film Festival, which announced awards Saturday night.
Marking Erice’s first feature film since his 1992 docudrama “The Quince Tree Sun” and garnering almost universal positive reviews – Variety called it “an aching ode to film, time and memory” – following its world premiere at Cannes, “Close Your Eyes” has screened at Toronto, Busan, BFI London and New York.
During Leffest, in a session moderated by Paulo Branco, 83-year old Erice took part in a conversation with preeminent 64-year old Portuguese helmer, Pedro Costa, whose short “The Daughters of Fire,” was a Cannes Special Screening and also had its Portuguese premiere at the fest.
Erice remarked during the event, one fest highlight, that both he and Costa are working in the shadow of two great filmmakers – “Don Luis Buñuel” and “Don Manoel de Oliveira” – and he added...
Marking Erice’s first feature film since his 1992 docudrama “The Quince Tree Sun” and garnering almost universal positive reviews – Variety called it “an aching ode to film, time and memory” – following its world premiere at Cannes, “Close Your Eyes” has screened at Toronto, Busan, BFI London and New York.
During Leffest, in a session moderated by Paulo Branco, 83-year old Erice took part in a conversation with preeminent 64-year old Portuguese helmer, Pedro Costa, whose short “The Daughters of Fire,” was a Cannes Special Screening and also had its Portuguese premiere at the fest.
Erice remarked during the event, one fest highlight, that both he and Costa are working in the shadow of two great filmmakers – “Don Luis Buñuel” and “Don Manoel de Oliveira” – and he added...
- 11/19/2023
- by Martin Dale
- Variety Film + TV
Julian Schnabel is in Italy on the set of his star-studded crime mystery “In the Hand of Dante,” for which he and Louise Kugelberg, his wife and close creative collaborator, have been narratively and literally criss-crossing between the 14th and 21st centuries in locations including Sicily, Venice, Verona and Rome.
Besides the film’s previously announced leads — Oscar Isaac, Gal Gadot, Jason Momoa and Gerard Butler — “Hand of Dante” will also see British musician and actor Benjamin Clementine (“Dune”) playing a quintessentially demonic character who seesaws between past and present. Clementine also contributes to the film’s score. Other A-list recruits comprise John Malkovich, Al Pacino and Louis Cancelmi (“Killers of the Flower Moon”) who plays both a present-day hitman named Lefty and nobleman Guido da Polenta, who was Dante’s benefactor.
Julian Schnabel, speaking to Variety on a spectacular Rome set – a palatial villa on a hill overlooking the...
Besides the film’s previously announced leads — Oscar Isaac, Gal Gadot, Jason Momoa and Gerard Butler — “Hand of Dante” will also see British musician and actor Benjamin Clementine (“Dune”) playing a quintessentially demonic character who seesaws between past and present. Clementine also contributes to the film’s score. Other A-list recruits comprise John Malkovich, Al Pacino and Louis Cancelmi (“Killers of the Flower Moon”) who plays both a present-day hitman named Lefty and nobleman Guido da Polenta, who was Dante’s benefactor.
Julian Schnabel, speaking to Variety on a spectacular Rome set – a palatial villa on a hill overlooking the...
- 11/17/2023
- by Nick Vivarelli
- Variety Film + TV
With SAG-AFTRA and the AMPTP reaching a tentative agreement on a new contract, our industry’s biggest stars, previously forbidden from participating in the promotion of movies distributed and made by struck studios and streamers, are finally joining the party.
The timing couldn’t have been better for Poland’s EnergaCamerimage Film Festival, which opened last night, and one of the buzzy names here on the ground in Torun is Willem Dafoe, who has stepped out to promote Poor Things, his wacky, darkly comic Golden Lion winner from Greek auteur Yorgos Lanthimos.
“I assume things will just go back to the way they were, but the terms will be different,” Dafoe told Deadline when quizzed on how he thinks the prolonged strike might shape the industry’s future, adding he didn’t hold all the details of the negotiations.
“I’m a worker bee. I work a lot. And I...
The timing couldn’t have been better for Poland’s EnergaCamerimage Film Festival, which opened last night, and one of the buzzy names here on the ground in Torun is Willem Dafoe, who has stepped out to promote Poor Things, his wacky, darkly comic Golden Lion winner from Greek auteur Yorgos Lanthimos.
“I assume things will just go back to the way they were, but the terms will be different,” Dafoe told Deadline when quizzed on how he thinks the prolonged strike might shape the industry’s future, adding he didn’t hold all the details of the negotiations.
“I’m a worker bee. I work a lot. And I...
- 11/12/2023
- by Zac Ntim
- Deadline Film + TV
Chicago – The director debut is the flourishing element of any film festival, and the Chicago International Film Festival (Ciff) has always been a nurturing place for the latest cinema talent. “Pet Shop Days” is the debut of director and co-writer Olmo Schnabel, and screened at the 59th Ciff. The film continues on the fest circuit, as its currently at the Montclair (New Jersey) Film Festival.
When Alejandro (Dario Yazbek Bernal) flees Mexico after an impulsive act of violence, he lands in New York City on a mission to live life on his own terms. After befriending Jack (Jack Irv), who spends his days and nights getting high and sleeping with whomever he wants, the pair embark down a rabbit hole of vice, coming together and breaking apart … with a magnetic and obsessive attraction that will change their lives forever. Like an impulsive Butch and Sundance, the journey of the duo leads to an inevitable destination.
When Alejandro (Dario Yazbek Bernal) flees Mexico after an impulsive act of violence, he lands in New York City on a mission to live life on his own terms. After befriending Jack (Jack Irv), who spends his days and nights getting high and sleeping with whomever he wants, the pair embark down a rabbit hole of vice, coming together and breaking apart … with a magnetic and obsessive attraction that will change their lives forever. Like an impulsive Butch and Sundance, the journey of the duo leads to an inevitable destination.
- 10/28/2023
- by adam@hollywoodchicago.com (Adam Fendelman)
- HollywoodChicago.com
Exclusive: Darío Yazbek Bernal, star of the hit Netflix series La Casa De Las Flores, has signed with Gersh.
Besides La Casa De Las Flores, he was most recently seen opposite Willem Dafoe in Olmo Schnabel’s Pet Shop Days, which earned rave reviews when it premiered at this year’s Venice Film Festival.
He can be seen as a series lead in the Apple show, Now and Then. He also starred in the Neon feature New Order for director Michel Franco, which won the Grand Jury Prize at Venice Film Festival in 2020.
He also starred in a lead role in the Netflix miniseries, The Search. Other noteworthy credits include Daniel and Ana and Los Paisajes.
He is repped by Anonymous Content.
Besides La Casa De Las Flores, he was most recently seen opposite Willem Dafoe in Olmo Schnabel’s Pet Shop Days, which earned rave reviews when it premiered at this year’s Venice Film Festival.
He can be seen as a series lead in the Apple show, Now and Then. He also starred in the Neon feature New Order for director Michel Franco, which won the Grand Jury Prize at Venice Film Festival in 2020.
He also starred in a lead role in the Netflix miniseries, The Search. Other noteworthy credits include Daniel and Ana and Los Paisajes.
He is repped by Anonymous Content.
- 10/23/2023
- by Justin Kroll
- Deadline Film + TV
Chicago – That’s a wrap! The 59th Chicago International Film Festival (Ciff) Closing Night is October 22nd, 2023, with “The Bikeriders,” which is set in Chicago and directed by Jeff Nichols, who will make an appearance on behalf of the film. Click Closing for info and tickets.
“The Bikeriders” is an immersive experience into the look, feel, and sounds of the subculture of ’60s motorcycle riders. Kathy (Jodie Comer), a strong-willed member of the Vandals who’s married to a wild, reckless bikerider named Benny (Austin Butler of “Elvis”), recounts the Vandals’ evolution over the course of a decade, beginning as a local club of outsiders united by good times, rumbling bikes, and respect for their strong, steady leader Johnny (Tom Hardy).
Closing Night Film of the 59th Ciff is ‘The Bikeriders’
Photo credit: Chicago International Film Festival
On the Closing Night of a magnificent 11 Days, a reminder of the presenting...
“The Bikeriders” is an immersive experience into the look, feel, and sounds of the subculture of ’60s motorcycle riders. Kathy (Jodie Comer), a strong-willed member of the Vandals who’s married to a wild, reckless bikerider named Benny (Austin Butler of “Elvis”), recounts the Vandals’ evolution over the course of a decade, beginning as a local club of outsiders united by good times, rumbling bikes, and respect for their strong, steady leader Johnny (Tom Hardy).
Closing Night Film of the 59th Ciff is ‘The Bikeriders’
Photo credit: Chicago International Film Festival
On the Closing Night of a magnificent 11 Days, a reminder of the presenting...
- 10/22/2023
- by adam@hollywoodchicago.com (Adam Fendelman)
- HollywoodChicago.com
Willem Dafoe thinks something “radical” like an industry “collapse” is possible if the negotiations between SAG-AFTRA and the AMPTP don’t get resolved.
The Poor Things and Pet Shop Days star spoke to Vanity Fair for a story published Monday promoting the new Patricia Arquette-directed Gonzo Girl, which was granted a SAG-AFTRA interim agreement and held its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival. During the conversation, Dafoe opened up about the experience of having four films running during the fall film festival season but only being able to promote one due to the ongoing actors strike, which began July 14 after the AMPTP and SAG-AFTRA did not reach an agreement.
“To be in Venice with three films and not be able to go broke my heart. But then I thought, ‘Is it just because you want to have a good time?’ I live in Italy, and it’s exciting to see friends,...
The Poor Things and Pet Shop Days star spoke to Vanity Fair for a story published Monday promoting the new Patricia Arquette-directed Gonzo Girl, which was granted a SAG-AFTRA interim agreement and held its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival. During the conversation, Dafoe opened up about the experience of having four films running during the fall film festival season but only being able to promote one due to the ongoing actors strike, which began July 14 after the AMPTP and SAG-AFTRA did not reach an agreement.
“To be in Venice with three films and not be able to go broke my heart. But then I thought, ‘Is it just because you want to have a good time?’ I live in Italy, and it’s exciting to see friends,...
- 9/12/2023
- by Abbey White
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Willem Dafoe had Fomo on the fall festival circuit.
The star of Venice’s Golden Lion winner “Poor Things” led four films between Venice, Telluride, and TIFF but TIFF-premiering “Gonzo Girl” is the only film with a SAG-AFTRA strike waiver that allows for Dafoe to promote it; hence, TIFF is the only festival the actor was in attendance for.
Dafoe told Vanity Fair that it “broke” his heart to not be present for the premieres of all the respective films, including “Poor Things,” “Pet Shop Days,” and “Finally Dawn.”
“To be in Venice with three films and not be able to go broke my heart,” Dafoe said. “But then I thought, ‘Is it just because you want to have a good time?’ I live in Italy and it’s exciting to see friends, it’s exciting to dress up. ‘Does the film fly or not in real time?’ That’s fun.
The star of Venice’s Golden Lion winner “Poor Things” led four films between Venice, Telluride, and TIFF but TIFF-premiering “Gonzo Girl” is the only film with a SAG-AFTRA strike waiver that allows for Dafoe to promote it; hence, TIFF is the only festival the actor was in attendance for.
Dafoe told Vanity Fair that it “broke” his heart to not be present for the premieres of all the respective films, including “Poor Things,” “Pet Shop Days,” and “Finally Dawn.”
“To be in Venice with three films and not be able to go broke my heart,” Dafoe said. “But then I thought, ‘Is it just because you want to have a good time?’ I live in Italy and it’s exciting to see friends, it’s exciting to dress up. ‘Does the film fly or not in real time?’ That’s fun.
- 9/11/2023
- by Samantha Bergeson
- Indiewire
There is a grand tradition of messy but glorious films about couples who bring out the crazy in one another and end up doing all manner of bad stuff. Sadly, Pet Shop Days, a directorial debut for writer-producer Olmo Schnabel (son of Julian Schnabel), is just messy and never glorious.
Even with the built-in advantage of Willem Dafoe and Emmanuelle Seigner taking major roles (neither at their best), cameos from Peter Sarsgaard and Maribel Verdu, and a mass list of executive producers who should have known better (including Michel Franco and Martin Scorsese), this poorly paced crime drama is afflicted with terrible dialogue and weak lead performances from Jack Irv (also a co-screenwriter, along with Schnabel and Galen Core) and Dario Yazbek Bernal as two repellent, entitled brats in love.
The opening sequence introduces us to Alejandro (Dario Yazbek Bernal, half brother of Gael Garcia Bernal), a young man in his 20s,...
Even with the built-in advantage of Willem Dafoe and Emmanuelle Seigner taking major roles (neither at their best), cameos from Peter Sarsgaard and Maribel Verdu, and a mass list of executive producers who should have known better (including Michel Franco and Martin Scorsese), this poorly paced crime drama is afflicted with terrible dialogue and weak lead performances from Jack Irv (also a co-screenwriter, along with Schnabel and Galen Core) and Dario Yazbek Bernal as two repellent, entitled brats in love.
The opening sequence introduces us to Alejandro (Dario Yazbek Bernal, half brother of Gael Garcia Bernal), a young man in his 20s,...
- 9/10/2023
- by Leslie Felperin
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
From the mind of Olmo Schnabel — yes, he’s the son of artist and filmmaker Julian Schnabel — comes one of the most frustrating protagonists to grace an indie film screen this year. The impulsive black sheep of his family, Alejandro is played in the queer romance “Pet Shop Days” by Dario Yazbek Bernal. And if your nepo baby light wasn’t already blinking at the name Schnabel, Dario Yazbek Bernal is also the brother of Gael García Bernal.
After almost killing his mother in a car accident, Alejandro flees the scene of his mobster family’s moneyed party, thrashing his way through the lives of everyone else he encounters in the aftermath while on the run. That includes Jack (Jack Irv), a pet shop worker in crisis with his dying mother (Emmanuelle Seigner) and philandering father (Willem Dafoe), with whom he lives in a pricy Manhattan penthouse. Jack and Alejandro...
After almost killing his mother in a car accident, Alejandro flees the scene of his mobster family’s moneyed party, thrashing his way through the lives of everyone else he encounters in the aftermath while on the run. That includes Jack (Jack Irv), a pet shop worker in crisis with his dying mother (Emmanuelle Seigner) and philandering father (Willem Dafoe), with whom he lives in a pricy Manhattan penthouse. Jack and Alejandro...
- 9/8/2023
- by Ryan Lattanzio
- Indiewire
A scrappy urban tale of misspent young adulthood, Olmo Schnabel’s “Pet Shop Days” evokes the blown-out, stolen-shot 16mm character studies of 1990s independent cinema, as well as the bohemian oeuvre of painter and filmmaker Julian Schnabel, his father. This isn’t attributable merely to the fact that the younger Schnabel includes a scene in which his characters watch Julian’s 1996 “Basquiat,” whose themes and aloof tone — not to mention the events of Jean-Michel Basquiat’s actual life — would seem an obvious inspiration for his first feature. But in a contemporary absence of true New York stories told by filmmakers with seemingly more moxie than money, newcomer Schnabel distinguishes himself with a debut that feels tactile, real and suitably off-putting as he attempts to capture the sensibilities (if not always common sense) of twentysomethings.
Dario Yazbek Bernal (of Netflix’s “House of Flowers”) plays Alejandro, a spoiled, rebellious young adult...
Dario Yazbek Bernal (of Netflix’s “House of Flowers”) plays Alejandro, a spoiled, rebellious young adult...
- 9/3/2023
- by Todd Gilchrist
- Variety Film + TV
Of the many directors to emerge during indie cinema’s heyday in the 90s, Harmony Korine probably remains the most iconoclastic. It’s not an understatement to say that his script for Larry Clark’s Kids, which he penned at age 18, is the most conventional thing in his whole filmography. Everything since — from his irreverent feature debut Gummo (which The New York Times deemed “the worst film of the year”) to the Dogme 95-certified Julien Donkey-Boy to his Jackass-like Trash Humpers to the tripped-out Florida-set heist flick Spring Breakers and bizarro Matthew McConaughey vehicle The Beach Bum — has been an experiment of one kind or another.
But the 80-minute assassin movie Aggro DR1FT (all caps, one digit) is something else entirely. In fact, it’s not really a movie at all, but more like a cross between a movie, a video game and a flow of hallucinatory images that could...
But the 80-minute assassin movie Aggro DR1FT (all caps, one digit) is something else entirely. In fact, it’s not really a movie at all, but more like a cross between a movie, a video game and a flow of hallucinatory images that could...
- 9/2/2023
- by Jordan Mintzer
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
The 80th Venice Film Festival gets underway in earnest Wednesday and the landmark edition will be unlike any other, taking place as it does against the backdrop of two Hollywood strikes.
The build-up to the festival has been dominated by talk of which stars will make it to the event and which will stay at home. It hasn’t been as challenging for organizers as the Covid editions, but it’s surely up there in recent memory.
As we revealed Friday, the outlook for U.S. celebrity attendance is patchy, with a handful of big names set to appear and do the usual press obligations. Others have decided to stay away to avoid the accusation of strike breaking or simply “bad optics.” Expect media to be dominated by strike talk, especially on any American films.
Despite initial anxiety about...
The build-up to the festival has been dominated by talk of which stars will make it to the event and which will stay at home. It hasn’t been as challenging for organizers as the Covid editions, but it’s surely up there in recent memory.
As we revealed Friday, the outlook for U.S. celebrity attendance is patchy, with a handful of big names set to appear and do the usual press obligations. Others have decided to stay away to avoid the accusation of strike breaking or simply “bad optics.” Expect media to be dominated by strike talk, especially on any American films.
Despite initial anxiety about...
- 8/30/2023
- by Andreas Wiseman and Nancy Tartaglione
- Deadline Film + TV
With no official film market and a more laid-back attitude than Cannes, Berlin or Toronto, Venice has never been the go-to festival for movie deals.
But opportunistic buyers could spot a bargain this year, as many of the hottest titles arrive at the Lido without major distribution in place.
Just ahead of Venice, Sideshow and Janus Films picked up domestic rights to Ryûsuke Hamaguchi’s Drive My Car follow-up Evil Does Not Exist, and Mubi snatched up Sophia Coppola’s Priscilla, an A24 release in the U.S., for several markets, including the U.K., Germany, Latin America and Turkey.
Here are some of the other prime targets for dealmakers in the 2023 Venice Film Festival lineup.
Aggro Dr1ft
Director Harmony Korine
Stars Travis Scott, Jordi Molla
Buzz Another slice of extreme avant-guard from Spring Beakers and Trash Humpers director Harmony Korine, this experimental action film — shot entirely in infrared...
But opportunistic buyers could spot a bargain this year, as many of the hottest titles arrive at the Lido without major distribution in place.
Just ahead of Venice, Sideshow and Janus Films picked up domestic rights to Ryûsuke Hamaguchi’s Drive My Car follow-up Evil Does Not Exist, and Mubi snatched up Sophia Coppola’s Priscilla, an A24 release in the U.S., for several markets, including the U.K., Germany, Latin America and Turkey.
Here are some of the other prime targets for dealmakers in the 2023 Venice Film Festival lineup.
Aggro Dr1ft
Director Harmony Korine
Stars Travis Scott, Jordi Molla
Buzz Another slice of extreme avant-guard from Spring Beakers and Trash Humpers director Harmony Korine, this experimental action film — shot entirely in infrared...
- 8/30/2023
- by Scott Roxborough
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Sex, crime and fish tanks converge in the officially titled “Pet Shop Days,” Olmo Schnabel’s directorial debut which will play at this year’s Venice Film Festival.
Variety has an exclusive first look at the project starring Jack Irv, Dario Yazbek Bernal and Willem Dafoe. Schnabel, son of Oscar nominated director Julian Schnabel, tells the story of two young men falling down a rabbit hole of rebellious desire – one running from a traumatic incident and a bitter authoritarian father, the other a privileged drifter in search of himself.
Irv and Bernal take the leads, hustling their way through a punishing city. Dafoe, Peter Sarsgaard and Emmanuelle Seigner are just a few of the hapless adults caught in their web.
“This is the perfect New York story in that anything can happen,” Schnabel said. “That’s how it was growing up. You meet a complete stranger, you’re enamored or infatuated with them,...
Variety has an exclusive first look at the project starring Jack Irv, Dario Yazbek Bernal and Willem Dafoe. Schnabel, son of Oscar nominated director Julian Schnabel, tells the story of two young men falling down a rabbit hole of rebellious desire – one running from a traumatic incident and a bitter authoritarian father, the other a privileged drifter in search of himself.
Irv and Bernal take the leads, hustling their way through a punishing city. Dafoe, Peter Sarsgaard and Emmanuelle Seigner are just a few of the hapless adults caught in their web.
“This is the perfect New York story in that anything can happen,” Schnabel said. “That’s how it was growing up. You meet a complete stranger, you’re enamored or infatuated with them,...
- 8/17/2023
- by Matt Donnelly
- Variety Film + TV
La BêteCOMPETITIONComandante (Edoardo De Angelis)The Promised Land (Nikolaj Arcel)Dogman (Luc Besson) La Bête (Bertrand Bonello) Hors-Saison (Stéphane Brizé) Enea (Pietro Castellitto) Maestro (Bradley Cooper)Priscilla (Sofia Coppola)Finalmente L’Alba (Saverio Costanzo)Lubo (Giorgio Diritti) Origin (Ava DuVernay) The Killer (David Fincher)Memory (Michel Franco)Io capitano (Matteo Garrone)Evil Does Not Exist (Ryûsuke Hamaguchi)The Green Border (Agnieszka Holland)The Theory of Everything (Timm Kröger)Poor Things (Yorgos Lanthimos)El conde (Pablo Larrain)Ferrari (Michael Mann)Adagio (Stefano Sollima)Woman OfHolly (Fien Troch)Out Of COMPETITIONFictionSociety of the Snow (J.A. Bayona)Coup de Chance (Woody Allen)The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar (Wes Anderson)The Penitent (Luca Barbareschi)L’Ordine Del Tempo (Liliana Cavani)Vivants (Alix Delaporte)Welcome to Paradise (Leonardo di Constanzo)Daaaaaali! (Quentin Dupieux)The Caine Mutiny Court-Martial (William Friedkin)Making of (Cedric Kahn)Aggro Dr1ft (Harmony Korine)Hitman (Richard Linklater)The Palace (Roman Polanski...
- 7/29/2023
- MUBI
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