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Hulu’s adaptation of Little Fires Everywhere premiered at the very beginning of the 2020 Covid lockdown, and although it was nominated for several big Emmys that fall, the miniseries has become very fuzzy in my memory. One thing I do remember, however, is that in selecting the daughters of Reese Witherspoon’s character, the casting team found a pair of young actresses — Jade Pettyjohn and Megan Stott — who absolutely bore an uncanny resemblance to Reese Witherspoon.

Actually, I’d forgotten even that detail before sitting down to watch the new Netflix drama Penelope and immediately recognizing Stott — in large part because, if you’re going to make what is essentially an eight-part YA version of Wild, selecting a certifiable Reese Witherspoon doppelgänger as your lead makes a lot of sense.

Presumably, it isn’t wholly a coincidence. Penelope was created by Mark Duplass, who co-stars with Witherspoon on The Morning Show,...

Seven years after coming up short on their respective first and second Best TV Movie/Limited Series Directing Emmy bids against Jean-Marc Vallée (“Big Little Lies”), Steven Zaillian and Noah Hawley are involved in a rematch as helmers of the non-continuing programs “Ripley” and “Fargo.” Despite the quality of their new work and their strong Emmys resumes, they are widely expected to once again be bested by a complete first-timer: Weronika Tofilska (“Baby Reindeer”).

Tofilska is joined in this directing lineup’s category newcomer majority by Issa López (“True Detective”), Millicent Shelton (“Lessons in Chemistry”), and Gus Van Sant (“Feud”). Counting Zaillian and Hawley, Shelton is the only one in the bunch who has ever earned TV academy recognition for directing a non-limited series, as her very first bid came for “30 Rock” in 2009.

In order to determine whether this is truly Tofilska’s race to lose, let’s take...

More than four years since her passing in 2020, and filmmaker Lynn Shelton continues to leave a characteristically positive mark on the indie filmmaking community. Now in its fifth year, the Lynn Shelton “Of a Certain Age” grant is now seeking applicants for its latest iteration.

The grant awards $25,000 to a U.S.-based woman, non-binary, or transgender filmmaker, age 39 or older, who has yet to direct a narrative feature. Similar to the previous iterations, the grant will be a national open call, and seeks to recognize a film director for their distinct vision, storytelling, and singularity. Previous recipients include Erica Tremblay, who has said the grant was integral to the development of her debut feature, the lauded “Fancy Dance,” and most recent winner, Mirta Desir, who is in active development on her own first feature now.

“The Lynn Shelton ‘Of a Certain Age’ Grant is an amazing source of support...

Exclusive: Sony Pictures International Productions and Mucho Mas Media are in development on The Pet Nup, an original rom-com to be directed by Elaine del Valle (Midnight Hustle). Cast for the pic will include Emeraude Toubia (With Love), Gregg Sulkin (Runaways), Halston Sage (Dark Phoenix) and Emmy winner Jaime Pressly (My Name Is Earl).

Scripted by Tate Hanyok (Sex Appeal), the film’s logline is as follows: While a recently divorced couple navigates new life and love apart, the arrangement in their “Pet-Nup” forces them to extremes as they fight for custody of the one thing in their life that can’t be split in two: their dog.

Javier Chapa will produce for Mucho Mas Media (The Long Game). Phillip Braun will exec produce for Mucho Mas, along with Sherrese Clarke Soares for Harbourview Equity.

Previously starring in Gloria Calderón Kellett’s Prime Video series With Love and Freeform’s Shadowhunters,...

The late Treat Williams received a posthumous nomination for best supporting actor at the 2024 Emmys for his role in Feud: Capote vs. The Swans.

Williams died after a motorcycle accident on June 12, 2023. He was 71 years old. His Emmy nomination for a limited or anthology series comes after the final curtain call for his role as CBS head Bill Paley in the second season of Feud.

At the time of this death, 20th Century TV and FX said in a statement: “Treat Williams leaves behind a legacy of remarkable performances in film and television, and an indelible mark on the entire industry. All who were fortunate enough to work with Treat over his four-decade career would agree that his incredible talent was matched only by his utter kindness. He was a friend and inspiration to many, and he will be deeply missed by his colleagues. Our hearts go out to his family during this time.

Erica Tremblay, the Native American filmmaker who made her directorial debut with the Sundance title Fancy Dance, starring Lily Gladstone of Killers of the Flower Moon fame, has signed with CAA for representation.

The filmmaker, from the Seneca-Cayuga Nation, worked on FX series Reservation Dogs as a writer and director. Tremblay saw Fancy Dance, after a year’s delay, get picked up by Apple Original Films after its Sundance premiere and ahead of a release in theaters and on Apple TV+ later this year.

Set in northeastern Oklahoma’s Indian Country, Fancy Dance is based on Tremblay’s original screenplay co-written with Miciana Alise and centers on a young woman’s disappearance from a reservation and her family’s urgent attempts to locate her.

In Nov. 2023, Tremblay and Alise co-wrote a guest column for The Hollywood Reporter talking about the film’s struggle to find distribution. “Our film premiered in...

With Penelope, Mel Eslyn, director of last year’s Biosphere and a producer who has worked with the Duplass brothers and Lynn Shelton, enters the world of episodic series. The series follows a 16-year-old girl who, feeling out of place in the world, ventures into the wilderness. Penelope will screen as part of Sundance’s Episodic Pilot Showcase. Below, editor Celia Beasley discusses the importance of Washington state’s indie film community and how the series reignited her love of the outdoors. See all responses to our annual Sundance editor questionnaire here. Filmmaker: How and why did you wind up being the editor of your film? […]

The post “I Hope Watching Her Will Spark That Curiosity in All of Us”: Editor Celia Beasley on Penelope first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.

With Penelope, Mel Eslyn, director of last year’s Biosphere and a producer who has worked with the Duplass brothers and Lynn Shelton, enters the world of episodic series. The series follows a 16-year-old girl who, feeling out of place in the world, ventures into the wilderness. Penelope will screen as part of Sundance’s Episodic Pilot Showcase. Below, editor Celia Beasley discusses the importance of Washington state’s indie film community and how the series reignited her love of the outdoors. See all responses to our annual Sundance editor questionnaire here. Filmmaker: How and why did you wind up being the editor of your film? […]

The post “I Hope Watching Her Will Spark That Curiosity in All of Us”: Editor Celia Beasley on Penelope first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.

The symbiotic relationship between Mel Eslyn and Mark Duplass is akin to the dynamic between Mario and Luigi – each vital to the other’s existence. This comedic duo, along with other members of their closely-knit extended family, notably the iconic Lynn Shelton (whom we lost in 2020), has been a cornerstone of the American indie scene for over a decade. With a prolific output, they have collectively shaped the landscape. Now, the cheerleader pom-poms have shifted into Mark’s hands, as it was Mel Eslyn’s turn to step behind the camera for her feature film debut. Notably, Biosphere was made a surprise, last-minute addition at TIFF, and the decision to keep the details of its unraveling a secret only adds to its intrigue.…...

The Northwest Film Forum has announced Mirta Desir as the awardee of its fourth annual Lynn Shelton “Of a Certain Age” grant.

Desir, a Haitian American, is producing her first narrative feature film “Angie.” She will receive an unrestricted award of $25,000 to support the making of her film, which she describes as a “love letter to Latin American artists and Haitians’ oral history — a marriage of human drama and the power of Voudou.” For Desir, the grant was “an amazing source of support for women filmmakers.”

“‘Angie’ is a story that I am compelled to tell. It is based on two things: Haiti’s historical interconnectedness with Voudou and my love for my younger sister, who died too young,” Desir said. “Through the lens of magical realism, ‘Angie’ explores the bond between sisters and its power to overcome the worst of circumstances. This grant is appreciated during this development phase...

Ray Liotta’s performances live on, as the late actor received a posthumous 2023 Emmy nomination for his role in Apple TV+’s Black Bird drama.

Liotta, best known for his turn as hustler-turned-mob rat Henry Hill in Martin Scorsese’s Goodfellas, died on May 26, 2022. He was 67 years old at the time.

On Wednesday, Liotta received his posthumous Emmy nomination in the best supporting actor in a limited or anthology series or movie category for one of his final roles in the limited TV series for Apple Studios, where he played ex-cop Big Jim Keene.

Liotta’s daughter, Karsen, in a statement welcomed the posthumous recognition of her late father for one of his final roles. “I am so grateful to the members of the Television Academy for honoring my Dad with this nomination. He was so incredibly proud of his performance in Black Bird, and it would mean the world...

Marc Maron’s recent HBO standup special “From Bleak to Dark,” yes, touches on subjects that might be considered bleak and dark. But of course, it’s much more than that. Sure, Maron opens the special by pointing out that society seems to be on a collision course with disaster, and there’s little that can be done about it. But, as the comedian, actor and podcaster tells Variety‘s Awards Circuit Podcast, he’s just being a realist.

“There’s a truth to it,” he says. “And I think that the first 15 or 20 minutes of that special addresses a lot of things in in a fairly broad way, because I wanted it to have some longevity. The negative things I talk about aren’t going anywhere. But also framing the special like that, like ‘I don’t want to be negative, I don’t think anything’s ever gonna get better ever again,...

The road to HBO’s Marc Maron: From Bleak to Dark began during the pandemic, when the comedian began to share his grief with fans via instagram. The longtime comedian and podcaster was broadsided with the sudden death of his girlfriend, Lynn Shelton, and he needed a place to vent.

“It was a way to stay in touch with some sort of audience or community,” Maron recalled during Saturday’s Contenders TV event. “One hundred to 1,000 would watch every day as I moved through breakfast and grief. It was crazy.”

Eventually, Maron developed two years of material that addressed aging, antisemitism and, most important, grief. “It’s not talked about enough,” he said of grief, which he began to talk about in small venues. “Everybody is going to experience it at some point. Grief is always going to be there.”

And now, Maron calls From Bleak to Dark — his ​first HBO comedy special,...

There are lots of ways to pitch If You Were the Last. How about “Michel Gondry remakes When Harry Met Sally — in space!” Who wouldn’t want to see that? But for all the ingenious hot takes one can dream up for Kristian Mercado’s ambitious feature-length debut, there’s no escaping the fact that it’s less than the sum of its parts. To be brutal, although it does, for an hour at least, cast a spell, raise interesting metaphysical questions, and center on an odd couple who, for once, actually don’t seem like they’ll get together and then totally convince us when they do — it doesn’t really pass muster as a movie at all.

Which is surprising, because character-based, low-budget sci-fi indies set in the howling existential wilderness of deep space do have a history of working against the odds, like John Carpenter’s blackly...

The special: "Marc Maron: From Bleak to Dark"

Where you can stream it: HBO Max

The pitch: Many people use comedy as a means of survival, a way of relating the absurdity of life to help keep from falling prey to despair. There's been a lot to despair about the past few years, from a pandemic to rising antisemitism, transphobia, and racial violence, and the ever-present threat of climate change, but comedian Marc Maron has the answers. He doesn't want to sell you anything, and he doesn't really ask for much, just a bit of critical thinking, basic empathy, and the ability to laugh at some seriously dark jokes. Maron's humor has always been pretty dark but "From Bleak to Dark" takes him to new heights (or depths, I suppose).

"From Bleak to Dark" sees the stand-up comedian tackle topics like dealing with his father's dementia, "anti-woke" comedians, and grieving...

Welcome back to my very irregularly scheduled podcast Deep Focus, where I, Playlist.net Editor-in-Chief Rodrigo Perez, talk long or long-ish with different filmmakers, directors, writers, and actors. Today, my guest is none other than comedian/actor and podcaster extraordinaire Marc Maron. Maron has a new HBO special out, available now on HBO Max, called “Marc Maron: From Bleak To Dark.”

I’ve been deeply under the weather, so let me apologize upfront for this pod being so delayed.

Continue reading Marc Maron Talks HBO Special From ‘Bleak To Dark,’ Lynn Shelton & “The Evolving Capacity For Empathy” at The Playlist.

Marc Maron might be one of the most famous podcasters in the world, but let’s not forget he cut his teeth and made his career in stand-up. His terrific new HBO Original stand-up comedy special “Marc Maron: From Bleak To Dark” debuted this past weekend and is now available to stream on HBO Max. The special is funny, insightful, and empathetic, and also cuts to the core of today’s political discourse—Maron has had it with the conspiracy theorists, the Qanon heads, the wackos, and the galaxy brain thinkers, and he takes them all to task.

Continue reading Marc Maron Shares Details On The “Bleak” Script He Co-Wrote With Lynn Shelton & Says He’s Still Considering Making It at The Playlist.

Sundance 2023: ‘Fancy Dance’ Directed by Erica Tremblay

U.S. Dramatic Competition

This is a perfect Sundance film. Regional, authentically true to its roots, it also sounds great, from the Cherokee conversation spoken with total ease and subtitled for English speaking non-Cherokees to the beat of the drum and the music accompanying our two protagonists as they seek their sister and mother.

Since her sister’s disappearance, Jax (Lily Gladstone) has cared for her niece Roki (the luminous Isabel Deroy-Olson) by scraping by on the Seneca-Cayuga Reservation in Oklahoma. Every spare minute goes into finding her missing sister while also helping Roki prepare for an upcoming powwow. At the risk of losing custody to Jax’s father, Frank (Shea Whigham), the pair hit the road and scour the backcountry to track down Roki’s mother in time for the powwow. What begins as a search gradually turns into a far deeper investigation into the complexities and contradictions of Indigenous women moving through a colonized world and at the mercy of a failed justice system.

Jax (Lily Gladstone) and Roki (Isabel Deroy-Olson)

This debut fiction feature demonstrates the talent of Erica Tremblay, an American writer and director from the Seneca-Cayuga Nation. We cast a new eye upon the land and the characters who make up the Cherokee nation. (It was filmed and supported by the Cherokee nation. Erica Tremblay recently worked as an executive story editor on Reservation Dogs at FX, where she directed her 1st TV episode. Together with Sterlin Harjo, she developed a series adaptation of the Pulitzer Prize finalist Yellowbird (2014) for Paramount+. She was an executive story editor on Dark Winds (2022), produced by George R.R. Martin and Robert Redford. Her feature project Fancy Dance (2023) was accepted into the 2021 Sundance Directors and Screenwriters Labs. In 2021, she was awarded the Walter Bernstein Screenwriting Fellowship, the Maja Kristin Directing Fellowship, the Sffilm Rainin Grant and the Lynn Shelton of a Certain Age Grant. Her short film Little Chief (2020) premiered at the 2020 Sundance Film Festival and was included on IndieWire’s top-10 list of must-see short films at the festival. In addition to writing and directing, she’s also studying her indigenous language.

Director Erica Tremblay

As the sister and her niece make their way through their journey, the harshness of Jax and the kleptomania of Roki transform into understandable traits, especially for Roki who sees shoplifting as a normal adaptation to being constantly short of money. As for Jax, her dykish behavior which elicits disrespect from some men is a shield for her which hides her totally unconditional dedication to family, except when calling her brother, the sheriff, negligent and uncaring about tracking down their sister who has gone missing.

Tremblay’s unflinching exploration of marginalization uses a mystery narrative as a springboard for an oblique coming-of-age story, lovingly and luminously enacted by Gladstone and Deroy-Olson. Tremblay’s juxtaposition of settler violence against the strength of Indigenous communities offers a nuanced account of the human costs of the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women epidemic and the possibilities of healing for those left behind.

Fancy Dance was produced by four deeply engaged producers: Tommy Oliverwhose film 1982 premiered at Sundance in 2013 and who is here this year with three films, Fancy Dance, Going to Mars: The Nikki Giovanni Project andYoung. Wild. Free.; longtime programmer for indigenous programming since Sundance first championed the genre N. Bird Runningwater; Forest Whitaker producer of 34 films including this year’s Sundance film To Live and Die and Live and 2013 Sundance great Fruitvale Station; and Heather Rae, born on October 1, 1966 in Venice, California, USA and already producer of 42 films including Mosquito y Mari (Sundance 2012) and Tommy Oliver’s 1982(Sundance 2013). Others are Deidre Backs recipient of the 2021 Sundance Institute Mark Silverman honor as a Sundance Creative Producing Lab fellow and a 2022 Women at Sundance fellow; Nina Yang Bongiovi (30 producer credits), Dylan Brodie (18 credits), two relative newcomers Charlotte Koh, Robert Grigsby Wilson and the writer director herself Erica Tremblay.

While Sundance has morphed over its nearly 40 years from a showcase of small indie regional Americana into a Hollywood hunting ground and showcase of those whose arcs began there but have now made it to the heights, from budgets of $1 million and less to the $30–50 million dollar range, this film is a tribute to all that Robert Redford strove to achieve. It is a classic.

MoviesIndigenousFilm FestivalsWomenInternational Film...

“From Bleak to Dark,” the title of Marc Maron’s latest comedy special, perfectly encapsulates his prickly worldview. Those looking for benign reflections on the sunny side of life should just… move along. But it also hints at the comedian’s ability to find a ray of humor in even the most tragic circumstances.

“That’s what I do in my comedy,” Maron says. “I lighten up darkness.”

And “Marc Maron: From Bleak to Dark,” which premieres on HBO on Feb. 11, delves into some pitch-black terrain, notably the 2020 death of his girlfriend, indie film director Lynn Shelton, at only 54. Maron’s grief forms the spine of the moving, deeply personal and always hilarious show, one that finds him talking about processing Shelton’s loss during peak Covid. For good measure, Maron also delves into global warming, his father’s dementia and even the Holocaust, making it clear that the HBO...

Marc Maron is revealing he dodged a bullet with failed streamer CNN+.

The “Wtf” podcast host revealed that he was approached by the short-lived streaming platform to host his own show for a “lot of money,” but he turned it down due to the timing of the offer.

Maron’s partner, filmmaker Lynn Shelton, died suddenly in 2020 of undiagnosed acute myeloid leukemia. Maron noted he “started doing Instagram Lives compulsorily on a daily basis” as part of the grieving process.

“It was me just kind of mumbling around and doing stuff around my house and ranting and raving about this or that, experiencing grief, and people were watching it and a lot of people got a lot out of it,” Maron told Vulture. “I got a lot of peculiar fans from that.”

The social media appearances caught the attention of the budding Warner Bros. Discovery flagship streamer.

“But it did...

Mel Eslyn’s feature directorial debut stars Sterling K. Brown, Mark Duplass.

Blue Fox Entertainment will kick off international sales at EFM next week on Mel Eslyn’s TIFF 2022 sci-fi comedy Biosphere starring Sterling K. Brown and Mark Duplass.

Eslyn and Duplass wrote the screenplay set in not-too-distant future where the last two men on earth must adapt and evolve to save humanity.

Producers are Zackary Drucker, Eslyn, Maddie Buis, and Shuli Harel. Mark Duplass and Jay Duplass serve as executive producers through their Duplass Brothers Productions.

Blue Fox Entertainment is screening Biosphere in the market. Head of international Lisa Gutberlet...

Marc Maron’s first HBO Original comedy special, “Marc Maron: From Bleak to Dark,” will debut on the network Feb. 11 at 10 p.m. Et/Pt and be made available to stream on HBO Max.

The legendary stand-up comedian, actor and podcaster takes the stage in front of a live audience at New York City’s Town Hall. Over the course of a hilarious and deeply personal hour, he explores topics like getting older, antisemitism and faith, and the superiority of having cats over children — especially during the pandemic. The comedian also opens up about the loss of his girlfriend, the filmmaker Lynn Shelton, in 2020 and reestablishing his complicated relationship with his father.

Watch the trailer for the special at the top of this post.

Also Read:

Kristen Bell, Serena Williams, Lil Rel Howery and More Join Cast of ‘Paw Patrol: The Mighty Movie’

Previously, Maron has had four hit stand-up...

Mubi has announced its lineup of streaming offerings for next month, including a series on first films featuring David Cronenberg’s Stereo, Kelly Reichardt’s River of Grass, Jerzy Skolimowski’s Identification Marks: None, Fatih Akın’s Short Sharp Shock, Panos Cosmatos’ Beyond the Black Rainbow, and, with Mubi’s theatrical release of her new film Alcarràs, Carla Simón’s Summer 1993.

Additional highlights include Mathieu Amalric’s Hold Me Tight starring Vicky Krieps, Sundance favorites with films from Sean Baker, Lynn Shelton, Tom Noonan, and Andrew Bujalski, plus works from Nicolas Roeg, Claude Chabrol, and Aftersun director Charlotte Wells.

Check out the lineup below and get 30 days free here.

January 1 – Stereo, directed by David Cronenberg | First Films First

January 2 – Short Sharp Shock, directed by Fatih Akın | First Films First

January 3 – River of Grass, directed by Kelly Reichardt | First Films First

January 4 – Identification Marks: None, directed by Jerzy Skolimowski | First Films...

Support the Girls, Andrew Bujalski’s previous feature, was a far cry from his usual subgenre of mumblecore, with which he made his mark and was the primary focus of subsequent output over the last two decades. As one of the leaders of the movement––the likes of which also saw an emergence of Greta Gerwig, Lynn Shelton, and the Duplass brothers––his newest film There There returns the American director to the style and DIY nature of his earlier work.

There There follows several somewhat connected conversations in everyday scenarios. A slew of great actors lead this slight comedy that clearly avoided large casts and crews due to the Covid pandemic. These actors are paired off, in rooms by themselves or talking over video chat, isolated from the rest of the world even as they’re seemingly in a public space. Bujalski skirts the pandemic with this choice, wisely...

IFC Films has acquired North American rights to the sci-fi pic Biosphere, marking the feature directorial debut of award-winning producer Mel Eslyn (The One I Love). The film is slated for release in 2023, and will stream exclusively on AMC+ following its debut in theaters.

World premiering at this year’s Toronto Film Festival, Biosphere is set in the not-too-distant future, watching as the last two men on earth must adapt and evolve to save humanity. Emmy winners Mark Duplass (The Morning Show) and Sterling K. Brown (This Is Us) star.

Best known as the long-time president of Duplass Brothers Productions, Eslyn directed from her script written with Mark Duplass. She also produced alongside Zackary Drucker, Maddie Buis and Shuli Harel, with Mark Duplass and Jay Duplass serving as executive producers.

“We are thrilled to work with producer Mel Eslyn again to bring her extraordinary feature directing debut out into the...

IFC Films has acquired North American rights to “Biosphere,” the directorial debut of award-winning producer Mel Eslyn, which stars Sterling K. Brown and Mark Duplass, the company announced on Monday.

Set in the not-too-distant future, Duplass and Brown play the last two men on earth who must adapt and evolve to save humanity.

“Biosphere” premiered at the Toronto Film Festival in September to a strong audience response and enthusiastic reviews.

Also Read:

Where Are the Sales? Why This Year’s Toronto Film Festival Market Slowed to a Crawl

The film was produced by Eslyn, artist/filmmaker Zackary Drucker—who previously co-directed the Duplass Brothers-produced docuseries “The Lady and the Dale”—and Duplass Brothers Productions’ Shuli Harel and Maddie Buis. Mark and Jay Duplass executive produced.

“We are thrilled to work with producer Mel Eslyn again to bring her extraordinary feature directing debut out into the world and could not be...

Early 2023 followed by exclusive streaming run on AMC+

IFC Films has acquired North American rights to Mel Eslyn’s TIFF world premiere and feature directorial debut Biosphere starring Mark Duplass and Sterling K. Brown.

The sci-fi takes place in the not-too-distant future as the last two men on earth who must adapt and evolve to save humanity.

Eslyn – whose producing credits include The One I Love, Language Lessons co-starring Mark Duplass, and The Intervention – served as producer with Zackary Drucker, who co-directed docuseries The Lady And The Dale produced by the Duplass Brothers.

The producers roster includes Shuli Harel and...

IFC Films has acquired the North American rights to “Biosphere,” a sci-fi film from Mel Eslyn starring Sterling K. Brown and Mark Duplass. The film, which premiered at the Toronto Film Festival in September, will be released in 2023 before streaming on AMC+.

“Biosphere” is set in the not-too-distant future where Duplass and Brown play the last two men on earth and must adapt and evolve to save humanity. The film is the debut feature directed by veteran producer Mel Eslyn, who produced alongside Zackary Drucker and Duplass Brothers Productions’ Shuli Harel and Maddie Buis. Mark and Jay Duplass serve as executive producers.

Eslyn’s film producing credits include Charlie McDowell’s “The One I Love,” Clea DuVall’s “The Intervention,” Lynn Shelton’s “Outside In,” Natalie Morales’ “Language Lessons” and Roshan Sethi’s “7 Days.” In 2016, she won the Independent Spirit Producer’s Award. On TV, she’s produced HBO’s...

Click here to read the full article.

IFC Films has picked up the North American rights to Biosphere, veteran producer Mel Eslyn’s debut directorial feature that stars Mark Duplass and Sterling K. Brown.

IFC Films will release Biosphere in 2023, with streaming to follow exclusively on AMC+. In the film, set in the not-too-distant future, Duplass and Brown play the last two men on Earth, who must adapt and evolve to save humanity.

Biosphere was produced by Eslyn, Zackary Drucker, Shuli Harel and Maddie Buis, with Mark and Jay Duplass executive producing.

“We are thrilled to work with producer Mel Eslyn again to bring her extraordinary feature directing debut out into the world and could not be more excited to work with her partners, Mark and Jay Duplass. Mark and Jay are exactly the kind of partners you dream of working with in this business as they are committed to...

The Northwest Film Forum has selected filmmaker Izabel Acevedo will be the 2022 recipient of the Lynn Shelton “Of A Certain Age” Grant. Acevedo will receive an unrestricted cash award of 20,000 to financially support her first narrative feature film.

“Today is such a joyful day,” Acevedo said. “I feel seen as a filmmaker, and I’m thrilled and thankful to see now that this project has suddenly taken over my schedule.”

The grant honors late film and television director Lynn Shelton, who died from acute myeloid leukemia in 2020. Shelton found inspiration in the fact that acclaimed filmmaker Claire Denis once spoke at the Nwff disclosing that she did not make her first feature film until she was 40, which influenced Shelton to direct her own, “We Go Way Back,” at age 39.

Co-founded by Duplass Brothers Productions, founded by brothers Jay and Mark Duplass, and Nwff, and with support from a number of community members,...

Click here to read the full article.

Post-apocalyptic survival meets the anxious buddy humor of Humpday in Biosphere, a mysterious and hilarious pic that really can’t be discussed much without saying things a prospective viewer would be better off not hearing. (No spoilers here.) What can be said is that this directing debut from Mel Eslyn, collaborator with the Duplass brothers and frequent producer for the late Lynn Shelton, is a one-location two-hander in which excellent performances are matched by hand-in-glove chemistry, directed with an assured sense of comic timing and storytelling economy. Sure to make some viewers very uncomfortable, it uses its more out-there elements to cheerfully highlight (maybe unintentionally) the absurdity of hope for humanity in our current, pre-apocalyptic reality.

Sterling K. Brown and Mark Duplass play lifelong friends who find themselves living in a geodesic-dome shelter with the world seemingly dead outside (read: total blackness, not...

Fest runs September 8-18.

An on-stage conversation with Taylor Swift and the feature Biosphere produced by the Duplass Brothers have been added to TIFF programming.

TIFF CEO Cameron Bailey will interview pop icon Swift under the In Conversation With… Industry Conference banner on September 9.

The star will discuss filmmaking and the visual aspects of her music following the first screening of All Too Well: The Short Film on 35mm which she wrote, directed and produced.

Biosphere will play in Special Presentations on September 10 and marks the feature directing debut of Mel Eslyn, the long-time president of Duplass Brothers Productions whose producing credits include Room 104,...

Veteran producer Mel Eslyn’s feature directorial debut Biosphere, starring Emmy winners Sterling K. Brown (This Is Us) and Mark Duplass (The Morning Show), will be making its world premiere as a surprise Special Presentation at the 47th edition of the Toronto Film Festival. The film will make its festival bow in the Visa Screening Room at the Princess of Wales Theatre at 2:30 p.m. on September 10th.

Set in the not-too-distant future, the latest feature from Duplass Brothers Productions follows the last two men on Earth as they adapt and evolve to save humanity. Eslyn directed from her script written with Mark Duplass. She also produced alongside Zackary Drucker, Maddie Buis and Shuli Harel, with Mark Duplass and Jay Duplass serving as executive producers.

Take Two: The Fall Film Festivals’ Must-See Movies From Venice To Telluride To Toronto To New York

“I can’t wait for Toronto audiences...

David Yates’ Netflix film The Pain Hustlers has begun rounding out its cast, with Andy Garcia (Father of the Bride), Catherine O’Hara (Schitt’s Creek), Jay Duplass (Industry), Brian d’Arcy James (West Side Story) and Chloe Coleman (My Spy) signing on to star alongside Emily Blunt and Chris Evans.

The film billed as tonally similar to The Big Short, American Hustle and The Wolf of Wall Street follows Liza Drake (Blunt), a high-school dropout dreaming of a better life for her and her young daughter. Liza lands a job with a failing pharmaceutical startup in a yellowing strip mall in Central Florida. Her charm, guts and drive then catapult the company and her into the high life, where she soon finds herself at the center of a criminal conspiracy with deadly consequences.

Netflix acquired global rights to the film written by Wells Tower for 50M out of this year’s Cannes Film Festival,...

Exclusive: Alex Essoe (Midnight Mass) and Daniel Zovatto (Station Eleven) will join Academy Award winner Russell Crowe in the Julius Avery-directed supernatural thriller The Pope’s Exorcist for Screen Gems.

The film will have Crowe play Father Gabriele Amorth, the legendary Italian priest who performed over 100,000 exorcisms for the Vatican—drawing on his international bestselling memoirs An Exorcist Tells His Story and An Exorcist: More Stories. Details as to the roles Essoe and Zovatto will be playing have not been disclosed.

The Pope’s Exorcist has been gestating at Screen Gems for a number of years, with Ángel Gómez having previously been attached to direct as of 2020. Evan Spiliotopoulos wrote...

So…what is sci-fi? It’s not the easiest question to answer when “sci-fi elements” permeate so many of the biggest blockbusters: thought-provoking genre concepts flattened into one-size-fits-all franchise fodder that make countless titles “feel” and, on occasion, even look the same.

Yes, science fiction is rooted in profound origins, examining humanity’s deep-seated fear of itself and the intimidating possibility of worlds unknown. But the last two decades have seen a metaphoric rush on sci-fi storytelling that’s left the once niche subgenre a supersaturated movie market. On the one hand, that’s produced an onslaught of sci-fi(ish) titles that aren’t always up to snuff. But on the other, it’s prompted some of the best sci-fi films ever made. Masterworks like “Everything Everywhere All at Once” and “Nope” both arrived this year, and top our list at number five and number eight respectively.

Simply put: In...

The Lynn Shelton “Of a Certain Age” Grant is now accepting applications. The unrestricted 25,000 cash grant will be offered to a woman, non-binary or trans filmmaker 39 years or older who has not yet helmed a narrative feature. The grant was established by Northwest Film Forum alongside Duplass Brothers Productions in 2020 after Lynn Shelton’s untimely passing. Some of the late, Seattle-based director’s films include We Go Way Back (her 2006 debut feature), Humpday (2009), Laggies (2014) and Sword of Trust (2019). Shelton was inspired to make her first film at age 39 after learning that French auteur Claire […]

The post Apply for the Lynn Shelton “Of a Certain Age” Grant first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.

The Lynn Shelton “Of a Certain Age” Grant is now accepting applications. The unrestricted 25,000 cash grant will be offered to a woman, non-binary or trans filmmaker 39 years or older who has not yet helmed a narrative feature. The grant was established by Northwest Film Forum alongside Duplass Brothers Productions in 2020 after Lynn Shelton’s untimely passing. Some of the late, Seattle-based director’s films include We Go Way Back (her 2006 debut feature), Humpday (2009), Laggies (2014) and Sword of Trust (2019). Shelton was inspired to make her first film at age 39 after learning that French auteur Claire […]

The post Apply for the Lynn Shelton “Of a Certain Age” Grant first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.

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Chadwick Boseman, Norm Macdonald and Jessica Walter each received posthumous 2022 Emmy nominations.

Boseman, who passed away in 2020 after a private battle with colon cancer, earned a best character voice-over nod for his role as Star Lord T’Challa in the Marvel Studios and Disney+ series What If…? episode “What If… T’Challa Became A Star-Lord?” He was also nominated for a posthumous Oscar for lead actor for his role in Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom. Boseman’s legacy remains inseparable from mainstream culture — his breakout work in Black Panther helped propel that film to become the first superhero movie ever nominated for best picture at the Academy Awards. The film’s sequel, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, is scheduled for release later this year, with Ryan Coogler returning to direct.

Macdonald’s nom comes from his final comedy special, Nothing Special, which debuted on Netflix.

The spirit of “Black Panther” and Chadwick Boseman still lives on. The Television Academy gave one last honor to the late actor’s greatness with an Emmy nomination Tuesday morning.

With the announcement of the Primetime Emmy Awards nominations, Boseman received a posthumous nom for outstanding character voice-over for his famous role of T’Challa in the animated series “What If…?” from Disney+ and Marvel Studios.

Boseman also received a posthumous Oscar nomination for his performance in George C. Wolfe’s “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom.” Anthony Hopkins ultimately won that year for his work in “The Father.”

Boseman, who died of colon cancer in August 2020 at 43, has a legacy that remains prominent in pop culture and in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, especially with the upcoming sequel “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever” scheduled to hit theaters later this year. The first film became the first superhero movie to be nominated for best picture,...

Marc Maron opened up about his “state of shock” following partner Lynn Shelton’s sudden passing in March 2020. The writer, director, producer, and actor died at age 54 of undiagnosed acute myeloid leukemia.

“There’s no way to explain what happened there,” Maron told People April 15. “I was grieving somebody that I was in love with, but also the loss of possibilities of a life that didn’t happen for us.”

At the time, Maron honored Shelton on his Wtf podcast by replaying their prior conversation in an interview from 2015.

“My producer was like, ‘Look, man, we can take time off,’ And I’m like, ‘It might be important for me to be honest with my feelings right now,'” Maron recalled to People. “I set it up in the place that I was in. And it was gnarly and horrible and hard.”

Per the “Bad Guys” actor, the “grief sort of comes and goes” still,...

Exclusive: There’s a boom in collectible sports trading cards – from the $4.6M paid for a Luka Doncic rookie card or the $5.2M for a 1952 Mickey Mantle card as well as a recent deal that valued card brand Topps at $1.3B.

This is the impetus for a new feature documentary that This Is What Love In Action Looks Like director Morgan Jon Fox is helming for non-fiction studio Xtr.

Fox and Xtr are producing The Hobby, which delves into the historic comeback of the trading card industry. The doc is a deep dive into the real-time trading card fever following longtime collectors and a new generation of buyers including high net worth investors, athletes and celebrities as the hobby goes nuclear.

The documentary follows longtime collectors and a new generation of buyers, including Josh Luber, the co-founder of StockX and Chief Vision Officer of Fanatics Trading Cards, which acquired Topps,...

Multi-faceted filmmaker Mark Duplass discusses the movies he wishes more people knew about with hosts Josh Olson and Joe Dante.

Show Notes: Movies Referenced In This Episode

Duck Butter (2018)

The Puffy Chair (2005)

Prince Of Broadway (2008)

Tangerine (2015)

The Florida Project (2017) – Dennis Cozzalio’s review

Red Rocket (2021)

Starlet (2012)

Take Out (2004)

Mack & Rita (Tbd)

Old Joy (2006)

First Cow (2020)

Wendy And Lucy (2008) – Dennis Cozzalio’s favorite movie of 2020

Henry Fool (1997)

Trust (1990)

Amateur (1994)

Medicine For Melancholy (2008)

Shang-Chi (2021)

Your Sister’s Sister (2011)

My Effortless Brilliance (2008)

What the Funny (2008)

Humpday (2009)

True Adolescents (2009)

Man Push Cart (2005)

The White Tiger (2021)

Baghead (2008)

The Do-Deca-Pentathlon (2012)

Language Lessons (2021)

Stevie (2002)

Hoop Dreams (1994)

American Movie (1999)

What Happened Was… (1994) – Ti West’s trailer commentary

Manhunter (1986) – Josh Olson’s trailer commentary

My Dinner With Andre (1981)

Creep (2014)

Grown-Ups (1980)

Abigail’s Party (1977)

Nuts In May (1976)

Secrets And Lies (1996) – Glenn Erickson’s Criterion Blu-ray review

Naked (1993)

Parallel Mothers (2021)

The Freebie (2010)

East Of Eden (1955) – Larry Cohen’s trailer commentary

Strange...

Eve Babitz, a writer and once-and-future “it” girl closely identified with the 1960s and early-’70s in Los Angeles, has died at 78.

Relatives confirmed her death on social media as well as to the Associated Press, but did not specify a cause.

Part-West Coast wild child, part-boho intellectual, Eve once described herself as a “stacked eighteen-year-old blonde on Sunset Boulevard… who is also a writer.” A famous image from 1963 shows her playing chess against Dadaist artist and writer Marcel Duchamp, with Babitz completely naked and Duchamp fully clothed.

As a writer and creative muse, Babitz had a wide-ranging impact, drawing comparisons to Joan Didion, who recommended a piece of hers to Rolling Stone, kick-starting her writing career. She also ventured outside the world of letters, designing album covers for Buffalo Springfield, the Byrds and Linda Ronstadt. She had romantic connections with notable figures like Jim Morrison of the Doors, Harrison Ford,...

Ellie Kemper (Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt), Luke Grimes (Yellowstone), Nico Santos (Crazy Rich Asians) and Blythe Danner (I’ll See You in My Dreams) have signed on to star in Happiness for Beginners, a Netflix romantic comedy from writer-director Vicky Wight.

The film is based on Katherine Center’s novel of the same name and centers on Helen (Kemper), who signs up for a wilderness survival course a year after getting divorced. She discovers through this experience that in getting she has found herself.

Wight is producing the film with Geoff Linville and Berry Meyerowitz. Jeff Sackman and Larry Greenburg are its executive producers. Information on the roles to be played by Grimes, Santos and Danner has not yet been disclosed.

Kemper is a two-time Emmy nominee perhaps best known for her starring turn in Netflix comedy series Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, and for her portrayal of Erin Hannon...

Each week we highlight the noteworthy titles that have recently hit streaming platforms in the United States. Check out this week’s selections below and past round-ups here.

Enemies of the State (Sonia Kennebeck)

This ambiguity is where Enemies of the State becomes a must-see because it exposes how skeptical we’ve become about the truth. As soon as you admit systems can be manipulated for selfish gain, there’s no denying that it isn’t happening right now in ways that make you the victim. Donald Trump epitomizes this phenomenon because he’s akin to God to his sycophants. They won’t even look at proof of his lies because they’ve decided that anything refuting his words has already been fabricated. So when DeHart earns the backing of other whistleblowers and the media, his story gets spun as one of a maligned hero to everyone that believes the government can’t be trusted.

When IndieWire launched on July 15, 1996, the first movies on DVD were still months away. Ewan McGregor became a star with “Trainspotting” and Sony Pictures Classics released Sundance acquisition “Manny & Lo,” starring 11-year-old Scarlett Johansson in her first leading role. NBC had a death grip on the Nielsen ratings; Reed Hastings ran a company that tested software.

IndieWire began when future New York Film Festival director Eugene Hernandez emailed a newsletter to a couple hundred members of iLINE, the AOL film community he created with Cheri Barner and Mark Rabinowitz. (Lead stories: “Trainspotting Rumors About Dubbing and Re-Cutting Put to Rest by Its Director” and “Antonia’s Line Banned in The Philippines.”) He’d tried this before, as a monthly, but realized he wasn’t exploiting his advantage: Being online meant providing news faster.

There’s much more to the story of IndieWire, which we’ve previously captured in a couple of oral histories.

When filmmaker Lynn Shelton died suddenly in May 2020, much of the independent film community was beside itself. One month later, several of her peers came together in a powerful hourlong tribute posted to YouTube, one of the first pandemic-era specials that actually seemed to work in the format. “Her Effortless Brilliance: A Celebration of Lynn Shelton Through Film and Music” assembles many of Shelton’s collaborators to provide an overview of her career, with stunning musical performances from many of her credits interspersed throughout. It was exactly the sort of DIY initiative that Shelton embraced throughout her career, but for director Megan Griffiths, it was just the starting point for bolstering Shelton’s legacy.

Shelton broke out of the Seattle film scene with her lo-fi comedy “My Effortless Brilliance” in 2008. Appreciation for her naturalistic style grew around her poignant character studies like “Humpday,” “Your Sister’s Sister,” and “Laggies,” but she...

Poorna Jagannathan and Casey Thomas Brown are starring in Megan Griffiths’ “I’ll Show You Mine.”

The dramedy, a Duplass Brothers Production, centers on Priya Sura, an author who has made a career of examining her own trauma, as she sits down to interview her nephew Nic for a new book about his history as a model who challenged gender norms and embraced his pansexuality in a very public forum. Their ensuing conversation, which takes place over the course of one intense weekend, forces each of them to reveal much more than expected and confront some of their most deeply hidden secrets.

Griffiths is a Seattle-based writer-director whose previous feature directorial credits include “Sadie,” “Lucky Them,” “Eden” and “The Off Hours.” She has also directed episodes of television, including “Animal Kingdom,” “Room 104” and “Panic.” A protege of Lynn Shelton, Megan was a co-producer of “Your Sister’s Sister” and directed...

With a longer Oscar season than ever before, the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences had even more people to remember in the annual In Memoriam segment. But inevitably, there are complaints on social media that some people were omitted. This year, nether “Arrested Development” star Jessica Walter nor “Glee” star Naya Rivera was included, both of whom had careers primarily on television. Walter, however, was a Golden Globe nominee for “Play Misty for Me” and had many other film roles. Walter was included on the Academy’s In Memoriam website, while Rivera was not.

Those who were not included in previous years, such as Luke Perry and Cameron Boyce in 2020, also worked more often in television. In 2019, Carol Channing and Stanley Donen were among those omitted from the segment. This past year, several actors, musicians and craftspeople died of Covid-19, such as Broadway actor Nick Cordero and composer and musician Adam Schlesinger,...