Tag: Entertainment – Variety

It’s no secret that Charli xcx is a cinephile, so it wasn’t a shock when the avant-garde pop star revealed that her latest album would feature iconic horror auteur David Cronenberg — especially considering its title is “Music, Fashion, Film.” But what is surprising is just how impactful his contribution is to the wider meaning of the record.

The 83-year-old “Crash” and “The Fly” director closes out the 11-track, 30-minute album with a spoken-word monologue on the second-half of final song “No One Lasts Forever.” Up until that point, Charli takes listeners on a ride through her biggest genre leap yet as distorted guitars and sparse production take the place of bright synths and autotune. It’s a far cry from the club-ready bangers of “Brat,” and in many ways a reaction to its massive success — there’s the tongue-in-cheek “Rock Music,” containing a declaration that the dancefloor is dead; the pounding “Camera,” in which she contemplates her burgeoning acting career; the vapid-but-in-an-ironic-way “Wink Wink,” where she insists “people can change.”

But it’s not just Charli’s sound that has taken a heavier turn. Between seemingly surface-level lyrics about going shopping and wishing she was a pop star in 2007, Charli attempts to answer hard questions about an artist’s purpose. Track six, “I’m Afraid,” gives a taste of this as she laments the pitfalls of public life: “All this pain makes me believe/ I’m a better artist now/ An excuse I tell myself to act selfishly.” Throughout the record, Charli is really contemplating her role as an artist and the motivations behind making art — and whether it even matters, because the world is probably ending and we’re all going to die anyway.

Nothing captures this existential question more than “No One Lasts Forever,” which starts off as one of the most upbeat songs on the record but soon ventures into deeper waters. “That’s why I’m not scared of anyone/ ‘Cause nothing’s gonna last forever/ But you need to discover that feeling/ Of the crushing highs and lows of ego,” she sings over synths a bit more reminiscent of her “Brat” era.

It’s also the longest track on the album, by far, at five minutes and 42 seconds. Cronenberg doesn’t come in until around the three-minute mark, where he casually speaks — as if directly to Charli — seemingly about a near-death experience.

“As I was laying there on the sidewalk, I did not think about art at all,” Cronenberg begins. “I thought about people, I thought about life, and that’s why I like being close to my house. Somehow, that was comforting even though it makes no sense, you know? But no, I wasn’t thinking about art. And I wasn’t thinking about art as endurance, as immortality. I mean, we could talk about immortal artists of various kinds, and it can turn out that, yes, some artists have created art that has really survived thousands of years, and that’s fantastic. But experientially, for them? They are dead, they are gone, they are not experiencing that.”

Cronenberg ends his part by saying, like a mentor giving advice to his student: “Hear me assuring you that oblivion is freedom. They are dead, they are gone, no one lasts forever.”

The last minute-and-a-half of the track consists of that last line repeated again and again, overlaying on itself. It’s a mantra delivered as an elder who’s been through it, reassuring Charli that whether or not her art survives isn’t the most important thing — after all, she won’t be around to know. As an extremely successful director, considered the originator of the entire body-horror genre, there are times when Cronenberg must have felt unstoppable. But he’s also experienced immeasurable grief, with his wife of 38 years, the film editor Carolyn Zeifman, dying in 2017 (something he explored in his most recent feature, “The Shrouds”). Beyond just his art, it’s his life experience that makes him credible to speak these words — and they bring all of us back down to earth.

Instead of just being a gimmicky feature to fulfill part of the album’s title, Cronenberg’s words get to the core theme of “Music, Fashion, Film.” More than a rejection of Charli’s mainstream success disguised as a reinvention, the record is proof that true artists are constantly changing, growing, refusing to fit into a singular box. But as important as the art may seem in the moment, ultimately, it’s not. Because nothing is forever. And, if you let it, knowing that can set you free.

When Lady Gaga first ascended to supernova celebrity, with the release of “The Fame” in 2008, there was a time when she kept her face hidden — under the elaborate masks she wore in videos, and even in interviews, for which she would also show up masked. It was a highly elaborate act of camouflage, but the ruse worked. She was only 22, yet she created an aura of mystery around herself, conjuring “Lady Gaga” as a larger-than-life character. (When you heard that she was really Stefani Germanotta from New York City, you would think: Really, who is that?)

Sia, born in Australia 10 years before Lady Gaga, had a career that predated hers as well. But by the time Sia hit her solo stride in the late 2000s, she didn’t simply borrow from the Gaga mask playbook. She concealed her face to the point that the mystery became part of who she was. “Sia: Nostalgic for the Present,” which opens tomorrow and is showing in select theaters for a limited run, is a performance film that was originally created for Sia’s 2016 Nostalgic for the Present tour, and in the entire movie you never once see Sia’s face.

She’s right there in front of us, standing and singing on a platform at stage left, hidden under a half-blonde, half-black wig with bangs that hang down to her lips. There’s an oversize white bow on top of the wig, and she wears a white dress that resembles a nurse’s uniform from the early ’60s. Sia’s greatest songs, like “Unstoppable” and “Titanium” and “The Greatest,” are anthems of strength, power, fortitude, invincibility, and watching the movie it’s fascinating to behold how her facelessness feeds that quality. She’s an abstract figure, a pair of lips singing, and this creates the sensation that the power she’s singing about doesn’t emanate from her. She’s channeling a force larger than herself — the rising specter of feminine triumph. She’s merely the vessel.

I’m not entirely sure what the two-tone wig means (the duality of woman?), but everyone in the movie wears a version of it: the dancers, the actors (Kristen Wiig, Paul Dano, Ben Mendelsohn, Gaby Hoffman) who each appear in one dance video, as well as the choreographer, costume designer, and offstage crew members. They’re all wearing the wig, which looks like the fabled New York black-and-white cookie turned into a fashion emblem of talismanic power. “Sia: Nostalgic for the Present” is basically a 75-minute-long series of dance videos that were designed to be projected onstage during the tour, as the live performers mirrored the movements in the videos. The featured star is, of course, Maddie Ziegler, the whirling dervish of a child dancer who pranced and flung and gyrated her way through three celebrated Sia music videos; she was 14 when the Nostalgic for the Present tour unfolded.

This weekend, if you go to “Sia: Nostalgic for the Present,” what you’re seeing is a 10-year-old movie (and a promotional one at that), so it’s severely lacking in the shock of the new. There’s no getting around the fact that it’s a greatest-hits compendium. But though Sia’s last major hit was a decade ago, she had such an intuitive gift for crafting powerfully infectious pop songs that it’s hard to understand why she hit a wall. I think it might have had something to do with the mask/wig/hiding thing. Pop stars, especially the ones who have extended careers, are people who have a primal desire to put themselves out there. Whereas Sia clearly had a primal ambivalence about that. She was a camera-shy exhibitionist.

In “Nostalgic for the Present,” her voice is commanding, ringing out with those soul inflections that make her sound like Amy Winehouse if Winehouse were being produced by Giorgio Moroder. The dance performance that’s at the heart of the film is the sort of thing that felt transgressive back then, but now it looks like something out of a 2010s nostalgia reel. Maddie Ziegler, who was born in Pittsburgh and got her start on “Dance Moms,” flings her body around with a kind of airy gymnastic aggression, and she specializes in facial contortions meant to express the underlying ferocity of Sia’s music (and are sometimes just there as psycho flourishes to mess with the audience). Ziegler is like a mime crossed with Daryl Hannah in “Blade Runner,” but there’s also a touch of Sid Vicious to the way that she’ll mug and curl her lips like a teenage brat who’s gone off her meds.

The hits remain sublime. I retain a special adoration for “Chandelier,” a song of hedonistic assertion and underlying ambivalence that, for me, is filtered through its brilliant use as the centerpiece of the Broadway version of “Moulin Rouge!” I’m writing about Sia as if she had gone away, but as someone who loves her music, I see no reason on earth why she couldn’t now enjoy a comeback as ferocious as the one that Gaga had with “Abracadabra.” She wouldn’t even need to come out from behind the wig; that would play like gangbusters on the Grammys. But she’d have to rouse herself to do what she used to do: create a dance hook as shiny and fierce and glorious as titanium.

South Korean director Na Hong-Jin made his San Diego Comic-Con debut to preview his latest film, Neon’s alien action movie “Hope.”

Before the action auteur took the stage in Ballroom 20, a sizzle reel of his previous work — from his 2008 debut “The Chaser” to “The Yellow Sea” and “The Wailing,” all set to Ozzy Osbourne’s “Crazy Train” — played for the rapt audience.

“Hope,” Na said, “is a continuation in terms of the same metaphor and the same meaning, but in terms of the style and the thought and the content is completely different. Any assumptions you have about my premises and my previous work, I would advise them to completely abandon it before [this one].”

“Hope” is set in the remote village of Hope Harbor, where a mysterious creature has wreaked havoc. Police and local hunters set out to track the beast and find themselves hunted instead. But not all is as it seems.

The alien action movie stars Hoyeon, who broke out internationally thanks to her Emmy-nominated turn in Netflix’s “Squid Game.” Na said was one of the best decisions he made in bringing the film, a 10 year passion project, to the big screen.

Hwang Jung-min, who leads the international cast, recommended Hoyeon for the role of a tenacious police officer. “He said that if you meet her, you realize how special of a person she is,” Na said, explaining that he immediately set up a meeting. The director and star read the script while eating takeout and she quickly signed on for the role. “The funny thing is: Hwang Jung-min actually has never met her, or didn’t even know her very well.”

Hoyeon appeared in a special video message to introduce two clips that would play exclusively for the Comic-Con crowd. The first is a tense sequence where Hwang as he and a group of men shoot their way through the wreckage of their town — only to finally come face to face with the gigantic alien preying upon them. The second was an extended look at a chase scene where one character played by must leap from his horse into the police car — all while being chased down the highway by one of the fanged creatures. After the pulse-pounding clips ended, director Na revealed that these weren’t the most difficult scenes to shoot: That honor belongs to another chase scene with the characters fleeing through the forest on horseback.

Na also praised Hoeyon’s performance in another scene and shared she spent six months learning to drive a manual stick-shift car. “After six months, she reached a point where she could perform those drafts at very different, difficult angles too,” he said. “So she was driving the car and doing all the performance herself, and I think the word ‘difficult’ is not enough to describe what was going on in that scene. My DP and I almost died of anxiety just watching her.”

Speaking of dying, during the Q&A portion of the panel, Na teased that “90%” of the characters in the film might perish… but he won’t reveal who. The exchange got a roar of laughter from the crowd.

“Hope,” which also stars Michael Fassbender, Alicia Vikander, Taylor Russell and Cameron Britton, premiered in competition at this year’s Cannes Film Festival, where it electrified audiences. Neon hopes to replicate that same success when releasing the film in the U.S. on Sept. 9. In Cannes, Na revealed that he had plans for a sequel.

“I think you can readily imagine this sequel. And there’s a script that’s already been done that I’d like to shoot,” he said during his Cannes press conference. “So if I have the opportunity, I would indeed make a sequel if possible.”

Indonesian filmmaker and Visinema founder Angga Dwimas Sasongko is targeting the first quarter of 2027 for the release of “Queen of Malacca,” as the Southeast Asian fantasy epic moves through post-production and attracts interest from potential distribution partners in China, Thailand and other international markets.

The project has drawn growing industry attention since Blue Finch Films boarded worldwide sales. “We are currently in discussions with potential distribution partners,” Sasongko tells Variety during the Malaysia International Film Festival (MIFFest) in Kuala Lumpur. “It will definitely become the next franchise for Visinema.”

“Queen of Malacca” marks Sasongko’s return to directing after a two-year break and is one of the most ambitious productions of his career. “I spent eight years building this fantasy world,” he says. “It combines Southeast Asian martial arts, supernatural elements and extensive visual effects. It’s like creating a universe – a mosaic of modern life inspired by regional mythology and traditions.”

More than a standalone feature, Sasongko sees “Queen of Malacca” as the cornerstone of Visinema’s strategy to develop locally rooted IP with international appeal.

Beyond “Queen of Malacca,” Visinema is preparing five films for release in 2027 while developing an animation pipeline extending through 2030. The slate includes a superhero action-comedy animated feature slated for 2028, a sequel to the family IP “Nussa” and a follow-up to its animated blockbuster “Jumbo,” one of Indonesia’s biggest box office hits of all time.

“For Visinema, international collaboration isn’t simply about securing more financing – it’s about expanding together,” Sasongko says. “Since 2018, we’ve generally limited external investment in our projects to below 40%, because we look at what strategic partners can contribute beyond capital.”

Those partners include media companies, foreign producers and distributors that can provide market access, industry expertise and long-term strategic value. Visinema is also looking to deepen relationships across mainland China, Thailand, Vietnam and the Philippines.

For Sasongko, creative ambition and commercial potential should go hand in hand. The goal, he says, is to build stories with a distinctive local identity while creating the partnerships and long-term IP needed to reach audiences across the region.

Great comedies are in short supply these days, but “72 Hours” offers a reminder that a crime subplot can quickly ruin even a potentially average one. Directed by Tim Story (“Barbershop,” “Ride Along”) and written by Jon Hurwitz and Hayden Schlossberg (the “Harold & Kumar” trilogy, “American Reunion”), this latter-day “Hangover” retread did not need to do anything but, you know, deliver laughs in order to tickle audiences’ funny bones. But even with a cast led by Kevin Hart and stacked with “Saturday Night Live” alums Marcello Hernández, Ben Marshall and Kam Patterson, this summertime confection from Netflix frantically — and disappointingly — throws everything at the wall in the hopes that something will stick.

Hart plays Joe, a 40-year-old advertising executive who mistakenly gets added to a group text for the Miami bachelor party of Mason (Mason Gooding), which is being thrown by his twentysomething friends Nick (Hernández), Hunter (Marshall) and Freshman (Patterson). When his latest campaign for a vodka brand gets dismissed as “cringe” by a colleague, threatening an upcoming promotion, Joe persuades Mason and his pals to invite him to join them, in the hopes of acquiring more intimate knowledge of a younger generation of consumers.

The prospect of attending a raucous three-day party on South Beach comes as disappointing news to Joe’s girlfriend Jennifer (Teyana Taylor), who’s waiting for her own proposal. But even after renting a swagged-out Airbnb to ingratiate themselves with the group, Mason and especially Nick only reluctantly agree to let Joe join in on their activities. He fails early to win their confidence, but after they visit a yacht party, Joe is forced to consume cocaine, unleashing a Tony Montana-like alter ego whose flamboyant, destructive behavior runs them afoul of a mysterious drug lord convinced Joe is encroaching on his turf.

Whether as a true generational touchstone or just a laugh-inducing diversion every few years, remaking “The Hangover” in some capacity every few years is not just a welcome experience for a certain segment of the moviegoing audience, but probably a good business practice for studios. The problem with this idea, as “72 Hours” demonstrates, is that filmmakers feel the need to top their predecessors, or even themselves, with each attempt. As a consequence, it seems no longer possible tell the story of five guys having a couple of wild nights without introducing an escalating, even ridiculous series of events. (“The Hangover,” of course, also includes a crime subplot, but notwithstanding its status as the kickstarter of this subgenre, Todd Phillips at least knew to mine it for laughs instead of serious thrills.)

The premise here is actually pretty solid: what happens when a guy old enough to know better decides to participate in some young adult hijinks? Of course, Joe insists at one point that “40 is the new 20,” and culturally speaking that seems true these days, so maybe immaturity knows no age limit. Not to mention the fact that “Old School” tackled this concept successfully almost 25 years ago. But other than a handful of “unc” jokes and an unfortunate pre-gaming incident involving Pepto-Bismol, the movie elicits surprisingly little humor from the generational divide between Hart — who might be more convincing at 47, his actual age — and his younger counterparts. (That the bachelor and his friends are all around 30 further flattens the differences between them and Joe.) Instead, it’s his wallet that proves most valuable, both to the characters and the screenwriters, lubricating luxury and access when the scrappy twentysomethings can’t afford something.

In the meantime, the writers introduce Joe’s attempt to unlock the secret lives of young adults for his advertising campaign (evoking ulterior-motive movies like “How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days” and “27 Dresses”), a competing bachelorette party whose members are not what they seem (think Ilana Glazer in “The Night Before”), and of course, the mysterious drug lord who inexplicably rents out his mansion to anyone with a credit card, but carelessly fails to lock up his valuables. The script aims to mirror some character dynamics from the peerless “Bridesmaids” — in particular, the relationship between soon-to-be-married Mason and his stuck-in-the-past best friend Nick. But the film can’t decide whether it wants to actually give its cast substantive material to explore or assault them with vomit, cocaine and whale sperm (!) as a way to ensure the audience’s involvement.

Working under the watchful eye of his “Ride Along” director, Hart continues to maintain a likeable screen presence as the well-meaning but out-of-his-depth Joe, but doesn’t do himself (or his wildly inconsistent filmography) any favors with this project. Much of Hart’s appeal lies in his willingness to be the butt of the joke, and there are many here at his expense — thankfully not as many as usual targeting his diminutive stature. But what’s missing from his performance (perhaps beginning with the writing) is the palpable life experience that lends him an advantage when his young friends run into trouble. Clearly, Joe made enough bad decisions in his earlier days to create — and survive — “Ricardo Montana” as an alter ego, but as the film progresses, he seems less like an elder statesman than an old guy trying to live vicariously through his counterparts.

This is Hernández’ second movie role, and he seems poised to break out in the same way he did on “Saturday Night Live,” but even though he’s funny, there’s not enough of a character here for him to truly distinguish himself. Patterson, on the other hand, pops in a way he has seldom done on TV, and delivers a memorable performance as the group’s resident idiot. Meanwhile, recent Oscar nominee Taylor beams in from another movie with a grounded performance that this one doesn’t deserve. Additional supporting turns from other television stalwarts (“Better Call Saul” alum Michael Mando, “Severance” breakout Zach Cherry, “Veep” scene-stealer Kevin Dunn) hint at a better, less wacky odyssey left by the wayside.

Story’s body of work is not unlike Hart’s, in that every pretty good movie he’s made is significantly outnumbered by bad ones. His latest falls somewhere in the middle of that spectrum: It isn’t totally awful, but it strains to communicate how much fun the audience should be having instead of, well, just being fun. The irony of chasing “The Hangover” is that even Phillips seemed nonplussed by its success, or perhaps even resentful; perhaps that’s why he made a shameless copy with the second film and an antagonistic drama for the third. But not unlike a hangover itself, “72 Hours” is a movie that reminds you of the specter of the past; the problem is that it never delivers enough good times to make the painful aftermath worthwhile.

SPOILER ALERT: This story contains spoilers from the series premiere of “Stuart Fails to Save the Universe,” now streaming on HBO Max.

HBO Max’s “Stuart Fails to Save the Universe” opens in a post-apocalyptic Pasadena, an alternative world where zombie hands poke out of the ground, giant moths terrorize, random tears in reality serve as vacuum portals to unknown parts of the galaxy and survivors barter with their last remaining canned goods.

About the only thing still operating is the comic book shop run by Stuart Bloom (played by Kevin Sussman), where the gang on “The Big Bang Theory” would sometimes hang out. But even that store is no longer normal, as geeky fights among patrons quickly turn deadly. It’s not a great place, so when another Stuart from a different dimension arrives, so begins our main character’s quest to save the universe.

According to Alt Stuart, it was “The Big Bang Theory” characters Leonard, Sheldon and Howard who built a quantum interference device that caused reality to be altered. Regular Stuart and Bert (Brian Posehn) embark on a quest to find the device at Cal Tech — and along the way, reconnect with Denise (Lauren Lapkus) and discover that Kripke (John Ross Bowie) has turned into an evil gang leader controlling much of the San Gabriel Valley. They also find Raj (Kunal Nayyar), who’s been imprisoned by Kripke for quite some time and is looking to help them fix the device.

They’re all captured, but Bert uses his geology expertise to create bombs with rocks and water — and they make it to the device. All is saved, until Kripke kills Raj — and the device then activates, taking Stuart, Bert and Kripke to another universe.

So how much of the show’s multiverse can be explained by science? Sussman credits co-creator Bill Prady with having a handle on where the science works. “There’s a bunch of quantum physics involved in the show, and Bill is an expert on quantum physics theory,” Sussman says. “You can get away with a lot because at the end of the day, it is theory. It’s popular theory, but it’s legit. So I would ask him a question like, ‘how can my character be here and be there at the same time?’ And I had an epiphany at one point when I realized, oh wait, so it’s not just parallel universes — it’s parallel universes with a little time travel mixed in!”

Sussman says there were points while filming the show where it would help to understand the quantum physics theory behind what was happening in a particular scene.

“I look forward to people on Reddit trying to dissect what’s happening because I know that all of it can be argued,” he adds. “I would try to poke holes in it on set, and Bill always walked me through. ‘No, see, the reason why this does make sense is A, B and C.’”

Prady explains that the device that Leonard, Sheldon and Howard built seems to have shifted the primary characters to a universe with a separate, distinct history that has an apocalyptic event that occurs sometime after “The Big Bang Theory” and before we meet them.

“The Einsteinian issue that time is a fourth dimension comes into play here,” he says. “Because when the device malfunctions, it alters reality, but it creates a new past as well. So when we meet them in the first episode, the apocalypse is some years ago, and that’s a result of the alteration. Both the past and present and the future are altered from what they should have been.”

So then the question is, when the characters move between universes, does the universe they left still exist, or is it being restructured?

“That is ambiguous, and they don’t know, and we don’t know,” he says. For example — now that Kripke has killed Raj, that doesn’t seem good right? But in Episode 2, he will point out that either the universe they just left doesn’t exist anymore, in which case he didn’t kill Raj because that Raj never existed, or that they’re we are dealing with an infinite number of universes, and so he just killed one Raj out of an infinite number, which is pretty minor.

But “the branching theory of multiverses states essentially that every quantum event that could go one way also could go the other, and at that point there’s a branch, both universes exist side by side… The theory is that the universe branches at every decision point, so there’s a rapidly growing, infinite number of universes. That gets into the very annoying realization that some infinities are bigger than other infinities, which is mathematically true and conceptually uncomfortable. But it would state that from the point of the Big Bang, the number of infinite parallel universes increases with every moment that the universe ticks by. So that was kind of the science and pseudoscience that sort of lays this out.”

Prady jokingly adds: “How useless is that?”

But it’s a reminder that “Stuart Fails to Save the Universe” may be science-fiction, but it’s still grounded in some ways.

“When I was teaching at USC, and somebody had a project that involved fantasy elements, I’d say, the most important rule in writing fantasy is that the rules you create for your fantasy have to be as real as the laws of physics. They have to be consistent, and they always have to be the same,” he says.

Prady uses “Bewitched” as an example, with its arbitrary rule that only the witch who casts the spell can remove it. “It’s based on nothing, but it keeps every ‘Bewitched’ episode from being three minutes long,” he says. “Because without that rule, Endora would give Darrin donkey ears, and Samantha would remove them, and we’d be done. Now, can your universe be raggedy around the edges? 100%. And that’s ‘Doctor Who.’ The rules are there, but sometimes they don’t quite work out, and the Doctor will explain.”

In the case of multiverses, the parameters of what we think of as the “multiverse” has been cemented in pop culture by Marvel films, “Rick and Morty,” “Dark Matter” and more. “I think the reason that you wind up with multiverses with similar stories is that the notion that multiverses exist mathematically. Things like string theory and stuff touch on that. So you can build off of what has sort of percolated through the general consciousness.”

Prady notes that not all of it makes sense, and he’s proud of the fact that the characters will acknowledge that.

“A guy online did a scientific analysis of what must be happening in this, and where he explains all the various scientific multiverse theories that we are clearly drawing from,” Prady says. “It was thick, thick science. It does state that there’s an infinite number of multiverses. So clearly, we should send that article to HBO Max and say, ‘look, there’s a scientific basis for additional seasons!’”

Mark H. Rapaport’s new film “Godhead” is a master-class in ratcheting up tension. Shot in black-and-white with camerawork that makes the audience feel like a voyeur uncovering perverse secrets, the film blends faith, sex, lies and discomfort into an unknowable dance between its leads.

The premise begins simply: A rural Catholic priest (Al Warren) is visited by two bizarre twins (Sarah Coffey and Kimball Farley), who look like an unholy blend of Die Antwoord, Grimes and overcooked ravers. They believe they are part of a prophecy and need the priest’s help to fulfill it. They also have a gun. And the priest has a young boy (Luke Speakman) that he seems to keep captive indoors …

To say more would ruin the film’s twists and turns, which were met enthusiastically at its world premiere screenings at Montreal’s genre-focused Fantasia Festival this week.

Rapaport, whose well-received 2023 debut feature “Hippo” also premiered at Fantasia, spoke with Variety about his choice to do another film in black and white, how “Godhead” takes aim at crooked authority figures and leaving the audience with challenging questions.

What inspired you to develop this story?

I always find that in life I come up against authority figures in a way that feels unfair. I often am too nice to people, and I think I have a little bit of second-born’s gullibility. As I grow up and hopefully become a dad, I’m trying to shed that. I think in this movie, I was able to put a finger on that feeling of being aware of the hypocrite or the manipulator. From childhood until adulthood, you have your religious figures, you have your family, you have your bosses. I’m always a very trusting person, and so I found that there’s real horror in that. This movie, although framed as a Hitchcockian thriller of sorts, is really a canvas for me to explore those frustrations.

With a film like this that has a twisty plot, how are you able to balance disseminating information to the audience without overexplaining and giving them easy answers?

It’s a tough tightrope to walk. I hope I’m able to do that successfully by staying with the characters first and being able to feel with them, and writing the script from their intentions and their heart, and not letting the plot of a horror film take over the greater emotional core. Of course, we do go there and go to dark places and twist and turn, but I try to always bring it back to the characters. I always can do better finding that humanity.

There are plenty of dark moments in this film. How did you determine how bleak versus hopeful you ultimately wanted your work to be?

It’s funny, there was another version of the ending where it was a massive, obvious F-you to all of these evil characters. I was talking to Al Warren, who plays the priest beautifully and with so much real emotion, and he got me thinking about the end beat. Without spoiling it, he said, “Let’s think about where this could go if you, as the director, practiced forgiveness,” and I found that in doing that I actually ended up with a much more horrifying ending than had I brought the hammer down on his character. I think there’s an eeriness to forgiveness as well, in that the ultimate manipulation is forgiving your manipulator. I wouldn’t mind if the audience felt maybe characters made the wrong decision at the end. That just keeps the question going, because the movie at its core is a question for the audience, less than an answer. In my old version, I tried to provide the answer, and it just wasn’t satisfying. So it was a real exercise in reeling back that sword that the director wields. That’s where we ended up.

What was the creative choice to shoot in black and white instead of color?

It was my instinct off the bat just because my first film was in black and white and it was such a fun, beautiful little film. People loved the black and white. It felt like a different world. And so it started as a, “Well, if it’s not broke, don’t fix it.” My brain was thinking in black and white. But of course, you need the narrative to deserve black and white. As I started to write the script, I just couldn’t see it any other way. I was very much into Robert Eggers’ “The Lighthouse.” He makes a ton of great movies, but this three-hander … I wanted to place us in some sort of timeless world. It felt black and white was an effective way to do that.

In addition to the beauty of the shadows and the moodiness that it’s able to convey, there’s how it relates to the themes of good and evil, right and wrong, truth and untruth. I had a full-circle moment in writing the script where there’s a gray area that I put in there, because, even though it’s in black and white, it potentially concludes on a gray area, which to me is the most horrifying area of all. We all want to know: Are we black or white? Are we right or wrong? When I was able to think of it as a spectrum and not just black and white, it opened up a whole new visual language for me.

Alief is representing “Godhead” for worldwide sales as it searches for distribution.

Watch the “Godhead” teaser trailer below.

The Beach Boys‘ endless summer has run into a hitch. The touring version of the group, led by sole remaining original member Mike Love, has called off six weeks’ worth of concerts scheduled for this summer, amounting to nearly 30 dates, citing the need to “recharge” before hitting the road again in the fall.

The cancellations and postponements cover the concerts that the band had scheduled from Thursday night, when they were to have played at Wolf Trap in Virginia, through Sept. 3, when they were scheduled to perform at the Colorado State Fair. The group — which for years has maintained one of the most active touring schedules of any name-brand act on the road — is now slated to resume its touring schedule on Sept. 24.

A message on Love’s Instagram page appeared alongside an illustration with the emblem “Gone Surfing.” It read: “Playing for you is the highlight of our summer every year — especially as we celebrate the 250th anniversary of the United States while saluting the 60th Anniversary of ‘Pet Sounds.’ We’ve been having a blast out there, and to keep the good vibrations going strong, we’ll be taking a short break to recharge before getting back on the road in September. All tickets for postponed performances (July 23 through September 3) will be honored following our return in late September. Please contact your local box office for additional information and questions. Thanks for your love — we can’t wait to see you back out there for a September to Remember… We look forward to continuing our Endless Summer with you.”

The refreshed schedule on Love’s page shows 11 concerts slated for this fall or next year. Four of those were already on the group’s itinerary, while the other seven are rescheduled dates for shows that are being postponed. It’s not clear whether the nearly 20 other dates that are being called off in the summer schedule will also be rescheduled for a later date or not.

The Beach Boys have been touring with Love as the only remnant of the classic lineup since the retirement earlier this year of Bruce Johnston. 

Another original member, Al Jardine, continues on the road leading his own group, billed as “Al Jardine and the Pet Sounds Band,” also playing the music of the Beach Boys. Jardine’s group has been booked to fill in for one of the appearances that Love’s crew called off, at the Oregon State Fair in Salem on Aug. 29.

The touring Beach Boys played a three-night stand at the Hollywood Bowl earlier this month, for the venue’s annual Independence Day fireworks spectacular. The shows went over well, although, even as he still took the lion’s share of lead vocals, Love, 85, was a less robust presence on stage than he has been on other recent tours, leading some to wonder if the demanding tour schedule had been taking a toll. Emcee/ringleader duties in the shows were mostly split between frequent guest star John Stamos and Love’s son, Christian Love (who sings lead on numbers formerly sung by the late Carl Wilson).

The Beach Boys’ revised touring schedule:

9.24 @ The Big E – The Big E Arena in West Springfield, MA
9.25 @ The Sounds of Summer Concert Series in Quakertown, PA
9.27 @ Alabama Theatre in North Myrtle Beach, SC
10.9 @ Grossinger Motors Arena in Bloomington, IL
10.10 @ PNC Pavilion at Riverbend in Cincinnati, OH
10.11 @ Ryman Auditorium in Nashville, TN
10.19 @ Grey Eagle Resort & Casino – Grey Eagle Event Centre in Calgary, AB
11.11 @ Walt Disney World Resort, Florida – Epcot, America Gardens Theatre in Orlando, FL
11.12 @ Walt Disney World Resort, Florida – Epcot, America Gardens Theatre in Orlando, FL
11.13 @ Hard Rock Hotel & Casino – Bristol in Bristol, VA
5.8.27 @ River Cree Resort and Casino – Entertainment Centre in Enoch, AB

Affected shows taken off the itinerary:

7/23 – Wolf Trap, Vienna, VA
7/24 – Bethel Woods Center for the Arts, Bethel, NY
7/25 – Lancaster, PA American Music Theatre
7/26 – Univest Performance Center, Quakertown, PA
7/30-31 – Niagara Falls, ON OLG Stage at Fallsview Casino
8/1 – Schenectady, NY M&T Bank Event Center
8/2 – Northwell at Jones Beach Theater, Wantagh, NY
8/6 – Grand Rapids, MI Frederik Meijer Gardens
8/7 – Indiana State Fair
8/8 – Bristol, VA Hard Rock Hotel & Casino
8/9 – Nashville, TN Ryman Auditorium
8/12 – PNC Pavilion, Cincinnati, OH
8/13 – Bloomington, IL Grossinger Motors Arena
8/14 – Aurora, IL RiverEdge Park
8/15 – Rochester Hills, MI Meadow Brook Amphitheatre
8/16 – West Allis, WI Wisconsin State Fair
8/19 – Waupaca, WI Indian Crossing Casino
8/21 – Shooting Star Casino, Mahnomen, MN
8/23 – River Cree Resort and Casino, Enoch, AB, Canada
8/24 – Grey Eagle Event Centre, Calgary, Canada
8/26 – Pocatello, ID Portneuf Health Trust Amphitheatre
8/27 – Nampa, ID Ford Idaho Center Amphitheater
8/28 – Lewiston, ID Clearwater River Casino Event Center
8/29 – Oregon State Fair, Salem, OR
8/30 – Redmond, WA Marymoor Park
8/31 – Alaska State Fair, Palmer, AK
9/2 – Rendezvous Event Center, Winter Park, CO
9/3 – Colorado State Fair, Pueblo, CO

“Avatar: Seven Havens” has an official premiere date at Paramount+. And what a date it is.

The new entry in the “Avatar” franchise will debut on Oct. 9 on the streaming service. That date should stick out to fans, as it was originally the date set for the premiere of the movie “Avatar Aang: The Last Airbender,” before that release was moved up to July 25 after the movie leaked online earlier this year.

And unlike past “Avatar” shows, which released weekly and had time between seasons, all 26 episodes of “Seven Havens” (divided into two “books” as with the past shows) will debut all at once as a binge release.

Paramount has also released the first teaser trailer for the show, which can be seen below.

Per the official logline, the new show “centers around a young Earthbender who discovers she’s the new Avatar after Korra in a world shattered by a devastating cataclysm. In this dangerous era, that title marks her as humanity’s destroyer, not its savior. Hunted by both human and spirit enemies, she and her long-lost twin must uncover their mysterious origins and save the Seven Havens before civilization’s last strongholds collapse.”

It stars Saheli Khan as Pavi, Aishu Devan as Nisha, Akshay Khanna as Karthik, Major Curda as Jae, Sakina Jaffrey as Agam, Darren Barnet as Daemin, Dianne Doan as Zi, and Dee Bradley Baker as Geet and Ruhi.

“Avatar: Seven Havens” is created by franchise masterminds Michael Dante DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko, who also serve as executive producers via Avatar Studios. Ethan Spaulding is an executive producer as well, with Sehaj Sethi as co-executive producer. Nickelodeon and Avatar Studios produce.

“Avatar Aang: The Last Airbender” is set to debut with a special screening at San Diego Comic-Con on July 24 before its streaming release the next day. The film is also playing a one-week awards qualifying run in theaters in New York and Los Angeles in lieu of the full theatrical release it was originally supposed to get.

“Avatar: The Last Airbender” premiered on Nickelodeon in 2005 and ran for three seasons. It is widely regarded as one of the greatest animated series of all time, and was followed by sequel series “The Legend of Korra,” which premiered in 2012 and ran for four seasons.

Sony Pictures has signed on as international distributor for “Ramayana,” the two-part Indian mythological epic directed by Nitesh Tiwari and produced by Namit Malhotra‘s Prime Focus Studios, covering all territories outside India.

Indian distribution will be handled by media personality Karan Johar’s Dharma Productions.

The story follows the exiled prince Rama and his wife Sita, whose abduction by the demon king Ravana sets in motion an epic war between the forces of righteousness and evil.

The film stars Ranbir Kapoor as Rama, Yash as Ravana and Sai Pallavi as Sita. Designed for audiences across cultures, it will be released in multiple languages, including an English-language version.

Score duties fall to Oscar-winning composers Hans Zimmer and A.R. Rahman. The production also features action choreography by Terry Notary and Guy Norris, and production design by Ramsey Avery and Ravi Bansal.

Visual effects are being delivered by DNEG – the eight-time Academy Award-winning studio also led by Malhotra – whose credits include the “Dune” trilogy, “Blade Runner 2049,” “Interstellar,” “Inception” and “The Odyssey.”

Prime Focus Studios previously co-produced “The Garfield Movie” with Alcon Entertainment for Sony Pictures, a title that has taken in more than $257 million worldwide.

“For generations, the ‘Ramayana’ has inspired people through its timeless humanity and enduring values. Our ambition has always been to honor that legacy while creating a cinematic experience worthy of audiences everywhere. Through DNEG, we have spent decades helping filmmakers realize some of the world’s most ambitious cinematic visions. With Prime Focus Studios, we are now bringing that same commitment to storytelling to one of the world’s greatest epics. Collaborating with Sony Pictures gives ‘Ramayana’ an extraordinary opportunity to connect with international audiences and introduce this timeless story to moviegoers around the world,” Malhotra said.

The film is due to release in November, during the Diwali holiday frame.

Prime Focus Studios is also currently in production on “Animal Friends,” a live-action/animation hybrid with Legendary Entertainment and Ryan Reynolds’ Maximum Effort production company, and “The Angry Birds Movie 3” for Paramount Pictures.