Deadline Hollywood - Oscar Preview - 12/26/18

PRESENTS

DECEMBER 26, 2018 OSCAR PREVIEW

BEN FOSTER

GE TS LOST IN T HE WOODS IN LEAVE N O TRAC E

BOOTS RILEY

PICKS HIS FILM AND MUSIC FAVORITES

DREAM TEAMS

J OHN KRASINSKI & E MILY B LUNT SAOIRSE RONAN & MARGOT ROB B IE E T HAN HAW KE & PAUL SC HRADE R OL IVIA COL MAN & YORGOS L ANT HIMOS SPIKE L E E & J OHN DAVID WASHINGTON PAUL GIAMAT T I & KAT HRYN HAHN

STRANGE ALLIANCE GRE EN B O O K, A ND I TS STO RY O F AN U N L I K ELY FRI E N D SH I P, I S T HE OS CA R FRO N TRUN N E R W HOS E MESSAG E CO U L D N OT B E MOR E T I M E LY

DEADLINE.COM/AWARDSLINE

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F O R

Y O U R

C O N S I D E R A T I O N

“THE BEST PICTURE OF THE YEAR.” “Yalitza Aparicio gives the best performance of the year.”

STEPHANIE ZACHAREK,

“Alfonso Cuarón’s masterpiece. Breathtaking and life-giving.”

RICHARD LAWSON,

WINNER•BEST PICTURE New York Film Critics Circle New York Film Critics Online Philadelphia Film Critics Circle San Francisco Film Critics Circle Seattle Film Critics Society

Chicago Film Critics Association Kansas City Film Critics Circle Las Vegas Film Critics Society Los Angeles Film Critics Association

Southeastern Film Critics Association Toronto Film Critics Association Vancouver Film Critics Circle Washington DC Area Film Critics Association

WINNER•BEST DIRECTOR Atlanta Film Critics Circle Chicago Film Critics Association Dallas-Fort Worth Film Critics Association Indiana Film Journalists Association Kansas City Film Critics Circle

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Las Vegas Film Critics Society New York Film Critics Circle New York Film Critics Online North Texas Film Critics Association Phoenix Film Critics Society

Seattle Film Critics Society Southeastern Film Critics Association Toronto Film Critics Association Utah Film Critics Association Washington DC Area Film Critics Association

12/20/18 1:20 AM

4-19

FIRST TAKE Ben Foster goes off the grid for Debra Granik’s Leave No Trace The Art of Craft: Black Panther On My Screen: Sorry to Bothers You’s Boots Riley on his film and music inspirations The Foreign Language and Doc shortlists

20

COVER STORY The team behind Green Book share the remarkable journey of Tony Lip and Dr. Don Shirley.

30

THE DIALOGUE: SCREEN PARTNERS John Krasinski & Emily Blunt Saoirse Ronan & Margot Robbie Ethan Hawke & Paul Schrader Olivia Colman & Yorgos Lanthimos Spike Lee & John David Washington Paul Giamatti & Kathryn Hahn

42

FLASH MOB Roma Experience FYC Screenings & Premieres

ON THE COVER Viggo Mortensen and Mahershala Ali photographed for Deadline by Shayan Asgharnia ON THIS PAGE John Krasinski and Emily Blunt photographed

by Josh Telles

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12/21/18 9:52 AM

MARVELOUS.

“

ONE OF THE YEAR’S MOST ARDENT EXPRESSIONS OF MOVIE LOVE.”

F O R Y O U R C O N S I D E R AT I O N B E S T D O C U M E N TA R Y F E AT U R E

+++++ MAGICAL.”

“

“EXPLOSIVELY 100%

LOS ANGELES FILM CRITICS ASSOCIATION

WINNER

IMAGINATIVE.” FILM INDEPENDENT SPIRIT AWARDS

NOMINEE

BEST DOCUMENTARY BEST DOCUMENTARY Untitled-2 1

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On My Screen: Boots Riley

p. 14

| Foreign Language Shortlist

p. 16

| Documentary Shortlist

p. 18

MAN of the WOODS Ben Foster delivers few lines, but one of the most impactful performances of the year in Debra Granik’s Leave No Trace

BY A MY NICHOL SON

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PHOTOGRAPH BY

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S RD A AW

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SOMETHING WILD Thomasin McKenzie and Ben Foster in Leave No Trace.

BEN FOSTER IS PACING MANHATTAN TRYING TO IGNORE THE CLAMOR. “Sorry about all the sirens!” he groans apologetically. He’s just gotten home from starring as 14th Century general Jan Žižka in the biopic Medieval, hyped as Czechoslovakia’s biggest blockbuster to date, and Foster just wanted to stroll around to appreciate the holiday lights and squirrels “and ambulances,” he jokes.

Over the last decade, he’s played

Will who can survive the apoca-

a half-dozen veterans of the War

lypse—has all the answers.

on Terror in films like Lone Survi-

“She was front and center in

vor and The Messenger. Foster’s

my heart for sure,” says Foster of

resume stubbornly reminds us of

his daughter Ella, now nearly a year

the veterans who’ve been forgotten.

and a half. As were his own parents,

And Will is a culmination of all those

who also gave him adult-sized

roles, a man who made it back home

freedoms at a young age. He was

only to choose to be homeless. The

an observant kid. An undiagnosed

paradox is his desire to raise a child

hearing disorder had the side-effect

off the grid also forces him to be on

of training him to study faces and

the run from social services. He can’t

body language, and how to tell what

evade the future forever. Will’s raised

people felt when you couldn’t hear

a terrific girl—New Zealand new-

their words. In school, Foster won

Foster’s a long way from the

his busy days. “It still fuels my life,”

comer Thomasin McKenzie radiates

second place in an international

Oregon forest where he shot Debra

says Foster. “I encourage anybody

intelligence and bravery as Tom—but

drama competition, yet his grades

Granik’s Leave No Trace, a haunting,

that is finding the world a bit disso-

she’s starting to realize that one dad,

weren’t great. “If I can spell elbow

based-on-a-true-story drama about

nant to take 20 minutes twice a day

no matter how loving, can’t take the

five different ways in a book report,

a survivalist veteran who has trained

and hear your own voice.”

place of a community.

perhaps I should let someone else

his teenage daughter to live with

Meditation might have helped

Foster read the script right after

do the spellchecking and focus my

him in the forest. You sense Foster

his character Will in Leave No Trace,

he learned that he and his wife,

wouldn’t mind teleporting across

who is so uncomfortable with the

Orange is the New Black actress

the country for an hour of quiet.

intrusion of his own thoughts that

Laura Prepon, were going to have a

the Disney Channel’s hands, and

Then again, finding his own quiet

he busies himself chopping wood,

daughter themselves. He cried, and

they flew him from Iowa to Los

is one of his strengths as an actor,

recycling eggshells, and tinkering

knew he had to convince Granik to

Angeles to audition to play the lead

not to mention as a human being

with solar stoves. He’s avoiding ideas

give him the role. So while Prepon

in their sitcom Flash Forward. Disney

dealing with modern chaos. At 4,

that he won’t say aloud to his daugh-

was in her second trimester, he was

asked if his family would move to

Foster’s parents, two hippies raising

ter, Tom—and won’t even whisper

tromping around in the trees thinking

Canada. Astonishingly, they agreed.

a family in Fairfield, Iowa, taught him

silently to himself. The woods are his

about parenthood and responsibility

“They weren’t stage parents,” says

transcendental mediation, a mental

physical and mental escape.

and how to give your child the best

Foster. “I didn’t come from a family

when no one—not even a guy like

that was industry savvy. It was in-

pause he continues to carve out of

6

Foster gets the need for that.

energies elsewhere,” he laughs.

At 14, his casting tape got into

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article informed his portrayal. What’s buried inside Will must stay buried.

He’d rather leave it to us to note how Will flinches when a helicopter roars overhead. The specifics don’t matter, only the scars they’ve left behind.

“Debra’s a deeply humanist filmmaker,” says Foster. There are no villains in the film, not even the government employees who drag Will and Tom out of the woods.

When Foster read the script, he was ready to spot the person his character would have to fight. “Every other page I was like, ‘Oh, it’s going to be the trucker, or it’s the lady in the hippie camp who’s going to do the bad thing.’ But it’s not about that. There credible—incredible!—the sacrifices

are good people in the world who

they made. But they recognized

are happy to lend a hand, and I think

that I was happy doing this, and as a

that’s something worth reminding

new parent myself, seeing your child

each other about.”

happy, nothing beats it.”

As for his palpable bond with his

Foster shot five episodes of the

onscreen daughter, on the first day of

show before it went on a year-long hi-

the shoot, McKenzie explained that

atus. Then a wonderful disaster hap-

HOME FREE McKenzie and Foster as off-thegrid daughter and father Tom and Will.

pened. He turned 15 and discovered angst. When his castmates painted butterflies on the dressing room wall,

she would like to do a Maori ritual called a hongi, where they’d hold each other in silence for a full minute.

Right when the AD ordered them to

Foster scribbled Soundgarden lyrics.

the set, Foster and McKenzie found

“I think they disturbed the producers,”

a quiet hideaway, bringing along her

says Foster. “They said, ‘Ben doesn’t

mission to push his performances to

make the best of it.” Foster lets the

caretaker, who witnessed and timed

seem so bright and fuzzy.’”

the brink. “Emotional danger turns him

timbre of his voice and the dimming

the embrace. At first, Foster felt awk-

on,” says Foster. “His school is as long

light in his eyes say the rest.

ward. But then, “our heartbeats and

Suddenly he went from being the kid who didn’t mind chirping, “Hey,

as you’re telling the truth to yourself

let’s go get a pizza!” to stubbornly

and listening to the other person, you

talk a lot,” explains Foster of how he

just together in a feeling of security,

insisting that real people don’t talk

can’t lose—and while you’re doing

and Granik pruned her script—not

and care and protection became our

like cartoons. So the show hired him

that, scare yourself, go farther.”

that the Winter’s Bone writer/director

reality. I knew that I would take care

is a chatterbox, herself. “We chose

of Thomasin and she would take care

an acting coach. “He didn’t disagree,”

So he did in movies like 3:10 to

“We talked a lot about how to not

our breath synced up and we were

says Foster, “so we ending up talking

Yuma and Rampart and Hell or High

his words like he would choose his

of me—it was this accelerated con-

about what we were pursuing in this

Water, perfecting his Ben Foster-

belongings: Was it a want or a need?

necting that I’d never experienced.”

scene, and about connection.” He

isms: a whiplash temper, elastic

And if it was a want, he didn’t say it.”

was risking his Disney Channel gig,

vocal chords, and vibrating energy.

but becoming an actor.

Which is why it’s ironic that in Leave

half of Will’s dialogue, especially the

disappeared. “It’s not been proven,

No Trace—the role that’s got Hol-

stuff that most actors would want to

but it’s been suggested that he’s no

He got his education on the set. Barry

lywood wondering if he’ll finally get

do, like any big moments that would

longer with us,” says Foster. Today,

Levinson taught him improv shoot-

his overdue Oscar nomination—

explain how Will got here. There are

the girl would be 26. Foster has no

ing Liberty Heights, where he played

Foster gives a hushed, near-mute

no sermons about the violence he

idea if she’ll see Leave No Trace. He

a confused Jewish kid who dresses

performance. Will and Tom talk in

saw abroad. Instead, there’s just Fos-

doesn’t even know when he’ll see

up like Adolf Hitler as a gag. As misfit

facts and functions—tighten this,

ter’s tense pause when a psychology

it himself. “I experienced it, but I’m

Eli in Freaks and Geeks, Foster learned

light that, this good?—not feelings.

test asks if he has nightmares or

just not ready to witness it,” he says.

how to play a person who never

Occasionally, they scrap speech

troubling dreams. He doesn’t answer,

Maybe he’ll wait till his own daughter

knows when the joke is on him. He

altogether and communicate in

and that’s answer enough. Later,

is old enough to see the movie her

made the audience cringe and sniffle

animal clicks. When the government

Granik filmed Tom discovering an

dad made for her before she was

and laugh all at once. Nick Cassa-

kindly, but forcibly relocates Will and

actual New York Times clipping from

even born. “Maybe she won’t have

vettes’ Alpha Dog, in which Foster

Tom to a house where the bright girl

2015 about a unit of Marines sta-

any interest!” laughs Foster, as he

plays a furious, self-destructive

can go to school, the duo’s deepest

tioned in Afghanistan whose suicide

winds his way through the busy

small-time drug dealer whose anger

exchange goes as follows: “Are we

rate is 14 times the national average.

sidewalk back to his home. “Oh dad

problems get his younger brother

going to be OK here?” asks the child.

Bring up that article to Foster, and

and his make-believe—why doesn’t

kidnapped and killed, gave him per-

Will simply replies, “We’re going to

he’d rather not elaborate how the

he get a real job!?” ★

Foster never went back to school.

8

They wound up removing nearly

The real life father and daughter who inspired the story eventually

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M U S I C A N D LY R I C S B Y

DIANE WARREN

PERFORMED BY

JENNIFER HUDSON

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CHARTED TERRITORY

Gold Derby’s Oscar Odds At press time, here is how Gold Derby’s experts ranked the Oscar chances in the Best Picture race. Get up-to-date rankings and make your own predictions at GoldDerby.com

BEST PICTURE

Making a Massacre

How Roma production designer Eugenio Caballero recreated a moment of darkness from Mexico City’s past EXTERNALIZING THE MEXICO CITY OF HIS CHILDHOOD IN METICULOUS DETAIL FOR ROMA— his radically unconventional, black-and-white passion project—Alfonso Cuarón set an enormous challenge for himself by mounting a recreation of the Corpus Christi massacre, on the very street where it transpired. An infamous confrontation between student demonstrators and heavily armed soldiers that took over 100 lives, this moment cut to the heart of Cuarón’s concerns, examining, blow for blow, the way in which the personal and political collide to shape a life. Drawing on ample photography of the massacre, production designer Eugenio Caballero dealt with streets that had changed dramatically since the 1970s, altering six or seven blocks’ worth of façades. Creating period police gear from scratch and sourcing vehicles from the ’40s, ’50s and ’60s, the designer placed substantial focus on one central location: a furniture store, with vast windows, where a pregnant Cleo (Yalitza Aparicio) shops for a crib, only to watch the tragedy unfold before her. “We went to that place and stripped it out completely. [Before], it was a gym, and it was completely transformed,” Caballero says. “We put in all the wood grain, and then we painted the walls.”

Working with the VFX team to digitally alter certain elements, Caballero calls the entire experience of building Cuarón’s vision, a “delicious process”. —Matt Grobar

FREDDIE’S FASHIONS Bohemian Rhapsody costume designer Julian Day captures Freddie Mercury’s style and Rami Malek’s imagination

10

ON BOHEMIAN RHAPSODY— which charts the rise of Queen and the band’s singular front-man, Freddie Mercury—costume designer Julian Day encountered one of the most fastidious lead actors he’d ever worked with.

Stepping into the fashion icon’s boundarypushing stylings, Rami Malek needed Day to aid him in capturing Mercury’s essence.

“I think in the back of his mind, he was probably aware that people would try to

ODDS

1

A Star Is Born

13/2

2

Roma

15/2

3

Green Book

15/2

4

The Favourite

19/2

5

Black Panther

10/1

6

If Beale Street Could Talk

21/2

7

BlacKkKlansman

23/2

8

Vice

12/1

9

First Man

16/1

Mary Poppins Returns

22/1

BEST ANIMATED FEATURE

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Incredibles 2

37/10

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Isle of Dogs

39/10

3

Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse

9/2

4

Ralph Breaks the Internet

9/2

5

Mirai

11/2

criticize what he was doing,” Day reflects.

“If he didn’t get Freddie right, the film wouldn’t work.” Fortunately, in Day’s very first fitting with the actor, a breakthrough came. “I fitted these flared trousers on him, and they fitted so well, they literally could have been made for him,” Day recalls. “I used that as the base pattern for pretty much all the flared trousers I made in the whole film, for everybody. We called it ‘the Freddie Flare.’” —Matt Grobar

LA VIE BOHÈME Rami Malek as Freddie Mercury.

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Carter dipped into the comics to draw inspiration for T’Challa’s Black Panther suit, considering designs going back to the 1960s.

The suit was designed to be simpler and sleeker than the one worn in Captain America: Civil War. Vibranium, the fictional metal upon which Wakanda’s people rely, became a stylistic motif across Carter’s costumes.

The surface of the suit incorporates elements of the Wakandan font and language.

It also features an Oka-

The Art of Craft

vango pattern, comprised of triangles. “The triangle is in artistry throughout the

Designing T’Challa’s supersuit for Black Panther

continent. It’s like sacred

BY MATT GROBAR • ILLUSTRATION BY ADI GRANOV

mother and the child.”

geometry: the father, the

The combination of

“PART OF THE OVERALL THEME OF BLACK PANTHER WAS, WHAT DOES AFRICA MEAN TO ME? For [director] Ryan Coogler,

patterns was a nod to the

it was an exploration of his own ideas about Africa, what he knew and what he didn’t know. It was important to delve into culture, into what things are mysterious about Africa to people, and dispel a lot of those mysteries. To tell the stories of the tribal customs and beautiful traditions that we see across the continent.”

–Ruth E. Carter, Costume Designer

the continent.

texture of African wax prints, common throughout

The “beauty suit”, used

by Boseman in the less physical scenes, was too thin for stunt scenes.

“Tough suits” were created for these shots.

TWO research trips to Africa for Ryan Coogler

Rachel Morrison shot the film with

The Chibock Road set measured

THREE

50,000

main lenses:

square feet

27, 30

1500 costumes created

12

and

35mm

2,456 VFX shots in the film

A cast drawn from

EIGHT

countries and

12

key female creatives

The Busan fight scene features only

SEVEN cuts

RYAN M E I N E RD I NG / VI S D E V

Numbered Black Panther’s particulars

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T

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SCREEN ACTORS G U I L D AWARDS

®

SUNDAY JAN 27 8ET 5PT

TM & © 2018 Turner Entertainment Networks, Inc. A Warner Media Company. All Rights Reserved.

SAG-AFTRA and Screen Actors Guild Awards are registered trademarks and the Actor statuette and SAG-AFTRA logo are TM and © SAG-AFTRA. © 2018 Screen Actors Guild Awards, LLC. All Rights Reserved.

Untitled-2 1

#SAGAWARDS

12/20/18 1:21 AM

MY DESERT ISLAND MOVIES One would be about how to build a raft [laughs]. I’m not a person that keeps watching something over and over 10 times, but I like Crooklyn, Dog Day Afternoon, and El Amor Brujo by Carlos Saura.

Boots Riley

The musician-turned-director of Sorry to Bother You on his film and music favorites

BY DINO-RAY RAMOS

BOOTS RILEY, THE HIP-HOP ARTIST TURNED DIRECTOR, has made quite an impression with his debut Sorry to Bother You. The absurdist comedy about a black telemarketer was nominated for three Gotham Awards, and two Indie Spirits. Born in Chicago and raised in Oakland, Riley made the conscious decision to set his film in the latter. “I think people are tired of seeing the same cities on film, especially the way a lot of movies are made,” he points out. “They’re really just trying to use it for Every City, USA so it’s not really specific to that place. [But] the more particular you can get, the more universal you actually get.”

MY FAVORITE SCENE TO SHOOT There are so many. I felt satisfied as a filmmaker with the scene where Cassius [Lakeith Stanfield] walks out of the bar across the street to talk to his friends and Detroit [Tessa Thompson]. Before he gets across the street there are art bikes, there’s something going on on one side and then some folks peeling out in their car, and dancing near the car over on the other side—there’s all sorts of noise around. There’s a lot of cool stuff, and all the sound design on that. And then, when he’s talking to the group of folks across the street, Detroit interrupts him and then we go to a two-shot of them before closing in on her earring of a man sitting in an electric chair. Behind her in the same exact position is a billboard of a person sitting that exact same way in a chair, with a sign that’s patronizing and putting forth racist tropes in the Black community.

Then we dissolve to the next day and the left eye gorilla art folks have changed it to something revolutionary.

14

MY HARDEST SCENE There was nothing that was emotionally overwhelming in shooting it [Sorry to Bother You], but the compliment battle was tough. I had only written the first four or five lines of that and we had done readings, but it was hard to get. It was hard for me to gauge how long we could stay in that moment. I’d only written a few backand-forths between [Cassius and Salvador] and it was hard to get that tone. If you do it in the comedian way, it becomes obvious someone’s trying to make a joke and then it’s not that funny. Then to get that look where they want to kill each other, that took a lot of tries. Once they got it, it was clear that it was hilarious.

MY GUILTY PLEASURES You know, I’m pretty weird so I’m not sure people would be surprised by anything. I like a lot of silly movies and stuff like that—like Will Ferrell and Anchorman. I know I said don’t watch things 10 times, but Anchorman I’ve watched dozens and dozens of times. That’s not even a guilty pleasure though. I never feel guilty about anything I like… Oh, here we go: Tegan and Sara. That’s a guilty pleasure.

THE STORY THAT SHOULD BE A FILM There could be a great film about the life of [labor activist] Joe Hill—not Stephen King’s son. I think I would love to watch a movie version of [the comic] Saga, but I don’t think it can be done for less than $300 million or something like that, so I’d be interested to see somebody try.

THE LAST MOVIE THAT MADE ME CRY If Beale Street Could Talk— I started crying seven minutes into the movie and I was like, “What the fuck is he doing to me? Why are they doing this?”

THE FIRST MOVIE THAT MADE ME FEEL SEEN A tie between Purple Rain and The Goonies—and Chunk [Jeff Cohen] is my lawyer! There are times when you feel like you’re stepped on and left out. The characters in these movies felt like they were trying to figure out how to not feel that way. I once was going to ask a woman to marry me, and I think she kind of expected it too, and we were on the plane ride somewhere. She hadn’t seen Purple Rain. I told her, “You’re going to have to watch it before anything goes any further, and we’re going to have to talk about it.” She told me she liked it… but I didn’t marry her.

RE X /S H U T T ERSTO CK

On My Screen:

THE DIRECTORS I ALWAYS LOVED For all the chaos and craziness that he brings, Emir Kusturica with films like Black Cat, White Cat, Underground, and Time of the Gypsies. For the way that actual scenes attain an epicness with the individual directing: Michael Cimino’s The Deer Hunter and the beginning of Heaven’s Gate. For that same reason, stuff like Milos Foreman; Firemen’s Ball and the beginning of Loves of a Blonde.

There’s the poetry of some stuff by Paul Schrader like Mishima, then there’s Kubrick and how every single thing that they have on the screen is important. Then there are the Coen brothers and how everything is hilarious but nothing is a joke, it’s all played straight.

Spike Jonze, Charlie Kaufman, and Michel Gondry—he has ways of doing things that are just organic and making them happen on screen.

Terry Gilliam’s Brazil and Time Bandits and Brian De Palma’s way that he uses score to build tension.

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THE FIRST SPEAKERS ARE (Are You?) M A R C H 11-12, 2019 JERUSALEM

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Language Barriers The Academy narrows its Best Foreign Language candidates to nine titles

BY NANCY TARTAGLIONE

PERHAPS THE MOST SURPRISING THING ABOUT THE ACADEMY’S DECISION LAST WEEK ON THE NINE FILMS IT WILL ADVANCE TO OSCAR VOTING IN THE BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM CATEGORY IS HOW FEW SURPRISES THERE ARE. IN CONTRAST TO RECENT YEARS, THE FIELD LARGELY REFLECTED FILMS THE PROGNOSTICATORS SAW COMING.

COLD WAR

But that doesn’t mean the ever-present

in Venice where it won for its script, later

folks’ favorites weren’t overlooked. In what

scoring Cuarón’s first Oscar nom in the Original

was one of the richest rosters in recent mem-

Screenplay category, but was not submitted

ory, the Phase 1 Foreign Language Committee

to the FL race. A Mexican entry has been

and the Executive Committee certainly had

nominated before, but never won the gold.

a tall task to whittle the submissions down

Cuarón has a thank-you credit on Pawel

from 87 to nine. Ahead of the unveiling, Exec

Pawlikowski’s Oscar-winning Ida, and here finds

Committee Co-Chair Diane Weyermann said,

himself on the same shortlist with the Polish

“I think there is a very strong feeling among

helmer’s latest, Cold War. Also a black-and-

the committee and the people participating in

white film, the time- and country-spanning

Phase 1 that this year is exceptionally strong

music-laced romance drama from Amazon was

and it’s going to be difficult.”

shockingly omitted from the Golden Globes

The Foreign Language Committee decided

nominations earlier this month. It is often cited

on six titles for the shortlist while the Execu-

as the major threat to Roma and won five Eu-

tive Committee chose films to fit three further

ropean Film Awards, as well as the top Foreign

slots, which Co-Chair Larry Karaszewski said last

Language laurel from the National Board of

month are earmarked for those that may have

Review, the New York Film Critics Circle and the

been “sort of forgotten”.

New York Film Critics Online. Upon its Cannes

There’s been no forgetting Alfonso Cuarón’s

debut, it scooped Best Director.

Roma. The Oscar-winning director’s personal

Also out of Cannes, Hirokazu Kore-eda’s

black-and-white reflection on his childhood in

Palme d’Or winning Shoplifters was considered

Mexico City and the women who surrounded

a lock for a shortlist slot, and delivered. The

him growing up has been riding a critical wave

family drama, which explores the meaning of

since it premiered at the Venice Film Festival

the ties that bind, also has a Golden Globe

and won the Golden Lion there. The Spanish-

nom. Magnolia released it domestically after

language drama, which recently debuted on

the film hit box office milestones in both Japan

Netflix, also has a significant theatrical com-

and China. Kore-eda previously repped Japan

ponent which Cuarón says he believes is bigger

(which has won the Oscar once, and has three

“than if we went a conventional route”.

Honorary Awards) with 2004’s Nobody Knows,

Roma has three Golden Globe nominations and prizes from myriad critics bodies, and is

16

Y Tu Mamá También, had its European premiere

whiff of controversy was missing, or that some

but it did not advance.

Another Asian title on the FL shortlist is

expected to spread out across other main races

Lee Chang-dong’s Burning, which was recently

at the Oscars. His last Spanish-language movie,

named runner-up to Roma in the LA Film Critics

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the origin of human creativity?”

Now for the surprises. One pic to make it that we hadn’t heard much about, outside its Cannes Best Actress win, is Kazakhstan’s Ayka from Tulpan director Sergei Dvortsevoy. Set in wintry Moscow, the film centers on a migrant who has just given birth to, and abandoned, a

NEVER LOOK AWAY

child she can’t afford to keep. Now undocumented and in debt, she also must avoid corrupt police officers and countrymen. Ayka has not had a huge profile on the fest circuit since Cannes, although it is slotted for Palm Springs in January. Kazakhstan has one previous nomination and one other appearance on the shortlist under its belt.

Among the titles that fell short of the shortlist, there are two particular standouts: Golden Globe nominee and Cannes Camera d’Or BURNING

winner Girl by Belgium’s Lukas

BIRDS OF PASSAGE

Dhont and Sweden’s audacious Border from director Ali Abbasi.

Girl has faced backlash from

Association’s Best Picture cat-

main character and the audience

Cristina Gallego who co-directed

egory. Unbelievably, this is the first

listening to footsteps or whispers,

sprawling epic Birds of Passage

some critics regarding the casting of

time that Korea has ever made the

[which] can be much more vivid,”

with previous Oscar nominee

a cisgender actor in a trans role (af-

shortlist since it began entering

Möller says. “In every good film,

Ciro Guerra. Tracing the origins

ter last year’s Oscar winner A Fantas-

pictures back in the early 1960s.

there is something being kept from

of the Colombian drug trade as

tic Woman broke ground for the trans

That’s despite Korea having one

the audience that gets filled in just

it slowly corrupts a native Wayúu

community). The Netflix release tells

of the most vibrant and developed

outside of frame.”

family, Birds of Passage opened

the story of Lara, a 15-year-old born

the Directors’ Fortnight section

in the body of a boy, who dreams

local industries in the world as well

Another well-received title that

as very sophisticated audiences.

was expected to factor on the

of Cannes in May, later screening

of being a ballerina. It’s inspired by

The movie is loosely based on Haruki

FL shortlist, and made the cut, is

in Telluride, Toronto and London.

the life of Nora Monsecour who

Murakami’s short story Barn Burn-

Nadine Labaki’s Cannes Jury Prize

Guerra’s last film, Embrace of the

worked closely with Dhont, and it

ing, and follows an alienated young

laureate Capernaum from Lebanon.

Serpent, was produced by Gallego

won the Un Certain Regard prize for

man whose already difficult life is

It was acquired by Sony Pictures

and was Colombia’s first to gain

lead actor Victor Polster. “I want to

complicated by the appearance of

Classics on the Riviera and is also

any traction with the Academy,

listen to different opinions about my

two people, one a spirited woman

in the Golden Globe race. Labaki

receiving a nomination in 2015.

film,” the director says. “I learn from

who offers romantic possibility, and

has repped Lebanon twice before

the other a wealthy young man with

for the Oscars, more than any other

winner Florian Henckel von

of representation is important. But

a mysterious hobby.

filmmaker from the country that

Donnersmarck returns to German-

I don’t think a director should only

scored its first nomination last year.

language filmmaking and to the

be limited to making films that only

Academy’s shortlist with Never

pertain to his or her identity.”

Likewise a first for Danish helmer Gustav Möller, his taut

A social drama, Capernaum

The Lives of Others Oscar

that… Representation and the future

debut feature The Guilty gives the

follows an abused and neglected

Look Away. The acclaimed big

Border made the Makeup and

filmmaker his first shortlist slot. A

12-year-old boy who has had to grow

canvas Venice premiere has a

Hairstyling shortlist, but not FL. The

breakout Audience Award winner

up much too fast, serving a five-

Globe nomination and follows

trippy, quasi-political treatise on “the

at Sundance in early 2018 (and the

year sentence for a violent crime.

a painter who, with the love of

other”, which includes one of the

subject of an upcoming remake

In flashbacks, Labaki reveals the

his life, escapes post-war East

most unusual sex scenes ever filmed,

with Jake Gyllenhaal), the story

terrible deprivation that sends him

Germany for the West, but remains

is the story of a customs officer with

of a police officer assigned to an

on his tragic destiny, as he struggles

tormented by his childhood under

an uncanny knack for sniffing out

emergency call center takes place

to make sense of a world that has

the Nazis and begins to create

guilt. Border was the top Un Certain

in two adjacent rooms as a mystery

rejected him from the day he was

works that mirror his own fate and

Regard prize winner in Cannes and

unfolds over the phone, allowing the

born, and sues his own parents for

the traumas of a generation. Von

has a Directors to Watch nod from

viewer to conjure their own images

the very act of bringing him into a

Donnersmarck, who is one of only

Palm Springs. Both of these omitted

of what’s happening off-screen.

world of such suffering.

three German directors to have

helmers, as well as many others that

won this category, says the film

haven’t advanced this year, appear

hangs on the question, “What is

to have bright futures ahead. ★

“Some of the best moments in the film are not dialogue, but just the

Joining Labaki as the only other female filmmaker on the shortlist is

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FREE SOLO

The Doc Leaves As the field narrows to 15 films on Oscar’s Best Documentary Feature shortlist, which title will prove the cure?

BY MATTHEW CAREY

THE DISTANT BARKING OF DOGS

FOUR OF THE MOST SUCCESSFUL DOCUMENTARIES OF RECENT YEARS REMAIN IN CONTENTION FOR A PRIZE BEYOND BOX OFFICE GLORY—THE KIND THAT COMES WITH AN OSCAR TROPHY. Won’t You Be My Neighbor?, RBG, Three Identical

make a feature-length horror film as

tary shortlist as the Academy culled the list of 166

a teenager, a vision that turned into

eligible nonfiction films down to an exclusive 15.

a nightmare when her adult mentor

Morgan Neville’s Neighbor, which explores the work of children’s television pioneer Fred Rogers, has become the

absconded with all the footage.

Releasing on Netflix gave the

top-grossing biographical documentary of all time with

filmmaker a worldwide platform.

more than $22 million in earnings. RBG, the film directed

“I knew that Netflix would reach

by Betsy West and Julie Cohen that documents Supreme

these people now in Croatia and

Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, started the box office

Bhutan and small towns in Nebraska.

gold rush earlier in the year, amassing just over $14 million.

Versions of me,” Tan explains. “I

Three Identical Strangers, Tim Wardle’s story of iden-

wanted to speak to them and tell

tical triplets who were separated as infants and reunited

them to be brave and just go forth

by accident as adults, has tallied $12.3 million. Free Solo,

and do it and take them along on

about mountain climber Alex Honnold’s death-defying

this journey with me.”

ascent of Yosemite’s El Capitan without ropes, has collected over $10 million so far.

“Alex brought it, so we had to do justice to what he did,”

A shortlist surprise came with the omission of another Netflix documentary, Quincy, a film celebrating

Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi, who directed Free Solo with her

music great Quincy Jones that was

husband Jimmy Chin, says. “I think people are very satis-

co-directed by his daughter, actress

fied by watching someone have this audacious dream, and

Rashida Jones.

actually achieving it.”

Netflix documentaries scored two of five Academy

18

recounts her ambitious effort to

Strangers and Free Solo all made the Oscar documen-

Streaming service Hulu actually outdid its rival Netflix, landing two

Award nominations last Oscar season, but the stream-

docs on the shortlist. Crime + Punish-

ing service won’t repeat that feat this time around. Only

ment, from director Stephen Maing,

one of its major contenders made the shortlist, Shirk-

exposes an alleged policy within the

ers, directed by Singapore native Sandi Tan. The film

New York Police Department that

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Carracedo told Deadline at the IDA Awards, where the film won the Pare Lorentz Award. “Spain is ready to remember. Spain is ready to break that pact of forgetting.”

Several more films with an international focus joined The Silence of Others on the Oscar shortlist. On

OF FATHERS AND SONS

Her Shoulders, from director Alexandria Bombach, follows Nobel Peace Prize winner Nadia Murad, a survivor of the genocide of the Yazidi minority in Iraq, who were targeted for destruction by ISIS. Syrian filmmaker Talal Derki, director of Of Fathers and Sons, posed as a jihadist sympathizer to gain entry into a militant Islamic family in Northern Syria. His main character was Abu Osama, a founder of Al Nusra, the Syrian wing of Al Qaeda.

“The uprising of ISIS and Al NusCHARM CITY

CRIME + PUNISHMENT

ra in my homeland was very quick,” Derki notes. “For me really making the film is a step to think about this

forces officers to meet a quota of

idea of [creating] a community

arrests or face the consequences.

portrait. It was impossible to write

mense, but they’re not insurmount-

Hulu’s other contender, Minding the

a log line. It was literally impossible

able,” Ness explains. “I think people

Gap, directed by young filmmaker

to write a synopsis. I talk about the

who have confronted unimaginable

national dimension made surprise

Bing Liu, has become one of the most

film conceptually and not literally

hardship are probably stronger than

appearances on the shortlist, not

honored films of the year, winning the

because if you talk about the film

most of us, and when they walked

having received nearly the atten-

IDA Award for Best Feature Docu-

literally then that becomes ‘what

through the fire, they decided what

tion of their competitors. Com-

mentary, among other awards.

these scenes are about’ and ‘what

they were going to harden was love.”

munion, from Polish director Anna

Praise for the film—which centers on Liu and two friends in Rockford, Illinois, who gravitated towards skate-

this moment means,’ not what your relationship to it is.”

While some first-time filmmakers

“I do think the challenges are im-

phenomenon. How it happened, to film the process of it.”

Two other films with an inter-

Dark Money and Charm City

Zamecka, focuses on a teenage girl

come from the same producer—

caring for her “dysfunctional father

Katy Chevigny. Oscar winner Pedro

and autistic brother.” The Distant

boarding to escape abusive home

like Ross were rewarded, a couple of

Almodóvar, meanwhile, has put his

Barking of Dogs, directed by Simon

life situations—has been a challenge

doc legends were left out.

name behind another of the films

Lereng Wilmont, features another

to make the shortlist, The Silence of

young protagonist, a boy living in

trashing Fahrenheit 11/9 has earned

Others. Almodóvar serves as execu-

Eastern Ukraine as war with Russia

cal attention. “It is not normal. It is

over $6 million theatrically, didn’t

tive producer on the documentary

envelops his village.

the opposite of anything I have ever

make the shortlist. Nor did Frederick

directed by Almudena Carracedo

experienced in my 29 years of life.”

Wiseman, the 88-year-old director

and Robert Bahar, an emotional

into the Oscar sweepstakes that

of Monrovia, Indiana, his exploration

exploration of the legacy of torture

enjoyed support from Spike Lee, did

of a pocket of red-state America.

and political murder committed

not wind up making the shortlist.

Another is RaMell Ross, director

The politically-themed Dark

under the reign of Spanish dicta-

The film, which takes viewers inside

of Hale County This Morning, This

Money, about the nefarious impact

tor General Francisco Franco. After

Aretha Franklin’s recording of her

Evening. His film, winner of the IFP

of untraceable cash on American

Franco’s death in 1975, there was

live gospel album in 1972, emerged

Gotham Award for best documenta-

elections, earned a spot on the

no “truth and reconciliation”-style

from a 46-year limbo to qualify

ry, deploys moving imagery to reveal

shortlist for director Kimberly Reed.

commission to heal the nation. In-

for Oscar consideration belatedly,

African-American experience in a

Charm City, from director Marilyn

stead, there was a “pact of silence”

missing the opportunity to compete

rural part of Alabama.

Ness, takes a vérité-style view of

that precluded the chance for

for pre-Oscar awards.

downtrodden sections of Baltimore,

justice. Perhaps unexpectedly, The

With Amazing Grace and dozens

tion, and that is the point—to see

where violence is commonplace and

Silence of Others has emerged as a

more films consigned to the sidelines,

black lives represented in a holistic

opportunity elusive.

hit in Spanish theaters.

15 documentaries go forward to the

for Liu to assimilate.

“It’s weird,” he admits of the criti-

Liu is one of the fresh faces in documentary to make the shortlist.

Hale County resists easy defini-

fashion and not the stereotypical

Michael Moore, whose Trump-

The director found reason for op-

“It’s become a whole movement

Amazing Grace, a late entrant

next cutoff point, on January 22.

manner that has proven so destruc-

timism, as she followed local heroes

where people are bringing their

That’s when the Oscar nominations

tive and dehumanizing.

who work to uplift the community,

friends, their parents, their neigh-

will be announced, narrowing the

breaking a cycle of hopelessness.

bors. Screenings are selling out,”

field to the final five nominees. ★

Ross describes his goal as “The

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ROAD

Warriors

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ON A TOUR OF THE SOUTH IN THE 1960S, piano maestro Dr. Don Shirley sought to fight racist attitudes with his incredible talent. Anticipating the slings and arrows of an environment determined to reject him, and which left Nat King Cole beaten bloody when he played “white music” in Birmingham, he hired an Italian-American nightclub bouncer, Tony ‘Lip’ Vallelonga as his driver and personal security. As the two men clocked many miles on the road, theirs became a lifelong friendship that changed each of their lives. Culled from long conversations with the two men by Lip’s son Nick Vallelonga, who co-wrote the script with Brian Hayes Currie and director Peter Farrelly, Green Book has become one of the year’s most promising Oscar hopefuls. The players describe how they got there to Mike Fleming Jr. D E A D L I N E .C O M / AWA R D S L I N E

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BETWEEN FRIENDS Left to right: Viggo Mortensen, director Peter Farrelly and Mahershala Ali.

E

ven before the people chose Green Book at the Toronto Film Festival, anointing Peter Farrelly’s film as a surprise Oscar contender, it had survived a road trip as overflowing with twists and turns as the story it depicts. It recreates the concert tour of piano virtuoso Dr. Don Shirley (Mahershala Ali), a black man touring the Deep South in 1962 with only a Bronxbred burly Italian driver and temporarily unemployed Copacabana bouncer, Tony ‘Lip’ Vallelonga (Viggo Mortensen) as security from the dangers of the Jim Crow era. Polar opposites, the two men discover substance beneath each other’s surfaces, and are reshaped by the distance they travel together.

It bears similarities to crowd-pleasing mismatched

But they wouldn’t let him use their restrooms, or eat

Automobiles and 48 Hrs., and it even has a Christmas

at their restaurants. Determined to upset their notion

theme that makes it theatrically relevant in holiday

of what a highly educated and cultured black piano

season. But it veers into a timely and gentle tale about

prodigy was capable of, Shirley suffered the indignities

tolerance and race, while serving as an unsubtle

and, for the most part, kept his emotions in check.

reminder of the indignities that faced people of color

22

venues that looked like former plantation manors.

buddy and road trip comedies like Planes, Trains &

Vallelonga was handed a copy of The Negro

in the South only 50 years ago. During the tour, Shirley

Motorist’s Green Book: For Vacation Without Aggrava-

played to cultured, educated powerbroker types in

tion and it was his job to find lodging for the virtuoso

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leaves you feeling sick and manipulated. I wanted it to be hopeful. I loved the heart in this. How does the friendship happen? Get stuck in a car for two months and you cut down all the walls and the bullshit and you find out: I don’t care who you are, people have a lot in common.”

Farrelly first had to get the blessing of the younger Vallelonga, himself a director of small budget films, who saw this as the breakout he’d waited his whole life for. “Whether it was with an iPhone and a couple meatball sandwiches, I planned to direct this movie myself,” Vallelonga says now. “But I felt a click when I met Pete, like maybe my father was kicking me in the back of the head from heaven. I said, let’s do it.”

Vallelonga is burly like his father—he plays a steely-eyed mob boss in a short scene in which Tony Lip has to answer for punching out a made man who started a fight in the Copacabana—but when they made a quick deal with Focus Features president Jim Burke, his inability to control his emotions while pitching his father’s story proved helpful. “We’re pitching and as Nick starts talking about his father, he starts to blubber,” recalls Farrelly. “Jim was like, ‘Wow, this is real, and he bought it in the room.’”

By the time they wrote the script, Burke was gone (he became a producer) and Universalbased Focus lost interest. “The other guys were less enthused than Jim, and their foreign guy said it would be hard to sell a movie about race overseas, which I thought absurd because it’s a buddy movie. But they were kind enough to give it to Jim in turnaround.”

Farrelly says he felt it then, and would feel again, the resistance studios had in gambling on him making the leap to drama the way Rob Reiner and Adam McKay have done. It wasn’t the first time he felt his comedy background when white-only establishments wouldn’t accept

hands of a hit-making comedy director whose

marginalizing how he was assessed. His favorite

him. Lip was known as the “best bullshit artist in the

drama debut nobody coveted. And while its sto-

road trip movie is Jonathan Demme’s Some-

Bronx”, and his words and fists that quelled trouble

ryline had the makings of a great road trip film, it

thing Wild. It was where he and his brother got

at the Copa proved useful, to either talk or fight their

had to be careful to avoid the ‘white savior’ movie

the idea to pair Jeff Daniels with Jim Carrey for

way out of trouble. Theirs became a lifelong friend-

trope at a moment of unparalleled sensitivity.

Dumb and Dumber. “It had everything in it that

ship as, on the road, they revealed their true selves;

Green Book became more than a pipedream

I love, including a look that was a real capturing

Vallelonga that he wasn’t just some racist palooka,

when Vallelonga agreed to write it with Currie, who

of a slice of Americana, and I loved the colors. It

and Shirley that he wasn’t simply a genius who

acted in several of the blockbuster comedies made

was shot by Tak Fujimoto. He was the first guy

didn’t identify socially with blue-collar crowds of any

by Peter and Bobby Farrelly and told him the story.

I went to on Dumb and Dumber. And he very

color or ethnic makeup.

Looking for a dramatic detour while his brother took

quickly passed.”

The film landed five Golden Globe nominations for Best Picture and for Farrelly, Ali and Mortensen, as well as the screenplay Farrelly wrote with Nick

a personal sabbatical, Peter Farrelly couldn’t get the road trip out of his head.

“A true story of a black concert pianist whose

So Farrelly expected the resistance from studios with Green Book. “I told them it was a departure but I get that in their minds,

Vallelonga and Currie. It has earned Screen Actors

record company sends him on this tour of the South

they’re thinking, can he do a departure? Is he

Guild Awards nominations for its stars and was

that leaves him nervous enough to hire as his driver

going to try to get silly? Is he going to make

named Best Picture by the National Board of Re-

the toughest bouncer from the Copacabana in New

it broad? He might blow it by trying to get

view, and AFI, among others.

York City, an Italian guy with a sixth grade educa-

jokey,” Farrelly says. “I didn’t blame them. I

What started essentially as a great family story

tion, and they end up finding common ground and

spent 25 years doing one kind of movie and

passed like an inheritance from Lip to his son Nick

becoming lifelong friends,” Farrelly says in recalling

all of a sudden I say I can do this. I knew I

became a crowd-pleasing film only after weath-

the pitch. “I was like, what? The lifelong friend thing is

could do it, but I hadn’t done it before. But

ering adversity. It was a story that had to remain

what got me, but it was tricky because what I didn’t

then Viggo Mortensen and then Mahershala

untold until the subjects had died, placed in the

want to do was make a movie about race that just

Ali came into the picture.”

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I’VE HAD MY EXPERIENCES. I GOT PULLED OVER BEFORE, OR ASKED MYSELF, ‘WHY AM I IN A STORE, BEING FOLLOWED AROUND WHILE I’M SHOPPING?’” —MAHERSHAL A ALI

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DOC AND LIP

of the road trip; a point raised by, among others,

me never to do that, even after he passed away. I

Shirley’s own family. These brickbats have stung Lip’s

struggled with that, but I had enough from him to

son, who has watched members of Shirley’s family

tell this story, about that trip, and not his life. It is not

BEFORE ALL THAT CAME THE PROCESS OF

dispute parts of the story that Vallelonga took from

a biopic, not about his family; he didn’t want that in

what facets of the characters, and which road

the extensive interviews he did with both men, on

there and that’s why they were not involved in the

stories to include in the movie. Co-writer Vallelonga

condition that the story stay buried until its subjects

story. I honored and respected his wishes.”

clearly reveres his father, and despite early scenes in

passed away. This was important to Shirley, and

which Lip attaches disparaging ethnic tags to black,

Vallelonga kept his promise.

Chinese and German people, Vallelonga doesn’t

That was the only reason the story didn’t surface

Sure, there were creative liberties beyond truncating an 18-month road trip through 48 states and Canada into an 8-week tour of the Deep South.

remember such language being used in the house,

earlier, when Lip could have gotten any of a number

Remember that early scene where Lip tips the Copa-

partly because his churchgoing mother would never

of great filmmakers interested. After his road trip

cabana hatcheck girl to give him the cherished lid of

have tolerated it.

with Dr. Shirley, Lip started acting, playing small roles

a mob boss, which Lip returns to the mobster to be

in The Godfather, Goodfellas, Raging Bull, Dog Day

in his good graces? “It was Sinatra’s hat,” Vallelonga

anyone,” he says. “What I was trying to show there

Afternoon, Pope of Greenwich Village and Donnie

reveals. “He took Frank’s hat to Jilly’s around the

was leftover residual stuff, from how these guys were

Brasco. His most significant role came as the recur-

corner and returned it to him. We made him a mob

brought up, but I don’t remember the N word ever

ring crime boss Carmine Lupertazzi in The Sopranos.

guy instead, to show that Lip had the chutzpah to

said in front of me and my brother. Only remnants of

But Lip had left the story behind Green Book like an

pull something like that off.”

things in how he talked about certain people. It’s a

inheritance for his son.

“My father never really said a bad word about

hard thing to say, because any comment is racist. To

“I’d made independent films, some OK, some not

Both Vallelonga and Farrelly said that the racism in the South was scarier than depicted, and that

say that someone is a racist, to me, that’s like hatred

so much, so I’ve been criticized before,” Vallelonga

there were other incidents that would have changed

in someone’s heart, and so I’m going to get chopped

says. “This has been harder, because it’s personal.

the tone or made the movie too long. “There have

down for this, but he wasn’t some ugly racist running

There have been attacks on my dad and who he was,

been comments made by some of the family who

around with a freaking hood on his head.”

and attacks on me personally. What I tried to do was

said, [Dr. Shirley] never got beaten up,” Vallelonga

Vallelonga remembers meeting Dr. Shirley as a

show, through these two people, how we’re all the

recalls. “I’m sorry to say he did, and my father had to

kid and regarding him as cool. His father took him

same, and can come together on a very simplistic

help him. There were other incidents related to the

to Shirley’s loft above Carnegie Hall. “He had this

level. I wasn’t out to cure racism; I’m just saying this is

YMCA type of thing that happened that I left out

throne, and a grand piano, and he wore this African

what happened to these two men and it shows the

because I wanted to deal with that issue as respect-

robe and he sat me on the throne and my father said,

baby steps toward people coming together. I wanted

fully as I could. There were a lot more things that

‘Play him something, Doc.’ I thought he was the cool-

people to see that and feel good about it.”

happened with the cops, and we combined two,

est guy in the world.”

He disputes criticisms that the film doesn’t do

when my father punched out a cop and that was one

The road trip had changed his father com-

enough to detail Dr. Shirley’s life and background.

time they got arrested. They also got arrested when

pletely. “My father was head of the family and he

“It’s very simple,” Vallelonga insists. “I am a white

they were going 25 mph and a cop said they were

talked about what it was like in the South,” Val-

Italian writer telling a story about my father, along

doing 75. It was a shakedown and the cops were

lelonga remembers. “It changed the whole way we

with my co-writers Brian Currie and Pete Farrelly. It’s

pissed my father was driving this black man. That’s

were brought up, this simple story of two guys who

from that point of view, so it was important to show

when the Robert Kennedy phone call happened. And

showed us how people can change if they learn from

my father’s background, and how he changed. But

a lot more stories like that Christmas concert when

each other and grow.”

what no one seems to understand is that Dr. Shirley

Dr. Shirley couldn’t eat there.”

Farrelly needed the contrast to be sharper, but almost everything they put into the story was told by

only wanted me to tell his story as it related to what happened to him and my father.”

Vallelonga said there was another incident in a hotel bar that refused to serve Dr. Shirley, until Lip

the two characters who shared the car, in audio-

Shirley gave Vallelonga extensive time, based on

taped interviews made by Vallelonga before they

a further promise to keep the focus on the tour and

they were saying if we serve him then we have to

died, and in the letters from Lip to his wife Dolores,

not the other events of Shirley’s life. “Dr. Shirley said,

serve every—I’ll use the word ‘negro’—in the city. My

which progressively went from rudimentary to

‘I don’t want anything else about me in there.’ He

father talked them into it, but then there were cops

swoon-worthy under Dr. Shirley’s tutelage.

didn’t want to tell me about his family. He could’ve

all over the place, looking for Dr. Shirley and my father.

had 10 brothers and sisters, and my father didn’t

They had to sneak out of there and leave town.”

“Lip was racist in the way that everybody in New

promised trouble. “They let him have one drink, but

York was a racist at that time,” is how Farrelly saw

even know that. He didn’t want me to have informa-

Adds Vallelonga: “We took some creative license,

it. “He used the N-word. He took those glasses and

tion about aspects of his personal life. He granted

condensed things and moved some around, but the

dropped them in the trash if a guy drank out of them.

me the right to tell this story of this time between

heart of those stories are all true.”

And then he went down south and saw systemic

him and my father, nothing else, and he specifically

racism and was appalled by it.”

told me, ‘Don’t contact anyone about me. What I’ll

detailed the moment of JFK’s assassination. The

Another scene—shot but cut from the final film—

The film tries to thread a needle at a particularly

tell you will be enough. No one was there but me and

pair were actually in Ontario when Lip learned the

sensitive moment, when movies are being assailed

your father, so no one can even give you any informa-

President had been shot. As people crowded around

over issues like ethnic and gender-specific casting.

tion about what happened in that car.’”

the television, Dr. Shirley asked what was going on. “I

Not everyone has bought it, with critical articles

Ali, who remains proud of the film, reached out

don’t know,” Lip replied. “Some president got shot.”

claiming the film still falls into the ‘white savior’ trope

to Shirley’s family after its completion to express

of cinema, even though it seems Vallelonga benefits

regret that he hadn’t contacted them, having been

that he called Bobby Kennedy that same day. He told

as much if not more from his time in the car than

unaware Shirley had living relatives. In fact, Shirley

Vallelonga in one of their interviews, “You can imagine

did Shirley, who smoothed out the rough spots in his

told Vallelonga that the biographical information on

how busy that man was, and yet he took the time to

tough guy driver.

the back of his records would be all the information

talk to me and tell me what was going on.”

The other criticism is that Shirley’s own life is barely revealed beyond what unfolds in the events PHOTOGRAPHS BY

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Shayan Asgharnia

he should glean. “I respected the man’s wishes. I didn’t contact anyone because he adamantly told

Dr. Shirley was so close with the Kennedy family

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says. “But it would have become too much about Kennedy, and we already had RFK in that one scene.”

The film was shot in Louisiana, and there were plenty of lingering racist attitudes to go around.

“We were going to shoot in a bar,” Farrelly recalls.

“We scouted it and came out and a black guy, a local, came over and said this bar is a racist bar. I googled it and sure enough, the owner of the bar had thrown a bunch of black guys out, saying, ‘We don’t want your type in here.’ So we didn’t shoot there. We went somewhere else. It wasn’t like it was over, those days. They were still around us and certainly in those kind of areas.”

VIGGO AND MAHERSHALA

of education and physicality, ethnic background. I’m

those things as much as other friends or family

going to have to do it really well or it’s going to be a

or the layperson walking into a store, doing some

mess. You break it down and think, well, how could

shopping, who may get followed around or asked

this be a bad idea? It could be a really bad idea if I

questions. But those things [I’ve experienced] don’t

do some caricature and Italian Americans go, ‘Jesus

necessarily push me towards signing onto some-

Christ, why is he playing that?’”

thing. If anything, I just have a different degree of

Farrelly foresaw what eventually happened, that Mortensen could pack on some muscle and beef— he’d gain 45 pounds—and he would look like, as

insight that is specific to that character, as far as like what that experience is like.”

He recalls living with his grandfather, who was

Farrelly describes it, “not a body builder but like a guy

the president of a local chapter of the NAACP, and

on The Sopranos. Those guys are all big. They’re over-

fought to secure low-income housing in Alameda,

weight, but you know they have muscles and they

CA. His brother, Ali says, was the Vice Mayor of Oak-

could kill you. That’s what he was going for and that’s

land, and president of its chapter of the NAACP. “So

actually what Tony Lip looked like. My argument was,

in my family there was always an awareness around

‘You did Eastern Promises, which was so immersive

civil rights issues and being a public servant. When I

a role that this is a walk in the park by comparison.

was a young kid, it was all about basketball, but I’ve

You’ve lived in New York. You know these guys.”

had my experiences. I got pulled over before and had

Mortensen kept pushing off Farrelly, while he read

my car torn apart, or other weird experiences with

SPEND AN HOUR WITH THE TWO ACTORS

the script over and over trying to find a hole so he

cops, or asked myself, ‘Why am I in a store, being fol-

that lead Green Book and it is hard not to notice

could say no, but liking it more each time. “I wound

lowed around while I’m shopping?’”

in conversation how closely they roll to the way

up saying, ‘This is incredible, maybe I’d be an idiot not

they portrayed their characters. They have an easy

to do it.’ Pete’s doing his first drama and he wouldn’t

maculate wardrobe of Dr. Shirley. “I was named Best

rapport, led by Mortensen who is gregarious, funny

miscast one of his main two guys, would he? He

Dressed in high school, and part of it was, I liked

and anecdotal; Ali a bit more reserved as he takes

must know something.”

clothes and liked being neat, but what happens to

it all in and measures his words.

Even though they became friendly and expressed

Still, Mortensen asked for another night to make

It factored into his understanding of the im-

a young black person like me is, some black men

the decision. He read the script a final time, as he

will dress defensively, and that’s what I was trying to

a desire to work together when they spent time

headed out to join his girlfriend who was walking her

articulate a little bit about Don Shirley and speaking

together two years ago on the Oscar circuit, each

dog. He read lines out loud as he walked. “People

about the awareness of your environment and how

actor carefully considered the risks. Mortensen, of

must have thought I’m nuts,” Mortensen recalls.

you present yourself if you feel you’re being observed.

Danish descent, would be playing an Italian right out

“There’s a lot of actors that people think are crazy

How you carry yourself, how you speak, the words

of a Scorsese movie; Ali bore the burden of follow-

escaped lunatics, and they’re just actors working

you choose to use in certain contexts and environ-

ing his breakout Oscar turn in Moonlight with a role

their shit out. I’m not even sane at this point, like

ments, it’s all inspired by trying to protect yourself,

as a black man who required “saving” by his white

what the fuck, look at this crazy tourist, and I’m all

and at times putting other people at ease simply so

costar. The script also included a seminal moment

sweaty. I get there, she’s sitting with her dog, under

you could be at ease. Like, if you can relax, then I can

that called for Dr. Shirley to eat fried chicken for the

those trees. She looks at me, I’m glistening with

freaking relax. I was born in 1974, but all those things

first time in his life. They were both aware the subject

sweat, and she says, ‘Well you’re going to do this

applied to Don Shirley.”

matter, as fact-based and well-meaning as it was

movie.’ I ask her why, and she says, ‘You’re differ-

written, had to be executed just right to fit the bill as

ent; you already look like another person. I’ve seen

to include the chicken eating scene. “I remember

a satisfying road trip movie, and not something that

it happen a couple of times before. You’re doing the

how nervous we were about the fried chicken eating

glorified stereotypes.

movie. Stop fucking around.’”

scene, and how it could be perceived the wrong way,

Farrelly leaned heavily on Ali to figure out how

“At first we talked a lot about we had to get an

While Farrelly could see Mortensen becoming

like, ‘These people love their fried chicken,’” he says.

Italian or it would ring false,” Vallelonga says about

Tony Lip, he was more concerned about Ali as Dr.

“But we didn’t make that up; it was right from Tony

the role of his father. “We didn’t want a bad Joe Pesci

Shirley. “If there was a flaw in Moonlight, it’s that he

Lip, who says [Don Shirley] didn’t eat fried chicken,

imitation. We talked about some great actors. Pete

disappeared too long,” Farrelly says. “I loved his pres-

and was trying to get him to eat it.”

came up with Viggo. He’s one of my favorites of all

ence, but he comes off so strong; such a physical

time. The most iconic Italian American movie char-

force. I wanted Dr. Shirley to be a force in a different

ing, ‘A Kentucky Fried Chicken in Kentucky, what

acter of all time is Don Corleone and he was played

way, and that was my only concern: can you believe

are the odds?’”

by Marlon Brando, who is Irish. Viggo studied me and

that this guy needs a bodyguard? Because he was so

my family, and got down perfectly the dialect that is

imposing in those other movies. He is 6’2” but when

was far more than a funny scene to him. “That’s

Calabrese intertwined with the Bronx. There was a

he came in and met with me, he’d lost about 25

the one thing you learn, that you will not touch

lot of my father on tape and Viggo transformed into

pounds for another role and I could see it.”

the watermelon and you will not touch the fried

him. That is my father up there on the screen.”

Mortensen was a much tougher sell. “I was con-

Ali also loved the script and relished the chance

Says Mortensen: “I love that scene, Tony say-

Ali remembered the moment well because it

chicken, period,” Ali says. “Because I’m not giving

to share the vehicle with Mortensen, but he too

you that. You already think that we love fried

scious of [the Italian thing],” he says. “This is a real

struggled with the role. Even subtle racism, or being

chicken and watermelon. And in public like that, I’m

guy that existed, whose family is still alive and there

defined by stereotypes, is something he has seen his

not touching that fried chicken or the watermelon.

are some pretty good Italian-American actors out

whole life. Declining to get specific, he mentions an

So I can totally see how Don Shirley never had fried

there doing movies and television. You always worry

incident that happened while they launched the film

chicken, because of that stereotype.”

a little, but it depends how far removed it is from

in London as evidence it all doesn’t go away.

me. I mean any character you play, you’re taking on

Farrelly says Ali and executive producer Octavia

“It’s just part of the black experience,” he says.

Spencer were invaluable sounding boards. “I needed

someone else’s point of view. In this case, it was one

“I am someone who is fortunate enough to have a

them to say, ‘This is not right,’” he remembers. “See-

of those characters that’s really far removed in terms

presence in the culture where I may not experience

ing laws that said, ‘You can’t sit here, or be there, or

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I WOUND UP SAYING, ‘THIS IS INCREDIBLE, MAYBE I’D BE AN IDIOT NOT TO DO IT.’” —VIGGO MORTENSEN

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try those clothes on, or you can’t go into town at night,’ it blew Tony Lip’s mind, and yet he recognized he was the north’s version of that guy.

That’s where the chain starts.”

One of Ali’s accomplishments in the film is

A LASTING BOND IT DOESN’T TAKE LONG INTO AN HOUR’S interview with Mortensen and Ali to notice they

to look convincing as a virtuoso pianist, even

replicate the banter their characters share in

though he doesn’t play piano. He accomplished

Green Book. At one point, they are talking about

it with the help of Julliard prodigy jazz pianist Kris

how none of them can believe that Mortensen

Bowers, an unsung hero in the movie. Bowers

is 60—Ali said he looked it up online because he

never heard of Shirley, but was blown away by

didn’t believe he was more than 50—and all perk

his music. There was no sheet music for Shirley’s

up when I note I’d seen Mortensen in a Miami Vice

compositions, and Bowers had to break it down

rerun.

himself, note by note. He did such a good job

And suddenly they are launching into hard

that the film’s score was disqualified from Oscar

luck stories of breaking into the business.

consideration for being too close to Shirley’s

Mortensen was originally cast in a big arc on the

original compositions.

episode as a slimy villainous circus daredevil

It is Bowers’ hands you see often in the movie,

aerialist, but had a ganglion cyst removed and his

gyrating over the keys and co-writers Vallelonga

hand blow up, sending him to the hospital. By the

and Currie said the movie would have been

time he called to postpone, he was told they’d

hobbled without him. “I practiced eight or nine

recast and it was over. He got another chance to

hours a day which I hadn’t done since college, to

play a cop alongside Lou Diamond Phillips, team-

transcribe all the music and record it for Maher-

ing on an undercover bust with Don Johnson and

shala,” Bowers says. He was surprised to find the

Philip Michael Thomas.

actor equally meticulous to pretend to be playing

“We were a mirror image of those guys and

that music. “Our first introductory lesson was

we’re walking down this long street in Miami,

mainly to meet, but I showed him the C major

we’re supposed to be throwing a football and the

scale, and he played it for three hours, so focused

dialogue had to be timed right and trying to make

on making sure the notes sounded right. Play it

it work,” Mortensen recalls. “After I blew it on two

wrong, start over. Play it right, start over. He was

takes, Don Johnson says, ‘On the uptick [snaps

so dialed-in, right away. Then he talked about

his fingers]. This ain’t Hamlet.’ I say, I know, and

posture and how we should sit. Here I am, used

we laugh even though he went after me in front

to playing jazz piano hunched over like Schroeder.

of the whole crew with ‘This ain’t Hamlet.’ And

And he would make sure our backs were straight,

the scene ends with a bust, right, and we go up

our posture just right. His attention to detail was

to the door, and someone says, ‘You go.’ And then

remarkable.”

I do, and I get blown to smithereens.” And Lou

Farrelly wasn’t surprised. “When I sit at that

Diamond gets to be in the whole episode.

piano I want every piano player in the country

All three laugh, and then Ali ups the ante.

to say, ‘He plays the piano just the way I do,’”

“I got this movie, my first feature film, I was the

Farrelly remembers Ali telling him.

lead, and it was like a week out of grad school,”

“He worked his butt off,” says Farrelly.

he remembers. “It was about a young college

Despite all the work and the presence of

student who leads an Occupy Wall Street-type

its celebrated stars, Green Book was a film

movement, with these amazing speeches. I was

without a distributor after it was jettisoned

supposed to play a character who confronts the

from Focus. Its $23 million budget was

leader, and I talked my way into the lead role, even

furnished by Participant Media, after long

though he’s white. We shot 20 hours a day in Wis-

conversations between Farrelly and top ex-

consin and I couldn’t wait for the next day. And

ecutives about tone gave them confidence he

the movie still hasn’t come out, 20 years later.”

wasn’t treating it as a high concept comedy.

The film still needed distribution and strangely the road trip film made a U-turn back to

Farrelly asks Mortensen about Witness, the first time he saw the actor onscreen.

“I was an extra and they bumped up my

Universal. That was because Farrelly begged

role, and just had me tag along with Alexander

his longtime CAA agent Richard Lovett to

Godunov,” Mortensen says. “I had a scene where

show it to another of his clients.

I’m watching Harrison Ford, and Godunov being

“I knew if Steven Spielberg saw this movie

jealous, wanting the affection of Kelly McGillis,

he would see the bigger picture,” Farrelly said.

whose husband just died. And come to think of it,

“He watched it alone at his house, called me

I’m standing there, eating chicken. Peter Weir tells

up and said, ‘This is the best buddy movie I’ve

me, ‘You just eat the chicken and watch them.’ So

seen since Butch Cassidy and The Sundance

nothing has really changed for me.”

Kid.’ He said it should be at big Universal,

We are back to the movie and I mention the

would I be open to that? That’s how we went

scene in which the black appliance repairmen

through Dreamworks and Universal.”

leave and Tony Lip takes the glasses they drank

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water from and drops them gently in the

two years in things we see popping up here

wife Dolores (Linda Cardellini) puts them

and there, acts of violence, rallies and protests

back in the sink. I say Lip’s gesture was to

and people getting physical.”

please the Italian family watching him and it

Farrelly interjects. “Or even the president…”

reminds me of my own father and how he for-

Ali: “Whoever. We don’t even have to go

bade me to listen to black music when I was

there with him. But I worry they’re getting

12. I did it anyway, sensing that like Tony Lip,

permission to feel like, this is OK again. You

this wasn’t an attitude he believed, but tribally

hope it won’t bleed back into the culture

felt obligated to pass along. I said I could see

and is given space.”

my father being as outraged as was Tony Lip

Mortensen: “I just remembered something

to see real Deep South racism, and maybe as

about my mother’s mother and this conver-

sympathetic as Tony Lip was when Don Shir-

sation we had, when I was probably 14. She

ley was caught in a YMCA with another man

would come over Sunday nights after my

and the cops left them handcuffed naked

grandfather died and my mom would make

and degraded.

dinner. This was in the ’70s. I don’t know why

“You think he was just buying into a belief system?” Ali asks.

Yes, I said, and that as a superinten-

it came up, but we are talking about this stuff, and my grandmother says, ‘When the white people went to Africa and discovered it…’ And

dent for the NYC Transit Authority, he

I go, ‘How did they discover it? There were

would talk about the time he saved a

people there.’ She goes, ‘Well, when they went

“black guy”, and each time I would drill

down and saw what was going on, there were

down and ask why he could not simply say

no factories, there was no industry, there was

he’d saved a man’s life. It was generational

no train tracks, there was no this and that.’ I

but half-hearted and an easy cycle for me

go, ‘There was no pollution either, right?’ She

to break raising my own children.

goes on, ‘Well, and so they went and made

Mortensen and I are nearly the same age,

that stuff for them… I like black people, they

and he brings up his own father, and how he

seem very nice, but they’re not as smart or

thought Archie Bunker from All In The Family

they would’ve had the factories.’ And I got re-

was the funniest character on television.

ally pissed off, and had this big argument with

“My father looked a little like Archie, and I

my grandmother. She says, ‘I don’t know why

was sitting there watching it with him one day,

you’re so upset, these are just the historical

and he’s got his glass of juice, and laughing

facts.’ I say, ‘But they built civilizations. Just like

and laughing. He’s Danish, but he had been

in Georgia, where the whole state was farms.

living in the United States a long time, and

There was a massive farming culture and the

he’d go, ‘This is the best show!’ I say, ‘Yeah,

Spanish came in and one guy with smallpox

sure. You do know that you’re just like him,

wiped them out. There were things happen-

don’t you?’ He answers, ‘What do you mean?’

ing before those white guys showed up, and

He had no idea. And I go, ‘Come on.’ Because

they were probably better off in many ways

he would say things about Puerto Ricans and

than train tracks.’ I finally had to give up and

whoever else. Just free-flowing. Maybe not as

say, ‘OK, grandma, we’ll just disagree.’”

bad as Tony Lip, but similar. You knew it was

Ali: “But that’s great that Viggo just shared

what he learned when he came as a young

this, and I’ll tell you why. That is the simplest

guy in the mid-1950s to the United States.

way to put in context why Don Shirley wanted

That’s what he heard from the white guys. So

to go down South, because of knowing that

his turns of phrase and certain words, that’s

like happened with his grandmother, that

what people said. And he’d look at Archie

was the view and perspective of black people

Bunker and say, he’s so funny, he’s such an

and black culture, and here was an individual

idiot. I’m like, ‘Yeah, you’re just like him and

who’d had an opportunity to be educated

you even look like him.’ And he goes, ‘I am

and to pursue his talent and passion, who

nothing like him.’”

could go down there and cut right through

“Isn’t it funny how culture gives us per-

ON THE ROAD As Dr. Don Shirley and his driver, Tony Lip, Mahershala Ali and Viggo Mortensen took their own road trip through the Deep South.

Ali: “But what’s happening now, in the last

trash. He didn’t break them though, and his

that point of view. And that view couldn’t hold

mission to think things are OK for periods

anymore. How do you react to somebody

of time?” says Ali. “So much of it is about

who could address you in any language that

the conversations of the permissions of

you basically wanted to speak, could play

culture, and how that shifts, and it’s no

anything for you that you could think of, and

longer permissible, because of the aware-

could outwit you at every turn? You could not

ness that it is no longer OK.”

walk away and just say, ‘Well, those people are

“It starts with some small act by someone, not usually a politician who says, ‘This is not alright, don’t do it anymore,’” adds Mortensen.

this way, they’re inferior.’”

Adds Mortensen: “And she was sweet, my grandma.” ★ D E A D L I N E .C O M / AWA R D S L I N E

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D THE DIALOGUE

OSCAR CONTENDERS/ BEST PICTURE

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John

How much does your parenthood spill into

KRASINSKI ★

part was the most personal to me, because everything that she feels about her children, I feel about mine. The line between myself and Krasinski: I mean, I think it’s the reason why I did the movie. I’ve talked about it before,

BLUNT ★

Blunt: I think to an immeasurable degree. This

the character became very blurry for me.

Emily ★

these performances?

★

but I couldn’t watch a horror movie let alone make one. The thing with this was the truly overwhelming sense of clarity that hit me, that the movie would be the perfect metaphor for

★

parenthood. Yes, it would be scary. Yes, it would

The husband-wife team are riding high on the success of their first collaboration, A Quiet Place

BY J OE U T IC H I

have tension and all those things. But it would also be like writing a love letter for my kids. In every word I wrote, or every shot I directed, and all through the performance.

When we first started talking about it, Emily

THOUGH THEY STARTED DATING A DECADE AGO, John Krasinski & Emily Blunt had never worked together before this year, when the Krasinski-directed A Quiet Place cast them as husband and wife and tapped into the unspoken language they’ve come to share. Krasinski was nervous to approach Blunt to star, but on screen, as they navigate a world in which the slightest sound could mean instant death, it’s that real-life connection that telegraphs everything another movie might wrap up in dialogue. The film has been the runaway horror hit of the year, and Krasinski is already at work writing a sequel.

said it would be the scariest role she’d ever played. I asked her why. She said, “Up until now, every performance has been pretending.

Professional pretending. This is the first time I’ve had the same fears as my character.” Not that monsters would come out of the woods to eat the kids, but that thought of, what if I wasn’t there in my kids’ moment of need? It was our biggest fear.

Talking of scary, Emily, Mary Poppins Returns came out before Christmas. Taking on that role must have come with fear.

A Quiet Place has had an extraordinary

Emily, John once told me he was

Blunt: I won’t say my trepidation to play her

life in the nine months since its

nervous to ask you to be in the movie,

was instantly overwhelmed by the delight of

release. Could you have predicted it?

until you read the script on the plane

playing her, but I did feel that very strongly.

John Krasinski: I’ll speak for myself when

and insisted on playing the part. But

I heard the resounding gasps from all of my

I say it’s completely and totally surreal.

that he’d always wanted it to be you.

friends when I said I was taking on Mary

I genuinely don’t know if I’ve processed

Blunt: I’ll be very honest—he never gave

Poppins, which is a thought that can only fill you

it yet. We treated it like a neat little indie

me that indication. I was going headfirst

with dread. You’re taking on something iconic,

movie; it felt like an indie movie. We

into Mary Poppins 2, which was going to

and you shouldn’t be meddling with such a

thought it was really special, really unique,

be an entire year of my life. I think he knew

treasured character. But once I’d decided to do

and really different, but we were pretty

that I wasn’t in the headspace to sign on

it, I dove in headfirst.

sure we wouldn’t get much more than four

to another job right after that. We’ve also

or five high-fives from friends. And turns

always been very protective about working

Have your kids seen it?

out we have a lot more friends that we

together, and I think I probably felt even

Blunt: They did see my version of it at

didn’t even know about.

more protective of not being in this one

Thanksgiving. We did a little screening for John’s

Emily Blunt: It has been overwhelmingly

initially, because I knew it was such a big

family, and [my daughter] Hazel came to see

exciting for me to see people watch this

swing for him. And then I read the script,

it and she absolutely loved it. She just thought

film and have their hair blown backwards

and immediately I was like, “Well, I now

it was incredible, and she talks about it all the

by it. I always thought we would get here.

have to do this movie.”

time. She now asks me to do the Mary Poppins

I remember John showed me one little bit

Krasinski: You always try to write with

voice for her, which is the most surreal thing in

of one scene in the early stages of the edit,

your dream actor in mind, because it helps

the world, to be honest.

while he was trying to find the first cut. It

you see the performance in your head,

was when the basement is flooded with

and I think Emily is the best actress we

Isn’t that every parent’s dream; to be cool

water. I flipped out. I remember saying,

have. Also, I’ve been there firsthand when

in the eyes of their children?

“John, this is so cool!” And as he knows, we

she has been the very representation of

Blunt: Well it won’t last long. I feel like once

Brits don’t enthuse too readily, unless we

strength and motherhood and fertility; she

they’re in their teen years, they’ll immediately

really mean it, so I think he knew I meant it.

has superpowers that I will never be able

sink John and I to the very rock bottom of cool.

to comprehend. As I wrote the character, it

So I’m going to enjoy it while I can, for the next

was all filtered through her.

10 years. ★

Even people who hate genre movies loved this movie.

PHOTOGRAPH BY

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Josh Telles

D E A D L I N E .C O M / AWA R D S L I N E

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12/21/18 10:09 AM

Margot

ROBBIE ★

★

have scenes where she can giggle and have fun. It was great, because I would sit there and just be thinking, “I just want to fun things.” I was sitting alone in a room doing things with flowers. It was about

RONAN ★

having so much fun. My character doesn’t

be hanging out with girlfriends and doing

Saoirse ★

this amazing bond and they were always

imagining what the other one is up to, and feeling that pang of envy.

You’ve both consistently chosen

★

complex roles. Is the only way to get

The rival monarchs of Mary Queen of Scots discuss on-set separation, smallpox and the power behind the female throne B Y A N T O N I A B LY T H

more good female roles is to put more women in positions of power?

Robbie: Yes. It’s one thing to say we want to see women in these roles, but you need to be a part of the conversation when

HE REAL QUEEN ELIZABETH I AND MARY STUART PROBABLY NEVER MET. But when you cast a film with Margot Robbie as Elizabeth and Saoirse Ronan as Mary, it seems only right that they come together, if only for one scene. Josie Rourke’s Mary Queen of Scots may briefly put the two monarchs face-to-face, but otherwise, staying true to the characters’ separate lives, Ronan and Robbie didn’t meet on set at all until they were on camera together—a decision Ronan calls a mutual “experiment”—and one that turned out to perfectly serve a tale of rivalry, isolation and oppressed female power.

T

those choices are made, when who’s getting hired is the actual conversation.

So, I think it’s really important that we have people in those positions who want to make those choices, and when it comes down to it, they actually do say, “Yes, I’m going to hire this person over this person who’s had more of an opportunity so I’ve seen more of their work.” I love that Working Title gave this movie to Josie.

She’s obviously an amazing director in the theater world already, but I think it was incredible for them to say, “We want this to be her film, and we’re not going to make her go do a micro-budget indie

Saoirse, you signed on to play Mary

You had totally separate shooting

drama.” Because that’s generally the only

six years ago, but what did you know

schedules, except for your one scene

space up-and-coming female directors are

about this story going into it?

together. How did that help you?

allowed. We just need people to be brave

Saoirse Ronan: I didn’t know much, really.

Ronan: It really helped me. It was Margot

enough to make those choices, I think.

I learned a very small amount about Mary

and I that both agreed from the very

Queen of Scots when I was in school, and

beginning that we didn’t want to see each

Was there an inciting incident when

there was so much about her that had

other, and we thought it would be quite

you thought, “I’m going to have to

been entered into the history books that

a fun experiment to try, because I had

become a producer or director to get

just wasn’t really true. When I finally did

certainly never tried that before. Margot

the roles I want”?

start to do research, when I signed on to

started before I did, and our meeting

Ronan: For me I think it was a slightly

do the film years ago, I realized she came

scene was the very first thing that I shot.

different thing because I started when I

from a very well-respected yet very fiery

To know in the three weeks that I had off,

was young, so there wasn’t that pressure.

family, the Stuarts, who had been ruling for

all of the English court stuff was being

But one of the things that I did experience

hundreds of years. It was very exciting to

shot, and that this whole world was

during my teenage years, and every female

know that there was another side to the

existing that I didn’t really know anything

warned me, “When you get to about 18,

story that hadn’t been told.

about was exhilarating. You were sort of

the roles just stop and there will be nothing

Margot Robbie: I knew very little. I had

guessing what they were up to, and who

interesting out there.” And they were right.

an image of Elizabeth in my mind, the way

was in alliance with whom, and it just

I definitely had a few years where I just

we see her at the end of this film with the

meant that when we did finally do that

didn’t work, really. I made the decision

white face and the red lips and elaborate

meeting scene, we were acting definitely,

to basically not work at all instead of

dresses. That tableau existed in my mind

but it was personal. It became a very, very

taking something on that I didn’t believe

but I had very little context for it, so I really

emotionally loaded day for us.

in. Having said that, I was very lucky that

was starting at the beginning, and Josie

Robbie: The isolation and the loneliness

I could do that because I was a kid and

was incredible at helping me put together

Elizabeth feels is definitely a huge part of

didn’t have bills to pay, or kids to look after,

a timeline, and gave me a catch-up of the

her story, and I think it helped so much

or any of that sort of stuff. But that was

history up until that point.

to know Saoirse and the other girls had

definitely something I experienced. ★

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Ethan

minutes of the movie there’s a 12-minute dialogue scene of two people discussing

H AW K E

their inner life. That’s rule number one in screenwriting class: don’t do that [laughs].

You’ve broken that rule yourself on several occasions.

Pa u l

Hawke: Yeah, I’ve broken it before, but the

SCHRADER

★

★

★

★

★

reaction to that scene has been incredible.

I thought, even when we were doing it and I loved it, that this might be the place where 90% of the audience turned the movie off.

Instead it’s the opposite.

Schrader: It’s the scene that drops them

More than a year since its premiere, First Reformed remains in the conversation, bolstered by strong reviews

BY J OE U T IC H I

into the rabbit hole.

You also have a couple of moments where the film goes off the deep end; like the levitation scene and the ending.

AUL SCHRADER AND ETHAN HAWKE DID NOT EXPECT TO BE HERE. The writer/director and his actor are still talking about First Reformed, 18 months on from its premiere at Venice, as they receive nominations and awards to add to the mountains of critical praise the film has drawn. Its examination of a crisis of faith for a pastoral minister as two of his flock struggle with the decision to bring a child into a fractured world is, at turns, social realism and cinematic fantasy, but the questions it asks are all too relevant for the star and his director.

P

Hawke: Those two scenes are connected in a lot of ways. The levitation scene prepares you for the direction the movie will end up in. It just lets you know that you can’t believe it when people tell you that audiences aren’t interested in serious movies. People can go with you. They can handle every Tarkovsky reference [laughs].

Paul, what made you think of Ethan in the first place?

Schrader: There’s a certain physiognomy of a suffering man of the cloth. We’ve seen examples of this in Country Priest, Belmondo in Léon Morin, Priest, or Monty

First Reformed tackles a lot of the

What did you make of it, Ethan?

Clift in I Confess. You have a certain look

anxieties we’re facing in today’s world.

Ethan Hawke: When Paul sent it to me,

for this guy, and he’s not Brendan Gleeson

Where did this character and this

I remember, in the first three pages or so

in Calvary. It’s very hard to imagine the

premise begin for you?

of the script he had written down what

corpulent Brendan Gleeson wasting

Paul Schrader: Well, strangely enough,

the books were on Reverend Toller’s desk,

away with self-torment. So you do have

it was an intellectual decision, not an

and they were all books my mother had

a physiological archetype. So as you’re

emotional one. I had written a book

given me. It immediately interested me.

writing along you’re thinking, who are

about spirituality and film when I

When you see religious life portrayed in

these people? Ethan was a little older

was a film critic and I never felt that

contemporary movies, it’s usually with

than I’d imagined, but he’s just about the

was the direction I wanted to go as a

a mocking or a malevolent tone. They’re

right age. Both Oscar [Isaac] and Jake

filmmaker. I was too interested in the

performing exorcisms or something. But

[Gyllenhaal] would have been a good

juice—the action, the empathy, and

a serious dialogue about where spiritual

fit too, but I thought Ethan was a better

the psychological realism—to do a cold

leadership is today is really exciting. And

fit. So I sent him the script, because I’d

film like that. And then a couple years

also we get to do a three dimensional

written up a spec. He replied the next day.

ago I was in conversation with Pawel

portrait of somebody that’s dedicated

Then, of course, as always happens it took

Pawlikowski. I was giving him an award

their life to their faith, and I’ve never been

a while to get financing.

for Ida, and we got to talking about

asked to do that.

Hawke: Right. One of the things that you

my book, and about his film. This was

Schrader: One of the things that surprised

say, that I do think is interesting for writers,

downtown and I had to walk home to

me about the reaction is how easily people

is that writing for an actor that you like can

Chelsea. By the time I got back I decided

have slipped into that. There’s a lot of God

breed laziness. It’s kind of easy to write

it was now time to write the script I

talk. This is people quoting Bible verses

a good line when you imagine Al Pacino

swore I never would.

and going back and forth about religious

saying it, because basically everything

matters, and movies aren’t like this. I didn’t

he says is interesting. And you have to

came quite quickly. I broke through the

expect people to get caught up.

challenge yourself to write a script that

hymen of my unwillingness to tackle

Hawke: In fact, it does so many things

is actor-proof. I mean the worst actor in

spiritual matters.

that you’re told you can’t do. In the first 20

America could make it pretty good. ★

Once that penny dropped then it all

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Olivia

there’s a trust, but you don’t really have to

COLMAN ★

don’t communicate a lot orally so you just feel like you can be more at ease even while you don’t have to say a lot. So of and better.

LANTHIMOS ★

feel more and more comfortable. I already

course it helps knowing the person better

Yo r g o s ★

think about it much or discuss it, you just

★

★

You had a sort of wacky rehearsal period, but Olivia, I understand you’re not a huge fan of rehearsing. How did that play out?

Colman: Well, it’s different. I love rehearsal

The star of The Favourite piled on the pounds and dove into her director’s odd rehearsal process B Y N A N C Y TA R TA G L I O N E

for theater; that’s probably more fun than doing the play… even then there’s still a chunk of time when people have to talk about stuff in a really irritatingly intellectual way. Rehearsal for screen stuff I’ve never

FTER COLLABORATING ON 2015’S THE LOBSTER, YORGOS LANTHIMOS AND OLIVIA COLMAN reteamed for this year’s twisted take on the court of Queen Anne, giving a jolt to the period cinema genre, and picking up accolades all along the awards season trail. Lanthimos has said he wouldn’t have made The Favourite without Colman, whose character is the linchpin of a trio of strong women at the center of the movie. Director and star recently hopped on the phone with us to riff on the road to The Favourite, their working process and the friendship they’ve established over the years.

A

liked before because it’s sitting down and talking, which I don’t really like doing.

This was really good fun because it was basically theater rehearsals. And it took us a while to realize, but then all six of us actors doing the rehearsals said, “Oh, right, this means there’s no embarrassment, there are no inhibitions.” We know each other so well by the time we start filming.

It was joyous, and you end up knowing the whole film chronologically in the back of your head or psyche without having to really think about it.

Yorgos, is that your typical process?

Yorgos, you’ve said wouldn’t have

You guys previously worked together

Lanthimos: Whenever I have time for

made The Favourite without Olivia.

on The Lobster, so I imagine that

rehearsals, this is my general approach.

Why is that?

builds up a lot of trust. How did that

As Olivia knows, I don’t think trying to

Olivia Colman: This is awkward, isn’t it

experience influence this one?

recreate the scenes as you would do on

Yorgos?

Colman: Sorry Yorgos, but Yorgos isn’t

film helps, or definitely not talking about

Yorgos Lanthimos: It’s weird that I have

the biggest smiler in the world. But I

it or analyzing and explaining. These are

to say this in front of Olivia, but I told

knew from The Lobster he is actually the

things that I think don’t work for the things

her at the time I just couldn’t think of

biggest-hearted, kindest, gentlest man you

that I want to do so I’d rather rehearse with

anyone else for this role, it just didn’t

could meet. So it did mean that going into

the actors.

work. For me, casting is very instinctive

playing Queen Anne and putting on the

and if I don’t feel good about it, I just

weight felt great. He’s lovely, it’s a brilliant

a physical way. I want them to play games

can’t go ahead and make the film. It’s not

script, I already know I love working with

and get to know each other, and especially

like we’re going to fix it, you have to feel

him. I suppose it just made me run into it

on this film because it was a period film,

confident about the actors.

really excited about the whole process. I

and there’s a certain expectation of how

was a bit nervous hoping I would do it well,

people should carry themselves and speak

Olivia, how do you feel about that? Did

but I think you should feel that when you

and move. I just wanted to break that

you need to be convinced?

really like the script and the job. It helped

preconceived notion around it and show

Lanthimos: Yes, why don’t you tell us

me totally throw myself in because I knew

that we were fooling around; it’s not going

about that, Olivia [laughs].

that it was going to be fun.

to be serious.

Colman: Well, thrilled, because if he

I work with them like Olivia described, in

Colman: The one I always remember is

had thought about it any longer, maybe I

Yorgos, have you developed a sort of

the six of us holding hands becoming a

wouldn’t have done the job and I’d have

shorthand with Olivia?

sort of massive human pretzel and tying

been really devastated to watch someone

Lanthimos: I don’t know that I’ve

ourselves up, then trying to undo it while

else doing it. I loved it when I saw the script

changed anything in how I go about it. Yes,

saying the lines. That was hilarious. It’s

and already loved Yorgos, so I was very

you get to know each other, you feel very

actually a really good Christmas party

happy. Thank you!

confident and you just go and do it. I guess

game to play. ★

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Spike

remember my pops coming up out of the pit. It was just so dramatic in my mind. He

LEE

came up after a take and he was like, “You want to come down there?” I looked at my mom, and she was like, “No, he can’t go.” I was so pissed. From that, and being on the Malcolm X set, I was in heaven. Spike had

John David

to calm me down.

WA S H I N G T O N

★

★

★

★

★

Has his process improved since the Malcolm X days, then?

Washington: Please say yes.

Lee: Yes [laughs]. I knew he could do this part as soon as Jordan gave me the six-

The director and star of BlacKkKlansman have shared a bond since before the younger man was born

BY J OE U T IC H I

word pitch—one of the greatest pitches ever. “Black man infiltrates Ku Klux Klan.”

That’s high concept. It was exciting, but at the same time I asked Jordan if it was true, and he said it was. I said, “I’ve seen this a

S

PIKE LEE’S BLACKKKLANSMAN OPENED IN AUGUST, on the one year anniversary of the Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville, Virginia. Lee’s film, based on the memoir of black police officer Ron Stallworth, who successfully infiltrated the KKK in the 1970s, had so many parallels with what happened in Charlottesville that they couldn’t be ignored.

Lee cast John David Washington in the lead role, having known him since he was a baby. It was the second time they worked together, after Washington’s childhood cameo in Malcolm X, which starred Washington’s father Denzel.

million times; it’s the Dave Chappelle skit.”

He went, “Nah, nah, this is real.”

Did you meet Ron Stallworth before you shot?

Lee: We both met him, the first day at the readthrough.

Washington: I was asking Spike, right after we talked and I read the book, when he told me, “See you this summer.” I was stalking Spike for Ron’s number, and he wouldn’t give it to me. I think one time he said, “Not yet.” I don’t know why you did that, but I’m glad you did.

Lee: You know why.

How much did the movie become

Spike, when you cast him in Malcolm X,

Washington: I think it was beneficial for

about what had happened at

did you see the spark of talent?

the performance; for the process of trying

Charlottesville in your mind?

Lee: Yeah, if he chose to do that. Everyone

to figure out something like this in a film of

Spike Lee: When our brother Jordan

has their own path. But it was really when I

Spike Lee’s.

Peele called us, Charlottesville had not

saw him in Ballers.

Lee: It was my thinking that he would

happened. Charlottesville happened

Washington: I also worked with his wife

meet Ron and want to walk like him, talk

August 11th, and we started shooting in

Tonya. She produced a movie called

like him. It wasn’t like playing Malcolm X.

the middle of September. Kevin Willmott,

Monster that I was in. So I must say,

No one knew who Ron Stallworth was, and

my co-writer, and I, we felt that we could

Spike picked me first, but I feel like Tonya

that gives you freedom.

make a hit film—a contemporary film—

believed in me first. She really fought for

that takes place as a period piece in the

me to get the role, and it was a great role,

John David, describe the experience of

past, but that we wouldn’t have to dig

to explore something totally different from

being directed by Spike.

long and deep to find things that connect

myself. That experience; I’m indebted to

Washington: Well, it’s a lot like this

what happened in the story with what’s

her for that.

interview. Colorful.

happening today.

Lee: What year was Malcolm X?

Lee: Loud.

Washington: Right, but Tonya gave me

Washington: But also quiet sometimes.

more meat on the bone [laughs].

What he didn’t say to me was very helpful,

John David, you worked with Spike on Malcolm X when you were how old?

and instrumental in my direction. But I

John David Washington: Six years old.

What’s the first set you remember

also learned what a well-oiled machine

Lee: I knew him before he was born.

being on?

of organized chaos looks like. Spike

Washington: My whole life. We’ve always

Washington: I remember being on Glory.

comes with a wealth of experience and

been a strong family unit, the Lees and the

Lee: In Savannah?

knowledge that he’s so open to share. I’m

Washingtons. But after my first experience

Washington: Yeah, I guess we were in

ready to just listen.

of working for him, I didn’t know if it was

Savannah. I think it was the final epic

Lee: Let this crazy old man talk, right?

ever going to happen again. You know, I

battle scene. I wasn’t in that, but I wish I

Washington: Nah, not old. Maybe a little

wanted it to.

was. But I was there for that scene. I do

crazy, though. ★

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PHOTOGRAPH BY

Dan Doperalski

12/21/18 10:12 AM

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12/21/18 10:12 AM

Pa u l

Giamatti: I had to go get tomato paste…

G I A M AT T I

Hahn: And we happened to meet in the lobby. Tamara was heartbroken.

Giamatti: It was one of those great things where we just started laughing when we saw each other. It was great. We didn’t even say hello to each other. I went and got

Kathr yn

tomato paste and went upstairs. Then we had a rehearsal.

HAHN

★

★

★

★

Hahn: Tamara put her director hat on very subtly and then we read through the script. Then we got to look at a donor egg website together.

★

Isn’t this story drawn from Jenkins’

The on-screen couple of Tamara Jenkins’ Private Life grapple with fertility issues and tomato paste B Y D AW N C H M I E L E W S K I

own life?

Hahn: She would say it’s more emotionally autobiographical than actually biographical.

Giamatti: Her husband does have one testicle, by the way. When you have a

N PRIVATE LIFE, KATHRYN HAHN AND PAUL GIAMATTI portray a middle-aged couple struggling with infertility. The film paints a funny but unflinching portrait of their efforts to have a child, from painful IVF injections, to anxious adoption interviews, to the humbling search for a donor. Throughout the journey, they remain a unit. With their on-screen chemistry fully intact, Hahn and Giamatti greet each other with a long embrace. They immediately fall into a couple’s rhythm, completing one another’s sentences when talking about their collaboration with writer-director Tamara Jenkins.

I

conversation with him, it comes up. He announces it all the time, so I feel comfortable saying he only has one testicle.

Tell me about Kayli Carter, who plays Richard’s niece; a college dropout who plays a central role in her aunt and uncle’s quest to have a baby.

Hahn: There was another performer that had to exit because of scheduling stuff.

But luckily for us in the end, because they discovered this amazing human.

Giamatti: I can’t imagine that character being portrayed by anyone else, you know?

What attracted you to this film?

spiritually left my scent in the room. This

Paul Giamatti: I have known Tamara for

was one of those parts that just never

a long time, and we had tried to work on

usually goes to this human.

something before and that didn’t work out.

Anyway, she put me back in a cab and I

I wanted to work with her. Clearly, someone

got on the airplane. I remember watching

else didn’t work out, so she came to me.

The Other Woman with Leslie Mann, but

Kathryn Hahn: [Laughs] She vaguely

most of my brain was thinking about this

knew who I was. We had never met before.

movie. I wanted in so badly, though it took

Giamatti: That’s bullshit.

a while.

Hahn: No, really. [Casting director] Jeanne

Giamatti: The way it was presented to

McCarthy whispered, “Well it’s Kathryn

me, she was incredibly excited about you

Hahn.” And she was like, “Who?”

going in. Then she put me on the phone

Giamatti: I’m not buying any of this.

with you. Do you remember that? You were

Hahn: That’s her narrative. I read the

like, “Giamatti, you doing a picture?” I was

script and I was huge admirer of The

like, “Who the fuck is this woman?” I mean

Savages. I flew myself to New York just to

I knew you, but I was like, “Jesus Christ. She

meet her for like an early dinner. We just

put you on the phone with me to convince

sniffed each other out. We spilled wine.

me?” I was already going to do it.

It was just kind of like a courtship. We kind of flirted.

I had to do temporary [ADR] for a show

Tamara Jenkins arranged for you to meet at Paul’s Brooklyn apartment

I was doing called I Love Dick. So she said,

as an ice-breaker. She offered to cook

“Do you want to come up and use my of-

pasta. How was that meeting?

fice?” I went up to the office, where all the

Hahn: She wanted to cook us dinner. She

mood boards were up for the movie. Very

missed the actual meeting, and she was

evocative, moody photos. I just kind of like

heartbroken about it.

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D E A D L I N E .C O M / AWA R D S L I N E

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Hahn: Tamara’s a sorcerer when it comes to casting.

What surprised you when you saw the film?

Hahn: I would say how little I thought of the actual baby. It was so much more about the baby project than it was about the baby. Had I stopped and actually thought about the baby, I would have lost it because there was so much loss attached to it. It’s like they almost forgot who they were before this project.

Giamatti: They haven’t been able to reproduce in any way. They’re not creating anything in the world. Her book is getting fucked up, I’m not a director. They’re not procreating in any way. It’s like, yeah, I’m making pickles now. I’m not directing theater.

Hahn: It’s like a metaphor for mortality.

Giamatti: I said in the middle of it, I was like, “This is Waiting for Godot.” That’s what I thought when I finished it. It’s like they’re always going to be there, in some way.

They’re always going to be waiting. ★

PHOTOGRAPH BY

Josh Telles

12/21/18 10:13 AM

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12/21/18 10:13 AM

Gabriela Rodriguez

Eugenio Caballero

Yalitza Aparicio

Alfonso Cuarรณn

Roma Experience D E C E M B E R 9, L O S A N G E L E S

An exhibition and panel for the Netflix release.

See more photos at Deadline.com

Skip Lievsay & Craig Henighan

Private Life Kayli Carter, Kathryn Hahn & Tamara Jenkins

42

DECEMBER 11 LOS ANGELES

RE X /S H U T T ERSTO CK

Deadline presents AwardsLine Screening Series

D E A D L I N E .C O M / AWA R D S L I N E

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12/21/18 10:22 AM

THE ACTOR’S SIDE Intriguing one-on-one conversations between Deadline’s awards editor and leading actors of film & television NEW VIDEOS EVERY WEDNESDAY WATC H N OW AT D E A D L IN E .C O M

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12/21/18 10:22 AM

‘Keira Knightley: A Life In Pictures’ D E C E M B E R 17 BA F TA , L O N D O N

Keira Knightley Marina de Tavira, Alfonso Cuarón, Yalitza Aparicio & Nancy García García

Martha Stewart

‘Roma’ film premiere Yalitza Aparicio

Alfonso Cuarón

D E C E M B E R 17 / M E X I C O C I T Y

Jim Gaffigan

‘Mary Poppins Returns’ film screening

Emily Blunt & Lin-Manuel Miranda

D E C E M B E R 17 / N E W YO R K

Mimi Leder

‘On the Basis of Sex’ film screening

Amy Adams & Adam McKay

‘Vice’ BAFTA film screening D E C E M B E R 17 / N E W YO R K

44

Armie Hammer & Felicity Jones

D E C E M B E R 16 N E W YO R K

RE X /S H U T T ERSTO CK

Daniel Stiepleman

D E A D L I N E .C O M / AWA R D S L I N E

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12/21/18 10:22 AM

Italian Masterpieces

Mr Moonlight bed designed by Ludovica + Roberto Palomba.

Spoleto, Italy poltronafrau.com Los Angeles Beverly Blvd Ph. 310.858.1433

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12/12/18 2:28 PM

YOU LOVED A LOT OF FILMS THIS YEAR, BUT ONLY ONE FILM LOVED YOU BACK. WINNER

IFP GOTHAM AWARDS

INDEPENDENT SPIRIT AWARD

PGA AWARD

5 CINEMA EYE HONORS

NOMINEE

NOMINEE

NOMINATIONS

3 CRITICS’ CHOICE DOCUMENTARY AWARDS

INCLUDING

INCLUDING

AUDIENCE AWARD BEST DOCUMENTARY BEST DOCUMENTARY BEST DOCUMENTARY WINNER

WINNER

WINNER

WINNER

WINNER

BEST DOCUMENTARY

WINNER

WINNER

NEW YORK FILM CRITICS ONLINE

SAN FRANCISCO FILM CRITICS CIRCLE

TORONTO FILM CRITICS ASSOCIATION

PHILADELPHIA FILM CRITICS CIRCLE

ATLANTA FILM CRITICS CIRCLE

LOS ANGELES ONLINE FILM CRITICS SOCIETY

BEST DOCUMENTARY

BEST DOCUMENTARY

BEST DOCUMENTARY

BEST DOCUMENTARY

BEST DOCUMENTARY

BEST DOCUMENTARY

“A balm for our current climate of intolerance and hatred.”

Stephanie Zacharek, TIME

“This film is a gift.”

A.O. Scott, The New York Times

“Morgan Neville’s masterpiece.”

Pete Hammond, Deadline

FOR YOUR CONSIDERATION

BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE “

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The Washington Post

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San Francisco Chronicle

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Observer

Tribune News Service

A film by Morgan Neville © 2018 TREMOLO PRODUCTIONS, LLC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. ARTWORK © 2018 FOCUS FEATURES LLC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

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