Deadline Hollywood - Oscar Preview/Actors - 11/16/16

PRESENTS

NOVEMBER 16, 2016 OSCAR PREVIEW/ACTORS

A LOVING AFFAIR JEFF NICHOLS, JOEL EDGERTON AND RUTH NEGGA ON THE YEAR’S QUIETEST, YET MOST POWERFUL LOVE STORY.

1 CASEY AFFLECK MAHERSHALA ALI DEV PATEL ADAM DRIVER MILES TELLER DEADLINE.COM/AWARDSLINE

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FOR YOUR CONSIDERATION

BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE

WINNER

CHOICE 4CRITICS’ DOCUMENTARY AWARDS INCLUDING

BEST DOCUMENTARY THEATRICAL FEATURE BEST DIRECTOR IDA DOCUMENTARY AWARDS BEST FEATURE AWARD (NOMINEE)

IFP GOTHAM AWARDS BEST DOCUMENTARY

“EXCEPTIONAL.

A movie so perceptive, empathetic and compelling you want it never to end. Edelman is a superb interviewer.”

– Kenneth Turan, LOS ANGELES TIMES

“A MASTERPIECE...

Compulsively entertaining.”

– Will Leitch, NEW YORK MAGAZINE

“Part true crime, part cultural history, and the

MOST POWERFUL AND ESSENTIAL DOCUMENTARY ABOUT RACE, CLASS AND GENDER IN AMERICA IN YEARS.” – Anne Helen Petersen, BUZZFEED

(NOMINEE)

CINEMA EYE 5 DAWHONORS

NOMINATIONS

“This is as good as storytelling gets.

REVELATORY.” – Chuck Klosterman, GQ

INCLUDING

OUTSTANDING ACHIEVEMENT IN:

NONFICTION FEATURE FILM MAKING DIRECTION EDITING

“STAGGERING…

Has the grandeur and authority of the best long-form nonfiction... a feat of tireless research, dogged interviewing, and skillful editing.”

– A.O. Scott, THE NEW YORK TIMES

OFFICIAL SELECTION

TRIBECA FILM FESTIVAL

OFFICIAL SELECTION

HOT DOCS

WINNER

AUDIENCE AWARD

PHILADELPHIA INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL

a film by ezra edelman

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CONTENTS P U B L I S H ER

Stacey Farish EDI TOR

Joe Utichi C R EAT I V E DIR ECTO R

Craig Edwards

AS S I STA N T E D ITO R

Matt Grobar

DEA DL I NE CO - E D ITO R- IN- CHIE FS

Nellie Andreeva Mike Fleming Jr.

EX EC U T I V E E D ITO R

Michael Cieply

AWA R DS ED ITO R & CO LUM NIST

Pete Hammond

DEA DL I NE CO NTR IBUTO RS

Peter Bart Anita Busch Anthony D’Alessandro Lisa de Moraes Patrick Hipes David Lieberman Ross Lincoln Diana Lodderhose Amanda N’Duka Dominic Patten Erik Pedersen Denise Petski David Robb Nancy Tartaglione V I DEO P ROD UCE R

Scott Warren

NOVEM B ER 1 6, 201 6 OSCA R PR E V I E W / ACTO RS

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FIRST TAKE The Contenders event; The fall festivals; Doc race roundup.

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COVER STORY Jeff Nichols, Ruth Negga and Joel Edgerton on the extraordinary story behind Loving.

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CASEY AFFLECK Why his performance in Manchester by the Sea might deliver him to Oscar’s stage.

30

DOCS ON SONG Tori Amos and Sting & J. Ralph make music.

34

C HA I R MA N & CEO

Jay Penske

V I C E C HA I RM A N

Gerry Byrne

C HI EF OP ERATING O FFICE R

George Grobar

S EN I OR V I C E PR ES ID E NT, B U S I NES S D EV E LO PM E NT

Craig Perreault

G EN ERA L CO UNS E L & S .V. P. , HU MA N R ES O URCES

Todd Greene

THE DIALOGUE: ACTORS Mahershala Ali Dev Patel Adam Driver Miles Teller

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FLASH MOB Deadline’s Sixth Annual The Contenders

V I C E P R ES ID E NT, CR EATIV E

Nelson Anderson

V I C E P R ES ID E NT, FINA NCE

Ken DelAlcazar

V I C E P R ES ID E NT, T V ENT ERTA INM E NT SA LES

Laura Lubrano

V I C E P R ES ID E NT, FILM

Carra Fenton

ACCOU N T EXECUTIV ES , FILM & TV

Brianna Hamburger Tiffany Windju

A D SA L ES CO O R D INATO RS

​Kristina Mazzeo Malik Simmons

P RODU CT I ON D IR ECTO R

Natalie Longman

DI ST R I B U T IO N D IR ECTO R

Michael Petre

ON THE COVER Ruth Negga and Joel Edgerton photographed for Deadline by Chris Chapman THIS PAGE Dev Patel photographed for Deadline by Chris Chapman

A DV ERT I S I N G INQ UIR IES

Stacey Farish 310-484-2553 sfarish@pmc.com

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c an n e s : l o ok i ng ba ck

p. 8

| PETE HAMMOND ON THE FALL FESTIVALS

BEST IN SHOW

Guild members and stars gathered at the DGA for Deadline’s annual The Contenders event. BY M AT T G RO BA R

p. 10

| PREVIEWING THE DOC RACE

p. 12

CBS Films brought Peter Berg’s

and sometimes sad consequences of

Patriots Day and indie smash Hell or

what we have to call American sexual

High Water; and the talent behind STX

Puritanism, which often has made us

Entertainment’s The Edge of Seven-

the laughing stock of France and other

teen closed the day discussing their

countries.” With election year 2016’s

riotous teen comedy. Here are some

dramatic conclusion, Beatty explained

of the high points of the day.

the film’s resonance in today’s climate.

THE SUN WAS STILL SHINING,

appeared before the assembled guild

but the stars were out at the DGA on

members on panels moderated by

November 5, as some of the indus-

Deadline’s staff. Joining the the tradi-

ance, joined the 20th Century Fox

time in denial of things that have to

try’s biggest names were on hand for

tional industry heavyweights—from

panel, discussing Rules Don’t Apply, his

do with love. It’s a big subject that has

Deadline’s annual The Contenders

The Weinstein Company to Netflix,

first directorial effort since 1998’s Bul-

always been an obsession in American

event. The bevy of luminaries on hand

and Walt Disney Animation—were

worth. Beatty spoke about his ‘inside

morality, so I think it’s important to get

shared the backstories of this year’s

many of the newer upstarts. A24 was

baseball’ Howard Hughes drama, two

a laugh out of it.”

major films as the awards race kicked

on hand, in a strong year for the label,

decades in the making. “It’s about

into high gear.

with their first feature production,

sex and romance in the old Holly-

was singer-songwriter and Hidden

Moonlight, and 20th Century Women;

wood,” he said. “About the comical

Figures composer Pharrell Williams,

21 studios and over 50 films

4

Warren Beatty, in a rare appear-

“It’s ludicrous that we spend so much

Appearing on the same panel

RE X /S H U T T ERSTOC K

NICHOLAS BRITEL’S MOONLIGHT SCORE

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

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“STIRS DEEP EMOTIONS…A BREATHTAKINGLY UNSENTIMENTAL EMBRACE OF LIFE AT ITS MOST CHALLENGING.”

“PORTRAYS GREAT STRENGTH AND GREAT SUFFERING… LENDING VIVID CREDENCE TO TIRED PLATITUDES ABOUT WHAT IT MEANS TO LIVE LIFE TO THE FULLEST.”

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THE CONTENDERS way down to 6% body fat before gain-

and you have this gut feeling that they

ing some weight back during filming.

would allow themselves to connect

Teller approached the role of world

and fall in love with each other at

champion boxer Vinny “Pazmanian

some level.”

Devil” Pazienza with a bit of trepida-

was for Paramount Pictures’ Fences,

true-life story, and the responsibility

featuring director/star Denzel Wash-

that entails. “I was so nervous living up

ington and co-stars Viola Davis, Ste-

to this guy and carrying the torch of

phen Henderson, Mykelti Williamson,

his legacy and making an impact in his

Jovan Adepo, Russell Hornsby and

life,” he confessed.

Saniyya Sidney. The group received

One of the more out-there entries

who addressed his attraction to the

Talking Nocturnal Animals, director

a standing ovation from the crowd,

this year was Sony Pictures’ Sausage

appearing the same day that industry

Party, written and produced by Seth

screenings for the long-awaited film

Rogen, and directed by Conrad Vernon

had begun. Based on the Tony-

and Greg Tiernan. Vernon sum-

winning play by August Wilson, which

marized the genesis of the summer

Washington and Davis had previously

box office smash. “I’ve wanted to do

taken to Broadway, Fences was pro-

an R-rated cartoon since I watched

duced with the feeling that there was

1981’s Heavy Metal,” he explained.

much left to explore in the material

“Seth said, ‘We have a movie where

within the context of cinema. “One of

sausages leave their packages and

the things Denzel said is he basically

screw the buns,’ and I said, ‘I’m in.’”

wanted to press the reset button and

No panel on Sausage Party would be

didn’t want us to kind of just do it by

complete without reference to the

rote,” Davis said. “I think it’s always

film’s closing scene: a massive orgy for

great to rediscover something that

food products. “I really don’t think the

you’ve done for so long. And one of the

MPAA knew how to handle this film,”

things Denzel said when we started it

Rogen said, only half kidding. It might

was, ‘Remember the love.’ If it doesn’t

surprise some to note that there was,

come from a place of love, then you can’t feel the loss.’”

true story of the African American

Tom Ford discussed the motivation

in fact, a real, intentional political and

women behind the success of NASA’s

behind his transition from fashion to

social commentary behind the raunch.

early space launches. “Until recently,

film in recent years. “I love fashion but

“We wanted to show how different

star and Executive Music Producer

a woman’s contribution to history has

it’s quick and does not last very long.

[grocery] aisles believe different things

Justin Timberlake relayed an emo-

often been dismissed and discounted

Film is forever.”

and don’t get along with one another,

tional anecdote from the Dream-

For Warner Bros., Clint East-

Toward the end of the day, Trolls

and really show the true personifica-

Works film. “‘True Colors’ is a beauti-

acknowledgment,” Williams said. “We

wood’s Sully was discussed by writer

tion of everyone coming together,”

ful song, and it’s a huge emotional

see something crazy going on in our

Todd Komarnicki, producers Frank

Rogen explained. “Sometimes, if the

moment in the film,” said Timberlake.

nation, but I see a victory. When you

Marshall, Tim Moore and Allyn Stew-

bun fits…”

“And so I’m watching it and I’m like,

push women down, you’re pushing

art, and editor Blu Murray. Speaking

Passengers director Morten

‘Am I… crying? At myself?’ I thought

them to stand up even stronger.”

with Deadline’s Pete Hammond,

Tyldum—Oscar-nominated for his

my only opportunity to do that was a

Komarnicki told the story of his pitch

2015 picture The Imitation Game—

bottle of Jack Daniel’s and a mirror.”

Kubo and the Two Strings helmer

for the project to the producers—

appeared with writer Jon Spaihts and

Based on the popular dolls made by

Travis Knight discussed the snail-like

which was the first pitch they took—

editor Maryann Brandon to discuss

Danish woodworker Thomas Dam,

speed of the animation process. “It’s

followed by four months of silence

their highly-anticipated genre release.

Trolls closed out its opening weekend

filmmaking at the pace of a glacier,”

and nervous anticipation. “The one

On the panel, Tyldum spoke of finding

with $45.6 million.

he said. “You have to be completely

we heard first is the one we liked

a proper balance between the film’s

committed or slightly mad, but when

best,” said Stewart, explaining how,

smaller, more intimate scenes and

you devote that much time of your life,

after hearing many other approaches,

a setting as epic as space itself. “It’s

Also represented were Lionsgate—

you want to make sure it matters and

that first take rang true.

an intimate film,” Tyldum said, “but

promoting La La Land and Hacksaw

the epic quality was a balancing act.

Ridge—Illumination Entertainment

and oftentimes erased from public

On the Focus Features panel,

it’s meaningful.”

Comeback kid Ben Younger, direc-

This is but a sample of the festivities at Deadline’s The Contenders.

tor of Open Road Films’ Bleed for

Because it’s a character-driven film,

(Sing), Fox Searchlight Pictures

cussed his film’s relevance in the era

This, spoke alongside stars Miles Teller

they have to go through extreme

(The Birth of a Nation, Jackie), Sony

of #BlackLivesMatter. “The sad reality

and Aaron Eckhart about the grueling

choices. It’s really a roller coaster emo-

Pictures Classics (Miles Ahead,

is that we’re going to need this film

process involved in producing the

tionally.” In pairing Jennifer Lawrence

French Foreign Language film entry

and this story in 20 years, 30 years, 40

true-life boxing story, Younger’s first

and Chris Pratt for the sci-fi romance,

Elle), Amazon (Manchester by the

years,” he said. “The reality is equality

film in 10 years. In “funny friend shape”

Tyldum found an unusual and potent

Sea) and more.

is not something we just solve. It is

prior to filming—at 188 pounds, with

chemistry. “They didn’t know each

something that every generation has

19% body fat—Teller recalled dropping

other before the film,” the director

For full coverage of The Contenders,

to define for itself.”

20 pounds over 8 months, finding his

explained. “I met them individually,

visit Deadline.com.

Loving director Jeff Nichols dis-

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★

RE X /S H U T T ERSTOC K

GOING FOR GOLD Stars lit up the room at Deadline’s The Contenders Event on November 5, including (clockwise) Miles Teller (Bleed for This), Viola Davis— representing Denzel Washington’s Fences—Warren Beatty (Rules Don’t Apply) and Emma Stone (La La Land).

One of the day’s standout panels

tion, having never before taken on a

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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 Lead And Supporting Actor races.

Get up-to-date rankings and make your own predictions at GoldDerby.com OUTSTANDING LEAD ACTOR

Clair De Lune HOW COMPOSER NICHOLAS BRITELL CONJURED THE ARRESTING SCORE OF MOONLIGHT.

“WHAT’S THE MUSICAL sound of poetry?”

This is what ran through composer Nicholas

and Violin Poem”. And to achieve an emotional to the violin, coupled with the soft hammering of

Barry Jenkins’ African American coming-of-age

the piano.

To represent the characters’ personal transfor-

Floridian Chiron, who grows into a man of the

mation, Britell settled on a mixing style known as

streets, while coming to terms with his identity. Like

“Chopped ‘n’ Screwed” in which the track is layered

Spike Lee in his Oscar-nominated urban drama

on top of itself and slowed down a few octaves.

Do the Right Thing, the immediate go-to might

He put “Chiron’s Theme” through this process to

be using hip-hop as a Greek chorus. For Britell, a

dramatize the gravity in a schoolyard scene where

largely stringed chamber classical music score best

Chiron is double-crossed by his lover Kevin.

exuded Moonlight.

“The film felt like poetry, it was so beautiful and

1

Casey Affleck Manchester by the Sea

9/5

2

Denzel Washington Fences

7/2

3

Ryan Gosling La La Land

7/1

4

Joel Edgerton Loving

8/1

5

Tom Hanks Sully

14/1

6

Andrew Garfield Hacksaw Ridge

40/1

7

Viggo Mortensen Captain Fantastic

50/1

texture in the cue, the composer kept the mic close

Britell’s mind as he was watching the rough cut of story Moonlight from A24, which follows South

ODDS

“Barry focuses on big moments in life, like a schoolyard fight that changes someone’s life, but

tender,” explains Britell, pointing to such poignant

there are little moments like when Chiron is in the

moments as when Chiron is taught to swim by

bathtub,” says Britell about his inspirations, “And it’s

Juan, a sensitive drug-dealer who takes the child

those little moments that are just as impactful on

under his wing. This provoked Britell to write “Piano

our lives; that’s how our memories work.”

OUTSTANDING SUPPORTING ACTOR

ODDS

1

Mahershala Ali Moonlight

5/2

2

Lucas Hedges Manchester by the Sea

4/1

3

Michael Shannon Nocturnal Animals

8/1

4

Jeff Bridges Hell or High Water

9/1

5

Dev Patel Lion

10/1

6

Liam Neeson Silence

10/1

7

Hugh Grant Florence Foster Jenkins

28/1

A STELLAR SOUND

Sound editor Sylvain Bellemare delves into his work on Denis Villeneuve’s elegant Arrival.

A LONG-TIME COLLABORATOR of director Denis Villeneuve, FrenchCanadian supervising sound editor Sylvain Bellemare was faced with one of his greatest challenges when Villeneuve brought him Arrival, a science fiction movie that deals with distorting reality as we know it.

“It’s emotional, psychological science fiction,” Bellemare explains. “The sound in the film was really related to memory, and how memories can bring

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you to a level of presence.”

It would spoil Arrival’s many surprises to explain exactly what he means by that, but suffice it to say it demanded of Bellemare that he find a new approach to the film’s soundscape. “Denis wanted a different sound than in other films,” Bellemare explains. “It’s cliche to say that, but he really wanted another type of sensation with this film. You had to make sure the sound was a strong enough

character to live by itself.”

He’s familiar, by now, with Villeneuve’s exacting demands of his crew.

“There’s a lot he doesn’t like, there’s a lot he likes, but you really need to know exactly what he wants,” says Bellemare. “It’s a very thin line for him, and if he doesn’t get what he wants, he’ll throw the work away. Fortunately, we were a big, wonderful team that worked very hard on the front lines, for everybody.”

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

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B E S T

F O R

Y O U R

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

D O C U M E N T A R Y

F E A T U R E

IDA DOCUMENTARY AWARDS I N C LU DI N G

BEST FEATURE NOMINATION BEST EDITING WINNER

CINEMA EYE HONORS NOMINATIONS NONFICTION FEATURE • DIRECTION • EDITING • CINEMATOGRAPHY

IFP GOTHAM AWARDS

BEST DOCUMENTARY NOMINATION “TRANSFIXING…

unlike anything you’ve seen before… a remarkably intimate film.”

—A.O. Scott, The New York Times

“REVELATORY…

In ways both subtle and overt, the movie continually draws our attention to the human consciousness guiding every shot, the hand that is gently yet unmistakably manipulating the image.”

—Justin Chang, Los Angeles Times

“TRANSCENDENT... there’s never been a memoir quite like this.”

—Eric Kohn, Indiewire

CAMERAPERSON A FILM BY KIRSTEN JOHNSON

camerapersonfilm.com

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PET E HAMMOND

FALL FORWARD, FALL BACK

This year’s fall festivals were either platforms or stumbling blocks for various Oscar players. BY P E T E H A M M O N D THERE CAN BE NO QUESTION that the march to Oscar fully begins at the start of September each year, with the arrival of the much-ballyhooed fall festival trifecta of Venice, Telluride and Toronto. Awards prospects can soar on the strength of one of these all-important festival debuts, or simply deflate like a Tom Brady football if a screening doesn’t play right in front of an audience of critics, awards bloggers and industry voters, as well as the general public. Prospects are further rocked by the added exposure of the New York Film Festival and AFI Fest in Hollywood.

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So how did the presumptive ‘Oscar

well as the industry’s good graces—

bait’ fare this year? Venice’s Open-

with a ten minute standing ovation

ing Night film, La La Land, charged

for his stirring and true World War II

right to the top, and is still the likely

tale, Hacksaw Ridge. Venice was the

Best Picture frontrunner with a little

film’s only festival appearance this

less than a month to go until its

fall, but it was enough to put it in the

Dec. 9 limited release. The Damien

Best Picture conversation, and to

Chazelle–directed contemporary

start tongues wagging about Andrew

valentine to the musicals of Jacques

Garfield’s emotional turn as Des-

Demy and MGM’s golden era,

mond Doss, a conscientious objector

starring Ryan Gosling and Emma

who didn’t touch a gun but became

Stone, wowed audiences not only

the biggest war hero of all.

on the Lido, but also in Telluride and

A pair of Amy Adams films also

Toronto, where it won the much

came to Venice, with Denis Ville-

coveted Audience Award over the

neuve’s Arrival starting Best Picture

300-odd features on display.

and Best Actress talk, and Tom

Meanwhile, another Venice

Ford’s Nocturnal Animals resulting

winner cemented the return of Mel

in a Silver Lion for its director. Both

Gibson to the director’s chair—as

films also played Toronto to good

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box office performance.

Universal’s Sing put itself into the Animated Feature race at TIFF, with the confident studio offering a slightly unfinished print to start the chatter, while smaller indie dramas Denial and A Monster Calls did well enough there to keep hope alive. But the real TIFF surprise was the closing night film The Edge of Seventeen, starring Hailee Steinfeld in a breakout role, which proved to be that rarest of gems: an exceptional teen movie.

On the flip side, negative to mixed reviews for such hopefuls as Lionsgate’s American Pastoral and Deepwater Horizon KO’d their awards chances, along with little buzz for Oliver Stone’s Snowden, and a not-terribly-successful redemption attempt for Nate Parker and his controversial The Birth of a Nation. It was once the sensation of Sundance,

A FONDNESS FOR FESTIVALS (Clockwise) Damien Chazelle and Emma Stone; Jeremy Renner and Amy Adams; Casey Affleck; Pablo Larrain with Jackie star Natalie Portman.

but after a disastrous publicity tour saw Parker refuse to apologize for his part in a campus rape trial 17 years ago, the movie died a quick box office death.

Most of the New York Film Festival’s Oscar marbles were spent on Ang Lee’s anticipated and pioneering technical achievement Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk. But reviews and reaction were far from kind, and the 3D, 4K, 120fps photoreal process was a turnoff for many.

Still, NYFF offered a positive berth to Mike Mills’ 20th Century Women, with strong Best Actress talk for Annette Bening, as well as its open-

effect, and Arrival hit Telluride as

Rockies, in much the same way that

Vinny Pazienza—another Telluride

ing night triumph 13th, a harrowing

well, just to make a statement that

distributor A24’s Room did last year.

debut.

documentary from Ava DuVernay,

it’s a serious contender.

That one went on to a Best Picture

Natalie Portman’s hypnotic

Manchester by the Sea, which

exploring injustice for young black

nomination and a Best Actress win

premiered at Sundance, proved its

men in America. It feels like the

portrayal of Jacqueline Kennedy

for Brie Larson. I expect Moonlight,

early festival debut was no fluke as

impact made by that film will still be

in Jackie also came out of Venice

which also played Toronto and

it continued to impress at Telluride

felt at the Dolby in February.

strong. It picked up distribution

opened to near-record setting box

and Toronto. And so too did Cannes

We’re right in the middle of AFI

with Fox Searchlight out of Toronto,

office numbers, will do the same.

debuts Loving and Elle, which found

Fest as this issue comes out, and it

second berths at Toronto.

promises to bring in even more Oscar

where Portman’s performance as

Warner Bros’ decision to play the

the First Lady struggling to deal with

Clint Eastwood–directed Sully paid

the aftermath of JFK’s assassination

off big in Telluride where it, and Tom

val offered a stage for The Weinstein

Warren Beatty’s first directorial effort

wowed the Canadian crowd.

Hanks’ starring role as hero airline

Company’s moving true story, Lion,

in nearly two decades, Rules Don’t

pilot Captain Sully Sullenberger

which grabbed attention and the

Apply, as well as Peter Berg’s Patriots

unquestionably by the little film

drew top notices and awards buzz

Audience Award runner up spot. And

Day, the Jessica Chastain-starrer

that could: Barry Jenkins’ Moon-

just before its successful launch in

the second Audience Award runner

Miss Sloane and Robert De Niro in

light, a coming-of-age film about

theaters. Sully co-star Aaron Eckhart

up, Disney’s Queen of Katwe, also

The Comedian. For good or bad, the

a young African American boy in a

also drew Supporting Actor buzz

gathered momentum out of its TIFF

festival circuit continues to make an

tough South Florida neighborhood.

for Bleed for This, which stars Actor

world premiere, though its chances

impact. Oh, and La La Land will play

It bowled over audiences in the

hopeful Miles Teller as the boxer

have decreased after a slow-boiling

AFI Fest too. The beat goes on. ★

Telluride debuts were topped

Toronto International Film Festi-

firepower. This includes the likes of

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D OCUMENTARY SPOTLI G HT

DISTRESSING DOCS (Clockwise) Amanda Knox; O.J.: Made in America adding dimension to familar territory; Gleason and family.

REALITY CHECK This year’s field of documentary hopefuls is as stuffed as it’s ever been. BY A N T O N I A B LY T H

DOCUMENTARY COMPETITION IS STIFF for the five available Oscar noms this year, with several of the strongest contenders breaking out of Sundance, setting the stage for a tense race as far back as January.

Josh Kriegman and Elyse Steinberg’s Weiner (IFC) won the U.S. Grand Jury Prize at the festival—the film follows the downward spiral of the politician with a penchant for inappropriate selfies and has already proven itself a quasi-comedic hit this year. HBO’s Jim: The James Foley Story snagged the Audience Award with its harrowing depiction of Foley’s abduction by ISIS, while Life, Animated (The Orchard) won the U.S. Documentary Directing Award for the moving and heartfelt story of a young autistic man expressing himself through a love of animated film.

Streaming services are definitely upping the ante too this year, with Netflix showing a particularly strong front with 13th, Selma director Ava DuVernay’s exposure of modern-day slavery; Werner Herzog’s Into the Inferno; Audrie & Daisy, an exposé of sexual assault in U.S. high schools; and The Ivory Game, the title of which speaks somewhat for itself. Not to be outdone, Amazon offers Sundance standout hit Gleason, which follows the life of Steve Gleason, the former NFL player diagnosed with ALS. With many more options on the docket, such as Going Clear director Alex Gibney’s Zero Days and ESPN’s critically-acclaimed eight-hour marathon OJ: Made in America, it seems the Academy might have a tough job whittling it down to a shortlist in December. But for now, here’s an educated guess at the top 15.

Gleason

for 30 series, Ezra Edelman’s project

Amazon was quick to snap up Gleason

takes a detailed look at O.J.’s trajectory

at Sundance, and it has since become

to fame—and subsequent descent

a critics’ favorite, picking up a Critics’

into infamy—taking us back as far as

Choice best documentary feature

the 1960s. Initially somewhat eclipsed

nom. Clay Tweel’s film takes us on

in the public arena by the dramatized

an extremely close-up and personal

TV limited series The People v. O.J.

journey with NFL player Steve Gleason,

Simpson, this extraordinary feat of

often in the form of Gleason’s own

journalism is about way more than

video journals, as he simultaneously

“the trial of the century”.

faces ALS and first-time fatherhood.

The result is an unflinching and uplift-

Life, Animated

ing look at a family under siege.

The message of Roger Ross Williams’ Life, Animated is nothing short of

13th

magical, as we meet Owen Suskind,

Ava DuVernay’s blistering look at

a young autistic man who abruptly

the U.S justice system focuses on a

stopped talking as a child, but who

jaw-dropping ‘loophole’ in the 13th

found his way back to communica-

amendment, that effectively made

tion through animated films such as

slavery legally allowable in the instance

The Little Mermaid and The Lion King.

of criminal conviction. The Netflix film

Already an Academy Award winner

details the cycle that created and

for his documentary short Music by

perpetuates the skewed treatment of

Prudence in 2010, Life, Animated won

people of color within the system. The

Williams the documentary directing

opener for the New York Film Festival–

award at Sundance.

a first for a documentary—it also recently snagged three Critics’ Choice documentary awards.

Amanda Knox With two separate trial acquittals failing to quiet public suspicion over

Weiner

filmmakers rolled with the punches,

O.J.: Made in America

her innocence, and following two years

Josh Kriegman and Elyse Steinberg

to great effect. Aside from its Grand

ESPN’s nearly eight-hour, epic docu-

of persuasion, Amanda Knox agreed

may have thought they were mak-

Jury Prize at Sundance, the film just

mentary took the Best Documetary

to cooperate with this film, giving her

ing a film about Anthony Weiner’s

snagged the Best First Documentary

prize at the Critics’ Choice Awards,

version of events in a series of stark,

run for mayor of New York. But

award in the new documentary film

and a limited theatrical release quali-

straight-to-camera interviews. Brian

when things took a sharp left turn

Critics’ Choice offshoot, which hon-

fies it for Oscar consideration. Split

McGinn and Rod Blackhurst’s Netflix

with Weiner’s new sex scandal, the

ored 14 documentaries this month.

into five episodes as part of ESPN’s 30

doc effectively declares “Foxy Knoxy”

12

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F O R

Y O U R

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

BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE OFFICIAL SELECTION

OFFICIAL SELECTION

TRUE/FALSE

TRIBECA

WINNER

WINNER

FILM FESTIVAL

AUDIENCE AWARD

AUDIENCE AWARD

SAN FRANCISCO

FILM FESTIVAL

FILM FESTIVAL

Finds poetry in the ability of music to bring us home again, wherever we may travel.”

– Moira Macdonald, The Seattle Times

WINNER

AUDIENCE AWARD

TELLURIDE

DIRECTING AWARD: U.S. DOCUMENTARY

FULL FRAME DOCUMENTARY

“AN IRRESISTIBLE KALEIDOSCOPE OF MUSIC!

WINNER

FILM FESTIVAL

WINNER

AUDIENCE AWARD

BERKSHIRE INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL

OFFICIAL SELECTION

SEATTLE

MONTCLAIR

INTERNATIONAL

INTERNATIONAL

MOUNTAINFILM

OFFICIAL SELECTION

FILM FESTIVAL

FILM FESTIVAL

“AN ASTONISHING JOURNEY...

A REMARKABLE STORY.” -KENNETH TURAN, LOS ANGELES TIMES

“A GEM. RADIANT AND UPLIFTING.” -DUANE BYRGE, THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER

“MUSICALLY DELIGHTFUL! A first-rate music film capturing a restless desire to communicate.”

– John DeFore, The Hollywood Reporter

“A JOYOUS REVELATION! Full of pleasures and surprises.”

– Joe Morgenstern, The Wall Street Journal

“DEEPLY MOVING.

A WARM TESTAMENT TO A FAMILY’S LOVE AND RESILIENCE.” -JUSTIN CHANG, VARIETY

“FUNNY, TOUCHING AND VITAL.” -PETER TRAVERS, ROLLING STONE

“A STUNNING STORY

ABOUT HOW WE USE FILM TO RELATE TO THE WORLD.” -BRIAN TALLERICO, ROGEREBERT.COM

“A CELEBRATION.

TENDER, RICH AND WONDERFULLY TOLD.” -ANDREW CRUMP, THE PLAYLIST

“CONSISTENTLY ALIVE! It’s most insightful message: changing the world through music.”

– Tina Hassania, RogerEbert.com

The only way to change the world is to make a little noise.

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D OCUMENTARY SPOTLI G HT workings of clinics in Alabama, Texas and Mississippi, the film gets its title from TRAP (targeted regulations of abortion providers) and artfully discusses the strength of feeling around the topic.

Audrie & Daisy While last year’s The Hunting Ground ripped the lid off colleges quietly sidelining sexual assault, Netflix’s Audrie & Daisy goes back to high school, where teen rape and its subsequent medieval-style slutshaming can be deadly—as in the case of Audrie Pott, who committed suicide following an assault by her classmates at a party. Husband and wife directors Jon Shenk (Lost Boys of Sudan) and Bonni Cohen (Inside Guantanamo Bay) follow Daisy Coleman, who was 14 when she was assaulted, then harassed online.

Nominated for the Grand Jury prize at Sundance, the doc also boasts innocent once and for all, in this grip-

an original theme song: “Flicker”, by

ping reexamination of the evidence in

Tori Amos.

the 2007 Meredith Kercher murder.

Interviews with bumbling local law

Newtown

enforcement and headline-driven

The Kim A. Snyder-directed New-

press are the icing on the cake.

town looks at the aftermath of the Sandy Hook elementary school

The Ivory Game Coming out of Telluride, this Netflix

shooting, in which 20 children and INSPIRATION, TREPIDATION (Clockwise from main image) Conflict journalist James Foley in Jim: The James Foley Story; Werner Herzog’s Into the Inferno; Miss Sharon Jones! performs.

six teachers were killed. A Grand Jury

Directed by Richard Ladkani and Kief

Zero Days

Fire at Sea

as a powerful ally in the fight against

Davidson (whose film Open Heart

Following a loss for last year’s short-

Gianfranco Rosi’s Fire at Sea gives an

gun violence, while Snyder’s bare-

got a 2013 Oscar nom), it’s also exec

listed Going Clear, previous Oscar and

up-close perspective of the inter-

bones use of family interviews lets

produced by powerhouse environ-

Emmy winner Alex Gibney returns with

national refugee crisis as it happens

the horrifying material speak loud

mentalist Leonardo DiCaprio. The

a terrifying journey into malware and

on the Italian island of Lampedusa.

and clear.

use of concealed cameras ups the

its potential consequences. Could we

Only 70 miles away from North

edge-of-seat factor, while the film’s

survive a viral shut down? Is this all

African shores, the island provides a

Jim: The James Foley Story

depiction of all sides of the poaching

mere paranoia? Zero Days (Partici-

first landing place for thousands of

U.S. photojournalist James Foley had

trade seeks real answers rather than

pant/Showtime) pulls back the cur-

refugees, despite its having only one

incredibly already escaped a kidnap-

simple pathos.

tain on the shady side of the internet

doctor. Winning the Golden Bear at

ping in Libya before he was abducted

and our often-unwitting reliance on

Berlin, Fire at Sea is the result of 18

in Syria by ISIS. Directed by Foley’s

computer systems.

months of shooting, in which Rosi (El

childhood friend Brian Oakes (Living

Sicario, Room 164) accessed an Ital-

With Lincoln), HBO’s Jim: The James

project exposes the very real threat of extinction faced by elephants.

Miss Sharon Jones!

With Oscar wins in 1977 and 1991 (Har-

Prize nominee at Sundance, it’s been lauded by the participating parents

lan County U.S.A, American Dream)

Into the Inferno

ian Naval rescue ship, gained entry

Foley Story may rightly exclude the

Barbara Kopple is back with a foray

Ever wondered what it’s like to stand

to the refugee encampment and

online video of Foley’s execution, but

into the world of Sharon Jones, singer

on the edge of a volcano? Werner

depicted the realities of both the

it doesn’t shy away from depict-

with The Dap-Kings. After being told

Herzog’s Netflix doc takes you there in

local and migrant communities.

ing the horror of war, at times using

she was “too old, too fat, too short

lurid, terrifying detail, while document-

and too black” to make it, Jones did

ing the reverence, fear and ritual of

Trapped

effect. With Sting’s original song

just that at the age of 40. The kicker is,

local people living under the imminent

Dawn Porter’s film Trapped revisits

“The Empty Chair” (in competi-

she’s also got Stage 2 pancreatic can-

threat of eruption. Another Telluride

the question of anti-abortion laws

tion with Audrie & Daisy’s Tori Amos

cer. Kopple takes us on an incredible

premiere, this film was finished just

in the U.S., and their first-hand

theme), a Sundance Audience

tour of the human spirit, the power of

shortly after the prolific Herzog’s Lo

effects in the American South. With

Award and an Emmy win already, Jim

music and Jones’s utter refusal to quit.

and Behold.

an emphasis on the day-to-day

is surely a strong frontrunner. ★

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What Richard + Mildred Did JEFF NICHOLS, JOEL EDGERTON & RUTH NEGGA TELL JOE UTICHI WHY THEY WERE DRAWN TO THE QUIET POWER OF RICHARD AND MILDRED LOVING, WHOSE COMMITMENT TO BEING TOGETHER CHANGED THE CONSTITUTION.

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PHOTOGRAPH BY

Chris Chapman

RE TOUC H I N G BY WWW.T WE A K P RODUCT I ON S .COM

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JEFF NICHOLS has spent the last several months struggling to explain his attraction to his latest project, Loving, the first story he has brought to film that wasn’t his own invention. “But this morning I woke up with the epiphany of how to talk about it,” he smiles, on a sofa at The London in West Hollywood in late October. “Everybody asks me, ‘Why did you tell this story?’ And inevitably I say, ‘[Producers] Nancy Buirski, Colin Firth and Ged Doherty brought it to me.’ But I realized: no. It’s because this is one of the greatest love stories in American history.”

The story Nichols is telling belongs to Richard

Racial Integrity Act, which prevented interracial

and Mildred Loving. Married in Washington D.C. in

marriage. As one of the judges who presided over

July 1958, they travelled back to their small home in

their case put it, “Almighty God created the races

Central Point, Virginia and were promptly arrested.

white, black, yellow, malay and red, and he placed

Their crime? Mildred was black, Richard was white,

them on separate continents. And but for the

and their home state was still under the rule of the

interference with his arrangement there would

A QUIET HEROISM Ruth Negga and Joel Edgerton share a typically intimate moment in Loving.

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COMING UP ON DEADLINE.COM Ruth Negga discusses her Loving role and more in our new video series, The Actor's Side with Pete Hammond.

Watch the video Nov. 30 at Deadline.com

be no cause for such marriages. The fact that he

in a unanimous decision in the Supreme Court, after

separated the races shows that he did not intend

their lawyer, Bernard S. Cohen, conveyed a mes-

for the races to mix.”

sage Richard had given them: “Mr. Cohen, tell the

They plead guilty and were sentenced to a year

live with her in Virginia.” The decision made anti-

the condition that the couple be banished from Vir-

miscegenation laws unenforceable in the United

ginia for a quarter century. They moved to D.C., and

States, though many remained on statute books,

tried to acclimatize to city living. But they missed

with Alabama holding out as late as 2000. This one,

their home, they missed their families, and they saw

aptly-named pair changed the lives of countless

no kind of justice in their predicament. So Mildred

interracial couples for decades to come, and their

wrote to Robert Kennedy, who referred their case to

legacy lived on further, affecting legislation around

the ACLU, starting a series of legal challenges that

same-sex unions also.

led all the way to the Supreme Court.

“And they changed the constitution,” declares

So Nichols’s film is a necessary corrective; a chance for the Lovings’ story to spread far and wide.

Ruth Negga, who plays Mildred in Nichols’ film. “So

And yet, it’s taken Nichols all this time, since com-

why is it that the majority of people I’ve met had

pleting his movie and its Cannes premiere in May,

never heard of them? When Nancy [Buirski] made

to rationalize his response to it. “It’s so quiet that it

her documentary [HBO’s The Loving Story] she

almost feels like I can’t be histrionic in talking about

couldn’t find anything until she happened upon

it, but there was great weight to it,” he explains.

this contemporary documentary footage, which

“There’s this cumulative power that slowly happens

had never been used. She had first heard about the

throughout the course of the film. You get these

story in Mildred’s obituary in 2008, and it was only a

small moments, but by the end it’s landing these

sliver in the obituary that stuck, and that was, ‘they

knockout, emotional punches, and it’s because it all

changed the constitution.’”

adds up to this amazing love story.”

Indeed, Richard and Mildred’s appeal was upheld

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Court I love my wife, and it is just unfair that I can’t

in jail, but the judge suspended their sentence on

The footage Buirski found for her documentary

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JO E L ED G E RTO N : CH R I S CH A P M AN /R ETOUCH I NG BY W WW.T WE AKP RO DUCT I O N S .COM

LOVE CONQUERS Nichols described himself as overwhelmed by the Lovings’ tale: “You get these small moments, but by the end it's landing these knockout, emotional punches.”

JO E L ED G E RTO N : CH R I S CH A P M AN /R ETOUCH I NG BY W WW.T WE AKP RO DUCT I O N S .COM

goes some way to explaining why Richard and Mildred might not have become instant icons for the Civil Rights movement, even as their case caused such profound change. With newsreel cameras in their faces, Richard and Mildred are shy, polite and— especially in Richard’s case—almost entirely silent.

They’re also sweetly considerate of one another, as though they’ve each always got one eye on taking care of the other. A photographer for Life Magazine captured the shot of Richard and Mildred that hints at the beautiful simplicity of their life together:

“There’s something in how fated they seem, because of his last name, and because the image of the two of them together— her, this beautiful, brown and regal princess, and him, the redneck—is undeniable.”

watching a sitcom on the couch in their tiny apartment, Richard’s head is cradled in Mildred’s lap, as the pair share a laugh. They didn’t seek fame for their actions; they just wanted to be together.

“They wouldn’t have come to the premiere,” Negga laughs. Says Joel Edgerton, who plays Richard, “He would probably only have come if Mildred had made him.

“There’s something in how fated they seem,”

that. That image of the two of them together—her, this beautiful, brown and regal princess, and him, the redneck—is undeniable.”

For Negga and Edgerton, finding these two characters on set meant interpreting and interpolating from the documentary footage. Negga credits

Edgerton continues, “because of his last name, and

Nichols with doing the heavy lifting on the behind-

because of the image of the two of them together.

closed-doors nature of their lives together. “Those

Bill or Bernie—one of their attorneys—had said that

moments are all his supervising of it,” she insists. “I

when they met Richard, he looked more like the kind

don’t think this couple had different public and pri-

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is generally who they were. The beautiful challenge is that you have parts to the jigsaw puzzle, and then it’s up to you to figure out how you’re going to complete it in as truthful and authentic a way as possible.”

“It’s about that intimacy, without words,” notes Edgerton, “and the understanding and support and the comradery and knowing who leads and who follows, who comforts and who needs comforting. A movie relationship is generally a very different thing.

It’s often overtures of love. It speaks to you about how much they care, and it’s billowing curtains and

“You’re drawn to those people because they inspire hope in you, and I think she was very much the rock of her family, and for Richard.

You want to orbit that.”

sex scenes. With this, we’re deep into a relationship at this point, and it’s two people who could almost finish each other’s sentences and thoughts, and anticipate each other’s needs.”

Indeed, the film opens at the close, with Mildred telling Richard that she’s pregnant. It was a moment of revelation for Nichols when he discovered that their wedding was hastily arranged after Mildred became pregnant (they would go on to have three children together), and he knew immediately that he had his opening scene. “The more I analyze all this, I do realize that as a writer, that’s a representational scene and it’s kind of what you look for,” he explains. “They work on multiple levels. In the moment, the behavior is correct, but then it’s representative of all this stuff that has come before.

You know immediately that they have an intimate relationship. You know immediately that they love one another, because of the way he responds to her. You know something about their personalities; that they are fairly meek people. And then you know there’s trouble, because here we are, looking at these two people, one white, one black. They’re in period clothing and they are pregnant. It’s nervous, it’s joyous, it’s loving and it’s dangerous, all at the He relates it to that famous Life Magazine photograph. The whole of their lives explained in a single moment. “Talk about a complex amalgam of thoughts in one image. That’s what the opening scene is for me, and narratively it just gets you started.”

It’s these kinds of images that haunted Nichols when he first heard the Lovings’ story. “The documentary haunts you first, and then the script started to haunt me. It shouldn’t be interpreted as a negative, yet it really is haunting. This was Richard and Mildred’s story. I seeped myself in it for months—or a year, between research and writing—and then I’m back out of it and I’m going to make Midnight Special, and when I come back, it’s all still there.”

He had the feeling again, during the shoot for ODD COUPLE The striking contrast betwen “regal” Mildred and “redneck” Richard made for a powerful union.

Midnight Special, when it occurred to him that perhaps Edgerton might be right for Richard. And it recurred once more when he auditioned Negga for Mildred—a sense he got that Mildred was living inside her, somewhere.

The strength of her performance, he says, is

22

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same time.”

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explained in the way she plays the scene in which Mildred receives a phonecall to relate the Supreme Court’s positive decision. “She wouldn’t burst out of the door and run across to him yelling and screaming,” Nichols reasoned. “She would walk out, see her husband playing with her kids in the yard, and just know that that image was finally protected and safe.

“When you hand those script pages to someone like Ruth, they’re charged with emotion, but I couldn’t do what she does. I can know it in my mind, but I can’t somehow process it through my heart and then have it spill out of my pores, and that’s what great actors do. I help. I help with David Wingo’s score, and I do a slow push in when it matters. But everything’s going on in her face; the thousands of muscles that are operating, and her eyes, and her pupils. I would watch that all day long.”

“There’s a real purity to Mildred that I think people recognize and are attracted to,” Negga says.

“A lack of cynicism, and a composure. Hope is a key theme of this film, and she was a hopeful person.

Alien Nation

You’re drawn to those people as well, because they inspire hope in you, and I think she was very much the rock of her family, and for Richard. You want to orbit that.”

Richard and Mildred Loving never expressed any anger about the dire situation that Virginia lawmakers forced on them. “But I think they were angry,” Negga insists. “In that time period, you had to be very careful about how you expressed it. There was

IT SPEAKS VOLUMES of the

sour milk. But what if you could take it

a cost involved. Even just protesting this sentence

variety inherent in Jeff Nichols’ career

back a step? How did they get there?’"

resulted in a brick through their window. There was

that Loving, the first film of his not

intimidation.”

generated from an original idea, will fall

contact, though. “What’s that step in

The movie won’t focus on first

in between two science fiction projects

the middle where those two cultures

you get back up and want to fight,” says Edgerton.

that couldn’t be more different. The first,

started to think about integrating and

“The second and the third time, it diminishes your

Midnight Special, was released in March,

dealing with one another? That’s where

facility to stand up and you learn to shut your

and told the story of a small boy with

it gets real interesting, real fast. The way

mouth. Richard is checkmated by his own inability

extraordinary powers, and a futuristic

I’m building the aliens will have very little

to joust with certain people. Whereas Mildred was

world hidden from our own. And then,

to do with the original, and I’m focused

tiptoeing and looking over the perimeter fence that

it was announced in September that

now on working out their social structure,

was set out for them, Richard was always looking for

Nichols had signed with Fox to reimagine

their family structure and their reproduc-

the back door, the way out, back to where they were.

Alien Nation, the 1988 sci-fi noir that

tion cycles. I’m just dreaming right now,

I think he was trying to will them back to a simpler

starred James Caan, Mandy Patinkin and

and I’m dreaming really, really big. Lord

place. Mildred was shrewd enough to know that it

Terence Stamp.

knows what it’ll turn out to be, but right

“The first time you suffer any kind of oppression,

RU T H N EGGA : CH R I S CH A P M AN /R ETOUC HI N G BY W W W.T WE A KP RO DUCTI O N S .COM

Jeff Nichols’ next project couldn’t be more different from Loving: a revival of the 1988 allegorical sci-fi noir Alien Nation, about the prejudices faced by an alien race that comes to Earth to live among us.

wasn’t going to correct itself without any effort.”

It seemed an odd fit for Nichols. “But

now I’m super excited.”

it doesn’t have very much to do with the

When Nichols spoke to Deadline

from the date of their marriage, to fight the case

original film,” he told Deadline of his take.

before the Cannes premiere of Loving,

that sought to exile them from their home. 17

“I don’t know what the movie is about

he had expressed his regret at the

happy years followed, before Richard’s death in an

yet, but I’m building this massive story

way Midnight Special, which was not a

automobile accident, when a drunk driver ran into

and universe. It’s just a really good title,

commercial success, was received by

them. Mildred died in 2008, leaving an obituary that

that fit with this other idea that I had.”

audiences. But it hasn’t changed his

It took Richard and Mildred Loving nine years,

led Nancy Buirski to her documentary, and eventu-

In fact, Nichols says, he has grand

approach to making movies. “Even with

plans that might stretch to multiple

Alien Nation, I’ve said to Fox that it’s

movies in a new franchise. His work,

completely fine if, eventually, we have

premiere or not, it seems a further injustice that they

at present, is focused on creating that

divergent views; I just won’t do it. And

aren’t around to watch their legacy earn its undeni-

universe. “The way that you could

that will be sad, and there will be a lot

able permanence in the history books. Still, a year

connect it to the original—if you need

of wasted work, and I promise it’s not

before her death, Mildred had given a rare interview

to, which I don’t think you do—is to say,

about arrogance. It’s just kind of the

to the Associated Press, insisting again that she had

‘OK, that movie dropped you into a world

way I do things.”

no designs on being a hero. “It wasn’t my doing,” she

in which humans were integrated with

told the reporter. “It was God’s work.” ★

aliens, and they had their differences and

ally to Loving.

Whether they would have felt comfortable at the

Adds Nichols: “This feels like one of mine.”

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Casey Affleck’s

haunting and haunted performance in Kenneth Lonergan’s Manchester by the Sea might have been amongst the first crop of fresh Oscar candidates when it premiered at the Sundance Film Festival back in January. But the fact that he’s still a Best Actor frontrunner 10 months later must surely be pleasing Amazon Studios, which picked up the movie there for $10 million with plans to make its first Academy run. Manchester was the second biggest acquisition at Sundance this year, but it now feels like the smartest.

Of course, Affleck is already Oscar nominated, for his supporting turn in Andrew Dominik’s The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford. He’s going for the win this year as Lee Chandler, a Massachusetts man forced to return to his hometown when the untimely death of his brother turns him into the legal guardian of his nephew Patrick. But there’s a dark secret in Lee’s past that made big news in the town, and facing those ghosts isn’t easy for him.

Like all of Lonergan’s work, Manchester is at turns heart-breaking and hilarious, and always instantly—sometimes uncomfortably—relatable.

And Affleck soars in the lead, dragging us into his character’s troubled headspace with a level of craft that can’t be ignored. It’s the kind of emotionally tense material with which Affleck thrives—think Gone Baby Gone, Jesse James, Gerry—and it’s hard not to draw parallels with a young Brando, so assured and affecting is his brooding intensity.

Affleck’s relationship with Lonergan goes back to the London production of Lonergan’s play, This is Our Youth, in 2002. Sitting down to discuss Manchester at Deadline’s LA studio space, Affleck credits his writer/director with delivering the goods that allowed him to shine.

24

CASEY AFFLECK TELLS JOE UTICHI WHY KENNETH LONERGAN’S EVOCATIVE SCREENPLAY FOR MANCHESTER BY THE SEA IS THE SECRET INGREDIENT BEHIND HIS CAREERBEST PERFORMANCE. CASEY AFFLECK PHOTOGRAPHED FOR DEADLINE

BY DAN DOPERALSKI

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KITCHEN TABLE POLITICS Director Kenneth Lonergan huddles with Manchester by the Sea star Casey Affleck.

Said Affleck of his director’s vision, “It’s very much about how all these memories are mingled together. It’s what make up a life.”

Describe your first read of this script. What

It had a strange effect on me. Even though I

kind of effect did it have on you?

have never been through anything near what

It’s funny, it was one of those reads where you stop

your character goes through, I understood that

analyzing. Sometimes you read something and

human fault to beat yourself up for mistakes in

there’s a part of you that remains in an analytical,

the past. I saw myself in it.

actor place. Am I going to do this movie? Is this a

Yes, that does make sense. I think probably those

good part for me? Is it not? Can I bring something

are some of the ideas people have when they

to this? Almost immediately I was just absorbing it

watch the movie, for sure. The idea of the character

like it was some piece of nonfiction; some complete

wrestling with trying to undo something that he had

piece of writing that was, in and of itself, a thing. Not

done wasn’t exactly the slant I was coming at this

a blueprint to be built upon. It was complete.

from. It’s very hard to distill the movie to a sound-

It was hard to describe why it worked so well.

bite or a sentence or two of description. I have tried

I have said sometimes that it’s a bit like a piece of

to do it myself sometimes, because I wanted to

magic; it’s like this sleight of hand trick where you’re

understand what this is all about. It’s affecting me in

absorbed, following the story and listening to these

a very powerful way, but I want to get a handle on it.

characters not talk about what’s really happening

That may be why it lingers in people’s minds

in their lives, through talking only about the kinds

after they see the movie. It’s a mess: the happy

of things right in front of them. It fuels this perfect

moments and the very, very tragic moments in

slice of life with uncanny verisimilitude, and then all

this character’s life are very hard to pick apart,

of a sudden, you realize you’ve been led to a much

even though they’re very distinct. There are these

deeper, more meaningful experience at the end of

really happy times before the tragedy happened,

it. The emotions really snuck up on me. I was crying

and then everything that was after. Also, the way

at the end and I had been laughing throughout.

that the story is told leads me to some conclusion

I put it down and I told Kenny what I thought of

about Kenny’s intention, which is that it was very

it. And then a year later he said, “Hey, you want to

much about how all these memories are all mingled

be in it?”

together: it’s what makes up a life. Even after the

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tragedy, there are moments of humor and love and hope. Beforehand, there are moments of miscommunication and pain. I think he likes to make things realistic in that way, and for that reason, likes to have very naturalistic performances.

One of the things that works really well about

"It’s a bit like a piece of magic where you’re absorbed, following the story and listening to these characters not talk about what’s really happening in their lives, through talking only about the kinds of things right in front of them... and then all of a sudden, you realize you’ve been led to a much deeper, more meaningful experience."

all of his movies and plays is that it feels like real people. You just feel like you are watching real people go through some period of their lives.

Therefore, you care about the characters in a way you might not if it had been written or directed with some stylization. I think also—and I don’t know if he would support this idea— he is such a talented writer, just naturally gifted in some ways and such a hard worker, that in the writing, he’s able to make stories work without employing very familiar conventions of storytelling and screenwriting. For that reason, the film and his plays strike us, as they’re not just hitting the same chords we are used to listening to—and therefore have become a little bit numb to.

He’s playing a different-sounding song, and it makes us all a little bit more engrossed.

Where do you begin trying to work out how COMING UP ON DEADLINE.COM Casey Affleck discusses his Manchester by the Sea role and more in our new video series, The Actor's Side with Pete Hammond.

Watch the video Nov. 23 at Deadline.com

to play a character like this? Is it a daunting prospect—balancing all those ups and downs— or is it an exciting one, because it’s really going to test you?

The idea of being the person at the center of it was daunting in some way, because it’s a really challenging part, having to convey an awful lot of the interior life of a person with almost no opportunity to speak to that. It really just has to be palpable in the way that he behaves, and the tone he takes with people, and the very, very few moments when he cracks.

That was tough.

I also know Kenny’s writing is so good that there’s a lot to discover in the movie. It’s not something you can clearly see at first glance. You have to read it again and again, and hopefully by the time you’re on set, shooting it, you have a sense of what’s happening that is deeper than just the words that are being spoken.

Is there a balancing act between the happy and sad extremes you talked about? The film jumps between them, in time, and presumably you weren’t even shooting in sequence.

We didn’t get to shoot in order. You never have that luxury, especially on a movie like this where you have zero money and even less time. We had to jump around. It was important that I keep in mind the before and after, so there’s a real change. But also, within that post-tragedy, there has to be its own arc in terms of, this is where he starts, this is where he gets to—because people do change a lot. It’s also one of the things the movie is about: watching this seasonal shift in their lives.

But the disjointed nature of it, in the case of this movie, and the constraints of having no money and no time, worked to my advantage because I didn’t D E A D L I N E .C O M / AWA R D S L I N E

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have the luxury of grouping a bunch of hard scenes

kryptonite for me sometimes. I didn’t have to deal

scary or not, I was going to do it because I love

together and getting ready for them and doing

with that on this.

Kenny’s writing. He’s a great old friend of mine. I

them all. I had to immerse myself in it. Every day I

would do anything that he wants me to do, and I’d

would show up and there’d be some hard thing I

Do you come out the other end feeling your

only say that about a few people in my life. I knew

had to do.

tools have been sharpened all the more for

it would be hard work, but that’s the reason you’re

having done it?

an actor. If you’re a bricklayer, you don’t want to just

identify the body of my brother, kiss him and say

Yes, I think I became better because I got to work

show up at someone’s house and put a little row

goodbye. Then, in the afternoon, I have to pick up

with good material, and I got to work with a director

of bricks around their garden. You want to build a

his nephew, tell him he’s dead. Then, just before

who challenged me and had better ideas. That’s

building. This felt like some heavy lifting. It was hard

wrap, we’ll be doing the scene with the mother of

happened a few times in my life, and that is gold.

but satisfying work.

my children who may have been responsible for

That is the thing I look for. Sometimes I pick parts

their death. It was just one day after the next of

because I think, OK, it scares me, and that’s an

You did This is Our Youth with Kenny in 2002.

challenging scenes, emotional scenes, hard stuff.

indication it’s going to be a good movie for me to

That play felt so much like it captured a

I got out of my own head and stayed in the place

do. Sometimes that leaves me in a terrible… Well, it

moment in time when you’re on that cusp of

where I had to be the whole movie. And being in my

doesn’t always pan out, you know?

adulthood, but not quite there yet. When I saw

It would be like, “This morning, I’m going to go

head—that kind of planning and anticipation—is

In this case, it was scary, but whether it was

it, I was in that moment.

Everyone says that about it. Kenny’s got a way of writing that speaks to people and feels very personal and intimate. It reflects something in their life. You don’t have to appreciate the work from a distance: you really appreciated it on a heartfelt, personal level. He’s got an incredible ear for that, and a lot of empathy. All of his characters are written as complete people, and nothing’s flattened out into a caricature or a type, or someone who’s serving a function in the story. They’re all real people, from the little, one-day roles that appear at the beginning of Manchester by the Sea—the tenants in this building. He really spent a lot of time with those actors, talking about what their day is like, what their life is like. Some people that I’ve worked with think that’s a waste of time, but I think it gives the movie a certain feel that you don’t otherwise have, and that adds a lot.

Place seems so essential, too. I couldn’t imagine Manchester by the Sea taking place in any other location.

He has an uncanny ability to make it feel like he is giving you a whole worldview. It’s in the writing too. He wouldn’t just use very simple descriptions. In other scripts, it would have said, “Exterior, town, night.” Or, “Exterior, boatyard.” Kenny would describe how the ice is cracking in the boatyard.

It’ll be just one or two sentences of how the boats are all covered and frozen in by the ice, which is different. He’s doing it for a reason at that point in the story.

Or he would say, “Manchester by the Sea, exterior, starry night.” A starry night feels different from a night. It just tells you all these sad, brutal things are happening in these little homes, but the stars are out and it’s a beautiful night. He’s juggling all those feelings that are happening at this very same moment. He’s so good.

I don’t know that anyone has ever compared Kenneth Lonergan to Quentin Tarantino before, but I’m going to do it: Tarantino writes in the exact same way. I remember going on the set of Django Unchained, and they gave me

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"Sometimes I pick parts because I think, OK, it scares me, and that’s an indication it’s going to be a good movie for me to do.

Sometimes that leaves me in a terrible… Well, it doesn’t always pan out, you know?"

the script first. He also paints a real picture

that still moves us the most. They can be in a $150

for each scene. He said that there were even

million movie, or a $5 million movie, or a $100,000

scenes he wrote into the script that he had no

play. I don’t think the scale really has anything to

intention of ever shooting or putting into the

do with how well the story is told. Spectacle might

movie, but for a reader, they were essential to

attract an audience and get them to spend their

the fabric of what the movie was going to be.

money, but it really doesn’t have any bearing on

That is interesting. I can’t say this for sure, but I

whether or not the story is going to work. At the

would say that Kenny is not writing something to

end of the day, anybody can do it, which makes it

direct it. He’s writing a complete piece in that same

very egalitarian. You can spend $200 million making

way you describe Quentin. Then, once he’s done, he

superheroes who blow up buildings, but you can’t

says, “OK, now how do I make this into a movie?”

make a better movie than someone who knows

And he goes and writes that. Though he might

how to tell a story.

totally deny that.

But he’s a huge cinephile, too. He loves and has

But are we getting to a world where it’s much

a gigantic reservoir of knowledge about old movies.

harder to make those movies because people

He has strong opinions about what’s good and

don’t show up for anything but the superhe-

what’s not, about these obscure movies I’ve never

roes? It’s heartbreaking when a brilliant story

heard of. I know he loves movies and thinks about

never connects with an audience.

movies and how they’re made, and what shots say

I try very, very hard not to pay any attention to that,

and don’t say. I do think that when he sits down to

even when I’ve been in something successful. I have

write, he writes so that it could be something to put

mostly been very good at it, because I’ve had a lot

on the shelf and have somebody read.

of practice ignoring the box-office failings of the films I’ve done. Gus Van Sant told me that, when

You’re a cinema fan, too. What are your go-to

he started out, people were saying to him, “That’s

movies?

it. Movies are finished.” From the very first movie he

I don’t have go-to movies, and I don’t know my

made, they were saying, “Really? You’re making a

favorites right off the bat, but I can say that the

movie? Movies are done.” But he’s made, what? 15,

movies that come to mind as being movies I

20 movies now? And he’s had this whole long, bril-

like, they’re mostly movies that I saw when I was

liant career. They’re still saying it, but he’s optimistic

young—possibly too young—and they’ve made an

about it. He might be right, but on the other hand,

impression on me. The Elephant Man, The Harder

they will, someday, stop making movies. It’s not

They Come, The 400 Blows, The Good, the Bad and

happening right now, though, as far as I can tell, so

the Ugly, Shakespeare in Love, Planes, Trains and

we might as well just keep on making them.

Automobiles, Jeanne Dielman, Satantango.

I’ve been in movies that were absolutely terrible, and they failed. And thank god they did, and nobody

UP CLOSE AND PERSONAL Affleck in a meditative moment on location in Massachusetts.

That’s an eclectic selection. Are you excited by

saw them, including me. I’ve been in movies that I

the range this art-form offers? The possibility?

loved, and nobody saw them. Then, ten years later,

Oh, yeah, and wait until everyone’s making virtual

someone writes an article about it, some people

reality. I saw some of the stuff that Chris Milk has

read it and it slowly starts to gather momentum and

made. I got it. All of this has been leading to virtual

it’s resurrected. I think that happens too. I try not to

reality. We thought we were making something special,

be short-sighted and reactive.

One thing I don’t do anymore is read or pay

but then you look at this

attention to the critical response, which is a

stuff. In the not-too-distant

bummer because when I started, and when I was

future, people might think

in school, I loved to read old film criticism. Because

of film and TV as a kind of

they were really well written, by people who weren’t

dated, dusty old medium.

muckraking about the celebrities who were in them,

Some of the virtual reality

and they weren’t being snarky about the movies to

stuff I’ve seen has been a

show how clever they were. They’re interesting and

very overwhelming experi-

educational. There are still people out there who

ence. It reminds me of those

still write like that, who I look to when I’m trying to

descriptions you hear of

figure out what I want to see at the theater, or I go

people seeing movies for the

read their reviews after I’ve seen a movie to get a

first time, and jumping out of

really intelligent point of view on it. But there’s such

the way of the train coming

a cacophony of the other stuff, that sometimes you

into the station. Those VR,

just have to throw up your hands and say, “Forget it.

immersive experiences have

I’m just not going to pay attention to any of this.”

a power in them that I don’t think we’re really ready for.

But stories are what we’re after, and I think it’s them

There used to be a very different definition of the word, “criticism”. It wasn’t criticism to be critical.

It was criticism to pick it apart and think about it. I wish there were more of that today. ★ D E A D L I N E .C O M / AWA R D S L I N E

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DOCS ON SONG The Original Song category will be a competitive field at the 2017 Oscars, as a range of world-renowned musicians submit pieces for consideration. Offering songs for two very different documentaries, TORI AMOS (Audrie & Daisy) and the songwriting team of STING & J. RALPH (Jim: The James Foley Story) seperately channel crucial contemporary issues through their own unique lenses, writes Matt Grobar.

TORI AMOS A HIGHLY ACCLAIMED singer-songwriter, composer and pianist bringing her soulful voice to bear over the past two decades, Tori Amos was the perfect artist to compose the closing credits theme— titled “Flicker”—for Netflix doc Audrie & Daisy, a film which raises awareness of the widespread issue of sexual assault, and related crimes of the internet age.

Below, Amos—a mother to a teenage daughter, and a long-time activist with the Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network, discusses the genesis of her work on the film, her musical inspirations, and the use of her art in promoting social change.

I’ve always said, this is the mantra of my life: “if it’s

actions. Where else are we going to have the

too loud, turn it up.”

education, unless in our schools?

Sometimes, I think we inhibit our educators

When you were performing “Me and a Gun”

from talking about tough subjects, but that

every night, was it a source of personal pain,

doesn’t mean we shouldn’t be talking about

empowerment or both?

it. Kids—girls and boys—are sending pictures

It depends on the night I was performing it. That

of themselves, whether they feel bullied, or

particular song is written so that the attack is

they’re being groomed to send naked pictures of

happening as she’s singing the song, and right in the

themselves, which the boys in the Audrie story

aftermath of the attack. You are in her mind as the

had been doing—allegedly—and had an account,

attack is occurring. “Flicker” is a song that wanted

almost like trading naked baseball cards. The

to include Audrie’s story, as well as Daisy’s story.

truth is, a lot of our teenagers can out-social

To say that some lights do not sustain, to go from

media us in ways that will lock us out of our

victimhood to survivor. Some of our beautiful lights

computer systems; there has to be another way

tragically go out.

to get through, and I think that’s why the film is so

I was speaking to Sheila the other night—

important.

Audrie’s mother—in depth, about being a mother, and not knowing what was happening until after

At this stage in society, as light is shone on

her suicide. Now, she has become an activist in

the slow but sure path to progress with regard

When did you first see Audrie & Daisy, and how

Audrie’s name, to go into high schools, and to

to many social issues, why do we still find

did you get involved?

really talk to people—because these are our kids.

ourselves grappling on such a level with those

Netflix sent it over to see what my response was,

That’s something in both stories—Daisy’s story

issues presented in the film?

and I watched it twice because I was shocked. I was

as well. This issue is not with strangers; this is in

Because these kids have technical capabilities, but

aware of the Emily Doe case, and the issue on our

our communities, with people we know, dividing

they don’t have conscious responsibility. They’re

universities campuses that’s been happening in the

communities and schools. That’s what really shook

not walking a thought through. I had a teacher

States, but realizing that this had permeated now

me to the core. Audrie & Daisy is about kids going

years ago that would talk about, “Play this out.”

into our high schools and middle schools, with the

to the same school and doing this to each other—

That is about education, and we’re spending so

age group of 14 and 13—with Paige [Parkhurst]—

people who you would call your friends. There is

much time on getting our teenagers technical

and hearing in the film that in Audrie’s case, one

the online component that we have to talk about.

skills, but not on developing the emotional

of the girls was talking about how photographs

Not just our boys are involved: our girls are just as

intelligence that they need in order to protect

were being sent to an account belonging to kids

involved in the shaming online.

themselves and not hurt each other, and to realize

as young as 11 and 12… I realized that as bad as the

how they’re hurting each other.

university cases are, and as shocking as they are,

You’ve said in the past that the internet and

and prevalent, now parents—and I’m the mom of a

social media are neutral tools that can come

What was the process of finding the lyrics and

teenager—need to be aware of what’s going on.

with positive or very negative consequences,

composing the music for your song in the film,

depending on how they’re applied. Are you

“Flicker”?

To you, what is the importance and the role

concerned that either of these tools is making

Bonni and Jon and I had some deep conversations

of art—and music specifically—in promoting

the world worse?

about the different issues in the film, and even

social change, or awareness of critical social

Yeah. That’s why, I think, Bonni [Cohen] and Jon

though the song needs to be uplifting, Audrie’s

issues?

[Shenk], the directors, have been going around

dead. The song had to hold that story, and then

Well, when “Me and a Gun” was on the Little

the screenings talking about it. This is a tough

it also had to hold Daisy’s story, which is the

Earthquakes record, not everybody wanted me to

conversation, but it has to happen in our schools,

phoenix out of the ashes. So the spark did ignite

put it on because it was a tough listen in 1991 and

as well. You could see in the film, when they were

there—although she did try to commit suicide a

1992—and it’s still a tough listen, but that doesn’t

interviewing the boys in Audrie’s story, that they

few times, she is still with us, and so fire and lights,

mean that you shouldn’t put it on your record. As

seemed clueless to the consequences of their

they were very much guiding me at the time.

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“WE’RE SPENDING SO MUCH TIME ON GETTING OUR TEENAGERS TECHNICAL SKILLS, BUT NOT ON DEVELOPING THE EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE THAT THEY NEED IN ORDER TO PROTECT THEMSELVES AND NOT HURT EACH OTHER, AND TO REALIZE HOW THEY’RE HURTING EACH OTHER.” TORI AMOS

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STING AND J. RALPH STING TEAMED WITH prolific, Oscar-nominated composer J. Ralph to create an original song for HBO documentary Jim: The James Foley Story, titled “The Empty Chair.”

Speaking to the song, which Sting re-recorded in a different key for his forthcoming album, 57th & 9th, the pair discuss conversations with the film’s director, Brian Oakes, the political and human resonance of the film, and the visual behind the music.

How did you both come to be involved in this pro-

Obviously it’s a very sad movie because of the outcome,

ject, and what made you want to come on board?

but it’s an incredibly inspiring movie to see what all of us

J. Ralph: I had met Brian Oakes, the director, through a

are capable of doing. I’m not suggesting or saying that

friend—I had been on board very early on and was hugely

everyone needs to go to Syria, but this guy made it his

inspired by the film. I was in Africa at the same time that

mission in life to make the world a better place, and to

the event happened to James Foley, and the front page

show people parts of the world and things that are going

of the New York Times, the day that I left for Africa, it

on in the world. Specifically, civilian casualties of war,

was like, “Kidnapping at an all time high.” This feeling of,

people that have nothing to do with anything. To try to

I guess, brotherly relation to him was always there. After

keep the conversation going.

watching the first cut of the film, I really thought that

That’s one of the other main drivers of the film, is

there could be a great opportunity to distill a lot of these

that we hope that it keeps the conversation alive about

emotions and give people a bridge back to their lives,

civilian casualties of war, the importance of conflict

because it’s very intense emotions.

journalists and our own hostage policy. I think everyone

I had reached out to Sting. I just thought that his writ-

knows that the U.S. policy is that we won’t negotiate with

ing and his sensitivity and his voice would be a perfect

terrorists. We won’t negotiate on any level, but I think very

complement to helping people relate to the story.

few people know that it’s illegal for the family to pay, as

Sting: He invited me down to his studio in Chinatown

well. If you pay, you will go to jail. It’s almost like a treason

and showed me the film, which devastated me, and then

kind of thing. The family legally didn’t even have an option

he said, “Would you write a song with this musical setting

to pay, themselves, to get their son back.

I’ve done?” I said, “I don’t think I can. It’s too devastating,

Sting: Which is why his captive friends—the Australians,

and I’m not sure how a song could possibly end that

French, Germans…

thing. I don’t know what that song is; no idea.” I took the

Ralph: They all got out. I’m not making statements on

movie back home, showed it to my wife, who was equally

the effectiveness of U.S. foreign policy. I just think it needs

devastated by it. Then we had dinner with my family, and

a much bigger debate, because the world is radically

I just had this idea of a family sitting around a table, and

changing at a rate that I don’t think anyone ever expected.

someone was missing, and how would that feel? What

We can’t be in situations where someone is trying to help

would you do, have an empty chair waiting for him?

save the world and there’s no options, you know?

Once I found that metaphor, I wrote the song very quickly, and then I took little bits of interviews, all that

What does winning the Audience Award at Sun-

people had said about Jim—like, you know, he was always

dance, and taking awards at other festivals, mean

late for every meal, little snippets that were part of the

for the film?

film—and then just put it together. I gave it to Josh the next

Ralph: I think, for the most part, it’s important for us to

day, and he said, “You’re supposed to make this look hard.”

keep his memory alive, help the film, and as I said, mostly,

[laughs] I said, “It’s not hard once you find a metaphor.”

help people find another connection to the film that’s

So the next test was to play it for the family, really. We

more love-based and hopeful and inspiring. If you want to

performed it for the family in Sundance. And friends of

look at the story through a lens of darkness and evil, you

his, and people he’d been in captivity with. They all gave

can choose to do that, but you can also see incredible

us their permission, and they said, “This actually really

hope and beauty and the power of an individual, of what

honors Jim. It sounds like him.”

one person can do.

Sting: We want more people to see the film. We’re not

While the film is very emotional and very human, it

here to get an award—I don’t need another award. But

also has a strong political resonance. What do you

we want to have as many people as possible to see an

think the documentary reflects about our society

example of a real American export of power, which is soft

at the moment?

power. It’s this compassion, this empathy that Jim had.

Ralph: I think the actual quote from the movie is that

Ralph: And bravery.

Jim’s photograph is the second most recognizable event

Sting: It’s not a shoot-em-up kind of heroism at all. It’s a

in the world next to the 9/11 photograph.

more empathetic, real courage. That needs to be heard

Sting: Which photograph?

and seen.

Ralph: In the orange jumpsuit in the desert. But the

Ralph: I think the final scene of this film is one of the

thing about this is that this movie is not about death.

most gripping, powerful cinematic experiences I’ve ever

It’s about the importance of life, and how well you live

seen on film. It’s a level of emotion and intimacy that I’ve

your life while you’re here, and what you do with your life.

not really seen ever. ★

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11/11/16 1:59 PM

“WE HAD DINNER WITH MY FAMILY, AND I JUST HAD THIS IDEA OF A FAMILY SITTING AROUND A TABLE, AND SOMEONE WAS MISSING, AND HOW WOULD THAT FEEL? WHAT WOULD YOU DO, HAVE AN EMPTY CHAIR WAITING FOR HIM?” STING

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D THE DIALOGUE

OSCAR CONTENDERS/ ACTO RS

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Mahershala

ALI

★

★

★

crack-addicted mother—was there any resistance, on your part, to the idea of playing a drug dealer?

Not at all. In thinking back, maybe I would have some resistance to playing a drug dealer in how they’re most commonly framed—they usually are one-dimensional. They’re just drug dealers, and they’re there to represent a crimi-

★

nal element. As a black man, it’s very difficult

After crashing Netflix in September with Luke Cage, Mahershala Ali is crushing it on the big screen, with Moonlight and Hidden Figures.

BY M AT T G RO BA R

for you to feel good about contributing in that way, and sort of already enabling and supporting certain stereotypes, but with this, it’s a project that is written from the inside out.

With both Barry and Tarell being very talented writers, they can’t help but write characters that are three-dimensional, so with that in mind, and just what was on the page, I didn’t really think of it as being a negative.

BY ANY MEASURE, MAHERSHALA ALI is having a banner year. As Remy Danton on House of Cards, Ali went toe-to-toe with the likes of Kevin Spacey and Robin Wright. But he moved on in a big way this year, delivering a menacing turn as Cornell ‘Cottonmouth’ Stokes on Netflix’s Luke Cage, before jumping into the press circuit for Oscar contenders Moonlight and Hidden Figures. Speaking to Deadline, Ali touches on the process of working with breakout Moonlight director Barry Jenkins, an encouraging year in Hollywood, and the challenge of tackling highly personal, emotional material.

Now, look—obviously, anything with a criminal element is something that should give you pause, but as a character, he was so human that to me, it wasn’t any different from Remy [Danton, House of Cards] and his flaws. It was a character flaw, but it wasn’t what he was. Since we’re all flawed, one of his flaws is that he makes money illegally, but it doesn’t mean that he’s a bad or evil human being. I felt like there was a real opportunity with this character to play someone who reflected people from my own upbringing

What attracted you to Moonlight in the

reflected Barry and Tarell’s upbringing. I

and experience. I didn’t grow up in a world

initial read?

didn’t want my lack of time to be a disser-

filled with drug dealers per se, but I’ve known

The story was just so well told, and it was

vice to the character, which would impact

a few, or have been close to a few, and over

something that I hadn’t seen that was

and affect the film negatively.

the years, have had to consciously separate

contemporary and fresh. It just had a strong

I was committed to three other proj-

myself from them because of the work that I

sense of social relevance—it felt impor-

ects—it was kind of in negotiations at that

started doing, and how my life has changed.

tant—and coupled with all that, the charac-

time, and looking to see how they could all

The stakes have been really high for me. I

ter was one that really spoke to me. Having

fit together—and my wife had said to me,

can’t be rolling around in my hometown in a

come up through doing a lot of television

“Well, you know you used to do this all the

car with a guy making deliveries. [laughs] I

work, I’ve done a couple of period pieces

time in grad school,” because we knew each

just can’t do that.

as well now, but this one ended up being a

other in college. She reminded me that,

character from an urban world, so to speak.

look, you’ll be in scene study one moment,

you have to continue to grow as a person,

Up to that point, I hadn’t read something

and then you’re in your improv class, and

and once you have means and opportunity,

that was that well written, and a character

then you’re working on something else in

you have to make different choices to protect

that was just so clear and alive, and multi-

your cabaret class, and then you’re going off

what you have. It doesn’t mean I love those

dimensional on the page.

to rehearsal for one of the plays that you’re

people any less—I just can’t really be in close

doing. We would work on three or four char-

proximity to them, in the way in which I was

Working from material that’s so

acters in one day, and all those characters

growing up. Though to bring that back around,

personal for Barry Jenkins, and Tarell

had to be really different, and specific and

the character was human in a way that as an

McCraney [who wrote the play on

truthful. I hadn’t had to juggle anything like

actor, I’ve always aspired to play people who

which Moonlight is based], do you

that in 15 years, but when she reminded

were multi-dimensional, and for someone

find there’s a different weight to the

me of that, it helped with my confidence to

who has really tried to make the best of any

project?

take it on, and in some ways, compartmen-

opportunity that I’ve had, those characters

From the first time I spoke to Barry, the

talize, and encourage myself to be really

haven’t come around a lot for me, not to the

only resistance I had to the project had to

focused and singularly minded when I was

degree to which I’ve wanted them to. There

do with the time I felt was necessary for

working on whatever project I was working

wasn’t one second where I thought about not

me to do good work. That resistance was

on that day.

playing Juan because he was a drug dealer; if

attached to how personal the story was

Your life, your circumstances change, and

anything, I just had some anxiety about being

for Barry—I felt an extra layer of pressure to

Naomie Harris has shared her initial

able to do a good job because of what was

get it right because of it being a story that

reluctance to take on the role of a

going on with my schedule. ★

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Dev

to Bhopal, alone. I wrote diaries. I went to these orphanages and met children that were severely disabled, and kind of disregarded by their par-

PAT E L

★

★

★

ents, and it was a real process of growing up and learning a lot about myself. It’s been the most nourishing experience of my career.

But for Saroo, he lived this reality—this incredible existence, with these wonderful adop-

★

tive parents supporting him. Slowly, this guilt

Lion’s lead is inspired by Saroo Brierley’s emotional true-life story.

BY JO E U T I C H I

started to creep in. He was a product of privilege and luck. And his mother and older brother could still have been on that train platform every single day, searching for him. That started to plague him, and he was consumed by trying to find his mother to let her know he was OK. You’ve become practically a local in India

EV PATEL’S CAREER STARTED in his native United Kingdom, with a role on the hit teen drama Skins. But it was with Slumdog Millionaire, Danny Boyle’s Oscar-winning 2008 film, that he became a real star. Equally adept at drama and comedy, Patel went on to join the cast of Aaron Sorkin’s The Newsroom, as well as star alongside acting royalty in The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel duology. This year, he’s in The Man Who Knew Infinity alongside Jeremy Irons, and TWC’s Lion, with Nicole Kidman. Lion is based on the true story of Saroo Brierley, a boy orphaned on the streets of Calcutta before being adopted by a loving Australian couple. Patel plays the older Saroo, whose quest to be reunited with his lost birth mother took years of searching.

D

now. But was Slumdog Millionaire your first experience of the country?

Saroo’s journey is very close to my journey in discovering India. I can relate a lot to that feeling of going back as an alien, but with connections to it. I kind of unconsciously went to India as a child, to a part of Godhra for a family wedding, but I didn’t really understand it at all. I discovered it when I did Slumdog. I was out there with Danny Boyle, experiencing this whole new side to this culture. And it had a massive effect on me.

I grew up hiding from my heritage in a way, so I could fit in, and to avoid being bullied in school.

I felt insecure about it. And now, having gone there and worked there so much, I have become

What went through your mind when

got the role, the first step was changing

completely enthralled by the culture and the

you first heard Saroo Brierley’s story?

my look, the way I sound, the accent, all

country, and it’s become a real source of inspira-

I read the script and I was blown away by

those kinds of things. The first thing I said

tion for me.

Luke [Davies]’ writing, and I was a ball of

to Garth [Davis, director] was, “I don’t look

tears by the end of it. I started to research

anything like him; what are we going to do?”

Are you hopeful that the film sheds some

Saroo—articles, and a couple of Google

But he explained we weren’t doing some

light on children in India who perhaps

talks he’d done. To be able to play a char-

kind of imitation. We wanted to capture the

weren’t as fortunate as Saroo?

acter well, you’ve got to love them first, and

essence of his struggle and his pain, and I

You know, I’ve been there and seen so many

that was very easy for me because the story

had to embody that honestly.

children wandering the streets. There are almost

We finally met when we were filming in

too many to help, and it becomes almost suffo-

Tasmania. It was a nerve-wracking moment

cating. But when you go through an experience

Saroo’s story is sadly not uncommon

for me. I worried he’d judge me or see

like I did on this movie, and you understand what

in India. Did you feel a responsibility to

right through me. But he was so warm and

it’s like for a child, that’s really when it becomes

get it right, for India’s huge number of

informative. What we spoke about was very

something real to you.

street children?

microcosmic moments and feelings. How

Yes, and Saroo is one of the lucky ones.

were you feeling when you were on that lap-

this movie can initiate a conversation and shed

There’s hundreds of thousands of children

top, finding your home? What was coursing

light on these lost souls. The Weinstein Com-

in India that are lost or homeless, and

through your veins? I don’t think he gets

pany and See-Saw Films are trying to figure out

that don’t have families. This is one of the

asked that stuff normally, but for me it was

a way to give a financial boost to some of these

stories of triumph, really. Not only did he

important to know.

charities, and we’re in the process of that.

but also he was able, through his incredible

It must be almost impossible to imag-

see them in our film, like Mrs. Sood, the woman

brain and perseverance, to reconnect with

ine the depth of those emotions.

that takes Saroo out of that home, and she’s

his birth mother as well. That’s what makes

For Saroo, even though he was surrounded

just a ball of warm, beautiful energy, who would

it so incredible.

by so much love, his journey was really

die for her job. There are many people like that in

personal, and actually very isolating. I went

India, that are trying to do great things for these

Did you meet with Saroo?

through the whole process while preparing

children, and we hope we can bring people to

We met during production. When I first

the role. I traveled the trains from Calcutta

them. ★

get adopted to a beautiful, loving family,

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It’s awful, what’s happening, and I’m hopeful

There are beautiful people in India—and you

PHOTOGRAPH BY

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is so inspiring.

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Adam

in that these two young priests are traveling the world on a massive quest. The guy I’m playing,

DRIVER

★

★

★

★

Father Francisco Garrpe, he’s a lot like St. Peter.

That’s the person I kind of modeled him after.

He’s a realist and has a similar doubt that St. Peter had.

In the old days of Hollywood, it wasn’t unusual to hear about a star who served in

Known for complex characters, the ascendant actor plays it simple in Jim Jarmusch’s Paterson.

BY A N T H O N Y D ’A L E S SA N D RO

the armed forces. Attitudes have changed.

As a former Marine, do you ever come up against any misconceptions about your profession in a left-leaning industry?

Not really. I don’t feel the need to defend myself whenever it comes up. There’s less than 1% serving in the military and whenever I get questions it isn’t so strange. When I decided to be an actor, it struck some as strange, but

EETING THE TALL, WAVY-HAIRED ADAM DRIVER in person immediately brings to mind his most sublimely acerbic onscreen personas; Adam Sackler, the brooding boyfriend with the power to wrap Lena Dunham’s Hannah Horvath around his finger in Girls; or Kylo Ren, arguably the Star Wars saga’s most multi-dimensional villain. It’s not that Driver hasn’t played nice guys before, but with his profile rising we’re treated to his gentle side in Jim Jarmusch’s Paterson.

As the title character, Driver is an out-of-his-time blue-collar guy with a penchant for poetry, who drives a city bus in Paterson, NJ. Of his character, Driver says: “I like that he’s a creature of habit, and that he does his art in private—that I understood. However, that the main objective in the movie required him to always listen—that was very exciting to me.” The Juilliard graduate will also star in Martin Scorsese’s Silence this year, as a Jesuit priest on a perilous mission to find his lost mentor in 17th Century Japan.

M

people forget that the military is comprised of people. They’ve had lives before and they have lives outside the military. They’re not just engrossed in military culture and vernacular, but they’re poets and artists and they’re people, and they have a complicated and very stressful job of being in the military. What Jim does so well in Paterson, when I initially read the script, the main character wasn’t in the military.

He added that, but in no prevalent way. I was apprehensive initially but it highlighted a point: just because someone was in the military, you can’t put them in a box. He happens to drive a bus and he happens to write poetry.

I have a non-profit that I run with my wife, Arts in the Armed Forces, which we started during my second year at Juilliard. Entertainment for

How did you prepare for Paterson?

that goes along with anything; not knowing

troops, which is always well-intended, plays to

I think the biggest thing was learning how

if you’re right, doubting regardless of where

the lowest common denominator, and here I am

to drive a bus; I had an elementary knowl-

you are in your career. These guys have a

at Juilliard reading these plays from David Rabe

edge of poetry. I knew of Allen Ginsberg’s

good way of dealing with that. They’re not

and Sam Shepard. We’ll read plays that have

Howl and E.E. Cummings. I didn’t know

shy in not knowing what the answer is. To

nothing to do with the military, but that relate to

about Ron Padgett’s poems that appear

watch that in practice is very inspiring; to

being a human, that bridge the gaps between

in Paterson, and the New York School.

see someone at their level not know the

civilian and military. We pick contemporary

Jim also turned me on to Frank O’Hara.

answer – they embrace the process of

American plays to perform on military bases and

Because we were trying to tell a story

making anything. Your impulse on a Martin

for veterans, with no costumes. We just get great

about someone who had structured their

Scorsese set is that you want him to tell

actors to volunteer their time, we set up music

physical life and could go on autopilot, I

you what to do. But he wants you to take

stands on stage and read plays. We’ve traveled

had to put in the rhythms of someone who

ownership of your character and space, and

to Kuwait, to military medical centers. We just

does this every day. In regards to getting

the challenge that comes with your ideas.

came back from Fort Hood in Texas.

a bus license, that was the longest thing

They’re very much interested in the process,

to prepare for. There was a three-month

and the process of filmmaking. They both

Following the success of Star Wars, has

period. You need to be aware of what’s

have a rebellious spirit of making something

there been any pressure to make you more

going on in the bus. There are active driv-

with their friends, and value that collabora-

of an action star? For you to exchange art

ers who are teaching you, and I would grill

tive part of it.

for the sake of commerce?

What can you tell us about Martin

studio movies. In the outside world, there might

What was the takeaway for you work-

Scorsese’s long awaited Silence?

be certain steps that actors are supposed to do.

ing with Jim Jarmusch and Martin

I guess it’s similar to The Mission. The

I don’t subscribe to these steps. Regardless of

Scorsese?

time period is 17th Century. Two priests are

what the project is, whether it’s a disaster or a

They’re similar in some ways and they’re

looking for a fellow priest who has been

new experience, I want to continue to work with

very different in others. There’s an anxiety

ostracized. There’s a bit of Homer’s Odyssey

great directors regardless of the medium.

them about how their days were on duty.

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I haven’t felt any pressure whatsoever to do big

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Miles

He had a gift for selling a fight of the ilk of Muhammad Ali. Vinny was powerful

TELLER

★

★

★

★

in the ring, he had nice footwork and a ton of knockouts, but he wasn’t the most technical fighter. When I finally got to meet him, I’m getting to a guy with 50 pro wins; he’s been beat around. Vinny broke his nose 100 times. He was always covered in blood in any fight. He had the

After playing a masochistic drummer in Whiplash, Miles Teller wraps his hands again for boxer biopic Bleed for This.

BY A N T H O N Y D ’A L E S SA N D RO

heart of a lion to risk paralysis, but to still walk and box again. He loved to box.

When I met him, he was still intact.

He’s 54 and he’s not walking around with a walker as opposed to Kevin Rooney, who has dementia. It’s a brutal sport. He doesn’t like training other boxers. I think in his own words, they would need to win just as much as he did.

WO YEARS AGO, MILES TELLER cut his fingers and took a beating as a jazz drummer in the three-time Oscar winning film Whiplash. This year, Teller endures a different type of pummeling as two-time world boxing champ Vinny ‘Paz’ Pazienza in Ben Younger’s Bleed for This. Paz was at the top of the world in 1991, then the second boxer in history to win both the world lightweight and junior middleweight titles. But then tragedy struck. Following a training session, Paz got in the passenger seat of his friend’s Camaro.

They were doing 50 on the road when they were cut off, sending the vehicle into oncoming traffic. Paz woke up in the hospital with two cracked vertebrae in his neck and a third resting on his spinal cord. The doctor said Paz would never box again. But what followed was one of the greatest comebacks in boxing history. “I love these people with that warrior mentality,” says Teller. “You have a doctor—the highest people in the field—telling you, ‘This is impossible,’ and there’s just something in there that says, ‘Not for me.’”

T

He’d get frustrated if they didn’t match his own tenacity. He never drank or did drugs throughout his career. He liked to gamble because he liked the risk-reward stakes of it.

Typically in other boxing movies, it’s the woman in the corner of the ring who is the fighter’s conscience: Adrian in Rocky or Vikki LaMotta in Raging Bull. It’s interesting, but Bleed for This doesn’t hang its hat on a woman in Vinny’s life.

You could make a version of this movie that’s romanticized with all the aspects of Vinny’s life, or make it with all the aspects to reach a certain rating or audience. One of the most important things was to make this movie truthful. It took

This project came to you about two

I knew how hard this one would be. I got

me a second to know that it was a dif-

years ago before Whiplash released,

a nutritionist and a trainer over the next

ferent girl’s name in each scene. I kept

right?

eight months, and I had two other films

looking for the girlfriend in Vinny’s corner,

I got the script and thought this was an

in between. For those eight months it

and it was always a different girl.

incredible opportunity for somebody

was a strict diet and working out. When I

else. I hadn’t played a part like this; I

got to Los Angeles, I got a boxing trainer,

Given Vinny’s daredevil attitude to

wasn’t playing any part around my own

and that’s when the days got intense

keep boxing after the car crash, is

age, but I was slowly making my way up

over the next five or six weeks. Four hours

this a guy who would be at peace

there. When it was time to meet with

a day boxing, two hours lifting weights

dying in the ring?

Ben Younger, I thought this guy was doing

and two hours with a dialect coach. By

Once his neck was healed, the bone

my agent a favor. I went back home to

the time we went into production I was

grows back stronger. In regards to those

Florida to see my family, and that’s when

168lb with 6% body fat.

boxers who die in the ring, in boxing you

I got the call from Ben offering me the

want all the glory, but you can’t ignore

part. He saw Spectacular Now. To see

If a neck injury didn’t stop Vinny from

all the pain, and there’s always a poten-

me playing out of sorts, this high school

boxing, why did he ultimately stop?

tial risk of dying. A lot of boxers have a

teenager, and then think of me for Vinny

It’s hard for any professional athlete to

disjointed, kind of tragic home life. That

Paz, that was a huge leap of faith.

walk away at any point in time, but for

wasn’t the case with Vinny. He came

Vinny, I think getting that 50th win in the

from a normal, loving, middle-class fam-

How did you prepare to play the

ring was pretty important to him, and once

ily. I know Vinny saw Rocky as a teen-

“Pazmanian Devil”?

he was pretty old, it just made sense.

ager and rode his bike home and told

When I got the part in March, I had 19%

his parents he was going to be a world

body fat and weighed 188 lbs. I had got-

Aside from Vinny’s warrior mentality,

championship boxer. He’s just that big

ten in shape for other movies before, but

what else struck you about him?

badass dude.

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★

PHOTOGRAPH BY

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★ | flash mob

THE CONTENDERS PRESENTED BY DEADLINE SATURDAY, NOV. 5 / LOS ANGELES Top row, from left: Seth Rogen; Laura Dern and John Lee Hancock; Tom Ford, Warren Beatty and John Legend; Jessica Chastain, Denzel Washington.

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Bottom row, from left: Don Cheadle; Margaret Bowman and Jeff Bridges; Mark Wahlberg; Hugh Grant and Simon Helberg; Justin Timberlake.

RE X /S H U T T ERSTOC K

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FOR YOUR CONSIDERATION

BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE OFFICIAL SELECTION  ITALY

BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM

IDA DOCUMENTARY AWARD NOMINEE

BEST FEATURE

“

WINNER

WINNER

Golden Bear Berlinale

Best Cinematography IDA Documentary Award

4

CINEMA EYE HONORS NOMINATIONS

OUTSTANDING ACHIEVEMENT IN NONFICTION FILMMAKING DIRECTION, CINEMATOGRAPHY, PRODUCTION

EUROPEAN FILM AWARDS NOMINEE

BEST DOCUMENTARY

INTENSELY ABSORBING .

ROSI OBSERVES, WITH HUMILITY AND PRECISION. INSTEAD OF RAISING AWARENESS, HE CULTIVATES ALERTNESS.’’ A.O. SCOTT, THE NEW YORK TIMES

★★★★★ ! AN AMAZING FILM.

“

THIS MIRROR HELD TO REALITY IS SO MULTIFACETED THAT IT MESMERISES LIKE FICTION.’’ NIGEL ANDREWS, FINANCIAL TIMES

★★★★★ ! BEAUTIFUL,

“

MYSTERIOUS AND MOVING. THIS IS MASTERLY FILMMAKING.” PETER BRADSHAW, THE GUARDIAN

“

MASTERFUL ...

GOES ABOUT ITS BUSINESS IN A QUIET WAY, WITH UNOBTRUSIVE YET POWERFUL SIMPLICITY, USING AN UNCONVENTIONAL STRUCTURE AND CINEMATIC ARTISTRY TO MAKE ITS POINTS.’’ KENNETH TURAN, LOS ANGELES TIMES

“

PROFOUNDLY MOVING . REVELATORY. A SHINING EXAMPLE OF JOURNALISM FUELED BY OUTRAGE AND SHAPED BY FREERANGING CURIOSITY.’’ JOE MORGENSTERN, THE WALL STREET JOURNAL

A F I L M BY G I A N F R A N C O R O S I

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