Sony’s Madame Web hit theaters worldwide on Valentine’s Day, and the film is getting universally panned by critics and fans alike.
Criticism is being aimed at almost every aspect of the movie, including its messy plot, sub-par dialogue, poor special effects, and miscasting of its star ensemble.
Much criticism has been directed at the casting of Sydney Sweeney as Julia Carpenter, the awkward teenage girl destined to become a Spider-Woman.
However, as these five previous roles prove, Sweeney hasn’t always been so miscast as she was in the terrible Madame Web.
Sharp Objects
Sydney Sweeney as Alice in Sharp Objects.
The miniseries Sharp Objects is an HBO psychological thriller based on Gillian Flynn’s brilliant 2006 debut novel. It chronicles the exploits of an alcoholic crime reporter, only recently discharged from a psychiatric ward after self-harming for years, who returns to her hometown to investigate the murders of two young girls.
Criticism is being aimed at almost every aspect of the movie, including its messy plot, sub-par dialogue, poor special effects, and miscasting of its star ensemble.
Much criticism has been directed at the casting of Sydney Sweeney as Julia Carpenter, the awkward teenage girl destined to become a Spider-Woman.
However, as these five previous roles prove, Sweeney hasn’t always been so miscast as she was in the terrible Madame Web.
Sharp Objects
Sydney Sweeney as Alice in Sharp Objects.
The miniseries Sharp Objects is an HBO psychological thriller based on Gillian Flynn’s brilliant 2006 debut novel. It chronicles the exploits of an alcoholic crime reporter, only recently discharged from a psychiatric ward after self-harming for years, who returns to her hometown to investigate the murders of two young girls.
- 2/16/2024
- by Kevin Stewart
- FandomWire
Just days after it premiered on May 29, 2023, “Reality” is now predicted to receive a top Emmy nomination for Best TV Movie. In the 82-minute telefilm, former two-time Emmy nominee Sydney Sweeney (“Euphoria” and “The White Lotus”) portrays Reality Winner, the American intelligence specialist who, in 2017 at the age of 25, was arrested for allegedly leaking a report about potential Russian interference in the 2016 election to the media.
“Reality” made its initial debut at the Berlin International Film Festival earlier this year to great fanfare. It’s based on the play “Is This A Room” by Tina Satter, who now co-writes (with James Paul Dallas) and directs the movie. Co-stars include Josh Hamilton as Agent Garrick and Marchánt Davis.
SEESydney Sweeney offers a very brief tease for ‘Euphoria’ Season 3
According to Gold Derby’s updated Emmy predictions, the five nominees for Best TV Movie will be “Weird: The Al Yankovic Story” at 82/25 odds,...
“Reality” made its initial debut at the Berlin International Film Festival earlier this year to great fanfare. It’s based on the play “Is This A Room” by Tina Satter, who now co-writes (with James Paul Dallas) and directs the movie. Co-stars include Josh Hamilton as Agent Garrick and Marchánt Davis.
SEESydney Sweeney offers a very brief tease for ‘Euphoria’ Season 3
According to Gold Derby’s updated Emmy predictions, the five nominees for Best TV Movie will be “Weird: The Al Yankovic Story” at 82/25 odds,...
- 6/11/2023
- by Marcus James Dixon
- Gold Derby
It is almost parodically apt that the first whistle-blower of the Trump era should be named Reality Winner. But Reality genuinely is the birth name of the government contractor and translator who reached her breaking point with the firing of James Comey and leaked an intelligence report about Russian interference in the 2016 US elections to the news website The Intercept which would later be read into evidence on the Senate floor.
Writer/director Tina Satter has recreated the interrogation of Reality in a tightly coiled and meticulously paced thriller; adapted from her 2019 stage play and lifted directly from the FBI’s own transcript. Playing out in Winner’s house and garden, in bright daylight, the film’s deceptively plodding start belies its sinister undertow meaning the audience is already trapped in the serpentine loops of its narrative before we understand that the tension is crushing us.
Reality (Sydney Sweeney) returns...
Writer/director Tina Satter has recreated the interrogation of Reality in a tightly coiled and meticulously paced thriller; adapted from her 2019 stage play and lifted directly from the FBI’s own transcript. Playing out in Winner’s house and garden, in bright daylight, the film’s deceptively plodding start belies its sinister undertow meaning the audience is already trapped in the serpentine loops of its narrative before we understand that the tension is crushing us.
Reality (Sydney Sweeney) returns...
- 6/2/2023
- by Emily Breen
- HeyUGuys.co.uk
On the afternoon of June 3, 2017, Reality Winner parked her car in front of her modest home in Augusta, Georgia. A former member of the U.S. Air Force who was fluent in three Middle Eastern languages — Farsi, Dari, and Pashto — she’d worked as a linguist before getting a contracting job with the Nsa. Two FBI agents are there to greet her in the driveway. They have a warrant to search the premises, her car, her phone, her person. Is there anybody else inside the house? Suddenly, more cars and more Feds show up.
- 6/1/2023
- by David Fear
- Rollingstone.com
The real-life story of Reality Winner’s arrest unfolds as such a sharp piece of on-the-nose political theater that it almost seems to have been dramatized. On June 3, 2017, the FBI showed up at the former Air Force member and Nsa translator’s house to question her about a leaked document that they’d traced back to her. Over the course of the interrogation — during which the agents did not read the ex-intelligence specialist her Miranda rights and during which she refrained from requesting a lawyer — Winner’s composure gradually deteriorated. She was arrested under suspicion of releasing an intelligence report that detailed Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. elections before being sentenced to five years and three months in prison, the longest ever for the crime.
Tina Satter’s subsequent dramatization of the arrest — first in 2019’s play “Is This a Room” and now in the HBO film “Reality” — pulls...
Tina Satter’s subsequent dramatization of the arrest — first in 2019’s play “Is This a Room” and now in the HBO film “Reality” — pulls...
- 5/29/2023
- by Rachel Seo
- Variety Film + TV
On a summer day in 2017, a woman was unloading her groceries when black SUVs suddenly rolled up to her home with FBI agents inside. A few hours later, the woman -- Nsa translator Reality Winner -- would be arrested and sentenced to five years and three months in prison for leaking a classified document about Russian involvement in the 2016 election to the press. Before she was arrested, though, Reality went through a surreal questioning process, talking with agents about CrossFit, her dogs, and her work habits, including printing documents out on pretty paper.
It's these details that make up "Reality," a narrative-nonfiction hybrid film that's much more captivating -- and harrowing -- than its FBI-small-talk premise might indicate. The film, directed and co-written by playwright Tina Satter in her filmmaking debut, pulls its dialogue entirely from the real, redacted FBI transcripts from Winner's June 3, 2017 arrest. "Reality" doesn't quite unfold in real-time,...
It's these details that make up "Reality," a narrative-nonfiction hybrid film that's much more captivating -- and harrowing -- than its FBI-small-talk premise might indicate. The film, directed and co-written by playwright Tina Satter in her filmmaking debut, pulls its dialogue entirely from the real, redacted FBI transcripts from Winner's June 3, 2017 arrest. "Reality" doesn't quite unfold in real-time,...
- 5/29/2023
- by Valerie Ettenhofer
- Slash Film
Former enlisted U.S. Air Force member and Nsa translator Reality Winner, who was arrested by federal authorities in 2017 for leaking classified information, has a fortuitous first name for a dramatist looking to interrogate both the state of our world and the lines between fiction and document, between script and transcript. Hence the straightforward title of Tina Satter’s Reality, the resonances of which hardly need further explanation.
The dialogue in Satter and James Paul Dallas’s screenplay is drawn directly from recordings the F.B.I. made as they executed a search warrant on Reality’s home in Augusta, Georgia, and interviewed the young woman about her illegal leak of intelligence on Russian interference in the 2016 election to online news publication The Intercept. This would seem to include all the awkward pauses, the uncomfortable small talk, and the sudden coughs and throat clears that become such unsettling features of Satter’s portrait of Winner’s ordeal.
The dialogue in Satter and James Paul Dallas’s screenplay is drawn directly from recordings the F.B.I. made as they executed a search warrant on Reality’s home in Augusta, Georgia, and interviewed the young woman about her illegal leak of intelligence on Russian interference in the 2016 election to online news publication The Intercept. This would seem to include all the awkward pauses, the uncomfortable small talk, and the sudden coughs and throat clears that become such unsettling features of Satter’s portrait of Winner’s ordeal.
- 5/28/2023
- by Pat Brown
- Slant Magazine
Vertigo Releasing has debuted the trailer for Tina Satter’s gripping directorial debut ‘Reality.’
On a Saturday afternoon in June 2017, 25-year-old Reality Winner is confronted at her Georgia home by the FBI. A cryptic conversation begins, and Reality’s life quickly begins to unravel…
Adapted from her 2019 stage play Is This a Room, Satter creates a tense thriller using dialogue taken directly from the FBI’s transcript of the gruelling interrogation that followed. By turns nail-biting, darkly funny and surreal, the film boasts a sensational performance from Sydney Sweeney as the first whistle-blower in the Trump era.
Sydney Sweeney, Josh Hamilton and Marchánt Davis star.
Also in trailers – Trailer debuts for the reimagining of ‘The Color Purple’
The film will be released in UK and Irish cinemas 2nd June 2023.
The post “Were you surprised to see us today?” Trailer drops for Sydney Sweeney’s new thriller ‘Reality’ appeared first on HeyUGuys.
On a Saturday afternoon in June 2017, 25-year-old Reality Winner is confronted at her Georgia home by the FBI. A cryptic conversation begins, and Reality’s life quickly begins to unravel…
Adapted from her 2019 stage play Is This a Room, Satter creates a tense thriller using dialogue taken directly from the FBI’s transcript of the gruelling interrogation that followed. By turns nail-biting, darkly funny and surreal, the film boasts a sensational performance from Sydney Sweeney as the first whistle-blower in the Trump era.
Sydney Sweeney, Josh Hamilton and Marchánt Davis star.
Also in trailers – Trailer debuts for the reimagining of ‘The Color Purple’
The film will be released in UK and Irish cinemas 2nd June 2023.
The post “Were you surprised to see us today?” Trailer drops for Sydney Sweeney’s new thriller ‘Reality’ appeared first on HeyUGuys.
- 5/25/2023
- by Zehra Phelan
- HeyUGuys.co.uk
Reality Winner returns home from grocery shopping and finds two men waiting for her. They slowly identify themselves as FBI agents, and they say they want to talk to Reality about classified documents. What follows is taken verbatim from the transcript of an FBI interview that went on for over an hour at Reality Winner's home. Tina Satter previously used the transcript for the play "Is This a Room," and now Satter brings the story to the screen with the almost unbearably tense "Reality." Here is a film that's essentially three people having a long conversation in a bare, dirty room, and I was on the edge of my seat nearly the entire time. There's an intensity to this material almost from the jump — if two FBI agents show up at your house, things are going to get anxiety-inducing real quick, no matter how faux-polite those agents may be.
Working with co-writer James Paul Dallas,...
Working with co-writer James Paul Dallas,...
- 5/22/2023
- by Chris Evangelista
- Slash Film
Here’s a look at this week’s biggest premieres, parties and openings in Los Angeles and New York, including red carpets for Reality, Primo and FYC events for Queen Charlotte and George & Tammy.
GLAAD Media Awards
GLAAD announced its second batch of 2023 winners at its NYC Media Awards on Saturday, where Maren Morris received the Excellence in Media Award and Jonathan Van Ness received the Vito Russo
Award. The New York ceremony for the 34th Annual GLAAD Media Awards was hosted
by Harvey Guillén, and featured a special performance from Idina Menzel. Winners included Fire Island, We’re Here and Heartstopper.
Cast of ‘Fire Island’ Maren Morris and Jonathan Van Ness
Grease: Rise of the Pink Ladies FYC
The stars of the new Paramount+ series attended a FYC event for the show in Hollywood on Sunday.
Ari Notartomaso, Marisa Davila, Cheyenne Isabel Wells and Tricia Fukuhara
George & Tammy FYC...
GLAAD Media Awards
GLAAD announced its second batch of 2023 winners at its NYC Media Awards on Saturday, where Maren Morris received the Excellence in Media Award and Jonathan Van Ness received the Vito Russo
Award. The New York ceremony for the 34th Annual GLAAD Media Awards was hosted
by Harvey Guillén, and featured a special performance from Idina Menzel. Winners included Fire Island, We’re Here and Heartstopper.
Cast of ‘Fire Island’ Maren Morris and Jonathan Van Ness
Grease: Rise of the Pink Ladies FYC
The stars of the new Paramount+ series attended a FYC event for the show in Hollywood on Sunday.
Ari Notartomaso, Marisa Davila, Cheyenne Isabel Wells and Tricia Fukuhara
George & Tammy FYC...
- 5/19/2023
- by Kirsten Chuba
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Independent films remain up against the reality of algorithm-focused filmmaking.
“Reality” star Josh Hamilton applauded writer-director Tina Satter for staying committed to telling the true story of Nsa whistleblower Reality Winner onscreen. Sydney Sweeney stars as Reality in the HBO film centered on the events of June 3, 2017, during which the former Nsa specialist was interrogated by FBI agents in her own home. Satter used the real transcript from the encounter as the script for the play “Is This a Room,” which was later turned into the HBO film out May 29 and starring Sweeney, Hamilton, and Marchánt Davis.
“Tina Satter was just a downtown New York theater artist who came across this transcript and thought, ‘Oh, I can do something with this’ and presented it in a really particular way that really makes a statement and creates art. She didn’t have millions of dollars,” Hamilton, who plays an FBI agent,...
“Reality” star Josh Hamilton applauded writer-director Tina Satter for staying committed to telling the true story of Nsa whistleblower Reality Winner onscreen. Sydney Sweeney stars as Reality in the HBO film centered on the events of June 3, 2017, during which the former Nsa specialist was interrogated by FBI agents in her own home. Satter used the real transcript from the encounter as the script for the play “Is This a Room,” which was later turned into the HBO film out May 29 and starring Sweeney, Hamilton, and Marchánt Davis.
“Tina Satter was just a downtown New York theater artist who came across this transcript and thought, ‘Oh, I can do something with this’ and presented it in a really particular way that really makes a statement and creates art. She didn’t have millions of dollars,” Hamilton, who plays an FBI agent,...
- 5/18/2023
- by Samantha Bergeson and Vincent Perella
- Indiewire
Sydney Sweeney debuted her new HBO Films drama “Reality” at an intimate premiere Monday at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City.
“Usually whenever I’m scared or challenged by something, I know I should do it,” the Emmy nominee told Variety on the red carpet about tackling the role of controversial real-life American whistleblower Reality Winner.
Winner was a former U.S. Air Force member who was working as a translator for an Nsa contractor when she was convicted of leaking a confidential report on Russian election interference to the media. Winner was ultimately charged under the Espionage Act and served four years in federal prison. She remains under supervised release until 2024, while public opinion remains split on the actions that put her behind bars.
The “Euphoria” star defended Winner during the event. “I hope that people see Reality as a human being and that they stop letting...
“Usually whenever I’m scared or challenged by something, I know I should do it,” the Emmy nominee told Variety on the red carpet about tackling the role of controversial real-life American whistleblower Reality Winner.
Winner was a former U.S. Air Force member who was working as a translator for an Nsa contractor when she was convicted of leaking a confidential report on Russian election interference to the media. Winner was ultimately charged under the Espionage Act and served four years in federal prison. She remains under supervised release until 2024, while public opinion remains split on the actions that put her behind bars.
The “Euphoria” star defended Winner during the event. “I hope that people see Reality as a human being and that they stop letting...
- 5/18/2023
- by Elizabeth Taylor
- Variety Film + TV
The rising star of stage and screen discusses his new biopic about the whistleblower Reality Winner, Chris Morris’ view on law enforcement and meeting Henry Winkler
Should Marchánt Davis ever find himself being interrogated by the FBI, he will be more prepared than most. His first ever leading film role, in Chris Morris’s bleak 2019 absurdist comedy The Day Shall Come, found the 30-year-old Brooklynite playing the role of Moses Al Shabazz, a Black power preacher in Miami who finds himself set up by a team of bumbling FBI agents aiming to frame him as a nuke-dealing terrorist.
In his latest role, in Tina Satter’s gripping Reality, he plays R Wallace Taylor, one of the two FBI agents who interrogated Nsa whistleblower Reality Winner (played here by Euphoria and The White Lotus’s Sydney Sweeney) using what many have described as unethical – and, given the fact that the agents...
Should Marchánt Davis ever find himself being interrogated by the FBI, he will be more prepared than most. His first ever leading film role, in Chris Morris’s bleak 2019 absurdist comedy The Day Shall Come, found the 30-year-old Brooklynite playing the role of Moses Al Shabazz, a Black power preacher in Miami who finds himself set up by a team of bumbling FBI agents aiming to frame him as a nuke-dealing terrorist.
In his latest role, in Tina Satter’s gripping Reality, he plays R Wallace Taylor, one of the two FBI agents who interrogated Nsa whistleblower Reality Winner (played here by Euphoria and The White Lotus’s Sydney Sweeney) using what many have described as unethical – and, given the fact that the agents...
- 5/18/2023
- by Shaad D'Souza
- The Guardian - Film News
Sydney Sweeney stars as a real-life whistleblower in director Tina Satter’s forthcoming drama Reality.
Sweeney stars in the film as Reality Winner, who pleaded guilty following her June 2017 arrest for leaking a U.S. intelligence report that detailed Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election. The HBO Films project hits streaming service Max on May 29 after premiering earlier this year at the Berlin International Film Festival.
With a script from Satter and James Paul Dallas, the movie adapts Winner’s FBI interrogation transcript. Satter previously staged the transcript as the play Is This a Room, which landed a Broadway run in 2021. Reality’s cast includes Marchánt Davis and Josh Hamilton.
The tense trailer shows Winner, a former enlisted member of the U.S. Air Force, getting interrogated at her home in Georgia. “I’m trying to deploy,” Sweeney says in the footage. “I’m not trying to be a whistleblower. That’s crazy.
Sweeney stars in the film as Reality Winner, who pleaded guilty following her June 2017 arrest for leaking a U.S. intelligence report that detailed Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election. The HBO Films project hits streaming service Max on May 29 after premiering earlier this year at the Berlin International Film Festival.
With a script from Satter and James Paul Dallas, the movie adapts Winner’s FBI interrogation transcript. Satter previously staged the transcript as the play Is This a Room, which landed a Broadway run in 2021. Reality’s cast includes Marchánt Davis and Josh Hamilton.
The tense trailer shows Winner, a former enlisted member of the U.S. Air Force, getting interrogated at her home in Georgia. “I’m trying to deploy,” Sweeney says in the footage. “I’m not trying to be a whistleblower. That’s crazy.
- 5/12/2023
- by Ryan Gajewski
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Fans can get a glimpse of Sydney Sweeney’s “revelatory” performance in the new trailer for HBO’s upcoming original film “Reality”.
The drama, based on true events, received rave reviews after premiering earlier this year at the 2023 Berlin International Film Festival.
The official logline reads: “On June 3, 2017, 25-year-old former American intelligence specialist Reality Winner (Sydney Sweeney) is confronted by FBI agents arriving at her home to question her suspected role in the mishandling of classified information. Based on true events, the film’s dialogue is directly from the transcript of their tense and transfixing conversation.”
Read More: Sydney Sweeney Steps Out For Date Night With Fiancé Jonathan Davino Amid Glen Powell Romance Rumours
Sydney Sweeney, “Reality”. — Photo: Courtesy of Warner Bros. Discovery
The film, written and directed by Tina Satter, also stars Josh Hamilton (Special Agent Garrick) and Marchánt Davis (Special Agent Taylor). Based on Satter’s play “Is...
The drama, based on true events, received rave reviews after premiering earlier this year at the 2023 Berlin International Film Festival.
The official logline reads: “On June 3, 2017, 25-year-old former American intelligence specialist Reality Winner (Sydney Sweeney) is confronted by FBI agents arriving at her home to question her suspected role in the mishandling of classified information. Based on true events, the film’s dialogue is directly from the transcript of their tense and transfixing conversation.”
Read More: Sydney Sweeney Steps Out For Date Night With Fiancé Jonathan Davino Amid Glen Powell Romance Rumours
Sydney Sweeney, “Reality”. — Photo: Courtesy of Warner Bros. Discovery
The film, written and directed by Tina Satter, also stars Josh Hamilton (Special Agent Garrick) and Marchánt Davis (Special Agent Taylor). Based on Satter’s play “Is...
- 5/11/2023
- by Melissa Romualdi
- ET Canada
"What if I said that you printed out classified information? That document has made its way outside of Nsa. And the most likely candidate is: you." HBO has revealed the full official trailer for Reality, an indie drama set in one location about the arrest of whistleblower Reality Winner. This premiered at the 2023 Berlin Film Festival earlier this year, and will be streaming on HBO Max in afew weeks. "A true story, as recorded by the FBI." Sydney Sweeney stars as Reality - the film uses the real transcript of when the FBI showed up at her home to arrest her for leaking documents. "Director Tina Satter presents a snapshot of recent US history that derives all of its tension from the gravity of the situation. The strong imagery and subtle direction of the actors in this drama places it on the cusp of documentary." This also co-stars Josh Hamilton...
- 5/11/2023
- by Alex Billington
- firstshowing.net
The FBI has it out for Sydney Sweeney in the trailer for “Reality,” Tina Satter’s gripping biopic-docudrama about the America intelligence whistleblower Reality Winner.
The upcoming HBO film stars Sweeney as Winner, who was imprisoned for releasing classified information about Russian involvement in the 2016 U.S. presidential election. The film also stars Marchánt Davis and Josh Hamilton.
“Reality” is based on Satter’s play, “Is This a Room,” and the FBI’s transcript of their 2017 interrogation of Winner, which took place in her home just days prior to her arrest.
“Truly, when I first stumbled upon the transcript for the interrogation just through reading it I was like, ‘Oh my god, this is like a movie thriller.’ I really felt that,” Satter told Variety.
Sweeney, on the other hand, didn’t fall as easily into the role. She felt differently playing Winner than she has about previous characters. “Reality,...
The upcoming HBO film stars Sweeney as Winner, who was imprisoned for releasing classified information about Russian involvement in the 2016 U.S. presidential election. The film also stars Marchánt Davis and Josh Hamilton.
“Reality” is based on Satter’s play, “Is This a Room,” and the FBI’s transcript of their 2017 interrogation of Winner, which took place in her home just days prior to her arrest.
“Truly, when I first stumbled upon the transcript for the interrogation just through reading it I was like, ‘Oh my god, this is like a movie thriller.’ I really felt that,” Satter told Variety.
Sweeney, on the other hand, didn’t fall as easily into the role. She felt differently playing Winner than she has about previous characters. “Reality,...
- 5/11/2023
- by Sophia Scorziello
- Variety Film + TV
Image Source: YouTube user HBO Max
Sydney Sweeney is transforming for her newest role. On April 19, HBO released the trailer for its new film "Reality," in which Sweeney stars as real-life whistleblower Reality Winner, an Nsa translator who leaked information to The Intercept about Russia's role in influencing the 2016 presidential election. Winner was eventually sentenced to five years and three months in prison, which prosecutors said was the longest sentence ever from a federal court for leaking government information to the media. In the trailer, Sweeney is stripped down from her typical glamorous looks and glares at the camera during questioning.
Speaking to Entertainment Weekly about preparing for her movie role, Sweeney said she wasn't quite familiar with Winner's story. But when she read the script, "I was completely blown away because I've never read something that flowed that way, directly taken from a transcript," she said.
"There were multiple...
Sydney Sweeney is transforming for her newest role. On April 19, HBO released the trailer for its new film "Reality," in which Sweeney stars as real-life whistleblower Reality Winner, an Nsa translator who leaked information to The Intercept about Russia's role in influencing the 2016 presidential election. Winner was eventually sentenced to five years and three months in prison, which prosecutors said was the longest sentence ever from a federal court for leaking government information to the media. In the trailer, Sweeney is stripped down from her typical glamorous looks and glares at the camera during questioning.
Speaking to Entertainment Weekly about preparing for her movie role, Sweeney said she wasn't quite familiar with Winner's story. But when she read the script, "I was completely blown away because I've never read something that flowed that way, directly taken from a transcript," she said.
"There were multiple...
- 5/10/2023
- by Victoria Edel
- Popsugar.com
HBO has unveiled the first look at “Euphoria” breakout Sydney Sweeney as Nsa leaker Reality Winner in the upcoming film “Reality.” Tina Satter writes and directs the feature based on her 2019 play “Is This a Room,” and the dialogue in the film is directly from the transcript of the tense conversation between Reality Winner and the FBI agents who arrived at her home to question her.
The HBO original film takes place on June 3, 2017, when the 25-year-old former American intelligence specialist was confronted about the leak of an intelligence report about Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. elections, which ran on The Intercept. The shocking report showed how Russian hackers accessed voter registration roles in the United States.
This is Sweeney’s next major leading role after breaking out on the HBO series “Euphoria,” previously having starred in the HBO limited series “Sharp Objects,” Hulu’s “The Handmaid’s Tale” and...
The HBO original film takes place on June 3, 2017, when the 25-year-old former American intelligence specialist was confronted about the leak of an intelligence report about Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. elections, which ran on The Intercept. The shocking report showed how Russian hackers accessed voter registration roles in the United States.
This is Sweeney’s next major leading role after breaking out on the HBO series “Euphoria,” previously having starred in the HBO limited series “Sharp Objects,” Hulu’s “The Handmaid’s Tale” and...
- 4/28/2023
- by Adam Chitwood
- The Wrap
Marchánt Davis can’t seem to keep away from the Belasco Theatre. He starred in Jordan E. Cooper’s “Ain’t No Mo’” at the 44th street haunt in December, and now just a few months later he is featured in Doug Wright’s new play “Good Night, Oscar.” “It was a lot of feelings,” admits the actor, revealing that a flood of memories hit him as he stepped back into the space, “but the machine keeps going.” Watch the exclusive video interview above.
As Oscar Levant’s doctor Alvin, Davis plays most of his scenes in “Good Night, Oscar” opposite Sean Hayes in the title role. “That character lives on a different beat, on a different metric, than the others,” explains Davis. Alvin’s beat is slow and steady like a metronome throughout the play, whereas Hayes’ Levant is more erratic and fast-paced. The actor describes this dynamic as...
As Oscar Levant’s doctor Alvin, Davis plays most of his scenes in “Good Night, Oscar” opposite Sean Hayes in the title role. “That character lives on a different beat, on a different metric, than the others,” explains Davis. Alvin’s beat is slow and steady like a metronome throughout the play, whereas Hayes’ Levant is more erratic and fast-paced. The actor describes this dynamic as...
- 4/27/2023
- by Sam Eckmann
- Gold Derby
If ever a play had good reason to front-load itself with exposition, Good Night, Oscar is it. Once among America’s premiere wits and raconteurs, Oscar Levant has gone the way of many another once-famous wits and raconteurs. Which is to say, he needs lots of exposition.
Good Night, Oscar, the new bio-play by Doug Wright (I Am My Own Wife) starring Sean Hayes (Will & Grace) as Levant, goes a long way in introducing this long-ago talk-show staple to modern audiences. Whether it justifies the effort is considerably less certain.
A talented pianist and occasional second-banana movie actor, Levant is better known today for his frequent talk- and game-show appearances of the 1950s and ’60s, his aptitude for the improvised zinger and no-holds-barred confessional humor making him a sought-after, if controversial, Golden Age presence. Others would follow in his wake – the Gore Vidals and Truman Capotes and Phyllis Newmans, but Levant was first.
Good Night, Oscar, the new bio-play by Doug Wright (I Am My Own Wife) starring Sean Hayes (Will & Grace) as Levant, goes a long way in introducing this long-ago talk-show staple to modern audiences. Whether it justifies the effort is considerably less certain.
A talented pianist and occasional second-banana movie actor, Levant is better known today for his frequent talk- and game-show appearances of the 1950s and ’60s, his aptitude for the improvised zinger and no-holds-barred confessional humor making him a sought-after, if controversial, Golden Age presence. Others would follow in his wake – the Gore Vidals and Truman Capotes and Phyllis Newmans, but Levant was first.
- 4/25/2023
- by Greg Evans
- Deadline Film + TV
"I don't want you to go down the wrong road..." HBO has unveiled a teaser for Reality, an indie drama set in one location based on the true story of the arrest of whistleblower Reality Winner. The film premiered at the 2023 Berlin Film Festival earlier this year, and will be streaming on HBO's Max at the end of May. "A true story, as recorded by the FBI." Sydney Sweeney stars as Reality - the film uses the real transcript of when the FBI showed up at her home to arrest her for leaking classified documents. "Director Tina Satter presents a snapshot of recent US history that derives all of its tension from the gravity of the situation. The strong imagery and subtle direction of the actors in this drama places it on the cusp of documentary. This enables an unobstructed view of the events of that day – before they became...
- 4/19/2023
- by Alex Billington
- firstshowing.net
Sydney Sweeney puts on a brave face in a teaser trailer for HBO Films’ Reality, which premieres Monday, May 29 at 10/9c on HBO (and streams the next day on what will then be known simply as Max).
Written and directed by Tina Satter and based on Satter’s 2019 play Is This a Room, Reality stars two-time Emmy nominee Sweeney (Euphoria, The White Lotus) as Reality Winner, the former U.S. Air Force member and Nsa translator who in June 2017 was confronted by FBI agents arriving at her home to question her suspected role in the mishandling of classified information.
More from TVLineBarry Is Darker Than Ever,...
Written and directed by Tina Satter and based on Satter’s 2019 play Is This a Room, Reality stars two-time Emmy nominee Sweeney (Euphoria, The White Lotus) as Reality Winner, the former U.S. Air Force member and Nsa translator who in June 2017 was confronted by FBI agents arriving at her home to question her suspected role in the mishandling of classified information.
More from TVLineBarry Is Darker Than Ever,...
- 4/19/2023
- by Matt Webb Mitovich
- TVLine.com
HBO has released the trailer for an upcoming original film that is almost certain to be in the awards season conversation come time for that (but let's not get ahead of ourselves). "Reality" was acquired by the premium cable network following its premiere at the Berlin Film Festival, where it was met with a rave response. Now, it's set to arrive this summer on the newly-named Max streaming service, which will replace HBO Max. In it, Sydney Sweeney plays real-life person Reality Winner who was convicted of leaking confidential information about Russian election interference.
To set some expectations here, this is very much a teaser that adds some intrigue and is intended to get the film on one's radar. It doesn't delve too much into the story, but it feels tense and raises the ol' eyebrow. Let's have a look, shall we?
Sydney Sweeney Stars In HBO's Reality Trailer
The...
To set some expectations here, this is very much a teaser that adds some intrigue and is intended to get the film on one's radar. It doesn't delve too much into the story, but it feels tense and raises the ol' eyebrow. Let's have a look, shall we?
Sydney Sweeney Stars In HBO's Reality Trailer
The...
- 4/19/2023
- by Ryan Scott
- Slash Film
Sydney Sweeney is being stalked by the FBI.
The “Euphoria” Emmy nominee leads HBO film “Reality,” based on writer-director Tina Satter’s 2019 play “Is This A Room.”
On June 3, 2017, 25-year-old former American intelligence specialist Reality Winner (Sweeney) is confronted by FBI agents, played by Josh Hamilton and Marchánt Davis, arriving at her home to question her suspected role in the mishandling of classified information. Reality Winner is an ex-Air Force member and Nsa translator who later received the harshest sentence, five years and three months in prison, for the unauthorized release of government information to the media leading to FBI director James Comey being fired for the investigation into how Russian interference affected the 2016 election.
Based on true events, the film’s dialogue, as with the acclaimed Off-Broadway play, comes directly from the transcript of their tense and transfixing conversation.
“Reality” debuted at the 2023 Berlin International Film Festival, marking Satter...
The “Euphoria” Emmy nominee leads HBO film “Reality,” based on writer-director Tina Satter’s 2019 play “Is This A Room.”
On June 3, 2017, 25-year-old former American intelligence specialist Reality Winner (Sweeney) is confronted by FBI agents, played by Josh Hamilton and Marchánt Davis, arriving at her home to question her suspected role in the mishandling of classified information. Reality Winner is an ex-Air Force member and Nsa translator who later received the harshest sentence, five years and three months in prison, for the unauthorized release of government information to the media leading to FBI director James Comey being fired for the investigation into how Russian interference affected the 2016 election.
Based on true events, the film’s dialogue, as with the acclaimed Off-Broadway play, comes directly from the transcript of their tense and transfixing conversation.
“Reality” debuted at the 2023 Berlin International Film Festival, marking Satter...
- 4/19/2023
- by Samantha Bergeson
- Indiewire
One year after her massive Emmy Awards breakthrough with double nominations for “The White Lotus” and “Euphoria,” Sydney Sweeney is back in the conversation again with Max’s “Reality.” The original film, which debuted at the Berlin International Film Festival earlier this year, is set to drop on Monday, May 29.
Based on the play “Is This A Room” by Tina Satter and co-written and directed by Satter, the new film stars Sweeney as Reality Winner, the American intelligence specialist who, in 2017 at the age of 25, was arrested for allegedly leaking a report about potential Russian interference in the 2016 election to the media. After her arrest, Winner eventually pleaded guilty to one “felony count of unauthorized transmission of national defense information,” the New York Times reported in 2018. Winner was then sentenced to five years and three months in federal prison, “the longest ever imposed in federal court for an unauthorized release...
Based on the play “Is This A Room” by Tina Satter and co-written and directed by Satter, the new film stars Sweeney as Reality Winner, the American intelligence specialist who, in 2017 at the age of 25, was arrested for allegedly leaking a report about potential Russian interference in the 2016 election to the media. After her arrest, Winner eventually pleaded guilty to one “felony count of unauthorized transmission of national defense information,” the New York Times reported in 2018. Winner was then sentenced to five years and three months in federal prison, “the longest ever imposed in federal court for an unauthorized release...
- 4/19/2023
- by Christopher Rosen
- Gold Derby
A good conceit can go a long way. In 2017, a former U.S. Air Force member-turned-Nsa translator named Reality Winner leaked a document to The Intercept exposing Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. presidential election. On June 3rd of that year, two FBI agents appeared on her lawn and began questioning her. She didn’t ask for a lawyer and, after roughly 90 minutes, was arrested. In Reality, directed by Tina Satter from her own acclaimed play Is This a Room, that transcript is performed to the letter. Then a curious kind of alchemy occurs: as the actors laser-in on the transcript’s every detail, Satter’s fascinating film moves away from the rhythms of political thriller and into the eerie realm of the uncanny.
The neatest title at last year’s Berlin Film Festival was Cyril Sachaubin’s Unrest. If there was an award for such things, this year’s...
The neatest title at last year’s Berlin Film Festival was Cyril Sachaubin’s Unrest. If there was an award for such things, this year’s...
- 2/19/2023
- by Rory O'Connor
- The Film Stage
A young woman sits in a gray office — boxed in by her cubicle desk — as Fox News announces that Donald Trump has just fired FBI director James Comey, ostensibly for his investigation into how Russian interference in the 2016 election likely worked in the 45th president’s favor. Twenty-five days later, the same woman arrives back at her house in Augusta, Georgia to find two FBI agents with a search warrant for her property. She doesn’t look surprised. Within 80 minutes, this ex-Air Force member and Nsa translator will have received the harshest ever sentence for the unauthorized release of government information to the media.
The woman — blond bun, denim shorts, a fresh and unassuming demeanor — is Reality Winner. Tina Satter’s fascinating directorial debut takes her startling indiscretion and spins it into something of a horror movie about the repercussions of Doing The Right Thing in the face of the...
The woman — blond bun, denim shorts, a fresh and unassuming demeanor — is Reality Winner. Tina Satter’s fascinating directorial debut takes her startling indiscretion and spins it into something of a horror movie about the repercussions of Doing The Right Thing in the face of the...
- 2/18/2023
- by Steph Green
- Indiewire
“Do you have any pets?” When the FBI called at Reality Winner’s Georgia home in June 2017, the agency didn’t exactly start out playing hardball; in fact it, took the better part of hour even to start getting down to brass tacks with the 25-year-old. We know this because the whole event was recorded on a hidden wire and transcribed as evidence for Winner’s subsequent trial. New York director Tina Satter first fashioned this transcript, with zero embellishment, into a critically acclaimed stage play called Is This a Room in 2019, and in Reality, which premiered in the Berlin Film Festival’s Panorama strand, she expands it into an astonishingly effective docu-drama hybrid.
Reality Winner’s misdemeanor didn’t quite put her in the league of Edward Snowden or Chelsea Manning, and, in a way, Satter’s film leans into that. Many know the name, and perhaps also the...
Reality Winner’s misdemeanor didn’t quite put her in the league of Edward Snowden or Chelsea Manning, and, in a way, Satter’s film leans into that. Many know the name, and perhaps also the...
- 2/18/2023
- by Damon Wise
- Deadline Film + TV
Playwright Tina Satter’s Is This a Room is one of the more anomalous standouts of recent New York theater seasons. A 65-minute verbatim docudrama molded entirely out of FBI interrogation transcripts leading to the arrest of Nsa whistle-blower Reality Winner, it was propelled by stellar reviews from a small downtown space to a leading Off Broadway house, before landing on Broadway for a short run in 2021 that consolidated its critical success even if it struggled commercially.
Showing the same uncanny ability to draw suspense out of a ripped-from-the-headlines situation with a known outcome, Satter has adapted the play as a feature that makes for a forceful gut punch of cinema vérité.
By swapping the stage production’s minimalist design for a scrupulously realistic representation of the house in Augusta, Georgia, that Winner was renting in 2017, Reality, as the film has been retitled, risks diminishing the uncomfortable convergence of the...
Showing the same uncanny ability to draw suspense out of a ripped-from-the-headlines situation with a known outcome, Satter has adapted the play as a feature that makes for a forceful gut punch of cinema vérité.
By swapping the stage production’s minimalist design for a scrupulously realistic representation of the house in Augusta, Georgia, that Winner was renting in 2017, Reality, as the film has been retitled, risks diminishing the uncomfortable convergence of the...
- 2/18/2023
- by David Rooney
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
In the widely covered story of the U.S. intelligence operative harshly sentenced in 2018 for leaking a confidential report on Russian election interference to The Intercept, the accidental (in)appropriateness of the operative’s name was always an eyecatching detail. Could one of recent reality’s most highly public losers actually be called Reality Winner? Playwright Tina Satter’s enormously compelling film-directing debut adds another layer of cosmic irony to that nominative determinism. In using the title “Reality,” and being scripted verbatim from exchanges recorded by the FBI during Winner’s 2017 surprise interrogation, Satter not only vividly revisits the story, she also makes us question the very relationship between a narrative film and the truth it claims to expose. Reality can be stranger than fiction, but “Reality” fuses the two to become stranger, and more riveting, still.
One major, electrifying connection between the facts of the case and their dramatization...
One major, electrifying connection between the facts of the case and their dramatization...
- 2/18/2023
- by Jessica Kiang
- Variety Film + TV
“Euphoria” and “The White Lotus” star Sydney Sweeney communicated with the real-life Reality Winner to portray her in Tina Satter’s “Reality,” which world premieres at the Berlin Film Festival.
The film, which contains verbatim dialogue from the unedited transcript of an FBI audio recording, follows a tense 90 minutes in the life of whistleblower Winner as the FBI interrogate at her home in 2017. Winner, a former U.S. Air Force member and National Security Agency translator, was sentenced to five years in prison after she leaked an intelligence report to the media.
“I had the honor and privilege to be able actually communicate with Reality. I was able to Zoom with her — Tina connected us — and I would text her throughout the process,” Sweeney told a press conference at Berlin on Saturday.
“And before even I got it, when I was auditioning, I went and found as many interviews that I...
The film, which contains verbatim dialogue from the unedited transcript of an FBI audio recording, follows a tense 90 minutes in the life of whistleblower Winner as the FBI interrogate at her home in 2017. Winner, a former U.S. Air Force member and National Security Agency translator, was sentenced to five years in prison after she leaked an intelligence report to the media.
“I had the honor and privilege to be able actually communicate with Reality. I was able to Zoom with her — Tina connected us — and I would text her throughout the process,” Sweeney told a press conference at Berlin on Saturday.
“And before even I got it, when I was auditioning, I went and found as many interviews that I...
- 2/18/2023
- by Naman Ramachandran
- Variety Film + TV
On the morning of June 3, 2017, a 25-year-old former Air Force linguist improbably named Reality Winner was surprised by the FBI at her home in Augusta, Georgia. Over the next few hours, Winner would be interrogated and eventually charged with leaking evidence of Russian interference in the U.S. election of Donald Trump to the online whistle-blower site The Intercept. In court, she was sentenced to five years and three months in prison, the longest federal sentence ever ordered for the unauthorized release of government information to the media. Reality Winner served four years of her sentence behind bars, before being released to a transitional facility in June 2021.
Those bare facts are well-known and have been exhaustively discussed, dissected and debated.
But in Reality, director Tina Satter, adapting her own 2021 Broadway play Is This A Room?, digs into the subtext of the Reality Winner case. Using the verbatim recording of that...
Those bare facts are well-known and have been exhaustively discussed, dissected and debated.
But in Reality, director Tina Satter, adapting her own 2021 Broadway play Is This A Room?, digs into the subtext of the Reality Winner case. Using the verbatim recording of that...
- 2/17/2023
- by Scott Roxborough
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Exclusive: Paris-based mk2 films has boarded international sales on Tina Satter’s debut feature Reality about real-life U.S. whistleblower Reality Winner ahead of its world premiere at the Berlin Film Festival later this month.
Euphoria and White Lotus star Sydney Sweeney plays Winner.
The former intelligence officer was given the longest prison sentence ever for the unauthorized release of classified material to the media in 2018 (five years and three months) after she leaked a report about Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. elections.
Opening with the Saturday afternoon in June 2017 when 25-year-old Winner was confronted at her Georgia home by the FBI, the film follows the cryptic conversation that took place as the young woman’s life begins to unravel.
Satter’s dialogue, taken directly from the FBI’s transcript of the interrogation, alternates between nail-biting and banal, darkly funny and surreal.
The film tracks one woman’s experience of the State at work.
Euphoria and White Lotus star Sydney Sweeney plays Winner.
The former intelligence officer was given the longest prison sentence ever for the unauthorized release of classified material to the media in 2018 (five years and three months) after she leaked a report about Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. elections.
Opening with the Saturday afternoon in June 2017 when 25-year-old Winner was confronted at her Georgia home by the FBI, the film follows the cryptic conversation that took place as the young woman’s life begins to unravel.
Satter’s dialogue, taken directly from the FBI’s transcript of the interrogation, alternates between nail-biting and banal, darkly funny and surreal.
The film tracks one woman’s experience of the State at work.
- 2/1/2023
- by Melanie Goodfellow
- Deadline Film + TV
The Berlin Film Festival has unveiled the first titles selected for its Panorama section at the upcoming in-person edition that takes place February 16-26. (Scroll down for the full list)
Among the highlights are Tina Satter’s debut feature Reality starring Euphoria and The White Lotus’ Sydney Sweeney and focusing on the arrest of the American whistle-blower Reality Winner.
Jennifer Reeder is also in with Perpetrator, described as a subversive film that throws conventions to the wind. Kiah McKirnan and Alicia Silverstone star.
Willem Dafoe turns up as an art thief in Vasilis Katsoupis’ Inside. And, Ira Sachs is back with Passages, starring Franz Rogowski, Ben Whishaw and Adèle Exarchopoulous.
Of the 14 films selected, eleven are world premieres.
Here’s the full list announced today
Al Murhaqoon (The Burdened)
by Amr Gamal | with Khaled Hamdan, Abeer Mohammed, Samah Alamrani, Awsam Abdulrahman, Shahd Algonfedy
Yemen / Sudan / Saudi Arabia 2023
Panorama | World Premiere...
Among the highlights are Tina Satter’s debut feature Reality starring Euphoria and The White Lotus’ Sydney Sweeney and focusing on the arrest of the American whistle-blower Reality Winner.
Jennifer Reeder is also in with Perpetrator, described as a subversive film that throws conventions to the wind. Kiah McKirnan and Alicia Silverstone star.
Willem Dafoe turns up as an art thief in Vasilis Katsoupis’ Inside. And, Ira Sachs is back with Passages, starring Franz Rogowski, Ben Whishaw and Adèle Exarchopoulous.
Of the 14 films selected, eleven are world premieres.
Here’s the full list announced today
Al Murhaqoon (The Burdened)
by Amr Gamal | with Khaled Hamdan, Abeer Mohammed, Samah Alamrani, Awsam Abdulrahman, Shahd Algonfedy
Yemen / Sudan / Saudi Arabia 2023
Panorama | World Premiere...
- 12/15/2022
- by Nancy Tartaglione
- Deadline Film + TV
The Berlin Film Festival has revealed the first tranche of titles for its Panorama and Generation strands.
The Panorama lineup includes films from Ukraine, Yemen and about Iran. Of the 14 films selected, 11 are world premieres. There are new films by Sepideh Farsi, Jennifer Reeder, Tina Satter, Sacha Polak, Malene Choi and Ira Sachs.
The films selected for the Generation Kplus and Generation 14plus competitions include nine shorts and nine features, including 11 world premieres.
Stars featured in titles across the strands include Willem Dafoe, Ben Whishaw, Adèle Exarchopoulous, Leon Dai and Sydney Sweeney.
The festival takes place Feb. 16-26, 2023.
Panorama Titles
“Al Murhaqoon” (“The Burdened”)
by Amr Gamal. With Khaled Hamdan, Abeer Mohammed, Samah Alamrani, Awsam Abdulrahman, Shahd Algonfedy
Yemen/Sudan/Saudi Arabia
“Au cimetière de la pellicule” (“The Cemetery of Cinema”)
by Thierno Souleymane Diallo
France/Senegal/Guinea/Saudi Arabia
“El castillo” (“The Castle”)
by Martín Benchimol. With Justina Olivo,...
The Panorama lineup includes films from Ukraine, Yemen and about Iran. Of the 14 films selected, 11 are world premieres. There are new films by Sepideh Farsi, Jennifer Reeder, Tina Satter, Sacha Polak, Malene Choi and Ira Sachs.
The films selected for the Generation Kplus and Generation 14plus competitions include nine shorts and nine features, including 11 world premieres.
Stars featured in titles across the strands include Willem Dafoe, Ben Whishaw, Adèle Exarchopoulous, Leon Dai and Sydney Sweeney.
The festival takes place Feb. 16-26, 2023.
Panorama Titles
“Al Murhaqoon” (“The Burdened”)
by Amr Gamal. With Khaled Hamdan, Abeer Mohammed, Samah Alamrani, Awsam Abdulrahman, Shahd Algonfedy
Yemen/Sudan/Saudi Arabia
“Au cimetière de la pellicule” (“The Cemetery of Cinema”)
by Thierno Souleymane Diallo
France/Senegal/Guinea/Saudi Arabia
“El castillo” (“The Castle”)
by Martín Benchimol. With Justina Olivo,...
- 12/15/2022
- by Naman Ramachandran
- Variety Film + TV
Ain’t No Mo’, the Broadway debut of author and star Jordan E. Cooper, opened at the Belasco Theatre on Dec. 1 to the sort of reviews producers and playwrights dream about. Even the few critics who weren’t completely won over couldn’t help but point out a singular brilliance at work here, not to mention a stars-in-the-making cast and more laugh-out-loud moments than most of the rest of Broadway combined. A celebrity-packed opening night, with producer Lee Daniels greeting a crowd that included Gabrielle Union, Dwayne Wade and C. J. Uzomah – who happen to be among the starry cohort of co-producers – as well as Matthew Broderick, Tamron Hall, Deborah Cox, Stephanie Mills, Latanya Richardson Jackson, Susan Kelechi Watson, Camryn Manheim, Tony Kushner, Tituss Burgess, Gayle King, Pat Williams, Christopher Sieber, Jennifer Simard, Colton Ryan, Ari’el Stachel and Timothy Olyphant suggested nothing less than the buzzy arrival of Broadway’s next big thing,...
- 12/13/2022
- by Greg Evans
- Deadline Film + TV
Two new productions opened on Broadway within the last few days, demonstrating that Broadway, at the very least, can accommodate works of remarkable diversity – a diversity in levels of ambition not least. One takes remarkable chances and all but announces the arrival of a singular new theatrical voice. The other, with a team of immensely talented Broadway veterans both on stage and behind the scenes that so relies on overused formula and tired tropes that it can’t even breathe life into some of the most irresistible pop songs of the last half-century.
First, the good news: Ain’t No Mo’, the audacious Broadway debut of writer-performer Jordan E. Cooper powerfully directed by Broadway newcomer Stevie Walker-Webb, is a marvel, compelling even when its considerable reach exceeds its grasp, a mix of sketch comedy, satire, social commentary, drama and tour de force performances that places Ain’t No Mo’ are the forefront of the outlandish,...
First, the good news: Ain’t No Mo’, the audacious Broadway debut of writer-performer Jordan E. Cooper powerfully directed by Broadway newcomer Stevie Walker-Webb, is a marvel, compelling even when its considerable reach exceeds its grasp, a mix of sketch comedy, satire, social commentary, drama and tour de force performances that places Ain’t No Mo’ are the forefront of the outlandish,...
- 12/5/2022
- by Greg Evans
- Deadline Film + TV
Broadway’s Ain’t No Mo’ producer Lee Daniels announced today that NBA champ Dwyane Wade, actor Gabrielle Union and Drag Race star RuPaul will join the co-producing team of the comedy that begins previews tonight at the Belasco Theatre.
Wade will produce under his production company 59th and Prairie Entertainment, and Union will produce under her I’ll Have Another Productions. Ain’t No Mo’ officially opens on Thursday, December 1.
The production, which blends sketch comedy, satire and avant garde theater to pose the question “What if the U.S. government attempted to solve racism by offering Black Americans one-way plane tickets to Africa?” premiered at The Public Theater in a twice-extended 2019 run.
Written by, and starring, Jordan E. Cooper, Ain’t No Mo’ also features Fedna Jacquet, Marchánt Davis, Shannon Matesky, Ebony Marshall-Oliver and Crystal Lucas-Perry.
The production is directed by Stevie Walker-Webb, in his Broadway debut.
Wade will produce under his production company 59th and Prairie Entertainment, and Union will produce under her I’ll Have Another Productions. Ain’t No Mo’ officially opens on Thursday, December 1.
The production, which blends sketch comedy, satire and avant garde theater to pose the question “What if the U.S. government attempted to solve racism by offering Black Americans one-way plane tickets to Africa?” premiered at The Public Theater in a twice-extended 2019 run.
Written by, and starring, Jordan E. Cooper, Ain’t No Mo’ also features Fedna Jacquet, Marchánt Davis, Shannon Matesky, Ebony Marshall-Oliver and Crystal Lucas-Perry.
The production is directed by Stevie Walker-Webb, in his Broadway debut.
- 11/9/2022
- by Greg Evans
- Deadline Film + TV
Update: Broadway’s upcoming production of Jordan E. Cooper’s Ain’t No Mo’ is the latest New York staging hit by Covid: The comedy has delayed its first week of previews due to Covid within the company, moving the first performance at the Belasco Theatre November 3 to November 9.
The official opening is Thursday, December 1.
The play, which blends sketch comedy, satire and avant garde theater as it asks the incendiary question, “What if the U.S. government attempted to solve racism … by offering Black Americans one-way plane tickets to Africa?” stars Cooper, Crystal Lucas-Perry, Fedna Jacquet, Marchánt Davis, Shannon Matesky and Ebony Marshall-Oliver, and is produced by Lee Daniels.
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Previous, Oct. 20: Covid isn’t done with New York’s theater scene just yet. At least four Broadway and major Off Broadway productions have either canceled or...
The official opening is Thursday, December 1.
The play, which blends sketch comedy, satire and avant garde theater as it asks the incendiary question, “What if the U.S. government attempted to solve racism … by offering Black Americans one-way plane tickets to Africa?” stars Cooper, Crystal Lucas-Perry, Fedna Jacquet, Marchánt Davis, Shannon Matesky and Ebony Marshall-Oliver, and is produced by Lee Daniels.
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A post shared by Ain't No Mo' (@aintnomobway)
Previous, Oct. 20: Covid isn’t done with New York’s theater scene just yet. At least four Broadway and major Off Broadway productions have either canceled or...
- 10/24/2022
- by Greg Evans
- Deadline Film + TV
Crystal Lucas-Perry, Fedna Jacquet, Marchánt Davis, Shannon Matesky and Ebony Marshall-Oliver will join the previously announced Jordan E. Cooper in the cast of Cooper’s upcoming Broadway play Ain’t No Mo’, produced by Lee Daniels.
Daniels made the casting announcement today.
The comedy, which received a critically acclaimed Off Broadway production at New York’s Public Theater in 2019, begins previews at the Belasco Theatre on Thursday, November 3 ahead of an official opening on Thursday, December 1.
Ain’t No Mo’ blends sketch comedy, satire and avant garde theater as it asks the incendiary question, “What if the U.S. government attempted to solve racism … by offering Black Americans one-way plane tickets to Africa?”
Understudies announced today are Nik Alexander, Jasminn Johnson, Michael Rishawn, Kedren Spencer, Brennie Tellu and Emma Van Lare. The creative team includes director Stevie Walker-Webb making his Broadway debut, and the design team is Scott Pask (scenic design...
Daniels made the casting announcement today.
The comedy, which received a critically acclaimed Off Broadway production at New York’s Public Theater in 2019, begins previews at the Belasco Theatre on Thursday, November 3 ahead of an official opening on Thursday, December 1.
Ain’t No Mo’ blends sketch comedy, satire and avant garde theater as it asks the incendiary question, “What if the U.S. government attempted to solve racism … by offering Black Americans one-way plane tickets to Africa?”
Understudies announced today are Nik Alexander, Jasminn Johnson, Michael Rishawn, Kedren Spencer, Brennie Tellu and Emma Van Lare. The creative team includes director Stevie Walker-Webb making his Broadway debut, and the design team is Scott Pask (scenic design...
- 10/6/2022
- by Greg Evans
- Deadline Film + TV
Exclusive: Euphoria and White Lotus star Sydney Sweeney is starring in Tina Satter’s debut feature about whistleblower Reality Winner.
She’ll play Winner in a cast that features Josh Hamilton and Marchánt Davis.
Winner was a former American intelligence specialist. She was given the longest sentence ever for the unauthorized release of government information to the media for leaking an intelligence report about Russian interference in the 2016 United States elections via an email phishing operation.
On June 3, 2017, while employed by the military contractor Pluribus International Corporation, Winner was arrested on suspicion of leaking an intelligence report about Russian meddling in the 2016 election from the National Security Agency to news website The Intercept.
The project is inspired by Satter’s acclaimed play Is This A Room, which had a critically lauded Broadway run last fall. The script was...
She’ll play Winner in a cast that features Josh Hamilton and Marchánt Davis.
Winner was a former American intelligence specialist. She was given the longest sentence ever for the unauthorized release of government information to the media for leaking an intelligence report about Russian interference in the 2016 United States elections via an email phishing operation.
On June 3, 2017, while employed by the military contractor Pluribus International Corporation, Winner was arrested on suspicion of leaking an intelligence report about Russian meddling in the 2016 election from the National Security Agency to news website The Intercept.
The project is inspired by Satter’s acclaimed play Is This A Room, which had a critically lauded Broadway run last fall. The script was...
- 6/8/2022
- by Anthony D'Alessandro
- Deadline Film + TV
"Light my way in darkness, so I may spread your seed." There have been a handful of films that play with how an alien being would act if it inhabited a human body. What would it make of our strange fleshy bodies? Would it know how to interact? Would it know how to speak? Dominant Species is a short film that also wonders about these questions. Directed by Joseph Sackett, it's described as a "coming-of-age story about coming to terms with the ways you're different." The plot is about 10 aliens in human host bodies learning how to be "men". Short of the Week explains "most of the film is an examination of these new hosts' process of familiarization with the peculiarities of humanity and education in masculine stereotypes." Starring as the 10: Francisco Carrillo, Justin Chiao, Julian Cihi, Marchánt Davis, Vasile Flutur, Zach Fifer, Julio Lousav, Matthew Faroul, Julian Elijah Martinez,...
- 7/13/2020
- by Alex Billington
- firstshowing.net
Exclusive: Film Mode Entertainment has add two further titles to its sales roster ahead of the Cannes Virtual Marche.
Joining the slate is romance Tuscaloosa, starring Devon Bostick, Tate Donovan, Natalia Dyer, Marchánt Davis and the rapper Yg. Philip Harder directed and producers are Josh and Brian Etting. Pic debuted at the Nashville Film Festival back in October. Film Mode will rep world rights outside of the U.S..
The company has also boarded The Private Life Of A Modern Woman, starring Sienna Miller and Alec Baldwin. James Toback directed the movie about a successful actress who wakes up from a nightmare to realize it has come true – she has killed her abusive ex-boyfriend and hidden his body in her apartment. Michael Mailer produced. Film Mode will rep world rights excluding The Middle East and has boarded the film in partnership with BondIt Media Capital. The pic first screened at...
Joining the slate is romance Tuscaloosa, starring Devon Bostick, Tate Donovan, Natalia Dyer, Marchánt Davis and the rapper Yg. Philip Harder directed and producers are Josh and Brian Etting. Pic debuted at the Nashville Film Festival back in October. Film Mode will rep world rights outside of the U.S..
The company has also boarded The Private Life Of A Modern Woman, starring Sienna Miller and Alec Baldwin. James Toback directed the movie about a successful actress who wakes up from a nightmare to realize it has come true – she has killed her abusive ex-boyfriend and hidden his body in her apartment. Michael Mailer produced. Film Mode will rep world rights excluding The Middle East and has boarded the film in partnership with BondIt Media Capital. The pic first screened at...
- 6/12/2020
- by Tom Grater
- Deadline Film + TV
"You're either part of the problem, or you're part of the solution." Cinedigm has revealed an official trailer for an indie drama titled Tuscaloosa, which is indeed set in the town of Tuscaloosa, Alabama. Based on the Southern novel by W. Glasgow Phillips, this film is set in 1972 and centers around a major civil rights movement. On the verge of entering high society, college graduate Billy Mitchell finds his plans changing when he falls in love with a young patient with multiple personalities at his father's mental institution, and becomes involved in a radical civil rights fight against Tuscaloosa's power elite. Starring Devon Bostick, Natalia Dyer, Marchánt Davis, Tate Donovan, Ella Rae Peck, Nathan Phillips, Birgundi Baker, and hip hop artist / actor Yg. Looks like a radical trip back to the 70s, with some groovy dialogue in there. Here's the official trailer (+ poster) for Philip Harder's Tuscaloosa, direct from Cinedigm's YouTube: Alabama,...
- 2/14/2020
- by Alex Billington
- firstshowing.net
In today’s film news roundup, “Parasite” wins half a dozen awards at the Global Cinemateque organization, Legion M partners with Endeavor Content and “Tuscaloosa” finds a home.
‘Parasite’ Awards
South Korean dark comedy “Parasite” has dominated the inaugural World Cinema Awards from the Global Cinemateque organization.
Founded by Jacqueline Lyanga and co-founded by Jasmine Jaisinghani, the World Cinema Awards celebrates the best international cinema of year across 10 categories. Winners were announced Thursday.
“Parasite,” which is nominated for six Academy Awards, won the global narrative trophy with “Portrait of a Lady on Fire” in second and “Pain and Glory” in third. Bong Joon-Ho won the director category for “Parasite” and shared the writing trophy with Han Jin Won. Cinematographer Kyung-pyo Hong, editor Jinmo Yang and composer Jaeil Jung won their categories for their work on “Parasite.”
Adèle Haenel and Noémie Merlant won the actress category for their work in “Portrait of a Lady on Fire...
‘Parasite’ Awards
South Korean dark comedy “Parasite” has dominated the inaugural World Cinema Awards from the Global Cinemateque organization.
Founded by Jacqueline Lyanga and co-founded by Jasmine Jaisinghani, the World Cinema Awards celebrates the best international cinema of year across 10 categories. Winners were announced Thursday.
“Parasite,” which is nominated for six Academy Awards, won the global narrative trophy with “Portrait of a Lady on Fire” in second and “Pain and Glory” in third. Bong Joon-Ho won the director category for “Parasite” and shared the writing trophy with Han Jin Won. Cinematographer Kyung-pyo Hong, editor Jinmo Yang and composer Jaeil Jung won their categories for their work on “Parasite.”
Adèle Haenel and Noémie Merlant won the actress category for their work in “Portrait of a Lady on Fire...
- 2/7/2020
- by Dave McNary
- Variety Film + TV
Mark Harrison Jan 3, 2020
Karen Gillan, Shia Labeouf, and Lupita Nyong'o all rank in our annual rundown of 2019's best, most-likely-to-be-overlooked performances...
This feature contains spoilers of varying degrees for Ad Astra and Avengers: Endgame.
As the New Year begins, we're looking down the barrel of another months-long Oscars season, in which some of the year's most underappreciated performances will inevitably be overlooked. When this time of year rolls around, we like to select and celebrate some of the best acting performances in the sort of films that usually don't rank outside of the technical categories.
Why's that, you ask? Well, even though Joaquin Phoenix is a lock for most Best Actor nominations for his role in Joker, and there's been a steady broadening of the genre movies under awards consideration in recent years, we've found that performances in comedies and horror movies, among other categories that aren't “prestige drama,” still tend to be overlooked.
Karen Gillan, Shia Labeouf, and Lupita Nyong'o all rank in our annual rundown of 2019's best, most-likely-to-be-overlooked performances...
This feature contains spoilers of varying degrees for Ad Astra and Avengers: Endgame.
As the New Year begins, we're looking down the barrel of another months-long Oscars season, in which some of the year's most underappreciated performances will inevitably be overlooked. When this time of year rolls around, we like to select and celebrate some of the best acting performances in the sort of films that usually don't rank outside of the technical categories.
Why's that, you ask? Well, even though Joaquin Phoenix is a lock for most Best Actor nominations for his role in Joker, and there's been a steady broadening of the genre movies under awards consideration in recent years, we've found that performances in comedies and horror movies, among other categories that aren't “prestige drama,” still tend to be overlooked.
- 12/30/2019
- Den of Geek
The king of absurdist satire follows up Four Lions with a tragicomic tale of the Feds setting up a deluded preacher as kingpin of a fake terror plan
Billed as being “based on a hundred true stories”, this dark tragicomedy from co-writer/director Chris Morris paints a cracked portrait of counter-terrorism operations in the United States in which imagined enemies are eminently more imprisonable than their real-life counterparts. While The Day Shall Come may lack the breathtaking bite of Morris’s feature debut Four Lions or the experimental weirdness of his head-spinning TV show Jam, it does boast a fine cast, an alarming premise and a palpable sense of anger behind its increasingly absurdist comedy.
Marchánt Davis is Moses, “sultan” of the “Star of Six community farm and mission” in Miami, which preaches salvation through a heady cocktail of education, mysticism and martial arts, inspired by the figure of Haitian rebel Toussaint Louverture.
Billed as being “based on a hundred true stories”, this dark tragicomedy from co-writer/director Chris Morris paints a cracked portrait of counter-terrorism operations in the United States in which imagined enemies are eminently more imprisonable than their real-life counterparts. While The Day Shall Come may lack the breathtaking bite of Morris’s feature debut Four Lions or the experimental weirdness of his head-spinning TV show Jam, it does boast a fine cast, an alarming premise and a palpable sense of anger behind its increasingly absurdist comedy.
Marchánt Davis is Moses, “sultan” of the “Star of Six community farm and mission” in Miami, which preaches salvation through a heady cocktail of education, mysticism and martial arts, inspired by the figure of Haitian rebel Toussaint Louverture.
- 10/13/2019
- by Mark Kermode, Observer film critic
- The Guardian - Film News
“This plays like a penny whistle jammed up an orangutan’s butt.” Lines like that come easy to English writer-director Chris Morris, whose satirical sensibility has made him one of “Veep” creator Armando Iannucci’s inner-circle collaborators and a bit of a controversy magnet in his own right. Remember “Four Lions,” the unapologetically offensive 2010 comedy about an inept British terror cell that opened with the bloopers from an al-Qaida-like video recording and ended with a pair of clumsy mujahedeen killing Osama bin Laden by accident? That was Morris’ idea of a reasonable way to confront the hysteria over jihad: Fight extremism with extreme comedy.
In Morris’ latest powder-keg feature, “The Day Shall Come,” the only thing more outrageous than the jokes are the facts that inspired it. The film ends the way so many American action movies do: with a terrorist attack averted and a couple of special agents shaking...
In Morris’ latest powder-keg feature, “The Day Shall Come,” the only thing more outrageous than the jokes are the facts that inspired it. The film ends the way so many American action movies do: with a terrorist attack averted and a couple of special agents shaking...
- 9/28/2019
- by Peter Debruge
- Variety Film + TV
A new Broadway season is gearing up, and there are currently nine productions of plays set to open this fall. Could we be seeing any of them contend at this year’s Tony Awards? Below, we recap the plot of each play as well as the awards history of its author, cast, creative types, the opening, and (where applicable) closing dates.
“Betrayal” (opens September 5; closes December 8)
In the third Broadway revival of Harold Pinter’s 1978 award-winning play, the story charts a compelling seven-year romance, thrillingly captured in reverse chronological order.
The original Broadway production received Tony nominations for star Blythe Danner and director Peter Hall. This production is coming in after a successful run in London’s West End earlier this year. The cast includes Emmy nominee Tom Hiddleston, Zawe Ashton, SAG winner Charlie Cox, and is directed by Laurence Olivier Award winner Jamie Lloyd.
“The Height of the Storm...
“Betrayal” (opens September 5; closes December 8)
In the third Broadway revival of Harold Pinter’s 1978 award-winning play, the story charts a compelling seven-year romance, thrillingly captured in reverse chronological order.
The original Broadway production received Tony nominations for star Blythe Danner and director Peter Hall. This production is coming in after a successful run in London’s West End earlier this year. The cast includes Emmy nominee Tom Hiddleston, Zawe Ashton, SAG winner Charlie Cox, and is directed by Laurence Olivier Award winner Jamie Lloyd.
“The Height of the Storm...
- 9/27/2019
- by Jeffrey Kare
- Gold Derby
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