Joe uses a hammer. A tough guy for hire — one who specializes in cases involving pedophilia and child trafficking — Joe owns a gun, of course, and he uses that, too. But for the jobs that truly matter, ones triggering the dark memories that clank painfully around inside his brain, he prefers the brutal simplicity of a simple hammer that can fell an adversary with one silent, well-timed swoop. Arrestingly embodied by Joaquin Phoenix in Scottish director Lynne Ramsay’s fleet, impressionistic work of hardcore noir, You Were Never Really Here, winner of the Best Screenplay prize at last year’s […]
by Scott Macaulay on Mar 8, 2018The U.S. trailer for Lynne Ramsay’s contemporary neo-noir, You Were Never Really Here, which won the Best Screenplay and Best Actor (for Ramsay and Joaquin Phoenix, respectively) at this year’s Cannes Film Festival, has just dropped. An adaptation of a Jonathan Ames story, it stars Phoenix as a modern-day gumshoe tracking down a kidnapped kid. Amazon releases in early ’18.
by Scott Macaulay on Dec 6, 2017Yesterday IFP’s Script to Screen conference took place at the 92YTribeca in New York City, and I was lucky enough to be there. During the “Writers’ Roundtable” panel, which featured the writer-directors Leslye Headland (Bachelorette), Liza Johnson (Return), Madeleine Olnek (Codependent Lesbian Space Alien Seeks Same), and Ry Russo Young (You Won’t Miss Me; Nobody Walks), I took copious notes. I was also busily typing away as novelist and Bored to Death creator Jonathan Ames, The Believer‘s writer-director Henry Bean, and Late Night with Jimmy Fallon writer Jen Statsky discussed screenwriting after playing the “Exquisite Corpse” writing game. Many sage […]
by Nick Dawson on Mar 18, 2012The IFP’s popular conference for writers and writer/directors, Script to Screen, returns to the 92nd St. Y Tribeca on Saturday, March 17 with a program that promises to mix practical advice with freewheeling programs intended to generate creative sparks. The day’s program features a keynote presentation by Bennett Miller, the Oscar-nominated director of Moneyball and Capote, and a Screenwriter’s Roundtable featuring up-and-coming auteurs Ry Russo-Young (Nobody Walks), Leslye Headland (Bachelorette), Madeline Olnek (Codependent Lesbian Space Alien Seeks Same) and Liza Johnson (Return). As a promising change of pace from traditional panels, Script to Screen also features a pair of interactive […]
by Scott Macaulay on Mar 5, 2012In its 12th year the Sarasota Film Festival has established itself as an important regional festival stop. Wedged between SXSW and Tribeca, Sarasota’s 10-day event is filled with festival circuit favorites, access to industry folk for the area filmmakers and lots of parties. [Full disclosure: I’m on the jury for the Independent Visions award this year.] Kicking off last night with Shari Springer Berman and Robert Pulcini‘s The Extra Man, the film stars Kevin Klein and Paul Dano as unlikely roommates living in Manhattan, one an aging playboy (Klein) the other a dreamer trying to find his place in life […]
by Jason Guerrasio on Apr 10, 2010