Sean Durkin
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A Process of Subtraction: Sean Durkin on His Disquieting Family Drama, The Nest
A man in a quiet suburban home makes a phone call. He stands by the window and holds the phone to his ear. The light on his face, the reflections from the window…. It’s morning. No one else is up. This seemingly innocuous moment could lead to any number of things, but, in Sean Durkin’s The Nest, an early-dawn overseas call prompts a life-changing shift for Rory, played to the hilt by a frightfully self-possessed and seemingly effortless Jude Law, his wife Allison (a remarkably calculated Carrie Coon), and their two children, the adolescent Sam and prepubescent Benjamin, (Oona Roche […]
by Evan Louison on Jan 18, 2021 -
Sundance 2020 Dispatch 8: Time, The Nest
In 1999, Fox and Rob Rich, desperate to shore up the finances of their business (Shreveport’s first urban clothing store) robbed a bank; she got 12 years, he got 60. The throughline of Garrett Bradley’s Time—a compact epic spanning 21 years in 87 minutes—tracks Fox’s ceaseless efforts to get her husband home. Her website describes her as a “realist speaker”: a motivational lecturer transmuting her difficult experiences for higher ends than the usual conference room guest, as well as a “prospective Nobel Peace Prize winner” who “is both a teacher and servant, entrepreneur, business owner and most of all a humanitarian.” This […]
by Vadim Rizov on Jan 31, 2020 -
VIDEO: BORDERLINE FILMS INTERVIEWED
In 2009, I interviewed Antonio Campos about his debut feature, After School, which was then about to be released. At the time, he had dropped out of NYU just before graduating, was doing promo content for Bloomingdales, and faced something of an uncertain future as a filmmaker. Three years on, Campos and his partners at Borderline Films, Josh Mond and Sean Durkin, are riding high; below they talk to actor/comedian Chris Gethard about their road to success.
by Nick Dawson on Jul 12, 2012 -
THE OCCUPY ZEITGEIST IN 2011 CINEMA
1. A sense of outsideness. Buildings turned inside out on 9-11, and people outside in the streets of Manhattan. The mind, outside of itself with disbelief. The brutal and temporary restoration of the natural world in the middle of one of the world’s largest cities. Located a block from the World Trade Center, Zuccotti Park, terribly damaged on 9-11 and slowly restored, would become the locus of the Occupy Movement. Encampments. Tents. The incongruous sight of camping gear in urban spaces and beneath the shadows of skyscrapers, in a forest of steel and concrete and glass. It is not films […]
by Nicholas Rombes on Dec 19, 2011 -
TRUST ISSUES: SEAN DURKIN & ELIZABETH OLSEN TALK “MARTHA MARCY MAY MARLENE”
Originally published in our Fall 2011 issue, I sat down with Sean Durkin and Elizabeth Olsen to look back on the process of making one of the most talked about indies of the year. Martha Marcy May Marlene is nominated for Best Ensemble Performance and Breakthrough Director. Here Durkin and Olsen talk about the first time they met: Elizabeth, how did you hear about the project?Olsen: I auditioned right before filming Peace, Love and Misunderstanding. We had Mondays and Tuesdays off [for that film] so I was able to come down to the city to audition. Durkin: [Laughs] “I’ll just […]
by Jason Guerrasio on Nov 14, 2011 -
DAVID LOWERY ON STORY STRUCTURE IN “MARTHA MARCY MAY MARLENE” & “SLEEPING BEAUTY”
Filmmaker David Lowery (Pioneer, St. Nick) has an interesting piece on his blog today comparing the storytelling engines in Sean Durkin’s Martha Marcy May Marlene and Julia Leigh’s Sleeping Beauty. Martha, he argues, deliberately builds tension by withholding key information, while Sleeping Beauty lays everything on the table up front in an attempt to diffuse tension and focus deeper on story, theme, and character. In the article, Lowery also defends Martha against Richard Brody’s recent New Yorker blog post (a response in itself to Anthony Lane’s review of the film) in which Brody argued that the film’s flashback-heavy narrative […]
by Jane Schoenbrun on Nov 7, 2011 -
“MARTHA, MARCY…” PRODUCTION CO., BORDERLINE FILMS, SIGNS FIRST-LOOK DEAL WITH FOX SEARCHLIGHT
Just hitting the wires is the word that Borderline Films, the team of Antonio Campos, Josh Mond and Sean Durkin, have signed a first-look deal with Fox Searchlight. Searchlight is currently distributing Durkin’s Boderline pic, Martha Marcy May Marlene. Both Campos and Durkin are Filmmaker Magazine “25 New Faces” selections, and in the current print issue Mond talks about how the company sustains itself in the independent filmmaking business. They’re a talented team and I’m glad to hear their future projects have a first-look home. The press release follows: LOS ANGELES, CA, November 3, 2011 – Fox Searchlight Pictures Presidents […]
by Scott Macaulay on Nov 3, 2011 -
Martha Marcy May Marlene — A Hammer to Nail Review
(Martha Marcy May Marlene earned Sean Durkin a Best Director award at the 2011 Sundance Film Festival, where it was picked up for distribution by Fox Searchlight. It opened theatrically on Friday, October 21, 2011. Visit the film’s official website to learn more. EDITOR’S NOTE: HTN co-founder Ted Hope is an executive producer on the film.) Looking at Elizabeth Olsen, you know exactly who she’s related to. It’s a trait that lends the actress both familiarity and strangeness—as though you know her but you don’t. It also makes her perfect for the title role in Sean Durkin’s Martha Marcy May […]
by Michael Nordine on Oct 27, 2011 -
DISCOVERING JACKSON C. FRANK IN “MARTHA MARCY MAY MARLENE”
If you went to see Sean Durkin‘s haunting debut Martha Marcy May Marlene over the weekend you’re probably still digesting Durkin’s dark story, the exhausting performance by Elizabeth Olsen and the beautiful cinematography from the film’s DP Jody Lee Lipes. But tucked away in all this is a soothing song delivered by John Hawkes titled “Marcy’s Song.” Playing Patrick, the manipulative leader of the “community,” he wins over Martha with an acoustic guitar and a song from a little-known ’60s folk singer. Jackson C. Frank only released one album in his career, but his life is ripe for a biopic […]
by Jason Guerrasio on Oct 24, 2011 -
FALL ’11 ISSUE ONLINE
Select stories from our Fall issue are now available. You can now read online our interviews with Melancholia‘s Lars von Trier (before announcing he would no longer give interviews), Sean Durkin and Elizabeth Olsen chat about Martha Marcy May Marlene, we get biblical about The Catechism Cataclysm with thoughts from the Reverend Megan Hollaway and we look at what film schools need to achieve to be relevant in the future. Plus, the Culture Hacker and Industry Beat columns. The issue hits stands next week, but you can read it now on your desktop by subscribing to our digital issue. Learn […]
by Jason Guerrasio on Oct 24, 2011
