FilmBuffs love their artists and we encounter some of the most innovative, provocative and talented that you will find. We will highlight some of the future stars we believe you should pay attention to here.
Stephen King. Michael Chrichton. Paul Auster. Need one more? How about Julia Leigh? The Sydney, Australia, native recently joined the ranks of novelists-turned-directors who appear to be worth their salt. The fact that Leigh is a woman in not one but two famously male-dominated fields ought not to surprise anyone, though—she’s been exceeding expectations for some time now. Everything this novelist-turned-director touches turns to gold.
With the subdued intensity of James Franco and the cocky swagger of a Euro-rock star, Robert Sheehan is bound for stardom. The young Irish lad is only 23 years old, but he has already demonstrated his tremendous range and addictive charisma.
OK, we know what you’re thinking: Emily Meade? Why does that name sound so familiar? Well, if you’re a fan of Fringe and Boardwalk Empire like we are then Emily Meade’s name and face should be quite recognizable to you, having played Olivia Dunham’s niece in the former and Jimmy’s prostitute girlfriend in the latter. With these two TV roles alone she has us convinced she’ll be a future FilmBuff hero.
There are some names in the documentary world that are known outside the industry, such as Michael Moore (Fahrenheit 911) or Davis Guggenheim (An Inconvenient Truth). But as these people grow into brands of their own, who could possibly be on the way to join their ranks? Cue…Danfung Dennis.
We know according to one extreme set of evangelical Christians the rapture was supposed to occur on May 21. Whoopsies, right? We all had a good long laugh at that. The apocalypse, that’s a good one, crazies! Then, this summer, all sorts of madness went down. Riots in London, Hurricanes, the US credit rating fell, Earthquakes, Kim Kardashian got married. And, earlier this month, Contagion convinced us we should never ever touch anyone or thing again. We’re beginning to think that perhaps there’s a reason to be paranoid. And then we get paranoid about getting paranoid… are we losing it?
Chances are, you haven’t heard of Andrew Haigh yet. And why should you? He’s only been the editor for amazing films like Gladiator, Black Hawk Down, The Count of Monte Cristo and Mona Lisa Smile. Have we got your attention now?
Stephen King. Michael Chrichton. Paul Auster. Need one more?
How about Julia Leigh? The Sydney, Australia, native recently joined the ranks of novelists-turned-directors who appear to be worth their salt. The fact that Leigh is a woman in not one but two famously male-dominated fields ought not to surprise anyone, though—she’s been exceeding expectations for some time now.
When Leigh decided to make her first screenplay, Sleeping Beauty, into a film—which incidentally became the first Australian film selected to compete for the Palme d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival since Baz Luhrmann’s Moulin Rouge in 2001—she had never even been behind the camera before.
No short films. No straight-to-video releases. No homemade Claymation spoofs of The Iliad. ”No, nothing at all. No Tropfest,” Leigh told TheAge.com. ”I had to prove to a lot of people that I had a definite vision, and I did an amazing amount of preparation. I read film scripts, went to an actors’ workshop and observed a friend on a TV set. I watched a lot of films that I loved with the sound turned down. I would ask myself, ‘Where is the camera?”’
Proving herself is something Leigh has made into quite a habit. The eldest of three daughters to a doctor and math teacher, Leigh originally studied law in college, but switched to writing—a reversal of fates, you might say, from the average English-major-turned-lawyer. It paid off. Her first novel, The Hunter, was a smash hit. About a mercenary’s search for a thought-to-be-extinct tiger in the Tasmanian wilderness, The Hunter was named one of the New York Times Notable Books of the Year in 2001, and was longlisted for the National Book Critics Circle Award in the U.S. The Hunter may have been off most people’s radars for the past ten years, but it’s about to start causing a few more blips. Director Daniel Nettheim is adapting it into a feature film starring Willem Dafoe, Sam Neill and Frances O’Connor.
For now, Leigh’s most recognizable involvement will be from the upcoming Sleeping Beauty. This piece put her name in the company of another list of artistic giants—Terrence Malick, Pedro Almodovar and Lars von Trier, who were also up for the Palme d’Or (Malick won for his film Tree of Life). So, what’s so great about Sleeping Beauty, aside from the fact that it stars fellow Aussie Emily Browning (Sucker Punch)? Billed as an erotic fairy tale, it won the approval of famed Australian director Jane Campion, who said she believes Leigh is a ”new, fully confident cinema voice … with an extraordinary talent.”
With the subdued intensity of James Franco and the cocky swagger of a Euro-rock star, Robert Sheehan is bound for stardom. The young Irish lad is only 23 years old, but he has already demonstrated his tremendous range and addictive charisma. You’ve possibly seen him starring in a UK TV series or owning a supporting role in a feature film, but we at FilmBuff know he’s only going to get bigger and better with time.
Sheehan ruled as an adolescent King Louis XIV in Young Blades, swam the dangerous waters of reality showbiz in Rock Rivals and suffered the hard life of Dublin Gangland in Love/Hate. But our boy Robbie is probably best known on TV as Nathan Young in the superhero comedy-drama Misfits, available in its entirety on Hulu. As a young delinquent who discovers he is immortal, Sheehan steals the show with his brash, joyously animated performance. With the April announcement that Sheehan won’t return for a third season, we can only hope that means he’ll have more time for feature films.
In 2009, Sheehan starred in the Irish indie drama Cherrybomb, best known to many Americans as that non-Harry Potter Rupert Grint movie. Cherrybomb hasn’t received a proper U.S. release, and what a shame. It is one of the best displays of Sheehan’s budding talent. He and Grint star as best friends vying for the attention and affection of the same girl. For much of the flick, Sheehan simply exudes cool. With a cocky swagger, his character Luke walks into every room like he owns the place, confidently flicking his cigarettes away on the street and draping himself on whatever furniture he pleases. But Sheehan also conveys a great deal of internal conflict when his character struggles with his drug-addicted father. Our Future FilmBuff Hero effortlessly balances poise and pain in an incredibly authentic portrait of troubled youth.
Although essentially unknown in the States, Sheehan landed a significant role alongside Nicolas Cage and Ron Perlman in Season of the Witch (don’t scoff, one has to start in America somehow). Cage and Perlman star as Crusade deserters on a mission to deliver an alleged witch to her trial. Although the movie was critically reviled, Sheehan further demonstrates his talent as a young altar server seeking to prove his bravery as a knight. As Cage delivers his trademark madness, our FilmBuff Hero combines the grace of a church boy with the intense focus of a knight. In this mess of a movie, he manages to give a subtle, tender performance that likely went unnoticed by audiences simply wanting to see Perlman headbutt the devil.
So what’s next for Sheehan’s rise to fame? Killing Bono, a comedy about the second best band in Dublin looking on as U2 explodes, will finally hit U.S. theaters November 4. In October 2011, the UK will be treated to the horror flick Demons Never Die. After a girl commits suicide, her friends make a pact to follow suit, but their plan is stopped dead in its tracks when a masked killer starts murdering members of the group. Off the big screen, Sheehan will star as Christy Mahon in JM Synge’s comic play The Playboy of the Western World until November 26.
With the play based in London and no U.S. release plans for Demons Never Die, Americans have to wait a little longer to get another taste of Sheehan’s immense talent. But when he gets his real moment to shine, Sheehan will electrify the screen with his disarming sense of humor and natural charm. We are placing our “Future FilmBuff Hero” bets on it. What about you?
OK, we know what you’re thinking: Emily Meade? Who? Well, if you’re a fan of Fringe and Boardwalk Empire then you should already be familiar with Emily Meade (name and face). Still having trouble? She played Olivia Dunham’s niece in the former and Jimmy’s prostitute girlfriend in the latter. We hear your collective “AHHHHHs” now.
With these two TV roles alone, she may not exactly scream Future FilmBuff Hero. Maybe Future TV star, but FilmBuff is known for having standards when it comes to our heroes. Don’t worry, no one is leading you astray here. She already has been featured in major movies, most notably as Fang in Wes Craven’s My Soul to Take, and as Jessica in Joel Schumacher’s Twelve alongside Gossip Girl’s Chace Crawford.
Emily Meade as Fang in My Soul to Take
This 22-year-old actress and alum of the prestigious performing arts school LaGuardia High School in New York City made her acting debut in the 2006 German film The House is Burning, which screened out of competition at Cannes. Since then, she’s been slowly climbing the Hollywood ladder, taking on more and more interesting projects, like a small role in 2008′s Assassination of a High School President, 2009′s TV movie Back and the main role in a short film called I Will Follow You Into the Dark, all of which helped her secure a steamy love scene with rapper 50 cent in Twelve.
So what’s next for Ms. Meade? Lots, actually. This budding actress has a ton in store for her in the coming months. First, she’ll be starring in two small indie projects: Simon Arthur’s directorial debut Silver Tongues about a couple that uses their acting skills to deceive other couples they meet on the road, and Billy Federighi’s Sin Bin. Then, she’ll have a small part in Diablo Cody and Jason Reitman’s newest project Young Adult starring Charlize Theron. Next year expect to see her with Vanessa Hudgens and Brendan Fraser in Gimme Shelter about a young pregnant runaway. Oh, and apparently she also made quite the impression on Joel Schumacher because she is set to be in his next big project Trespass about a home invasion gone terribly awry opposite Nicole Kidman and Nicholas Cage.
With all these notable projects we think this 22-year-old indie magnet has quite the future ahead of her. No doubt she’ll be breaking into bigger and bigger projects in no time. What do you think FilmBuffs? Will you be checking out any of Emily’s new films?
There are some names in the documentary world that are known outside the industry such as Michael Moore (Fahrenheit 911) or Davis Guggenheim (An Inconvenient Truth). But as these people grow into brands of their own, who could possibly be on the way to join their ranks? Cue…Danfung Dennis. Recently, he has become known for his work creating a film about the war in Afghanistan. Yes, we know what you’re thinking—”not another documentary about a war.” Follow us as we look into why Dennis caught Filmbuff’s attention and decide for yourself if he is worthy of our prestigious title “Future FilmBuff Hero.”
Dennis first built his career as a photojournalist. His still images centered around the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and have been featured in numerous publications around the world. He recently transitioned over to the world of video and produced and directed his very first feature documentaryHell and Back Again. While there are a plethora of other docs that cover the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan in a similar fashion (Restrepo, Armadillo and The War Tapes, to name a few), Dennis changed his approach slightly. He followed and focused specifically on the life of Sergeant Nathan Harris, a U.S. Marine in Afghanistan who leads his men into battle, but gets wounded by a bullet and is sent home. The footage covers the violent and devastating battles in Afghanistan, and then continues to follow Nathan’s struggle to gain a sense of normalcy when he comes home to North Carolina.
FilmBuff was not the only one to notice Dennis’s talent and potential. The Sundance Film Institute awarded him in 2011 with both the World Cinema Jury Award and the World Cinema Cinematography Award; a pretty good start to his directing career if you ask us.
In addition to being a photographer, director and producer, it turns out that Dennis is also a businessman and entrepreneur. “Give me my freedom or give me my death,” is recited by a Libyan on the Condition ONE website, a new startup championed by Dennis. The website sets out to redesign video journalism. Through the development of a camera that’s field of view is widened to approximate the entire human visual field, Dennis can bend a near-180-degree wide angle view into one slightly distorted frame. Another aspect involves a multi camera approach. Patrick Chauvel, who is enlisted by Dennis, films his reports using a custom-made five camera system. While the main camera records what’s in front, the four additional cameras also record what’s happening above and below him, as well as on the left and right. See it in action in the footage below.
Will Danfung Dennis be the next Michael Moore or Davis Guggenheim of the documentary world? That has yet to be seen. But if he continues down the path he has forged for himself, we will be seeing a lot more documentaries with unique perspectives and interesting camera work. And honestly, who doesn’t want to see the documentary film world grow even more mainstream?
We know according to one extreme set of evangelical Christians the rapture was supposed to occur on May 21. Whoopsies, right? We all had a good long laugh at that. The apocalypse, that’s a good one, crazies!Then, this summer, all sorts of madness went down. Riots in London, Hurricanes, the US credit rating fell, Earthquakes, Kim Kardashian got married. And, earlier this month, Contagion convinced us we should never touch anyone ever again.We’re beginning to think that perhaps there’s a reason to be paranoid. And then we get paranoid about getting paranoid… are we losing it?
Filmmaker Jeff Nichols can probably understand where we’re coming from. His new film Take Shelter taps into this paranoia and topical obsession with the end of the world. Starring the crazy talented Michael Shannon as a man suffering from apocalyptic visions, Take Shelter was a critical hit at Sundance and Cannes, where it won the Critics Week Grand Prize. The film rounded out its successful festival run at Toronto earlier this month, and is opening in New York and LA on the 30th. Check out the trailer below, but don’t blame us if it only increases that paranoid foreboding you’ve been feeling lately.
With Nichols at its helm, Take Shelter unfolds like a quiet mental puzzle. Shannon’s character Curtis LaForche desperately tries to protect his family from a threat he can’t define, whether in the real world or his mind. This is a film critics are already raving about, and there have even been murmurings of Oscar buzz for the film, Shannon and Jessica Chastain, who plays Curtis’ wife. This could be a career making moment for Nichols– which is why we happen to think it is the ideal time to name him a Future FilmBuff Hero. We can’t wait to see Take Shelter, even if it might give us nightmares for a little bit. Bring it on, nightmares! We’re ready.
While Sundance and Cannes may be the biggest stage Nichols has been thrust on so far, he’s not a newbie to the indie film scene. You first might have noticed his work when he directed the music video for Spoon’s “Don’t You Evah” featuring the lovable robot Keepon . If you missed it, check it out below.
While thoroughly enjoyable (Robots dancing! What more could you possibly desire?!?) the vid’s not entirely representative of Nichols’ work. He’s more into the subtly dark rural family dramas. His debut feature Shotgun Stories got a lot of buzz back in 2008- Roger Ebert, and David Edelstein of New York Magazine both named it one of their favorite films of the year. Nichols wrote and directed this drama about the feud of two brothers in the aftermath of their fathers death. It also starred Michael Shannon and this is pre-Oscar nom, pre-Boardwalk Empire Michael Shannon. Nichols knew a insanely talented man when he saw one. No doubt, Nichols’ working relationship with the actor must be pretty good to pull off performances like in these two films.
Besides nurturing talented actors and drawing out bad ass performances, one thing we admire about Nichols is how he depicts the rural environments of his films. He doesn’t condescend or turn the place into a caricature. His small rural towns feel like real small towns – although we can’t remember the last time we saw someone who looked like Jessica Chastain in central Ohio, but we digress. This realism makes the inner dramas of Nichols characters all the more startling. In the case of Take Shelter‘s pervasive paranoia, Nichols seems to be saying “Hey, buddy! This could be you!” Take Shelter looks like it will be haunting and thought-provoking, and we’d much rather see a smart psychological thriller over the gory slasher schlock we’re sure to be bombarded with during next month’s pre-Halloween bonanza.
But don’t take our word for it, check out Take Shelter yourself, and see if you agree that Nichols deserves a place in our hallowed halls… of the Future FilmBuff Heroes.
Chances are, you haven’t heard of Andrew Haigh yet. And why should you? He’s only been the editor for amazing films like Gladiator, Black Hawk Down, The Count of Monte Cristo and Mona Lisa Smile. Have we got your attention now?
Recently this British editor has added writer and director to his credentials with his 2009 feature film debut Greek Pete and, now, the SXSW breakout hit Weekend about two gay men who meet on a Friday and end up spending a weekend together that completely changes their lives. Check out the trailer:
We don’t know about you guys, but we are dying to see this flick. We can’t get enough of heartfelt indies.
He sat down in March to talk about his new film with indieWire and we are just so excited over what he said about his film:
“When I was coming up with the idea, I wanted to tell the relationship drama honestly and have it about gay people. To try to tell a story that had wider resonance than that. That’s the thing about a lot of gay films, they’re just about being gay—nightclubs, coming out when you were a kid. I wanted to focus the everyday aspects of being gay. If I was straight, I would’ve told it about a woman. It’s after you make the film that the gay word gets used constantly.”
We think it’s time that people stopped portraying gay relationships as caricatures (we are looking at you, Modern Family), but instead as honest and real like any other relationship. We saw that a bit with The Kids are All Right and Our Idiot Brother, so it’s nice that Haigh is continuing with this trend. And we aren’t just trying to make this a cause for gay rights, but a cause for good cinema and well-defined characters that tell all kinds of stories. Andrew Haigh, you are officially a FilmBuff hero.
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