Posterized: Sean Penn as director

by Nathaniel R

Dylan and Sean Penn earlier this summer at Cannes.

Former movie star Sean Penn celebrated his 61st birthday just two days ago and now welcomes his sixth directorial effort, Flag Day, into US theaters. Though Penn's name was once intoned with a kind of reverence by fellow actors and critics his film career has been curiously uneventful for a decade now (with his supporting role in The Tree of Life, 2011, his last real prestigious success... and mostly by association at that). One suspects the fading film career is more from a shift in his own interest and priorities given his political activism than a lack of opportunities but it's always hard to know given the fickle nature of Hollywood and stardom in general.

Can Flag Day serve as a kind of jumpstart for a comeback in the next few years? Does he even want that? He has two films (as an actor) in preproduction now, a drama with Dakota Johnson and a drama with Tye Sheridan.  How many of his six directorial efforts have you seen? The posters are after the jump...

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Links

• Bloody Disgusting design for a new steelcase edition of American Psycho
• Screen Crush Sonny Chiba, legendary martial arts star, has passed away at 82 from COVID related pneumonia
• IndieWire Cinematographers speaking out about unsafe working conditions
• Deadline turns out Disney released that petty victim blaming statement against Scarlett Johansson when she was in labor delivering her new baby
• AV Club ...and perhaps to prevent another lawsuit, Emma Stone obviously got a *very* sweet deal for Cruella 2 aka... um, a second live-action 101 Dalmatians remake.

Julianne Moore, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Eternals, Anthony Mackie, Billy Eichner, Manny Jacinto, Gloria Swanson, Denzel Washington, and The White Lotus after the jump...

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Emmy Category Analysis: Will "Hamilton" Win With Three Nominees?

Team Experience is looking at episode submissions for all the major Emmy categories...

Three "Hamilton" men are nominated for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Limited or Anthology Series or Movie - Anthony Ramos, Daveed Diggs and Jonathan Groff.

By Christopher James

Can Daveed Diggs come one step closer to an EGOT? The actor already has a Tony and Grammy for his work and he could very well add an Emmy to that haul… all for the same performance in Hamilton. He’s not the only Hamilton star vying for the Emmy for Outstanding Supporting Actor In A Limited Or Anthology Series Or Movie. Even in such a long and lofty category title, considering the filmed performance of Hamilton in this category feels like a bit of a stretch. While this could ding the Emmy chances for Hamilton, voters didn't seem to be bothered by it, as the Limited Series acting categories all suggest.

Diggs’ Emmy is far from assured though. Three of the buzziest miniseries each have a young, breakout actor nominated here. I May Destroy You, The Queen’s Gambit and Mare of Easttown are all huge Emmy players this season, showing up in multiple categories. Coattails for any of these shows could help one of these men beat the trio of Hamilton nominees. Let’s take a look at the nominees for Outstanding Supporting Actor In A Limited Or Anthology Series Or Movie (*NOTE SPOILERS AHEAD):

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How Had I Never Seen..."Blue Velvet"

We're revisiting 1986 this month leading up to the next Supporting Actress Smackdown. 

by Ben Miller

I’m not a David Lynch person.  My first exposure to anything he made was The Straight Story, the most un-Lynchian thing he ever did.  I wasn’t around the people who cared about Twin Peaks the television show, the film or the subsequent revival series.  I enjoy the levels of surreal like David Cronenberg and Yorgos Lanthimos, but Lynch is a level of bizzare I wasn’t willing to commit myself to caring about.

But, being the Oscar completist that I am, I gave a shot to Mulholland Drive, and I really took to it.  It was during the viewing of Mulholland Drive that I realized what made Lynch different from other filmmakers...

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Locarno Diary #5: "Vengeance is Mine, All Others Pay Cash" wins the Golden Leopard

by Elisa Giudici

"Vengeance is Mind, All Others Pay Cash" won the Golden Leopard

I did it. With your help! 

I am always so happy when the winner of something-d'Or at a Festival I attended is a movie I was able to see and review. Sometimes seeing all of the competition entries is next to impossible (though I managed at Cannes this year!) and, festival after festival, I discover it requires a special talent to sense which film you should not miss, no matter what. It's a talent/skill I am trying to develop. This time I was lucky. Not only did I see the Golden Leopard winner Vengeance is Mine, All Others Pay Cash but I scheduled it thanks to a comment I read right here on The Film Experience!  I was not able to attend the first press screenings but because of the hype generated by that comment and a little research among some Locarno connaisseurs I go to for help, I booked a ticket at the very last projection, late at night

After the first scene I knew it was the right choice, even if some major construction sites on my way home meant I wasn't able to sleep until 3 AM. After the credits I wrote this very note on my notebook: "A winner for sure, if the Jury is brave enough". It was!

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