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Yahoo
19-05-2025
- Entertainment
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‘Slauson Rec' Review: Shia LaBeouf Inspires Wannabes — and Frequently Turns on Them — in an Intimate Chronicle of His Theater Experiment
Slauson Rec, drawn from several years' worth of intimate video recordings of an experimental theater company, is a sincere exploration of collective creativity. It's also the latest chapter in the Shia LaBeouf saga, the stuff of professional acclaim and offscreen headlines. Although LaBeouf isn't the author of the documentary, he is the architect of the project it chronicles. You might call him the brutalist. First-time director Leo Lewis O'Neil, who also handled all the camerawork, was one of the 200 or so people who responded to LaBeouf's 2018 Twitter video announcing the formation of a free weekly theater workshop at the Slauson Recreation Center in South Los Angeles. Most were, like O'Neil, young and ardent admirers of the actor, who at that point was between movies and had a different kind of creative itch to scratch. Unlike the others, O'Neil wasn't interested in performing, but, 'desperate to be part of anything he did,' offered his services as archivist for the 'social science experiment,' as LaBeouf himself would later, ruefully, describe it. More from The Hollywood Reporter 'The Chronology of Water' Review: Kristen Stewart Makes a Boldly Assured Directing Debut, Starring a Transformative Imogen Poots Spike Lee Toasts 'Highest 2 Lowest' With The Hollywood Reporter and Threads at Cannes Bash Ruben Östlund's 'The Entertainment System Is Down' Sells to Memento for France Drawn from footage Lewis shot over a seven-year period, with most of it from the school's three-year run, Slauson Rec records the stops and starts, the anything-can-happen electricity as bonds form, ideas blossom and strangers take chances together. Lewis was there for the frustrations and breakthroughs, the elation when things clicked and, increasingly, the meltdowns. As time went on, he found himself in the midst of a slow-motion train wreck. A significant portion of the film's running time involves LaBeouf, in all his mercurial splendor, losing his shit. He rants. He fumes. He storms off. On a couple of occasions he gets physical with members of the troupe. But this is no quick-hit gotcha. It's clearly a personal story for Lewis, who was new to L.A. and alone when he ventured to the rec center and found not just something to do but a family. Poring over the group's dynamics, he wants to understand what drove its leader. He might even want to help him exorcise the bad vibes. He bookends the main events with an interview with an older-and-wiser LaBeouf, married and raising a child with Mia Goth and copping to the 'god complex' that drove him to make others suffer for his art. There's more than a little hyperbole in LaBeouf's mea culpa when he calls the unintended results of his behavior 'fascistic.' And the documentary's ample running time — two and half hours — might be interpreted as an endorsement of the epic significance that LaBeouf attached to his Slauson Rec Theater Company. Yet the doc is by no means a slog. It's sensitively shot and sharply edited, and its energy flows. The same intensity that LaBeouf brings to his acting pours out of nearly every interaction he has in the film. Whether he's enraged or kvelling, he has such a compelling way with words, and such an animated physicality, that he's almost endlessly watchable. Almost. The dramatic exits lose their drama after a while. And there are quite a few of them, especially when rehearsals are in full swing for 5711 Avalon, the innovative pandemic-era production that would be Slauson Rec's biggest and last production. Slauson Rec might be a more inviting and effective experience if it were expanded slightly and reshaped into a two- or three-part cable docuseries. We don't need nitty-gritty details, but a bit more info about the multimedia play 5711 Avalon would have been a welcome substitute for some of the repetitive instances of behind-the-scenes conflict, as watchable as they are. (It's not hard to imagine some of those sequences as grist for a future episode of Documentary Now! That's a compliment.) Actors Bobby Soto and Donte 'Bo' Johnson, who met LaBeouf on the set of The Tax Collector, were his co-founders in the theater company, but there's no question that he's the head honcho, the raison d'être. Decades earlier, the charismatic maverick John Cassavetes had done something similar, pouring his own Hollywood money into a Los Angeles theater project. Unlike Cassavetes, LaBeouf had no famous actors in his troupe, and it would take a while before he focused on scripted material. In the early months, workshop sessions are devoted to movement-based 'devised theater,' with an emphasis on improvisation and collaborative creation. The school's numbers dwindle as those seeking more conventional acting lessons fall away. Among the ones who stay, spirits run high, and there's a fevered excitement as the group plans its first public performance, with LaBeouf enthusing over 'probably the best thing I've ever been a part of.' In an interview conducted at his hillside aerie, the actor emphasizes his hunger to create with others. But it isn't long before harsh rebukes punctuate his encouragement. Notably, his first major tantrum happens on a day when he points out that he hasn't been to AA much that week. Months earlier, the five-minute personal introduction that LaBeouf delivered to kickstart the group's first meeting revealed a narrative shaped by outsiderness, trauma, alcoholism and recovery — no surprise to anyone who has seen Honey Boy, the autobiographical feature he penned and starred in. That movie, shot and released around the same time as his Slauson Rec project was taking shape, revolves around LaBeouf's troubled relationship with his manipulative father. Now, under Lewis' vigilant eye, we see LaBeouf turning into an explosive paternal figure, one who declares his love 'conditional' and taunts the group with angry reminders of his beneficence. 'I'm doing everything!' he sputters in response to disappointing read-throughs. In addition to LaBeouf's mounting volatility, there are tensions within the group over its role in the immediate community — a crucial question for the arts in general in a country of extreme economic disparity. Then comes the COVID shutdown, bringing that disparity to the fore without truly addressing it. But, with 5711 Avalon, LaBeouf & Co. tried. Born of the pandemic and very much about it, the play is set in a COVID testing site. Fueled by a Hollywood star's earnings, it's a play that focuses on frontline workers. It would be rehearsed and performed in a South L.A. parking lot, and when it opened in October 2020, famous people — Jaden Smith, Sean Penn — showed up for the drive-in experience. O'Neil zeroes in on three castmembers who find themselves at the receiving end of LaBeouf's invective: Sarah Kaplan, Sam Walker and Ezekiel 'Zeke' Pacheco, an ambitious actor from South L.A. who books a role on Netflix's On My Block during rehearsals but remains committed to the play. Amid the underlying stress and uncertainty of the pandemic, LaBeouf is masked and dangerous, his outbursts a shocking mix of self-awareness and loss of control. Though not a performer, O'Neil is clearly a full-fledged and well-liked member of the troupe, and the time he spends away from rehearsals with Kaplan and especially Pacheco, offering glimpses of their families, is fueled by profound affection. At one point during one of LaBeouf's parking-lot freakouts, O'Neil zeros in on a little kid in the next-door backyard, watching through the fence in alarm and amazement. You get a sense that the filmmaker wishes he, too, could toddle away and not give this grown-up but childish drama a second thought. But, finally, Slauson Rec is defined by gratitude and love no less than hurt and confusion. Pointing his camera at the man who bought it for him, he sees someone fumbling toward grace. Best of The Hollywood Reporter 'The Goonies' Cast, Then and Now "A Nutless Monkey Could Do Your Job": From Abusive to Angst-Ridden, 16 Memorable Studio Exec Portrayals in Film and TV The 10 Best Baseball Movies of All Time, Ranked
Yahoo
19-05-2025
- Entertainment
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Spike Lee Toasts ‘Highest 2 Lowest' With The Hollywood Reporter and Threads at Cannes Bash
With his beloved New York Knicks leading its NBA playoffs matchup with the Boston Celtics after a 119-81 victory this weekend, Spike Lee doesn't need a million reasons to raise a glass. But The Hollywood Reporter and Threads gave the veteran auteur one more by hosting an early evening celebration for his Cannes Film Festival selection Highest 2 Lowest at Hyde Beach by Campari on Sunday. Set to make a triumphant return Monday to the Palais for the world premiere of his Apple Original feature in partnership with A24, Lee got buzz going early — in more ways than one thanks to cocktails by Campari — by turning up to the beach-set bash accompanied by his family, including wife Tonya Lewis Lee and their children Satchel and Jackson Lee. More from The Hollywood Reporter Ruben Östlund's 'The Entertainment System Is Down' Sells to Memento for France 'The Secret Agent' Review: Wagner Moura Makes a Stunning Return to Brazilian Cinema in Kleber Mendonça Filho's Masterful Period Political Thriller 'Slauson Rec' Review: Shia LaBeouf Inspires Wannabes - and Frequently Turns on Them - in an Intimate Chronicle of His Theater Experiment The Lees turned up just before 6 p.m. to the party, where some of his collaborators were already on hand, including the film's screenwriter Alan Fox, producers Jason Michael Berman and Jordan Moldo and executives from Apple and A24. But even before Lee touched down, his presence was visible thanks to plentiful copies of THR's Cannes issue featuring Lee on the cover (with an interview by senior film editor Rebecca Keegan), complete with striking yellow and black spectacles. Hyde Beach by Campari was blanketed by the brand's striking signature red. Digitized covers also featuring Lee's face also added to the anticipation of his in-real-life arrival. Highest 2 Lowest is a 'reinterpretation,' per Lee's own words, of Akira Kurosawa's 1963 police procedural High and Low. It stars frequent collaborator Denzel Washington as a music mogul who becomes the target of a ransom demand that forces him into a moral dilemma, between life and death. Jeffrey Wright, A$AP Rocky, Wendell Pierce and Ilfenesh Hadera round out the cast. Hadera and Pierce also attended the bash, as did boldfaced names like Guillaume Thevenin, Diamant Blazi, Sally, Paola Locatelli, Mateo Sinet and Netflix's Albert Tello, among others. 'This is my first time in Cannes,' Pierce told THR in the luxe Campari lounge. 'I always said that I would come when I was part of a movie that was special, and this movie is very special.' In more ways than one. The veteran actor has worked with Lee before, dating back to his 1996 film Get on the Bus. 'Spike and I go all the way back to Brooklyn. I remember when he started: I lived in Fort Greene a block away from his office and I would see him on a regular basis,' Pierce explained. 'I'm just so happy to be a part of his journey because I think he is emblematic of the American aesthetic of freedom within form. He understands how to honor technique and at the same time be as creative and expressive as he can be. So, for you guys here at The Hollywood Reporter to honor him that way, it marks his legacy.' Pierce continued: 'The fact that we're here for his film on the lovely French Riviera, it shows you the more specific you are in your art, the more universal your message becomes. People can appreciate the work of Spike Lee, as specific as he is in all his films, it has universal appeal, and that's reflected here on the Riviera and the Cannes Film Festival.' And that is yet another reason to raise a glass. Best of The Hollywood Reporter 'The Goonies' Cast, Then and Now "A Nutless Monkey Could Do Your Job": From Abusive to Angst-Ridden, 16 Memorable Studio Exec Portrayals in Film and TV The 10 Best Baseball Movies of All Time, Ranked
Yahoo
19-05-2025
- Entertainment
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Cannes According to… Super Agent Jeremy Barber
Best bargain in Cannes? There are no bargains in Cannes. More from The Hollywood Reporter 'The Chronology of Water' Review: Kristen Stewart Makes a Boldly Assured Directing Debut, Starring a Transformative Imogen Poots Spike Lee Toasts 'Highest 2 Lowest' With The Hollywood Reporter and Threads at Cannes Bash Ruben Östlund's 'The Entertainment System Is Down' Sells to Memento for France Favorite meal in Cannes? Tie between La Pizza and Le Maschou. Most overrated restaurant? Does anyone actually answer this question? Biggest Cannes faux pas? Attempting to attend a film at the Palais wearing a sneaker shoe and/or a non-bow tie with your tux. Best place to grab a drink after 3 a.m.? Hotel du Cap. Place to avoid during the festival? The lobby of literally any hotel along the Croisette. Biggest Cannes pet peeve? The crowds and traffic. Cannes guilty pleasure? The movies … all of the movies. Strangest request you've ever received in Cannes? When I worked at Artisan, I was asked/told to creep down a hallway at the Majestic Hotel and listen under the door to hear how much a competitor was offering for a movie we wanted to buy. Most interesting celeb encounter? Watching the sun rise at the Eden-Roc as Bruce Willis DJ'd following the Armageddon premiere and the bar was emptied of its contents. One thing you won't travel without, besides your phone? My backup phone … Attitude toward timing/reporting on standing ovations at premieres? I am not a fan of any reporting on the length of time someone spends standing and cheering, or for that matter doing anything else. Best of The Hollywood Reporter 'The Goonies' Cast, Then and Now "A Nutless Monkey Could Do Your Job": From Abusive to Angst-Ridden, 16 Memorable Studio Exec Portrayals in Film and TV The 10 Best Baseball Movies of All Time, Ranked
Yahoo
19-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Ruben Östlund's ‘The Entertainment System Is Down' Sells to Memento for France
French distributor Memento has acquired the distribution rights to the star-studded upcoming film The Entertainment System Is Down from director Ruben Östlund (Triangle of Sadness, The Square) for France. The darkly satirical movie is set on a long-haul flight between England and Australia where the entertainment system fails, and passengers are forced to face the horror of being bored. The ensemble cast includes Kirsten Dunst, Daniel Brühl, Keanu Reeves, Nicholas Braun, Julie Delpy, Tobias Menzies, Connor Swindells, Daniel Webber, Wayne Blair, Dan Wyllie, Lindsay Duncan, Allan Corduner, Sofia Tjelta Sydness, Erin Ainsworth, Myles Kamwendo, Elle Piper, Thibaud Dooms, Sanna Sundqvist, Tea Stjärne, Swedish artist Benjamin Ingrosso and Sanjeev Bhaskar. More from The Hollywood Reporter June Squibb on Her Nonagenarian Career High: "A 70-Year-Old Will Say, 'I Want To Be You When I Grow Up!'" Cannes: Wes Anderson Teases His Next Film Cannes: Wes Brings The Whimsy in 'Phoenician Scheme' Press Conference Previous sales of the project include A24 for the U.S., Lionsgate Films (U.K.), Alamode Film/Wild Bunch Germany (Germany & Austria), Lucky Red/Teodora Film (Italy), Sharmill Films (Australia & New Zealand), Elevation Pictures (Canada), Elastica/BTeam Pictures (Spain), September Film (Benelux), Bord Cadre Films (Switzerland), Gutek Film / Aerofilms (Eastern Europe), Feelgood Entertainment (Greece), Alambique Filmes (Portugal), Filmstop (Baltics), Sun Distribution Group (Latin America), Falcon (Middle East), and Road Pictures (China). World sales are handled by Coproduction Office. The Entertainment System Is Down is produced by Plattform Produktion (Sweden) with Essential Films (Germany) and Parisienne de Production (France). Co-producers include BBC Film, Film i Väst, Sveriges Television, ARTE France Cinéma, ZDF/ARTE, SF Studios, Eye Eye Pictures (Norway), Paloma Productions (Denmark), and Good Chaos (U.K.). The film is produced in association with Proton Cinema, Bord Cadre Films, Sovereign Films, Cinema Inutile, and Gold Rush Pictures. Financing was secured through the Swedish Film Institute, Medienboard Berlin-Brandenburg, Filmförderungsanstalt (FFA), the Norwegian Film Institute, the Danish Film Institute, with participation from Canal+, Disney+ and ARTE France, as well as support from Creative Europe Media. Best of The Hollywood Reporter 'The Goonies' Cast, Then and Now "A Nutless Monkey Could Do Your Job": From Abusive to Angst-Ridden, 16 Memorable Studio Exec Portrayals in Film and TV The 10 Best Baseball Movies of All Time, Ranked
Yahoo
23-02-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
‘Constantine' Sequel 'Pitched' To DC Studios & Ready For A Treatment, Keanu Reeves Says
The ever-elusive cult favorite Constantine is officially ready for the sequel treatment — and a treatment treatment, per star Keanu Reeves. The John Wick and The Matrix alum recently told Inverse that after years of attempts to make a follow-up to the gritty supernatural thriller, fans may soon see that vision come to fruition with headway being made in the creative process. More from Deadline James Watkins Lands 'Clayface' Directing Gig 'Constantine' Director Francis Lawrence Shares Update On Sequel: "We Are Closer Than Ever" Ruben Östlund's 'The Entertainment System Is Down' Starts Principal Photography, Reveals Further Cast 'We've [along with director Francis Lawrence] been trying to make this film for over a decade, and we just recently put a story together and pitched it to DC Studios and they said, 'OK.' So, we're going to try and write a script,' he told the outlet. Though the veteran actor was naturally closed-off from giving details, he confirmed that Constantine 2 would be set in the 'same world' as the 2005 original. 'We're not going off that,' he added. 'John Constantine's going to be tortured even more.' Reeves' promising updates come after Lawrence's own comments from last week, in which the helmer said the duo are 'closer than ever to being able to do a sequel.' The filmmaker noted that they 'have a great idea,' saying, 'We have gone through a bunch of the comics over the years and looked at things.' He noted that the idea for a sequel stemmed from having the character 'in the back of our minds for 20 years and just kind of percolating on ideas, and stories and characters we love, and ideas we love.' Constantine is loosely based on the DC Comics/Vertigo Comics' Hellblazer series, initially a point of contention among diehard fans but now revered in its own right. Also starring Rachel Weisz, the story centers on John Constantine (Reeves), an angsty, chain-smoking exorcist with the ability to travel to hell and back and perceive the true visage of angels and demons. Best of Deadline 'The White Lotus' Season 3 Release Schedule: When Do New Episodes Arrive On Max? 'The White Lotus' Season 3: Everything We Know About The Cast, Premiere Date & More 2025 TV Series Renewals: Photo Gallery
