Latest news with #psychologicalthriller
Yahoo
12 hours ago
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
This movie ruined my career and ended my dating life. 30 years later, it's seeing a resurgence on Netflix.
William McNamara opens up to Yahoo about "Copycat" — the film that derailed his career — and how it's suddenly finding a new life 30 years later, thanks to Netflix. In high school and into college, I watched my VHS copy of 1988's Stealing Home approximately 876 times. William McNamara, with his tousled hair and Hollywood-approved cheekbones, played a teen whose relationship with his childhood babysitter defined his coming of age. Back then, McNamara was on a path to leading man status. The heartthrob graced the pages of fan magazines, made a movie with the Coreys, shared the screen with rising star Reese Witherspoon and was cast as golden-age icon Montgomery Clift. He even dated Brooke Shields. Everything was coming up Billy — and then he sort of vanished. Blame Copycat — or at least he does. In the 1995 psychological thriller starring Sigourney Weaver and Holly Hunter, McNamara played a clean-cut sociopath. Perhaps too well. 'It ruined my career,' he tells Yahoo. 'I was on the leading man trajectory — the good guy roles. All of a sudden … casting agents said, 'No, I saw Billy in Copycat. He's too edgy. He's too dark. He's too comfortable in that role. There's no acting. That had to be him.' After that, the parts McNamara got offered changed, and his leading man status faded. It also killed his dating life. Women 'saw the movie and my character disturbed them,' he says. So you can imagine the whiplash he felt when, 30 years later, Copycat landed on Netflix and rocketed to the platform's global Top 10 the week of June 16, charting in 46 countries. The film that derailed his career was suddenly back. Stunned by its resurgence, McNamara talks to Yahoo about the film's surprise second life, the toll it took on his career and his hope for another shot. The comeback McNamara had no idea the Jon Amiel-directed film landed on Netflix until his social media started blowing up in June. 'I was getting 100 new Instagram followers a day and all these [direct] messages,' he says. 'I go on IMDbPro's STARmeter and usually I'm between 5,000 to 10,000, which is not bad for a '90s star, by the way. I was (No.) 165, above Angelina Jolie. I thought it was a mistake. Then a couple of people started texting: 'Hey, Copycat is trending.' The whole thing 'blew my mind,' he says of Copycat getting 6 million views in a week on the streaming service. It also 'tells me that I make an impression on people. I have a supporting role in Copycat. For that many people to look me up [says something]. They should give me another shot today.' The killer role that changed everything McNamara was cast against type as Peter Foley — a soft-spoken, button-down shirt-wearing guy who's secretly mimicking infamous murderers. 'I didn't suspect at all that I would be asked to do a serial killer role,' he says. 'I thought he was interested in me for the detective role [that went to] Dermot Mulroney.' At his two meetings with the director, he didn't read lines. They talked, which McNamara says felt more like 'a psychiatric tour of my life' than an audition. Finally, an offer followed. 'My agent at the time said, 'They want you to play the serial killer,'' he recalls. 'I was like, 'Really? I don't know if I could do that.' He said, 'This is an important film… It's Warner Bros. You need to do this.' I thought: It seems difficult, but at the time, I was not a superstar. The money was very good, and [so was the opportunity to work] on a big studio movie with Sigourney and Holly and Dermot and Harry Connick Jr. … It was like: 'OK, I gotta do it. I gotta just figure this out.'' McNamara prepared extensively for the role, working with forensic psychiatrist Park Dietz, who consulted on the highest-profile criminal cases like Jeffrey Dahmer and FBI profiler Robert Ressler, paying them out of his own pocket. 'I did an interesting, definitely unique portrayal of a serial killer and everybody liked it,' he says. 'I got letters from Warner Bros. and [Regency Enterprises founder] Arnon Milchan, so it seemed everything was good and my career was taking off. Then I was walking through [L.A.'s] Westwood … and two UCLA girls recognized me: 'Hey, we just saw your movie.' I thought they meant Stealing Home, my big movie everybody recognized me from, but they said, 'No, Copycat.' It turns out they had participated in a test screening of the yet-to-be-released film. 'I said, 'How was the movie?' and they replied, 'Not too good. You didn't score well,' he says. He thought it was a joke until the next day, when his agent called. 'He said, I've got good news and bad news,'' McNamara says. 'Good news: They're not going to fire you. Bad news: Your movie didn't test well. But it's not just you… They've hired Frank Darabont to rewrite the script, and you're going to reshoot for 21 days.' A surprise acting coach and men in black Being told reshoots are needed is something 'no actor wants to hear,' McNamara says. But,'it wasn't really all my fault.' McNamara says he based his character on what he learned through his research, but his performance wasn't 'Hollywood' enough. 'Most serial killers are not movie stars or wildly entertaining people,' he says. 'They're cerebral and very introverted. It wouldn't be exciting to follow the real Jeffrey Dahmer around. You need Hannibal Lecter from The Silence of the Lambs… It didn't translate. It was unique — nobody had done this particular portrayal of a serial killer — but it was not Hollywood. I learned that lesson.' Leading up to the reshoots, McNamara was feeling 'panicked.' His mentor, actor Roddy McDowall, offered to have ''my friend Tony coach you'' on the script. 'Tony' turned out to be Anthony Hopkins. 'I brought all my research,' McNamara says. 'I handed it to [Hopkins] and he throws it away. He said, 'That got in your way. No more research. You want to keep it simple, stupid. We're going to memorize your lines backward and forward, and then we're just going to make it a joyous occasion. You're not a serial killer. This is a comedy, and you want to have fun.' It changed my whole perspective on acting.' While he was Hopkins-trained, the pressure was on. The first day back on the set, McNamara arrived and there were seven or eight men in black suits with their arms crossed. ''They're here for you,'' he says Amiel told him of the FBI look-alikes who turned out to be studio execs, including then-Warner Bros. chairman Terry Semel. 'If you don't knock it out of the ballpark today, they have somebody waiting [to replace you].' McNamara delivered, but when the film was released to largely positive reviews, he immediately felt a shift in the roles he was offered. 'Before Copycat, I had done a lot of movies playing the leading man, the straight and narrow guy,' he says. 'My agent would [try to get me] edgier roles and it was: 'No … He's too soft. He's too boy next door. He doesn't have any edge.'' When Copycat came out, 'All of a sudden, I'm not on the leading man track anymore because of this dark, edgy guy I played,' he says. 'I started being offered not B movies but [also] not A+ movies to play the bad guy. But for lots of money. I had two mortgages. I had a house on the beach in Malibu. I took the money basically.' McNamara's career path veered from the high-profile good guy leading man roles to more supporting turns in film and television. However, 'I continued to work,' he says. 'I work all the time. I'm very lucky.' His professional life wasn't his only disappointment. McNamara's romantic life suffered, too. 'I was a single bachelor and did well with the girls back then,' he says. 'After Copycat came out, [it changed]. [I'd ask a woman], 'Hey, can I get your number?' And she's like: 'Yeah, um, I don't know. I just don't get a good vibe about you.'' He recalled telling his therapist, ''Something really weird is going on. Every girl is rejecting me.' She said: 'Do you think it might be your role?'' They deduced that Copycat viewers didn't consciously recognize McNamara from the film, because his role was supporting, but they subconsciously associated him with his creepy character who drugged drinks and kidnapped and tortured his victims. Luckily, he was able to turn the 'Billy McNamara charm' back around. Coming soon: His dream role With new fans discovering his old movies, McNamara says he'd love to see Stealing Home, 'which didn't get the right amount of attention at the time' and the 'zany and funny' 1994 film Chasers, get their due. As for his future dream role, it's one 'I created for myself,' he says. ' he says. McNamara wrote, directed and produced 10 episodes of The Trouble With Billy, a comedy series in which he also stars, about an exaggerated version of himself. It's about a former '90s heartthrob's quest to finance his dog's life-saving heart transplant. (McNamara's an animal activist, making headlines for his efforts.) The series, which is being shopped around, was created 'out of desperation because for years, I've always wanted to do comedy [but was told], 'You're not funny. You're a dramatic actor,'' he says. He's had fun leaning into the washed-up actor vibe. "[I was told]: 'Don't ever show [the series] to a girl you're interested in because it portrays you in a very bad light, like a loser.' But I've never been homeless. I've never lived in my car. They don't do heart transplants on dogs. I have not been abducted by aliens,' he laughs. 'I'm proud of it. It's pretty good.' Solve the daily Crossword
CBC
7 days ago
- Entertainment
- CBC
Thriller writer Ruth Ware has never done a sequel — until now
Bestselling author Ruth Ware doesn't do sequels, or so she's said. After nine standalone psychological thrillers, the British novelist has released The Woman in Suite 11, which is a follow-up to her hit 2016 book, The Woman in Cabin 10. Ware sits down with guest host Ali Hassan to tell us how her readers persuaded her to take another look at her character Lo Blacklock — a travel journalist who seems to find herself on the deadly end of luxury excursions. Plus, Ware explains how maternity leave put her on the path to becoming a professional writer.
Yahoo
20-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
‘Black Swan' Books Exclusive 15th Anniversary Run in Imax Theaters
Darren Aronofsky's award-winning Black Swan is getting the Imax treatment in celebration of its fifteenth anniversary. The psychological thriller — starring Natalie Portman in her Oscar-winning role as a troubled ballerina — is being remastered for an exclusive Aug. 21-24 run in more than 200 Imax locations across the U.S. and Canada, Searchlight Pictures announced Wednesday. More from The Hollywood Reporter Christopher Nolan's 'The Odyssey': Tickets for Imax 70MM Screenings Now Officially on Sale a Year Out Rise of the Machines: Inside Hollywood's AI Civil War Natalie Portman-Produced French Animated Film 'Arco' Wins Annecy It will be the first time that audiences can watch Black Swan in the premium Imax format. Plans for additional anniversary events will be announced at a later date. Black Swan made its world premiere at the Venice Film Festival in September 2010 on its way to collecting five Academy Award nominations, including for best picture and best director, and a win for best actress. Set in the cutthroat world of New York City ballet, the story follows Nina (Portman), a dedicated dancer whose pursuit of perfection spirals into obsession when a new rival, played by Mila Kunis, joins the company. As she prepares for the demanding dual role of the Swan Queen, the mounting pressure begins to blur the line between reality and delusion, leading to a mesmerizing descent into the dark depths of ambition, identity and madness. Vincent Cassel, Barbara Hershey and Winona Ryder also star in the specialty film. Black Swan earned more than $329 million at the global box office, including $107 million domestically and $222 million overseas, not adjusted for inflation, to become one of the top-grossing titles in Searchlight's history. Searchlight released a new trailer and poster ahead of the film's Imax screenings. Best of The Hollywood Reporter The 40 Best Films About the Immigrant Experience Wes Anderson's Movies Ranked From Worst to Best 13 of Tom Cruise's Most Jaw-Dropping Stunts Solve the daily Crossword
The Review Geek
18-07-2025
- Entertainment
- The Review Geek
Wall to Wall (2025) Movie Review – A confusing thriller that leads nowhere
A confusing thriller that leads nowhere Kang Ha-neul may have been typecast as the bumbling buffoon in his K-dramas but if you want range, his movies never fail. From comedies to thrillers, he can do it all and has the presence for one-man narratives as well. And whether it is his recent movie, Streaming or the jaw-dropping Forgotten, Ha-neul's thrillers are pretty underrated. But does his Netflix movie, Wall to Wall add another feather to his cap? Helmed by Kim Tae-joon, who is known for his iconic Netflix thriller, Unlocked, Wall to Wall has all the makings of an adrenaline-filled, gritty mystery. Along with Kang Ha-neul, the cast includes familiar faces such as Seo Hyeon-woo, Yeom Hye-ran, Jeon Jin-oh, Park Sung-il and Kang Ae-sim. Wall to Wall is said to be a psychological thriller, complete with mind games, twisted schemes and traitorous characters. Real estate rates are skyrocketing and Seoulites have to bend over backwards to even rent a place. Noh Woo-sung (played by Ha-neul) gets what he thinks is the deal of a lifetime, even though he has to take out a hefty loan to buy an apartment. 3 years later, he is unable to pay his bills and his neighbours are making his life miserable. He is what they call 'house poor' as he now owns an apartment but cannot afford anything else. The rates are going down and he cannot sell it without going into a heavy loss. One day, he is confronted by his downstairs neighbour who blames him for the constant noise coming from the unit above him. He decides to take matters into his own hands but for the life of him, he cannot find the source of the noise. Is he imagining things or is someone out to get him? Wall to Wall starts off as a promising thriller. Every aspect contributes to the suspense from the eerie percussive music and the clinical lighting to the intentional tight close-ups and literally shady lighting. Each apartment unit has a different aesthetic to represent its resident but overall, there is something ghostly. It is as if the building has come alive and seems inhospitable to its occupants. Like the conspiracy in the story, the very environment seems to conspire against Woo-sung. Even the most mundane act like Woo-sung gambling with crypto, adds a sense of thrill and keeps viewers on edge. The first act is basically a one-man show and Ha-neul keeps us hooked with his nervous and manic anti-hero. Right when things slow down, another plot twist shows up. There are strange happenings like 1301 holding a blade to a mysterious figure supposedly breaking into Woo-sung's home. It is followed by a surreal montage which is bound to have viewers wondering what is real and what is Woo-sung's imagination. As the noise and the neighbours get to him, the movie becomes very clear in its message on how greedy and capitalistic society has become. But the plot gets predictable and dull when the first clue to the culprits is revealed at the midway mark. It even gets a little righteous and convoluted during the climax, followed by a confusing and vague ending. The anti-capitalistic message holds but there is no big impact or payoff. The cast does its best to pile onto the surrealism but the narrative doesn't trust viewers to follow its conclusion. Instead, Seo Hyeon-woo is forced to become the director's mouthpiece and explain everything that has been going on, step by step. Yeom Hye-ran is wasted as well, as her beguiling landlord is sidelined before succumbing to an overused trope. Viewers may have tuned in courtesy of the premise which is quite reminiscent of Strangers from Hell. There are hints of supernatural elements too, similar to Happiness, #Alive or Sweet Home Season 1. Drama around apartment politics is not a new genre and the limited, cramped space is perfect for thrillers and murder mysteries. So, it is no wonder that expectations were high. Wall to Wall had quite the potential to amp up the psychological trauma and mind games. However, it is unable to make up its mind on which route to take, as evident in the clashing motivations and the hasty resolution. While the first act is enticing and Kang Ha-neul is a treat to watch, the second half and its ending are bound to disappoint viewers. Read More: Wall to Wall Ending Explained
Yahoo
17-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
‘Roma''s Marina de Tavira Attached to Star in ‘House Eight,' From Brenda Navarro, High-Flying Mexican Outfit Mandarina Cine (EXCLUSIVE)
Mexico's Marina de Taviria, Oscar-nominated as supporting actress for her performance as the mother in Alfonso Cuarón's 'Roma' is attached to star in Brenda Navarro's 'House Eight' ('Casa 8'), one of the hottest packages at this week's Bogotá Audiovisual Market (BAM). In further casting news, Verónica Bravo, nominated for a 2023 best actress Canacine Prize for 'Sobreviviendo Mis XV,' is also attached to take a key cast role in the series. More from Variety Five Colombian Below-the-Line Talents to Track 'Passenger' Explores the Clash of Morality and Survival in a Bogotá Thriller Uniting Midi, Camarada and Rodando (EXCLUSIVE) Spain and Colombia Unveil Historical Co-Production Treaty Currently in development and reaching out for international production partners, 'House Eight' is set up at high-flying Mexican production outfit Mandarina Cine, this year a global SXSW Audience Award winner for 'Corina,' now nominated for eight Mexican Academy Ariel Awards. Mandarina also produced 'The Devil Smokes (and Saves the Burnt Matches in the Same Box),' the first best film winner at the inaugural Berlinale Perspectives section, reserved for first-time movies. 'The Devil Smokes' was described by Variety as 'a childhood survival story as strange and beguiling as its title. Likewise, 'House Eight' weighs in as one of the most distinctive offerings at BAM. A psychological thriller, with fantasy or even metaphysical elements, it follows a group of terminally ill women who shelter in a clandestine house to die with dignity. They come to be faced by a disturbing reality: The Witch, their spiritual and scientific leader, has developed an experimental method that revives the dead, according to the synopsis. When one of the dead unexpectedly revives, the community fractures, and the Witches assistant becomes their greatest enemy, unleashing an ethical and emotional struggle were accepting death or defying it will change their lives forever. 'Brenda Navarro is an indispensable voice in our literature, creator of heart-rending worlds which are personally and socially touching. I would be delighted to collaborate in this project,' said de Tavira. 'I'm utterly moved by the possibility of being part of a group of women who tell a courageous, risky, painful and honest story, all guided by one of the most exciting young voices in our country's current literature, Brenda Navarro. 'May the story be told!' 'As a narrator, Brenda Navarro has the sensibility and social conscience to allow her to write from pain, not to reproduce but dismantle it. Her arrival on the film and TV scene, with images as potent as her writing, is a natural step. At Mandarina we are honoured and happy to make this journey with her,' said Carlos Hernández Vázquez, co-founder of Mandarina Cine with Gabriel Gavica in 2018. Bravo added that she and Hernández are looking for international alliances to produce 'House Eight,' 'a story about women with a team made up primarily of women in which the main theme is the fear to live when faced by such an unjust world, full of women which are battling to exercise a control over their decisions. 'House Eight' is a horror drama where the desire to die with dignity is punished by eternal life.' 'House Eight' won first prize in the 2024 Episode 0 section at Mexico's Guadalajara Film Festival. Navarro was part of the 'Cometierra' series writers room. 'Empty Houses,' her first novel, was published in 10 languages. The big screen adaptation of 'Ceniza en la boca' is now in post-production, directed by Diego Luna. Co-produced by Mandarina Cine and a first Turkey-Mexico co-production, Seyfettin Tokmak's 'Empire of the Rabbits' scooped best director in Taipei and and screenplay at Tallinn Black Nights Festival. Marina de Tavira is represented by the Talent on the Road agency, Verónica Bravo by Lumina Management. Best of Variety New Movies Out Now in Theaters: What to See This Week 'Harry Potter' TV Show Cast Guide: Who's Who in Hogwarts? Final Emmy Predictions: Talk Series and Scripted Variety - New Blood Looks to Tackle Late Night Staples
