By Jake Coyle, Film Writer
NEW YORK (AP) --Cary Fukunaga's first feature film, "Sin Nombre"— which translates to "Nameless," was a Spanish-language drama about Honduran immigrants. His latest, "Beasts of No Nation," is a brutal story about a boy drafted into a West African rebel army.
Don't be fooled by the exotic filmography. Fukunaga grew up in Oakland, California, in what he calls a traditional middle-class family, first planning to be a professional snowboarder.
"I've never really been drawn to telling stories that are immediate reflections of my life," says Fukunaga, who also helmed an acclaimed adaption of "Jane Eyre." ''I've always looked out: outside of my culture, outside of my time, even, as places of inspiration. I always used to daydream as a kid about living in different time periods and different places."
"Beasts of No Nation," which stars Idris Elba as the militant commandant, is also taking the traditional movie release to a new realm. When it opens in select theaters Oct. 16, it will also debut on Netflix. It's the first in Netflix's coming slate of original narrative films, which include Adam Sandler comedies, Brad Pitt's Gen. Stanley McChrystal satire and a "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" sequel.
But Netflix's first step is a savagely serious one in "Beasts of No Nation," a thrillingly cinematic but grimly horrific portrait of war seen through a child's eyes. It's playing on the fall film festival circuit and Netflix will give it an awards season push.
That makes "Beasts of No Nation" arguably the most prominent film yet to puncture the traditional theatrical window.
It also marks Fukunaga's first project since directing the whole of season one of HBO's "True Detective," which won him an Emmy and widespread recognition for his atmospheric direction and moments of one-take bravado. (The less successful season two, he says, he hasn't even seen: "I'm very much aware of the critiques of the show, but I never even got to see the scripts.")
But the ultra-bleak "True Detective," he chuckles, is "far lighter" than "Beasts of No Nation." The film was always going to be a more art-house proposition, so Netflix (which purchased the film for about $12 million) almost surely means a much wider audience. The choice, Fukunaga says, wasn't easy, but the lure of Netflix's 65 million subscribers worldwide won him over.
"I want people to see this film," he says, adding that he hopes many still see it in theaters. "To do a traditional theatrical release, a platform release, we might get a few thousand people to see this film. Tens of thousands if we were really lucky."
Fukunaga, 39, has wanted to make a movie about child soldiers for years. His application to film school to New York University included his plans for it, and he traveled to Sierra Leone in 2003. But it was the 2005 debut novel by Uzodinma Iweala, on which the movie is based, that made everything click for the writer-director.
He filmed "Beasts of No Nation" in Ghana. His 14-year-old star, Abraham Attah, was a street vendor without prior acting experience. For the intrepid Fukunaga, "Beasts of No Nation" is about using cinema to connect far-apart worlds.
"It's when you start seeing people for people and not just as a news headline, it changes your interest," says Fukunaga. "The reason for storytelling is to create empathy, to create connections with people around the fire, with people from far-away places that you wouldn't normally think you have anything in common with and yet you actually, absolutely do."
“Heretic” and “Maria” Set As Red Carpet Premieres At AFI Fest
The American Film Institute (AFI) has announced that Heretic, the psychological thriller starring Hugh Grant, and Maria, based on the life of opera singer Maria Callas starring Angelina Jolie, will round out the Red Carpet Premieres section at this year’s AFI Fest. The Heretic Gala Screening will take place on Thursday, October 24, and the Maria Gala Screening will be held on Saturday, October 26. The complete Red Carpet Premieres section includes the world premieres of Music By John Williams, Robert Zemeckis’ Here, Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl and Clint Eastwood’s Juror #2. All Red Carpet Premieres will take place at the historic TCL Chinese Theatre. The full lineup for AFI Fest 2024 will be unveiled on October 1.
“At the heart of AFI Fest is an unwavering dedication to celebrating the best in global cinema--together,” said Bob Gazzale, AFI president and CEO. “We look forward to uniting artists and audiences once again to be inspired by the art form in a powerful sense of community.”
Heretic follows two young missionaries (Sophie Thatcher and Chloe East) who are forced to prove their faith when they knock on the wrong door and are greeted by a diabolical Mr. Reed (portrayed by Grant), becoming ensnared in his deadly game of cat-and-mouse. The film is directed by Scott Beck and Bryan Woods and produced by Stacey Sher, Beck, Woods, Julia Glausi and Jeanette Volturno. The film will be released nationwide by A24 on November 8.
Directed by Pablo Larraín, Maria presents a tumultuous and beautiful depiction of one of the world’s most renowned artists and reimagines the legendary soprano in her final days in Paris, as Callas (Jolie)... Read More