"God’s Pocket" stars Philip Seymour Hoffman and Eddie Marsan (photo by Lance Acord.)
"God’s Pocket" and "Infinitely Polar Bear" will compete in Dramatic Competition
NEW YORK --
Park Pictures Features’ latest narrative feature film offerings, the John Slattery-directed drama God’s Pocket and the dramatic comedy Infinitely Polar Bear (written and directed by Maya Forbes) have been chosen for the 2014 Sundance Film Festival’s prestigious Dramatic Competition. With Park Pictures Features’ debut film Robot & Frank a Sundance award winner in 2012, this marks the Manhattan studio’s second and third film at the festival.
God’s Pocket, with screenplay by John Slattery and Alex Metcalf, stars Philip Seymour Hoffman, Richard Jenkins, Christina Hendricks and John Turturro. The film follows Mickey (Hoffman), whose stepson Leon is killed in a construction “accident.” Mickey tries to bury the bad news with the body, but when the boy’s mother demands the truth, Mickey finds himself stuck between a body he can’t bury, a wife he can’t please, and a debt he can’t pay.
The film was produced by Park Pictures Features in association with Hoffman’s Cooper’s Town and Slattery’s Shoestring Pictures. Producers are Sam Bisbee, Jackie Kelman Bisbee, Lance Acord, John Slattery, Philip Seymour Hoffman and Emily Ziff.
Infinitely Polar Bear marks Forbes' directing debut . The film stars Mark Ruffalo and Zoe Saldana. Set in the ‘70s, the story follows a manic-depressive mess of a father who tries to win back his wife by attempting to take full responsibility of their two spirited daughters. Paper Street Films co-produced the film with Park Pictures Features in association with Bad Robot. The film was produced by Wally Wolodarsky, Benji Kohn, Bingo Gubelmann, Sam Bisbee and Galt Niederhoffer and its executive producers include JJ Abrams, Bryan Burk, Austin Stark and Park’s Jackie Kelman Bisbee.
Park Pictures, the commercial production house founded in 1998 by director and cinematographer Acord and executive producer Jackie Kelman Bisbee, formed narrative feature company Park Pictures Features with film producer Sam Bisbee in 2011. Park Pictures Features first film, Robot & Frank, won the Alfred P. Sloan Feature Film Prize (shared with the feature Valley of Saints) at Sundance in 2012. The Alfred P. Sloan honor is bestowed on films that “explore science and technology themes or that depict scientists, engineers and mathematicians in engaging and innovative ways.” Robot & Frank also marked the feature directorial debut of Jake Schrier, who is on Park Pictures’ directors roster for commercials and branded content. Christopher Ford was nominated for a 2013 Film Independent Spirit Award in the Best First Screenplay category on the basis of Robot & Frank.
After some difficulties connecting to a Zoom, Hugh Grant eventually opts to just phone instead.
"Sorry about that," he apologizes. "Tech hell." Grant is no lover of technology. Smart phones, for example, he calls the "devil's tinderbox."
"I think they're killing us. I hate them," he says. "I go on long holidays from them, three or four days at at time. Marvelous."
Hell, and our proximity to it, is a not unrelated topic to Grant's new film, "Heretic." In it, two young Mormon missionaries (Chloe East, Sophie Thatcher) come knocking on a door they'll soon regret visiting. They're welcomed in by Mr. Reed (Grant), an initially charming man who tests their faith in theological debate, and then, in much worse things.
After decades in romantic comedies, Grant has spent the last few years playing narcissists, weirdos and murders, often to the greatest acclaim of his career. But in "Heretic," a horror thriller from A24, Grant's turn to the dark side reaches a new extreme. The actor who once charmingly stammered in "Four Weddings and a Funeral" and who danced to the Pointer Sisters in "Love Actually" is now doing heinous things to young people in a basement.
"It was a challenge," Grant says. "I think human beings need challenges. It makes your beer taste better in the evening if you've climbed a mountain. He was just so wonderfully (expletive)-up."
"Heretic," which opens in theaters Friday, is directed by Scott Beck and Bryan Woods, co-writers of "A Quiet Place." In Grant's hands, Mr. Reed is a divinely good baddie — a scholarly creep whose wry monologues pull from a wide range of references, including, fittingly, Radiohead's "Creep."
In an interview, Grant spoke about these and other facets of his character, his journey... Read More
