Bicoastal companies Giraldi Suarez Productions (GSP) and Playroom have hired Roxanne Artesona and Jeff Bowman of Roxanne and Co., New York, for representation on the East Coast. In-house sales rep Wil LaFayette will handle the West Coast for GSP and Playroom….Letca Films, Miami, has signed with Los Angeles-based independent rep Mary Carmen Figuerola for U.S. representation with the exception of Florida, which is handled from Letca’s headquarters….John Buckley has joined the Venice, Calif., office of Asche & Spencer as its in-house West Coast rep….Cinematographer Mott Hupfel has completed principal photography on Mary Harron’s Betty Paige and is again available for spots through The Skouras Agency, Santa Monica….DP Checco Varese has wrapped Their Eyes Were Watching God (featuring Halle Berry) and is again available exclusively through the Lyons•Sheldon•Prosnit Agency, Los Angeles….DP Michael Givens has completed principal photography on The Celestine Prophecy and is now available for commercials via Sherry Rousso Associates, New York. Also, DP Stacy Toyama has signed with Sherry Rousso Associates for exclusive representation….Costume designer Ligia Morris has signed with Partos, Santa Monica, for exclusive representation….
Review: Writer-Director Mark Anthony Green’s “Opus”
In the new horror movie "Opus," we are introduced to Alfred Moretti, the biggest pop star of the '90s, with 38 No. 1 hits and albums as big as "Thriller," "Hotel California" and "Nebraska." If the name Alfred Moretti sounds more like a personal injury attorney from New Jersey, that's the first sign "Opus" is going to stumble.
John Malkovich leans into his regular off-kilter creepy to play the unlikely pop star at the center of this serious misfire by the A24 studio, a movie that also manages to pull "The Bear" star Ayo Edebiri back to earth. How both could be totally miscast will haunt your dreams.
Writer-director Mark Anthony Green has created a pretty good premise: A massive pop star who went quiet for the better part of three decades reemerges with a new album — his 18th studio LP, called "Caesar's Request" — and invites a select six people to come to his remote Western compound for an album listening weekend. It's like a golden ticket.
Edebiri's Ariel is a one of those invited. She's 27, a writer for a hip music magazine who has been treading water for three years. She's ambitious but has no edge. "Your problem is you're middle," she's told. Unfortunately, her magazine boss is also invited, which means she's just a note-taker. Edebiri's self-conscious, understated humor is wasted here.
It takes Ariel and the rest of the guests — an influencer, a paparazzo, a former journalist-nemesis and a TV personality played by Juliette Lewis, once again cast as the frisky sexpot — way too much time to realize that Moretti has created a cult in the desert. And they're murderous. This is Cameron Crowe's "Almost Famous" crossed with Mark Mylod's "The Menu."
It's always a mistake to get too close a look at the monster in a horror... Read More