Bradley J. Ross–founder/director of Brooklyn-based production company Open Swim–is producing the new indie comedy film I’ll Be Right There which stars Edie Falco alongside Oscar nominee Jeannie Berlin, Charlie Tahan, Kayli Carter, Michael Rapaport, Michael José a Fernando Beach, Sepideh Moafi and Emmy winner Bradley Whitford. Directed by Brendan Walsh, I’ll Be Right There recently wrapped production in New York. The film follows a single mother, Wanda (Falco), whose priority is to put her family first, regardless of how hectic that might be. Her eight-month pregnant daughter (Carter) wants a wedding, her mother (Berlin) thinks she’s dying, and her wayward son (Tahan) is either going into rehab or the army. Meanwhile Wanda barely has time for herself, not that she would know what to do with it anyway. Ross has a number of significant, award-winning credits in the feature film arena. He edited and co-produced the Oscar-nominated, Emmy Award-winning documentary Cartel Land, an unprecedented, on-the-ground exposé of Mexican vigilante groups and drug cartels; the Emmy-nominated documentary Escape Fire; TIFF Audience Award-winning Here Alone; the Sundance Grand Jury Prize-winning The Kindergarten Teacher, starring Maggie Gyllenhaal; and his most recent film Centigrade….
Dublin, Ireland-based production company Banjoman, known for its work in the advertising sector, is starting production on its first independent feature film. The movie shoots for five weeks through March and April and aims to find an audience late this year/early next year. The micro-budget project is supported by past and present collaborators of Banjoman, including actors who have been featured in commercials for the production company, and part-funded by brands past and present. Luke Jacobs, a long-term contemporary of Banjoman, will serve as DP on the film which will traverse the festival circuit before hitting a global audience. With the working title Just Frankie, the film introduces us to protagonist Frankie as he attempts to rebuild his life in the aftermath of the Celtic Tiger, a period of economic prosperity in Ireland which was followed by catastrophic decline caused by the onset of the recession in the late 2000s. The scars of the Celtic Tiger are evident in Ireland as the story begins, shown in the abandoned housing developments that are scattered across the country, and held within the lives of people who navigated the monumental highs and abject lows of the period. Predominantly a drama with comedic moments and characters, the film constructs its narrative in the form of flashbacks between 2019 and 2009. In the 2019 world, Frankie is attending his father’s funeral, an emotional day on which a surprise guest drags him back to face the sins of his past. Attempting to rebuild his life in the present day, the film is a redemptive arc for Frankie. Peter Coonan, star of Peaky Blinders and Bad Sisters, heads up the cast, playing Frankie. He is joined by Ruari O’Connor, recognized for ‘The Morning Show’ and The Conjuring, in addition to a host of Irish acting talent including Owen Roe, Olivia Caffrey and Lynn Rafferty. Helmer Dermot Malone, founder of Banjoman, will direct Just Frankie……
Carrie Coon Relishes Being Part Of An Ensemble–From “The Gilded Age” To “His Three Daughters”
It can be hard to catch Carrie Coon on her own.
She is far more likely to be found in the thick of an ensemble. That could be on TV, in "The Gilded Age," for which she was just Emmy nominated, or in the upcoming season of "The White Lotus," which she recently shot in Thailand. Or it could be in films, most relevantly, Azazel Jacobs' new drama, "His Three Daughters," in which Coon stars alongside Natasha Lyonne and Elizabeth Olsen as sisters caring for their dying father.
But on a recent, bright late-summer morning, Coon is sitting on a bench in the bucolic northeast Westchester town of Pound Ridge. A few years back, she and her husband, the playwright Tracy Letts, moved near here with their two young children, drawn by the long rows of stone walls and a particularly good BLT from a nearby cafe that Letts, after biting into, declared must be within 15 miles of where they lived.
In a few days, they would both fly to Los Angeles for the Emmys (Letts was nominated for his performance in "Winning Time" ). But Coon, 43, was then largely enmeshed in the day-to-day life of raising a family, along with their nightly movie viewings, which Letts pulls from his extensive DVD collection. The previous night's choice: "Once Around," with Holly Hunter and Richard Dreyfus.
Coon met Letts during her breakthrough performance in "Who's Afraid of Virginia Wolfe?" on Broadway in 2012. She played the heavy-drinking housewife Honey. It was the first role that Coon read and knew, viscerally, she had to play. Immediately after saying this, Coon sighs.
"It sounds like something some diva would say in a movie from the '50s," Coon says. "I just walked around in my apartment in my slip and I had pearls and a little brandy. I made a grocery list and I just did... Read More