By Alicia Rancilio
NEW YORK (AP) --For Keira Knightley and Adam Levine, their movie "Begin Again" was an experience of firsts.
Knightley, an accomplished actress, sings in the movie, whereas Levine, frontman of the band Maroon 5, acts.
The two admitted that leaving their comfort zones made them uneasy but that they related to each other's nerves.
"I kept telling her she was great and she wouldn't believe me, and she told me that I wasn't bad at acting either but I didn't believe her, so it was perfect," Levine said Saturday as the film closed the Tribeca Film Festival.
"I was completely terrified," Knightley, 29, emphasized of her singing.
"I didn't anticipate being as frightened as I was. I said yes to doing it and I was, 'Oh, it's gonna be fine, it's gonna be fine,' and then suddenly I found myself in a studio with real people who did it for a living and I was like, 'I don't know what I'm doing. I'm pretending.'"
To walk a red carpet for his first acting role, Levine, 35, said he was "blown away."
Levine says he enjoyed the experience so much he might have caught the acting bug.
"My experience was so much fun," he said. "It made me kind of start to like it a little bit, but I don't know. I don't think you can really make those bold declarations, but we'll see."
So how did the two grade each other?
Knightley called Levine a "natural entertainer" who was "sensational in this film."
Levine, who serves as a judge and mentor on NBC's singing competition show "The Voice," said that if Knightley were to audition he would want her on his team.
"Begin Again," is directed by John Carney, who also was behind the successful musical drama "Once." It also stars Mark Ruffalo, Hailee Steinfeld and Catherine Keener. CeeLo Green also has a small role.
The movie opens in the U.S. in July.
SCHROM x Yacht Club and Be Electric Studios Launch Electric XR for Virtual Production
SCHROM x Yacht Club, a full-service live-action, tabletop, and postproduction company, has teamed with Be Electric Studios, a soundstage, equipment rental, and virtual production company, to launch Electric XR, a virtual production collective.
Industry veteran Thomas Rossano will lead the new venture, which provides advanced virtual production solutions across multiple facilities. He brings over 25 years of experience in live-action, tabletop, postproduction and talent curation to enhance Electric XR’s offerings as a resource for brands and agencies, as well as other production companies in need of virtual production solutions. Additionally Rossano continues to serve as EP at XR New York (XR-NY), a role he’s held since December 2022. SCHROM x Yacht Club originally established XR-NY to help provide XR services for third-party rentals. While XR-NY will continue to function independently for SCHROM X Yacht Club, it now operates under the Electric XR umbrella.
Rossano’s expertise spans producing live-action commercials, branded content, interactive and experiential content. In addition to leading Electric XR, he holds responsibilities at SCHROM x Yacht Club which include driving business development, collaborating with sales reps and expanding the company’s creative talent network. Rossano’s career includes serving as an exec producer at Hungry Man for about 11 years, right from that company’s inception. He then went on to become a partner at Station Film where he also had a lengthy tenure. Later he was a partner at PRISM. Then after the pandemic hit, he became a freelance EP for nearly two years, looking into opportunities in virtual production, which led him to XR NY and now Electric XR. Over the years, he has produced high-profile... Read More