One of the most positive aspects of an often-fraught awards season is the light it shines on the craft behind some of the year’s best films. It’s a time to learn more about the contribution of cinematographers, production designers, editors, and many more. Casting directors have a strange distinction in the awards world: It’s a guild with an Academy branch, but without its own Oscar category. Imagine for a moment that there was one. What are the best-cast films of 2019?
IndieWire reached out to a number of the film industry’s top casting directors to ask them to not only nominate one of their colleagues for their work this year, but to help us understand why their work was so skillful and vital to the films they worked on. What follows is not another end-of-the-year list, but insight into the craft of casting by its leading practitioners.
IndieWire reached out to a number of the film industry’s top casting directors to ask them to not only nominate one of their colleagues for their work this year, but to help us understand why their work was so skillful and vital to the films they worked on. What follows is not another end-of-the-year list, but insight into the craft of casting by its leading practitioners.
- 12/13/2019
- by Chris O'Falt
- Indiewire
Updated: “Booksmart” director Olivia Wilde and stars Kaitlyn Dever and Beanie Feldstein expressed shock and disappointment over news that an edited version of their film shown on an airline cut out the film’s lesbian sex scene.
“I don’t understand it,” Wilde told Variety’s Marc Malkin on the red carpet at the Academy’s Governors Awards on Sunday night. “There’s censorship, airline to airline, of films, which there must be some kind of governing board to determine. We rate it a certain way. If it’s not X-rated, surely it’s acceptable on an airplane.”
She continued, “There’s insane violence of bodies being smashed in half and yet a love scene between two women is censored from the film. It’s such an integral part of this character’s journey. I don’t understand it. My heart just broke. I’m trying to get to the...
“I don’t understand it,” Wilde told Variety’s Marc Malkin on the red carpet at the Academy’s Governors Awards on Sunday night. “There’s censorship, airline to airline, of films, which there must be some kind of governing board to determine. We rate it a certain way. If it’s not X-rated, surely it’s acceptable on an airplane.”
She continued, “There’s insane violence of bodies being smashed in half and yet a love scene between two women is censored from the film. It’s such an integral part of this character’s journey. I don’t understand it. My heart just broke. I’m trying to get to the...
- 10/28/2019
- by LaTesha Harris
- Variety Film + TV
Stars: Bernie Feldstein, Kaitlyn Dever, Jessica Williams, Jason Sudeikis, Lisa Kudrow, Will Forte, Victoria Ruesga, Mason Gooding, Skyler Gisondo, Diana Silvers, Molly Gordon, Billy Lourd | Written by Emily Halpern, Sarah Haskins, Susanna Fogel, Katie Silberman | Directed by Olivia Wilde
Booksmart is actress Olivia Wilde’s directorial debut and stars Bernie Feldstein and Kaitlyn Dever as Molly and Amy – two best friends who, in the final few days of senior year of High School, begin to break free from their social bonds for one night by painting the town red and showing all their classmates what they’ve been missing.
The first thing you’ll notice is that Booksmart, on every level, does not evoke a first-time directorial debut. Quite the opposite in fact. The level of maturity and filmmaking prowess that inhabits this film is nothing short of mesmerising. Directors on their tenth or even twentieth feature will never touch...
Booksmart is actress Olivia Wilde’s directorial debut and stars Bernie Feldstein and Kaitlyn Dever as Molly and Amy – two best friends who, in the final few days of senior year of High School, begin to break free from their social bonds for one night by painting the town red and showing all their classmates what they’ve been missing.
The first thing you’ll notice is that Booksmart, on every level, does not evoke a first-time directorial debut. Quite the opposite in fact. The level of maturity and filmmaking prowess that inhabits this film is nothing short of mesmerising. Directors on their tenth or even twentieth feature will never touch...
- 10/1/2019
- by Jak-Luke Sharp
- Nerdly
The crash-into-a-brick-wall realization that jumpstarts Olivia Wilde’s Booksmart occurs where the juiciest gossip so often takes place in teen flicks: a high school bathroom. Class president and general good-doer Molly (Beanie Feldstein) is sitting in a toilet stall, spell-checking some of the magic marker graffiti around her when she overhears three of the cool kids tear apart her can-do, will-do personality. Molly storms out and gives them what for, forecasting a near future in which she’s excelling at any Ivy League school while these cruel, simpleminded bullies won’t be able to land a job.
In another movie, this would’ve been a moment of triumph – a fist-raising patronage to those students who do their time in and out of the classroom wholeheartedly and with complete dedication. But those are other movies. Here, Molly’s comeback is discredited, instead converted into a snobbish and ignorant series of assumptions...
In another movie, this would’ve been a moment of triumph – a fist-raising patronage to those students who do their time in and out of the classroom wholeheartedly and with complete dedication. But those are other movies. Here, Molly’s comeback is discredited, instead converted into a snobbish and ignorant series of assumptions...
- 5/25/2019
- by Luke Parker
- We Got This Covered
Booksmart Annapurna Pictures Reviewed for Shockya.com & BigAppleReviews.net linked from Rotten Tomatoes by: Harvey Karten Director: Olivia Wilde Screenwriters: Emily Halpern, Sarah Haskins, Susanna Fogel, Katie Silberman Cast: Kaitlyn Dever, Beanie Feldstein, Mason Gooding, Skyler Gisondo, Victoria Ruesga Screened at: Dolby88, NYC, 5/20/19 Opens: May 24, 2019 The typical high school movie notes that kids […]
The post Booksmart Movie Review appeared first on Shockya.com.
The post Booksmart Movie Review appeared first on Shockya.com.
- 5/24/2019
- by Harvey Karten
- ShockYa
Stars: Bernie Feldstein, Kaitlyn Dever, Jessica Williams, Jason Sudeikis, Lisa Kudrow, Will Forte, Victoria Ruesga, Mason Gooding, Skyler Gisondo, Diana Silvers, Molly Gordon, Billy Lourd | Written by Emily Halpern, Sarah Haskins, Susanna Fogel, Katie Silberman | Directed by Olivia Wilde
Booksmart is actress Olivia Wilde’s directorial debut and stars Bernie Feldstein and Kaitlyn Dever as Molly and Amy – two best friends who, in the final few days of senior year of High School, begin to break free from their social bonds for one night by painting the town red and showing all their classmates what they’ve been missing.
The first thing you’ll notice is that Booksmart, on every level, does not evoke a first-time directorial debut. Quite the opposite in fact. The level of maturity and filmmaking prowess that inhabits this film is nothing short of mesmerising. Directors on their tenth or even twentieth feature will never touch...
Booksmart is actress Olivia Wilde’s directorial debut and stars Bernie Feldstein and Kaitlyn Dever as Molly and Amy – two best friends who, in the final few days of senior year of High School, begin to break free from their social bonds for one night by painting the town red and showing all their classmates what they’ve been missing.
The first thing you’ll notice is that Booksmart, on every level, does not evoke a first-time directorial debut. Quite the opposite in fact. The level of maturity and filmmaking prowess that inhabits this film is nothing short of mesmerising. Directors on their tenth or even twentieth feature will never touch...
- 5/24/2019
- by Jak-Luke Sharp
- Nerdly
Olivia Wilde didn’t have trouble finding a diverse cast for her high-school comedy “Booksmart.”
“It turns out when you see all actors and you just hire the best people, you actually end up with a really representative set. The problem is most people don’t look at everyone. If we keep drawing from the same pool, it becomes this recycled pot of inspiration. There’s nothing new if you don’t take a step further,” she said at a screening of her film at the Film Independent Forum on Friday.
Wilde even had a couple first-time actors in her feature directorial debut. Victoria Ruesga and Nico Haraga, who play classmates of the hilarious leading duo, Kaitlyn Dever and Beanie Feldstein, are professional skaters and had never acted in a film before. However, their lack of experience on screen didn’t stop Wilde from hiring them.
“In order for casts...
“It turns out when you see all actors and you just hire the best people, you actually end up with a really representative set. The problem is most people don’t look at everyone. If we keep drawing from the same pool, it becomes this recycled pot of inspiration. There’s nothing new if you don’t take a step further,” she said at a screening of her film at the Film Independent Forum on Friday.
Wilde even had a couple first-time actors in her feature directorial debut. Victoria Ruesga and Nico Haraga, who play classmates of the hilarious leading duo, Kaitlyn Dever and Beanie Feldstein, are professional skaters and had never acted in a film before. However, their lack of experience on screen didn’t stop Wilde from hiring them.
“In order for casts...
- 4/28/2019
- by Jordan Moreau
- Variety Film + TV
Jessica Williams, Jason Sudeikis, Lisa Kudrow, Will Forte, and Mike O’Brien have rounded out the cast of Olivia Wilde’s directorial debut, “Booksmart.”
The Annapurna Pictures film stars Kaitlyn Dever and Beanie Feldstein.
Molly Gordon, Billie Lourd, Skyler Gisondo, Noah Galvin, Diana Silvers, Mason Gooding, Victoria Ruesga, Austin Crute, Eduardo Franco, and Nico Hiraga also recently joined the ensemble.
The pic is being produced by Annapurna and Gloria Sanchez, Gary Sanchez Productions’ female-focused production banner. Chelsea Barnard, David Distenfeld, and Megan Ellison are producing for Annapurna, while Jessica Elbaum, Will Ferrell, and Adam McKay are producing for Gloria Sanchez.
The story follows Dever and Feldstein’s overachieving characters, who, on the eve of their high school graduation, suddenly realize that they should have worked less and played more. Determined never to fall short of their peers, the girls set out on a mission to cram four years of fun into a single night.
The Annapurna Pictures film stars Kaitlyn Dever and Beanie Feldstein.
Molly Gordon, Billie Lourd, Skyler Gisondo, Noah Galvin, Diana Silvers, Mason Gooding, Victoria Ruesga, Austin Crute, Eduardo Franco, and Nico Hiraga also recently joined the ensemble.
The pic is being produced by Annapurna and Gloria Sanchez, Gary Sanchez Productions’ female-focused production banner. Chelsea Barnard, David Distenfeld, and Megan Ellison are producing for Annapurna, while Jessica Elbaum, Will Ferrell, and Adam McKay are producing for Gloria Sanchez.
The story follows Dever and Feldstein’s overachieving characters, who, on the eve of their high school graduation, suddenly realize that they should have worked less and played more. Determined never to fall short of their peers, the girls set out on a mission to cram four years of fun into a single night.
- 5/22/2018
- by Justin Kroll
- Variety Film + TV
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