Stranger Things Season 4 gets its first trailer; A writer-director reflects on what happens in the year following a Sundance premiere; The Northman reviews are overwhelmingly positive but director Robert Eggers is still frustrated with American moviemaking; A secret David Lynch movie might premiere at Cannes. All in today’s Movie News Rundown.
What Happens After Sundance?: Here is a must-read Jane Schoenbrun essay on navigating a tricky film industry in the year following the Sundance premiere of their film We’re All Going to the World’s Fair. Schoenbrun is open and honest about the difficulties of making a living as a filmmaker while maintaining artistic integrity.
Schoenbrun says: “This was not a film made with profit margins or streaming metrics in mind, and so it was quite jarring indeed to be thrust into the orgy of commerce that is the Sundance sales bubble. Of course, I’d be lying to say that I wasn’t down to participate in said orgy.”
Stranger Things Returns: Three years after Season 3, everyone’s favorite Netflix original returns on May 27. Then it takes a little break, and volume two of Season 4 arrives on July 1. Stranger Things is scheduled to end with Season 5. Here’s the Stranger Things Season 4 trailer, featuring Journey’s “Separate Ways (Worlds Apart)”:
David Lynch to Cannes?: Variety reports that “according to two well-informed sources,” a surprise David Lynch feature film is coming to the Cannes Film Festival, and “stars Laura Dern — either as a cameo or a supporting role — along with some other Lynch regulars.”
Asghar Farhadi as Jury President?: The same Variety report, by Elsa Keslassy, says that Iranian moviemaker Asghar Farhadi might be announced soon as the festival jury president. Farhadi has been in the news this past week because an Iranian court found enough evidence to indict him on charges that he plagiarized the idea for his Oscar-shortlisted film A Hero from one of his film students. Farhadi’s countersuit of the film student for defamation was also tossed by the court.
The Northman is Bloody and Fresh: Reviews for Robert Eggers’ Viking epic began rolling in yesterday and the film currently holds a 89% certified fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes, based on 56 reviews, and a strong 83 on Metacritic.
Not a Review: But this David Ehrlich tweet sums up the film pretty well. Here is his full review.
all you need to know about The Northman — a $90 million viking revenge movie directed by Robert Eggers — is that every single moment of it feels like a $90 million viking revenge movie directed by Robert Eggers.
— david ehrlich (@davidehrlich) April 5, 2022
Frustrations: The Northman director Robert Eggers tells The Guardian he is thinking of relocating permanently to London. The reason? A frustration with America and American filmmaking. “It’s so frustrating being an American filmmaker sometimes, where even the small movies are so much more concerned about getting that profit back, and it gets so wrapped up in, like, your brand and your identity,” he says.
Other Things: Eggers also discusses his Nosferatu project falling apart (twice!), and clarifies that Harry Styles was set to play Thomas Hutter, not the vampire, in the now-shuttered adaptation.
Also: ICYMI, there was also a terrific New Yorker profile of Eggers earlier this month.
Main image: Finn Wolfhard, Millie Bobby Brown and Noah Schnapp in Season 4 of Netflix’s Stranger Things.
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