Exclusive: Karen Gillan (Guardians of the Galaxy franchise) and Zoë Chao (Nightbitch) will lead the cast of Let’s Have Kids!, a feature comedy from MRC that’s heading into production this week.
Marking the directorial debut of Black Adam and Due Date scribe Adam Sztykiel, pic’s ensemble also includes Sam Richardson (The Afterparty) Max Greenfield (The Neighborhood), K.J. Apa (Riverdale), Ed Begley Jr. (Young Sheldon) and Oscar winner Mary Steenburgen (Nightmare Alley).
Let’s Have Kids! tells the story of lifelong best friends Emma and Phoebe, who decide to try to have their first babies at the same time so they can navigate the Great Unknown of motherhood together, but find their friendship is deeply tested when only one of them gets pregnant. Sztykiel and Ellie Knaus wrote the script and will also produce alongside Becky Sloviter (Palm Springs) — the recently appointed President of Miramax Motion Picture Group,...
Marking the directorial debut of Black Adam and Due Date scribe Adam Sztykiel, pic’s ensemble also includes Sam Richardson (The Afterparty) Max Greenfield (The Neighborhood), K.J. Apa (Riverdale), Ed Begley Jr. (Young Sheldon) and Oscar winner Mary Steenburgen (Nightmare Alley).
Let’s Have Kids! tells the story of lifelong best friends Emma and Phoebe, who decide to try to have their first babies at the same time so they can navigate the Great Unknown of motherhood together, but find their friendship is deeply tested when only one of them gets pregnant. Sztykiel and Ellie Knaus wrote the script and will also produce alongside Becky Sloviter (Palm Springs) — the recently appointed President of Miramax Motion Picture Group,...
- 4/29/2024
- by Matt Grobar
- Deadline Film + TV
Former Youplanet Pictures and Rakuten TV executives Adrian Peña and Alex Marin have launched Spanish independent film distribution company Madfer Films.
Based in Barcelona, Madfer Films’ first acquisitions for the Spanish market include Babak Jalali’s comedy-drama Fremont, Chinese director Zhang Yimou’s box office hit Full River Red and Kristian Mercado’s sci-fi romantic comedy If You Were The Last.
Peña and Marin both worked together at Spanish distributor Youplanet Pictures, which has released films including Academy Award winners Everything Everywhere All At Once and The Whale and Palme d’Or winner Titane. Before Youplanet, the pair also worked at video-on-demand platform Rakuten TV.
Based in Barcelona, Madfer Films’ first acquisitions for the Spanish market include Babak Jalali’s comedy-drama Fremont, Chinese director Zhang Yimou’s box office hit Full River Red and Kristian Mercado’s sci-fi romantic comedy If You Were The Last.
Peña and Marin both worked together at Spanish distributor Youplanet Pictures, which has released films including Academy Award winners Everything Everywhere All At Once and The Whale and Palme d’Or winner Titane. Before Youplanet, the pair also worked at video-on-demand platform Rakuten TV.
- 4/24/2024
- ScreenDaily
Exclusive: 3Point0 Labs has followed up recent strategic moves by signing In the Summers co-producer Luz Films.
Headed by Sergio Lira, Lynette Coll and Cristobal Güell, Luz was created with a mission to make Latino-focused prestige and elevated-genre content from diverse creatives and producers in the film and TV space. Its debut film, In the Summers, was a prize winner at Sundance earlier this year.
“Sergio, Lynette, and Cristobal bring such an authentic desire to foster family and community in everything they do,” said Andrew Cutrow, Chief Business Officer and Head of the Entertainment division of 3Point0 Labs. “They bring a vision that is so core to 3Point0’s mission to build communities and infrastructure globally. Luz is a rocket ship and we are so humbled to be a part of their growth as they take off.”
As we revealed at the time, Luz Films launched in January with former...
Headed by Sergio Lira, Lynette Coll and Cristobal Güell, Luz was created with a mission to make Latino-focused prestige and elevated-genre content from diverse creatives and producers in the film and TV space. Its debut film, In the Summers, was a prize winner at Sundance earlier this year.
“Sergio, Lynette, and Cristobal bring such an authentic desire to foster family and community in everything they do,” said Andrew Cutrow, Chief Business Officer and Head of the Entertainment division of 3Point0 Labs. “They bring a vision that is so core to 3Point0’s mission to build communities and infrastructure globally. Luz is a rocket ship and we are so humbled to be a part of their growth as they take off.”
As we revealed at the time, Luz Films launched in January with former...
- 4/2/2024
- by Jesse Whittock
- Deadline Film + TV
Exclusive: Sergio Lira, Lynette Coll and Cristobal Güell are launching Luz Films, a newly formed entertainment company founded with the mission of making Latino-focused prestige and elevated-genre content from diverse visionary creatives and producers in the film and TV space.
Lira and Coll will serve as co-CEOs while Guell will serve as CFO.
Through a collaborative community spirit, Luz Films will produce and co-finance projects from the Latino perspective for U.S. and global audiences. The company believes in mentoring and supporting projects from debut filmmakers and connecting them with veteran Latino creatives who can collaborate with these new voices behind the camera and on-screen.
‘While Latinos are one of the fastest-growing communities in the United States, representation for storytellers in the community lags behind other demographics,” the trio shared in an exclusive statement to Deadline. “Luz Films, named with purpose, embodies ‘light.’ Our mission is to illuminate opportunities. We...
Lira and Coll will serve as co-CEOs while Guell will serve as CFO.
Through a collaborative community spirit, Luz Films will produce and co-finance projects from the Latino perspective for U.S. and global audiences. The company believes in mentoring and supporting projects from debut filmmakers and connecting them with veteran Latino creatives who can collaborate with these new voices behind the camera and on-screen.
‘While Latinos are one of the fastest-growing communities in the United States, representation for storytellers in the community lags behind other demographics,” the trio shared in an exclusive statement to Deadline. “Luz Films, named with purpose, embodies ‘light.’ Our mission is to illuminate opportunities. We...
- 1/12/2024
- by Rosy Cordero
- Deadline Film + TV
Kristian Mercado (Nuevo Rico) directed from a screenplay by Angela Bourassa (A Little Distracted).
The Exchange has boarded international sales rights to the romantic comedy If You Were The Last starring Anthony Mackie and Zoe Chao and will launch AFM sales this week.
Kristian Mercado (Nuevo Rico) directed from a screenplay by Angela Bourassa (A Little Distracted) about a male and female astronaut stranded in their broken-down spaceship who argue over whether they should spend their remaining days as friends or something more.
The film just debuted in the US on the Peacock streaming platform and is produced by The Promise,...
The Exchange has boarded international sales rights to the romantic comedy If You Were The Last starring Anthony Mackie and Zoe Chao and will launch AFM sales this week.
Kristian Mercado (Nuevo Rico) directed from a screenplay by Angela Bourassa (A Little Distracted) about a male and female astronaut stranded in their broken-down spaceship who argue over whether they should spend their remaining days as friends or something more.
The film just debuted in the US on the Peacock streaming platform and is produced by The Promise,...
- 10/30/2023
- by Jeremy Kay
- ScreenDaily
If You Were the Last is a sci-fi romantic comedy film directed by Kristian Mercado, from a screenplay by Angela Bourassa. The Peacock original film revolves around two best friends adrift in a broken down space shuttle with no chance of rescue as they argue over whether they should stay friends or become something more in their remaining days. The film stars Anthony Mackie and Zoe Chao in leading roles with Natalie Morales and Geoff Stults starring in supporting roles. So, if you loved the sci-fi rom-com film here are some similar movies you could watch next.
Passengers (Starz & Prime Video Add-On) Credit – Sony Pictures
Synopsis: Jennifer Lawrence and Chris Pratt star in a high-stakes adventure about two passengers, Aurora and Jim, onboard a spaceship transporting them to a new life on another planet. The trip takes a deadly turn when their hibernation pods mysteriously wake them 90 years before they reach their destination.
Passengers (Starz & Prime Video Add-On) Credit – Sony Pictures
Synopsis: Jennifer Lawrence and Chris Pratt star in a high-stakes adventure about two passengers, Aurora and Jim, onboard a spaceship transporting them to a new life on another planet. The trip takes a deadly turn when their hibernation pods mysteriously wake them 90 years before they reach their destination.
- 10/24/2023
- by Kulwant Singh
- Cinema Blind
"What if this awesome thing we have going on gets ruined?" Peacock has debuted the official trailer for an original romantic comedy film titled If You Were the Last, directed by Kristian Mercado from a script by Angela Bourassa. This sci-fi rom-com with a simple twist is about two people stuck on a spaceship out in the solar system questioning their relationship and sex and everything else. This initially premiered at the 2023 SXSW Film Festival earlier this year, but is skipping theaters entirely for the release. Adrift in their broken-down space shuttle with little hope of rescue, two astronauts argue over whether they're better off spending their remaining days as friends or something more. Starring Anthony Mackie as Adam & Zoe Chao as Jane, with a small cast including Natalie Morales, Geoff Stults, Missi Pyle, Sarah Voigt, and Kaleka. This looks super cute and quaint and funky, with some stop-motion papier-mâché...
- 10/22/2023
- by Alex Billington
- firstshowing.net
If you were chilling in space, not knowing whether anyone was coming to save you, then I would suspect there was something wrong with you. How could there be not? Yet, director Kristian Mercado, with writer Angela Bourassa, has created the world of the film If You Were the Last, where suspension of disbelief is key to enjoying this romantic comedy. Space movies like Alien, Passengers, and many others have ominous undertones, probably because we don’t know what space holds for us and we fear what we don’t understand. Here in this movie, we are totally guaranteed that space is kind of a weird plaything where spaceships float and people can have cool lives living inside of them. Death is neither certain nor completely off the table, but it’s not much to fuss about. Living life to the fullest is what counts. The story of If You Were the Last...
- 10/21/2023
- by Ayush Awasthi
- Film Fugitives
Take a look at the new science fiction 'romcom' feature "If You Were The Last" directed by Kristian Mercado, starring Anthony Mackie and Zoë Chao, now streaming on Peacock:
"..adrift in their broken-down space shuttle with little hope of rescue, the film follows two astronauts, 'Adam' (Mackie) and 'Jane' ' (Chao), as they debate on whether they're better off as friends or something more.
"They are three years into a 'NASA' mission that has gone very wrong: their ship is broken and drifting between Jupiter and Saturn. Finding ways to pass the time as they become certain that no one is coming to save them, they argue over what to do.
"One day, Adam poses that maybe they should sleep together; Jane laughs the idea off, but it prompts a flirty debate about whether they're better off spending their remaining days as friends or something more..."
Click the images to enlarge.
"..adrift in their broken-down space shuttle with little hope of rescue, the film follows two astronauts, 'Adam' (Mackie) and 'Jane' ' (Chao), as they debate on whether they're better off as friends or something more.
"They are three years into a 'NASA' mission that has gone very wrong: their ship is broken and drifting between Jupiter and Saturn. Finding ways to pass the time as they become certain that no one is coming to save them, they argue over what to do.
"One day, Adam poses that maybe they should sleep together; Jane laughs the idea off, but it prompts a flirty debate about whether they're better off spending their remaining days as friends or something more..."
Click the images to enlarge.
- 10/21/2023
- by Unknown
- SneakPeek
Is it a sign of the changing, dwindling (?) times, or is it just akin to a VOD release? Either way, the well-regarded SXSW genre film, “If You Were the Last,” starring Anthony Mackie and Zoë Chao as astronauts in a sci‑fi rom‑com, just had its trailer released, and the film comes out… today. How’s that for heads-up marketing?
As the title suggests, the film is about…not the last two people on Earth, but certainly, the last two people at the end of a long space expedition.
Continue reading ‘If You Were The Last’ Trailer: Anthony Mackie and Zoë Chao’s New Sci-Fi Film Premieres On Peacock Today at The Playlist.
As the title suggests, the film is about…not the last two people on Earth, but certainly, the last two people at the end of a long space expedition.
Continue reading ‘If You Were The Last’ Trailer: Anthony Mackie and Zoë Chao’s New Sci-Fi Film Premieres On Peacock Today at The Playlist.
- 10/20/2023
- by Edward Davis
- The Playlist
The ever-ubiquitous judge Ken Jeong is setting his sights on yet another new venture: Daytime TV.
Jeong is developing with Lionsgate’s Debmar-Mercury (Sherri) a syndicated talk show on track for a 2024 premiere, according to our sister site The Hollywood Reporter. In addition to hosting, Jeong will serve as an executive producer.
More from TVLineJon Hamm's Grimsburg (Finally) Gets Fox Premiere DateBased on a True Story Scores (Surprise?) Season 2 Renewal at PeacockMasterChef Junior Renewed, Adds Gordon Ramsay's Daughter as Judge
The prospective series will not be affected by the ongoing SAG-AFTRA strike as, like other talkers, it...
Jeong is developing with Lionsgate’s Debmar-Mercury (Sherri) a syndicated talk show on track for a 2024 premiere, according to our sister site The Hollywood Reporter. In addition to hosting, Jeong will serve as an executive producer.
More from TVLineJon Hamm's Grimsburg (Finally) Gets Fox Premiere DateBased on a True Story Scores (Surprise?) Season 2 Renewal at PeacockMasterChef Junior Renewed, Adds Gordon Ramsay's Daughter as Judge
The prospective series will not be affected by the ongoing SAG-AFTRA strike as, like other talkers, it...
- 10/14/2023
- by Vlada Gelman
- TVLine.com
"If You Were The Last" is a new science fiction romantic comedy feature, directed by Kristian Mercado, starring Anthony Mackie and Zoë Chao, streaming October 20, 2023 on Peacock:
"..adrift in their broken-down space shuttle with little hope of rescue, the film follows two astronauts, 'Adam' (Mackie) and 'Jane' ' (Chao), as they debate on whether they're better off as friends or something more.
"They are three years into a 'NASA' mission that has gone very wrong: their ship is broken and drifting between Jupiter and Saturn. Finding ways to pass the time as they become certain that no one is coming to save them, they argue over what to do.
"One day, Adam poses that maybe they should sleep together; Jane laughs the idea off, but it prompts a flirty debate about whether they're better off spending their remaining days as friends or something more..."
Click the images to enlarge.
"..adrift in their broken-down space shuttle with little hope of rescue, the film follows two astronauts, 'Adam' (Mackie) and 'Jane' ' (Chao), as they debate on whether they're better off as friends or something more.
"They are three years into a 'NASA' mission that has gone very wrong: their ship is broken and drifting between Jupiter and Saturn. Finding ways to pass the time as they become certain that no one is coming to save them, they argue over what to do.
"One day, Adam poses that maybe they should sleep together; Jane laughs the idea off, but it prompts a flirty debate about whether they're better off spending their remaining days as friends or something more..."
Click the images to enlarge.
- 10/13/2023
- by Unknown
- SneakPeek
Exclusive: Ed Harris (Westworld), Sonequa Martin-Green (Star Trek: Discovery) and Natalie Morales (No Hard Feelings) have closed deals to lead My Dead Friend Zoe, a dark dramedy about two generations of veterans, family and friendship, which Kyle Hausmann-Stokes will direct in his feature debut.
The film written by Hausmann-Stokes and A.J. Bermudez tells the story of a female veteran (Martin-Green) engaged in a mysterious but comfortable friendship with her wise-cracking (and dead) best friend from the Army (Morales). When the vet is summoned to the remote lake house of her estranged Vietnam vet grandfather (Harris), she is tasked with providing the one thing he refuses…help.
Pic is based on Merit x Zoe, a short that Hausmann-Stokes co-wrote and directed last year, and both films draw inspiration from his real-life experiences during and after the military. A graduate of USC’s School of Cinematic Arts, Hausmann-Stokes served five years in...
The film written by Hausmann-Stokes and A.J. Bermudez tells the story of a female veteran (Martin-Green) engaged in a mysterious but comfortable friendship with her wise-cracking (and dead) best friend from the Army (Morales). When the vet is summoned to the remote lake house of her estranged Vietnam vet grandfather (Harris), she is tasked with providing the one thing he refuses…help.
Pic is based on Merit x Zoe, a short that Hausmann-Stokes co-wrote and directed last year, and both films draw inspiration from his real-life experiences during and after the military. A graduate of USC’s School of Cinematic Arts, Hausmann-Stokes served five years in...
- 5/17/2023
- by Matt Grobar
- Deadline Film + TV
Exclusive: Zoë Chao has signed with Entertainment 360 for representation. She most recently appeared in Netflix’s Your Place Or Mine opposite Reese Witherspoon. She will next be seen in Hulu’s Nightbitch opposite Amy Adams and can currently be seen in the Party Down reboot for Starz. In March, SXSW premiered the independent film If You Were The Last, starring Chao and Anthony Mackie.
Chao is best known for her role in Lord & Miller’s limited series for Apple, The After Party. She was also in Nat Faxon and Jim Rash’s Downhill opposite Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Will Ferrell and Zach Woods which premiered at the 2020 Sundance Film Festival released by Fox Searchlight.
Chao is also repped by CAA, Srda and ID PR.
Chao is best known for her role in Lord & Miller’s limited series for Apple, The After Party. She was also in Nat Faxon and Jim Rash’s Downhill opposite Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Will Ferrell and Zach Woods which premiered at the 2020 Sundance Film Festival released by Fox Searchlight.
Chao is also repped by CAA, Srda and ID PR.
- 4/21/2023
- by Justin Kroll
- Deadline Film + TV
Stars: Olesya Rulin, Laura Vandervoort, Bruce Davis, Pamela Bell | Written by Angela Bourassa, Adam Pachter | Directed by Josh Brandon
Anyone who has taken a long trip by bus knows just what an odd experience it can be. Stuck in close quarters with strangers, sometimes for days. Depending on who those strangers are it can be either fun or absolute hell. Black Bags, the new thriller from director Josh Brandon and writers Angela Bourassa and Adam Pachter finds a new way to make it hell even after your trip is over.
Tess is having a troubled pregnancy, so troubled she’s taking experimental meds every four hours to try and see it to term. Presumably, it’s also causing her blackouts which is why she’s taking the bus back from the doctor rather than driving.
On the bus, she meets Sarah who sits next to her despite the bus being mostly empty.
Anyone who has taken a long trip by bus knows just what an odd experience it can be. Stuck in close quarters with strangers, sometimes for days. Depending on who those strangers are it can be either fun or absolute hell. Black Bags, the new thriller from director Josh Brandon and writers Angela Bourassa and Adam Pachter finds a new way to make it hell even after your trip is over.
Tess is having a troubled pregnancy, so troubled she’s taking experimental meds every four hours to try and see it to term. Presumably, it’s also causing her blackouts which is why she’s taking the bus back from the doctor rather than driving.
On the bus, she meets Sarah who sits next to her despite the bus being mostly empty.
- 4/11/2023
- by Jim Morazzini
- Nerdly
The old saying goes you shouldn’t marry anyone you can’t stand to be with for a three-day train ride. This is perhaps the basis for most of Richard Linklater’s Before series, tracing a couple from initial courtship to eventual marriage, from the fantasy of being young and taking a different path to settling into comfort. Kristian Mercado’s fluffy and sweet hang-out movie If You Were the Last initially opens in a living room before we pull back to reveal that our couple, Adam (Anthony Mackie) and Jane (Zoe Chao), are floating ruthlessly in space, on a self-sustaining ship that has lost all navigation and communication with NASA back on earth. Like an extreme version of the Before series, we enter mid-relationship, after the routines have been established 1,000 days into a solidly platonic relationship.
Adam and Jane are set in their schedules: completing the checklist, caring for the garden and animals,...
Adam and Jane are set in their schedules: completing the checklist, caring for the garden and animals,...
- 3/27/2023
- by John Fink
- The Film Stage
Filmmakers and festival attendees are in Austin for the 2023 SXSW Film & TV Festival to celebrate the convergence of the tech, film and music industries across a variety of programming formats and special events. The fest runs March 10-19.
Fest-goers can expect red carpet premieres, gala Film, TV, Documentary and Spotlight events with talent expected to participate across all platforms.
Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves world premiered on opening night with cast members Chris Pine, Michelle Rodriguez, Justice Smith, Daisy Head, Sophia Lillis, Jeremy Latcham, and the directors John Francis Daley and Jonathan Goldstein at the Paramount Theater on Friday, March 10. Other screenings on opening night included Later Bloomers, Only the Good Survive, National Anthem, Swarm and the Sundance horror favorite Talk to Me.
Related: SXSW 2023: All Of Deadline’s Movie Reviews
Day 2 of SXSW on Saturday, March 11 featured screenings and world premieres from the films You Sing Loud,...
Fest-goers can expect red carpet premieres, gala Film, TV, Documentary and Spotlight events with talent expected to participate across all platforms.
Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves world premiered on opening night with cast members Chris Pine, Michelle Rodriguez, Justice Smith, Daisy Head, Sophia Lillis, Jeremy Latcham, and the directors John Francis Daley and Jonathan Goldstein at the Paramount Theater on Friday, March 10. Other screenings on opening night included Later Bloomers, Only the Good Survive, National Anthem, Swarm and the Sundance horror favorite Talk to Me.
Related: SXSW 2023: All Of Deadline’s Movie Reviews
Day 2 of SXSW on Saturday, March 11 featured screenings and world premieres from the films You Sing Loud,...
- 3/18/2023
- by Robert Lang
- Deadline Film + TV
Exclusive: Geoff Stults (Little Fires Everywhere) is set for a key recurring role in ABC’s The Company You Keep, starring and executive produced by Milo Ventimiglia.
The Company You Keep is based on the Korean format My Fellow Citizens that ran for more than 30 episodes on KBS2. It follows con man Charlie (Milo Ventimiglia) and undercover CIA officer Emma (Catherine Haena Kim). A night of passion leads to love between the pair, who unknowingly are on a collision course professionally. While Charlie ramps up the “family business” so he can get out for good, Emma’s closing in on the vengeful criminal who holds Charlie’s family debts in hand — forcing them to reckon with the lies they’ve told so they can save themselves and their families from disastrous consequences.
Stults will play Simon Norris in a substantial arc that will play out over upcoming episodes. Simon is...
The Company You Keep is based on the Korean format My Fellow Citizens that ran for more than 30 episodes on KBS2. It follows con man Charlie (Milo Ventimiglia) and undercover CIA officer Emma (Catherine Haena Kim). A night of passion leads to love between the pair, who unknowingly are on a collision course professionally. While Charlie ramps up the “family business” so he can get out for good, Emma’s closing in on the vengeful criminal who holds Charlie’s family debts in hand — forcing them to reckon with the lies they’ve told so they can save themselves and their families from disastrous consequences.
Stults will play Simon Norris in a substantial arc that will play out over upcoming episodes. Simon is...
- 3/17/2023
- by Denise Petski
- Deadline Film + TV
The SXSW Film & TV Festival has returned to Austin, and Deadline’s reviewers are watching all the key films. Here is a compilation of our reviews from the fest, which last year was the launchpad for newly-minted Oscar winner Everything Everywhere All at Once. The Daniels’ wild sci-fi action comedy is the first pic to debut at SXSW and go on to win Best Picture at the Academy Awards.
Related Story SXSW: ‘Raging Grace’ Takes Top Honors In Narrative Feature Competition – Winners List Related Story Bill Walton On Being "Leery" About ESPN Series On His Life, Career, And What He Considers "My Greatest Accomplishment And Your Worst Nightmare" Related Story 'Evil Dead Rise' Review: Deadites Cause High-Rise Havoc In Lee Cronin's Latest Horror Venture – SXSW
Check back often as we add more reviews.
Bottoms (L-r) Rachel Sennott as Pj and Ayo Edebiri as Josie in ‘Bottoms’
Section:...
Related Story SXSW: ‘Raging Grace’ Takes Top Honors In Narrative Feature Competition – Winners List Related Story Bill Walton On Being "Leery" About ESPN Series On His Life, Career, And What He Considers "My Greatest Accomplishment And Your Worst Nightmare" Related Story 'Evil Dead Rise' Review: Deadites Cause High-Rise Havoc In Lee Cronin's Latest Horror Venture – SXSW
Check back often as we add more reviews.
Bottoms (L-r) Rachel Sennott as Pj and Ayo Edebiri as Josie in ‘Bottoms’
Section:...
- 3/17/2023
- by Valerie Complex, Damon Wise and Pete Hammond
- Deadline Film + TV
Deadline’s studio at the 2023 edition of the SXSW Film Festival continued with Day 2 by hosting fest-goers such as Brittany Snow, Courtney Eaton and Thomas Mann for Parachute; Chris O’Dowd, Josh Segarra, David West Read and Djouliet Amara for The Big Door Prize; Anthony Mackie, Zoe Chao and Kris Mercado for If You Were the Last; the cast of Daisy Jones & The Six; Kerry Washington, Tracy McMillan, Marque Richardson, Faly Rakotohavana, Jordyn McIntosh and Delroy Lindo for Unprisoned; Elizabeth Olsen, Jesse Plemons, Lily Rabe, Patrick Fugit and Lesli Linka Glatter for Love & Death; Lukas Gage and Zachary Quinto for Down Low & Many More.
The Deadline Studio at SXSW runs March 10-13, where the cast and creatives behind the best and buzziest titles in this year’s lineup sit down with Deadline’s festival team to discuss their movies and the paths they took to get to Austin.
The 2023 SXSW festival...
The Deadline Studio at SXSW runs March 10-13, where the cast and creatives behind the best and buzziest titles in this year’s lineup sit down with Deadline’s festival team to discuss their movies and the paths they took to get to Austin.
The 2023 SXSW festival...
- 3/13/2023
- by Robert Lang
- Deadline Film + TV
"If You Were The Last" is a fairy tale about friends with benefits, chemical attachments, and complicated relationships — in space. Kristian Mercado's feature debut shoots courtship drama into orbit, defying societal norms here on Earth. Angela Bourassa's screenplay sparkles like stars in the night sky, relying on conversations to hold the audience's attention in this dialogue-heavy interstellar chamber piece. Mercado's style is charmingly lo-fi, thanks to nifty arts and crafts effects (whether real or animated). He trusts actors to carry scenes with nothing but their charisma and flaunts impressive command for a debut filmmaker. It's like "No Strings Attached" but with zero gravity or "Friends With Benefits" caught in Jupiter's orbit.
Anthony Mackie co-stars as NASA astronaut Adam, a scientist stuck adrift in the cosmos with technician team member Jane (Zoe Chao). They're somewhere in Year 3, around day 1,000, with no signs of ever returning home thanks to navigation and communication malfunctions.
Anthony Mackie co-stars as NASA astronaut Adam, a scientist stuck adrift in the cosmos with technician team member Jane (Zoe Chao). They're somewhere in Year 3, around day 1,000, with no signs of ever returning home thanks to navigation and communication malfunctions.
- 3/13/2023
- by Matt Donato
- Slash Film
South by Southwest is back! And all eyes are on…well, a lot of them are on the Oscars, and not necessarily all on the Austin film, TV, tech, and music festival.
It’s not to say SXSW isn’t bustling or active. In fact one source said attendance through Day 2 of the festival was significantly higher than last year. And strictly anecdotally, there’s a ton of people milling about the Austin Convention Center who are first-timers as well. It’s just that due to the unfortunate, out-of-their-control circumstances of the festival crossing over with the Academy Awards, sources who spoke to IndieWire throughout the weekend felt there’s fewer studios or industry professionals in attendance this year or others arriving and then quickly leaving. That’s not ideal for some films looking to generate buzz or even land a sale.
“We’re returning for our second year after...
It’s not to say SXSW isn’t bustling or active. In fact one source said attendance through Day 2 of the festival was significantly higher than last year. And strictly anecdotally, there’s a ton of people milling about the Austin Convention Center who are first-timers as well. It’s just that due to the unfortunate, out-of-their-control circumstances of the festival crossing over with the Academy Awards, sources who spoke to IndieWire throughout the weekend felt there’s fewer studios or industry professionals in attendance this year or others arriving and then quickly leaving. That’s not ideal for some films looking to generate buzz or even land a sale.
“We’re returning for our second year after...
- 3/12/2023
- by Brian Welk
- Indiewire
There are lots of ways to pitch If You Were the Last. How about “Michel Gondry remakes When Harry Met Sally — in space!” Who wouldn’t want to see that? But for all the ingenious hot takes one can dream up for Kristian Mercado’s ambitious feature-length debut, there’s no escaping the fact that it’s less than the sum of its parts. To be brutal, although it does, for an hour at least, cast a spell, raise interesting metaphysical questions, and center on an odd couple who, for once, actually don’t seem like they’ll get together and then totally convince us when they do — it doesn’t really pass muster as a movie at all.
Which is surprising, because character-based, low-budget sci-fi indies set in the howling existential wilderness of deep space do have a history of working against the odds, like John Carpenter’s blackly...
Which is surprising, because character-based, low-budget sci-fi indies set in the howling existential wilderness of deep space do have a history of working against the odds, like John Carpenter’s blackly...
- 3/12/2023
- by Damon Wise
- Deadline Film + TV
Hooray! A romantic comedy that revives the screwball formula where two people talk themselves silly — and we only had to go to the end of the solar system to make it happen. Adam (Anthony Mackie) and Jane (Zoë Chao) are the sole surviving astronauts on a ship with no navigation and no communication system able to transmit their grievances to their NASA superiors who presumably think them dead. How long have they been adrift? Three years. How literal is the title “If You Were the Last”? Very.
But Kristian Mercado, making his narrative debut after directing a string of stand-up specials, and Angela Bourassa, who wrote the Black List-hailed screenplay, haven’t made a film about settling for the nearest sexual organ. Instead, the swooning comes from watching these platonic shipmates debate why they should, and shouldn’t, settle — only to realize that their ability to have these frank...
But Kristian Mercado, making his narrative debut after directing a string of stand-up specials, and Angela Bourassa, who wrote the Black List-hailed screenplay, haven’t made a film about settling for the nearest sexual organ. Instead, the swooning comes from watching these platonic shipmates debate why they should, and shouldn’t, settle — only to realize that their ability to have these frank...
- 3/12/2023
- by Amy Nicholson
- Variety Film + TV
‘If You Were the Last’ Review: Zoë Chao and Anthony Mackie Are the Cutest Rom-Com Couple of the Year
“If You Were the Last” officially marks lead star Zoë Chao’s Hollywood takeover. After stealing scenes in Netflix’s return-to-form rom-com “Your Place or Mine” and being a welcome addition to “Party Down” Season 3, Chao leads the indie sci-fi romantic comedy opposite Anthony Mackie. The two leads’ already formidable charisma goes off the charts when they are put side by side. The chemistry? It’s out of this world.
Chao plays astronaut captain Jane, who is trapped in an adrift spaceship with her lieutenant, scientist Adam (Mackie). Three years into a NASA mission, and Jane and Adam are lost, alone with each other, and counting down the days until their inevitable starvation. The film is set in the not-so-distant future where Matt Damon is still around (and still a go-to celebrity to name check), adding a charming familiarity to a film still rooted in the present. The Wes-Anderson-meets-West-Elm mid-century...
Chao plays astronaut captain Jane, who is trapped in an adrift spaceship with her lieutenant, scientist Adam (Mackie). Three years into a NASA mission, and Jane and Adam are lost, alone with each other, and counting down the days until their inevitable starvation. The film is set in the not-so-distant future where Matt Damon is still around (and still a go-to celebrity to name check), adding a charming familiarity to a film still rooted in the present. The Wes-Anderson-meets-West-Elm mid-century...
- 3/12/2023
- by Samantha Bergeson
- Indiewire
If Wes Anderson and Nancy Meyers joined forces to remake the 2016 sci-fi drama Passengers, the result would be something like If You Were the Last, a vivid but overly cute feature debut from director Kristian Mercado that premiered at SXSW.
Anthony Mackie and Zoë Chao star as a pair of astronauts stranded aboard a NASA shuttle that gets lost in space, and their decent onscreen chemistry helps fuel a rom-com tackling questions of fidelity, friendship and, well, fornication, as the would-be couple endlessly drifts through the cosmos. Backed by a colorful DIY aesthetic that makes the most of its budget, the film is nonetheless sappy and, in terms of its comedy, rather cringe-worthy, never quite finding the sweet spot between romance and laughs.
Written by Angela Bourassa, the high-concept story is purposely low-fi from the start, revealing how Adam (Mackie) and Jane (Chao), two highly trained space explorers, are stuck...
Anthony Mackie and Zoë Chao star as a pair of astronauts stranded aboard a NASA shuttle that gets lost in space, and their decent onscreen chemistry helps fuel a rom-com tackling questions of fidelity, friendship and, well, fornication, as the would-be couple endlessly drifts through the cosmos. Backed by a colorful DIY aesthetic that makes the most of its budget, the film is nonetheless sappy and, in terms of its comedy, rather cringe-worthy, never quite finding the sweet spot between romance and laughs.
Written by Angela Bourassa, the high-concept story is purposely low-fi from the start, revealing how Adam (Mackie) and Jane (Chao), two highly trained space explorers, are stuck...
- 3/12/2023
- by Jordan Mintzer
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
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