Why Cooper Raiff named Cha Cha Real Smooth after the Cha Cha Slide; Luca Guadagnino’s best advice for moviemakers; Tribeca winners. All in today’s Movie News Rundown.
Luca Guadagnino: Is being honored as the 2022 Filmmaker on the Edge by resident artist John Waters on Sunday at the Provincetown Film Festival. MovieMaker recently interviewed the Salvatore: Shoemaker of Dreams and Call Me By Your Name director for our Things I’ve Learned as a Moviemaker series, and here’s just one nugget of advice he gave us: “To become a filmmaker you must go in the dirt and be wet and sweaty and consumed with fatigue in order to start to understand what’s around you.”
Cooper Raiff: Explains why he named his movie Cha Cha Real Smooth after the Cha Cha Slide in a new interview with MovieMaker. He also talks about how being colorblind affects his directing style and working with Dakota Johnson, Leslie Mann, and Este Haim, who scored the film. Cha Cha Real Smooth is playing on Saturday at the Provincetown International Film Festival. It also hits theaters and Apple TV+ today.
Will Forte: Has joined the cast of Bodkin, an upcoming Netflix dark comedy series about a motley crew of podcasters who set out to investigate the mysterious disappearance of three strangers in an idyllic, coastal Irish town, Netflix announced on Friday. Bodkin is Higher Ground and wiip’s first drama series for Netflix. It sounds pretty cool! But then again, I will watch literally anything set in Ireland because I love the Emerald Isle that much.
Tribeca Winners: Congratulations to the lucky filmmakers who walked away with prizes from the 21st annual Tribeca Festival yesterday. The Founders Award for Best U.S. Narrative Feature went to Good Girl Jane; Best International Feature went to January (Janvaris); Best Documentary Feature went to The Cave of Adullam, and Michelle Garza Cervera received the 10th Annual Nora Ephron Award for Huesera. Deadline has the full list of winners.
Good Luck to You, Leo Grande: Premieres today on Hulu, and I cannot wait to watch it tonight. It stars Emma Thompson as a retired widow who hires a sex worker to help her achieve her first orgasm after spending decades in an unsatisfactory marriage. Emma Thompson talked about the changing approach to sex scenes in Hollywood, and how she recalls a time when actors often felt “abused,” in an interview with IndieWire.
Lightyear Looks Promising: With $5.2 million in Thursday previews, according to Variety. Opening wide in theaters today, it’s expected to earn $70-$80 million in North America during its opening weekend. But it does still have some competition from Jurassic World: Dominion and Top Gun: Maverick, so it remains to be seen whether the Toy Story spinoff reaches No. 1.
If You’re On the Fence: About what to see in theaters this weekend, here is Vulture‘s review of Lightyear. And here’s a review of Jurassic World from Variety. And while we’re at it, here’s one on Top Gun from The Hollywood Reporter. And if you’re not in the mood for an action-superhero type of movie, as I often am not, might I suggest the aforementioned Cha Cha Real Smooth? It’s quite good. I enjoyed it very much when I screened it from my couch during virtual Sundance this year. And just to be fair, here’s its review in The New York Times.
Before You Go: Take a moment, if you will, to watch the music video for DJ Casper’s “Cha Cha Slide,” which he made under his other nickname, Mr. C The Slide Man. It may give you some more insight into Cooper Raiff’s Cha Cha Real Smooth. For me, this brings back so many sensory memories of elementary school. Did anyone else get to have dance parties during lunch in the second grade? Or was that just at Melville Elementary?
Main Image: Cooper Raiff and Evan Assante in Cha Cha Real Smooth
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