Tag Archives: dramedy

Bleecker Street Acquires U.S. Distribution Rights to Bobby Cannavale’s Family Dramedy “Ezra”

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Bobby Cannavale’s latest project is headed to a U.S. theater near you…

Bleecker Street has acquired the U.S. rights to Ezra, the starry family dramedy starring the 53-year-old half-Cuban American Emmy-winning actor.

Bobby CannavaleHailing from actor-turned-director Tony Goldwyn, the film is coming off of its world premiere in the Special Presentations section of the Toronto Film Festival.

Starring Cannavale, Rose Byrne, Robert De Niro and newcomer William A. Fitzgerald, the film is slated for release in theaters in 2024.

Also starring Vera Farmiga, Rainn Wilson and Whoopi Goldberg, Ezra follows Max Brandel (Cannavale), a once successful late-night comedy writer turned less-successful stand-up comedian, who struggles through the failure of his career and marriage. After moving in with his father, Stan (De Niro), Max and his ex-wife Jenna (Byrne) remain at odds on how to best raise their autistic son, Ezra (Fitzgerald).

Described by Deadline as “a touching testament to the power of love, acceptance, and the challenges of parenthood,” the film was written by Tony Spiridakis, with William Horberg, Jon Kilik, Goldwyn and Spiridakis producing.

Natalie Morales to Star in the Dark Dramedy “My Dead Friend Zoe”

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Natalie Morales is making a new (dead) friend…

The 38-year-old Cuban American actress will star opposite Ed Harris and Sonequa Martin-Green in My Dead Friend Zoe, a dark dramedy about two generations of veterans, family and friendship.

Natalie MoralesKyle Hausmann-Stokes will direct the project in what will be his feature debut.

Written by Hausmann-Stokes and A.J. Bermudez, the film 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.

The film 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 U.S. Army as a paratrooper and convoy commander and was awarded the Bronze Star while in Iraq. He co-founded the nonprofit Veterans in Media & Entertainment, and has focused his directing career thus far on the social and human sides of the military and veteran experience.

“My fellow veterans and I often get reduced to archetypes and melodramatic tropes. We’re much more dynamic, funny, complex than that,” said Hausmann-Stokes. “This will be a story about veterans we haven’t seen before; one that anyone, military/veteran or not, can relate to and enjoy.”

A Gotham Award nominee who’ll next be seen in the third season of Apple TV+’s The Morning Show and Sony’s R-rated comedy No Hard Feelings, Morales has previously appeared in such studio features as Stuber, The Little Things and Battle of the Sexes, as well as well-regarded indies like Language Lessons and I’m Totally Fine.

She led the NBC sitcom Abby’s and has also been seen on series like Dead to Me, Santa Clarita Diet, The Grinder, Parks and Recreation and White Collar.

Other upcoming projects for the actress include two films out of SXSW 2023: the sci-fi romance If You Were the Last with Anthony Mackie, and actor Jake Johnson’s feature directorial debut, Self Reliance.

Alfred Molina to Star in Indie Dramedy “When We Get There”

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Alfred Molina is going there…

The 69-year-old half-Spanish English actor will star in the indie dramedy When We Get There, the feature debut of writer-director Ryan Patrick Welsh.

Alfred MolinaMindy Sterling and William Katt are also set, with newcomers Chris Heeder, Jamie Lien and Alek Kristopher rounding out the cast.

Co-directed by Justin Giddings, When We Get There tells the story of brothers Cal (Heeder) and Ty (Kristopher), who embark on a cross-country trek to meet the father they’ve never known, and the only family they have left. Along with Cal’s long-term girlfriend Ellie (Lien) and a new guitar named Stevie, the trio are forced to navigate uncertain futures on a 2000-mile journey in a car on its last leg. Along the way they discover what, and who, it’s worth showing up for.

Molina portrays Ellie’s abrasive but lovable father Marcus, with Sterling and Katt as Florence and Bob, two vagabond campers the kids meet along the way.

Molina recently reprised his Marvel role as evil genius Doc Ock in Sony’s Tom Holland-led blockbuster Spider-Man: No Way Home, which grossed over $1.9B worldwide, having first played the role opposite Tobey Maguire in 2004’s Spider-Man 2.

He also recently led the Prime Video mystery series Three Pines and has additionally been seen on such series as Angie Tribeca, Feud and Show Me a Hero, to name a few.

The Golden Globe and two-time Emmy-nominated actor has worked consistently since the late 1970s and has appeared on the film side in such acclaimed titles as The Front Runner, Love Is Strange, An Education, Identity, Frida, Chocolat, Magnolia, Boogie Nights and many more.