Exclusive: Filming has wrapped in Europe on The Daily Wire’s adventure series The Pendragon Cycle.
Starring in the series are newcomer Tom Sharp as Merlin, Rose Reid (Finding You) as Charis, Myles Clohessy (Fire Island) as Uther, actress turned conservative commentator and YouTuber Brett Cooper (Heathers) as Merlin’s wife, Ganieda, and Alex Laurence Phillips as Pelleas.
Supporting cast to have joined since our last update include Daniel Fathers (The Witcher: Blood Origin) in the role of the Atlantean king, Avallach; Chick Allan (House Of The Dragon) as Gorlas, and Nicholas Boulton (Shakespeare In Love) as Morcant. Allan is best known as a stuntman on multiple films and TV series. Boulton also appeared in one ep of Game Of Thrones.
Additionally cast in the series are Steve Varnom, Colin Cunningham, David Brooks, Paul Clerkin, Christopher Sciueref, Thor Rosland, Thomas Tidiman, and Travis Mills.
The series is directed by Daily Wire founder Jeremy Boreing,...
Starring in the series are newcomer Tom Sharp as Merlin, Rose Reid (Finding You) as Charis, Myles Clohessy (Fire Island) as Uther, actress turned conservative commentator and YouTuber Brett Cooper (Heathers) as Merlin’s wife, Ganieda, and Alex Laurence Phillips as Pelleas.
Supporting cast to have joined since our last update include Daniel Fathers (The Witcher: Blood Origin) in the role of the Atlantean king, Avallach; Chick Allan (House Of The Dragon) as Gorlas, and Nicholas Boulton (Shakespeare In Love) as Morcant. Allan is best known as a stuntman on multiple films and TV series. Boulton also appeared in one ep of Game Of Thrones.
Additionally cast in the series are Steve Varnom, Colin Cunningham, David Brooks, Paul Clerkin, Christopher Sciueref, Thor Rosland, Thomas Tidiman, and Travis Mills.
The series is directed by Daily Wire founder Jeremy Boreing,...
- 12/18/2023
- by Andreas Wiseman
- Deadline Film + TV
The BBC is one step closer to getting its new chair following the resignation of Richard Sharp earlier this year.
The Culture, Media and Sport Committee, which interviewed Samir Shah earlier this week, has officially approved his appointment but expressed “disappointment” over the longtime TV executive’s unwillingness “to express a view on fundamental principles, such as board level interference in the BBC and other bodies and on political impartiality.”
The committee has requested that if Shah is officially appointed for the role, he re-appear again for questioning within three months to “demonstrate that he has considered and addressed the concerns.”
Because the BBC is a publicly funded public service broadcaster, effectively held in trust for the public by the U.K. government, the culture secretary and Prime Minister are involved in appointing the broadcaster’s chair. After they confirm their preferred candidate, in this case Juniper TV CEO Shah, the...
The Culture, Media and Sport Committee, which interviewed Samir Shah earlier this week, has officially approved his appointment but expressed “disappointment” over the longtime TV executive’s unwillingness “to express a view on fundamental principles, such as board level interference in the BBC and other bodies and on political impartiality.”
The committee has requested that if Shah is officially appointed for the role, he re-appear again for questioning within three months to “demonstrate that he has considered and addressed the concerns.”
Because the BBC is a publicly funded public service broadcaster, effectively held in trust for the public by the U.K. government, the culture secretary and Prime Minister are involved in appointing the broadcaster’s chair. After they confirm their preferred candidate, in this case Juniper TV CEO Shah, the...
- 12/15/2023
- by K.J. Yossman
- Variety Film + TV
Nissa Diederich, 20th Television’s head of production, will step down from her position after nearly 25 years as an executive with 20th TV, Fox 21 Television Studios and its successors. Most recently, she spent the past three years as an executive VP.
Karey Burke, president of 20th Television, announced Diederich’s imminent departure in a memo to staff at the Disney-owned studio Thursday.
“Nissa has helmed production on some of the studio’s most significant and storied series for over two and a half decades,” Burke wrote, noting, among others, “Glee,” “Homeland,” “This Is Us,” the “American Crime Story” franchise, “Only Murders in the Building” and the upcoming “Percy Jackson and The Olympians.”
No replacement has been named for Diederich and no details about a new head of production at 20th Television were available.
In February 2021, Diederich shifted from executive VP of production for Touchstone Television (formerly Fox 21 Television Studios...
Karey Burke, president of 20th Television, announced Diederich’s imminent departure in a memo to staff at the Disney-owned studio Thursday.
“Nissa has helmed production on some of the studio’s most significant and storied series for over two and a half decades,” Burke wrote, noting, among others, “Glee,” “Homeland,” “This Is Us,” the “American Crime Story” franchise, “Only Murders in the Building” and the upcoming “Percy Jackson and The Olympians.”
No replacement has been named for Diederich and no details about a new head of production at 20th Television were available.
In February 2021, Diederich shifted from executive VP of production for Touchstone Television (formerly Fox 21 Television Studios...
- 12/15/2023
- by Jennifer Maas
- Variety Film + TV
New BBC Chair Samir Shah laid down a marker across multiple topics this morning, announcing his intentions to review the corporation’s reporting guidelines on the Israel-Hamas war, addressing concerns around financing and saying he was told he is “mad” to be taking on the role.
While questioning whether Gary Lineker had broken social media guidelines with his latest Twitter (now X) scandal, he also acknowledged “criticism” over the way the broadcaster has covered the Israel-Hamas war, a highly charged topic since October 7.
Were he to be appointed chair, the former head of the BBC’s political news programs said he would “review” the matter, especially whether the BBC should be referring to Hamas as “terrorists,” a source of controversy that the BBC has faced up to over past weeks.
“It seems to me there is enough in terms of criticism of the way the BBC has covered this war,...
While questioning whether Gary Lineker had broken social media guidelines with his latest Twitter (now X) scandal, he also acknowledged “criticism” over the way the broadcaster has covered the Israel-Hamas war, a highly charged topic since October 7.
Were he to be appointed chair, the former head of the BBC’s political news programs said he would “review” the matter, especially whether the BBC should be referring to Hamas as “terrorists,” a source of controversy that the BBC has faced up to over past weeks.
“It seems to me there is enough in terms of criticism of the way the BBC has covered this war,...
- 12/13/2023
- by Max Goldbart
- Deadline Film + TV
Bobi Wine, the subject of Bobi Wine: The People’s President, said he hopes the National Geographic Documentary Films doc educates international communities who have supported Uganda’s dictator Yoweri Museveni.
Wine had the support of the Ugandan people to be elected president in 2021, yet Museveni remains in power. Wine considers Museveni worse than his predecessor, Idi Amin, by the sheer fact that Amin was only in power for eight years and Museveni for 37.
“Amin was not educated,” Wine said at Deadline’s Contenders Film: Documentary. “Museveni was a smart dictator that for a very long time has got the international community backing him. I would like to believe that they are doing that ignorantly. I hope this film opens up the reality of General Museveni to the international communities.”
Related: Deadline’s Contenders Documentary – Full Coverage
Wine’s wife, Barbie Kyagulanyi, said Museveni also hires expensive firms to keep...
Wine had the support of the Ugandan people to be elected president in 2021, yet Museveni remains in power. Wine considers Museveni worse than his predecessor, Idi Amin, by the sheer fact that Amin was only in power for eight years and Museveni for 37.
“Amin was not educated,” Wine said at Deadline’s Contenders Film: Documentary. “Museveni was a smart dictator that for a very long time has got the international community backing him. I would like to believe that they are doing that ignorantly. I hope this film opens up the reality of General Museveni to the international communities.”
Related: Deadline’s Contenders Documentary – Full Coverage
Wine’s wife, Barbie Kyagulanyi, said Museveni also hires expensive firms to keep...
- 12/10/2023
- by Fred Topel
- Deadline Film + TV
Over the 46 years since the acrimonious divorce of the two groups behind the Emmys, the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences (ATAS, or the TV Academy, which now presides over the Primetime Emmys) and the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences (NATAS, which now presides over the Daytime, Children’s & Family, News & Documentary and Technology & Engineering Emmys), the relationship between the two organizations has been frosty, to say the least.
But the further that the disputes that led to their separation have faded into the past, and given that the parties in this divorce share custody of a precious child — namely, the world-famous Emmy statuette — the leaders of both organizations have become increasingly interested in coordination and collaboration, if not remarriage just yet, they told The Hollywood Reporter and Variety during a virtually unprecedented joint interview earlier this week.
“The last five years, the trajectory has been the most positive,...
But the further that the disputes that led to their separation have faded into the past, and given that the parties in this divorce share custody of a precious child — namely, the world-famous Emmy statuette — the leaders of both organizations have become increasingly interested in coordination and collaboration, if not remarriage just yet, they told The Hollywood Reporter and Variety during a virtually unprecedented joint interview earlier this week.
“The last five years, the trajectory has been the most positive,...
- 12/7/2023
- by Scott Feinberg
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
The two Hollywood strikes will have no impact on next year’s Emmy eligibility windows for either the Primetime Emmys or the Daytime Emmys, the heads of the two television academies confirmed this week.
Meeting with reporters in a joint setting — a collaboration that used to be a rarity, back when they were warring organizations, but has now become more common — Los Angeles-based Television Academy president/CEO Maury McIntyre and New York-based National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences president/CEO Adam Sharp tackled a wide range of subjects, including an anticipated drop in submissions next year in scripted categories due to the strikes; whether there will be more category realignments; if the talk show fields will be further adjusted; a major change in governance taking effect next year at NATAS; and more.
But they began by both confirming that they don’t expect to make any calendar tweaks to their...
Meeting with reporters in a joint setting — a collaboration that used to be a rarity, back when they were warring organizations, but has now become more common — Los Angeles-based Television Academy president/CEO Maury McIntyre and New York-based National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences president/CEO Adam Sharp tackled a wide range of subjects, including an anticipated drop in submissions next year in scripted categories due to the strikes; whether there will be more category realignments; if the talk show fields will be further adjusted; a major change in governance taking effect next year at NATAS; and more.
But they began by both confirming that they don’t expect to make any calendar tweaks to their...
- 12/7/2023
- by Michael Schneider
- Variety Film + TV
British TV vet Samir Shah has been unveiled as the new BBC Chair, coming with a major decision on the licence fee imminent.
Shah, who runs production company Juniper TV and used to be a senior BBC News exec, has been appointed by the government several months after the resignation of Richard Sharp, who left the corporation after just two years amidst the conflict-of-interest scandal involving the facilitation of a potential loan for Boris Johnson.
Shah has been working on and off in TV for four decades and is well known in industry circles. He used to run the BBC’s political journalism shows and was a non-exec director during the ‘Crowngate’ affair involving Queen Elizabeth II, at which point he advised Director General Mark Thompson over a scandal that led to the resignation of BBC One Controller Peter Fincham. He bought Juniper in 1998 and has made shows for the likes of the BBC,...
Shah, who runs production company Juniper TV and used to be a senior BBC News exec, has been appointed by the government several months after the resignation of Richard Sharp, who left the corporation after just two years amidst the conflict-of-interest scandal involving the facilitation of a potential loan for Boris Johnson.
Shah has been working on and off in TV for four decades and is well known in industry circles. He used to run the BBC’s political journalism shows and was a non-exec director during the ‘Crowngate’ affair involving Queen Elizabeth II, at which point he advised Director General Mark Thompson over a scandal that led to the resignation of BBC One Controller Peter Fincham. He bought Juniper in 1998 and has made shows for the likes of the BBC,...
- 12/6/2023
- by Max Goldbart
- Deadline Film + TV
Actress Megan Hilty will make her stage debut as Madeline Ashton in the musical adaptation of the classic “Death Becomes Her” in April 2024. The role was originally played by Meryl Streep in the 1992 film version, a fact that is not lost on Hilty at all.
The pair haven’t yet spoken about the role, but Hilty said that she would “fall to the floor” if Streep ever wanted to chat.
“I don’t know her and I can’t imagine that she has any time to reach out to me,” she added of the Oscar-winning Streep. “But I’m sure that they’re aware that this is happening.”
It was announced in September that the musical will open in Chicago in April. Hilty will star in the musical opposite Jennifer Simard, who takes on the role of Helen Sharp, played by Goldie Hawn in the movie.
Streep’s portrayal of...
The pair haven’t yet spoken about the role, but Hilty said that she would “fall to the floor” if Streep ever wanted to chat.
“I don’t know her and I can’t imagine that she has any time to reach out to me,” she added of the Oscar-winning Streep. “But I’m sure that they’re aware that this is happening.”
It was announced in September that the musical will open in Chicago in April. Hilty will star in the musical opposite Jennifer Simard, who takes on the role of Helen Sharp, played by Goldie Hawn in the movie.
Streep’s portrayal of...
- 12/2/2023
- by Stephanie Kaloi
- The Wrap
Exclusive: It was described by U.S. authorities as the “biggest military computer hack of all time,” and now the BBC is making a feature-length drama about the man behind the keyboard.
The BBC has greenlit The People v Gary McKinnon, which will tell the story of a Scottish computer hacker who broke into NASA and Pentagon military systems but avoided being extradited to the U.S.
The 90-minute single will be produced by Wall to Wall and is based on a script by Peter Harness, a writer who has worked on Doctor Who and Wallander. Lucky Number Slevin director Paul McGuigan is expected to be attached to direct.
The Guardian reported that the project was a feature film, but Deadline understands the BBC has commissioned the single drama for television. Production will begin next spring, with casting set to take place over the coming months. The BBC declined to comment.
The BBC has greenlit The People v Gary McKinnon, which will tell the story of a Scottish computer hacker who broke into NASA and Pentagon military systems but avoided being extradited to the U.S.
The 90-minute single will be produced by Wall to Wall and is based on a script by Peter Harness, a writer who has worked on Doctor Who and Wallander. Lucky Number Slevin director Paul McGuigan is expected to be attached to direct.
The Guardian reported that the project was a feature film, but Deadline understands the BBC has commissioned the single drama for television. Production will begin next spring, with casting set to take place over the coming months. The BBC declined to comment.
- 11/30/2023
- by Jake Kanter
- Deadline Film + TV
The Alliance Defending Freedom has been busy this year. Its senior legal council, Matt Sharp, has been on the move, parachuting into different state courthouses to testify or voice support for some of the record-shattering 501 anti-lgbtq bills that have been introduced in legislatures this year — more than 70 of which have passed into law.
In February, Sharp showed up in support of an Indiana bill that would forbid the Department of Child Services from removing trans kids from homes where their parents reject their child’s gender identity. In March, he...
In February, Sharp showed up in support of an Indiana bill that would forbid the Department of Child Services from removing trans kids from homes where their parents reject their child’s gender identity. In March, he...
- 10/29/2023
- by Spencer Macnaughton
- Rollingstone.com
The Gotham Film & Media Institute announced today the nominations for the 33rd Annual Gotham Awards! This list includes 20 feature films, 11 series, and 30 performances in 10 award categories. Each nomination represents what the group deems a high point in 2023 across aspects of the entertainment spectrum. The nominations were announced live from Cipriani Wall Street by Jeffrey Sharp, award-winning film producer and the Executive Director of The Gotham, and Kia Brooks, Deputy Director of The Gotham.
“We are proud to announce this year’s Gotham Award nominees and look forward to celebrating these amazing storytellers in a few weeks. The Gotham Awards in many ways reflects the industry and community we serve. Seen by this year’s nominees, storytelling knows no boundaries as our industry continues to find new audiences across the globe,” Sharp said about the upcoming celebration.
While there are several outstanding performances nominated across the board, a few highlights...
“We are proud to announce this year’s Gotham Award nominees and look forward to celebrating these amazing storytellers in a few weeks. The Gotham Awards in many ways reflects the industry and community we serve. Seen by this year’s nominees, storytelling knows no boundaries as our industry continues to find new audiences across the globe,” Sharp said about the upcoming celebration.
While there are several outstanding performances nominated across the board, a few highlights...
- 10/24/2023
- by Steve Seigh
- JoBlo.com
On October 24 the Gotham Awards announced their official nominations for their 33rd annual event. Led by “All of Us Strangers” with four bids and followed by “Past Lives” and “The Zone of Interest” with three, the nominees were presented by Jeffrey Sharp, Executive Director of the Gotham Film and Media Institute, and Kia Brooks, Deputy Director at the Gotham Film and Media Institute, via Variety’s YouTube channel. The awards ceremony for the winners will take place on Monday, November 27, at Cipriani Wall Street in New York City. Scroll down for the full list.
Sharp said in a statement, “We are proud to announce this year’s Gotham Award nominees and look forward to celebrating these amazing storytellers in a few weeks. The Gotham Awards in many ways reflects the industry and community we serve. Seen by this year’s nominees, storytelling knows no boundaries as our industry continues to...
Sharp said in a statement, “We are proud to announce this year’s Gotham Award nominees and look forward to celebrating these amazing storytellers in a few weeks. The Gotham Awards in many ways reflects the industry and community we serve. Seen by this year’s nominees, storytelling knows no boundaries as our industry continues to...
- 10/24/2023
- by Daniel Montgomery
- Gold Derby
The 2023 Gotham Awards have officially unveiled its nominations. This year’s nominees were announced on Tuesday, October 24 via live broadcast on Variety’s YouTube channel. Nominees were listed off by Jeffrey Sharp, the executive director of the Gotham Film and Media Institute, as well as Kia Brooks, the deputy director at the Gotham Film and Media Institute. Twenty feature films, 11 TV series, and 30 performances in 10 award categories were recognized, with features like “Barbie,” All of Us Strangers,” “Passages,” and “Past Lives” earning the bulk of the nods.
“We are proud to announce this year’s Gotham Award nominees and look forward to celebrating these amazing storytellers in a few weeks,” Sharp said during the broadcast. “The Gotham Awards in many ways reflects the industry and community we serve. Seen by this year’s nominees, storytelling knows no boundaries as our industry continues to find new audiences across the globe.”
The...
“We are proud to announce this year’s Gotham Award nominees and look forward to celebrating these amazing storytellers in a few weeks,” Sharp said during the broadcast. “The Gotham Awards in many ways reflects the industry and community we serve. Seen by this year’s nominees, storytelling knows no boundaries as our industry continues to find new audiences across the globe.”
The...
- 10/24/2023
- by Samantha Bergeson
- Indiewire
They’re impossibly fast and strong. Their skin is pale-white and ice-cold. They travel in pairs and they’re at the epicenter of campy, creepy gay culture. No, we’re not talking about the vampires of “Twilight” or “Dicks: The Musical” writers/stars Aaron Jackson and Josh Sharp.
Meet Backpack and Whisper, Aka The Sewer Boys!
Born into this world as a one-off joke from an Upright Citizens Brigade sketch show a decade ago, they’re all grown up and now playing pivotal roles in A24’s gleefully unhinged musical comedy. It’s a genre first for the studio and, though the crusty cuties may remind you of iconic puppets from ‘80s and ‘90s films like “Gremlins” or “Labyrinth,” you’ve never seen anything quite like them on stage or screen before.
“I just remember that it was this big reveal that Josh and Aaron were like, ‘We have to show you the Sewer Boys,...
Meet Backpack and Whisper, Aka The Sewer Boys!
Born into this world as a one-off joke from an Upright Citizens Brigade sketch show a decade ago, they’re all grown up and now playing pivotal roles in A24’s gleefully unhinged musical comedy. It’s a genre first for the studio and, though the crusty cuties may remind you of iconic puppets from ‘80s and ‘90s films like “Gremlins” or “Labyrinth,” you’ve never seen anything quite like them on stage or screen before.
“I just remember that it was this big reveal that Josh and Aaron were like, ‘We have to show you the Sewer Boys,...
- 10/20/2023
- by Alison Foreman
- Indiewire
A24 has become a household name, even among general audiences, because of its penchant for finding unconventional stories that appeal to niche audiences. Many casual moviegoers have been frustrated by the patience required for the more substantial and less generic storytelling typically found within an A24 film, from recent entries like "The Green Knight" back to Jonathan Glazer's "Under the Skin." But when it comes to "Dicks: The Musical," the raunchy R-rated comedy from fresh-faced comedians and collaborators Aaron Jackson & Josh Sharp and "Borat" director/"Seinfeld" executive producer Larry Charles, you pretty much get exactly what has been advertised in the movie's zany trailer.
Aaron Jackson and Josh Sharp star in "Dicks: The Musical," which they also wrote the script, lyrics, and book for, based on their own off-off-Broadway stage show that originated at the Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre. Right at the top of the movie, bumper cards inform...
Aaron Jackson and Josh Sharp star in "Dicks: The Musical," which they also wrote the script, lyrics, and book for, based on their own off-off-Broadway stage show that originated at the Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre. Right at the top of the movie, bumper cards inform...
- 10/19/2023
- by Ethan Anderton
- Slash Film
Have you watched the trailer for Dicks: The Musical? Even if you have, you ain’t seen nothing yet. Yes, there are musical numbers, many involving genital discussion, and they even have “Sewer Boys.” From Larry Charles comes a wild little film from A24. Inspired by the talents of Josh Sharp and Aaron Jackson, the film also stars the legendary Nathan Lane and Megan Mullally. Both of these pros add a whole lot of crazy to this R-rated musical. Get ready for a whole lot of dick jokes, songs, and a few unmentionables.
I, recently, had an amazing time getting to speak with this insanely funny group. And yes, it was incredible to chat with Larry Charles (Seinfeld). First up it was Charles, Jackson, Sharp, and Bowen Yang. Mr. Yang plays God. It is discussed. And yes, it was kind of fantastic chatting it up with the four of them.
I, recently, had an amazing time getting to speak with this insanely funny group. And yes, it was incredible to chat with Larry Charles (Seinfeld). First up it was Charles, Jackson, Sharp, and Bowen Yang. Mr. Yang plays God. It is discussed. And yes, it was kind of fantastic chatting it up with the four of them.
- 10/18/2023
- by JimmyO
- JoBlo.com
Taking their locally legendary sketch show from a cramped stage beneath a Chelsea grocery store to movie theaters across America, the only thing Aaron Jackson and Josh Sharp couldn’t save was its original title.
“In 20 years, when the culture has changed, we’ll put out a director’s cut,” Sharp joked to IndieWire in a deep dive with Jackson ahead of the pair’s feature film debut. “The movie will be the exact same, just with the name ‘Fucking Identical Twins.’”
The creative partners’ basement triumph, better known these days by the only slightly more family-friendly moniker “Dicks: The Musical,” was stuck in Hollywood development for over a decade. Now, it’s A24’s scrappy first stab at the song-and-dance genre: a raunchy-bordering-on-rancid “Parent Trap” redux born out of the Upright Citizens Brigade, with Jackson and Sharp playing opposite bonafide Broadway legends Nathan Lane and Megan Mullally.
It’s campy,...
“In 20 years, when the culture has changed, we’ll put out a director’s cut,” Sharp joked to IndieWire in a deep dive with Jackson ahead of the pair’s feature film debut. “The movie will be the exact same, just with the name ‘Fucking Identical Twins.’”
The creative partners’ basement triumph, better known these days by the only slightly more family-friendly moniker “Dicks: The Musical,” was stuck in Hollywood development for over a decade. Now, it’s A24’s scrappy first stab at the song-and-dance genre: a raunchy-bordering-on-rancid “Parent Trap” redux born out of the Upright Citizens Brigade, with Jackson and Sharp playing opposite bonafide Broadway legends Nathan Lane and Megan Mullally.
It’s campy,...
- 10/18/2023
- by Alison Foreman
- Indiewire
Aaron Jackson and Josh Sharp were permitted to conduct this interview amid the actors' strike through A24's interim agreement with SAG-AFTRA.
"Dicks: The Musical" is kind of like "The Parent Trap" - in that it follows two identical twins who are separated at birth and reunite later - and it's unlike "The Parent Trap" in that it has lots of jokes about sex and being gay and incest and the sewer boys (we'll come back to them). It stars Josh Sharp and Aaron Jackson, who first wrote the story as a two-person comedy show titled "F*cking Identical Twins."
"It's a classic story at this point," Sharp jokes to Popsugar, referring to why they decided to do a "Parent Trap" twist. "There's 'The Iliad,' there's 'The Parent Trap,' 'Macbeth.'"
"I think we both grew up watching both of [the movies], the Hayley Mills one and Lindsay Lohan one,...
"Dicks: The Musical" is kind of like "The Parent Trap" - in that it follows two identical twins who are separated at birth and reunite later - and it's unlike "The Parent Trap" in that it has lots of jokes about sex and being gay and incest and the sewer boys (we'll come back to them). It stars Josh Sharp and Aaron Jackson, who first wrote the story as a two-person comedy show titled "F*cking Identical Twins."
"It's a classic story at this point," Sharp jokes to Popsugar, referring to why they decided to do a "Parent Trap" twist. "There's 'The Iliad,' there's 'The Parent Trap,' 'Macbeth.'"
"I think we both grew up watching both of [the movies], the Hayley Mills one and Lindsay Lohan one,...
- 10/11/2023
- by Victoria Edel
- Popsugar.com
Exclusive: Bleecker Street has acquired the U.S. rights to TIFF standout One Life, the James Hawes-directed drama that stars Anthony Hopkins, Johnny Flynn, Lena Olin, Romola Garai, Alex Sharp, Marthe Keller, with Jonathan Pryce and Helena Bonham Carter. Scripted by Lucinda Coxon and Nick Drake, the film is a production of See-Saw Films, which developed it alongside BBC Film. Bleecker Street is planning a 2024 theatrical release.
Based on the Barbara Winton book If It’s Not Impossible…: The Life of Sir Nicholas Winton, One Life tells the true story of Nicholas “Nicky” Winton (Flynn), a young London broker who visits Prague in December 1938. In a race against time, Winton convinces Trevor Chadwick (Sharp) and Doreen Warriner (Garai) of the British Committee for Refugees in Czechoslovakia to rescue as many children as possible before the Nazis close the borders. Fifty years later, Nicky (Hopkins) is haunted by the...
Based on the Barbara Winton book If It’s Not Impossible…: The Life of Sir Nicholas Winton, One Life tells the true story of Nicholas “Nicky” Winton (Flynn), a young London broker who visits Prague in December 1938. In a race against time, Winton convinces Trevor Chadwick (Sharp) and Doreen Warriner (Garai) of the British Committee for Refugees in Czechoslovakia to rescue as many children as possible before the Nazis close the borders. Fifty years later, Nicky (Hopkins) is haunted by the...
- 10/9/2023
- by Mike Fleming Jr
- Deadline Film + TV
The most appreciative audience for “Dicks: The Musical” may be the Venn-diagram overlap between viewers who think the envelope for raunchy language in R-rated comedies doesn’t get pushed nearly hard enough and people who saw “Les Miserables” on Broadway three times. In other words, the warning not for every taste has never applied more. But the movie musical will hit an especially sweet spot for folks who want filth and subversion with their show tunes, and who like to hear the classic tropes of musical theater being embraced even as they’re being thoroughly upended.
The weekend box office indicates that “Dicks” is quickly finding that audience, with Variety’s report saying the outrageous film “was a bright spot at the specialty box office, generating one of the best limited openings of the year.” In the meantime, a full soundtrack album came out Friday, for anyone wanting a pre-filmgoing...
The weekend box office indicates that “Dicks” is quickly finding that audience, with Variety’s report saying the outrageous film “was a bright spot at the specialty box office, generating one of the best limited openings of the year.” In the meantime, a full soundtrack album came out Friday, for anyone wanting a pre-filmgoing...
- 10/8/2023
- by Chris Willman
- Variety Film + TV
A24’s Dicks: The Musical had one of the best limited openings of the year, grossing $220,867 on seven screens in New York, Los Angeles and San Francisco. It expands in NY/LA/Sf next weekend ahead of a national rollout starting 10/20 for the R-rated romp directed by Larry Charles.
The film, developed and co-produced by Chernin Entertainment (The Greatest Showman) based on a stage show by comedians Josh Sharp and Aaron Jackson, caught a wave with a solid per screen average of $31,552 including sold out Q&As in NY and LA. Sharp and Aaron star as self-obsessed businessmen who discover they’re long-lost identical twins and come together to plot the reunion of their eccentric divorced parents played by Nathan Lane, Megan Mullally. The ensemble cast also included Bowen Yang (as God), and Megan Thee Stallion — with her original song “Out Alpha the Alpha.”
Dicks’ soundtrack was also...
The film, developed and co-produced by Chernin Entertainment (The Greatest Showman) based on a stage show by comedians Josh Sharp and Aaron Jackson, caught a wave with a solid per screen average of $31,552 including sold out Q&As in NY and LA. Sharp and Aaron star as self-obsessed businessmen who discover they’re long-lost identical twins and come together to plot the reunion of their eccentric divorced parents played by Nathan Lane, Megan Mullally. The ensemble cast also included Bowen Yang (as God), and Megan Thee Stallion — with her original song “Out Alpha the Alpha.”
Dicks’ soundtrack was also...
- 10/8/2023
- by Jill Goldsmith
- Deadline Film + TV
The songs and score of the new film “Dicks: The Musical” are deadpan, but about as far away from dead and humanly and musically possible. It sounds like a fully fleshed-out Broadway musical brought to vibrant life on the big screen, even though it went directly from being a two-man mini-show in a New York comedy club to a movie with a traditonal-sounding, fully orchestrated song score, the scope of which is matched only by the gleeful vulgarity of the lyrics.
Creator-screenwriter-stars Josh Sharp and Aaron Jackson wrote the lyrics for the songs. But when it came to lending them total-earworm melodies, or production values that sound like the Great White Way or golden-era Hollywood, those responsibilities fell to Marius de Vries and Karl Saint Lucy. The latter co-writer has been in on the job with Sharp and Jackson since they first birthed a miniaturized version of “Dicks” (then known...
Creator-screenwriter-stars Josh Sharp and Aaron Jackson wrote the lyrics for the songs. But when it came to lending them total-earworm melodies, or production values that sound like the Great White Way or golden-era Hollywood, those responsibilities fell to Marius de Vries and Karl Saint Lucy. The latter co-writer has been in on the job with Sharp and Jackson since they first birthed a miniaturized version of “Dicks” (then known...
- 10/7/2023
- by Chris Willman
- Variety Film + TV
A wacky film based on a stage show by comedians Aaron Jackson and Josh Sharp, Dicks: The Musical – a riff on The Parent Trap with two adult men as the starring twins — opens in seven theaters in NY, LA and San Francisco on a crowded specialty weekend as theatrical releases of fall film festival titles accelerates.
Dicks, from A24, developed by Chernin Entertainment, is, according to press notes, a first “adult musical comedy” for both. (It’s Chernin’s second musical after hit The Greatest Showman.) Directed by Larry Charles, it stars the two creators Jackson and Sharp as self-obsessed businessmen who discover they’re long-lost identical twins and come together to plot the reunion of their eccentric divorced parents. They’re joined by an A-list roster of Nathan Lane, Megan Mullally, Bowen Yang and Megan Thee Stallion.
A SAG-AFTRA interim agreement allowed the talent to promote the film at TIFF,...
Dicks, from A24, developed by Chernin Entertainment, is, according to press notes, a first “adult musical comedy” for both. (It’s Chernin’s second musical after hit The Greatest Showman.) Directed by Larry Charles, it stars the two creators Jackson and Sharp as self-obsessed businessmen who discover they’re long-lost identical twins and come together to plot the reunion of their eccentric divorced parents. They’re joined by an A-list roster of Nathan Lane, Megan Mullally, Bowen Yang and Megan Thee Stallion.
A SAG-AFTRA interim agreement allowed the talent to promote the film at TIFF,...
- 10/6/2023
- by Jill Goldsmith
- Deadline Film + TV
Based on Aaron Jackson and Josh Sharp’s Off-Broadway show Fucking Identical Twins, Dicks: The Musical plays to the cheap seats from the get-go. This perverse riff on The Parent Trap—in which identical twins separated at birth, Craig (Sharp) and Trevor (Jackson), meet and try to reunite their gay father, Harris (Nathan Lane), with their agoraphobic, wheelchair-bound mother, Evelyn (Megan Mullally)—delights in breaking the rules of good taste. Yet its ceaseless reveling in the raunchy and depraved, including a queer, coke-snorting God (Bowen Yang) and a detached flying vagina, is all that Dicks has going for it.
Larry Charles’s film opens with something of a mission statement: sarcastic on-screen text declaring that Sharp and Jackson are gay and that their decision to play misogynistic straight dudes is incredibly brave. It’s a clear shot at the overt self-satisfaction of certain actors’ tendencies to inflate their own sense...
Larry Charles’s film opens with something of a mission statement: sarcastic on-screen text declaring that Sharp and Jackson are gay and that their decision to play misogynistic straight dudes is incredibly brave. It’s a clear shot at the overt self-satisfaction of certain actors’ tendencies to inflate their own sense...
- 10/6/2023
- by Derek Smith
- Slant Magazine
Larry Charles is no stranger to envelope-pushing comedy. As a writer on such subversive series as "Seinfeld" and "The Tick," as well as a director of shows like "Curb Your Enthusiasm" and the Sacha Baron Cohen films "Borat" and "Brüno," he's well-versed in the art of provocation.
Perhaps that's why he was drawn to the material which became the first musical comedy to be produced and distributed by A24, a film which features the family-friendly title of "Dicks: The Musical." The movie is a cinematic adaptation of a Upright Citizens Brigade NY show from 2014 with the even more family-friendly title of "F—ing Identical Twins," written and performed by Aaron Jackson and Josh Sharp.
Under Charles' direction, "Dicks" translates the scrappy, raucous, underground theatre vibes of "F—ing Identical Twins" while adding a little bit of star power to Jackson and Sharp's lead performances; the likes of D'Arcy Carden,...
Perhaps that's why he was drawn to the material which became the first musical comedy to be produced and distributed by A24, a film which features the family-friendly title of "Dicks: The Musical." The movie is a cinematic adaptation of a Upright Citizens Brigade NY show from 2014 with the even more family-friendly title of "F—ing Identical Twins," written and performed by Aaron Jackson and Josh Sharp.
Under Charles' direction, "Dicks" translates the scrappy, raucous, underground theatre vibes of "F—ing Identical Twins" while adding a little bit of star power to Jackson and Sharp's lead performances; the likes of D'Arcy Carden,...
- 10/6/2023
- by Bill Bria
- Slash Film
If you see one movie this year, make it “Dicks: The Musical,” if only because you genuinely won’t see anything else like it. What other movie can give you a “Parent Trap”-esque story of twins trying to get their parents back together that involves God in hot pants, twin-cest and Nathan Lane singing to a pair of “sewer boys”? And amongst all that weirdness, lies a story of love and tolerance that also pokes fun at conservatives which should be expected considering director Larry Charles helmed the equally audacious “Borat.”
The two eponymous dicks of the film are Craig and Trevor (Josh Sharp and Aaron Jackson), a pair of overly confident alpha males who sell robotic vacuum parts when they aren’t having sex with a new woman every night. They come to the realization that they are identical twins separated at birth and become determined to get...
The two eponymous dicks of the film are Craig and Trevor (Josh Sharp and Aaron Jackson), a pair of overly confident alpha males who sell robotic vacuum parts when they aren’t having sex with a new woman every night. They come to the realization that they are identical twins separated at birth and become determined to get...
- 10/6/2023
- by Kristen Lopez
- The Wrap
Megan Thee Stallion has her sights set on world domination — and her takeover includes getting rid of all the men. On the soundtrack to A24’s first-ever musical Dicks: The Musical, in theaters today, the rapper blazes through her masterplan with “Out Alpha the Alpha” with unrelenting dominance.
“I’ma tell you the secret to my success,” she starts, and the answers flow from there: “Men are all stupid, weak little boys. They’re not very smart, they just make lots of noise. They got their nose up my ass,...
“I’ma tell you the secret to my success,” she starts, and the answers flow from there: “Men are all stupid, weak little boys. They’re not very smart, they just make lots of noise. They got their nose up my ass,...
- 10/6/2023
- by Larisha Paul
- Rollingstone.com
Hallelujah, holy shit! Bowen Yang is playing God.
After more than a decade in development, Aaron Jackson and Joshua Sharp’s “Fucking Identical Twins” — a beloved cult sketch show out of New York City’s Upright Citizens Brigade Theater — is finally reaching movie screens as A24’s “Dicks: The Musical.” With “Borat” legend Larry Charles as its director and a cast boasting not just Nathan Lane and Megan Mullally, but also Megan Thee Stallion, it’s a Second Coming for the underground musical even grander than Yang and his fellow Jackson/Sharp disciples could have dreamed.
“It’s been a long-ass friendship with those boys,” the “Saturday Night Live” breakout told IndieWire over Zoom. “My first memory of Aaron, he was in my college classroom coaching my improv group. He was already an established improviser at the Upright Citizens Brigade. Then, my first memory of Josh was meeting him at...
After more than a decade in development, Aaron Jackson and Joshua Sharp’s “Fucking Identical Twins” — a beloved cult sketch show out of New York City’s Upright Citizens Brigade Theater — is finally reaching movie screens as A24’s “Dicks: The Musical.” With “Borat” legend Larry Charles as its director and a cast boasting not just Nathan Lane and Megan Mullally, but also Megan Thee Stallion, it’s a Second Coming for the underground musical even grander than Yang and his fellow Jackson/Sharp disciples could have dreamed.
“It’s been a long-ass friendship with those boys,” the “Saturday Night Live” breakout told IndieWire over Zoom. “My first memory of Aaron, he was in my college classroom coaching my improv group. He was already an established improviser at the Upright Citizens Brigade. Then, my first memory of Josh was meeting him at...
- 10/5/2023
- by Alison Foreman
- Indiewire
Clockwise from upper left: Nathan Lane, Josh Sharp, Aaron Jackson, Megan Mullally in Dicks: The Musical Image: A24
All you need to know about Dicks: The Musical is telegraphed by its title. The Larry Charles-directed movie musical is all too proud to shout (sing!) from the rooftops that it’s a cheekily immature proposition,...
All you need to know about Dicks: The Musical is telegraphed by its title. The Larry Charles-directed movie musical is all too proud to shout (sing!) from the rooftops that it’s a cheekily immature proposition,...
- 10/3/2023
- by Manuel Betancourt
- avclub.com
Bank robbers tend to be fairly easy to root for in movies. After all, it’s not the audience’s money getting pocketed onscreen. They typically don’t want to kill anybody, and their schemes tend to be pretty spectacular. “Heist 88,” a new Showtime release inspired by a real-life Chicago robbery from the year 1988, doesn’t trust viewers to be so accepting, so it spends most of its time underlining the generic reasons that its aggrieved crack team have for taking on the job. It’s a crime film that finds little joy in criminality, crammed with characters who’ve been backed into a corner, hindered by an overarching morality that doesn’t match the material.
Courtney B. Vance leads the feature as Jeremy Horne, an over-the-hill thief about to head back to prison. At a celebration of life for his brother, remembered as a Black community leader, Horne...
Courtney B. Vance leads the feature as Jeremy Horne, an over-the-hill thief about to head back to prison. At a celebration of life for his brother, remembered as a Black community leader, Horne...
- 9/29/2023
- by J. Kim Murphy
- Variety Film + TV
CNN and Vice were among the top winners at the 44th annual News and Documentary Emmy Awards on Wednesday, with the former earning 10 Emmys and the latter picking up nine.
The National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences (NATAS) presented the News category winners during a live ceremony at the Palladium Times Square in New York City and streamed live on NATAS’ viewing platform powered by Vimeo, the first of a two-night fete. The Documentary category winners will be announced in a second ceremony held at the Palladium on Thursday.
Scheduled presenters at the Wednesday night News ceremony included The New York Times‘ Yousur Al-Hlou, NBC News’ Ellison Barber, CNN Washington bureau chief Sam Feist, CBS Evening News‘ Norah O’Donnell, ABC News’ John Quiñones, Telemundo’s Johana Suarez, Univision’s Pedro Ultreras and CNN chief international correspondent Clarissa Ward.
Longtime CNN anchor Wolf Blitzer was the previously announced recipient of the...
The National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences (NATAS) presented the News category winners during a live ceremony at the Palladium Times Square in New York City and streamed live on NATAS’ viewing platform powered by Vimeo, the first of a two-night fete. The Documentary category winners will be announced in a second ceremony held at the Palladium on Thursday.
Scheduled presenters at the Wednesday night News ceremony included The New York Times‘ Yousur Al-Hlou, NBC News’ Ellison Barber, CNN Washington bureau chief Sam Feist, CBS Evening News‘ Norah O’Donnell, ABC News’ John Quiñones, Telemundo’s Johana Suarez, Univision’s Pedro Ultreras and CNN chief international correspondent Clarissa Ward.
Longtime CNN anchor Wolf Blitzer was the previously announced recipient of the...
- 9/28/2023
- by Tyler Coates
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
The first time director Larry Charles was invited to the Toronto International Film Festival, he brought along a little something called Borat, which, despite enduring an extended projector breakdown 20 minutes into its premiere screening, emerged as a word-of-mouth sensation. Now, some 17 years later, Charles has returned to the festival’s Midnight Madness section with Dicks: The Musical, which not only screened without a technical hitch, but emerges as a certified wave-maker in its own right.
Created by and starring Aaron Jackson and Josh Sharp, making the transition from a 30-minute, six-song play called F*cking Identical Twins — mounted in the basement home of New York’s Upright Citizens Brigade — to a feature-length, all-singing, all-dancing, naughty goof on The Parent Trap, the movie packs an infectious albeit ephemeral punch.
But if it can’t quite sustain the profanely provocative tone, neither does it settle for half-measures, with a supporting cast including Nathan Lane,...
Created by and starring Aaron Jackson and Josh Sharp, making the transition from a 30-minute, six-song play called F*cking Identical Twins — mounted in the basement home of New York’s Upright Citizens Brigade — to a feature-length, all-singing, all-dancing, naughty goof on The Parent Trap, the movie packs an infectious albeit ephemeral punch.
But if it can’t quite sustain the profanely provocative tone, neither does it settle for half-measures, with a supporting cast including Nathan Lane,...
- 9/13/2023
- by Michael Rechtshaffen
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Fremantle has acquired the global distribution rights for epilepsy-themed feature documentary “Sisters Interrupted.”
Directed by Caroline Sharp, the film reveals the hidden world of epilepsy – a life-threatening seizure condition that affects 50 million people worldwide. It follows British sisters Chelsea and Tamsin Leyland as they both battle forms of epilepsy and together fight for access to a treatment that could save both their lives. Chelsea lives in New York and has gained access to medical cannabis against her neurologist’s recommendations, resulting in her being seizure-free for six years. Across the Atlantic in the U.K., her sister Tamsin often suffers up to 70 seizures a day and is resistant to every medication she has tried. She knows time is running out as she remains unable to access this innovative treatment through the U.K. health system.
Filmed over three years by an all-female production team, “Sisters Interrupted” will receive its U.
Directed by Caroline Sharp, the film reveals the hidden world of epilepsy – a life-threatening seizure condition that affects 50 million people worldwide. It follows British sisters Chelsea and Tamsin Leyland as they both battle forms of epilepsy and together fight for access to a treatment that could save both their lives. Chelsea lives in New York and has gained access to medical cannabis against her neurologist’s recommendations, resulting in her being seizure-free for six years. Across the Atlantic in the U.K., her sister Tamsin often suffers up to 70 seizures a day and is resistant to every medication she has tried. She knows time is running out as she remains unable to access this innovative treatment through the U.K. health system.
Filmed over three years by an all-female production team, “Sisters Interrupted” will receive its U.
- 9/13/2023
- by Naman Ramachandran
- Variety Film + TV
“Dicks: The Musical” is coming to your ears early ahead of the film’s release.
A24 Music dropped the single “All Love Is Love” today, September 12, from the TIFF breakout musical film “Dicks: The Musical.” The full 27-song soundtrack will debut October 6, with the film premiering in theaters September 29.
“Dicks: The Musical” marks the first musical for A24, with songs created by composers Marius de Vries and Karl Saint Lucy, and co-written by lead stars Aaron Jackson and Josh Sharp.
The film follows two self-obsessed businessmen (Jackson and Sharp) who discover they’re long-lost identical twins and come together to plot the reunion of their eccentric divorced parents, in a riotously funny and depraved musical from comedy icon Larry Charles. The film is based on the original musical stage play “F***ing Identical Twins.”
The song “All Love Is Love” is performed by Jackson, Sharp, Bowen Yang, Nathan Lane, Megan Mullally,...
A24 Music dropped the single “All Love Is Love” today, September 12, from the TIFF breakout musical film “Dicks: The Musical.” The full 27-song soundtrack will debut October 6, with the film premiering in theaters September 29.
“Dicks: The Musical” marks the first musical for A24, with songs created by composers Marius de Vries and Karl Saint Lucy, and co-written by lead stars Aaron Jackson and Josh Sharp.
The film follows two self-obsessed businessmen (Jackson and Sharp) who discover they’re long-lost identical twins and come together to plot the reunion of their eccentric divorced parents, in a riotously funny and depraved musical from comedy icon Larry Charles. The film is based on the original musical stage play “F***ing Identical Twins.”
The song “All Love Is Love” is performed by Jackson, Sharp, Bowen Yang, Nathan Lane, Megan Mullally,...
- 9/12/2023
- by Samantha Bergeson
- Indiewire
Hot off “Dicks: The Musical’s” premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival, A24 has released the song “All Love is Love” from the film.
Performed by Aaron Jackson, Josh Sharp, Bowen Yang, Nathan Lane, Megan Mullally and featuring vocalist Lauren Evans, “All Love Is Love” is one of the musical’s many songs that could be submitted for original song consideration at the Oscars.
The song was composed by “Moulin Rouge’s” Marius de Vries and Karl Saint Lucy, and co-written with the film’s writers and stars Jackson and Sharp.
“Dicks: the Musical” is a wild and raunchy comedy starring Jackson and Sharp as antagonistic businessmen and long-lost twins with a plan to trick their separated parents. Lane and Mullally play the separated parents who the twins try to trick into getting back together. Yang features as none other than God himself, while rapper Megan Thee Stallion stars as the twins’ suited-up boss,...
Performed by Aaron Jackson, Josh Sharp, Bowen Yang, Nathan Lane, Megan Mullally and featuring vocalist Lauren Evans, “All Love Is Love” is one of the musical’s many songs that could be submitted for original song consideration at the Oscars.
The song was composed by “Moulin Rouge’s” Marius de Vries and Karl Saint Lucy, and co-written with the film’s writers and stars Jackson and Sharp.
“Dicks: the Musical” is a wild and raunchy comedy starring Jackson and Sharp as antagonistic businessmen and long-lost twins with a plan to trick their separated parents. Lane and Mullally play the separated parents who the twins try to trick into getting back together. Yang features as none other than God himself, while rapper Megan Thee Stallion stars as the twins’ suited-up boss,...
- 9/12/2023
- by Jazz Tangcay
- Variety Film + TV
I think modern television gets a little too much credit for being revolutionary. Yes, there have been big strides in what kind of stories get told on TV, especially in regards to the structural and thematic experiments many programs take on, but I do feel like there is this strange mindset that TV wasn't all that innovative prior to "The Sopranos" premiering in 1999. Part of this has to do with the many people's either inability or refusal to appreciate art made before a certain time period. When it comes to film, that cutoff point is in the 1970s, where "real movies" began with the likes of "The Godfather," "Jaws," and "Star Wars," and anything older than that is stale, crusty, and homework. Because television is a newer medium, that cutoff point is somewhere in the 1990s, which also just so happens to be the time period where a majority of...
- 9/10/2023
- by Mike Shutt
- Slash Film
Lyrics that include the words “dick,” “fuck” and “pussy” are not the typical wholesome, family content the Academy’s Music Branch tends to recognize. But occasionally, they have allowed a couple to slip through. A24’s “Dicks: The Musical,” the opening night Midnight Madness at TIFF, has an onslaught of hilarious and catchy tunes that I wish the Oscars would be brave enough to nominate.
With so many hilarious tracks to choose from, including “Gay Old Life” and “The Sewer Song,” Grammy-winning rapper Megan Thee Stallion brings down the house with her delivery on the rap and dance number “Out-Alpha the Alpha.” It could and should be one of the many songs to consider for this year’s Academy Awards, and distributor A24 confirms they’ll submit the movie for Oscar consideration.
Read: Variety’s Awards Circuit for the latest Oscars predictions in all categories.
Adapted from stars and writers...
With so many hilarious tracks to choose from, including “Gay Old Life” and “The Sewer Song,” Grammy-winning rapper Megan Thee Stallion brings down the house with her delivery on the rap and dance number “Out-Alpha the Alpha.” It could and should be one of the many songs to consider for this year’s Academy Awards, and distributor A24 confirms they’ll submit the movie for Oscar consideration.
Read: Variety’s Awards Circuit for the latest Oscars predictions in all categories.
Adapted from stars and writers...
- 9/9/2023
- by Clayton Davis
- Variety Film + TV
There are a lot of words you could use to describe Dicks: The Musical, A24's first foray into the musical form. Freaky. Disgusting. Toe-tapping. Queer. Outrageous. Ingenius. Incomprehensible. Queer. Bizarre. Did I mention queer? Because yes, it is, and delightfully committed to staying true to its off-broadway, grotesque, ridiculous, fringe roots while taking full advantage of the budget afforded to go as far as allowed, and even more than a few steps further. The opening film of the Midnight Madness section, the delightfully monstrous film, brainchild of writers and performers Aaron Jackson and Josh Sharp, delights in its perversion that leaves few stones unturned in throwing its in audience into its madness. Directed by Larry Charles, and starring Jackson, Sharp, Megan Mullally,...
[Read the whole post on screenanarchy.com...]...
[Read the whole post on screenanarchy.com...]...
- 9/9/2023
- Screen Anarchy
A grotesque and often grotesquely funny musical about twins trying to Parent Trap will prove an endurance test for many
You don’t have to be insane to inhabit the daft bizarro dimension in which the writer-stars Josh Sharp and Aaron Jackson situate the Dada-on-Horny-Goat-Weed delirium of Dicks: The Musical, but it helps. That said, you do have to have an enduring love for – or at the very least, an appreciation for the distinct tonalities of – musical theater, the petri dish that incubated this special little mutant abomination. What began as an Off-Broadway sensation titled Fucking Identical Twins enters cinemas clawing and snarling, odds-on the American entertainment industry’s most insistently and consistently strange, grotesque creation this year. And if not that, it’s a safe bet that it’s still the only one with a disembodied, talking, flying pudenda.
The particular brand of “stupid and we know it” ebullience...
You don’t have to be insane to inhabit the daft bizarro dimension in which the writer-stars Josh Sharp and Aaron Jackson situate the Dada-on-Horny-Goat-Weed delirium of Dicks: The Musical, but it helps. That said, you do have to have an enduring love for – or at the very least, an appreciation for the distinct tonalities of – musical theater, the petri dish that incubated this special little mutant abomination. What began as an Off-Broadway sensation titled Fucking Identical Twins enters cinemas clawing and snarling, odds-on the American entertainment industry’s most insistently and consistently strange, grotesque creation this year. And if not that, it’s a safe bet that it’s still the only one with a disembodied, talking, flying pudenda.
The particular brand of “stupid and we know it” ebullience...
- 9/9/2023
- by Charles Bramesco in Toronto
- The Guardian - Film News
When God (Bowen Yang) sees two virile young men plowing women, selling gears, and telling everyone they know that they do both of those things better than anyone else He ever created, He also sees their profound sadness. Because despite living their best lives, Craig (Josh Sharp) and Trevor (Aaron Jackson) don’t know love. Not familial love. One never had a father. The other never had a mother. And, as everyone knows, a one-parent home isn’t really a home at all. No, it’s borderline child abuse.
That’s the premise behind Sharp and Jackson’s toxically heteronormative satire Dicks: The Musical, directed by Larry Charles and based on the pair’s Upright Citizens Brigade stage musical Fucking Identical Twins. They may not look it (and the film makes forcing us to believe it anyway into a thing), but Craig and Trevor are brothers. Twin brothers. That’s...
That’s the premise behind Sharp and Jackson’s toxically heteronormative satire Dicks: The Musical, directed by Larry Charles and based on the pair’s Upright Citizens Brigade stage musical Fucking Identical Twins. They may not look it (and the film makes forcing us to believe it anyway into a thing), but Craig and Trevor are brothers. Twin brothers. That’s...
- 9/9/2023
- by Jared Mobarak
- The Film Stage
Editor’s note: This review was originally published at the 2023 Toronto International Film Festival. A24 releases the film in theaters on Friday, October 6.
There are two kinds of people in this world: Those who might want to see a ridiculously irreverent musical riff on “The Parent Trap” in which the estranged identical twins aren’t cute tweenage children but rather grown-ass men who sing about sacks of cum and clearly want to have sex with each other… and those who might not. I have fantastic news for the first group.
Directed by Larry Charles (“Borat”), funded by the petty cash that A24 didn’t have to spend on interns during the pandemic, based on Aaron Jackson and Josh Sharp’s off-Broadway show “Fucking Identical Twins,” and starring that same duo as overtly gay parodies of straight white men who still find something to complain about, “Dicks: The Musical” is — in...
There are two kinds of people in this world: Those who might want to see a ridiculously irreverent musical riff on “The Parent Trap” in which the estranged identical twins aren’t cute tweenage children but rather grown-ass men who sing about sacks of cum and clearly want to have sex with each other… and those who might not. I have fantastic news for the first group.
Directed by Larry Charles (“Borat”), funded by the petty cash that A24 didn’t have to spend on interns during the pandemic, based on Aaron Jackson and Josh Sharp’s off-Broadway show “Fucking Identical Twins,” and starring that same duo as overtly gay parodies of straight white men who still find something to complain about, “Dicks: The Musical” is — in...
- 9/9/2023
- by David Ehrlich
- Indiewire
“As far as I was concerned, it was like, ‘I’m just doing this dumb show with my friends,’” remembers composer Karl Saintt Lucy of Fucking Identical Twins, the one-act off-Broadway musical that ran in 2015. Over a half decade later that, that “dumb show” is now one of the more anticipated openings at TIFF. Retitled Dicks: The Musical, the A24 movie is an R-rated dirtbag version of The Parent Trap where two megalomaniacs (Josh Sharp and Aaron Jackson) discover they are twins and try to get their parents — played by Nathan Lane and Megan Mullally — back together.
Graduating from NYU’s Tisch Schools of Theater with a Mfa in Musical Theatre Writing, St Lucy, who uses they/them pronouns, first met Sharp and Jackson, the stars and co-writers of Dicks, at Story Pirates, a theater program of largely aspiring comedians that travel around to elementary schools putting on improv shows.
Graduating from NYU’s Tisch Schools of Theater with a Mfa in Musical Theatre Writing, St Lucy, who uses they/them pronouns, first met Sharp and Jackson, the stars and co-writers of Dicks, at Story Pirates, a theater program of largely aspiring comedians that travel around to elementary schools putting on improv shows.
- 9/9/2023
- by Mia Galuppo
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Flesh-eating sewer monsters, genitals with wings, grave robbing, two confused “identical twins” and 90 minutes of sexual innuendo is what you can expect from comedians Aaron Jackson and Josh Sharp’s stage show-turned-movie. Directed by Larry Charles and written by and starring the duo, the film also features Nathan Lane, Megan Mullally, Megan Thee Stallion and Bowen Yang. As a viewer, I often wondered how the hell this got turned into the movie because it is so outrageous. Thankfully, it succeeds at being fun and funny because anything less would have amounted to torture.
In a wicked exploration of twinhood and identity, we’re introduced to the not-so-identical twins, Craig (Sharp) and Trevor (Jackson). These two have a rather crazed introduction, diving headfirst into the world of aggressive heterosexuality. Although they strut around NYC’s corporate scene under the reign of CEO Gloria (Megan Thee Stallion), the film juggles time periods...
In a wicked exploration of twinhood and identity, we’re introduced to the not-so-identical twins, Craig (Sharp) and Trevor (Jackson). These two have a rather crazed introduction, diving headfirst into the world of aggressive heterosexuality. Although they strut around NYC’s corporate scene under the reign of CEO Gloria (Megan Thee Stallion), the film juggles time periods...
- 9/8/2023
- by Valerie Complex
- Deadline Film + TV
It is no secret that film festivals have had to rely on directors to provide the star power fueling their big premieres during the strikes, but opening night of the Toronto International Film Festival mostly failed to deliver even that.
The first audience for Hayao Miyazaki’s “The Boy and the Heron,” the festival’s official opening title, only got an introduction from Studio Ghibli VP Junichi Nishioka. Meanwhile the audience at the later screening got an extra speech from surprise guest Guillermo del Toro.
The big special presentation of the night, actress Kristin Scott Thomas’ directorial debut “North Star,” is an acquisition title, so one would think the cast would be in the clear to promote the film starring Scarlett Johanssen, Sienna Miller, Emily Beecham, and Thomas herself, but instead producer Finola Dwyer flew solo to introduce the movie, saying “Kristin, Scarlett, Sienna, and Emily would have loved to...
The first audience for Hayao Miyazaki’s “The Boy and the Heron,” the festival’s official opening title, only got an introduction from Studio Ghibli VP Junichi Nishioka. Meanwhile the audience at the later screening got an extra speech from surprise guest Guillermo del Toro.
The big special presentation of the night, actress Kristin Scott Thomas’ directorial debut “North Star,” is an acquisition title, so one would think the cast would be in the clear to promote the film starring Scarlett Johanssen, Sienna Miller, Emily Beecham, and Thomas herself, but instead producer Finola Dwyer flew solo to introduce the movie, saying “Kristin, Scarlett, Sienna, and Emily would have loved to...
- 9/8/2023
- by Marcus Jones
- Indiewire
“Show us your Dicks!”
Roughly 90 minutes after someone in the audience yelled that request out, the people sitting in the Royal Alexandra Theatre would find themselves being showered with makeshift confetti, led in a gospel sing-along by folks in church-choir robes, and batting around beach balls and, naturally, inflatable penises. Everyone who came to the Toronto International Film Festival’s opening night premiere in the “Midnight Madness” section knew what they were getting into, or at the very least thought they did. The sold-out crowd wanted show tunes, sex scenes,...
Roughly 90 minutes after someone in the audience yelled that request out, the people sitting in the Royal Alexandra Theatre would find themselves being showered with makeshift confetti, led in a gospel sing-along by folks in church-choir robes, and batting around beach balls and, naturally, inflatable penises. Everyone who came to the Toronto International Film Festival’s opening night premiere in the “Midnight Madness” section knew what they were getting into, or at the very least thought they did. The sold-out crowd wanted show tunes, sex scenes,...
- 9/8/2023
- by David Fear
- Rollingstone.com
A24’s Dicks — The Musical got the 2023 Toronto Film Festival’s Midnight Madness section off to a raucous, rollicking start as the world premiere of Larry Charles’ campy comedy brought the house down.
The TIFF Midnight Madness crowd came ready to party and the mood was set early, with a swinging, softshoe number by Midnight Madness programmer Peter Kuplowsky, who danced on stage belting out a musical tribute to the festival’s beloved cult-film sidebar. “I’ll be your host for the next 10 midnights, this is only the beginning!” said Kuplowsky. “We have so many outrageous movies for you!”
Dicks — The Musical, Charles’ adaptation of the off-Broadway musical Fucking Identical Twins by Josh Sharp and Aaron Jackson, was the perfect film to kick off the section, said Kuplowsky, because it is a film “where love is love and dicks are dicks!”
Sharp and Jackson reprise their roles in the film version,...
The TIFF Midnight Madness crowd came ready to party and the mood was set early, with a swinging, softshoe number by Midnight Madness programmer Peter Kuplowsky, who danced on stage belting out a musical tribute to the festival’s beloved cult-film sidebar. “I’ll be your host for the next 10 midnights, this is only the beginning!” said Kuplowsky. “We have so many outrageous movies for you!”
Dicks — The Musical, Charles’ adaptation of the off-Broadway musical Fucking Identical Twins by Josh Sharp and Aaron Jackson, was the perfect film to kick off the section, said Kuplowsky, because it is a film “where love is love and dicks are dicks!”
Sharp and Jackson reprise their roles in the film version,...
- 9/8/2023
- by Scott Roxborough
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
What are the odds that two openly gay cut-ups doing a raunchy half-hour musical comedy routine in a Gristedes grocery store would somehow convince “Borat” director Larry Charles to turn their show, “Fucking Identical Twins,” into a feature-length A24 movie? You’d stand a better chance playing the lottery than predicting the path “Dicks: The Musical” took to reach the big screen — which is exactly why this twisted cross between “The Parent Trap” and “Kids in the Hall: Brain Candy” seems destined for cult status.
The absurdist brainchild of Aaron Jackson and Josh Sharp, “Dicks” is an unapologetically puerile, hard-r novelty that’s just lo-fi enough to maintain its underground cred. If any other distributor were backing it, “Dicks” might shrivel into home-video obscurity. Considering A24’s bizart-house cachet, however, the hipster boutique should be able to leverage the buzz from the movie’s opening (mid)night berth at the...
The absurdist brainchild of Aaron Jackson and Josh Sharp, “Dicks” is an unapologetically puerile, hard-r novelty that’s just lo-fi enough to maintain its underground cred. If any other distributor were backing it, “Dicks” might shrivel into home-video obscurity. Considering A24’s bizart-house cachet, however, the hipster boutique should be able to leverage the buzz from the movie’s opening (mid)night berth at the...
- 9/8/2023
- by Peter Debruge
- Variety Film + TV
A raucous, deliriously madcap midnight premiere of “Dicks: The Musical” closed out the first day of the Toronto Film Festival. A24’s first-ever song-and-dance movie, which leans hard into its R-rating and puts an irreverent, queer spin on “The Parent Trap,” played to laughs, cheers, audible gasps and shrieks and, yes, a few groans from the Royal Alexandra Theatre. The night ended, fittingly, as giant, inflatable genitalia flew through the audience.
“What’s up, perverts? Why are you up so late? You should be in bed with your beautiful wives!” comedians Aaron Jackson and Josh Sharp joked as they took the stage at 12:02 a.m.
They star in the film, which is adapted from their Upright Citizens Brigade two-man show called “Fucking Identical Twins.” Jackson and Sharp may have changed the title for the screen, but the general story and original songs — with lyrics like “life’s a fucking handjob,...
“What’s up, perverts? Why are you up so late? You should be in bed with your beautiful wives!” comedians Aaron Jackson and Josh Sharp joked as they took the stage at 12:02 a.m.
They star in the film, which is adapted from their Upright Citizens Brigade two-man show called “Fucking Identical Twins.” Jackson and Sharp may have changed the title for the screen, but the general story and original songs — with lyrics like “life’s a fucking handjob,...
- 9/8/2023
- by Rebecca Rubin
- Variety Film + TV
The Hollywood Reporter arts and culture critic Lovia Gyarkye shares her list of the 10 must-see films at this month’s Toronto Film Festival.
The Boy and the Heron The Boy and the Heron
How lucky for us that Hayao Miyazaki, the animation master with a gift for enchanting world-building, didn’t stay retired? The prolific Japanese filmmaker makes an exciting return with The Boy and the Heron, which opened in Japan earlier this summer. Inspired by Genzaburo Yoshino’s novel How Do You Live?, The Boy and the Heron chronicles the adventures of a young, bereft boy who discovers an abandoned tower and a persistent grey heron while exploring his new town.
Dicks: The Musical
A24’s first musical feature is a ride that, for better or worse, I’m ready to get on. Comedians Aaron Jackson and Josh Sharp play two businessmen who find out they are twins and try to reunite their parents.
The Boy and the Heron The Boy and the Heron
How lucky for us that Hayao Miyazaki, the animation master with a gift for enchanting world-building, didn’t stay retired? The prolific Japanese filmmaker makes an exciting return with The Boy and the Heron, which opened in Japan earlier this summer. Inspired by Genzaburo Yoshino’s novel How Do You Live?, The Boy and the Heron chronicles the adventures of a young, bereft boy who discovers an abandoned tower and a persistent grey heron while exploring his new town.
Dicks: The Musical
A24’s first musical feature is a ride that, for better or worse, I’m ready to get on. Comedians Aaron Jackson and Josh Sharp play two businessmen who find out they are twins and try to reunite their parents.
- 9/7/2023
- by Lovia Gyarkye
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
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