Spielberg debuts fantasy film at SXSW
Editor’s note: Houston Chronicle features writer Cary Darling spent much of the past week at the annual South by Soutwest festival in Austin. Here’s a compilation of some of his online reports from the scene.
AUSTIN — “Ready Player One,” the new Steven Spielberg film, had its “surprise” world premiere at South by Southwest Sunday night, attracting a capacity audience at the Paramount Theatre and an appearance by Spielberg himself.
“I worked for three years on this movie,” he said before the film began. “We’re here at a film festival that exemplifies not just excellence in the movies but excellence in the audience.”
The fantasy film, based on the novel by Austin writer Ernest Cline, stars Tye Sheridan and Ben Mendelsohn, and takes place in a world of virtual reality.
Though the movie is a celebration of technology, technology got its revenge about two hours into the 140 minute movie when the film froze twice.
“Ready Player One” had been rumored to be the festival’s big secret addition to the schedule and it was made public Saturday.
The crowd responded enthusiastically Sunday night which Spielberg probably is hoping is a harbinger of things to come when “Ready” opens March 29. Boxoffice estimates are putting its opening weekend at around $35 million which would be low for a film that cost more than $100 million.
Morgan’s back
Tracy Morgan’s back — though, perhaps slightly more serious than people remember.
The former “30 Rock” and “Saturday Night Live” comedian debuted his new TBS series, “The Last O.G,” before a large crowd at Monday night. It’s a funny but pointed look at a man named Tray who’s trying to cope with the world after serving 15 years in prison.
The project, co-produced with Jordan Peele (“Get Out”) and costarring Tiffany Haddish (“Girls Trip”), marks Morgan’s return to weekly TV after nearly dying in a 2014 car crash.
“This is incredibly dear to my heart,” he told the audience at the Paramount Theater after two episodes of the half-hour series were shown. “To get this feedback is awesome. It means a lot to me because of the accident.”
Morgan said that part of his healing process was watching “Key & Peele,” the sketch comedy TV series from Peele and his former partner KeeganMichael Key, and he was excited to get a meeting with Peele to pitch him the idea of “The Last O.G.,” which he’d been thinking about for several years.
“I could see the wheels turning,” Morgan said of Peele’s reaction.
But Morgan didn’t have the stage to himself Monday night. He was joined by director Jorma Taccone, moderator Ramin Setoodeh from Variety, and was nearly upstaged by Haddish. In the series, she plays Morgan’s former partner, Shannon, who’s now with someone else. It’s also a turning point for Haddish as she’s just not comic relief but has to inhabit a more fully formed character.
“I think at first they were a little afraid I was too goofy and silly and wouldn’t be able to do it — but I brought it,” she said of the audition.
She said it helped that she gave her character an elaborate back story even if it may not have been in line with everyone involved was thinking.
“Any character I play, I have already written a whole other story,” Haddish said. “She came from a not great background. Her mother was probably on crack, she didn’t know her daddy. Maybe Tray didn’t want me to see him in jail no more. This is, in my mind, what happened to Shannon.”
She acknowledged the show’s sober side by saying the point is to delve into serious issues with a laugh. “We are teaching something, and we’re opening up avenues for conversation, and the best way to do that is through comedy,” she said.
“The Last O.G.” debuts at 8:30 p.m. April 3, on TBS.
All about ‘Us’ Well, no one cried. That was a big accomplishment at the session for NBC’s tear-stained hit family drama “This Is Us.” — hours before the show’s season finale aired. Instead, creator Dan Fogelman and cast members Milo Ventimiglia, Mandy Moore and Justin Hartley chatted Tuesday with Glamour magazine writer Jessica Radloff about why the Emmy- and Golden Globe-winning show has found such cultural resonance.
Fogelman was at a bit of a loss to explain why “This Is Us,” in which fundamentally good people struggle with life’s big decisions, has found such a large, diverse audience at a time of so much social division. He says when he looks at CNN, he thinks, “What on earth is going on right now?” But then he looks at his show and its popularity and “it gives me hope a little bit. Gives me hope that this other stuff will fade away.”
Ventimiglia said the series strikes many fans differently than other shows, and it’s apparent in the way some people approach him on the street. He said it’s more of “let’s have a human moment right now” and recalled one incident in particular that was the opposite of the transactional Instagram situations in which celebrities often find themselves. “This girl was so appreciative. She didn’t want anything. She just wanted to thank us and the group.” Fogelman agreed. “When they come up to the cast, it’s entirely personal. They want to share their stories with them.”
Ventimiglia said the series strikes viewers as being authentic. “I just try to be honest and as real as I can,” he said of playing the part of father and husband Jack Pearson. “It’s playing the real notes. … One of the greatest things is the conversation that gets started because of these stories.”
Moore explained that the characters’ complexity makes them easy to identify with. “We have this history with the characters, so it’s easy to tap into it,” she said.
Fogelman said that the episodes often bleed into his life in terms of how he relates to the people around him. “It’s easier to write a great husband than to be a great husband,” he said.
But when someone from the audience raised the question about “toxic masculinity,” he said that he felt that there are a lot of good guys out there who need their stories told, too. “I’m in my 40s and my friends are good guys. I don’t see that many terrible people — except on TV.”
There were moments of levity, too. Radloff showed footage of her superfan mother squealing excitedly when she met Hartley and co-star Sterling K. Brown on the Paramount set in Los Angeles.
Perhaps the most unintentionally emblematic moment of the hour was when Fogelman was recalling how wonderful the many children in the cast are. He said there was a time when young Parker Bates, who plays 10-yearold Kevin Pearson, called out to him and asked, “Do