Category: Press

Sep
01

News: GameStop Stock Pic ‘Dumb Money’ Sets A-List Cast With Paul Dano, Seth Rogen, Sebastian Stan & Pete Davidson; Black Bear To Launch Sales Of Craig Gillespie’s Film At Toronto

Deadline – GameStop Stock Pic ‘Dumb Money’ Sets A-List Cast With Paul Dano, Seth Rogen, Sebastian Stan & Pete Davidson; Black Bear To Launch Sales Of Craig Gillespie’s Film At Toronto.

EXCLUSIVE: After signing on to the project in April, Craig Gillespie has lined up an all-star cast of faces familiar to the director. Sources tell Deadline that Paul Dano, Seth Rogen, Sebastian Stan and Pete Davidson are on board for Black Bear Pictures’ Dumb Money, an adaptation of Ben Mezrich’s book The Antisocial Network, with Gillespie directing. Rebecca Angelo & Lauren Schuker Blum are adapting with Ryder Picture Company’s Aaron Ryder, Black Bear’s Teddy Schwarzman and Gillespie producing.

Deadline has been all over this project going back to when the film was set up at MGM, which landed the rights to Mezrich’s manuscript in January. The project recently moved over to Black Bear, which is planning to launch sales on the film at this month’s Toronto Film Festival through its Black Bear International division led by John Friedberg. Executive producers include Michael Heimler, Friedberg, Andrew Swett, Angelo, Schuker Blum, Mezrich, Johnny Holland, Tyler Winklevoss, Cameron Winklevoss and Kevin Ulrich.

Black Bear Pictures is fully financing, with Black Bear International handling the foreign distribution rights. UTA Independent Film Group is representing the U.S. rights to the film.

Principal photography will begin in October on Dumb Money, which tells the story of fortunes won and lost overnight in the David-vs.-Goliath GameStop short squeeze that might have ended up changing Wall Street forever. It offers a gripping portrayal of how a loosely affiliated group of private investors and internet trolls on a subreddit called WallStreetBets took down one of the biggest hedge funds on Wall Street, firing the first shot in a revolution that threatened to upend the establishment.

“Black Bear has diamond hands for Dumb Money,”Schwarzman said. “Lauren & Rebecca have masterfully adapted Ben Mezrich’s exceptional book detailing one of the greatest underdog stories of our time. Craig Gillespie is a tremendous leader with exceptional vision and has assembled a tremendous ensemble. We’re honored to partner with him, Aaron Ryder, and this terrific team in front and behind the camera to bring Dumb Money to audiences everywhere.”

Gillespie, Rogen and Stan have been looking for something to team on following the success of their Hulu limited series Pam & Tommy, and this fit in their wheelhouse of stories that seem to wild to be true. As for Pam & Tommy, not only was the series one of Hulu’s bigger hits of the year, it earned Emmy nominations for all three, along with Best Limited Series and six other noms.

As for Dano, he already is gaining some awards season momentum with his performance as Burt Fabelman in Steven Spielberg’s The Fabelmans, which premieres next week at the Toronto Film Festival. He also earned rave reviews as the Riddler in Warner Bros. box office smash The Batman, directed by Matt Reeves.

Besides Pam & Tommy, Rogen is gaining his own awards-season buzz in The Fabelmans as well, where he plays the uncle of the main character. He also recently was seen in the Emmy-nominated Chip ‘n Dale: Rescue Rangers.

Stan also delivered a noteworthy performance in the black comedy thriller Fresh, alongside Daisy Edgar-Jones. He next will star in Sharper and A Different Man.

Davidson most recently was in Bodies Bodies Bodies for A24. He is in production on the Peacock series Bupkis, alongside Joe Pesci and Edie Falco.

Dano is repped by WME and Anonymous Content, Rogen by UTA and Principal Entertainment LA and Stan by CAA and Brookside Artist Management. Gillespie is represented by UTA and Rumble Media, and Davidson, Angelo, Blum and Mezrich are repped by CAA. Ryder Picture Company is repped by UTA.

Black Bear has been rapidly expanding from its origins as an independent film production and financing company into a multifaceted studio across film and television. The recent formation of UK distributor, Black Bear UK, strategically complements Black Bear’s Canadian releasing arm, Elevation Pictures, and comes on the heels of the creation of Double Agent, a joint venture with New Regency, focused exclusively on the production and financing of premium unscripted content.

Aug
16

News/Video: Lily James & Sebastian Stan On Disappearing Into The Roles Of ‘Pam & Tommy’

Deadline – Lily James & Sebastian Stan On Disappearing Into The Roles Of ‘Pam & Tommy’

[Note: * The panel is available at the article link and the screencaps for it were posted here]

One of the jaw-dropping moments from this past Emmy season has been watching British period actress and Downton Abbey star Lily James go full on blonde bombshell as tabloid tortured Baywatch actress Pamela Anderson in Hulu’s limited series Pam & Tommy, up for ten Primetime nominations. Ditto for Sebastian Stan, known for his work as Marvel anti-hero Bucky Barnes, who went total method in transforming himself into acerbic, off-the-wall Motley Crue drummer Tommy Lee, who loved Pam so dearly that it arguably took a toll on her career back in the 1990s.

The Robert Siegel-D.V. DeVincentis-Seth Rogen executive produced series based on the Rolling Stone Amanda Chicago Lewis article sheds light on how the couple’s homemade sex tape became public. In short, they didn’t leak it. It all boiled down to contractor Rand Gauthier, played by Rogen, who was greatly cheated out of cash by the drummer. Gauthier broke into the couple’s safe, made copies of the tape and sold it to some riches, before the video was in turn stolen from him, seeped widely onto the booming internet of the early 1990s.

James, Stan, Rogen, Seigel and DeVincentis spoke with us for a special Deadline virtual screening of Pam & Tommy.

James, commenting on the “very long process” of how she metamorphized herself into the airy Anderson, tells us “I was very intrigued by the way she spoke, and her humor deflecting, the way she held herself”. The Cinderella actress delve into every single interview, and when that make-up was slapped on, she was in another realm.

Siegel comments, “People come with certain assumptions about Pam” and part of the show entailed “proving them (the audience) wrong and subverting them.” Likewise, the casting of James in the role of the Barb Wire star played into that motif. No one saw James’ sublime disappearing act coming.

For Stan, diving into Lee entailed “repetition every day” over a month’s prep.

“I’d have this routine, get up in the morning, fast for a while, get 20k steps in…and listen to interviews that I had put together. The drum teacher would come by in the afternoon,” Stan explains as he worked on the drummer’s classic stick twirl.

Pam & Tommy‘s Emmy nominations include Outstanding Limited or Anthology Series, Lead Actress in a Limited Series (James), Lead Actor in a Limited Series (Stan), Supporting Actor in a Limited Series (Rogen), Casting for Limited or Anthology Series, Outstanding Contemporary Costumes, Limited or Anthology Series Single Camera Picture Editing, Period-Character Hair, Period-Character Makeup, and Limited or Anthology Series Sound Mixing.

Aug
16

News: Danny Strong, Shonda Rhimes and Other Limited Series Showrunners on Their Emmy-Nominated Series

Hollywood Reporter – The creatives behind “Dopesick,” “The Dropout,” “Inventing Anna,” “Pam & Tommy” and “The White Lotus” take THR behind the scenes of their shows.

Rob Siegel and D.V. DeVincentis, showrunners of Pam & Tommy (Hulu)

DeVincentis: “We did exhaustive research, and Lily [James] would still find things that we didn’t know about that turned out to be crucial to the storytelling. Lily and Sebastian [Stan] were the best custodians of characters I’ve ever seen. Their dedication and their love of the characters is so overwhelming, and it’s all there. And by the way, Sebastian, because his transformation isn’t as extreme, the specificity that he’s using isn’t quite as noticeable, but it’s every bit as potent. Particularly recently, I’ve seen some footage of Tommy Lee talking, and after seeing hours of it after watching Sebastian do it, you’re like, ‘Oh my God, Sebastian was really inhabiting it.’ It was incredible.”

Siegel: “For me, the archival interviews, hearing them talk. You can just learn so much from video footage.”
DeVincentis: “If you watch enough interviews with Pam, particularly the late night interviews, you start to see how brilliantly and with the sort of innate intelligence she handles the situation. You watch what she’s putting up with, and you see her putting up with it. I like to think there’s sort of a larger goal, like she knows people are going to be sexist and gross and shitty to her, but if she gets through it, she gets to talk about things that are really important to her, like animal rights and PETA. And to me, the behavior in watching how she handles really insensitive, crappy people was the most instructive thing about that character to me in terms of research.”

Aug
09

News/Video: News: ‘Pam & Tommy’s Lily James & Sebastian Stan Reveal The “Personal” & “Full-On” Nature Of The Hulu Drama

Deadline – ‘Pam & Tommy’s Lily James & Sebastian Stan Reveal The “Personal” & “Full-On” Nature Of The Hulu Drama – Contenders TV: The Nominees

[Note: * The 15 minute panel is available at the article link]

“There was a huge sense of wanting to do this real person justice and tell their story honestly, and with great empathy and protecting them,” Pam & Tommy’s Lily James said about playing Pamela Anderson in Hulu’s multi-Emmy-nominated miniseries.

“This felt so personal and became really universal beyond this story that just happened to Pamela, and became about really looking at how we treat women,” she added of the professional and private blows the Baywatch star suffered from a stolen sex tape that lit up the internet in its near infancy.

Certainly, in the last decade of the 20th century, few besides Bill Clinton loomed larger, or with greater infamy, than Anderson and then-husband Tommy Lee. In many ways, the near-boundless fame of the Canadian-born actress and the Mötley Crüe drummer, and the merciless fallout from their most intimate acts strewn across the digital landscape inadvertently set the stage for the era of today’s explicit social media landscape.

“It’s almost impossible to remember sometimes what it was like to exist without the internet,” Pam & Tommy co-showrunner D.V. DeVincentis said of the vast gap between the not-so-distant past depicted in the eight-episode series and 2022. “The ’90s looks like now, but culturally it is so distinct, so different.”

Peeling back the layers on the sordid saga of Anderson, Lee and the loss of privacy and reputation in modern America, James and DeVincentis were speaking at Deadline’s Contenders Television: The Nominees event. With Pam & Tommy nominated for 10 Emmys, including Outstanding Limited or Anthology Series and top actress and actors noms for James and co-star Sebastian Stan. The duo were joined on the panel by Stan and co-showrunner Robert Siegel.

“It was full-on up until the last second, every day,” revealed Stan of the actors’ transformation into the now-divorced real-life couple.

However, for all the glamour, grit and gall of Pam & Tommy, as well as the dizzying heights and harsh descent it profiles, this was always a story about fragility, The Wrestler scribe Siegel said. “We always very firmly felt that we were on their side, you know, particularly Pam,” he said. “In the end, she’s ultimately the person with whom our sympathies lie.”

Pam & Tommy also stars Nick Offerman, Taylor Schilling, Andrew Dice Clay, Pepi Sonuga, Spenser Granese and Mozhan Marnò, as well as Seth Rogen. Also serving as an executive producer, Rogen’s nominated for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Limited or Anthology Series or Movie for his role as hapless sex tape thief Rand Gautier.

Aug
06

Photos/Video: Deadline Contenders – The Nominees Screen Captures

I’ve added over 100+ high quality of Sebastian in the Deadline Contenders – The Nominees interview to the gallery. You can also view a clip (not the full interview) that Deadline posted below.

Aug
05

Photos: Hulu’s FYC “Clips + Conversation” Event For Hulu’s “Pam & Tommy”

Sebastian attended Hulu’s FYC “Clips + Conversation” Event For Hulu’s “Pam & Tommy” back in June. I’ve added more photos from the event to the gallery including new ones from inside during the event.Thank you to Elizabeth-Olsen.com for the help with some of the photos.

Aug
02

News: ‘Pam & Tommy’: A tale of up-dos, fake breasts, tattoos … and a talking penis

LA Times – ‘Pam & Tommy’: A tale of up-dos, fake breasts, tattoos … and a talking penis

The outrageous story of the internet’s first celebrity sex tape so frequently borders on the absurd that any retelling could quickly become a farce. To avoid that fate, the Hulu limited series “Pam & Tommy” faithfully and meticulously re-creates the 1990s tale about the whirlwind romance of “Baywatch” star Pamela Anderson and Motley Crue drummer Tommy Lee, and the torturous consequences of a stolen videotape of their honeymoon lovemaking.

Where many productions might use computer-generated wizardry, the hair and makeup team here relied on handcrafted artistry and every tool in their arsenal. The crew’s many challenges included transforming Lily James, a pale, slight British actress, into Anderson, the perennially tanned, busty Malibu sex symbol — and making a rock star’s penis talk.

As head of the makeup department, David Williams controlled every character’s look — including actors playing Tommy Lee and his Motley Crue bandmates, Jay Leno, Hugh Hefner, Penthouse publisher Bob Guccione and private investigator Anthony Pellicano. He coordinated Barry Lee Moe’s wig and hairstyling team and the special effects from Jason Collins of Van Nuys’ Autonomous F/X, which crafted dozens of face and body prosthetics.

“The Lily makeup is the most comprehensive character makeup that I think any of us have done,” said Williams, a three-time Emmy winner who is also nominated for the Peacock limited series “Angelyne.”

”The vast majority of creating this look was painting highlights and shadows and contours and restructuring a great structure that was already there. We were turning one beautiful woman into another beautiful woman,” Williams said.

Moe designed and styled 27 custom wigs handcrafted by Wigmaker Associates in Beverly Hills, including Anderson’s trendsetting messy up-dos. James managed to disguise her British accent wearing dentures to invoke Anderson’s capped-teeth smile.
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Jul
29

News/Audio: Awards Circuit Podcast: “Pam & Tommy” stars Sebastian Stan and Lily James

Variety – Awards Circuit Podcast: “Pam & Tommy” stars Sebastian Stan and Lily James.

Sebastian Stan was on set and Lily James was in the middle of a massage when the Emmy nominations were announced earlier this month. Both became first time nominees, thanks to their work on the Hulu limited series “Pam & Tommy,” which was also nominated for outstanding limited or anthology series.

The Emmy nominated pair guest on the Awards Circuit podcast this week – in separate interviews – and discuss how they immersed themselves into the roles of Pamela Anderson and Tommy Lee. James also reveals what it was like going back and watching “Baywatch” to prepare for the role and the stress of putting herself in Anderson’s shoes during some of the emotionally grueling scenes. Stan discusses moments he can relate to being in the eye of the public (right before his interview, he was escaping paparazzi) and delves into working with his acting coach Larry Moss, who helped him prepare for Tommy. Listen below!


First up, James discusses how watching Anderson’s early work was key to her “Pam & Tommy” portrayal – including the star’s breakthrough role in “Baywatch.” Asked how the show show holds up today, James says, “A lot of montages, a lot of rock ballads. A lot of Pamela looking fucking amazing. You know what, it really stands up. And I can see why it took the world by storm because it’s like these beautiful people on a beach, literally saving the world.”

While James found a lot to enjoy about playing Pam, she also admits that there were scenes that took a toll on her – and how your body doesn’t always know the difference when you’re acting.

“If you’re sat in a room with loads of men in those depositions scenes diminishing you and shaming you, your body takes that on,” she reveals.

Though “Pam & Tommy” is very sympathetic to Anderson thanks largely to James’ sensitive performance, Anderson has said publicly she doesn’t plan on watching the series. And James understands why. “It’s tricky,” she says. “It’s such a big conversation and something that I still think about on a daily basis.”

Next up, Stan talks about being followed by photographers prior to the interview and how he feels it’s only a sliver compared to what Pam and Tommy had to go through after their private sex tape was stolen and shared with the world. “I can understand, a little bit, the invasion of privacy aspect,” he says. “Obviously not on their scale and certainly not on the scale of a woman who’s also trying to be a mother and all the other things.”

He goes on to say that he knows how lucky he is to succeed in his profession. “Sometimes I go, you know Sebastian, suck it up. You’re lucky and you chose this profession, you got in this thing. And I return to gratitude.” He also discusses the highlights of being in the public eye – like seeing a kid become excited upon recognizing him.

Stan also talks about how he first came to work with Moss when trying out for “The Green Lantern.” While auditioning for Mike Nichols’ Broadway revival of “Death of a Salesman,” Moss spent a week with Stan, telling the actor to come to their meetings dressed as the character every day. Even though Stan didn’t get either part (Nichols felt he was more of a Biff than a Happy and Biff was already cast with Andrew Garfield), he found an invaluable resource in Moss — whom he continues to work with to this day.

Stan also discusses the infamous scene where Tommy talks to his penis – including the suggestion for one of his Marvel co-stars to voice it and how he didn’t know that it would eventually be actor Jason Mantzoukas. Stan now calls the choice “smart”: “He has the right kind of tone, he’s just trying to rein him back in from going down this cliff.”

Jul
18

Press: Sebastian Stan Is a One-Man Mötley Crüe

SPIN Magazine -Sebastian Stan Is a One-Man Mötley Crüe

Mötley Crüe ruled the metal scene in the late ‘80s, going on to sell over 100 million records. However, by the time Sebastian Stan was the right age to appreciate the glam band, the metal heyday had passed. “Unfortunately, I didn’t really know Mötley Crüe when I was growing up,” Stan says, “because when I was in high school, it was already a grunge world.”

But that didn’t stop the Romanian-born actor from discovering the band later, telling SPIN, “I personally gravitate towards the ’80s.” So, despite not growing up on the iconic group, he eventually came to love them. Eventually becoming intimately familiar with one of the band members by playing him on TV.

Stan, 39, is currently garnering praise for his portrayal of Crüe drummer Tommy Lee in the Hulu drama Pam and Tommy, a fictionalized retelling of the stolen sex tape that became a cultural touchstone — and a punchline, despite the fact that it was a criminal invasion of privacy. The early episodes introduce the cocky musician as he meets and falls immediately in love (didn’t we all?) with Baywatch starlet Pamela Anderson (played by an incandescent Lily James). The later episodes delve deep into how poorly the situation was handled legally, culturally, and personally by the world at large.

On March 4, Stan stars in another Hulu original, the comedy thriller Fresh as the new boyfriend of a young woman (Daisy Edgar-Jones) navigating the horror that is the modern dating scene, which critics have hailed as a scathing critique on “toxic male sexuality and attitudes to women.” Thematically, the film complements the message of Pam and Tommy, with both projects examining gender dynamics in pop culture.

And then there’s Stan’s ongoing super cool role as super-soldier Bucky Barnes in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, most recently in the Disney+ series The Falcon and the Winter Soldier. While no future plans for that series have been announced, Stan, all cagey, tells SPIN he won’t rule out another turn in the MCU. Read on for more about how he prepared for his role as Tommy Lee, his favorite karaoke songs, ’90s fashion and if we’ll see him again busting heads alongside Sam Wilson.

SPIN: How naturally did the Tommy Lee character come to you?
Sebastian Stan: Not very naturally – I don’t have a tattoo on my body, I’ve never played the drums before; I don’t play any instruments. I sing karaoke for fun, but I have nothing to really relate to. It was going to be a massive journey of research that I was about to embark on.

What is your karaoke song?
Oh my God, I have so many. There’s great Elvis songs, Bon Jovi, Guns N’ Roses. I’ve definitely thrown in some Mötley Crüe. And Billy Joel – very, very important.

So you’re a classics karaoke guy.
I stick to the ones that have a lot of heart, all right? “New York State of Mind,” “Just the Way You Are.”
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Jun
27

Press/Video: Lily James and Sebastian Stan Found Playing Real-Life ‘Pam & Tommy’ Addictive (w/ Screen Captures)

Indie Wire – The actors discuss with IndieWire the challenges of portraying real people as well as the first moment they saw each other in costume as the ’90s icons.

Lily James and Sebastian Stan were nervous. The anxiety began with the mountains of research they faced in an effort to learn everything about Pamela Anderson and Tommy Lee for Hulu’s limited series “Pam & Tommy.” They also learned that they enjoyed the pressure.

“I genuinely feel that fear is a good thing,” Stan said in an IndieWire Awards Spotlight conversation with James. “If we can figure out a way to have a healthy relationship with it, it’s sort of a weird awakening feeling [because] it really does feel like you’re on your toes.”

James noted that her nerves came from fear of “failure; not having the ability to do what’s demanded for this,” she said. “To not be able to capture any essence or any traits and really be believable as this real person that you genuinely want to inhabit.”

Happily, the two earned rave reviews for their performances as the larger-than-life ‘90s stars on the series that followed their happy, rapid courtship — followed by the relationship’s deterioration after a disgruntled worker stole private sex tape from their home. The show is at its best when it zooms out to show the beginnings of concepts like public figures’ right to privacy and the all-consuming internet.

“In the TV show, we were the [constants],” James said. “And with these amazing directors that came in… I felt this great sort of power that we had in that it was ours, we’ve taken on these roles. There was an adrenaline to that. And it [felt] out of control at the best of times in the acting, but in control in this ownership of this thing. That was addictive.”

So addictive, in fact, that the duo remained deeply connected to their characters. Stan and James noted they would check in with each other regularly during emotionally difficult scenes, and also became quite the on-set defenders of Lee and Anderson’s one-time love.

Production would say, “‘we’re moving forward into the show, we need to show how the relationship is getting [negatively] affected by all these things,’” Stan explained. “We’re like, ‘I know, but they really loved each other!’”

“It’s weird,” Stan said later. “You can feel nostalgic about it and then suddenly I’ll have to remind myself, ‘That’s not your life, bro.’ Let them have their life back.”

Note: The complete video interview is at the IndieWire link above. I’ve added screen captures to the gallery.