Summary

Collider was proud to be a part of the 40th annual South by Southwest Film & TV Festival 2026.

Check out our slate of interviews with our own Steve Weintraub and Perri Nemiroff as they celebrate films, television, and the creators behind them.

Below, enjoy full interviews, can’t-miss moments, with a time index included for each video!

Thousands of people flocked to Austin, Texas, for the 40th annual South by Southwest Film & TV Festival. Collider’s team was proud to be among the massive crowds celebrating filmmaking and television, with our own Steve Weintraub and Perri Nemiroff sitting down with some of the biggest names in the business to talk behind-the-scenes details and the making of exciting upcoming projects. Below, check out all the interviews conducted at Collider’s SXSW media studio at the Cinema Center, where the creatives and stars powering this year’s lineup stopped by to talk shop. Weintraub and Nemiroff had the opportunity to pick the brains of folks like Kevin Bacon and Kyra Sedgwick, Charlie Day, Billy Magnussen, Maya Hawke, Lewis Pullman, Ready or Not 2: Here I Come stars Kathryn Newton and Sarah Michelle Gellar for a new edition of Colliders Ladies Night, Yellowstone and Marshals star Luke Grimes, Dakota Fanning, Finn Wolfhard, Hannah Einbinder, Barbara Crampton, Lisa Kudrow, Randall Park, Vince Vaughn, Danny DeVito, Danielle Deadwyler, Adam Scott, Mark Duplass, Lili Reinhart, John Goodman, Judy Greer, and so many more. Get the latest news on movies and shows like Pretty Lethal, Over Your Dead Body, AMC’s The Audacity, Forbidden Fruits, The Comeback, as well as exciting updates and teases for Avengers: Doomsday, the next feature from Everything Everywhere All at Once’s Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert, Netflix’s 3 Body Problem Season 2, David Dastmalchian on joining One Piece, the Romy and Michele’s High School Reunion sequel, Uma Thurman on Red, White, & Royal Wedding, Prime Video’s Reacher Season 4, Apple TV’s Severance Season 3, Disney+’s “grittiest” new YA series, and so much more. We’ve provided the full video for each interview, as well as a time index, to make sure you don’t miss a moment from this year’s SXSW Festival!
Hannah Einbinder Says ‘Seekers of Infinite Love’ Was the Perfect Follow-Up to ‘Hacks’

Plus, Justin Theroux shares an exciting tease for The Devil Wears Prada 2.

At the festival, Victoria Strouse sums up her directorial debut, Seekers of Infinite Love, quite simply: “It’s about a dysfunctional family that goes on a road trip.” This family that audiences tag along with are estranged siblings, Kayla, played by Hacks’ Hannah Einbinder, and her two brothers, Zach (John Reynolds) and Wes (Griffin Gluck), plus the cult “deprogrammer” Rick, played by Justin Theroux. He’s a necessary passenger, considering this crew is on their way from New York to the south to rescue their sister, Scarlett (Justine Lupe), from a doomsday cult. For Einbinder, she tells Weintraub she was eager to join the project because she was looking to continue working in comedy at the same caliber as HBO Max’s hit series Hacks, which earned the actress multiple Emmy Award nominations and a win. She says:
“As I was examining what I was going to do after Hacks, it was really important to me to continue to do comedy that felt like it was to a certain standard…I really care about the heart of the film. And honestly, meeting Victoria and spending time with her, and getting along with her and these guys, I think the value of our work is so rooted in the experience of making it. That is truly what determines success. So, all of us coming together, I felt, really affirmed in the decision to be a part of it.”
Check out the full conversation for Strouse’s cult inspiration behind the film’s original script, the biggest changes made in the edit, as well as Theroux’s thoughts on the long-awaited The Devil Wears Prada 2 and Einbinder’s tease for Hacks Season 5.

00:25 – Victoria Strouse gives the rundown on Seekers of Infinite Love.

01:50 – The stars share why they were excited to join.

05:34 – Strouse shares the cult inspiration behind the movie’s title.

06:55 – Strouse discusses the biggest changes in the editing room.

07:55 – The stars share their individual processes to get ready for a 20-day shoot.

11:48 – Everyone shares their experience asking for autographs.

14:45 – Justin Theroux gives exciting news for The Devil Wears Prada 2.

15:21 – Hannah Einbinder gives a major update on Hacks Season 5.

Kevin Bacon and Kyra Sedgwick Share Their Real-Life ‘Family Movie’ at SXSW

Sosie Bacon and Travis Bacon join to discuss the making of their family slasher movie.

Kevin Bacon and Kyra Sedgwick are not only both award-winning actors, but have been married for nearly 40 years, and raised two children, Sosie Bacon and Travis Bacon, who both share their parents’ passion for the arts. Where Sosie recently became a breakout horror star in Smile, Travis is a music artist and composer, so how could these four not come together to make something special? At SXSW, the family world premiered their horror comedy Family Movie, co-directed by Kevin Bacon and Sedgwick, and penned by “odd duck” Dan Beers (“Kind of like all of us,” Sedgwick adds). In Family Movie, the Bacons and Sedgwick play a filmmaking family who set out to make a low-budget horror movie that takes a sinister turn when they discover a dead body. Despite the real-life slasher they’ve just found themselves in, the Smith family is determined to make this film happen! In real life, this family is no stranger to the moviemaking business in all aspects. They’ve been behind and in front of the camera (though Family Movie marks Travis Bacon’s on-screen debut), but this provided them each a unique opportunity to showcase their own personal skills, with Travis composing and writing music in addition to his role as their on-screen son, Sosie Bacon directing her own parents, which she calls “terrifying,” and Kevin Bacon and Kyra Sedgwick taking on the main directorial roles together. Talking with Nemiroff, Kevin says:
“For me, the thing that I really have a lot of fun with is doing action and violence and kills and stuff. I just love that kind of stuff, directorially, to try to figure out a way to piece that together, especially when you don’t have a gigantic budget. We have a fun fight scene that Travis is in, and there are some other kills in the movie. I had a blast doing that stuff.”
Check out the full conversation in the video, timestamped below, where each of the stars highlights their family’s unique contributions to Family Movie, as well as what they themselves brought to set. They also discuss the ensemble cast, including Sosie Bacon’s partner and actor Scoot McNairy (Speak No Evil), Liza Koshy (The Naked Gun), and John Carroll Lynch (Fargo), the challenges they overcame throughout production, and the horror movies that have stuck with them through the years.

00:20 – What Is Family Movie About?

01:16 – Why “Odd Duck” Dan Beers’ Script Stood Apart From the Rest

02:08 – There Were “More Lows” on the Road to Getting Family Movie Made

03:22 – Family Movie Highlights the Bacon-Sedgwick Family in Creative Ways

05:26 – Kevin Bacon on What He Loves Most as a Director

05:58 – Kyra Sedgwick Explains How Family Movie Nails a Difficult Tone

06:45 – The Stars Give Each Other Flowers for What They Brought to the Movie

09:13 – Sosie Bacon Calls Directing Parents Kevin Bacon and Kyra Sedgwick “Terrifying”

11:06 – The Team Share How They Built Their Talented Ensemble Outside the Family

14:09 – Sosie and Travis Bacon Share Special Family Traditions

15:30 – The Group Share Production Complications and How They Overcame Them

19:19 – The Family Share the Horror Movies That Have Stuck With Them

Millicent Hailes’ Music Video Background Makes ‘Perfect’ Feel Bold, Sensual, and Musical

The movie stars Julia Fox.

For Perfect, co-writer and director Millicent Hailes brings her singular vision as a music video director to her feature directorial debut. The movie follows a passionate whirlwind romance amid a water crisis, when lost soul Kai (played by Ashley Moore) encounters pregnant Mallory (Julia Fox) at a secret utopian lake. In addition to Fox (Uncut Gems) and Moore (Salvation), Perfect also stars Micaela Wittman (Shirley), Lío Mehiel (After the Hunt), and The L Word’s Kate Moennig. When talking with Weintraub at SXSW, Hailes explained the thought behind penning the script with co-writer Kendra A. Miller:
“I guess it started from wanting to show queer stories, but I suppose not make it about them being queer. For example, Sunny is a trans man, but it’s not about the transness. It’s not about his transness in it. So, it’s working with and uplifting queer voices along the way, but also making them just naturally, organically a part of them and the movie without that being the main focus or the weird thing that we reveal.”
Having previously worked with numerous artists, including Flecher, Lil Yachty, and Adam Lambert on music videos, Hailes goes on to share how they collaborated with editor Amber Bansak (National Anthem) to combine their skills for Perfect’s intimate visuals:
“We had an amazing editor, Amber Vance. I want to give a shoutout. We went back and forth a lot on the style of the edit. I come from a music video background, so I was pushing for these cunty little quick cuts, and we did a lot of strobing as well, and Amber kept saying, ‘I don’t know if this feels too music video-y.’ But I don’t know the rules. I haven’t been to film school…I needed some guidance. Again, I haven’t done a feature before, so Amber was really, really helpful in telling me, ‘A lot of the time people would do this, but how about this?’
It was very collaborative, and it was super fun. I did enjoy making it a little bit music video-y because that’s my background. I did want nice big spaces for big music thumping and blasting, and I did want those quieter moments, too. I think we did strike a really nice balance.”
Check out the full conversation in the video, where Wittman highlights the film’s sensual queer storyline, the team discuss the challenges they overcame to get Perfect to the screen, cinematographer Ksusha Genenfeld (A Wounded Fawn) talks about capturing erotic oners and maintaining an “observational” point of view, and more.

00:35 – Millicent Hailes explains what Perfect is about.

01:13 – Micaela Wittman explains how Perfect highlights dynamic characters and a sensual queer storyline.

02:01 – Hailes shares the inspiration behind the story.

02:56 – Hailes discusses the challenges they overcame to get Perfect onscreen.

03:59 – The Perfect crew discuss crafting the film’s aesthetic and intimate scenes.

05:26 – Cinematographer Ksusha Genenfeld breaks down Perfect’s oner and crafting sex scenes.

06:42 – Hailes showcases Amber Bansak’s edit.

08:26 – Lío Mehiel talks about what drew them to the character of Sunny and the movie.

09:19 – The production of Perfect perfectly mirrored their “community of misfits.”

10:44 – The cast and crew celebrate how Perfect is powered, crafted, and created by women.

12:52 – The Perfect team discuss the celebrities they’d love to meet.

Uma Thurman Says Pushing Past Failure Is “What Makes a Champion”

A lesson she learned while working with Mel Brooks.

From action filmmaker Vicky Jewson (Close) and Amazon MGM Studios, Pretty Lethal immediately recalls John Wick and Atomic Blonde vibes. Splashes of brilliant color contrasted against grit, grime, and blood, and heart-pounding fight sequences are blended into a brutal ballet with a young ensemble cast pitted against a trained, lethal veteran: Uma Thurman. In Pretty Lethal, “five ballerinas are going to a competition in Budapest when their bus breaks down. They walk to get help, and they stumble across an inn run by Devora, an ex-ballerina who has a vengeance mission that we uncover along the way, and they are forced to have to use their ballet skills to fight their way out and survive.” The movie stars Maddie Zeigler (My Old Ass) as Bones, Lana Condor (To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before) as Princess, Avantika Vandanapu (Mean Girls) as Grace, Millicent Simmonds (A Quiet Place) as Chloe, Iris Apatow (Tell Me Lies) as Zoe, and Thurman as the cutthroat Devora. Nonstop action and tapping into inner strength drive Pretty Lethal, and that’s exactly what Thurman has honed across her career in films like Kill Bill and The Old Guard. What Nemiroff was curious to know, however, was what Thurman had learned from the younger cast while working on Pretty Lethal. She says:
“I was inspired by their passion and dedication. There is a lot of work everyone put in. When I signed on and met with Vicky, first, I fell for Vicky and her vision and the precision and clarity that she had taken to this piece. When she and I met, she told me that this entire troupe of young women was doing ballet boot camp, and I’m not unfamiliar with the kind of discipline and commitment it takes to achieve something, especially in action and movement. Really, it could happen in many ways, but specifically in that. So, knowing that this team of young women was approaching this with this dedication and determination to do the dancing as much as possible themselves, to do as much of the fighting as possible themselves, with a passion to do something special that would inspire women and girls.”
When asked about her own personal achievements within the genre, and the moment that she’ll never forget, Thurman recalls a scene in Mel Brooks’ The Producers that changed her entire perspective:
“Actually, the only thing I would say, and funnily, it was just dance, I once did Mel Brooks’ The Producers, and I hadn’t been dancing at all. I had to do a whole lot of dance training and prep for it. There was one thing: I had to swing this fake mace during the ‘Springtime for Hitler’ dance, and I kept swinging it, and it’d hit me in the head, and swinging, and it’d hit me in the head.
“What I love with some of the things that I’ve experienced in my work is when you reach the point that you think you can’t handle it, or can’t do something, and find that you have the ability to work through that wall, that feeling of hopelessness and failure. It is that muscle and that moment that makes a champion. So, that’s the thing that I take away from it, is that you reach your end point and find you have to find more resource. That’s kind of the excitement of being a human being.”
In the full interview, Jewson and the cast discuss why ballet is the best approach to “phenomenal” action, introduce each of their characters through both their strengths and weaknesses, and also what their fighting styles reveal about their characters. Apatow also carefully teases working with Elle Fanning in The Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping, Thurman shares exciting news for book fans with Red, White, & Royal Wedding, and Simmonds talks about her hopes for A Quiet Place Part III.

00:11 – Pretty Lethal Is an Action-Packed Ballet Vengeance Movie

00:48 – Why Ballet Makes for Phenomenal Action

01:54 – Uma Thurman Says Pushing Past Failure Is “What Makes a Champion”

04:23 – The Cast Introduces Their Characters Through Their Greatest Strengths and Weaknesses

07:11 – Pretty Lethal Conveys Characters Through Action and Dance Beyond “Spectacle”

10:35 – Iris Apatow on Working with Elle Fanning in Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping

11:55 – Thurman Teases Deeper Relationships in Red, White, & Royal Wedding

13:08 – Millicent Simmonds Shares Their Hopes for A Quiet Place Part III

Lisa Kudrow’s ‘The Comeback’ Returns One Last Time for Season 3

“We knew what we wanted to leave people with.”

HBO Max’s series The Comeback has come back again — but for the last time. “It wasn’t a big debate” that this third season would be the last of Michael Patrick King (Sex and the City) and Lisa Kudrow’s (Friends) satirical series. Talking with Weintraub, Kudrow says, “We knew what we wanted to leave people with.” From the very beginning, when the show first premiered over two decades ago, The Comeback was ahead of its time with semi-famous sitcom star Valerie Cherish (Kudrow) and her determination to recapture the spotlight through a reality TV show. After being cancelled, the show resurfaced for Season 2 in 2014, capitalizing on a resurgence of reality television. Now, in Season 3, “Valerie finally is offered a leading role on a multi-camera sitcom, but it’s written by AI.” Womp womp. While this is most definitely a fly in Valerie’s ointment, King says The Comeback won’t be approaching this topical issue in a “hacky” way. He tells Weintraub:
“A.I. is moving fast. We talked to a lot of experts, and one of the things that was very clear very early is that A.I. is moving so fast that people don’t even know what it’s really capable of. So, we tried to leave that hacky ChatGPT-can’t-write-jokes way behind, because that was literally two years ago. People were doing their Oscar speeches, and the joke was that ChatGPT wrote it. So, we didn’t want to [dismiss] A.I. by making it dumb. What it is is constantly moving.”
Don’t miss the full conversation in the video below, where Kudrow and King reflect on just how ahead of its time The Comeback Season 1 truly was, referencing Netflix’s recent docuseries Reality Check: Inside America’s Next Top Model, and discussing their approach to Season 3 and how they filled the ensemble cast with guests like Andrew Scott (Fleabag), Abbi Jacobson (Broad City), Brittany O’Grady (It’s What’s Inside), and John Early (Search Party). King also looks back on the success of Sex and the City and shares his thoughts on the series’ future, and Kudrow gives an exciting update for the Romy and Michele’s High School Reunion sequel.

01:05 – Lisa Kudrow Revisits Being on the Set of Cheers

02:19 – Kudrow says the Romy and Michele sequel is “laugh out loud” funny.

03:34 – Michael Patrick King says, “Right now, it’s closed for me,” about Sex and the City.

06:05 – King says “everybody is Valerie Cherish” now, 20 years after she was vilified.

07:01 – Kudrow explains why The Comeback had to pivot with its 2026 return.

07:40 – The duo discuss how The Comeback tackled reality TV before it became commonplace on screens.

10:06 – How The Comeback Season 3 decided on eight episodes.

10:54 – King explains how the show has evolved over the years in the editing room.

12:23 – The pair explain how a “seismic shift in the business” turned into The Comeback Season 3.

13:47 – King confirms this is the final season.

14:39 – Andrew Scott changed a principal rule for The Comeback with Season 3.

17:06 – The Comeback doesn’t “dismiss” AI.

18:20 – King and Kudrow discuss how AI will alter entertainment in the future.

22:44 – Kudrow shares the moment she asked Ron Howard for his autograph.

Barbie Ferreira Says Indie Filmmakers See Her “Outside of What I’ve Already Done”

Mile End Kicks gives her the chance to tap into a whole new range of talent.

For Mile End Kicks’ U.S. premiere at SXSW, Nemiroff had the opportunity to sit with writer-director Chandler Levack (I Like Movies), star Barbie Ferreira (Bob Trevino Likes It), and the cast to discuss bringing Montreal’s 2010’s indie music scene to the big screen. According to Levack, Mile End Kicks “is a rom-com coming-of-age movie about a young female music journalist (played by Ferreira) who moves to Montreal in the summer of 2011, ostensibly to write a book about Alanis Morissette’s Jagged Little Pill, and instead she forms a very complicated relationship with two guys in the same struggling indie rock band.” It also stars Jay Baruchel (BlackBerry), Devon Bostick (Oppenheimer), Stanley Simon (The Iron Claw), and Juliette Gariépy (Red Rooms). Ferreira is no stranger to the independent filmmaking scene. After her on-screen breakout role in Sam Levinson’s HBO Max series Euphoria, Ferreira went on to not only work with Jordan Peele on the major blockbuster Nope, but also crushed it in Tracie Laymon’s deeply personal Bob Trevino Likes It. When asked about how she chooses projects, Ferreira highlights why she favors working with directors on indie movies like Mile End Kicks, saying:
“I think it’s a matter of just working with filmmakers and writers and directors who see me outside of what I’ve already done and can see the potential of what I can be. I’m an actor. I’m not playing myself in all these things, although sometimes people think that. But it has been a challenge, and that’s why I really like indie cinema.
“I just feel like doing indie movies has been so wonderful, because I get to really tap into the range that I have that maybe other people may not know, because they didn’t give me a chance. So I feel like, for me, I’ve just been really working with a lot of independent-minded people, too. Like even Faces of Death with Daniel Goldhaber. He’s an incredible director, and he really saw me for my potential rather than what I’ve already done.
“So, I can always tell when I meet people like Chandler. We have these conversations about who this character is, and that’s what’s exciting to me. I get to be lucky enough to be like, “No, maybe I won’t go down that path. I can go down this path.” And even if it is a movie that may not have the same budget as a big studio film, it feels really great when I’m doing it.”
Watch the full interview, with time codes below, where Levack discusses getting her sophomore feature made, how she managed to “beat the odds” as a female director, and celebrating the same-day release of two films, Mile End Kicks and Roommates, the latter she worked on with Adam Sandler. Gariépy also discusses her pivotal role in the film, and Bostick and Simon share details for their upcoming projects, Mother Courage and Jeremy Saulnier’s (Green Room) holiday horror, October.

00:14 – What is Mile End Kicks About?

00:50 – Chandler Levack “Beat the Odds” With Mile End Kicks

02:28 – Barbie Ferreira Talks About Breaking Out of Hollywood Boxes

04:19 – Devon Bosick and Stanley Simon Share Their Character “Aha Moments”

06:14 – Juliette Gariépy on the Difficult Romance of Friendship

08:00 – Bostick on the All-Star Cast of Mother Courage

09:33 – Simon Teases Jeremy Saulnier’s Holiday Horror October

10:29 – Levack Talks About Working with Adam Sandler on Roommates

‘The Fox’ Turns a Magical Deal Into a Dark Outback Fantasy with Olivia Colman and Sam Neill

Stars Emily Browning and Claudia Doumit join writer-director Russo at SXSW.

Dario Russo’s debut feature, The Fox, is a star-powered, fantastical “cautionary tale” about a magical ditch, a talking fox, and the Australian Outback. It stars Jai Courtney, Emily Browning, Claudia Doumit, Olivia Colman, and Sam Neill, and a whole host of animatronic animals. In Russo’s script, a friendly hunter (Courtney) encounters a mysterious shape-shifting fox who offers him the opportunity to turn his partner into the perfect companion, which would also offer the man control of the natural world. During a conversation with Weintraub, Russo explained how they brought this whimsical world to life on screen. When asked what would surprise audiences most about the behind-the-scenes, Russo said:
“The actual making of it, that the actors were performing with the animatronic creatures a lot of the time. There’s not a lot of trickery in terms of how things are set up, and that was an important thing about the methodology behind making the movie. I wanted practical effects all the way through, so the animals are there. They’re actually on screen. I don’t know if that was a fun experience or actually made it easier than talking to a tennis ball on a stick.”
As far as the stacked cast, Russo shares what it was like to work with greats like Colman and Neill, and breaks down how they put the voices to the animatronics:
“I haven’t believed it yet, but it was incredible. It was an amazing opportunity to work with both of them. Olivia, I’ve been a massive fan of hers for a long time, like Peep Show and all the comedy stuff she did back in the day, like Look Around You, and then Sam Neill, I was a massive Jurassic Park kid, so I had a very hard time maintaining composure.
Basically, we did a scratch track for all of the animal lines in pre, just a shitty Zoom session where I got them to run all the lines, and then the animatronic puppeteers rehearsed to those lines, and we amplified them on set. So, the guys actually had the real performances to play off, and then we ADR’d again afterwards to get the polished results.”
Check out the full conversation where Russo, Browning, and Doumit discuss what drew the stars to the script, why there are no deleted scenes, and what movies would make the perfect double feature for The Fox. Browning also gives new details on her Prison Break reboot, and Doumit talks about joining the cast for Netflix’s 3 Body Problem Season 2.

00:41 – Dario Russo teases The Fox is a “tale as old as time.”

01:30 – Emily Browning and Claudia Doumit share what drew them to the movie.

02:34 – The trio talk about sharing scenes with the movie’s animatronic animals.

05:04 – Russo discusses writing, directing, editing, and scoring The Fox.

07:02 – Russo explains why they don’t have deleted scenes.

08:05 – Russo discusses how Olivia Colman and Sam Neill provided voices for the film.

09:43 – The trio curates a double feature for The Fox.

10:38 – The Fox team plays Collider’s Get to Know You game!

16:17 – Browning teases the new Prison Break series.

18:20 – Doumit shares details on Netflix’s 3 Body Problem Season 2.

19:44 – What’s up next for Dario Russo?

Alexi Lalas Was Skeptical About Reliving the ‘Summer of 94’

Here’s how Dave LaMattina and Chad Walker changed his mind.

From the filmmaking duo behind I Am Big Bird and the Don Bluth: Somewhere Out There, Dave LaMattina and Chad Walker, comes the record-breaking underdog tale of the 1994 World Cup, Summer of 94. To help tell this unbelievable story, the duo enlisted the help of former standout player Alexi Lalas. During their interview, Weintraub asked Lalas how he felt when initially approached to tell this story. At the time, the world was concerned that the U.S. would humiliate itself on a global stage as the not-so-outstanding team prepared to host the World Cup. To rectify the situation, they hired Coach Bora Milutinović to whip the men’s team into shape, and in the summer of ‘94, the U.S. defied expectations and went on to reach round 16. The documentary also features interviews with Tony Meola, Eric Wynalda, Cobi Jones, Paul Caligiuri, and Milutinović himself. In response to making a documentary, Lalas tells us:
“These guys had to, a little bit, sell me on why this is a story that is worthwhile and should be told. I talk about soccer for a living… But when we’re talking about soccer, for example, this summer, with the World Cup on Fox, we know the soccer people are going to watch. What we want is people who aren’t necessarily into soccer to come into that tent. And in the same way, when I was talking to them initially, and certainly now having seen the film, it’s something for everyone. The soccer people are going to get off on it because there are all sorts of romantic and nostalgic types of soccer from the ‘90s, and the ‘90s was a really interesting time for soccer.
But more importantly, if I’m looking at it from somebody who was coming in that doesn’t know anything about soccer, doesn’t know a whole lot about the World Cup, there’s also something for them, because it is that look back at that romantic notion of this crazy decade and all of the different cultural references. I think you can latch on to the individual people that you see, the struggle that you see, the wit and the humor that they use. So, for me, that’s what kind of sold me. That was their vision. And I think they’ve gotten as close to what they explained to me initially as anybody else would have.”
In the video below, Walker, LaMattina, and Lalas discuss the filmmaking process of getting archival footage and other challenges they tackled throughout production, Lalas’ thoughts on the men’s soccer team today, and working with Coach Bora on the documentary. Lalas also talks about his run on The Masked Singer, and Walker and LaMattina share their hopes for future documentaries.

00:41 – Alexi Lalas discusses his experience on The Masked Singer.

02:41 – Dave LaMattina explains what The Summer of ‘94 is about.

03:14 – LaMattina on discovering the wealth of archival footage for the documentary.

03:47 – LaMattina discusses the challenges of clearing and licensing archival footage.

04:41 – The team dives into the editing process and shaping the story.

05:36 – Chad Walker explains cutting the film down to its final runtime.

06:20 – Lalas reflects on being convinced to revisit the 1994 World Cup story.

08:29 – Lalas discusses when the U.S. men’s team could contend for a World Cup title.

10:37 – Lalas talks about Coach Bora Milutinović’s unconventional leadership style.

12:19 – Lalas discusses preparing as a Fox soccer analyst.

14:12 – Walker and LaMattina tease future documentary projects.

John Goodman Served Up a SXSW Surprise for ‘Chili Finger’

He talks about his experience working opposite Bryan Cranston for the first time.

At this year’s SXSW, attendees in Austin, Texas, got an unexpected surprise when they stopped by a chili pop-up and discovered none other than Emmy Award-winner John Goodman behind the counter. “I thought it was a brilliant idea,” he tells Weintraub, joking that he found out five minutes before donning the apron. This harebrained scheme was cooked up by filmmakers Edd Benda and Stephen Helstad, the creatives behind Chili Finger, a star-powered comedy inspired by true events. In the movie, Judy Greer plays Jessica Lipki, a small-town lawyer who discovers a severed finger in her fast-food bowl of chili. Recognizing this as a gruesome opportunity to reclaim some control over her stalled life, Lipki blackmails the beloved chain for a cash payout to keep her and her husband (Sean Astin) quiet. This stunt soon gets back to Blake Jr. (Goodman), the founder of the restaurant, who employs an ex-Marine friend (Bryan Cranston) to investigate. When asked about sharing scenes with fellow Emmy-winner Cranston, Goodman called it a “natural” process, saying:
“I like the way we work together because we never have before, and it felt like this is what we do every day. It was like rolling out of bed, working with him. We just had fun. I just hung out and watched him, and tried to feed off of him. It was just so natural that it just felt like, ‘Well, this is something I do every day.’”
Don’t miss the full interview with Benda, Helstad, Greer, and Goodman, where Greer reacts to being called a national treasure, the crew discusses the making of the movie, and Goodman teases his role in Tom Cruise’s Digger, plus Greer talks about reuniting with Marc Maron on In Memoriam.

00:16 – The Chili Finger crew discuss their favorite Paul Verhoeven movies.

01:46 – What is Chili Finger about?

02:12 – John Goodman shares his experience serving chili at SXSW.

04:02 – Goodman and Judy Greer on what drew them to the movie.

04:57 – Greer reacts to being called a “national treasure” online.

05:39 – Edd Benda and Stephen Helstad on working with Bryan Cranston, Sean Astin, and the ensemble cast.

08:12 – Goodman talks about working with Cranston for the first time.

09:26 – The team discuss the tight schedule and budget and the freedom to perform.

12:17 – Helstad and Benda talk about the editing process.

14:55 – Goodman discusses working with Tom Cruise on Digger.

16:48 – Greer shares how she got involved with In Memoriam, starring Marc Maron.

18:52 – The directors discuss future projects.

19:51 – The group share memorable autograph stories, including Goodman asking Chuck Berry for an autograph decades ago.

Charlie Day Went “Tom Cruise Style” on His Dark Comedy ‘Kill Me’

“He kind of crafted the perfect role for me.”

In writer-director Peter Warren’s (Sid is Dead) directorial debut, Kill Me, Charlie Day (It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia) takes top of the call sheet in a role that blends humor with what co-star Giancarlo Esposito (Breaking Bad) calls “gravitas, but also, wonder, enchantment, and joy,” as Jimmy, a man who’s seemingly just attempted to end his life a second time. In his own words, Warren tells Weintraub:
“I describe it as a darkly comedic murder mystery about depression. The movie is about a guy, Jimmy, played by Charlie so excellently, who wakes up in the first shot of the movie with his wrists slit in the bathtub from what looks like a suicide attempt, and calls 911. He gets connected with Margot, his 911 operator, played by Allison [Williams], who saves his life, and he ends up at the hospital. His family is like, ‘I can’t believe you tried to do this again.’ He’s like, ‘Yeah, I didn’t do this.’ They’re like, ‘I mean, you did.’ He’s like, ‘No, I didn’t. The other one, that I did, but this one I didn’t.’ And he starts this sort of amateur hour Sherlock Holmes mission looking into what seems to be his own suicide, but he’s convinced is a murder case. That’s Kill Me.”
In addition to Day and Esposito, Kill Me also stars Allison Williams (Get Out), Aya Cash (The Boys), and Suspiria’s Jessica Harper, and according to the movie’s core cast, the common appeal of Warren’s script is the movie’s ability to balance a difficult topic with humor. “His tonal awareness is so sharp,” Williams says of Warren’s laugh-out-loud script. For Day, it was a rare opportunity for him to flex his more dramatic skills. He says:
“It was a chance to do more emotional, dramatic stuff, but also was super funny. So I thought, well, this is sort of a win-win where I can go places, but also the audience still gets the thing that I know they like for me to do. He kind of crafted the perfect role for me. So, I was excited to get a chance to try those different things.”
Check out the full conversation in the video, with timecodes below, where they break down the jarring first sequence, Day explains the bizarre complication that sent him from the set to the hospital (leading to a very Tom Cruise moment), and the four of them answer a round of rapid questions to get to know the cast!

00:40 – Charlie Day reports that Rob McElhenney is happier as Rob Mac.

02:27 – Peter Warren explains Kill Me, his “darkly comedic murder mystery about depression.”

03:38 – The cast discusses how Kill Me defies genre, exploring the gamut of emotions.

07:16 – Day comments on breaking out of comedy.

07:41 – Kill Me’s opening sequence was a powerful and challenging scene to film.

09:33 – Allison Williams reveals Day’s on-set medical emergency.

10:57 – The cast curate a Kill Me double feature.

11:53 – Get to know the Kill Me cast!

Maya Hawke Says ‘Wishful Thinking’ and Working With Lewis Pullman Was a “No-Brainer”

“I’ve always wanted to be in a romantic comedy.”

With his directorial debut, Wishful Thinking, writer-director Graham Parkes brings together a match made in Hollywood heaven with Maya Hawke (Stranger Things) and Lewis Pullman (Thunderbolts*) in a whimsical romantic comedy where the fate of the world hangs in the balance, at the whim of this fraught young couple. In the movie, Julia (Hawke) and Charlie’s (Pullman) relationship is on the rocks. Despite their love for one another, they bicker constantly, to the point that a friend suggests they attend a couples’ seminar, run by TikTok-famous twin healers, the Tillies (played by Kate Berlant). After a session of performing energy work, Julia and Charlie are informed that “they’re twin flames and that their emotional states have an effect on the world around them. Suddenly, after, they feel like they’re cursed.” Instead of causing a personal rift between the two of them, Julia and Charlie’s fights now cause sea levels to rise and put nations at risk. “Are they going to be able to get it together as a couple and figure out how to use that for good, or is it too dangerous and they need to break up?” Talking with Weintraub, Hawke explains why she was eager to join the cast of Wishful Thinking:
“I’ve always wanted to be in a romantic comedy, and Lewis is hot and talented and amazing and awesome, and just a dream person, too, who I would die to work with before I even knew him. Then I read the script, and it just seemed like such a sandbox for creativity, and it felt like it was aspiring toward the genre of film that there just are never enough of. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve typed in ‘movies like The Truman Show’ in my search bar, and there’s, like, nine of them, and I’ve seen them all like nine times. So, I wanted to be a part of something that walked this kind of tonal line of magical realism that also is heartfelt and wonderful. It’s just a no-brainer.”
In this interview, Weintraub also talks with Parkes, Pullman, and TikTok star Jake Shane (who delivers an on-screen debut performance that Parkes calls “any comedy director’s secret weapon”) about their “sexy dances,” how the movie evolved throughout the process, and Pullman gives Marvel fans an exciting update for Avengers: Doomsday.

00:28 – Wishful Thinking follows a couple whose relationship suddenly has real-world consequences.

01:26 – Maya Hawke makes her rom-com dreams come true opposite Lewis Pullman.

03:02 – The stars share how they got involved in Wishful Thinking.

05:14 – Lewis Pullman explains why the “sexy dances” exist.

07:25 – Graham Parkes shares how Wishful Thinking evolved throughout the edit.

09:53 – Pullman discusses shooting Wishful Thinking in a “guerrilla style.”

10:25 – The team discusses why they had so many long takes during filming.

12:23 – Pullman highlights Jake Shane’s “brilliant” acting in his feature on-screen debut.

14:14 – Pullman teases why fans are going to love Avengers: Doomsday.

‘Their Town’ Is Mark Duplass’s “YA ‘Before Sunrise’”

Starring Ora Duplass and Chosen Jacobs, it’s a refreshingly honest take on teens today.

Like Kevin Bacon and Kyra Sedgwick, indie filmmaking partners Mark Duplass and Katie Aselton made SXSW 2026 a family affair with their upcoming teen romance, Their Town. Penned by Duplass and directed by Aselton, who describes it as a “YA Before Sunrise,” the movie stars their daughter Ora Duplass opposite It breakout Chosen Jacobs. In the movie, when Abby’s (Ora Duplass) boyfriend unexpectedly drops out of the school play, she begins to grow close to the school outcast, Matt (Jacobs). In an attempt to convince him to take over her boyfriend’s role opposite her in the play, the two spend a night together wandering their town, pondering their futures and exploring their pasts. Duplass’ script was inspired, he tells Weintraub, by the movies and television he was seeing depicting teens in ways he didn’t recognize in his own children. He wanted to work on something more authentic, but needed Ora’s help. He tells us:
“The first instinct was I was seeing a lot of YA movies and TV shows, because Ora, my daughter, at the time was 16, and Molly, our youngest, was 12, and I just had this feeling. I was like, ‘These shows are interesting, but the kids in these shows feel different than my kids and their peers. I wonder if I could find a way to get those versions on screen somehow. And how do I do that, because I am a 48-year-old man? So, what’s the best way to do this?’
“So I thought, ‘I will try to summon the way that I know them,’ which, as a bunch, they’re very thoughtful. They’re very sort of existentially threatened by what we’re seeing in the world, and they’re very anxious. The American Dream, it’s clear to them that it doesn’t work. From college to if you follow the rules, ‘It didn’t necessarily make my parents happy, and it sure as hell isn’t going to make us happy. So, what do we do about this?’ And I thought that was really fascinating.
“I found it to be a thing where the teenage experience wasn’t what people told me it was going to be. It wasn’t slamming doors and, ‘I hate you, mom and dad!’ They weren’t perennially horny and sex obsessed. They were really looking for that platonic connection that they could stand tall with and face the world. So I was like, ‘I’m going to write this script, and then I’m going to find two collaborators who can give it a semi-improvised veracity to the dialogue and bring the truth to it and say it in ways that might make it feel more truthful.’ And I was like, ‘I’m certainly not going to direct this while I’m living in the house with Katie, who can do a better job than me.’ So, that was where I started and ended in the project.”
During their conversation, Mark and Ora Duplass, Aselton, and Jacobs discuss Ora’s feature debut role, Jacob’s audition and what he loved about the script, Mark and Aselton’s hesitancy for their kids to join the business, and the collaboration amongst the small crew for Their Town. Ora teases her upcoming role in Disney+’s “grittiest” YA series yet, Coven Academy, and Mark teases the brilliance of A24’s Backrooms.

01:18 – Katie Aselton describes Their Town as a “YA Before Sunrise.”

01:55 – Mark Duplass explains how his own children inspired him to write Their Town.

04:00 – Why did Bangor, Maine, seem like the perfect place to set Their Town?

05:00 – Chosen Jacobs says Duplass’ script put them “in a position to win” before even hitting set.

06:07 – Ora Duplass on moving from shorts to her first feature film role.

07:37 – Mark Duplass on hesitantly ushering his daughter, Ora, into the business.

09:55 – Mark Duplass and Aselton praise Jacobs performance and professionalism on set.

12:00 – Ora Duplass shares what she learned from set working opposite Jacobs.

14:02 – Ora Duplass and Jacobs discuss collaborating on a song together for the end credits.

15:42 – Ora Duplass teases Disney+’s “grittiest” upcoming YA series Coven Academy.

18:26 – Mark Duplass is confident A24’s Backrooms is going to deliver.

19:18 – Mark Duplass comments on Cameron Diaz’s return to Hollywood and Bad Day.

20:05 – What are Mark Duplass and Katie Aselton working on next?

Dakota Fanning and Jake Johnson Lead a Messy Love Triangle in ‘The Sun Never Sets’

Fanning says, “I truly had one of the greatest experiences I’ve ever had making this movie.”

Set against the beautiful backdrop of Alaska, writer-director Joe Swanberg (Drinking Buddies) tells Nemiroff his new romantic drama, The Sun Never Sets, is “a movie about a lot of characters trying to be good to each other and trying to be altruistic, but ending up selfishly desiring their own happiness. It’s all about the mess that ensues when that gets rolling.” It stars Dakota Fanning (Vicious), Jake Johnson (New Girl), and Cory Michael Smith (Sentimental Value) in a twisty love triangle. For Fanning, this was not only a chance to show off her skills while operating a bulldozer (which she teased, “I can add that to my resume”) but a rare opportunity to return to the filmmaking that first ignited her passion for the craft. In addition to allowing his cast space to bring more of themselves to their character, Fanning says Swanberg’s sets forego the pressures more typically experienced within the industry today. When asked to highlight what they most appreciated about his direction, Fanning had this to say:
“God, to name one thing would be difficult. I truly had one of the greatest experiences I’ve ever had making this movie, genuinely. I went in not really knowing what it would be like and kind of no expectations. I went in kind of just neutral, like this is either going to be amazing or scary or whatever, and it just exceeded my expectations beyond. Especially my first time collaborating in the way that Joe’s process is and the way his scripts are. You bring a lot of yourself to it, and I felt so understood by Joe as a person first. Like he said, he casts based on that conversational thing, and I definitely felt the same about him. So, I felt so understood and then very understood as an actor.
I just fully trusted him 100%, so we just got to play. It’s so rare. A lot of the time, especially these days, things feel very controlled and kind of heightened, and the stakes, and the this, and the pressure, and we can fall into that. Really, at the end of the day, we’re just playing make-believe, and that’s what it should feel like. So, this process just felt like that from start to finish in such an amazing way, and that’s really because of Joe and the group of people that he assembles.”
Find out what else the stars had to say about Swanberg on the set of The Sun Never Sets, especially longtime friend and collaborator Johnson, and learn a bit about their characters in the film. Johnson also teases his new upcoming sitcom, gleefully proclaiming New Girl’s “Julius Pepperwood is back, baby!”

00:14 – What is The Sun Never Sets About?

00:49 – Joe Swanberg Reflects on the Six Years Since His Last Film

02:03 – Swanberg Explains His Unique Casting Process

03:29 – Dakota Fanning on Returning to Make-Believe on Swanberg’s Set

05:32 – Cory Michael Smith Highlights Swanberg’s “Gentle” Confidence

07:43 – Jake Johnson Calls The Sun Never Sets Swanberg’s “Most Mature Movie”

08:25 – Fanning Says Alaska Helped Her Tap Into Her Character Wendy

10:03 – Smith on Offering Fanning Something “Oppositional” to Johnson’s Character

10:59 – Johnson’s Character Is Based “Loosely” Off of Swanberg

11:32 – Johnson Teases New Girl’s “Julius Pepperwood Is Back, Baby!” in New Sitcom

Finn Wolfhard Channels ‘Jackass’ Steve-O for ‘Crash Land’

“They shaved my head for the opening credits.”

Jackass is clearly an inspiration for Dempsey Bryk’s feature debut as writer-director of Crash Land, a comedy set in a remote “eccentric” Canadian town. It was an idea that sparked during the 2020 pandemic, Bryk tells Weintraub, but while he admits the 2000 MTV series is “legendary,” he mostly drew on films like Boogie Nights and Napoleon Dynamite, as well as one of Gabriel LaBelle’s (The Fabelmans) favorite shows, Trailer Park Boys. The movie is an homage to all the films Demspey Bryk and his friends grew up with. In fact, his brother, and Hell of a Summer co-director, Billy Bryk, read a first draft of Crash Land and said, “Dempsey, this is amazing. I loved it when it came out in 1996. This is Bottle Rocket. You wrote Bottle Rocket,” He tells Weintraub, “Then he spent about three years making it less and less Bottle Rocket,” until what they ended up with, alongside LaBelle, Stranger Things’ Finn Wolfhard, Noah Parker (Outstanding), and friend and Hell of a Summer collaborator Abby Quinn, was a surprisingly heart-wrenching comedy about, well, best friends doing stupid stuff. According to Dempsey, “Crash Land is a dark coming-of-age comedy about a group of young delinquent stuntmen in a very small town who decide that they’re going to try to make a real movie to prove to their eccentric town that they’re living meaningful lives.” This idea manifests after one of their own, Darby (played by Billy Bryk), dies attempting to pull off one of their absurd tricks. To really bring that authenticity to Crash Land, Wolfhard “decided that he would kind of be the Steve-O, gross-out guy,” Billy tells Weintraub. Wolfhard, whose close cut made headlines before the Season 5 finale of Stranger Things, demystifies his new hairdo, commenting on the obscene role he took on as Sander:
“We had done some gross stuff that didn’t make the final cut…There is stuff that I did that just did not make the movie, and so there was no point in me doing it. The only thing that made it was they shaved my head for the opening credits. That was the last thing that I shot. But, yeah, there’s some stuff that we’re not insured to do, but we tried to do as many things as we could that were legal.”
Don’t miss the full conversation, with a time index below, for more on this “love letter” to their friendship, from the stuntpeople who performed Crash Land’s wilder action to Woflhard and Bryk’s future plans for more independent movies, and Quinn’s experience on the set of Tony Gilroy’s next project.

00:42 – Crash Land is an homage to the cast’s favorite movies and a “love letter” to their friendship.

01:36 – How Jackass inspired Dempsey Bryk’s Crash Land script.

02:57 – The cast introduces their characters and how they joined the film.

06:59 – Finn Wolfhard and Billy Bryk discuss returning to indie filmmaking after Hell of a Summer.

09:43 – Finn Wolfhard on channeling Jackass’ Steve-O in Crash Land.

11:42 – Dempsey Bryk highlights the stuntpeople who performed for Crash Land’s action.

12:12 – The cast share their own stunts they filmed independently for the movie.

14:08 – Wolfhard and Bryk discuss their future plans for more movies.

15:22 – The Crash Land crew share their run-ins with greatness.

18:48 – Abby Quinn shares her experience working with Tony Gilroy.

After ‘The Long Walk,’ Ben Wang Takes a More Personal Turn in ‘Brian’

This rising star shares how he chooses roles, from The Karate Kid to The Hunger Games.

Ben Wang is a star on the rise. From his breakout role on the star-studded Disney+ series American Born Chinese to Karate Kid: Legends, to his heartbreaking performance in last year’s Stephen King adaptation, The Long Walk, audiences are taking notice. As of only March, Wang has already hit two major film festivals, first with Gail Daughtry and the Celebrity Sex Pass at the Sundance Film Festival, and now SXSW as the lead in Will Ropp’s feature directorial debut, the coming-of-age comedy Brian (plus, we’ll be seeing him reunite with The Long Walk director Francis Lawrence for The Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping this November). In Brian, Wang plays the titular young student who struggles to show people his funny and capable side when battling mental health issues. To make matters worse, Brian is harboring a secret crush on his teacher, Brooke (Natalie Morales). To impress her, Brian decides to take a giant leap out of his comfort zone and run for class president. The movie also stars William H. Macy (Train Dreams), Randall Park (WandaVision), Edi Patterson (The Righteous Gemstones), and Joshua Colley (Descendants: Rise of Red). While talking with Nemiroff about joining Ropp’s feature directorial debut, he breaks down his process for choosing roles, a process that’s served him quite well:
“It always starts with the script. I feel like if I read something and my gut goes, ‘That’s awesome. I want to do that,’ I usually listen. And that was very much the case for this script. Although I will say that when I read this script, in my mind, I was like, ‘This movie could be made one of two ways,’ one of which is you could make it more of a Gail Daughtry-type comedy, where it’s played for comedy first, and everything’s in service of getting the laugh. But I was like, there could also be a different way of making this movie where it’s more character-driven and made with more quiet moments, more sensitivity for the character, and that was the movie that I was interested in making because I was interested in this character and doing it sympathetically, with all the nuances of a human being. Then, when I talked to Will, that was when I realized he wants to make that same movie. That’s what made me go, ‘Yeah, definitely.’”
In this interview, Nemiroff chats with Ropp, Wang, Morales, Park, and Patterson about finding the script for Brian on the Black List after reading “100 scripts,” why Ropp knew this was the perfect story for him to tell, and Park, Patterson, and Morales on sharing scenes with Wang.

00:14 – What Is Brian About?

00:37 – Will Ropp on Why He Knew He Had to Make Brian

02:22 – The Cast Share Their Experience With Ropp as a Director

04:16 – Ropp Explains How Pete Farrelly Inspired Him as a Director

04:57 – Ben Wang Listens to His Gut When Choosing Roles

06:24 – Randall Park and Edi Patterson Say It Was “Game On” With Wang

09:08 – Natalie Morales Highlights the Younger Cast

10:52 – The Brian Crew Drop Their Most Self-Conscious Meals

‘Stages’ Goes Behind the Scenes of a Musician’s Breaking Point, Inspired by True Stories

“I’ve been with bands when they broke up in the green room.”

Director Ryan Booth’s feature directorial debut, Stages, shines a spotlight on what goes on backstage with touring musicians. In this interview with Weintraub, Booth, and stars Leslie Grace and real-life musician David Ramirez, take us behind the scenes for the music-making and inspiration behind the story. In the movie, Ben Garza (Ramirez) sets out on his first-ever solo tour only a year after the explosive breakup of his band. His closest companions are his tour manager, Rita (Jolene), and only remaining bandmate, Parker (Jake McMullen), who hit the road with Ben. Along the way, Rita brings on rising star Jessie Ramos (Grace) as Ben’s opening act, but her popularity shakes him up, as he traverses a long road of self-discovery. Booth is no stranger to a tale like this one. In fact, years spent on the road with musicians prepared him to bring his singular vision to the film. He tells Weintraub:
“This film is definitely a representation of the vast amount of time I’ve spent in close proximity to working, touring musicians. David’s a great friend that I’ve known for a very long time. Even as I started, I was an audio engineer, but then when I moved into filmmaking, I’ve stayed very close to my musician friends, being out on the road doing tour docs, shooting album covers, being with them in the van at shows, in green rooms. I’ve been with bands when they broke up in the green room. So, many of the scenes and the anecdotes in this film are things that I witnessed or have had direct conversations about and seen, so it’s definitely something that emerged out of a lot of experience.
But the beauty has been, I’ve showed the script to a lot of our musician friends, and each of them said, ‘Oh, I have my version of this thing that happened.’ So I’ve been very happy to find that I didn’t just pull it out of thin air. These seem to be archetypal experiences in some capacity with all my musician friends.”
Don’t miss the full conversation below, where Booth, Ramirez, and Grace discuss their own personal musical experiences, the challenges of creating believable hit music for the film, avoiding musical biopic clichés, and Ramirez looks back on the emotional songwriting sessions that helped shape Stages.

00:29 – Stages is a music drama following two musicians on tour.

01:12 – Ryan Booth discusses how working with musicians shaped the film’s portrayal of life on the road.

02:38 – Booth reflects on how his 2017 short The Heights evolved into a feature film.

04:31 – The trio discuss the connection between musicians and actors, and their personal musical experiences.

09:31 – Leslie Grace discusses the coincidence of appearing in In the Heights.

11:06 – Booth talks about the challenge of creating believable original music.

15:50 – David Ramirez reflects on emotional songwriting sessions.

18:33 – Grace talks about how the film’s central song evolved throughout production.

19:24 – Booth on why the film avoids typical music biopic clichés.

Adrian Grenier’s New Short ‘Self Custody’ Is a “Modern Day Bank Robbery”

Grenier also addresses his leave from Hollywood.

Another of SXSW’s world premieres inspired by true events is Fernando Ferro and Garrett Patten’s short film, Self Custody. The short exposes a story Patten tells Weintraub that most people don’t know about: the billions of dollars worth of bitcoin stolen “beyond recovery.” Along with stars Adrian Grenier and Henry Cejudo, Patten breaks down his high-stakes action thriller.

Self Custody “follows one guy who’s in financial ruin, and learns that he had a password to Bitcoin from 2012 that’s now worth a lot of money, but he doesn’t have the seed phrases. It’s the panic that he goes through to try to recover it, and all of the firms that are trying to help out to get people’s Bitcoin back that are all frauds.” The short also stars Odette Annable. As for how Entourage alum Grenier got involved, and why he’s returning to screen after several years, he tells Weintraub the role was “tailor-made” for him.
“My character is very gung-ho, very pro-crypto, pro-Bitcoin, as am I, so it was sort of perfect. Also, we shot in Austin, so since I live here, it was perfect.”
He goes on to discuss his own views on cryptocurrency and why he wanted to highlight these issues with Self Custody:
“I’m still nervous. It’s uncomfortable to be responsible for yourself and not to just cede responsibility to the nanny state. ‘Take care of me, please,’ or a bank, like, ‘I don’t know how to do it, so please, take care of my money for me and exploit me all along the way.’ There are no guarantees, and you have to build up the capacity and the capability to be able to be responsible for yourself, build the skills to be able to take care of your family. And that includes not just financial well-being, but also physical health. It’s the same thing. When you have good financial literacy, you want to have good health literacy, as well, so that you can be alive and thriving and live a long life.”
Finally, Grenier reveals why he stepped away from Hollywood for so many years:
“It’s all within the same idea. I want to build the capability to live a long life, be healthy, and take care of my kids, and be able to teach them the skills so that they can take care of themselves in the future. I found that living in cities, I was so utterly beholden to supermarkets, or I couldn’t do anything without calling someone or going to a restaurant or going to a supermarket. And then you have COVID, when suddenly everything starts to challenge those systems. Are you able to survive that? Are you able to overcome that?
“So, I just wanted to start building the skill so that I didn’t have to worry if there was an anomalous event that happened, or if some guy comes and he’s bigger than me, do I have the skills to be able to defend myself? If there’s a financial situation, am I going to have some money tucked away so that me and my family can be okay? So to me, it’s just about being more responsible and taking more ownership over your life.”
Check out the full interview in the video below, where the group share their personal perspectives on cryptocurrency, Patten teases upcoming project, and Cejudo explains how he got involved with Patten and went from his Triple C fighting persona to acting. Finally, Grenier reflects back on the cultural impact of HBO’s hit series Entourage.

00:19 – The trio compare first-row tickets to a Lakers game to an Entourage episode.

02:14 – Adrian Grenier reflects on the cultural impact of Entourage.

03:52 – Garrett Patten explains the role technology and cryptocurrency play in the story and the movie’s premise.

05:47 – Grenier shares how he got involved with Self Custody.

06:51 – Henry Cejudo discusses his acting debut.

08:42 – Cejudo talks real fighting versus fight choreography.

09:57 – Cejudo discusses creating Triple C persona and how showmanship overlaps with acting.

11:05 – Patten explains his friendship with Cejudo and connecting through Mike Tyson.

11:37 – The group share their personal perspectives on cryptocurrency.

13:03 – Grenier on the anxiety of managing your own crypto finances.

14:20 – Grenier discusses leaving Hollywood.

16:00 – Patten teases upcoming projects, including a Mike Tyson biopic.

16:54 – Grenier reflects on his continued interest in directing after Teenage Paparazzo.

‘Sparks’ Risks “Boring” to Capture the Atmosphere of Classic Hangout Movies

The film draws inspiration from filmmakers like Jean-Luc Godard and Richard Linklater.

At SXSW 2026, first-time writer and director Fergus Campbell’s breakdown of his movie Sparks leaves us with more questions than answers (“It’s about teenagers in Nevada trying to time-travel through a lake.”), and that’s refreshing. The drama stars Elsie Fisher (Texas Chainsaw Massacre) and a host of talented teens in a coming-of-age story inspired by iconic hangout films and Jean-Luc Godard. Talking with Weintraub, Campbell explains how they went about realizing their vision for what they believe could run the risk of being what “some people might find boring.”
“Linklater has made some of my favorite hangout films, and there are others. In Y tu mamá también, a lot happens, but it’s still essentially about people going places together and just doing nothing in those places. So, I have a lot of hangout movies that I really look up to. Slacker is obviously one of them, and so is Dazed and Confused.
I want to capture a frame of mind, and the frame of mind that I’m often finding myself in is one where I’m just with people and with my friends, and not a lot is going on, but there’s still something really evocative and atmospheric about that. It’s a challenge to transfer it to the screen because you run the risk of making something that some people might find boring, but I think it would feel like a betrayal of what I wrote, what my vision leans toward, to not go to those places and not explore that terrain.”
Campbell, producer Lola Lafia, and stars Fisher, Charlie B. Foster, Denny McAuliffe, Madison Hu, Simon Downes Toney all share why they were eager to join Sparks, Lafia talks about the challenges they overcame throughout production, Campbell talks about Richard Linklater’s recent homage to Godard with Netflix’s Nouvelle Vague, and the crew share the places and times they’d go if they could time travel. Check out the full interview in the video below.

00:33 – Fergus Campbell gives a brief synopsis of Sparks.

00:58 – The Sparks cast share why they wanted to join the project.

03:54 – Producer Lola Lafia shares the obstacles the team overcame throughout production.

05:13 – Campbell explains how they got their vision onscreen in Sparks.

06:20 – The crew share the time and places they’d love to visit.

09:51 – Campbell comments on Richard Linklater’s Nouvelle Vague.

11:31 – Sparks is inspired by a number of “hangout movies,” from Linklater to Dewey Nicks’ Slackers.

12:47 – Campbell talks about how Sparks changed in the editing process.

14:40 – The team share the movies that pair perfectly with Sparks.

18:26 – The Sparks crew also share which autographs they’ve gotten.

Jorma Taccone Calls His SXSW Hit “Three Movies in One” With “Incredible Teeth”

Over Your Dead Body is a remake starring Jason Segel and Samara Weaving.

Five years isn’t a very long time for a film to wait before getting a remake, but the outrageous premise behind Norwegian filmmaker Tommy Wirkola’s (Dead Snow, Violent Night) The Trip was too good for Saturday Night Live writers Nick Kocher and Brian McElhaney to pass up. Tap fellow SNL alum Jorma Taccone (Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping) to direct, cast Samara Weaving (Ready or Not 2: Here I Come) and Jason Segel (Shrinking) as your stars, and you’ve got Over Your Dead Body, a brutally violent comedy that headlined SXSW 2026 to enthusiastic reviews. In the movie, Weaving and Segel play Lisa and Dan, a couple who are constantly at odds, bickering and prodding one another about his flailing career as an indie filmmaker and her being a washed-up actress. Independently, they each devise a plan to murder the other on a weekend getaway, but this heinous scheme goes awry when unexpected visitors arrive. Over Your Dead Body also stars Juliette Lewis (Yellowjackets), Timothy Olyphant (Justified), Paul Guilfoyle (CSI), and Keith Jardine (Godless). Talking with Weintraub, Taccone says: “The original film is fantastic. We all loved it. I did not even want to make a remake, but as soon as I read these guys’ script, I was blown away. We made a ton of adjustments to it. I’m just very proud to have made a remake, which I think is threading so many needles with the tone shifts. It really is like three movies in one to me, and so I’m very proud to have made an American remake that I think has incredible teeth, still is dark and fucked up, but also really emotionally resonant.” He continues, explaining the trio’s approach to making Over Your Dead Body their own, while maintaining the integrity of Wirkola’s original. Refining their comedy style was important, but keeping the OG “teeth” was crucial: “I think in terms of the comedy, we obviously vibe out tremendously on our collective tone, comedically. I think we were always pressing for more comedy, but not like bend-it-to-break-it comedy. You really want the emotional stakes to still be there, and honestly, the original has fucking teeth, and we really wanted to keep that in the movie. So, I think we accomplished that.” Check out the full conversation in the video below, where Taccone, Kocher, McElhaney, Guilfoyle, and Jardine discuss how they turned Over Your Dead Body into something fresh and share their experience working with the all-star cast. Jardine talks about sharing scenes with co-stars Lewis and Olyphant, Guilfoyle also reflects on playing the role of Captain Jim Brass for over 300 episodes of CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, and Taccone gives fans an update on new music from The Lonely Island.

00:47 – Jorma Taccone says his remake still has “teeth and is dark and f*cked up.”

02:50 – Brian McElhaney and Nick Kocher discuss celebrating both Over Your Dead Body and Pizza Movie.

04:31 – The team discuss adapting a great movie and keeping the integrity of the original film.

06:02 – Paul Guilfoyle talks about working on over 300 episodes of CSI.

08:38 – Keith Jadine shares what it was like working opposite Timothy Olyphant and Juliette Lewis.

10:48 – Jardine also discusses working with 87North on the action-packed fight scenes.

12:20 – Jason Segel was “psyched” to go toe-to-toe with Jardine.

12:59 – Taccone talks about how Over Your Deady Body changed in the editing room.

14:28 – Taccone reveals how he blended comedy with the movie’s violence

15:24 – Over Your Dead Body ends with “balls-out comedy” that will leave audiences smiling.

17:41 – Guilfoyle talks about working in action and his legacy in the industry.

23:05 – Taccone talks about touring with The Lonely Island again.

John Stamos Goes Full Villain in SXSW Thriller ‘Drag’

Uncle Jesse, unlike you’ve ever seen him before.

Written and directed by Raviv Ullman and Greg Yagolnitzer, Drag is a dark comedy thriller about two sisters who break into a lavish home, only to discover they’ve broken into the home of a very dangerous man, and they must escape quickly. To make matters worse, one of them, “Fuckup,” played by Lizzy Caplan, has thrown out her back and is at the mercy of “Sister,” played by Lucy DeVito. It’s an outlandish concept that only gets more bonkers as the night goes on. The owner of the home is none other than John Stamos, who plays “Man,” and when he returns to the rural estate, he brings along a date, known only as “Woman,” played by Christine Ko. This is when the sisters’ sticky situation turns into an all-out race for survival, when they realize Man is a lot more sinister than they could have imagined. For Stamos, Drag presents the actor, of Full House fame and heartthrob status, a whole new sandbox to play in, which is exactly what he’s been looking for. Talking with Nemiroff, he teases, “I was asking my agent to find me something kind of Christmasy, Hallmarky, and this is what they did.” It also allowed him to completely transform.
“I’ve been looking for roles like this, and I think that I could get away with at least the beginning part of wanting to take the journey. ‘Okay, well, let’s see what he’s going to do,’ and then it gets darker. I really wanted to change my look. I put brown contacts in. I thought that would help. I thinned out my very thick eyebrows, and I had them put a little point, and freaked my wife out for a long time, and long time after. I watched a lot of documentaries on these types of figures. We’re going back to trust with these guys. It’s very hard for me to trust people sometimes, butfter about a day or two, I was like, ‘Just tell me where to go.’ I think the music is incredible, it’s Bonzo Dog Band, and I think when they played me that song in juxtaposition to that scene that gets very dark and weird, and then starting to see the costumes…I just took it as it’s a different look at beauty, of what beauty is to different people.”
Ullman, Yagolnitzer, Stamos, Ko, Caplan, and Lucy DeVito were joined by producers Danny DeVito and Jake DeVito, and in addition to discussing Drag’s chilling story and the inspiration behind it, the team talks with Nemiroff about their filmmaking family (literally!) and how the DeVitos championed the film from start to finish. Check out the full interview in the video below.

00:25 – Raviv Ullman and Greg Yagolnitzer Tease the “Maximalist” Chaos of Drag

01:55 – Danny DeVito Was “100% In” on Drag Before Finishing the Script

04:26 – Ullman and Yagolnitzon on How the DeVito Family Championed Drag From the Start

05:54 – Lizzy Caplan and Lucy DeVito Call Their On-Screen Sisterhood “Creepily Easy”

07:12 – Caplan Broke the Role Into “Bite-Sized Pieces” to Tackle Drag’s Physicality

09:09 – Christine Ko Says Drag Was a “Safe Space” to Overcome Tough Acting Challenges

10:33 – John Stamos Completely Changed His Look to Play His Dark Role in Drag

12:57 – The Drag Team Share the Hardest “Human” Thing to Do Believably On-Screen