Latest news with #Materialists'
Yahoo
20 hours ago
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Dakota Johnson, Adria Arjona and Kyle Marvin Star in Trailer for Michael Angelo Covino's ‘Splitsville'
Marriages crumble, crash and intertwine in the official trailer for Splitsville. Following a premiere at the Cannes Film Festival last month, Neon and Topic Studios released the trailer for director Michael Angelo Covino's and co-writer Kyle Marvin's second feature Monday. The open-marriage comedy stars Dakota Johnson, Adria Arjona, Corvino and Marvin, with Nicholas Braun, David Castañeda, O-T Fagbenle and Charlie Gillespie rounding out the cast. More from The Hollywood Reporter Nanni Moretti Teaming With Louis Garrel, Jasmine Trinca on New Film Celine Song on How 'Materialists' Subverts the Rom-Com With a "Really Frank Conversation" How Celine Song's 'Materialists' Approaches New York City Wealth The trailer unveils a series of nail-biting, raunchy and hilarious moments. The film's synopsis is as follows: 'After Ashley (Arjona) asks for a divorce, good-natured Carey (Marvin) runs to his friends, Julie (Johnson) and Paul (Covino), for support. He's shocked to discover that the secret to their happiness is an open marriage, that is until Carey crosses the line and throws all of their relationships into chaos.' Splitsville serves as a reunion for Corvino and Marvin, whose first feature, The Climb, premiered at Cannes in 2019. While both films highlight the aftermath of getting involved with the other's significant other, Splitsville shows the writing duo expanding into broader material. 'After we made The Climb, Kyle and I started working on a couple of different stories and scripts that were a bit bigger — different themes, different kinds of worlds,' Covino told THR ahead of the film's Cannes premiere. 'This project really came out of a desire to get back to something we could make in a more contained way. Something we didn't have to ask for a ton of permission to do.' Splitsville is slated to hit theaters Aug. 22. Best of The Hollywood Reporter Wes Anderson's Movies Ranked From Worst to Best 13 of Tom Cruise's Most Jaw-Dropping Stunts Hollywood Stars Who Are One Award Away From an EGOT
Forbes
a day ago
- Entertainment
- Forbes
Celine Song On ‘Materialists': ‘I Really Believe That Love Is A Miracle When It Happens'
Past Lives director Celine Song is back with what already feels like an all-time classic romantic drama, Materialists. 'Materialists' directed by Celine Song Song's feature debut and critically acclaimed Past Lives earned many awards and countless nominations in 2023, including a nomination for Best Picture at the Oscars. With Materialists, which features a stellar cast including Dakota Johnson, Chris Evans and Pedro Pascal, Song cements her work in the tradition of classic romance films by legendary filmmakers such as Nora Ephron or James L. Brooks. Song shot Materialists in 35mm which, combined with her precise and elegant writing, gives the movie a classy and comforting atmosphere. In her new film, Song questions modern dating and the impact that money -and therefore the lack of- can have on romantic relationships. I caught up with Song who was in Paris, at the Champs-Elysées Film Festival, where she was presenting Materialists to the French audience. Paris and New York can be regarded as twin cities to a certain extent and many romance movies have been shot in the city of love in the past, so I asked the filmmaker if she might consider shooting a future project in Paris. She said, 'Oh my God! That's so sweet! I mean Paris is such an inspiring city, I feel like I would love to make something here, that sounds so amazing. I know the French crew is so strong, and cinema is such a powerful center here, so I would love that, that sounds so fun!' She added: 'I was thinking about sharing Materialists here last night, and it's kind of the same concerns in the way that we have to be both so romantic and cynical just to survive here. Like, to live in a city like New York and I can imagine Paris, you have to believe that it's your home and there's so much romance in it, but it's because it's so hard to live here. The quality of living is so low, and it is so hard to pay rent, so you have to believe in the dream. Living in New York is a dream, but to survive there you also have to be realistic and practical and cynical too. So, that's why I think New York was the perfect setting for Materialists, and sharing it with the Paris audience, there are so many things that resonate here because there are twin cities.' In Materialists, Johnson portrays Lucy, a New York matchmaker who finds herself in a love triangle when she meets Harry (Pedro Pascal), a charismatic and successful man. The same night, she reconnects with her ex-boyfriend, John (Chris Evans), an aspiring theatre actor. Celine Song, Dakota Johnson and Chris Evans while filming 'Materialists' Lucy sees love and marriage as a 'business transaction' and as the logical consequence of non-negotiables, such as height, age and income. In Lucy's job, all these data must be taken into account to satisfy her client's needs. And when a date doesn't go as planned for her clients, Lucy has a motto, 'Upward and onward.' There's no time to dwell or feel sorry for oneself, life goes on and so does the dating market. 'So much of the movie is about how much we objectify each other and ourselves. And one of the most important lines in the film is 'I'm not merchandise, I'm a person.' So part of this 'Onward and upwards' is the way that we are always being asked to think about ourselves as an object that has value, and we always have to improve our value. So it's a corporate language, but we're talking about a personal, romantic rejection. And when Lucy says that, she's trying to turn it into a corporate idea,' Song told me. When a movie mentions money a lot, things can soon start to feel very pragmatic, cold, and anti-romantic. However, Song's writing of those themes, especially through Lucy's point of view, which is her fear of being stuck in a relationship where money might become a problem, manages to create the most romantic lines and scenes in the movie. Song said, 'I feel like it's about the way we introduce the language of money, which is very cold. So the most romantic lines in this movie, and it's only possible because the movie is called Materialists, are lines such as 'Deal' or 'How would you like to make a very bad financial decision?' Those lines feel like they could be from The Wolf of Wall Street, but the truth is that, of course they are the most romantic lines in the film. So much of it is about the acceptance of it, how much this language has become a part of the way we talk about love.' We then talked about how much the characters in the film mention money, compared to how very little French people talk about money, especially during a date. Song said, 'We think about the fact that it is impolite to talk about money, and I always have to ask the follow up question, 'Who is it impolite for ?'' For the director, people might regard this topic as impolite because they don't want to reveal themselves with numbers. She added: 'We should talk about that thing that is a little bit taboo, like it's not really polite in the U.S. either, but because of how much economic pressure everybody is under, even the taboo things are out. Lucy offers it openly, she's like 'I make $80K a year!' And what that does, is that it put us in a position where we have to accept that we either make more than her or less. And the truth is most of us make less.' But what about true love? True connection? Those are the questions Song tries to answer regarding modern dating. Dakota Johnson and Pedro Pascal She said, 'This is something I learned while I was working as a matchmaker. Something that I was really shocked by is that behind closed doors, in a way that they would not speak of, in front of anyone else, clients were telling me all the numbers that they wanted and that were their non-negotiables like height, weight, age, income. There's a very specific way that people say 'I will not date somebody who is over 30.' Or 'I will not date somebody under 6 feet tall.'' She added: 'But what happened? Dating was supposed to be a game we all played in the pursuit of love. I had just got married, and it seemed to me that love or even marriage had nothing to do with these numbers. If I ask my husband, 'Why do you love me?' I don't think he will say a single number.' For Song, love 'won't have anything to do with numbers, it will always be simpler.' She added: 'It's about the way we are animals, and we are beyond numbers. In the middle of all that, we're going to completely lose sight of what it is like to actually have a proper connection and have a proper miracle happen. Because I really believe that love is a miracle when it happens, and it's mysterious as a miracle, and it's an ancient mystery.' In recent interviews, Song mentioned that she does not believe in love at first sight, but in love at first conversation. Watching Materialists, I saw Pascal's character, the 'Unicorn' as Lucy's love at first sight and Evans' character as love at first conversation. When one of Lucy's client is assaulted during a date, the only person Lucy wants to talk to is John, even though she is dating Harry. She calls her ex-boyfriend in tears, while he sits on the ground, listen to her and is simply there for her in the moment. I asked Song about the writing of this scene, and particularly the heartache and longing that emanates from that moment. She said, 'Harry and Lucy, they do in a way, fall in love at first conversation, but as business partners, right? When you think about the way that they meet, and Harry undresses her and her job, to really assess her value as a working person, that really speaks about the way the two of them connect. And of course, with Lucy and John, what you realize is that there are a couple of kids or something. There is a part of that where there is no reason, it's 'I just like hearing your voice, I just like talking to you and that's it. I don't have anything to offer beyond that. But when I think about you, I just want to spend time with you. I just know I could do this forever.' So it's a very different thing, but it's the only thing.'' Song added: 'When Lucy says, 'Love has to be on the table,' sometimes, the response to my movie is 'I am single, are you saying that in order for me to not be single, I have to lower my standards?' and my response is that I would never ask anyone to lower their standards when it comes to a thing that you are entitled to. And the thing that you are entitled to, it's not height, it's not weight, it's not age or income. The only thing that you're entitled from the person who loves you, is that they love you. Love is the only thing you're entitled to from the person who loves you.' Song shared how concerned she is that love or the idea of a romantic relationship and the value of it all might be questioned. She said, 'I feel like the value of love is constantly questioned in the way that no one seems to question the value of a Birkin bag. No one seems to be asking 'Why does this bag cost five times someone's salary? How can that be?' No one asks that question, but the thing that people are constantly wondering is 'Well, is love even worth it?' And to me that's the most heartbreaking thing. And I think, the way we're moving away from love is the way we are moving away from being humans. That's why the line 'I'm not merchandise, I'm a person' is such an important line in the film. And it's a line I'm always going back to.' 'Materialists' In Past Lives, Song wrote about the Korean term 'Inyeon', which is a word used to describe providence, fate and the connection we have with each other, even with a stranger on the street. So are Lucy and John each other's 'Inyeon'? During a gorgeously shot and perfectly paced sequence where Lucy and John crash a wedding, they start dancing to Baby Rose's original song for the film, That's All. The connection between the two characters is so palpable and we are so completely immersed in this romantic scene that we almost forget that it's not actually their wedding. 'Oh my God, Baby Rose is the best! What a completely romantic song, you know, it's just that, 'That's all!'' Song also explained that she wanted to ask the question, 'What is love worth?' She said, 'The less we talk about it, the less we're gonna feel like human beings and that's when we start losing our value, just like love is. That, to me, is really the impulse behind this movie.' She added: 'A person might be able to experience the miracle, which is to love someone. The movie is so much about the objectification and qualification of each other. And what we know about the objectification of a human being, is that it's always going to be dehumanization. That's also connected to what Harry does to his body. That's just something I really wanted to talk about, I'm very concerned about it, and it's worthy of a conversation.'
USA Today
2 days ago
- Entertainment
- USA Today
Is the Bezos, Sánchez wedding about love or money? That's the wrong question.
Spoiler alert: Jeff Bezos and Lauren Sánchez's wedding seems to be the opposite of what happens in the new movie 'Materialists.' This column contains spoilers for the movie "Materialists." As Jeff Bezos, the founder of Amazon and one of the richest people in the world, marries Lauren Sánchez in Venice, Italy, in late June at a purported cost of more than $20 million, I keep thinking about the old debate over marrying for love or money. In Disney movies, fairy tales and romantic comedies like the newly released "Materialists," storytellers peddle a common plot: Desirable woman is faced with a poor suitor and a rich suitor. Oh no! Whom should she choose? Since I divorced years ago, I've dated a lot. Even in our era of sexual equality, choosing between love or money still seems tricky. But is it really? Bezos and Sánchez: 'Materialists' come to life − almost It's hard to talk about the Bezos-Sánchez wedding without mentioning wealth. Bezos, 61, enjoys an estimated net worth of $263.8 billion. After he divorced MacKenzie Scott − they were married for 25 years − Bezos began publicly dating Sánchez in 2019. The divorce settlement made Scott one of the wealthiest women in the world. This time around, Bezos, according to Fortune magazine, has insisted on an ironclad prenuptial agreement with Sánchez, 55. I have no idea whether Sánchez, a former TV journalist who has released her first children's book, is marrying for love or money. And I hope all of the parties involved find and enjoy lifelong love. After I saw "Materialists" on the eve of Bezos' glamorous nuptials, though, I pondered the dilemma portrayed in the movie − whether to pick the rich handsome guy or the less-well-to-do handsome guy. Audiences have taken to social media to complain about the film's bizarre ending. As a mom of daughters, I didn't care for it, either. Throughout the movie, New York City matchmaker Lucy (played by Dakota Johnson) vows to marry a wealthy, established "unicorn." Despite reconnecting with her angry, immature ex-boyfriend John (played by Chris Evans), whom she had dated for five years, she begins seeing Harry (played by Pedro Pascal), a potential client who falls in love with her. It turns out that Harry is everything Lucy says she wants and everything John is not: wealthy, kind and intelligent. Harry isn't as wealthy as Bezos, but he owns an expensive penthouse in Manhattan and has a driver. He's that coveted unicorn. Yet Lucy doesn't choose Harry, and she makes that decision in a traumatic moment. Lucy had set up a female client with a potential suitor who appeared perfect, but she later finds out that the client was sexually assaulted on the date Lucy arranged. Lucy feels guilty and begins to question her clients' dating preferences, including those involving income. I rolled my eyes when the film ended with Lucy returning to John, a 37-year-old wannabe actor who lives in a dilapidated apartment with roommates. John has little to offer her, but Lucy chooses him because he's poor and that seems to be noble. The Bezos-Sánchez wedding, meanwhile, seems to be the opposite of "Materialists." He has enough money to make all of her dreams come true. Yet, she may still love him for who he is, not what he's worth. Is it OK to marry for love and money? I was surprised to see a modern rom-com try to flip the script on love and money, but fail spectacularly. The movie had such an opportunity to promote a teachable moment for men and women who are looking for love. Like many women, Lucy longs for an equal partner who could provide financial security, even though she also works. She doesn't try to say she could do it on her own, which in this era of "girl power" feminism is brave. As a single mom, I've also experienced those feelings while dating. A 2022 Life Happens survey found that financial security is one of the top three most attractive traits in a partner, along with a sense of humor and intelligence. Women, especially, desire the security that money can bring. It's not about being a "gold digger." I have learned while dating that a steady income suggests other positive characteristics about a person. Those include being disciplined, responsible and having a strong work ethic. Like Lucy, I've been on dozens of first dates in recent years. I've met a lot of great men − good, hardworking and kind men like Harry do exist. When a woman finds someone like that, she must love herself enough to trust and love him. Women can reject toxicity and choose someone who is emotionally healthy and good. That is the kind of empowering message that Hollywood should be offering women. Nicole Russell is an opinion columnist with USA TODAY. She lives in Texas with her four kids. Sign up for her newsletter, The Right Track, and get it delivered to your inbox.
Los Angeles Times
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- Los Angeles Times
Pedro Pascal wanted to quit acting. His community didn't let him.
If you feel like Pedro Pascal is everywhere right now, it's because he kind of is. This week, the 50-year-old star of such critically-acclaimed shows as 'The Last of Us' and 'The Mandalorian' — as well as the buzzy new A24 film 'Materialists' — appeared on the cover of the July/August issue of Vanity Fair. In a heartfelt interview with contributor Karen Valby, he attributed his success as an actor to the assistance he took from 'angels around him': his friends, family and even his late pit bull mix, Gretta, whom he grieved before his big break. 'In my 30s I was supposed to have a career,' Pascal said to Vanity Fair. 'Past 29 without a career meant that it was over, definitely.' After the death of his mom Veronica, who died tragically by suicide, the Chilean American, then 24, worked in restaurants and bars while trying to make it as an actor. Pascal often contemplated changing his career but was urged by his oldest sister, Javiera Balmaceda, to stay on course. 'When Pedro would say, 'I'm going to nursing school' or 'I'm going to be a theater teacher,' it was just like 'No, no, no, no! You're too good!'' Balmaceda said. 'The one thing we'd never allow Pedro to do was give up,' she added. During this time, his friends would buy him groceries, Balmaceda would give him money to make it through the week, and his college friend, actress Sarah Paulson, would let him use her sister's car and give him her per diem money from her performing jobs. Pascal also credited his dog with giving him the excitement he was missing. '[Gretta] saved my life, that dog, because she gave me someone to go home to,' he said. This year, the award-winning actor reprised his role as Joel Miller in the second season of the HBO's hit series 'The Last of Us' and starred in Celine Song's romance film 'Materialists,' where he plays Harry Castillo, a desirable bachelor. Pascal will cap off his packed summer by appearing alongside Joaquin Phoenix in Ari Aster's western 'Eddington' and entering the Marvel cinematic universe as Reed Richards, also known as Mister Fantastic, in 'The Fantastic Four: First Steps,' sharing the screen with Vanessa Kirby.
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
What 'Materialists' got wrong (and right), according to matchmakers
This article contains spoilers for Materialists. In Celine Song's latest movie Materialists, matchmaker Lucy (Dakota Johnson) is cynical about love. She sees love as a numbers game and a business transaction, both for her clients and herself. In fact, matchmaker and CEO of Agape Matchmaking Maria Avgitidis told Mashable that if Lucy were her client, she'd tell her to be single. "I think Lucy's character has a lot of work to do as a person," she said. SEE ALSO: Daters: Stop obsessing over height Avgitidis, author of Ask a Matchmaker, was initially excited when the Materialists trailer came out. "I remember thinking, 'Oh my god, they're finally showing that matchmakers are in an office with other people, and like everyone else, we have Excel sheets," she said. It seemed that Materialists was going to portray the validity of her profession and show how matchmakers build community. Then she, like the other matchmakers Mashable spoke to, saw Materialists at an early screening. "When I left the movie, I was just like, 'Oh shit,'" she said. Materialists got some parts of matchmaking extremely accurate, but others so wrong. Two other matchmakers told Mashable much of the same. Let's start with the positives — if you could call a superficial society a positive. "Certain parts were quite accurate, especially when you're first sitting down with someone, when they're just barking numbers at you," Avgitidis said. Several montages in Materialists feature daters specifying height and incomes they want (women looking for men), along with ages and even BMI (men looking for women). "The very demanding client is true," said Adam Cohen-Aslatei, CEO of matchmaking service Three Day Rule. "A lot of people come to matchmakers, and I think that their perception is, 'Well, I'm paying, I'm going to get exactly what I want.' It's sort of the Build-A-Bear model. And humans aren't objects. We're not material. And so we have emotions, we have personality, complexity, layers." Featured Video For You Chris Evans and Dakota Johnson weigh in on 'Materialists' big street fight and their cocktails of choice Another accuracy, as cynical as it is: Dating is a market, like Lucy says. Cohen-Aslatei said Lucy oversimplifies the process, but dating is indeed a market. "If you think about buyers and sellers, there's singles, single guys, single girls, LGBTQ, everything. So it truly is a marketplace," he said. "What [Materialists] got right was this…there are 'high-value men' and 'high-value women' that exist in the market, because it ultimately is a dating marketplace," said Nandini Mullaji, founder of AI matchmaking app Sitch. "High value" less than in a manosphere way and more of a "man in finance, trust fund, 6'5", blue eyes" type of way. "Height and hairline are two things that women really care about," Mullaji said. Materialists puts a big emphasis on men's height in dating, as does online dating in general. "Dating apps have become all about filtering," Mullaji said, but daters don't realize that narrows their dating pool. If women set filters for six feet and over while average men's height in the U.S. is 5'9", they're losing out on a lot of potential matches. The "Tinderfication of dating" (as Avgitidis called it) has resulted in people filtering out people based on genetics that they don't have control over — unless they have hundreds of thousands of dollars for surgery, Mullaji continued. Another thing Materialists gets right is that people are very open and vulnerable with their matchmakers, said Mullaji. Since Sitch uses AI, she said users are "200 percent" honest about what they want because they're not speaking to another human. A more wholesome aspect that Materialists got right, according to Cohen-Aslatei, is celebrating client wins. In the movie, Lucy's office celebrates when clients get engaged and married. "What was cool about the movie is in the office, all those matchmakers truly were so excited when their clients found a person, got engaged, got married, had a milestone in their relationship," he said. "That is exactly what happens in our company." While "barking numbers" is accurate with clients first coming to matchmakers, Avgitidis said the movie didn't take it to the next step, which is the conversation she has with clients afterwards. "When someone says to you, 'He has to be at least six feet when they're five foot two, it's like, 'Well, why is that important to you? And what if you met someone at a friend's wedding and they were five foot seven? Would you not talk to them?'" Avgitidis explained. "And then you break down a little bit of the social expectation barriers that are given to these people. So I thought that's what it was like missing [from Materialists] in a big way." She also said that good matchmakers are inherently community builders. What hurts the industry, she said, is not showing that, and not showing how they move clients away from their wish lists and back to the reality check. Another issue matchmakers had in the film is the plotline of one of Lucy's clients getting assaulted. "It sort of seems like this is an everyday occurrence, and…at least in our case, that's in our case, that's in my experience in the industry, has not been the case," said Cohen-Aslatei. Three Day Rule has a vetting process, including video calls and background checks. "Of course, you can never completely know who a person is, but we do our best to weed out people who we feel like can be in any way, shape, or form, seen as abusive, harassing, etc.," he said. "I just don't think that's as prevalent in their industry as the movie suggests." Avgitidis argued the same about the crisis in the movie. A crisis like setting up a singles event and not knowing enough straight men would be more realistic, she said, as she's been in that situation many times before. Now "the phones have not stopped ringing, and some of them, most of the calls, are [liability] lawyers…I'm used to people who are single call me. Now, [it's] people who want to sell me services," she said. SEE ALSO: We asked daters what dating in 2025 is like so far And what Materialists got half right and half wrong, Mullaji said, is that love has to be part of the equation. In the film, Lucy says relationships are a math problem, but eventually learns love needs to be part of it too. "It's not just a checklist of being like, anyone XYZ, and the other person wants A, B, and C, and since you both have those things, therefore it's a perfect match," Mullaji said. "We have multiple people who meet our criteria, but who you ultimately pick is because you feel some real degree of love." Avgitidis said Celine Song showed the commodification of dating, but she portrayed it through the prism of matchmaking rather than dating apps. "It's not like you can show someone just swiping away," she said. "We've seen that, right?" Daters may choose apps over matchmakers because the latter isn't cheap. Three Day Rule packages start at $5,900 for three months of matchmaking, and the company has a million-dollar package as well. It is launching an AI matchmaker this fall, which will run on a freemium model. Sitch, on the other hand, charges for packs of setups ($90 for three, $125 for five, and $160 for eight). But daters are growing increasingly tired of the apps — which, in recent years, have begun charging more for features that used to be free. Despite the movie's flaws, Cohen-Aslatei said it's an important movie for people to see, because it shows an alternative to dating apps. "Younger people have no concept of matchmaking," he said. It's not a tradition in America like it is in other community-based cultures, like in Indian or Jewish culture. In the U.S., which is a more individualistic society, daters think they know what they want and they're on the journey on their own. Some apps have even tried to bake in this form of community, like Tinder with its Matchmaker feature and new Double Date feature. That may be because, as Avgitidis said, "Dating was never meant to be done alone." "You were never meant to do it on your couch with your phone in your pocket." She advocates for a more communal approach. As matchmakers, all of these people obviously want more people to use their services. But there's something to be said for a more community-based form of dating. Whether Materialists will help or hurt the matchmaking industry, only time will tell. Everyone seems to agree, though: the apps continue to suck. Materialists is now in theaters.
