Bradley Cooper has made a movie about pop stardom and a movie about classical music. Which art form is he turning toward next? Stand-up comedy. Is This Thing On?, his next movie, will close the New York Film Festival, NYFF confirmed on July 30. The film follows two exes, played by Will Arnett and Laura Dern, as they get divorced and he pursues confessional stand-up comedy in New York. “We are honored and humbled to premiere our film at the New York Film Festival,” Cooper said in a statement. “Earlier this year we had the wonderful opportunity to shoot this story all throughout the city, so it’s very exciting to debut it on the closing evening of the festival. NYC injects an energy into every aspect of filmmaking that just can’t be replicated.”
The 63rd New York Film Festival begins on September 26 and runs through October 13. Luca Guadagnino’s After the Hunt will open the festival, as previously announced; Julia Roberts, Ayo Edebiri, Andrew Garfield, Michael Stuhlbarg, and Chloë Sevigny star in the drama, which follows the impact of a grad student’s accusations of sexual assault. First, the film will have its world premiere at the Venice Film Festival in August, then it will come to NYFF for its North American premiere. “I have always found the New York Film Festival to be an arbiter of global cinema,” Guadagnino said in a statement. “For over 60 years it has been a festival that makes audiences open their minds and hearts to the most daring and compelling global cinema from both established and emerging filmmakers. To be invited to open the 63rd edition is a tremendous responsibility and honor.”
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NYFF’s centerpiece film will be Jim Jarmusch’s Father Mother Sister Brother, which follows three sets of adult siblings. Adam Driver and Mayim Bialik check in with their father, played by Tom Waits; Cate Blanchett and Phantom Thread star Vicky Krieps reunite with their mother, Charlotte Rampling; and, finally, Indya Moore (Pose) and Luka Sabbat (Sharp Stick) deal with a family tragedy. “The NYFF, the chosen church of my religion, has provided many of my greatest inspirations and revelations in its continuing celebration of the deep and diverse beauty of cinema,” Jarmusch said in a statement. Which other Maestros will the rest of the lineup include?
