Anna Daniels
In the wake of last year’s anxiety-inducing, Adam Sandler gambling thriller Uncut Gems and their short film Goldman v Silverman, co-writers/directors Josh and Benny Safdie (aka the Safdie Brothers) still haven’t officially lined up their next movie. But a new report says the directing duo will soon head to television, because they’re teaming up with Nathan For You‘s Nathan Fielder for a new half-hour Showtime comedy called The Curse. Get the details below.
According to Deadline, Showtime has given a green light to the pilot of The Curse, which “explores how an alleged curse disturbs the relationship of a newly married couple who star in Flipanthropy, their troubled HGTV show.” Fielder and Benny Safdie co-wrote the pilot and will star in the series, while both Josh and Benny will direct. All three of them will executive produce the pilot together, and Fielder will play the husband and Benny will play the producer of the fictional HGTV show.
With movies like Good Time and Uncut Gems, the Safdies have proven to be masters at creating cinematic tension, constantly upping the stakes for their characters until it seems their creations won’t be able to handle another iota of pressure lest they completely fall apart. Their characters always seem to be in motion; I’m reminded of the scene in Catch Me If You Can in which Christopher Walken gives a speech about two mice falling into a vat of cream, wherein one gives up and promptly drowns and the other, always moving, eventually churns the cream into butter and gets away.
Meanwhile, Fielder has also proven to be adept at creation tension, but in a totally different way. While the Safdies are always moving, Fielder relishes in the stillness and silence that comes after delivering a ridiculous line; the tension comes in watching people process odd responses and seeing how they’ll react. (He did this in front of the camera on Nathan For You and behind the scenes as a director of the Sacha Baron Cohen series What Is America?) I’m very curious to see how those two conflicting styles will be reconciled in The Curse, but regardless, that married couple at the center of the show is in for quite a ride.
Side note: house-flipping appears to be all the rage right now in the comedy world. Quibi has a new show coming soon called Flipped starring Will Forte and Kaitlin Olson, and now there’s this. One more, and we’ll officially have a trend on our hands.
Cool Posts From Around the Web: Written by: Slash
