‘Dreamin’ Wild’ Review: Bill Pohlad’s Emerson Brothers Tale Is The Cure For The Conventional Music Biopic [Venice]

Global Citizen provided, much like the city that hosted it, a melting pot of artists from as far away as Spain (Rosalia) and Italy (Maneskin) and as local as New Jersey natives, Charlie Puth and the Jonas Brothers, and Long Island’s own Mariah Carey. The crowds were out in force in Central Park, staying late to catch headliner Metallica. It helped that the weather cooperated and made for smooth entry and exit for the tens of thousands in attendance. Backstage, a who’s who of the music industry gathered, including Guy Oseary, Universal Music Group’s Michele Anthony, Arista Records chairman David Massey, Brooklyn Bowl owner Peter Shapiro, agent Marsha Vlasic, Warner Records’ Eric Wong and Karen Kwak and L.A. Reid, currently working with Carey as executive producer of her next album.

Ellise Shafer We pledge allegiance to Poguelandia. John B (Chase Stokes) and the “Outer Banks” crew are back in Netflix’s first teaser for the series’ third season, and it seems they’ve finally found some peace on an island they call Poguelandia. The sky is so blue that it’s almost turquoise, the sand is soft and it looks like the gang has set up their own little sun-soaked world far away from Ward (Charles Esten), Rafe (Drew Starkey) and the Sheriff’s Department. But, of course, nothing is as it seems. Soon, the trailer heats up, showing Sarah (Madelyn Cline), Kie (Madison Bailey), Pope (Jonathan Daviss) and JJ (Rudy Pankow) running away from wild dogs and participating in car chases as they continue to search for treasure. There’s also lots of fighting, including with Ward and Rafe, and the return of Cleo (Carlacia Grant) and John B’s resurrected-from-the-dead father, Big John Rutledge (Charles Halford).

Both Jonathan Bailey and Bridgerton have been making headlines this week, so we figured it’s the perfect time to look back at these hot photos of him on the show!

Marc Malkin Senior Film Awards, Events & Lifestyle EditorJonathan Bailey is in talks to join the cast of Jon M. Chu’s “Wicked” movies.The “Bridgerton” star will play Fiyero in the two-part feature adaptation headlined by Ariana Grande as Glinda and Cynthia Erivo as Elphaba. The Universal Pictures films are set for release on Christmas in 2024 and 2025.“Wicked” is a prequel to “The Wizard of Oz,” telling the story of how Elphaba became the Wicked Witch of the West and Glinda the Good Witch.“We decided to give ourselves a bigger canvas and make not just one ‘Wicked’ movie but two!” Chu wrote in a statement when announcing the two-parter. “With more space, we can tell the story of ‘Wicked’ as it was meant to be told while bringing even more depth and surprise to the journeys for these beloved characters.”

Owen Gleiberman Chief Film Critic There’s a genre I like so much I can never get enough of it — I call it the Biopic About Someone You Wouldn’t Make a Biopic About. The form came into existence, in a certain way, with “Sid and Nancy,” but it was all but patented by the screenwriters Scott Alexander and Larry Karaszewski, who planted it on the map, in 1994, with “Ed Wood” (still the “Citizen Kane” of the genre), then went on to script “The People vs. Larry Flynt,” “Man on the Moon” (about Andy Kaufman), “Big Eyes” (about the painter Walter Keane and his wife, Margaret, who turned out to be the painter behind the throne), and “Dolemite Is My Name” (about the fluky hustler-comedian Ray Moore). There have been films in the genre from other quarters, like Paul Schrader’s superb “Auto Focus” (about the TV star Bob Crane and his video-fetish sex life), going right up through the recent Toronto Film Festival sensation “Weird: The Al Yankovic Story.”

Whitney Houston is getting the biopic treatment with “I Wanna Dance with Somebody.” The highly anticipated film — from director Kasi Lemmons — covers the musical icon’s legendary life and her tragic death at age 48. It also promises to feature songs that built her career, while ensuring her status among beloved artists.

In “Raymond & Ray,” Ewan McGregor and Ethan Hawke play half-brothers journeying together to attend the funeral of their father, from whom they both were estranged.  The movie, which had its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival prior to an Apple TV+ release, opens with Raymond (McGregor) driving through the rain to the cabin of  Ray (Hawke), because an unannounced in-person visit is the only way to tell Ray that their father, Harris, has died. The funeral is scheduled for the next day, and Harris’ final wishes include both sons attending the funeral, digging the grave and putting Harris in the ground together.Having been a serial philanderer and physical abuser, Harris does not exactly stir up the warm fuzzies for the siblings.

In his acting life, Steve Buscemi has certainly mixed things up, finding time for Bruckheimer/Simpson blockbusters, Pixar animation and even Adam Sandler movies in a bid to avoid typecasting as the definitive New York indie guy. In his directing career, however, he tends to stick to a certain genre: small, intimate, personal films like his excellent 1996 debut Trees Lounge, which told the story of a melancholic underachiever whose life revolves around a seedy dive bar where the crowd of misfit regulars become his bizarre de facto family. Loneliness is a familiar motif in Buscemi’s work, and he excelled himself with that in 2005’s Lonesome Jim, starring Casey Affleck as a young man who’s failed in the big city and now has to move in with his parents.

Guy Lodge Film Critic Not many films hit an emotional crescendo around the publication of a Pitchfork review, but Bill Pohlad’s “Dreamin’ Wild” is sufficiently sincere and embedded in musical nerdery to make it work. As onetime brother act Donnie and Joe Emerson huddle with their family around a 30-years-late evaluation of the album they recorded as teenagers, one particular critical reference sends them giddily reeling: “To twist a Brian Wilson phrase,” it reads, “[the album] is a godlike symphony to teenhood.” For fortysomething Donnie, who has spent his whole adult life scrambling for anyone to listen to his music — let alone love it — the mere mention of his musical hero in relation to his work is a crowning triumph: Donnie, as played by a typically disheveled, downcast Casey Affleck, looks briefly, guardedly happy for a moment, and this often melancholic film is suddenly suffused with well-being.

Owen Gleiberman Chief Film Critic In “Weird: The Al Yankovic Story,” the winningly daffy-droll postmodern satirical biopic about the beloved cult song parodist of the MTV era, Al (Daniel Radcliffe), weird but not yet “Weird,” is sitting around with his roommates when lightning strikes — or, at least, bologna. One of the roommates asks Al to name the thing he’d most like to do in the world. Al, speaking with a fervor bigger than mere desire — he’s talking about nothing less than a dream — replies, with stoic conviction, “Make up the words to a song that already exists.” Moments later, the Knack’s “My Sharona” is blasting away on the radio, and just after he’s taken a package of bologna out of the fridge, he has his a-ha moment. The lyrics come to him in a flash: “Oo my little hungry one! Hungry one! Open up a package of MY bologna…” An irresistible parasitical fake star is born.  

Nick Vivarelli International Correspondent “I see a lot of rich people here!” said Jodie Turner-Smith as she took to the stage to open the Venice Film Festival AmfAR gala and auction held Wednesday evening in the Arsenale, a former shipyard complex on the edge of the city’s Grand Canal. Urging guests to be generous, Turner-Smith, who looked stunning in a yellow corset top, reminded everyone that, “It’s easy to forget that AIDS still remains one of the world’s most serious health threats.”  Though undoubtedly lower key than the event held at Cannes, AmfAR Venice had its fair share of glamour and star power with Heather Graham, Patricia Clarckson, Marisa Tomei and Rachel Brosnahan among chairs. 

Zooey Deschanel leans back for a kiss from boyfriend Jonathan Scott at the premiere of her movie, Dreamin’ Wild, during the 2022 Venice Film Festival on Wednesday night (September 7) in Venice, Italy.

Zooey Deschanel and Casey Affleck are stepping out to support their new movie.

Casey Affleck heaped praise on Andrew Dominik’s forthcoming Marilyn Monroe biopic Blonde during a press conference for his latest film Dreamin’ Wild at the Venice Film Festival Wednesday.

Stalwart indie filmmaker Bill Pohlad today premeres in Venice Dreamin’ Wild. His directing follow up to the critically acclaimed Brian Wilson film Love & Mercy also follows a music story, though one far less familiar. Casey Affleck, Noah Jupe, Zooey Deschanel, Walton Goggins and Beau Bridges star. When Donnie Emerson (played by Affleck and Jupe) was a teenager growing up on his father’s farm in Fruitland, Washington (population 791) he spent his days writing music and dreaming of becoming a music star. And everyone in the family became invested in that dream, including his brother Joe (Goggins) who became his drummer, and especially his father, Don Sr (Bridges). He mortgaged his farm to build a $100,000 recording studio, and more to help Donnie make and release his first record. It went nowhere and the bulk of the farm had to be sold when the loan came due. But 30 years later, the overlooked album was rediscovered by the music scene. Suddenly Donnie, who continued to struggle and write and play his music, had gotten a taste of his childhood dreams. But it comes with the guilt of failure that haunted him for years, and involves having to play the songs that meant something as a teen, but not as a 50 year old man who has evolved as a musician. And it is all true.

Coronation Street's Bailey family is set to expand as bosses shared details of the latest arrival in Weatherfield. Aggie, Ed, and their two sons Michael and James arrived on the street back in 2019. They were then followed by Ed's brother, Ronnie Bailey, early last year.

Carson Burton Amiah Miller and Bill Heck are rounding out the cast of Searchlight Pictures’ upcoming horror thriller film “Dust.” The film stars Sarah Paulson of “American Horror Story,” Annaleigh Ashford and Ebon Moss-Bachrach in a story set in 1930s Oklahoma. It follows a woman who, during the region’s increasingly perilous dust storms, is convinced that a sinister presence is threatening her family. The film is directed by Will Joines and Karrie Crouse, and Crouse penned the script. “Dust” commenced principal photography this week in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Miller previously starred as Nova in the 2017 film from 20th Century Studios “War for the Planet of the Apes” alongside Andy Serkis, Woody Harrelson and Steve Zahn. In 2020, she was also seen in David Oyelowo’s feature directorial debut “The Water Man.”

EXCLUSIVE: Karl Spoerri, Viviana Vezzani and Tobias Gutzwiller are officially launching production label Zurich Avenue, which will sit under the banner of their finance company SPG3.