THE HUMANS Film starring Richard Jenkins, Jayne Houdyshell, Amy Schumer, Beanie Feldstein- Page 2

[ray-andallthatjazz86]

Posted: 3/13/19 at 7:55pm

The casting is simply inspired all around. Yeun and Feldstein are particularly exciting choices. I loved this play on Broadway. It doesn’t immediately scream film (an HBO adaptation in the style of DINNER WITH FRIENDS or WIT seems more apt), but I’m excited for everyone involved. Oh, and it makes complete sense that Jenkins is in this, the better known names in the cast are probably the only reason they were able to keep Houdyshell. Jenkins might not sell tickets, but he’s an awards magnet, which often does translate into visibility and higher BO results. The original Broadway cast was impeccable. I find this cast to be so original and compelling. A24 is going to handle this beautifully too.

[Ravenclaw]

Posted: 3/13/19 at 8:15pm

This news makes me so excited! What a great cast so well suited for their roles! I'm just bracing myself for the inevitable backlash against Schumer two years from when this film finally gets released now for playing a lesbian character.

[JBroadway]

Posted: 3/13/19 at 8:25pm

perfectliar said: "I don't understand all the hand wringing over this being set entirely in one location. Have you all really never seen a movie with a single set piece? They're really not that uncommon."

 

Any time a piece of storytelling is adapted to another medium, there should be an artistic reason for it - otherwise what's the point? Otherwise, why not just stage it again? Or if you want to reach a wider audience, why not just film it onstage? So, the biggest advantages that film has over stage is that it can effortlessly take you to many locations, flesh out the physical world of the story, and show a wider range of events that are difficult to stage. This material doesn't call for any of those things. There are other advantages that a camera can provide, like having facial close-ups, and making the audience feel like they're in the middle of the action. But those could also be achieved by filming a stage production. So yeah, they certainly CAN adapt this for film. And sure, I'll bet Karam will some adjustments that will make it feel a bit more organic on film. But they have to work a lot harder to prove that there was actually a meaningful reason to adapt it. 

And again, I'm not just saying this because I dislike the play. I even felt the same way about Fences - a play that I love dearly. Sure, it was well-acted, but it didn't take advantage of the new medium - except in showing a few scenes of Troy at work, which I liked. But otherwise, I kept thinking how much I would have rather just seen these actors do it onstage. 

Updated On: 3/13/19 at 08:25 PM

[kdogg36]

Posted: 3/13/19 at 8:33pm

I’m looking forward to this! I found the show both funny and terrifying and I hope they capture that in the film. Though I can’t fully wrap my mind around the ending, I left the show with the impression that the Reed Birney character had actually (finally) fallen asleep, or at least half asleep, and the last part of the play was sort of set in his own nightmare-scape. He’s the only one left onstage, for the first time in the play, and his exit directly reflects the earlier conversation with his son-in-law about the meaning of passing through a tunnel in a dream. (As clear as this seems to me, I haven’t encountered anyone else who sees the ending this way, so maybe I’m all wet!)

As a side note, I don’t care for the “emperor’s new clothes” take on differing opinions. It suggests that fans of a particular show are fools who can’t think for themselves, with the naysayers being the only ones brave enough to tell the objective truth. I doubt that’s what is intended, but it’s certainly the message of the tale being alluded to.

[JBroadway]

Posted: 3/13/19 at 9:17pm

kdogg36 said: "As a side note, I don’t care for the “emperor’s new clothes” take on differing opinions. It suggests that fans of a particular show are fools who can’t think for themselves, with the naysayers being the only ones brave enough to tell the objective truth. I doubt that’s what is intended, but it’s certainly the message of the tale being alluded to."

 

I actually agree with you entirely on that point. It's basically like saying "I can't possibly have the minority opinion, so everyone else must be lying to seem cool." Which is akin to "I'm not the problem, everyone else is the problem" but it's even more ridiculous than that because this is art so there is no "problem" - it's just subjective. It's textbook self-delusion born out of insecurity. 

 

[Vespertine1228]

Posted: 3/13/19 at 9:41pm

I didn't intend anything negative by my "Emperor has no clothes" comment. You can dislike something that a lot of other people like without feeling superior about yourself.

More often than not if my thoughts go against the grain of popular opinion, I find myself thinking more about a work and wondering if I missed anything. I try to think about it from all the points of view I'm capable of.

Sometimes though, there's just no there there, and that's definitely how I felt about The Humans.

[JBroadway]

Posted: 3/13/19 at 9:53pm

Vespertine, I'm all there with you when it comes to being utterly baffled by the popularity of The Humans. But using the "Emperor's New Clothes" argument is inherently a means of invalidating other people's opinions in order to give more validation to your own. The whole point of the story is that the king's subjects LIE because nobody wants to be the one to say he's naked. By applying the argument to art, you're literally saying that people are lying, or at best, convincing themselves that they like something that they truly don't. But either way that's an attempt to invalidate others' opinions with no basis. And as far as I can figure, the only thing that can possibly accomplish is to make oneself feel better about being the odd one out. 

[Impossible2]

Posted: 3/13/19 at 10:01pm

The problem with the play is that if you don't pick up on what is happening, which is extremely subtle, it is really hard to appreciate.

I saw the show on Broadway and was blown away by it. I was so moved by the end I could barely get out of my seat. I came back to London raving about it and went and saw it again when it finally came here last year and loved it even more.

My partner on the other hand wasn't so fussed, but he didn't 'get' what it was about at all until I explained it to him either.
 

Updated On: 3/13/19 at 10:01 PM

[Someone in a Tree2]

Posted: 3/13/19 at 10:55pm

Since I'm guilty of using the Emperor's New Clothes metaphor myself in this thread, I should qualify that it isn't an objective statement of fact about the play, it's simply how the play made me feel-- that to me, there was no there there.

That said, maybe Impossible2 can lay out explicitly the subtle thing that's happening in the final scenes that they so appreciated. It might not make me love the play more, but it would go a long way toward my understanding the vast majority of theatergoers for whom this play was transportive.

[Impossible2]

Posted: 3/13/19 at 11:36pm

Someone in a Tree2 said: "Since I'm guilty of using the Emperor's New Clothes metaphor myself in this thread, I should qualify thatitisn't an objective statement of fact about the play,it's simplyhow the play made mefeel-- that to me, there was no there there.

That said, maybe Impossible2 can lay out explicitly the subtle thing that's happening in the final scenes that they so appreciated. It might not make me love the play more, but it would go a long way toward my understanding the vast majority of theatergoers for whom this play was transportive."

I’ll send you a pm tomorrow as it’s 4am here and I can’t be arsed typing it all out and I Don’t want to ruin it for people in the thread who haven’t seen it x

[SomethingPeculiar]

Posted: 3/13/19 at 11:47pm

I do have to point out one observation:

We're two pages into the thread and nobody has complained that Stephen Karam (who has never even directed a play before) is directing his own script. Yet for Sunset Boulevard, when Rob Ashford was announced, you would have thought Bryan Singer and Kevin Spacey were co-directing!

[Someone in a Tree2]

Posted: 3/14/19 at 11:43am

^Though I'm sure you'll concede that directing essentially a one-set film with 6 characters (which Karam knows better than anyone possibly could) is a world of difference than directing a giant period musical with a cast in the 100's.

[SomethingPeculiar]

Posted: 3/14/19 at 12:08pm

Totally. It was more of a comment on the fact that there was so much hatred towards Ashford, who, though he hasn't directed a film, has directed a lot of stage productions, filmed events, Associate Directed a big studio movie, etc.

[Fosse76]

Posted: 3/14/19 at 12:41pm

August: Osage County and God of Carnage were big hits on Broadway that had less-than-stellar film adaptations. Part of the success of these types of plays is the "energy in the room" factor and the fact that the originating actors are more connected with their characters than other actors who take them on. They need to "open up" the play for film, otherwise most people will probably be bored.

[carnzee]

Posted: 3/14/19 at 1:42pm

Something peculiar, I agree. That was my first thought. "First time director" is much more concerning than any of the casting choices.

I keep thinking how marvelous Robert Altman would be, if he were still us. He was great at translating plays to film, and was known for his overlapping dialogue in his movies.

[darquegk]

Posted: 3/14/19 at 2:17pm

The funny thing about The Humans is that the play's biggest fans and biggest detractors all point to the same thing as their major bone of contention: the willfully obtuse, surrealist quality of what is going on behind and above the family's awkward dinner together. Is there a supernatural presence in the building? Is the whole thing purely a series of coincidences and the tension ramps up indefinitely making something out of so much nothing? Is it all a matter of perception, being observed in a more ominous and sinister way than it is from the perspective of an increasingly desperate, ultimately suicidal person? Or have we left representational reality entirely and wound up in a Lynchian hinterland between realism and magic realism? Those who love it love it for this reason, and those who hate it hate it for the same reason. It's very David Lynch/Edward Gorey in that sense.

[Impossible2]

Posted: 3/14/19 at 2:23pm

Someone in a Tree2 said: "^Though I'm sure you'll concede that directing essentially a one-set film with 6 characters (which Karam knows better than anyone possibly could) is a world of difference than directing a giant period musical with a cast in the 100's."

I have just pm'd you x

[perfectliar]

Posted: 3/14/19 at 3:00pm

Fosse76 said: "August: Osage County and God of Carnage were big hits on Broadway that had less-than-stellar film adaptations. Part of the success of these types of plays is the "energy in the room" factor and the fact that the originating actors are more connected with their characters than other actorswho take them on. They need to "open up" the play for film, otherwise most people will probably be bored."

Those two examples are true, but there are several adaptations that are great, maybe even better than the plays they're based on, including single-set ones like Rope and Tape.

[Alex Kulak2]

Posted: 3/14/19 at 3:11pm

I know he directs many of his plays, but John Patrick Shanley's filming of Doubt was only the second film he directed, and his first effort in 18 years. Not only is it a faithful adaptation of the play, it's beautifully shot, and it's able to expand beyond the set of the Catholic School while retaining its intimate atmosphere. Having read all three of Karam's major plays that he has in print, his stage directions obviously show a knack for affecting imagery. If he's paired with a good cinematographer and editor, I think this film could be something.

[desperateAndee]

Posted: 10/26/19 at 1:38pm

Stephen Karam posted wrap photos and it appears that June Squibb will be playing Momo. 

[n2nbaby]

Posted: 10/26/19 at 4:04pm

desperateAndee said: "Stephen Karam posted wrap photos and it appears that June Squibb will be playing Momo."

Wow, I didn’t even realize this had started filming already. I was just thinking a few weeks ago when it would start production. Excited for this!

[ErmengardeStopSniveling]

Posted: 10/26/19 at 4:16pm

Perhaps we'll see this at Sundance in January. And if it's not done by then, I assume it will make the festival rounds next Labor Day ahead of a fall release.

btw, for those who had asked above, IMDB lists the cinematographer as Lol Crawley (Vox Lux, 45 Years, Childhood of a Leader) and the editor as Nick Houy (Lady Bird, Little Women, Mid90s), both of whom have done great work in the past.

Updated On: 10/26/19 at 04:16 PM

[keen on kean]

Posted: 10/26/19 at 9:44pm

This looks like an excellent cast but I also wonder about translating this into a movie. I was one of those who didn't "get" the play - it was well acted and the single set was fascinating, but I never had a sense of a dramatic arc, of any dramatic progression. But my expectations may also have been too high, because of all the excitement about it.

[3NU]

Posted: 10/29/19 at 4:31pm

perfectliar said: "I don't understand all the hand wringing over this being set entirely in one location. Have you all really never seen a movie with a single set piece? They're really not that uncommon."

JBroadway said: "Any time a piece of storytelling is adapted to another medium, there should be an artistic reason for it - otherwise what's the point? Otherwise, why not just stage it again? Or if you want to reach a wider audience, why not just film it onstage? So, the biggest advantages that film has over stage is that it can effortlessly take you to many locations,flesh out the physical world of the story, and show a wider range of events that are difficult to stage. This material doesn't call for any of those things."

I am one those people who, like Impossible2, was completely blown away by "The Humans."  I still count seeing the play on Broadway as one of the best theater experiences I have ever had.

That being said, I, too, am very skeptical about how the play will be translated onto film, given how much the piece is enhanced by how it plays out on stage.  For instance:

 

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(1)  When Erik is telling his family about his nightmare, there is a silence and tension on stage that is transferred to the audience.  The subsequent thud that scares the family and breaks the tension does the exact same thing for the audience.  It's a brilliant jump scare.

(2)  The two-tiered set is used to great effect to show how characters are reacting to elements in real time.  Three examples:

          (a)  Midway through the play, Brigid and Aimee joke about how their mom forwards them emails that they find silly and useless.  At the same time this dialogue is happening, you see Deirdre coming halfway down the stairs and then stopping and listening to the conversation without her daughters knowing it.  Sensing Deirdre's heart break a little in real time was powerful.

          (b)  Part of the reason Momo's moment of crashing into the kitchen pans is so surprising is that for minutes leading up to that moment, all the action is happening on the second level.  So, unless you are paying attention to the actor playing Momo (who is on the first floor) get up from the couch, you are just as surprised by the ruckus as the rest of the Blake family.  It's really smart writing and stagecraft.

          (c)  Towards the end of the play, when Erik is having a breakdown in the basement, his daughter comes through the door upstairs to call for him.  The difference in mood between upstairs and downstairs is absolutely palpable.

(3)  The play ends with the door closing on its own to blackout.  I can't imagine a filmed blackout having the same effect.

 

 

Updated On: 10/29/19 at 04:31 PM

[keen on kean]

Posted: 10/29/19 at 6:12pm

Part of the effectiveness of the play for me was the audience reaction, too. Something live theater does that movies can't seem to recreate, for obvious reasons.