Exclusive: Rosemarie DeWitt is set to star alongside Toni Collette and Colin Firth in The Staircase, HBO Max’s drama limited series adaptation based on the true-crime docuseries.
The eight-episode series from Antonio Campos, who directed the Rebecca Hall-fronted feature Christine, and American Crime Story writer Maggie Cohn, explores the life of Michael Peterson (Firth), his sprawling North Carolina family and the suspicious death of his wife, Kathleen (Collette).
DeWitt will play Candace Zamperini, Kathleen Peterson’s sister.
The series is based on the docuseries and various books and reports on the case. Michael Peterson was convicted of murdering Kathleen in 2001, a charge that was reduced to manslaughter in 2017, and Peterson subsequently was released from prison. He had claimed his wife died after falling down the stairs at their home after consuming alcohol and Valium, but an autopsy concluded she died from multiple injuries, including blows to the back...
The eight-episode series from Antonio Campos, who directed the Rebecca Hall-fronted feature Christine, and American Crime Story writer Maggie Cohn, explores the life of Michael Peterson (Firth), his sprawling North Carolina family and the suspicious death of his wife, Kathleen (Collette).
DeWitt will play Candace Zamperini, Kathleen Peterson’s sister.
The series is based on the docuseries and various books and reports on the case. Michael Peterson was convicted of murdering Kathleen in 2001, a charge that was reduced to manslaughter in 2017, and Peterson subsequently was released from prison. He had claimed his wife died after falling down the stairs at their home after consuming alcohol and Valium, but an autopsy concluded she died from multiple injuries, including blows to the back...
- 5/4/2021
- by Denise Petski
- Deadline Film + TV
Nora Kirkpatrick and Funny or Die are teaming on The Coop, an eight-episode interactive series for Eko. Production is underway with casting to begin this week.
Created by Kirkpatrick, who directs all episodes, the first season of The Coop is described as Big Brother meets an Agatha Christie novel. After a housemate on a reality TV show is mysteriously murdered on New Year’s Eve, you, ‘the viewer’ will have to decide which of the remaining cast mates killed him, and why they did it. ‘The viewer’ is an integral part of the story, given the responsibility of choosing what path to take and how the story will continue.
Kirkpatrick developed The Coop with Kate Lilly, former director of digital for Funny Or Die, who remains a producer on the project. Funny Or Die’s Adrien Finkel is a producer.
Kirkpatrick is the creator, writer, director of Hulu live-action Vr series,...
Created by Kirkpatrick, who directs all episodes, the first season of The Coop is described as Big Brother meets an Agatha Christie novel. After a housemate on a reality TV show is mysteriously murdered on New Year’s Eve, you, ‘the viewer’ will have to decide which of the remaining cast mates killed him, and why they did it. ‘The viewer’ is an integral part of the story, given the responsibility of choosing what path to take and how the story will continue.
Kirkpatrick developed The Coop with Kate Lilly, former director of digital for Funny Or Die, who remains a producer on the project. Funny Or Die’s Adrien Finkel is a producer.
Kirkpatrick is the creator, writer, director of Hulu live-action Vr series,...
- 1/23/2019
- by Denise Petski
- Deadline Film + TV
As the unseen prompt for Michael Scott’s long “Noooooooo” that has endured to become one of the Internet’s favorite reaction GIFs, Paul Lieberstein – best known for playing Toby on The Office – has often done his best work under the radar. In addition to playing Dunder Mifflin’s favorite killjoy in front of the camera, […]
The post Paul Lieberstein on Directing ‘Song of Back and Neck’ and Not Being Invited to ‘The Office’ Reunion on ‘SNL’ [Interview] appeared first on /Film.
The post Paul Lieberstein on Directing ‘Song of Back and Neck’ and Not Being Invited to ‘The Office’ Reunion on ‘SNL’ [Interview] appeared first on /Film.
- 11/30/2018
- by Marshall Shaffer
- Slash Film
"You say you're not happy, but you won't change anything." The Orchard has debuted the official trailer for an indie romantic comedy called Song of Back and Neck, the directorial debut of actor / producer Paul Lieberstein, which first premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival. Lieberstein stars in the film, and also writes, directs, and produces making this very much his own personal project. The amusing film is about an ill-fated, middle-aged divorce lawyer who suffers from chronic back and neck pain, who falls for one of his clients while also discovering an acupuncturist who helps him deal with the pain. In addition to Lieberstein, the film co-stars Rosemarie DeWitt as his love interest, with a full cast including Brian d'Arcy James, Clark Duke, Paul Feig, Robert Pine, Sam Anderson, Raymond Ma, and Ike Barinholtz. Have fun. Here's the first official trailer for Paul Lieberstein's Song of Back and Neck, direct...
- 11/15/2018
- by Alex Billington
- firstshowing.net
Liam Hemsworth and Vince Vaughn have joined Clark Duke’s feature directorial debut “Arkansas,” which Duke wrote and will also star in, Vmi Worldwide President Andre Reis announced Thursday.
“Arkansas” follows a pair of drug runners in the Dixie Mafia, whose lives get turned upside down when a drug deal goes horribly wrong.
“Arkansas” is produced by Patrick Hibler, Jeff Rice, Martin Sprock and Storyboard Media. Media Finance Capital’s David Gilbery and Charles Dorfman funded the film and will also serve as executive producers alongside Hercules Film Fund. Rhea Films’ Paris Kasidokostas-Latsis, Terry Dougas and Jean-Luc De Fanti, Don Kee Productions’ Jason Allison, Michael S. Smith and Franchesca Lantz, Andre Relis, Elisabeth Costa de Beauregard and Phil Kim are also executive producing.
Hemsworth’s credits include “The Hunger Games” films as well as “The Expendables” and “Independence Day: Resurgence.
“Arkansas” follows a pair of drug runners in the Dixie Mafia, whose lives get turned upside down when a drug deal goes horribly wrong.
“Arkansas” is produced by Patrick Hibler, Jeff Rice, Martin Sprock and Storyboard Media. Media Finance Capital’s David Gilbery and Charles Dorfman funded the film and will also serve as executive producers alongside Hercules Film Fund. Rhea Films’ Paris Kasidokostas-Latsis, Terry Dougas and Jean-Luc De Fanti, Don Kee Productions’ Jason Allison, Michael S. Smith and Franchesca Lantz, Andre Relis, Elisabeth Costa de Beauregard and Phil Kim are also executive producing.
Hemsworth’s credits include “The Hunger Games” films as well as “The Expendables” and “Independence Day: Resurgence.
- 10/18/2018
- by Beatrice Verhoeven
- The Wrap
The Oath, the Roadside Attractions holiday comedy directed by and starring Ike Barinholtz and co-starring Tiffany Haddish, will have its world premiere at this year’s Los Angeles Film Festival.
The film will screen September 25 at ArcLight Hollywood and was one of four gala screenings unveiled today by Laff along with the El Capitan climb documentary Free Solo, Rupert Everett’s The Happy Prince and Eva Vives’ All About Nina.
The Oath, a dark comedy about politics mixing with a family Thanksgiving hits theaters October 12. Nora Dunn, Chris Ellis, Jon Barinholtz, Meredith Hagner, Carrie Brownstein, Billy Magnussen and John Cho co-star.
A teaser was released last week.
This marks the first year Film Independent’s Laff will take place in the fall — it runs September 20-28 — as part of a plan to get in the mix of a heated fall festival season that includes Telluride, Venice, Toronto and New York.
The film will screen September 25 at ArcLight Hollywood and was one of four gala screenings unveiled today by Laff along with the El Capitan climb documentary Free Solo, Rupert Everett’s The Happy Prince and Eva Vives’ All About Nina.
The Oath, a dark comedy about politics mixing with a family Thanksgiving hits theaters October 12. Nora Dunn, Chris Ellis, Jon Barinholtz, Meredith Hagner, Carrie Brownstein, Billy Magnussen and John Cho co-star.
A teaser was released last week.
This marks the first year Film Independent’s Laff will take place in the fall — it runs September 20-28 — as part of a plan to get in the mix of a heated fall festival season that includes Telluride, Venice, Toronto and New York.
- 8/23/2018
- by Patrick Hipes
- Deadline Film + TV
The La Film Festival will hold the world premiere of holiday-season comedy “The Oath,” starring Tiffany Haddish and Ike Barinholtz, on Sept. 25 at the ArcLight Hollywood.
“The Oath,” Barinholtz’s directorial debut, centers on a couple whose Thanksgiving takes a turn for the worse when two federal agents wind up being held captive in their living room. Barinholtz also wrote the script. The film also stars John Cho, Carrie Brownstein, Billy Magnussen, Meredith Hagner, Barinholtz’s brother Jon Barinholtz, Nora Dunn, and Chris Ellis.
Roadside Attractions will open “The Oath” on Oct. 12. The movie was one of four gala screenings unveiled Wednesday by the festival, which also announced it will hold the West Coast premiere of Eva Vives’ “All About Nina” on Sept. 23 at the Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts; the Los Angeles premiere of Rupert Everett’s “The Happy Prince” on Sept. 25 at the Annenberg; and the...
“The Oath,” Barinholtz’s directorial debut, centers on a couple whose Thanksgiving takes a turn for the worse when two federal agents wind up being held captive in their living room. Barinholtz also wrote the script. The film also stars John Cho, Carrie Brownstein, Billy Magnussen, Meredith Hagner, Barinholtz’s brother Jon Barinholtz, Nora Dunn, and Chris Ellis.
Roadside Attractions will open “The Oath” on Oct. 12. The movie was one of four gala screenings unveiled Wednesday by the festival, which also announced it will hold the West Coast premiere of Eva Vives’ “All About Nina” on Sept. 23 at the Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts; the Los Angeles premiere of Rupert Everett’s “The Happy Prince” on Sept. 25 at the Annenberg; and the...
- 8/22/2018
- by Dave McNary
- Variety Film + TV
The Orchard has bought North American rights to Paul Lieberstein’s romantic comedy “Song of Back and Neck” for a release later this year.
The film, written and directed Lieberstein in his directorial debut, premiered in April at the Tribeca Film Festival. He stars in the film alongside Rosemarie DeWitt, Brian D’Arcy James, Robert Pine, Clark Duke, and Paul Feig.
Lieberstein plays a man who often collapses on the floor in back pain, and continues his day as usual, on the floor. He’s resigned to a life of pain, having tried every remedy possible and been told by a top surgeon (played by Feig) that there’s nothing to be done. But he hasn’t yet tried having an affair with a client (portrayed by DeWitt) at the start of her complicated divorce and he hasn’t yet begun to wonder if his problems are more psychological than physical.
The film, written and directed Lieberstein in his directorial debut, premiered in April at the Tribeca Film Festival. He stars in the film alongside Rosemarie DeWitt, Brian D’Arcy James, Robert Pine, Clark Duke, and Paul Feig.
Lieberstein plays a man who often collapses on the floor in back pain, and continues his day as usual, on the floor. He’s resigned to a life of pain, having tried every remedy possible and been told by a top surgeon (played by Feig) that there’s nothing to be done. But he hasn’t yet tried having an affair with a client (portrayed by DeWitt) at the start of her complicated divorce and he hasn’t yet begun to wonder if his problems are more psychological than physical.
- 7/13/2018
- by Dave McNary
- Variety Film + TV
Paul Lieberstein — perhaps better known as Toby Flenderson from NBC’s The Office—made his feature film debut at this year’s Tribeca Film Festival with sardonic laugh-fest Song of Back and Neck. Lieberstein is no stranger to off-screen work: he was The Office’s showrunner from seasons five through eight; he’s an Emmy-winning writer/producer; he has directed at least a dozen episodes of TV.
And that was just the beginning. Now writer/director of his own first feature, Lieberstein also stars as sad-sack Fred Trolleycar, whose crippling back pain may be psychosomatic and—in a bit of surreal art-imitates-life symmetry—an outlet for creative expression.…...
And that was just the beginning. Now writer/director of his own first feature, Lieberstein also stars as sad-sack Fred Trolleycar, whose crippling back pain may be psychosomatic and—in a bit of surreal art-imitates-life symmetry—an outlet for creative expression.…...
- 5/3/2018
- by Dylan Kai Dempsey
- IONCINEMA.com
Do we really need another sad middle-age white guy comedy? Probably not, but if we have to have them, at least let them be more like Paul Lieberstein’s Song of Back and Neck. The artist best known to audiences as Toby from TV’s The Office makes his first step behind the camera for feature filmmaking […]
The post ‘Song of Back and Neck’ Review: Toby from ‘The Office’ Laughs Through the Pain [Tribeca] appeared first on /Film.
The post ‘Song of Back and Neck’ Review: Toby from ‘The Office’ Laughs Through the Pain [Tribeca] appeared first on /Film.
- 5/1/2018
- by Marshall Shaffer
- Slash Film
Chronic pain rarely earns a place on the big screen. That’s an astounding representational oversight, considering upwards of 100 million Americans—more than those with diabetes, heart disease, stroke, and cancer combined—suffer from the condition. Daniel Barnz’s 2014 Jennifer Aniston starrer “Cake” most recently dealt with the complex issue, but now another independent feature is stepping up to tackle chronic pain. Paul Lieberstein’s “Song of Back and Neck,” which premiered at the 2018 Tribeca Film Festival, is a droll, romantic, and ultimately cathartic story of pain and compartmentalization.
- 5/1/2018
- by Lena Wilson
- The Playlist
In the American version of “The Office,” Paul Lieberstein played Toby Flenderson, the world’s least competent Hr director, so ineffectual he actually wound up bearing the brunt of his colleagues’ workplace harassment. Like a human Eeyore, or the sad-sack equivalent of a giant shrug, the actor made for an amusing contribution to a well-rounded ensemble, although it’s hard to imagine Lieberstein carrying his own movie. Sure enough, even when serving as writer-director, as he does in “Song of Back and Neck,” the guy frequently seems like the least interesting character on-screen (there are entire scenes where he literally just lies there while funnier actors steal the show).
If this were Tom Cruise we were talking about, that would be a crippling flaw, but Lieberstein designs his eccentric little debut along the lines of “Being John Malkovich,” in which John Cusack and Cameron Diaz had their star power stripped...
If this were Tom Cruise we were talking about, that would be a crippling flaw, but Lieberstein designs his eccentric little debut along the lines of “Being John Malkovich,” in which John Cusack and Cameron Diaz had their star power stripped...
- 4/23/2018
- by Peter Debruge
- Variety Film + TV
What if Toby, the sad-sack Hr guy from The Office, became the hero of a rom-com? How could anyone make such a low-key, deadpan character engaging enough? That’s a problem that the star, writer and director Paul Lieberstein never quite solves in Song of Back and Neck, his often funny and just as often pedestrian first feature.
Lieberstein not only played Toby, he was a writer, producer and for several seasons showrunner on The Office. In Song, he plays Fred Trolleycar, a paralegal in his father’s law firm, who shares the sitcom character’s passive demeanor. Lieberstein weaves together three strands of a...
Lieberstein not only played Toby, he was a writer, producer and for several seasons showrunner on The Office. In Song, he plays Fred Trolleycar, a paralegal in his father’s law firm, who shares the sitcom character’s passive demeanor. Lieberstein weaves together three strands of a...
- 4/23/2018
- by Caryn James
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Exclusive: The Office alum Paul Lieberstein’s feature directorial debut Song of Back and Neck is making its world premiere today in the U.S. Narrative Competition section at the Tribeca Film Festival. The pic stars Lieberstein and Rosemarie DeWitt; Lieberstein, the Office regular who became the series’ showrunner later in its run, stretches his legs as a feature writer-director after helming TV episodes including The Mindy Project and The Newsroom.
In the dark comedy he plays Fred Trolleycar, who is on a journey to find a cure for his chronic back pain. Along the way he discovers an unusual talent, finds unexpected love (with DeWitt), and that his feelings may have been the cause of his pain all along. Brian D’Arcy James, Sam Anderson, Robert Pine, Clark Duke, Ike Barinholtz and Paul Feig co-star. The movie was inspired by Lieberstein’s own struggles with back pain; he was...
In the dark comedy he plays Fred Trolleycar, who is on a journey to find a cure for his chronic back pain. Along the way he discovers an unusual talent, finds unexpected love (with DeWitt), and that his feelings may have been the cause of his pain all along. Brian D’Arcy James, Sam Anderson, Robert Pine, Clark Duke, Ike Barinholtz and Paul Feig co-star. The movie was inspired by Lieberstein’s own struggles with back pain; he was...
- 4/23/2018
- by Patrick Hipes
- Deadline Film + TV
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