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Malia Obama, Academy Award-winning director Daniels and “The Mandalorian” star Pedro Pascal were just a few of the dignitaries in a strong presence at the A24 premiere of Holocaust drama “The Zone of Interest” in Los Angeles on Tuesday night.
An intimate gathering at London’s West Hollywood Hotel was a bucket of ice water at a Mojave social, as persistent Hollywood strikes shut down red carpets and responses to party invitations made fodder in the war room for talent advertisers and studio communications directors.
But Zone of Interest, from beloved indie director Jonathan Glazer, will not be ignored. Jamie Bell, Kate Mara, Simone Ricks (“Red Rocket”) and DGA Chief Leslie Linka Glatter were all seen mingling with director and film star Christian Friedel. Directors David Lowery (“The Green Knight”), Catherine Hardwicke (“Twilight”), Hiro Murray (“Atlanta”), Raven Jackson (“All Dirt Roads Taste of Salt”), Sebastian Silva (“Rotting in the Sun”) He also came to get a first look at the film after rave reviews at the Cannes and Telluride Film Festivals.
Guests mingled in the London parlor and foyer of the screening room, sipping the stiff drinks they might need for a movie diverse Chief film critic Owen Gleiberman called it “haunting and visceral” in his Cannes review. “Zone” stars Friedl and Sandra Höller as Rudolf and Hedwig Höss, the heads of a family of Nazi leaders who live an idyllic rural life in a house that shares a wall with the Auschwitz concentration camp in German-occupied Poland. As Rudolph, Friedel performs the most unspeakable human atrocities with a level of hackneyed detachment that captured the attention of early audiences. Many were eager to meet Friedel, who is also a member of Woods of Birnam.
An unassuming Glazer greeted the audience in a T-shirt and jeans, joking that “scary tastemakers” made him nervous, a reference to the phrase used in VIP-packed shows meant to spark word-of-mouth campaigns for the Oscars. . Glazer has just three other feature films to his credit, though they have received widespread acclaim: Ben Kingsley’s “Sexy Beast,” Nicole Kidman’s “Birth,” and Scarlett Johansson’s hit “Under the Skin.” Of those three, only “Sexy Beast” has ever received an Academy Award nomination, though many in the industry believe its follow-ups deserve more attention.
Glazer and Friedel sat down for Q&A after the show. As the guests departed for the evening, the chatter in the parking lot turned to the turbulent present. A24 is not a signatory to the Motion Picture and Television Producers Alliance, the group currently battling with the Writers Guild of America and SAG-AFTRA over new contracts. The film itself was shot in Europe and did not operate under a SAG-AFTRA contract. While the “Area of Interest” event was a safe place for union members, many of the attendees couldn’t help but wonder how similar screenings of “striking” companies would be conducted in the coming weeks.
This could include companies looking to take home this year’s Gold Cup such as Netflix (“Maestro”, “May-December”), Apple (“Killers of the Flower Moon”), Warner Bros. Discovery (“Barbie”), and NBCUniversal (“Oppenheimer”). SAG-AFTRA specifically asked its union members not to promote past, current, or future work with those studios until an agreement is reached. It is assumed that the federation cannot monitor the social diaries of its members, but sharing feelings on social media and any kind of photography may spark anger (for the second year in a row).
A SAG-AFTRA spokesperson immediately returned a request for comment on this matter.
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