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Sypher Studios and Lon Haber & Co announce the AFM World Market Premiere and first-look footage of the new feature documentary, Behind the Lines, based on the New York Times bestselling book of the same name by the renowned historian Andrew Carroll. The film follows Carroll’s decades-long journey, including into active war zones, to find “the most extraordinary war letters ever written” from the American Revolution to the present day. Behind the Lines differs from other war letters-related films in that it includes correspondences from the home front as well as by civilians who are literally “caught in the crossfire.”

Narrated by Annette Bening, the film features on-screen letter-performances by a star-studded cast including Laura Dern, Michael C. Hall, Paul Walter Hauser, Common, DeWanda Wise, Gary Cole, Kelvin Harrison Jr., and many more. Directed by first-time feature director John B. Benitz and written by Andrew Carroll, John B. Benitz, and Bryce Cyrier.

Exclusive: Annette Bening has been tapped to narrate the documentary War Unfolding from Sypher Studios, with Eliza Bennett, Rachel Bloom, Gary Cole, Abigail Cowen, Laura Dern, Monique Edwards, Michael C. Hall, Kelvin Harrison Jr., Paul Walter Hauser, Thurn Hoffman, Richard T. Jones, Jay Lee, Erick Lopez, Sandra Seacat, Wes Studi and DeWanda Wise among those set to appear in the film from director John B. Benitz.

Based on three New York Times bestselling books by historian Andrew Carroll and inspired by the stage play If All the Sky Were Paper, the film tells the story of Carroll, who travels the world to seek out the greatest war letters ever written. Over the past 25 years, he has preserved more than 200,000 correspondences from troops, veterans and their families, dating from the American Revolution to the present day. The letters, performed in filmed readings by War Unfolding’s cast, capture unvarnished stories and...

Sandra Seacat, actress and renowned acting coach to stars including Laura Dern, Andrew Garfield, Harvey Keitel and Michelle Williams, died on Tuesday at the age of 86, a rep confirmed to TheWrap on Thursday.

She was surrounded by loved ones in her home in Santa Monica, California, friend of the family Stan Rosenfield said in a statement shared with TheWrap.

“She was a revolutionary, a culture-changing teacher of acting and storytelling,” said actor Andrew Garfield, who costarred with Seacat in what would be her final acting role in FX’s “Under the Banner of Heaven.”

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Garfield added that Seacat, who played his mother in the limited series, was “a beacon for all of us of what a life of deep meaning and beauty can look like. And she was irreverent and forever playing like a joyful unbridled child. I feel grateful beyond...

Celebrity acting coach Sandra Seacat, whose students included Jessica Lange, Andrew Garfield and Laura Dern, died of natural causes Tuesday in Santa Monica, Calif. She was 86.

Seacat’s unique coaching style made her the acting teacher of a generation and helped actors create honest naturalist performances. Aside from Lange, Garfield and Dern, Seacat taught actors such as Harvey Keitel, Marlo Thomas, Aaron Eckhart, Meg Ryan, Misha Baryshnikov, Isabella Rossellini, Melanie Griffith, Don Johnson, Mary Kay Place, Peter Falk, Shia Labeouf, Martin Henderson, Mickey Rourke and Michelle Williams.

“Sandra lived by seeing magic and possibility in everything. She met the discovery of character and story with equal protectiveness, irreverence, humility and grace,” recalled Dern in a statement. “She taught us the practice of investigating healing through acting. But more than that. She invited us to know ourselves as artists and humans in ways I could’ve never begun to explore without her.

Sandra Seacat, the actress and influential acting coach who as a Lee Strasberg disciple taught the craft to the likes of Laura Dern, Mickey Rourke, Harvey Keitel, Common, Andrew Garfield, Michelle Williams and many others, has died. She was 86.

Seacat died Tuesday of natural causes in Santa Monica, family friend and publicist Stan Rosenfield announced.

Seacat’s students said her innovative techniques were able to extract out of them their most truthful, powerful and naturalistic performances.

“Sandra lived by seeing magic and possibility in everything,” Dern said in a statement. “She met the discovery of character and story with equal protectiveness, irreverence, humility and grace. She taught us the practice of investigating healing through acting.

“But more than that, she invited us to know ourselves as artists and humans in ways I could’ve never begun to explore without her. She’s been my teacher since age 17, and I had...

Sandra Seacat, a longtime New York and Hollywood acting teacher whose students would become or already were some of the biggest names in the business – Andrew Garfield, Jessica Lange, Laura Dern, Harvey Keitel, Michelle Williams and Common, to choose just a sampling, died of natural causes Wednesday surrounded by loved ones in Santa Monica. She was 87.

Her death was announced by a rep for her family.

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“She was a revolutionary, a culture changing teacher of acting and storytelling,” said actor Andrew Garfield, calling her a “beacon for all of us of what a life of deep meaning and beauty can look like. And she was irreverent and forever playing like a joyful unbridled child.