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I said in my review of Into the Deep earlier this year that shark horror is among my favorite subgenres. Admittedly, they aren’t very good in most cases. Into the Deep was a particularly weak entry. But the Jai Courtney-starring Dangerous Animals felt a step above the rest from the first moment its trailer was released. From Australian director Sean Byrne comes a carnivorous thriller that grabs the shark by the tail and elevates the tired and wet subgenre to something new.

Dangerous Animals plot

Zephyr is an American traveling through Australia. She’s a loner who’d rather spend her days in solitude, living out of her van and surfing the early morning waves. That changes when she meets Moses. The two spend an amazing night together, but before they can explore their relationship further, Zephyr falls victim to the most dangerous animal in Australia: Tucker. The...

Although the Australian native Jai Courtney has certainly had his turn as the protagonist, it’s his dastardly work in projects like The Suicide Squad and Buffaloed — where he can use his million-dollar smarmy grin — that seems to lock in audiences the most. But, in his latest role, that smug charisma has been all but replaced by an unsettling gut feeling that tells you to run the other way. Today, Collider is thrilled to unveil an exclusive image of Courtney’s newest monstrous personality as a maniacal serial killer with an obsession for sharks in Dangerous Animals.

Bulky, bleeding, and brutal are just a few words we’d use to describe Courtney’s appearance in the photo that sees him standing on top of a ship’s deck, looking down into the water through beady little shark-like eyes. One hand is bleeding and wrapped, while the other holds a video camera,...

Stuart Gatt’s adventurous debut pitches meathead Clyde and his downtrodden wife Geena against city-dwelling newcomers Andy and Amaya

British director Stuart Gatt’s confidently handled debut is a tale of two trailers: one a banged-up redneck bolthole in a godforsaken Texas desert commune; the other the minimalist glamping palace opposite. Taciturn meathead Clyde (Jai Courtney) occupies the former with his downtrodden wife, Geena (Erin Moriarty), and is none too pleased when vacationing New Yorkers Andy (Ryan Corr) and Amaya (Dina Shihabi) pitch up. Not just because their swanky digs are ridiculously out of place, but because their presence might draw attention to what he’s doing out there in the first place.

Where many foreign directors come a cropper trying to show fealty to classic American iconography, Gatt has the confidence to do his own thing – kicking this off as a cagey town and country comedy of manners. The...

Subversive Irish breakout pic Kneecap and Sasha Nathwani’s gentle yet ambitious debut Last Swim are among the titles that have nabbed mentions on the new talent longlists at this year’s British Independent Film Awards.

Both Kneecap and Last Swim pop up on the Douglas Hickox Best Debut Director Award longlist. Other nominees include Hoard, directed by Luna Carmoon, and Karan Kandhari’s Sister Midnight, which debuted at this year’s Cannes Film Festival.

All four films also feature on the best screenplay longlist alongside Christopher Andrews’s Bring Them Down starring Barry Keoghan and Christopher Abbott. Other pics on the screenplay longlist include The Ceremony by Jack King and Jed Hart’s Restless.

Overall, the longlists include 31 British features, with 20 fiction and 11 documentary features across four debut filmmaking categories. Within that, there are 13 first-time fiction feature directors, 16 first-time feature documentary directors, 11 first-time writers, and 19 breakthrough producers.

The final...

Rich Peppiatt’s “Kneecap” and Luna Carmoon’s “Hoard” are among the titles in the British Independent Film Awards’ (BIFA) 2024 filmmaker new talent longlists, unveiled Friday. The selections spotlight 31 British features across four debut filmmaking categories, encompassing both fiction and documentary works.

Peppiatt and Carmoon join a group of first-time directors vying for the Douglas Hickox Award, including Amrou Al-Kadhi for “Layla,” Christopher Andrews for “Bring Them Down,” and Daina O Pusić for “Tuesday.” Other contenders in this category are Lucy Cohen with “Edge of Summer,” James Krishna Floyd for “Unicorns,” Stuart Gatt’s “Catching Dust,” Karan Kandhari’s “Sister Midnight,” Jack King’s “The Ceremony,” Rob Morgan’s “Stopmotion,” Sasha Nathwani’s “Last Swim,” and Joshua Trigg’s “Satu – Year of the Rabbit.” The category is sponsored by BBC Film.

The best debut screenwriter category, sponsored by Film4, sees Andrews and Carmoon competing alongside Floyd, Jed Hart for “Restless,...

Filmmakers from Bring Them Down, The Ceremony and Tuesday feature prominently on the filmmaker new talent longlists for the 2024 British Independent Film Awards (Bifas).

Bring Them Down’s Christopher Andrews is longlisted for the Douglas Hickox Award for best debut director and the best debut screenwriter award, while the film’s debut producer Jacob Swan Hyam is longlisted for breakthrough producer.

Scroll down for the filmmaker New Talent longlists

The Ceremony repeats that trio for writer-director Jack King and producers Hollie Bryan and Lucy Meer; as does Tuesday for writer-director Daina O Pusic and producer Helen Gladders.

Four filmmaker new...

As we enter into another awards season to keep the cold winter days at bay, Directors Notes is thrilled to partner with the British Independent Film Awards (BIFA) for the longlist announcement of The Douglas Hickox Award (Best Debut Director) sponsored by BBC Film. An award named in honour of the British film and television director’s commitment to supporting new talent, a mission very close to our hearts, it feels particularly apt that Dn gets to share the following list of 13 impressive feature debut directors. The final five nominated filmmakers will be announced on Tuesday 5th November, with the winner revealed at the 27th BIFA awards ceremony on Sunday 8th December at iconic Camden venue the Roundhouse. As in previous years of the awards, we look forward to delving into the working processes behind these outstanding films through our signature deep dive interviews with the nominated directors. Now without further ado,...

Jai Courtney is a damaged man struggling to keep his relationship alive in Catching Dust. After his early roles in the likes of Spartacus: Blood and Sand, Tom Cruise's Jack Reacher and as the son of Bruce Willis' John McClane in A Good Day To Die Hard, Courtney rose to popularity with his roles in the 2014 Australian crime thriller Felony and starring in the Divergent movie franchise. He has since starred in both blockbuster and indie fare, including playing Captain Boomerang in the DC Extended Universe in both David Ayer's Suicide Squad and James Gunn's The Suicide Squad.

Courtney stars in Catching Dust as Clyde, a man with a shady past involving some level of criminal activity, which has since resulted in him and his wife, Geena, moving to the middle of the Texas desert in an abandoned commune. Clyde's past demons frequently boil into negatively affecting his and Geena's marriage,...

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The following includes discussions about abuse and domestic violence.

After a summer of ultraviolent superhero brawls in The Boys Season 4, Erin Moriarty tones it down in her new film Catching Dust. Moriarty co-stars with Suicide Squad actor Jai Courtney as a married couple hiding out in a deserted commune in Texas. Her character Geena is ready to abandon her outlaw husband Clyde -- but then another couple forces Geena and Clyde to confront the abusive tone of their relationship.

Directed and written by Stuart Gatt, Catching Dust deals with issues related to domestic violence and the societal roles of women. Geena's relationship with Clyde is something Moriarty expanded far beyond what the film showed, as she told Cbr. The actor went into detail about the preparation behind portraying a Texan with a thick accent, and the backstories she and Courtney created to understand their characters.

Here’s a look at this week’s biggest premieres, parties and openings in Los Angeles and New York, including events for 1992, The Deliverance and Only Murders in the Building.

Adam Sandler: Love You special screening

Sandler debuted his new Netflix comedy special in NYC on Aug. 20, alongside director (and former Uncut Gems collaborator) Josh Safdie.

Josh Safdie and Adam Sandler The Crow premiere

Bill Skarsgard and FKA Twigs walked the carpet at the NY premiere of their new version of The Crow on Aug. 20. The premiere was followed by an afterparty hosted by Lionsgate, TikTok and Ssense.

Bill Skarsgard and FKA Twigs Director Rupert Sanders at the afterparty. Only Murders in the Building premiere

With season four of the hit Hulu comedy heading to Los Angeles, stars Steve Martin, Martin

Short, Selena Gomez and Meryl Streep followed suit for the premiere on the Paramount lot on Aug. 22.

Meryl Streep,...

Your browser does not support the video tag. Erin Moriarty shines as Geena in Catching Dust, portraying a woman trapped in an abusive relationship in a deserted Texas commune. The film explores complex themes of love, suppression, and toxic relationships, challenging audiences to confront uncomfortable truths. Writer/director Stuart Gatt and star Erin Moriarty discuss the emotional depth of the characters and the unique challenges of bringing the story to life.

Erin Moriarty is a woman trapped in a relationship she doesn't know how to escape in Catching Dust. Having first broken out with her role in Jessica Jones season 1, Moriarty has been on a steady rise to stardom over the better part of a decade, with other major roles in the acclaimed Viggo Mortensen-led dramedy Captain Fantastic, the biographical comedic thriller Driven and the true story-based sports drama The Miracle Season. Arguably her biggest role to date is...

Stuart Gatt makes his feature directorial debut with Catching Dust, a somber thriller set amid the sprawling nothingness of a Texas desert. Gatt hails from Britain but wisely chooses to root his tale in the dusty heartland, crafting a rumination on suffocating isolation that only this vast yet empty landscape could inspire.

We’re introduced to two couples living off-grid in aging mobile homes stationed at the ruins of an abandoned commune. Clyde and Geena seem to be hiding from something as they eke out an existence in their trailer, while Andy and Amaya have come seeking respite from city life, though it’s unclear from what exactly.

The film wastes little time unraveling these mysteries, starting instead with a haunting flashforward—the crack of gunfire piercing the dusk, followed by an anguished scream. We’re left wondering who lies wounded or dead, the identity of the assailant yet to be seen.

Developing a Western in 2024 carries the baggage of a historical genre. So many directors have found ways to explore complex themes within the confines of the American West that coming across an original story in this space is rare. Yet this is precisely what drew Erin Moriarty to the directorial debut of Stuart Gatt, Catching Dust, which opens on August 23.

As the two couples work out their differences against the backdrop of the frontier, their lies and pain come to light. Gatt’s debut features Moriarity as Geena – a young woman looking to understand herself in the face of total isolation. Moriarity and Gatt spoke to FandomWire about the experience of making Catching Dust and how to capture the emotion of the genre.

Gatt wanted to explore isolation and the desert.

Westerns were not traditionally the kind of movies Gatt made. “I just made my last short about the Libyan refugee crisis.

Erin Moriarty plays a woman longing for freedom from a controlling husband in Catching Dust. When the pair get unexpected visitors, dark truths are revealed. Erin Moriarty and Jai Courtney shine as complex characters in a Western thriller that challenges existing expectations. Director Stuart Gatt expertly navigates themes of loneliness and resentment with bold storytelling risks.

Catching Dust is a tense and tightly crafted thriller that keeps the viewer on bated breath. In it, an abused woman trapped by a controlling husband in a remote desert landscape seeks a path to freedom through unexpected visitors. The film addresses domestic violence, spousal conflict, and hidden agendas with a layered methodology that yields surprising and uncomfortable truths. The wide open, barren exterior is beautifully juxtaposed against tight spaces, forcing a volatile collision with sophisticated characters searching for any semblance of happiness. A wild climax and equally fascinating ending may be far-fetched, but...

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Erin Moriarty stars in the new suspenseful Western drama, Catching Dust. She and filmmaker Stuart Gatt spoke with MovieWeb about creating tension and genuine emotion, and Moriarty touched on her iconic character in The Boys, Starlight (or Annie January). Catching Dust hits theaters and digital platforms on Aug. 23.

Geena finally decides to leave her criminal husband, Clyde, and their isolated Texas hideout when a couple from New York suddenly arrives, in search of respite from the city. Ignoring the risks their presence may bring, Geena convinces Clyde to let them stay, a decision with dangerous consequences.

The emptiness of the old West allowed many to start a new life. This became the critical idea behind westward expansion throughout the 1800s, and eventually, some found the happiness they craved. Catching Dust, the debut narrative feature from Stuart Gatt follows a couple trying to reinvent themselves. However, when new neighbors are dropped in the remote desert where they live, the couple frays at the seams. The secrets they hold may prove dangerous if their new neighbors were to discover the truth.

RELATEDErin Moriarty Movies You Should Definitely Watch If You Love The Boys Catching Dust Plot Summary

Living out on the fringes of the desert, Clyde (Jai Courtney) and Geena (Erin Moriarty) continually fight. Geena believes Clyde took her power to express herself by moving them away from society. In doing so, he disrupts everything about her life, and their love cannot sustain her needs. Clyde worries about...

“Catching Dust,” a thriller starring Erin Moriarty (“The Boys), has been acquired by Vertical and will arrive in select theaters and be available on demand starting on Aug 23.

The Tribeca Film Festival selection is written and directed by Stuart Gatt and stars Moriarty and Jai Courtney. The film follows Geena as she “finally decides to leave her criminal husband, Clyde, and their isolated Texas hideout when a couple from New York suddenly arrives, in search of respite from the city. Ignoring the risks their presence may bring, Geena convinces Clyde to let them stay, a decision with dangerous consequences,” reads its logline.

“Producers Mark David and Jon Katz cultivated an environment of total freedom and support to allow myself and the crew to fulfill our vision in creating the unique world of ‘Catching Dust,'” Gatt said in a statement. “Watching Erin Moriarty and Jai Courtney, as well as the rest of our brilliant cast,...

"This ain't no game, Geena, I don't want you messin' with them." Vertical has revealed an official trailer for an indie film titled Catching Dust, which first premiered at the 2023 Tribeca Film Festival last year. The film marks the feature directorial debut of British filmmaker Stuart Gatt after a few other shorts, and opens in the US in August. As Geena decides to leave her criminal husband Clyde and their isolated Texas hideout, a couple from NY suddenly arrive with a trailer. Ignoring the risks, she convinces Clyde to let them stay, a decision that leads to dangerous consequences for everyone involved. Tribeca adds: "In this fascinating look at how couples sustain relationships, even in the face of erosion and dismay, audiences will grapple with the friction of romantic pursuits and conflicting friendships as much as Geena and Clyde do in Stuart Gatt's directorial debut." The indie movie stars Erin Moriarty,...

Here’s the latest episode of The Filmmakers Podcast, part of the podcast roster here on Nerdly. If you haven’t heard the show yet, you can check out previous episodes on the official podcast site, whilst we’ll be featuring each and every new episode as it premieres.

For those unfamiliar with the series, The Filmmakers Podcast is a podcast about how to make films from micro-budget indie films to bigger-budget studio films and everything in between. Our hosts Giles Alderson, Dom Lenoir, Dan Richardson, Andrew Rodger and Cristian James talk about how to get films made, how to actually make them and how to try not to f… it up in their very humble opinion. Guests will come on and chat about their filmmaking experiences from directors, writers, producers and screenwriters, to actors, cinematographers and distributors.

The Filmmaker’s Podcast #369: From award winning short to festival feature...

An addition 5% bonus will be granted for “significant Indian content”.

India has increased filming incentives for international productions shooting in the country from 30% to 40% as part of an ongoing bid to attract major projects to film in India.

The cap on qualifying spend has also been substantially increased from $300,000 (INR25m) to $3.6m (INR300m$3.6m) and an additional 5% rebate bonus will be granted to films that feature “significant Indian content”.

International productions eligible for the scheme will need to have been granted shooting permission by India’s Ministry of Information and Broadcasting or the Ministry of External Affairs (for...

Speaking about his film ‘Catching Dust’, British filmmaker Stuart Gatt on Tuesday said that universality of human emotions is wonderful as a story from Texas gets the same reception everywhere. The 54th edition of the International Film Festival of India opened on Monday with the international premiere of ‘Catching Dust’ by director Stuart Gatt.

Stuart Gatt along with co-producers Mark David and Jonathan Katz talking at the interaction program at 54th Iffi in Goa, spoke on various aspects of the film.

While elaborating on the focus of the movie on human emotions, he said that universality of human emotions is wonderful that a story from Texas gets the same reception everywhere.

‘Catching Dust’, which is a United States, UK, Spain co-production is the feature directorial debut of Stuart Gatt who has been making short films on topical social themes till now.

When asked about choosing a dark subject for the debut film,...

Speaking about his film ‘Catching Dust’, British filmmaker Stuart Gatt on Tuesday said that universality of human emotions is wonderful as a story from Texas gets the same reception everywhere. The 54th edition of the International Film Festival of India opened on Monday with the international premiere of ‘Catching Dust’ by director Stuart Gatt.

Stuart Gatt along with co-producers Mark David and Jonathan Katz talking at the interaction program at 54th Iffi in Goa, spoke on various aspects of the film.

While elaborating on the focus of the movie on human emotions, he said that universality of human emotions is wonderful that a story from Texas gets the same reception everywhere.

‘Catching Dust’, which is a United States, UK, Spain co-production is the feature directorial debut of Stuart Gatt who has been making short films on topical social themes till now.

When asked about choosing a dark subject for the debut film,...

India’s Ministry for Information and Broadcasting has announced an increase in the country’s production incentive from a 30% to 40% rebate on qualifying spend, with a cap of $3.6M (Rs300m).

In addition, a 5% bonus will be granted for films featuring significant Indian content. In order to be eligible for the increased incentive, international productions must first receive shooting permission from the I&b Ministry (since April 1 this year). Documentaries must also receive clearance from the Ministry of External Affairs.

India’s I&b Minister Anurag Thakur announced the news at the opening ceremony of the International Film Festival of India (Iffi) in Goa.

Thakur said the changes were designed to attract more medium and large-budget international film projects to India, and also aligned with the government’s broader goal of ensuring ‘Ease of Doing Business in India’.

“This paradigm shift in incentivizing film production serves as a testament to...

Stuart Gatt’s “Catching Dust,” which premiered at Tribeca earlier this year, will open the 54th International Film Festival of India (Iffi), Goa.

Robert Kolodny’s “The Featherweight,” which bowed at Venice, will close the festival. Nuri Bilge Ceylan’s “About Dry Grasses,” for which Merve Dizdar won best actress at Cannes, will be the mid-festival gala.

The fiction feature strand of the Indian panorama showcase will open with Anand Ekarshi’s “Aattam” and the documentary strand with Longjam Meena’s “Andro Dream.” The panorama will screen 25 fiction features, including five mainstream films, plus 20 documentaries.

Michael Douglas will deliver the key festival masterclass. The international competition jury will be led by eminent filmmaker Shekhar Kapur (“Elizabeth”) and also includes producers Catherine Dussart (“Silence in the Dust”) and Helen Leake (“Carnifex”), former Cannes market chief Jerome Paillard and Pedro Almodovar’s long-standing cinematographer José Luis Alcaine, P.K. Atre’s “Shyamchi Aai...

Being stuck in a hopeless situation, and a location that has no other human in sight for miles, can make someone desperate enough to take extreme action. Catching Dust, written and directed by Stuart Gatt, hinges on this premise. While it plays into certain expectations regarding characters and their relationships, the film is a desert drama brimming with tension that’s wound so tight it could snap at any moment. It plays its cards right for the most part, building suspense and creating intriguing character dynamics, even though its focus gets too caught up in the climactic ending more than anything else.

Catching Dust begins with Clyde (Jai Courtney), a rough, emotionally distant man who is hiding out in the Texas desert, taking a gun into a neighbor’s mobile home. A gunshot is heard from within, a scream echoes in the distance, but it’s unclear who was shot.

From writer/director Stuart Gatt, the indie drama Catching Dust (which made its world premiere at the Tribeca Film Festival 2023) follows Geena (Erin Moriarty) and her husband Clyde (Jai Courtney), who appear to be a couple living off the grid in an abandoned commune in the desert, but who in reality are hiding out from his violent criminal past. While Geena longs for human interaction with someone she doesn’t fear, a vacationing couple (played by Dina Shihabi and Ryan Corr) crosses paths with them and decides to stay for a bit, which leads Geena to question what it is she actually wants for her life.

Exclusive: Erin Moriarty (The Boys), Jai Courtney (Suicide Squad), Dina Shihabi (Archive 81) and Ryan Corr (House of the Dragon) have signed on to star in Catching Dust—an upcoming Texas noir marking the feature debut of writer-director Stuart Gatt, which will enter production in the Canary Islands this month.

The drama is set in the isolation of Texas’ Big Bend, where a lone trailer on an abandoned commune has become the reluctant hideout for Geena (Moriarty), at the behest of her criminal husband, Clyde (Courtney). Geena’s lust for life and desire for interaction with the outside world are quashed by Clyde’s insistence they remain hidden from the law and his former cohorts looking to settle old scores. Exhausted by Clyde’s controlling ways, Geena decides to leave. But then a trailer arrives carrying Amaya (Shihabi) and Andy (Corr), a couple from New York seeking a respite from the city.