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Have you ever had one of those days where everything that could go wrong does go wrong? Where do you feel like the whole world is conspiring against you and you’re utterly powerless to stop the slide into madness? That’s the experience writer-director Al Warren sets out to capture in his 2023 indie comedy, Dogleg.

We’re introduced to Alan, a filmmaker who’s been working on his passion project for five long years. Just as he’s preparing for an important shoot, Alan finds himself tasked with dog-sitting his fiancée’s pampered pooch, Roo. But distracted by a friend’s gender reveal party, Alan loses track of Roo and so begins a hapless search through the streets of LA.

To compound Alan’s troubles, the shoot devolves into total chaos. Nothing goes according to plan, and Alan’s tenuous grip on sanity starts to slip. Intercut throughout are...

“I love the feeling of the room in a packed house watching a good movie,” says writer, director and actor Al Warren on the phone from Los Angeles. “I want to model my career on that. It’s become a priority for how I approach my work. How will it be shown to an audience in-person? When I see a friend who has put their soul into the making and completion of their movie and then they don’t really have any plans on how they want to show it, I am confused.” At this moment, when the future of independent film […]

The post “It’s About the Energy You Bring to the Life of Your Movie, Not Just About the Movie Itself”: Al Warren on Dogleg’s Six-Year Journey first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.

“I love the feeling of the room in a packed house watching a good movie,” says writer, director and actor Al Warren on the phone from Los Angeles. “I want to model my career on that. It’s become a priority for how I approach my work. How will it be shown to an audience in-person? When I see a friend who has put their soul into the making and completion of their movie and then they don’t really have any plans on how they want to show it, I am confused.” At this moment, when the future of independent film […]

The post “It’s About the Energy You Bring to the Life of Your Movie, Not Just About the Movie Itself”: Al Warren on Dogleg’s Six-Year Journey first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.

Mubi Picks at Posteritati is a series in which we invite our favorite artists to the prestigious movie art gallery in New York City to discuss their favorite movie posters of all time.Hot on the heels of his debut feature, Dogleg (2023), Al Warren joins us at Posteritati to share his love for the posters of Yasujiro Ozu, Robert Altman, David Lynch, and Rainer Werner Fassbinder.Dogleg is now showing exclusively on Mubi in the United States and Canada.

Mubi’s May 2024 (streaming) lineup embraces their latest (theatrical) coup with a Radu Jude program. In addition to Do Not Expect Too Much From the End of the World arriving May 3, the Romanian director is highlighted with a six-film program launching on May 10. Lee Chang-dong and Bertrand Bonello are each given two-title highlights. While most of us can’t be at Cannes (I guess that’s a pun), the festival’s greatest tradition, booing, is celebrated with Jodie Foster’s The Beaver, Nicolas Winding Refn’s Only God Forgives, and Olivier Dahan’s Grace of Monaco. Among new releases, Al Warren’s Dogleg and the Ross brothers’ Gasoline Rainbow are notable selections.

As Lee Chang-dong recently told us in an extended interview, “Experiences in my life are what shaped me as a filmmaker, as obvious as that sounds. My artistic taste was shaped by the mountains and fields of my childhood village,...

Exclusive: Brain Dead Studios announced on Monday that its debut feature Dogleg, directed by and starring Al Warren (Dream Scenario), will debut exclusively on Mubi in North America on May 1st, following special theatrical screenings at the Roxy Cinema in New York City on April 13th, and at Now Instant Image Hall in Los Angeles on April 25th and 27th.

Written by Michael Bible and Warren, Dogleg follows amateur director Alan, who loses his fiancé’s dog at a gender reveal party on the day of an important shoot. As he struggles to finish his latest project with the help of a New York critic, the pursuit of the lost dog and the chaos of his film begin to blend, and Alan grows desperate for the day to be over.

Produced by Babak Khoshnoud and Studio Yours Truly, pic’ cast also includes Dream Scenario filmmaker Kristoffer Borgli, Nick Pinkerton (The...

Dogleg is one of the best films of the year. A unique and hilarious feat of cinematic inventiveness, it follows amateur director Alan, played by Al Warren, after he loses his fiancé’s dog at a gender reveal party on the day of an important shoot. Warren also wrote and directed the film, which took more than half a decade to finish. On this episode, he tells us why he was in no hurry to complete the film, and why he has taken a much more intentional and meaningful approach toward bringing it to the audience. He takes us back to […]

The post “It’s a Braver and More Worthy Cause, At Least for Me, Than Me Being a Soldier or Politician”: Al Warren first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.

Dogleg is one of the best films of the year. A unique and hilarious feat of cinematic inventiveness, it follows amateur director Alan, played by Al Warren, after he loses his fiancé’s dog at a gender reveal party on the day of an important shoot. Warren also wrote and directed the film, which took more than half a decade to finish. On this episode, he tells us why he was in no hurry to complete the film, and why he has taken a much more intentional and meaningful approach toward bringing it to the audience. He takes us back to […]

The post “It’s a Braver and More Worthy Cause, At Least for Me, Than Me Being a Soldier or Politician”: Al Warren first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.

The premise of Michael Rees’ latest comedy short Middle Sized Things is so delightfully off-kilter that it needs to be seen to be fully grasped. It follows a guest speaker at college who’s presenting his core thesis, the notion that the properties of scale have no direct correlation with something’s moral status. It’s a conceptual idea that makes no sense whatsoever but Rees uses the confidence and determination of his cocksure academic to expose the fragile ego underneath which, combined with an ensemble cast who sell the ridiculousness of the situation wonderfully, makes the short a must-see. With Middle Sized Things having arrived online, Dn joined Rees for a conversation about his creative process as a comedy writer/director, his aversion to sitting on ideas for too long, and the benefits his experience as an editor brings to his filmmaking.

Where did the concept for Middle Sized Things come from?...

We’ve had the pleasure of featuring the diverse and exploratory work of Erin Murray here on Dn since 2016 and her latest piece I Don’t Need To Know – written, directed and starring the filmmaker – sees the prolific multi-hyphenate artist explore an alternative facet of her creative endeavours with delightful results. An apparently innocuous day out for one couple suddenly turns sour as Murray’s character, leaning inspirationally on personal conversations about sex, decides to cajole her partner into discussing a hidden facet of their relationship with an outwardly innocent question about sexual fantasies. I Don’t Need To Know combines quick-witted back-and-forth dialogue, brilliantly delivered by Murray alongside Al Warren, with well planned out camera angles which come together to form a wholly absorbing four minute comedy short. It was a pleasure to catch up with Murray again to speak about using all of the possible angels in the car,...

"Don't trust anyone." Get a look at this interesting indie film project from a writer named Jacob Michael King making his first film. Caviar is the title – described as a "satirical conspiracy theory indie thriller," about deepfakes, social media, and misinformation. Antigone Corday is an aspiring social media influencer. She is mourning the recent death of her brother, Jeremiah, a well-known pundit and voice for progressive causes. Soon, however, she uncovers a conspiracy that throws her worldview, and the fate of the planet, into question. Betsey Brown stars as Antigone, with Al Warren, James Healy Jr., and Aaron Pruner. The director adds: "Caviar uses the language of conspiracy theory and misinformation to highlight the abuses performed by those in authority. Its outlandish story is an amalgam of historical fact, wild speculation, and outright fiction—it exaggerates the 'lies, evasions, folly, hatred and schizophrenia' that make up our politics, and exposes them to sunlight.

Ari Aster, the horror maestro behind Hereditary and Midsommar, is out with Beau Is Afraid on four screens as A24 presents the film in LA (AMC Century City and Burbank) and New York, in Imax on both coasts, followed next week by a regional Imax expansion and into to a wider national rollout April 21.

The film is getting some love from Martin Scorsese, who will join Aster in conversation Monday night after an Imax showing in NYC. Opening weekend will feature Q&As with Aster and cast, which includes Nathan Lane, Stephen McKinley Henderson, Patti LuPone, Amy Ryan and Parker Posey.

The director has a dedicated fan base, and that’s invaluable in looking to break out with the specialty market still tentative compared with the Super Mario Bros-sized rebound of the broader box office. Presales indicate a strong debut.

Deadline’s review calls...

"She's kinda out on the town, but she's not lost." Yours Truly & Brain Dead have revealed an official trailer for an indie awkward comedy called Dogleg, from filmmaker Al Warren making his first feature film. The very meta comedy is made by Brain Dead in LA - which is where it will premiere. Dogleg follows amateur director Alan, played by Al Warren, after he loses his fiancé’s dog at a gender reveal party on the day of an important shoot. As he struggles to finish his latest project with the help of a New York critic, the pursuit of the lost dog and the chaos of his film begin to blend and Alan grows desperate for the day to be over. Told through a series of interlocking vignettes, Dogleg is an ode to indie filmmaking and the frustrations of the creative process. Shot over five years, this is a...

Exclusive: Grant Feely (Obi-Wan Kenobi), Connor DeWolfe (The Mighty Ducks: Game Changers) and Mykel Shannon Jenkins (The Paper Tigers) have been tapped for roles alongside Luke Hemsworth, Morgan Freeman and Joseph Baena in the upcoming actioner, Gunner.

The film from writer-director Dimitri Logothetis (Jiu Jitsu), which is currently shooting in Alabama, follows Special Ops veteran Lee Gunner (Hemsworth) as he takes his two sons on a fishing trip to reconnect. The trip soon turns awry when the boys stumble upon a massive drug running operation and are kidnapped by Dobbs (Jenkins), the son of gang kingpin Kendric Ryker (Freeman) who runs his organization from prison. With no one but himself to retaliate and with elite combat skills they won’t see coming, an enraged Gunner wreaks havoc to rescue his two sons from Ryker’s gang.

Feely is repped by A3 Artists Agency, Aligned Stars and Pkm Talent...

Josh "Bru" Brubaker has enough love for two. On July 21, the Circle star shared that he was in "throuple" with two women. "Two girls and me," he explained to host Alex Warren on the Locked in Podcast. "As we're still getting to know each other, I'm a midwestern boy—like values, family, all this stuff. I'll send you a birthday card when it's time. I was in throuple." While Bru did not disclose the names of the women he was allegedly in the three-way relationship with, he is currently a one-woman man. Back in December, he went public with TikToker and YouTube star Anna Sitar. "You already know :)," she...