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“Station 19” is elevating Merle Dandridge, Josh Randall and Pat Healy to series regulars for Season 6.

Healy has been with the cast since Season 4, while Dandridge and Randall joined during Season 5.

Dandridge plays Chief Natasha Ross, whose personal life became messy in a way that could damage her career at the end of Season 5 when someone threatened to out her romantic relationship with her subordinate, Lt. Robert Sullivan (Boris Kodjoe).

Randall plays the role of Captain Sean Beckett, a career firefighter with a drinking problem and a sense of humor that is usually only funny to him.

Healy plays former chief Michael Dixon, who has a history of undermining the crew at Station 19 and is currently running for mayor.

Also Read:

‘Grey’s Anatomy’ Season 19 About to Get Underway as Caterina Scorsone Says ‘Classic Cast’ Is ‘Ready and Revving’

Dandridge is known for her previous roles in HBO’s “The Flight Attendant,...

A young boy who possesses strange and difficult-to-explain powers makes his way towards a mysterious rendezvous with his father doing everything he can to protect him from anyone who might stop him. That's it. That's the basic plot of Midnight Special, and when you boil it down that far, it sounds like something familiar, something we've seen many times before. What makes the film sing is the extraordinary control exhibited by Jeff Nichols as a filmmaker at this point, especially when he's working with Michael Shannon, who has given some of his finest performances when working with Nichols. That continues here. Michael Shannon plays Roy, and when we meet him, he's on the road with his childhood best friend Lucas (Joel Edgerton) and his little boy Alton (Jaeden Lieberher). It's not clear at first why they're running, where they're coming from, or where they're going, and Nichols does a very...

[Editor's Note: This post is presented in partnership with Time Warner Cable Movies On Demand in support of Indie Film Month. Today's pick, "Z for Zachariah," is available now On Demand. Need help finding a movie to watch? Let TWC find the best fit for your mood here.] Read More: Review: Craig Zobel's 'Z for Zachariah' is Not Your Typical Post-Apocalyptic Romance With three feature films under his belt, filmmaker Craig Zobel isn't quite a veteran, but he's no longer a newbie. Zobel's first two features played to strong acclaim on the festival circuit — 2007's "Great World of Sound" played at New York's New Directors and New Films Festival and also earned Zobel the Breakthrough Director Awards at that year's Gotham Awards, while "Compliance" premiered at Sundance in 2012, going on to screen at Locarno, Deauville and BAMcinemaFest, among others — but neither rocketed the filmmaker to the top of...

Read More: Review: Craig Zobel's 'Z for Zachariah' is Not Your Typical Post-Apocalyptic Romance With three feature films under his belt, filmmaker Craig Zobel isn't quite a veteran, but he's no longer a newbie. Zobel's first two features played to strong acclaim on the festival circuit — 2007's "Great World of Sound" played at New York's New Directors and New Films Festival and also earned Zobel the Breakthrough Director Awards at that year's Gotham Awards, while "Compliance" premiered at Sundance in 2012, going on to screen at Locarno, Deauville and BAMcinemaFest, among others — but neither rocketed the filmmaker to the top of blockbuster wish lists, as has become far more commonplace over the years. But the cast for Zobel's new film, "Z for Zachariah," comes complete with three big names from the blockbuster world, including Margot Robbie (soon to be seen in DC's "Suicide Squad"), Chris Pine of...

Director Craig Zobel's third Sundance Film Festival premiere "Z For Zachariah" (Roadside Attractions, August 28) offers a strong post-apocalypse survival triangle played by Australian actress Margot Robbie ("The Wolf of Wall Street"), as a lonely farmer in her mountain Shangri la above the post-nuke clouds that have destroyed the world. Her quiet world is threatened when two weary travelers (Chiwetel Ejiofor and Chris Pine) stumble onto her farm and vie for her affection. Zobel's follow-up to controversial Sundance 2012 drama "Compliance" (the Magnolia release starred Ann Dowd in a searing Indie Spirit nominated performance), is both less personal and more collaborative than that film or his micro-budget breakthrough "Great World of Sound," which played Sundance in 2007.  That's the trick as filmmakers mature in their careers. While Zobel likes to help out his friends, producing such films as David Gordon Green's "George...

Eric Lavallee: Name me three of your favorite “2014 discoveries”…

Heather McIntosh: MaddAddam Trilogy, Margaret Atwood. Volumina for Organ, György Ligeti. Mind Brains (Orange Twin Records)

Lavallee: In Z for Zachariah, Craig Zobel goes from a “Great World of Sound” (pardon the pun) to nothingness. How did you research dystopia, lifeless scapes and survivalism?

McIntosh: The score fits somewhere between pastoral and experimental. Research, I studied a lot of contemporary organ scores, like the Ligeti one above (not that the score really went that far out).

Lavallee: This is your second outing with Craig, your previous collaboration was the cringe worthy essay on victimization. In terms of instrument selection, what did you sprinkle onto Z?

McIntosh: For Compliance, it was cello driven. For Z for Zachariah, Cello is still there, but there is a larger chamber ensemble sound, pump organ, piano, choral ensemble, French horn, and a as always a sprinkling of electronic ambience.

Eric Lavallee: Name me three of your favorite “2014 discoveries” …

Sophia Lin: Top of the list of my 2014 discoveries was New Zealand. We filmed Z for Zachariah on the Banks Peninsula, outside Christchurch on the South Island. It was an amazing months-long adventure that was incredibly challenging but gratifying. We made wonderful new friends while working amidst some of the greatest landscape in the world and got just a new perspective on everything. Another discovery is that I realized I could probably live in Los Angeles, which was a total surprise! I did a short television job there over the summer, and it was by far the longest I had spent there. It was interesting to realize living there could be an option. And finally, my third discovery is tied between Guardians of the Galaxy and Taylor Swift. I really got in touch with my teen-aged populist side this year,...

Craig Zobel is back at Sundance for a third time after 2007’s Great World Of Sound and 2012’s Compliance. This time he’s got a little film with three big stars: Z For Zachariah features Chiwetel Ejiofor, Chris Pine and Margot Robbie as the last known survivors of a global calamity. The pic was picked up ahead of the fest by Roadside Attractions, and Zobel tells me: “There’s a lot of anxiety when you bring a movie here. You hope that it’ll find both an audience and an audience with the distributors, and not having that pressure is really great.” We’ll have more DeadlineNow@Sundance2015 interviews throughout the festival, so stay tuned.

Craig Zobel’s previous two features made serious waves at Sundance – The Great World of Sound was a hit at the 2007 festival, and 2012’s Compliance set off something of a controversy. Understandably, his third film, a dystopian drama powered by a trio of movie stars (Chiwetel Ejiofor, Chris Pine, and Wolf of Wall Street’s Margot Robie) was much anticipated here; even some veteran press lined up two-and-a-half hours early to get into Z for Zachariah. The new film, however, is nothing like Zobel’s last two; it has none of the rambling generosity of Great World of Sound or the edgy topicality of Compliance.Based on Robert C. O’Brien’s novel, the film takes place in a magnificent valley where the devastated schools, stores, and houses strike a sharp contrast with the sun-dappled fields, the shining lakes and rich forests. Anne (Margot Robie), the sole human inhabitant, ekes...

Park City - Until this week, I didn't even know there was a book called "Z For Zachariah," much less that it was by the same author as the wonderful "Mrs. Frisby and The Rats Of Nimh." When we posted a clip from the new film adaptation of Robert C. O'Brien's book, it immediately became clear from your reactions here and in e-mail that the book has passionate fans, and that many of them were upset by what seemed to be a whole new character invented for the film. I couldn't respond because I don't know the book at all, and to be honest, what matters to me is whether the film works on its own. You don't need to know a book to know whether or not a film plays, and in the case of "Z For Zachariah," the film most definitely plays. Craig Zobel, whose previous films...

One of the movies that has a ton of heat already focused on it even before the Sundance Film Festival begins is "Z For Zachariah." Chris Pine, a brunette Margot Robbie, and Chiwetel Ejiofor co-star in this story that takes place "in the wake of a disaster that wipes out most of civilization," according to the official synopsis. "Two men and a young woman find themselves in an emotionally-charged love triangle as the last known survivors." Craig Zobel's last film that played here, "Compliance," was a cold-blooded and intensely well-made look at a true story that still gives me chills when I think about it. I am a huge fan of his first feature film, "Great World Of Sound," as well, and I am excited to see anything Zobel makes. Today, we've got an exclusive debut for you of the first clip from the film. In it, we see...

Two weeks before the start of the Sundance Film Festival, one of its highest-profile titles has secured distribution, as Lionsgate and Roadside Attractions will partner on the release of Craig Zobel’s “Z For Zachariah,” which stars Margot Robbie, Chris Pine and Chiwetel Ejiofor, TheWrap has learned.

Grindstone Entertainment will present the sci-fi thriller, which was executive produced by the company’s Barry Brooker and Stan Wertlieb.

While its involvement had never been reported, Lionsgate has actually had the project for some time, though the company only recently decided on its release plans.

Also Read: Will Smith, Tom Hardy, Jared Leto,...

We can still feel the heat generated from Craig Zobel’s Compliance. His sophomore film, which was made on a dime (his directorial debut Great World of Sound was made for a nickel and was also showcased at Sundance), got under the skin of select imbecile auds at its Park City premiere, but in the same token it intellectually tickled the critical masses. Adept in human discord in its purest form, this quality surely got infused on his third directing outing, Z for Zachariah, which is large scale humanity in crisis. You don’t often see Blacklist scripts (ranked #26th in 2009) break into Sundance, but in a Take Shelter scheme of things, this shot in New Zealand production benefitting from a plethora of producers on board could fit a sci-fi mold of Duncan Jones’ Moon. Despite the presence of A listers such as Chris Pine and Chiwetel Ejiofor, conceivably, big...

The past couple of years seemed to see a rash of films dealing with the somewhat similar plot device of people doing increasingly dangerous, disgusting or risky things for cold, hard cash. 13 Sins, Would You Rather and others deal with the idea in different ways, but one of the most celebrated of the bunch is E.L. Katz‘s Cheap Thrills. The film follows a down on his luck man named Craig (Pat Healy) who’s fired from his job on the same day he receives an eviction notice. With a wife and baby son counting on him he willingly steps into a bizarre scenario involving a wealthy, thrill-seeking couple (David Koechner and Sara Paxton) willing to pay Craig and his friend (Ethan Embry) to take part in a series of often grotesque challenges. Things go about as well as you’d expect. It’s an alternately funny and tragic film that walks an incredibly fine and blackly-comic...

You know Pat Healy, right? Well, if you don’t, that means you probably haven’t seen “The Great World of Sound,” “The Innkeepers,” or “Compliance,” and that also means you have quite a bit of movie watching to do. But before you get to any of that, Healy’s latest feature is an absolute must. In fact, “Cheap Thrills” is easily the best film I caught on the film festival circuit in 2013. Healy leads as Craig, a loving husband and father who gets slapped with an eviction notice and loses his job all in the same day. In an effort to ease the pain, Craig hits the bar and that’s where [ Read More ]

The post Cheap Thrills Interview: Big Dares & Big Changes for Pat Healy appeared first on Shockya.com.

The main reason to see Cheap Thrills is Pat Healy, a talented actor whose name you may not know but whom you’ll probably recognize from appearances in movies like Rescue Dawn and Great World of Sound, and TV shows like Grey’s Anatomy and Six Feet Under. Sometimes he’s just playing bit parts, but you know this face: Pursed lip, tightly wound jaw, eyes that seem alternately tense and inquisitive. It’s the type of face that gets you cast in “character roles,” but it has an inner life worthy of a lead — especially for a lead in a thriller like Cheap Thrills, in which you spend a lot of time wondering just where the hell the story is going.Directed by E.L. Katz, Cheap Thrills opens on Craig (Healy) waking up in the small Los Angeles apartment he shares with his wife and baby, getting ready for work,...

As an actor, Pat Healy may not be nearly as well known as say a Tom Cruise or Brad Pitt or probably hundreds (maybe thousands) of other actors, but fans of cutting edge indie cinema and festival regulars have probably had a chance to catch him in one movie or another over the years. We're big fans of Pat Healy here at ComingSoon.net (at least this writer is), having first noticed him when he starred in Craig Zobel's The Great World of Sound and then again in a very different role in Ti West's eerie horror movie The Innkeepers . When he reteamed with Zobel for 2012's Compliance , a creepy thriller based on true events, Healy played a very different character, a caller who puts the staff of a fast food restaurant through a rigorous series of tests in order to see what they.ll do...

Manglehorn

Director: David Gordon Green

Writer: Paul Logan

Producers: Lisa Muskat, David Gordon Green, Derrick Tseng

U.S. Distributor: Rights Available

Cast: Al Pacino, Holly Hunter, Chris Messina, Harmony Korine

Aside from the trio of forgettable studio films, David Gordon Green has been synonymous with indie film as a filmmaker and perhaps even more so as a producer (Shotgun Stories, Great World of Sound, Compliance, The Comedy, Land Ho!). We’re banking that his succession of sturdy 2013 offerings in Prince Avalanche and Joe equates to another solid feature in Manglehorn – which sees the iconic Pacino and Harmony Korine suiting up.

Gist: This is the story of an eccentric man (Pacino) who tries to come to terms with a past crime that cost him the love of his life.

Release Date: Filming took place past the midway point last year and this could actually end up in Cannes, though Venice and...

We wake from our December holiday production break slumber for a production month of January that has some notable American indie productions, foreign films projects worth signaling out. Tracking Shot is sponsored by Production Weekly. German auteur Wim Wenders returns to Montreal for the winter portion of filming on Everything is Fine – the 3D drama stars James Franco, Charlotte Gainsbourg, Rachel McAdams and Marie-Josee Croze. After distinctly break-out indie offerings in Great World of Sound and Compliance, Craig Zobel is packing his bags for New Zealand. Adapted from the classic novel, Z for Zachariah sees Chris Pine, Amanda Seyfried and Chewitel Ejiofor jousting a little during the end of the world. A neighboring production can be found in Australia, David Mamet (his last theatrical release was 08′s Redbelt) is set to unload Blackbird – this is about a grieving granddaughter of a famous special effects artist in Hollywood discovers secrets (plot...

Chris Pine, Amanda Seyfried and Chewitel Ejiofor to star in Craig Zobel’s thriller.

Craig Zobel’s Z for Zachariah, produced by Tobey Maguire and his production company Material Pictures along with Palomar Pictures and Zik Zak Filmworks, is confirmed to shoot in New Zealand. It will start shooting in late January in Canterbury and on locations in Banks Peninsula and Mid-Canterbury.

The cast features Chris Pine, Amanda Seyfried and Chewitel Ejiofor. The thriller, adapted from Robert O’Brien’s classic novel, is set in a remote valley which survives a nuclear holocaust.

Film New Zealand Chief Executive Gisella Carr said: “We are thrilled such a prestigious project is coming to New Zealand. To see a seminal piece of children’s literature brought to the screen here with a celebrated cast and production team is tremendous. This announcement represents a classic team effort by the New Zealanders involved, line producer Murray Francis, Film New Zealand...

This is the story of a James Gandolfini role that almost was …

Less than a week before he died unexpectedly at age 51, Gandolfini met with a team at HBO to discuss barbeque ribs, North Korea, and a true tale so strange it could only be told as comedy.

The film was called Eating With the Enemy, and the Emmy-winning star of The Sopranos would have played a big-mouthed New Jersey restaurant owner who fancies himself a rogue international diplomat and gets ensnared in the tense nuclear stand-off between Washington D.C. and the reclusive Pyongyang government.

Bobby Egan is a self-described “ribs restaurant owner,...

Material Pictures and Zik Zak Filmworks are pleased to announce Chris Pine, Amanda Seyfried, and Chewitel Ejiofor have joined the cast of Z For Zachariah. The film will be directed by Craig Zobel (The Great World of Sound, Compliance) from a script penned by Nissar Modi. Material Pictures’ Tobey Maguire and Matthew Plouffe will produce alongside Zik Zak Filmworks’ Skúli Malmquist, Thor Sigurjonsson and Palomar Pictures’ Joni Sighvatsson. Gary Ross and Lucky Hat Entertainment’s Stephen Bannatyne will executive produce, along with Silver Reel’s Claudia Bluemhuber and Lotus Entertainment’s Jim Seibel and Bill Johnson. Lotus will commence international sales at Cannes. CAA arranged financing for the project, and CAA and Wme will co-represent domestic rights. An adaptation of Robert C. O’Brien’s classic science fiction novel of the same name, Z For Zachariah is a psychological thriller about a girl who believes she is the only survivor after a devastating nuclear event,...

Barlow Jacobs first caught our attention when he appeared opposite Michael Shannon in Jeff Nichols' feature film debut "Shotgun Stories." While Shannon's profile has risen to huge heights since the 2007 drama, Jacobs has remained relatively below the radar, continuing to deliver solid work in films as varied as the Sundance hit comedy "Great World of Sound," Joe Swanberg's "Alexander the Last" and the experimental horror film "The Oregonian." For more trailers, be sure to visit Indiewire's Indie Trailer Page. His latest film, the indie post Civil War western "Dead Man's Burden," drew rave reviews at the Los Angeles Film Festival where it world last year. In his glowing review out of Laff, Indiewire's Eric Kohn said the film did "justice to its western roots." The directorial debut of indie producer Jared Moshé is a spectacular looking drama in which Jacobs gives a commanding turn as Wade, a former...

For his directorial debut, screenwriter E.L. Katz stunned audiences during the 2013 SXSW Film Festival with Cheap Thrills, a wickedly twisted dark comedy that finds two longtime friends at odds when a huge payday is offered to them.

The first film to get nabbed for distribution out of this year's SXSW, we caught up with Cheap Thrills helmer Katz during the fest to hear more about his experiences working on the project, which was co-written by David Chirchirillo and Trent Haaga (Deadgirl). During our exclusive chat with Katz, he also discussed working with the movie's fantastic ensemble including Pat Healy, Sara Paxton, David Koechner and Ethan Embry and much more.

Read on for our interview with Katz, and look for more on Cheap Thrills from co-star Sara Paxton soon!

Read our Cheap Thrills review here.

Dread Central: Congrats on a great debut- I really enjoyed the hell out of the movie.

Director Craig Zobel talks about Compliance, his new film based on a real-life hoax caller who preyed on fast-food chains

It's a busy Friday night in a branch of the Us fast-food chain ChickWich. A harassed, middle-aged manager takes a call from a police officer, who informs her that there is a thief on the premises: a female employee has stolen money from a customer's purse, and it is up to her to detain the teenage miscreant until the police arrive. As a law-abiding member of the public, the manager is eager to help. Eager to a fault, in fact. "I'll do everything you need," she says, as she prepares to carry out his first task: a strip-search of the employee. There's just one problem. The voice belongs not to a policeman but to a hoax-caller determined to test the limits of human subservience to authority.

Although this is the...

Inciting both outrage from audience members and an outpouring of critical praise at Sundance last year, Craig Zobel’s Compliance is an audacious and shocking depiction of submission to figures of authority under duress. Inspired by the true events that occurred at fast food joints across the Us and the famed obedience experiments of Stanley Milgram that took place during the 1960s, the film chronicles a single day in which a faux police officer phones a fast food manager and convinces her that a young, female employee has stolen money from a customer and needs to questioned and held until the authorities arrive, but as common sense subsides, the situation goes way further than that.

Held down by a trio of exquisite performances by Ann Dowd (as Sandra, the restaurant manager), Dreama Walker (as Becky, the accused employee), and Great World of Sound‘s Pat Healy (as the silver tongued creeper,...

This week on DVD/Blu-ray: One of the most controversial films to play at Sundance, well, ever; a documentary 25 years in the making; Tim Burton's animated love letter to the horror films of yore; the first season of a new hit HBO show starring a loony and wonderful Laura Dern; and an endearing indie that will make you want to pick up a kid's xylophone and form a band. #1. "Compliance" In "Great World of Sound" director Craig Zobel's acclaimed and controversial drama "Compliance," Dreama Walker stars as Becky, a young fast food employee who is accused of stealing from a customer after a man, under the guise of a police officer, calls the restaurant demanding to speak to her manager Sandra (Ann Dowd). What follows is a horrific true account of how the mystery caller managed to convince the young woman's supervisor (as well as others asked to...

If you've heard of the indie film Compliance, odds are you've heard it described as controversial. When it debuted at the Sundance Film Festival in January it was met with engaged and sometimes hostile audiences, who took objection to the film's depiction of a bizarre but very true story, in which a prank caller convinced the manager of a fast food restaurant to detain, harass and eventually abet in the rape of one of her employees. Director Craig Zobel, who previously made the well-wrought indie comedy Great World of Sound, spoke of the collaborative nature of the fllm's set and how much he developed the story with his lead actresses, but of course, a story about teamwork and a careful handling of a controversial story doesn't travel nearly as fast as that of hostility at a Q&A. Luckily for everyone, Compliance had a long journey through other festivals before...

Craig Zobel‘s Compliance is one of the most divisive films I’ve seen in the past decade. I mean that as a compliment of the highest form. For as much as I love standard, likable crowd pleasers, I tend to enjoy more the bleak and dreary. At least I remember them more, and trust me when I say that you won’t easily forget Compliance. Immediately after it’s over, you will want to discuss it with someone. Either you want to bitch about its vile, voyeuristic approach, and its aimlessness…or you want to praise it for the exact same reasons. The film takes on a new level in the eye of the beholder.

The story is based on a reported 70+ prank calls by those claiming to be police. In this specific case, “officer” Daniels on the other end of the line manipulates Sandra, a fast food restaurant owner,...

Chicago – In our latest edition of HollywoodChicago.com Hookup: Film, we have 10 pairs of run-of-engagement, anytime, guaranteed movie passes up for grabs to the new film “Compliance” starring Ann Dowd! Pick your own showing! These are guaranteed tickets!

In Chicago, “Compliance” opens at Landmark Century Centre Cinema on Aug. 31, 2012. Rated “R” and inspired by true events, the film also stars Pat Healy, Dreama Walker, Bill Camp, Philip Ettinger, James McCaffrey, Matt Servitto, Ashlie Atkinson, Nikiya Mathis, Ralph Rodriguez, Stephen Payne, Amelia Fowler, John Merolla, Desmin Borges and Matt Skibiak from writer and director Matt Skibiak.

These anytime, guaranteed passes can be used for “Compliance” at Landmark Century Centre Cinema in Chicago for the showing of your choosing during the film’s theatrical run. To win your free movie passes to “Compliance” courtesy of HollywoodChicago.com, just get interactive with our unique Hookup technology directly below. That’s it! The more social actions you complete,...

Compliance helmer Craig Zobel talks about the Ann Dowd, Dream Walker and Pat Healy thriller. Craig Zobel first made his mark with The Great World of Sound, a nifty little 2007 feature which starred Pat Healy as a traveling salesman of sorts. His job was to sell record contracts and studio time to poverty-stricken wannabe singers, a job he desperately needed and ultimately couldn't stand. Zobel's new film, "Compliance," is also about Pat Healy talking other people into things--but that's about where things end. It all takes place on a busy Friday night at a fast food restaurant, when manager Sandra (Ann Dowd) gets a phone call from a man (Healy) who tells her that he's a police officer, and that one of her employees, Becky (Dreama Walker) has stolen money from a patron. Soon, Becky is in the backroom, and over the course of the next few hours, she is stripsearched and much,...

Compliance helmer Craig Zobel talks about the Ann Dowd, Dream Walker and Pat Healy thriller. Craig Zobel first made his mark with The Great World of Sound, a nifty little 2007 feature which starred Pat Healy as a traveling salesman of sorts. His job was to sell record contracts and studio time to poverty-stricken wannabe singers, a job he desperately needed and ultimately couldn't stand. Zobel's new film, "Compliance," is also about Pat Healy talking other people into things--but that's about where things end. It all takes place on a busy Friday night at a fast food restaurant, when manager Sandra (Ann Dowd) gets a phone call from a man (Healy) who tells her that he's a police officer, and that one of her employees, Becky (Dreama Walker) has stolen money from a patron. Soon, Becky is in the backroom, and over the course of the next few hours, she is stripsearched and much,...

Will you shut up and do what you're told?

That's the central question everyone who sees Craig Zobel's "Compliance" will be asking themselves after they leave the theater. Some will fancy themselves educated and willful enough to overcome even the most insistent authority figure, laughing the film's protagonists off as rubes, while others will be insulted to even consider themselves to potentially be so easily led astray. And some perhaps simply won't like what the answer might be.

Will you please just Shut Up and do what you're Told?

The movie poses this query to Sandra (Ann Dowd), the manager of an Ohio branch of Chick-Wich, a fast food joint not unlike another controversial fried chicken chain that's been in the news recently. Sandra is a mostly amiable middle-aged boss dealing with the stresses of a particularly trying Friday rush as she manages her skeleton crew of sassy teenage employees,...

Well, here's a nice little reward for the rising director Craig Zobel. After coming to attention with his 2007 comedy "Great World Of Sound," the helmer made big waves this year with the unsettling thriller "Compliance." The film, essentially about a prank that goes to some very dark and twisted places, inspired impassioned responses from those who both loved and hated the film, and it seems that buzz has reached the ears of some pretty important folks. And as Zobel gears up a new film, he's got a pretty big name to help him make it happen. Tobey Maguire will star in and produce the post-apocalyptic drama "Z For Zachariah" which Zobel will direct. Based on the novel by Robert C. O'Brien, and adapted by Nissar Modi (Gary Ross' developing "Outback" with Carey Mulligan still attached to star and Maguire to produce) into a 2009 Black List script, the story follows...

Hey, remember that crazy story that came out a few years back about a McDonald's employee who had been taken into a back room, strip searched by her manager and forced to do other lewd acts, all because they had been ordered to do so by a caller claiming to be a police officer? This was part of a series of hoax calls perpetrated by one man over the course of a decade, and in most cases, he was able to get people to do just about anything he wanted merely by posing as an authority figure. The story brought up all kinds of questions about psychology and human nature, essentially echoing the findings of the infamous Stanford prison experiment. Director Craig Zobel (Great World of Sound) decided to make a film about the incident called Compliance, and it sparked a lot of controversy at Sundance earlier this year where...

Compliance is a very well made thriller that tells the true story of people that have absolutely no common sense. This is seriously a bizarre movie, especially because it's based on actual events. I watched the film up at Sundance, and thought it was great, but so damn frustrating. 

As I said in my review, "The fact that this is based on a true story and that this kind of thing happens all the time scares the hell out of me. Are people really this gullible? There just comes a point where you know something is off, and it should be questioned. The film comes off as being completely unbelievable, and at the same time, it actually happened! That's what's so annoyingly frustrating. I just wanted to scream at the people in the film the whole time because they did absolutely everything wrong."

This is one of those movies that makes me not understand people.

No film stirred up controversy and got the critics raving at this year's Sundance Film Festival quite like Craig Zobel's shocking thriller "Compliance." His sophomore feature (following "Great World of Sound") follows the sensationalistic story of a fast-food restaurant manager who receives a call from a man claiming to be a police officer. Through a strange process of manipulation, the caller convinces staffers to place a co-worker accused of theft in quarantine, strip-search her and commit other invasive procedures that culminate with sexual assault. Zobel based the film on a real-life incident, but that didn't seem to quell the audience at its premiere in Park City, where several people accused Zobel of misogyny during the Q&A while others spoke out in his defense. It currently holds a B+ average among critics listed in our Criticwire Network. Get a sense of what got people so riled up by watching the just-released trailer for the.

If there's a more twisted and disturbing (in a good way) film that "Compliance" this year, this writer hasn't seen it. And following last week's debut of the poster, a full-blown trailer has arrived.

Directed by Craig Zobel, who helmed the winning indie film "Great World Of Sound," and executive produced by David Gordon Green (along with filmmakers Jody Hill, Tim Orr and Danny McBride, they all went to school together in North Carolina), "Compliance" is based on true events and centers on a call made to a fast food restaurant that leaves none of its employees unharmed. 

It's a difficult film to discuss because you don't want to spoil it, but the way it plays in a moral gray area of culpability, victimization and blind obedience is very interesting and thought-provoking to say the least. The film premiered at Sundance earlier this year and was met with enough divisive...

Why He's On Our Radar: Barlow Jacobs first caught our attention when he appeared opposite Michael Shannon in Jeff Nichols' feature film debut "Shotgun Stories." While Shannon's profile has risen to huge heights since the 2007 drama, Jacobs has remained relatively below the radar, continuing to deliver solid work in films as varied as the Sundance hit comedy "Great World of Sound," Joe Swanberg's "Alexander the Last," and the experimental horror film "The Oregonian." He also wrote, produced and starred in "Low and Behold," which also premiered at Sundance, and was inspired by his need to evacuate New Orleans before Katrina hit. His latest film, the indie post Civil War western "Dead Man's Burden," drew rave reviews at the Los Angeles Film Festival where it world premiered a couple of weeks back. The directorial debut of indie producer Jared Moshé is a spectacular looking drama in which Jacobs...

This is a reprint of our review from the Sundance Film Festival.

If there’s a thin line between presenting unpleasant material to an audience and openly antagonizing them with it, there are going to be a lot of people accusing “Compliance” of the latter, when really what it’s doing is the former. Craig Zobel, the promising writer-director who made “Great World of Sound” in 2007, returns to the big screen with his deeply unsettling second feature, the fictional account of a real incident in which a caller impersonating a police officer contacted a fast food restaurant manager and enlisted her in enacting a sexual assault under the pretense of a criminal investigation. After immediately provoking intense feelings, both positive and negative, among audience members at the 2012 Sundance Film Festival, “Compliance” seems destined to become a lightning rod for controversy, but its success is so great in depicting the damage...

After years of waiting, it looks like we have some news on when we could see Wong Kar-Wai‘s The Grandmaster. Rumors indicate it won’t be ready for Cannes, but LoveHKFilm (via The Playlist) have revealed a December 18, 2012 release date for China. With Megan Ellison‘s Annapurna Pictures holding the rights, we’ll have to wait and see who picks it up for Us distribution, but noting her usual collaborations with The Weinstein Company, they could certainly be a good fit. Starring Tony Leung and Zhang Ziyi, the film tells the story of Ip Man, who is best known as the trainer of legendary kung-fu star Bruce Lee. Don’t expect us Americans to get the film until 2013 with that intentional date.

We’ve also got news on releases for two of our favorite Sundance films via a press release. First up, Mike Birbiglia‘s Sleepwalk with Me has been given a August 24th,...

Craig Zobel's first feature film, "Great World Of Sound," was a low-key charmer that I enjoyed enormously.  It's got a great unique voice, and I don't think it easily fits any single genre description.  Now, with his new drama "Compliance," Zobel's made an aggressively unpleasant film, but with intent.  The film asks hard questions about basic human psychology, and it is a harrowing experience that closely follows the details of the real-life story that inspired it.  I can't say I liked sitting through "Compliance," but I can say that I think it's significant, and that it cements Zobel's place as a...

Yesterday, we ran through fifteen movies that we're dying to see at this year's SXSW, but the Austin, Texas festival doesn't just have world premieres: there's also a selection of films that have played film fests elsewhere in the world over the few last months, from Venice and Toronto to Sundance and Berlin.

As it happens, we've had Playlist agents at all those festivals too, and below we've picked out thirteen known quantities, films that we can definitively say are either worth checking out, and worth avoiding (thankfully, not too many of the latter). Read on for our verdicts, and stay tuned for comprehensive coverage from SXSW, which runs from Friday March 9th to Saturday the 17th.

“21 Jump Street”

Synopsis: Two bored, fresh-faced cops are transferred to a new department and sent undercover to bust a drug-running ring in a high school.

Our Verdict: After "Bridesmaids" had a raucous reception last year,...

Chicago – There is such a unique array of DVD titles this week that we couldn’t just let them get buried on our desk like so many minor titles do over the year. At least one of these has to be of interest to you. Maybe even the Dane Cook movie.

All four titles were released on February 28th, 2012

“Answers to Nothing”

Answers to Nothing

Photo credit: Lionsgate

Starring: Dane Cook, Julie Benz, Elizabeth Mitchell, and Barbara Hershey

Running Time: 123 minutes

Synopsis:

When an 11-year-old girl goes missing in Los Angeles, a chain of events is unleashed that will affect several strangers all struggling to find their own paths to redemption. Starring Dane Cook, Barbara Hershey and Julie Benz, these lost souls will together find the Answers To Nothing.

Special Features:

o Audio Commentary With Gillian Vigman (Writer), Matthew Leuwyler (Writer/Director), Amanda Marshall (Producer), Sim Sarna (Producer) and David Robert Jones...

Craig Zobel was here at Sundance a few years back with Great World of Sound, a comedy about an aspiring record producer and his strange breed of client. This year he returned with a film that’s far less funny but a bit more thought-provoking. Compliance asks those watching, ‘what would you do in this situation?’ The situation is something harrowing and disturbingly close to home.

Tfs talked to Zobel about how one makes a movie like this, getting the money to do so and how hard it is to shoot the equivalent of a 45-minute sex scene. There’s also his friendship with David Gordon Green (who executive produced the film) and the realization that he made an entire movie about one sentence in The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo.

The Film Stage: Let’s talk about the evolution of this film. Why was it the right time? What exactly did you read?...

Park City, Ut – January 28, 2012– The Wagner/Cuban Company’s Magnolia Pictures announced today they have acquired Us rights to Compliance, a harrowing thriller from writer/director Craig Zobel, that bowed last week at the Sundance Film Festival to controversy and critical acclaim. Magnolia previously collaborated with Zobel on Great World of Sound, which premiered at Sundance in 2007. Compliance was produced by Sophia Lin, Lisa Muskat, Tyler Davidson, Theo Sena and Zobel. The deal was negotiated for Magnolia by Svp of Acquisitions Dori Begley with John Sloss and Dana O’Keefe of Cinetic Media. Magnolia is planning a theatrical release later this year. Based on astonishing true events, Compliance is the story of Sandra (Ann Dowd), an overworked manager at a fast food restaurant, who receives a call from a police officer accusing one of her employees, a teenage girl named Becky (Dreama Walker), of stealing from a customer. Taking the officer at his word,...

With the Sundance awards ceremony hours away Magnolia continues to make buys, the latest being the acquisition of Craig Zobel’s “Compliance.” The Next section entry based on true events follows Sandra (Ann Dowd), an overworked manager at a fast food restaurant, who receives a call from a police officer accusing one of her employees of stealing from a customer; thus setting into motion a nightmarish scenario that quickly spirals out of control. Magnolia released Zobel’s previous film, “The Great World of Sound.” Cinetic negotiated the deal. The film will be released later this year. Read press release: Park City, Ut – January 28, 2012– The Wagner/Cuban Company’s Magnolia Pictures announced today they have acquired Us rights to Compliance, a harrowing thriller from writer/director Craig Zobel, that bowed last week at the Sundance Film Festival to controversy and critical acclaim. Magnolia...

Compliance is evidently a pretty rattling experience and, while writer-director Craig Zobel and his cast have been met with catcalls and hostility from audiences in Park City, the reaction of most critics so far seems to have been to go back to their hotel rooms and write raves. Qualified raves, but still.

Time Out New York's David Fear: "Having already started her day off on a bum note due to an employee fuck-up, a fast-food manager (Ann Dowd) is simmering at the lack of respect her crew shows her during a shift. A phone call from a police officer then informs her that a 19-year-old counter girl (Dreama Walker) has stolen money from a customer's purse; his team is going to investigate the matter, but until they get there, could the manager keep the alleged perp locked in the back office? It would be a big help to the cops.

Nerve-wracking, extremely troubling, and teetering on that fine Sundance line between useful provocation and self-satisfied exploitation (yes, I’m talking to you, Catfish), Compliance is the cinematic counterpart to one of those famous psychological studies from the 1960s in which volunteers who thought they were assisting in a scientific experiment in pain tolerance were instructed to increase the intensity of pain they inflicted on fellow humans. But rather than studying those being hurt, the real subject was those who complied with authority to do the hurting. (Yes, I’m talking to you, Nazis.)

Here the coolly noncommittal scientist messing with...

In 2007, Craig Zobel came to the Sundance Film Festival with his indie Great World of Sound , a small character story taking place in the world of indie record production, after having worked with David Gordon Green on many of his early indie movies. This year, he returns to Sundance with Compliance , a very different film, firstly because it delves into the thriller genre, but also because it's based on actual events. It stars Ann Dowd and Dreama Walker ("Gossip Girl") as the manager and counter girl of a small fast food restaurant whose relationship is changed when a police officer calls accusing the latter of stealing from a customer. Over the next few hours, they're put through a rigorous test to see how far they will go in following the instructions of the man on...