Freaky Tales Sundance Premiere Features Pedro Pascal, Too Short – The Hollywood Reporter

Pedro Pascal in “Horrible Tales”

Courtesy of the Sundance Institute

Freaky tales The 2024 Sundance Film Festival has officially kicked off with Pedro Pascal as soon-to-retire curator and Jay Ellis as NBA All-Star and former Golden State Warrior Sleepy Floyd.

The film, directed by Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck, received its main screening at 7pm at the Eccles Theatre, where it was given a standing ovation by the audience. Filmmakers, whose recent credits include Captain Marvel And Air masterswere welcomed back to the festival, where they made their debut Half nelson It was introduced in 2006 and Mississippi grinding It was introduced in 2015.

“Last time I was here with Mississippi grinding I had to lie to get on a plane to tell me how pregnant I was. I was so pregnant, I had to pretend I was less pregnant than I was. “And now the person I was pregnant with is here tonight, and she’s eight years old,” Bowden said before the show to applause from the audience. “Thank you, Sundance, for bringing us back here.”

Freaky talesSet in 1987 Auckland, the film is a mixture of genres, from sci-fi to classic kung fu films, told across four interlocking chapters. The large cast includes Ben Mendelsohn, who has worked with the directors on two other films, the singer Normani, Dominic Thorne, and Jack Champion. The film also features one of Angus Cloud’s final performances,… trance An actor who died last year at the age of 25.

“At the same time, it is a love letter to the spirit of Oakland and to those who fight injustice,” Sundance programmer Kim Yutani said.

The film is filled with amazing scenes, from the villains brawling against Nazis to Ellis Floyd killing a house full of said Nazis using various swords. For all the genre bending, stellar talent, and copious amounts of gore, it was the Oscar-winning Bay Area actor’s minutes-long performance that earned the biggest applause.

“This is the thing I needed to see,” Fleck said in the post-screening Q&A about why he made the film. “No one else was going to make this movie. I just needed to do it to see it.”

In addition to Pascal, Normani (“This is my first movie,” she noted to thunderous applause), and others from the cast, in attendance Thursday night were the real Sleepy Floyd (who appears in the movie) and Oakland rapper Too Short, whose song “ Freaky Tales” inspires the film’s title and also serves as the film’s narrator.

Macro and eOne at the back Freaky talesWhich is sold outside the festival.