
Kara Young with Jin Ha, Ayo Edebiri and Don Cheadle on opening night for ‘Proof.’
Kara Young is not feeling scared, exactly — in fact, she doesn’t know the words for this moment at all. “I have all the feelings, but I don’t know how to even describe them,” she says, mere hours out from going back on stage for a performance of her current Broadway play, Proof. “This is something that’s completely new for me — it’s a new world for me.”
She’s not, of course, referring to her current Broadway run: That’s old hat at this point for the New York native, who has won two consecutive Tony Awards — she’s the only Black actress in history to have done so — and been nominated for four years running. But at the same time as she’s starring in Proof — where she may well keep those Tony streak up, based on the reviews — she’s also hitting a milestone: Leading her first studio movie, Is God Is, about to be released in theaters across North America on May 15.
The progression feels natural for Young, who’s been making her name with critically acclaimed stage turns over the past decade, imbuing a wide range of characters with fierce conviction and dry wit. “She’s a wonderful scene partner — passionate, deeply interrogative and endlessly curious,” says Ayo Edebiri, Young’s Proof co-star. “She feels so very deeply and fully; it’s pretty astounding to be in contact with. When she brings that into her work, it never feels untethered or ostentatious.”
Young came into Proof as a tried-and-true pro: The production needed to find a replacement for Samira Wiley, who withdrew for health reasons, right before previews started. One actor fit the bill.
“I had five days in the [rehearsal] room and then I went straight to tech, so I didn’t have much time to prepare,” Young says. “When you do something like this — I call it quick and dirty — you have to trust your instincts. It is a lesson in that you have to trust your instrument and know that if it’s wrong, you can adjust.” She says it was an easy yes, but also one that reflects her current philosophy as her profile has risen over the last few years: “Either you wait to get something on television or film, or you work and work on your instrument and keep your sword sharpened.”

Kara Young with Jin Ha, Ayo Edebiri and Don Cheadle on opening night for ‘Proof.’
All of which is to say, Young’s rapid rise as one of the Great White Way’s most decorated stars has not dramatically changed things in terms of offers from Hollywood. “People say, like, ‘Oh my God, all these things have happened,’ but I feel like I’m still hustling,” Young says. “I don’t think that’s a bad thing, but people are always under the assumption that the thing has gotten perhaps easier. But I haven’t really seen a change.”
She’s had smaller roles in Boots Riley projects I’m a Virgo and the forthcoming I Love Boosters, and recurred in hit series like The Punisher and The Staircase. Is God Is feels different, though — and she knows it. Based on her volcanic performance in the film, that “change” people keep telling her about might start to feel real, too — her work is about to be exposed to far more people than can fill a Broadway theater for a few months.
“It is my honor to platform Kara, who many of us in the theater already know is a rare gift, a once-in a lifetime talent,” says writer-director Aleshea Harris. “I hope the beauty of her performance opens even more doors for her both onstage and onscreen. No one is more deserving.”
Making her directorial and screenwriting debut, Harris adapted Is God Is from her own Pulitzer Prize-finalist play about twin sisters on a bloody revenge quest (“Step aside, Quentin Tarantino and Martin McDonagh,” The New York Times’ review of the original 2018 Soho Rep production began). Young knew Harris from the theater world, but more importantly, she admired her work deeply. “It blew my mind,” Young says of the 2018 Is God Is production. “And the power of seeing it — I mean, this is a cult play. People are like, ‘That’s my favorite play ever.’”
Young was asked to audition for the movie and secured the part. “She doesn’t waste the opportunity to insist that this marginalized young woman is a person of great depth who should and must be perceived with empathy,” Harris says of how Young approached the role.
Is God Is opens with sisters Racine (Young) and Anaia (Mallori Johnson) being summoned to meet Ruby (Vivica A. Fox), the mother they’d assumed was dead or worse. Like her daughters, Ruby is severely disfigured by burn scars — and she reveals to them that their injuries came from childhood at the hands of their father and her ex-husband (Sterling K. Brown). Ruby’s mission for them is simple: Find him and kill him. Racine, the more outspoken and impulsive of the pair, pushes them to follow through on the quest.

Young with Mallori Johnson as Anaia in ‘Is God Is’
Patti Perret
The film’s neatest trick is its balance of emotional intimacy and hyperstylized action. We get to know Racine and Anaia deeply — so deeply that we see their wordless communication, whether brushing their teeth or hiding from danger, typed out on the screen — and feel the intensity of their connection. Young and Johnson worked with a choreographer in prep less for mimicry, and more to find symbiotic “twin energy.” They also have to delve into their family’s ugly past, confront a range of colorful characters — the supporting cast includes hilarious turns from Erika Alexander, Janelle Monáe and more — and, eventually, commit some murders. Well, quite a few. There is blood and stuntwork and weapon-handling aplenty.
“I fully immersed myself in Aleshea’s world,” Young says. “Anything that she wanted said or needed from me, I was always ready, willing and able.” What does she make of Tarantino comparisons that may rear their head again? “I don’t blame them for thinking that way, yet Aleshea Harris is in her own lane,” she says. “It’s quite easy for other people to relate it to that because that is just how we are taught in this world, to make a relation to very popular pop culture references. But I don’t think that it can be in comparison to anything because it’s unlike anything.”
Young’s all-out, sometimes unhinged commitment to the material shows — as does Young’s more profound relationship with the material. “I know that we don’t have this in our canon,” she says. “I’m thinking all the words I could possibly think of: our joys, our resilience, our survival, our wanting to know our histories, our interrogation of our own lives. I mean, there’s just so much. There’s so much, and it’s never one thing with this movie.”
The film feels like a very different kind of release for Amazon MGM Studios compared to their last theatrical play, the blockbuster hit Project Hail Mary. But in its significant, months-long promotional campaign ahead of release, Young finds herself front and center as a first-time movie star. After Proof performances, Young interacts with fans at the stage door, where Is God Is gets brought up often. The trailer, meanwhile, has been viewed more than 13.5 million times on YouTube alone — a massive number for an original story without any marquee screen stars in the lead parts.
Young feels the energy — it’s why she’s feeling a little off balance about it all. “There is a very overwhelming excitement from the people in this film, and I don’t know where the excitement comes from.” She thinks a bit more deeply before settling on where she sees the roots of it: “It’s never been done, and so that is the reason why people want to see it. We keep on producing the same stories, and this is not that…. I know the power of the story and that is where I am centered.”
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As Larry David‘s comedic trip through U.S. history comes to an end, he took credit for one of the nation’s more recent presidential scandals.
On Friday’s season finale of the HBO sketch comedy miniseries Life, Larry and the Pursuit of Unhappiness, President Barack Obama made a surprise appearance as himself in a sketch set in 2014, as David advised him to wear the now-infamous, outrage-inducing tan suit during his live press conference on military response to ISIS.
Following some banter on how the POTUS avoids stains, David accidentally spills juice on Obama’s suit jacket when he leaves the room. When the 44th president returns, the comedian recommends he wear the tan suit that Obama planned on taking it to Turin for NATO Summit, for “a daytime event, it’s outdoors, a little more casual.”
“First of all, it’s a gorgeous suit,” David declared. “And this is casual Friday!”
“It is a great suit,” admitted Obama, as David told him, “Oh boy, oh boy. I think this is the move. … Old lips won’t let you down. You’ll thank me!”
As Obama models the look, David gives him his signature, “Pretty good! Pretty, pretty, pretty, pretty, pretty good.”
“You sure about this?” asks Obama, as David assures him, “Never been more sure about anything in my life. People are going to be talking about this for a long, long time.”
Obama’s cameo in the finale comes as David marks the United States Semiquencentennial with the seven-part sketch comedy limited series, which recounts major events in U.S. history through the comedian’s signature observational humor.
David’s longtime Curb Your Enthusiasm partner Jeff Schaffer, who serves as an executive producer on Life, Larry and the Pursuit of Unhappiness, previously told Deadline that Obama, who produced under his Higher Ground banner, reached out to his buddy David to ask if he’d be interested in making the show to celebrate the country’s 250th birthday.
“When you’re doing a show about American history, you want to do it warts and right now we have this orange saggy wart that we wish would go away,” said Schaffer. “But the nice thing about having President Obama produce this and be a part of it is that this country’s had a lot of fuck ups, we’ve seemed to have learned very little, but we’re still moving forward sometimes, and then we move back a little bit, but we always move forward again. While Larry’s pointing out a lot of the steps back, the President is telling us we can still step forward.”
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Matthew McConaughey shows off his vocal skills (and some hidden banjo talents) with his latest role in The Rivals of Amziah King.
On Friday, Lakeshore Records released the single and music video for “Quill” from the original motion picture soundtrack, performed by the Oscar-winning and co-star Ben Hardesty, also featuring Miranda Zickler, Angelina LookingGlass and Andrea Pister.
Set in the backwoods of Oklahoma, The Rivals of Amziah King follows the musically gifted Amaziah King (McConaughey) and his bluegrass-playing band of misfits while overseeing the premier honey-making operation in town. When Amaziah’s estranged foster daughter unexpectedly returns, he leaps at the chance to reconnect and create a family business. But the honey game is ruthless, and Amaziah’s rivals threaten to destroy everything he has built.
Premiering Aug. 14 in theaters, the Andrew Patterson-written-and-directed drama also stars Angelina LookingGlass, Cole Sprouse, Jake Horowitz, Tony Revolori and Kurt Russell.
Producers are David Heyman, Teddy Schwarzman, Jeffrey Clifford, Michael Heimler, James Montague and Will Greenfield.
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With their latest directorial outing, Jane Schoenbrun used subtle pieces of nostalgia to deconstruct the slasher genre.
The Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma writer/director explained to Deadline that they wanted to create “a mindset where you can really enjoy something scary,” noting the frequent symbolism of candy and junk food as providing an atmosphere “that’s actually safe” while diving into a horror movie or exploring sexuality after trauma.
“There is this idea that if it gets too real, you can turn it off, that you’re exploring something dangerous, doing it in a way that’s actually safe,” said Schoenbrun, who is non-binary. “Which in my experience of coming into my sexual identity post-transition, kind of required some gummy candy on hand. What I mean by that is, even if we’re going to be exploring scary and vulnerable and potentially embarrassing, triggering parts of ourselves, we trust each other well enough to know that at any moment, we can be like, ‘Let’s stop, we gotta just eat some fucking gummies.’”
In Schoenbrun’s latest film, Hannah Einbinder stars as queer director Kris, who is tapped to helm a new installment of the long-running Camp Miasma horror franchise. While courting Billy Presley (Gillian Anderson), the actress who played the “final girl” in the original film, to reprise her role, the pair spirals into a psychosexual frenzy as the slasher’s killer, Little Death (Jack Haven), comes to life.
Acknowledging the problematic trans representation of horror films like Psycho (1960), Sleepaway Camp (1983), The Silence of the Lambs (1991) and Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Next Generation (1995), Schoenbrun admitted the genre has been “catnip to me since I was 10 years old,” and they jumped at the chance to direct their own.

“So many slashers do have this sense of humor, and even if they’re not overtly meta like the Scream movies are, they’re so aware of their own tropes and the sort of rituals … And I just loved that from a young age and loved all of the little rituals within it, and so, getting to make my own is just like play and joy,” they explained.
“But it also felt like the perfect way to talk about sex and to talk about my experience as a trans person post-transition, learning how to come into a sexual identity that I could feel comfortable within, because so many of these movies are obviously deeply engaged in gender and sexual roles, and these movies have so much to say for better or for worse about deviants,” said Schoenbrun. “It is there in the DNA of the slasher genre that these movies are talking about fear and desire, gender and sexuality, normativity and deviance. And that’s all swimming in the toxic soup of the genre, so I wanted to remake it in my own language.”
Read on about Jane Schoenbrun’s love letter to the slasher genre with Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma, now playing in theaters.
DEADLINE: It was really fun to see the slasher genre through your eyes. Tell me about finding inspiration in that genre and “final girls.”
JANE SCHOENBRUN: I mean, it was the easiest thing in the world because it’s just one of those genres that has been catnip to me since I was 10 years old. I just raided the horror section of the video store as a kid from an age when I really shouldn’t have been doing that, like in 5th grade, I watched in the span of about one week, every Nightmare on Elm Street movie. I think that I was always drawn to movies and really anything entertainment where it felt forbidden in some way, like the thing on the tape, how is that even allowed? And that’s the thing that I love about a lot of my favorite slashers. Don’t get me wrong, I love like brutal ones, like I love Texas Chainsaw, that’s a nasty movie at its core, and that’s what’s so special about it. But so many slashers do have this sense of humor, and even if they’re not overtly meta like the Scream movies are, they’re so aware of their own tropes and the sort of rituals of, OK, what’s the most outrageous way that like these like dumb kids can get killed? But watching it, it’s not about fear a lot of the time, it’s about joy and celebration. And I just loved that from a young age and loved all of the little rituals within it, and so, getting to make my own is just like play and joy. But it also felt like the perfect way to talk about sex and to talk about my experience as a trans person post-transition, learning how to come into a sexual identity that I could feel comfortable within, because so many of these movies are obviously deeply engaged in gender and sexual roles, and these movies have so much to say for better or for worse about deviants, whether that be Norman Bates or Buffalo Bill or Sleepway Camp or Jason, Michael Myers, Leatherface in drag. It is there in the DNA of the slasher genre that these movies are talking about fear and desire, gender and sexuality, normativity and deviance. And that’s all swimming in the toxic soup of the genre, so I wanted to remake it in my own language.

DEADLINE: I’m curious about the symbolism of all the processed junk food and the chandelier of wrappers.
SCHOENBRUN: The junk food in the movie, I forget when it found its way in there. It’s like so much of the movie is about, like I said, ritual, about being in a mindset where you can really enjoy something scary, whether that be Kris [Hannah Einbinder] in bed, with, you know, with Raisinets and the popcorn, watching a schlocky horror movie, or the two characters learning how to be present and enjoy sex after a lot of trauma. There is this idea that if it gets too real, you can turn it off, that you’re exploring something dangerous, doing it in a way that’s actually safe. Which in my experience of coming into my sexual identity post-transition, kind of required some gummy candy on hand. What I mean by that is, even if we’re going to be exploring scary and vulnerable and potentially embarrassing, triggering parts of ourselves, we trust each other well enough to know that at any moment, we can be like, “Let’s stop, we gotta just eat some fucking gummies.”
DEADLINE: And one thing I really love—I just feel like it’s a theme in your work—is how it depicts the way media and entertainment influence us. Why does that inspire you?
SCHOENBRUN: I think it comes from a fascination and sensitivity to the complex relationship between what we think of as fiction and what we think of as reality, which we tend to, as a society, think of as pointing in one direction. Like, reality dictates fiction, not vice-versa, but when you actually look at the way the world works, it’s like one echoes off the other. And I think a complicated, sometimes terrifying and sometimes beautiful way, where the fiction, the cultural norms, the things we grow up looking at on our screens, the roles that we’re told people play, they kind of inspire us to create reality. There’s something liberating when you start thinking in that way. I think it’s a way of thinking that we as a culture, could do a lot more of. To think about the idea of fiction inspiring reality just as much as reality is inspiring fiction, is a potential path to liberating us from this hellscape that they’re telling us is the only way the world can be.

DEADLINE: And I know you have the Secretary reading. Tell me what it’s been like prepping for that and why you all chose that movie.
SCHOENBRUN: I mean, that was such a huge influence on on Miasma. There just aren’t that many fun and funny movies about deviant sex. And just the way that movie is like feather light while talking about really raw and taboo things, it is just really inspiring to me. And the dynamic between those two main characters is definitely one that had a lot of influence on on Kris and Billy’s [Gillian Anderson] relationship in Miasma. And it’s already to me a very queer movie in its way, but having Gillian reading the James Spader part and Hannah reading the Maggie Gyllenhaal part, I think it’s just gonna be like a very unique joy. Honestly, we’ve been prepping a little bit, but I think it’s just gonna be about getting up there and feeling the chemistry of it all, and just letting these folks who we have all gotten to know each other really, really well, but we haven’t actually done anything wacky and creative like that in a while, like as a reunion, it’s gonna be a real blast, I think.
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