Entertainment
‘Maddie’s Secret’ Trailer: John Early’s Dark Comedy Directing Debut
Comedian John Early makes his feature directing debut with the tonally wild dark comedy “Maddie’s Secret,” a hit out of 2025’s Toronto International Film Festival and soon headed to theaters from Magnolia Pictures. Watch the trailer below.
Best known for his comic collaborations with Kate Berlant and for series like “Search Party” and “The Afterparty” and starring roles in films like “Stress Positions,” Early writes, directs, and stars in “Maddie’s Secret.” Here, he plays a woman named Maddie — earnestly, and not as drag — a dishwasher who becomes a viral internet superstar while working for food content creation company Gourmaybe.
She has a loving husband (Eric Rahill) and a devoted lesbian best friend (Berlant), but pressures at the new job threaten to reveal a secret from Maddie’s past that will threaten her career. A satirical melodrama, a movie-of-the-week homage, an intimate drama, and a woundingly dark comedy, “Maddie’s Secret” is many things, including one of the year’s most exciting debuts.
More from IndieWire’s review: “Even when it is not strictly funny, the dialogue is written and performed with the kind of hyper-expressive broadness that defines the after-school specials which inspired it. But what is most immediately striking about the film is its straightforward sincerity. Early never makes fun of Maddie, never lets the audience snicker at the screen. There is a mean version of this project, the one I imagined walking in — a satire of wellness culture and feminine self-image that is brutal and shocking, with a higher joke density. But ‘Maddie’s Secret’ is a different and more tender thing.”
IndieWire also spoke to Early out of Toronto last year, who said he learned a lot about directing in his first go-round. “The biggest thing I learned was just the only way for me, I’m not Terrence Malick. I can’t like be, ‘Let’s fucking roam around and get beautiful shots.’ I really was like, ‘The only way is preparation and coming in with a plan.’ Especially at the budget level we were working, if you didn’t have a plan, it all fell apart. I’m very proud of its visual directness, and I say this with love, the dumbness. There were moments where we were trying to do more elevated camera work. And then I was like, ‘I’m sorry. It’s just going to be her POV. And I’m going to make the actors look directly into the camera. I’m sorry.’”
“Maddie’s Secret” arrives in theaters starting June 19 at IFC Center and June 26 in Los Angeles. Check out its first trailer below.
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Harry Smith is returning to NBC News as a contributor, with plans to report on feature stories called Common Good.
Smith’s return is official as of Monday, when he will appear at a Common Ground live event hosted by the network. The network confirmed his return, first reported by People. He told the publication, “I have long believed that there is more that unites us than divides us. It’s in our bones. It’s part of America’s DNA.”
Smith departed the network in March, 2024 after 12 years, with a send off on NBC’s Today. “I have nothing but gratitude,” he said. “Every time I would always come on this show, I was always welcomed so generously. I’ve had just this unbelievable array of phenomenal experiences since coming to NBC, and so I’m really full of nothing but gratitude. Every time I’ve come on, everyone would drop their phones, pay attention to the story and then respond.”
Smith previously hosted CBS This Morning and its predecessor, The Early Show, for 17 years. After departing NBC News in 2024, he has been teaching at Central College in Iowa.
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EXCLUSIVE: Karl Glusman (Eenie Meanie) has joined the cast of Giant Void, the upcoming independent sci-fi drama from writer-director Michael Reisinger, with The Blair Witch Project co-creator Eduardo Sánchez boarding as an executive producer.
Glusman joins Molly Burnett (Law & Order:SVU) , Elaine Hendrix (The Parent Trap) and Shahjehan Khan (Deli Boys) in the ensemble.
The film follows Chloe (Burnett), “a brilliant but isolated computer scientist whose potentially world-changing software uncovers hidden connections she was never meant to find. As she grows closer to a new co-worker (Glusman), the discovery forces her to question the nature of human connection, reality and humanity’s place in the universe.”
Pic is produced by Burnett, Reisinger, Andrew Baird (The Peanut Butter Falcon), Adia Stark, and Shepard E. Smith.
The film marks the feature directorial debut of Reisinger, whose screenplay was previously recognized by the Slamdance Screenplay Competition and Scriptapalooza. The film was independently produced in Colorado and is now preparing for a festival run.
“I’m honored to be part of this team,” Sánchez said about the completed film. “Giant Void is an amazing and emotional journey that will surely touch audiences everywhere. Can’t wait to get this film out there.”
Sánchez recently returned to the Blair Witch franchise as an executive producer on Lionsgate’s next film in the series.
Glusman is currently filming Replacer alongside Halsey, and his credits include Paul Schrader’s The Basics of Philosophy, Alex Garland’s Devs, Nicolas Winding Refn’s The Neon Demon, Tom Ford’s Nocturnal Animals, and Gaspar Noé’s Love.
Glusman is repped by Paradigm, Ilene Feldman Management, and Ziffren Brittenham. Sanchez is repped by Independent Artist Group, Atlas Literary, and Goodman, Genow.
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Netflix has found its leads for Icebreaker, its series adaptation of Hannah Grace‘s bestselling novel. Daisy Jelley (Poser, How To Have Sex) will play Anastasia “Stassie” Allen and Connor Simos (Subversion) will portray Nate Hawkins in the college hockey romance drama series.
In Icebreaker, she is the transfer gunning for Olympic gold. He is the campus star chasing the NHL. But when an accident forces their teams to share one rink, Anastasia Allen and Nate Hawkins collide—and discipline gives way to obsession, because the only thing more dangerous than wanting to win is wanting each other.
The book, the first in a trilogy, titled Maple Hills, spent 70 weeks atop the New York Times bestseller list. Originally published in November 2022 with a wide release in 2023, the blockbuster novel has surpassed nearly 5 million copies sold worldwide. Total sales for the three-book series have surpassed 7.5 million copies globally.
Icebreaker is created and executive produced by Jade Halley Bartlett (Road House, Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, Miller’s Girl). Amanda Lasher (Gossip Girl, The Bold Type, Togetherness) serves as showrunner, writer and excutive producer. Grace also executive produces along with Alex Cooper, Matt Kaplan and Mina Lefevre for Cooper’s Unwell Productions.
Icebreaker joins a lineup of Netflix adaptations, including I Will Find You, Little House on the Prairie, and the breakout series His & Hers Upcoming adaptations include East of Eden, Pride and Prejudice, The Corrections, and Lonesome Dove.
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