Pick a Peck of Pillion

I don't know who that lucky chap standing with the camera is but down there under him is Alexander Skarsgård (hence him being a lucky chap) -- this is a set photo from Pillion that was included with a few others in a new Interview Magazine interview with writer-director Harry Lighton that I recommend reading! (thx Mac) Probably read it only if you've seen the movie already because I do feel like there are some spoilers contained therein -- and on that note, you know how yesterday I told y'all that Pillion is going nationwide on February 20th? Well I got an email today saying February 27th instead. SIGH. I am just the messenger! Okay? Don't take it out on me! I'm sorry! Anyway that aside there is some cool other news buried in that Interview Mag chat that I hadn't heard before -- apparently Lighton has written the script for History of Sound director Oliver Hermanus' upcoming bio-pic of the designer Alexander McQueen?? I did know that Hermanus was working on this project -- see this post from May of last year here -- but I didn't know Harry Lighton was writing, and has apparently now finished, the script. That's exciting! That said Lighton also admits in this interview that he's never seen a single Rainer Werner Fassbinder movie, and... Harry. Come over. We'll do a binge. I have such sights to show you...

Good Morning, Udo

As I'm sure most if not all of you are aware two terrible things happened this weekend -- one we lost Udo Kier. The gay legend who starred in half of my favorite movies of all time -- movies from Dario Argento, Rainer Werner Fassbinder, Lars Von Trier, Paul Morrissey, Kleber Mendonça Filho, Guy Maddin, Werner Herzog, Rob Zombie, Gus Van Sant, Wim Wenders, John Carpenter, E. Elias Merhige, Amanda Kramer, Walerian Borowczyk and Andy fuckin' Warhol, to name but a few! -- and was the most memorable thing in a full 95% of them. He was a freak legend, an icon, a king, and we adored him very much. You can roll through our archives here -- I should do a Top 5 performances of his when I get a chance, but two late roles worth mentioning are his one-scene showstopper in The Secret Agent, which is rolling out this fall, and of course the incredible showcase for him that was 2021's Swan Song, reviewed right here. Cruel that Covid robbed that movie of a bigger rollout, but catch it now if you haven't yet. 

Udo Kier lives forever! He simply ascended to his true form which is too fucking fabulous for us peons to even see anymore. We’re lucky he ever let us look at him in the first place. Here’s some video I took of him two years ago — icon legend king

[image or embed]

— Jason Adams (@jamnpp.bsky.social) November 23, 2025 at 7:43 PM

I could go on and on about King Udo, but this brings me to the second terrible thing that happened this weekend -- I fell down some stairs and twisted my ankle a full 90 degrees and I'm laid up as fuck. I'm hopefully getting an X-ray today so we'll see what happens, but I can't imagine it will be too noisy here today given I'm a shell of a human being right this moment. It's not broken -- I can hobble around alright -- but it's also robbed me of what little will I was already barely working with. So talk to me about Udo in the comments, or don't, I'm around-ish. Udo forever! Jason for never!

Each Man Kills The Thing He Loves

I have been so sidetracked with Tribeca I haven't had the chance to all-hands-on-deck everyone that yesterday was the day that Rainer Wener Fassbinder's final and gayest film Querelle hit the Criterion Collection! Yes, the one with the turned-out-to-be-controversial cover that seemed to be either love it or hate it (I actually fell somewhere down the middle myself -- I will always prefer any movie's original art, but given the fact that this movie's best original art is semi-pornographic I understand the change, and I don't loathe the new art.) If you haven't already pick up a copy right here. And if you've never seen Querelle before... my god, you're in for something. The movie is so dreamy and bizarre, languorous and sexy and hyponotically strange. It is a definite mood. A definitive gay text. It's a lot of things and you need to discover them all for yourselves ASAP! I've posted about this movie one billion times previously but I have been so busy with Tribeca I haven't been able to watch my copy of the new blu yet. But hopefully, once it calms down this weekend, I will make time for the magic, the wonder....

5 Off My Head - The Hottest Criterion Covers

They say sex sells, but the art-house media empire known as Criterion doesn't often subscribe to that notion. Sure their streaming service sometimes sluts it up with timed collections catering to such tastes. But when it comes to the actual physical media releases they put out? Let's just say they're not regularly porning up the shelves at your local neighborhood Barnes & Noble. Don't believe me? Just look at the artful but limp covers they gave us for notoriously horny movies like David Cronenberg's Crash and John Schlesinger's Midnight Cowboy:

Which is why last week's reveal of the cover art for Rainer Werner Fassbinder's Querelle (hitting those shelves in June) came at us like such a happy punch in the privates. Designed by the artist Astra Zero (follow them on Instagram here) the cover is appropriately horny for RWF's horny, horny final film, which we're ecstatic to see getting a proper release at last. But it got me thinking -- what other Criterion covers have stirred my (admittedly easily stirred) loins? So I made a list! And do keep in mind that I am extremely homosexual, so my list echoes those credentials. Make your own lists, straights! (Also clearly the Querelle one trumps everything else and should be considered #1 above all of these from here on out. It already won!)

The 5 Horniest Criterion Covers (Besides Querelle)

Claire Denis' Beau Travail -- I'm not as big a fan of Denis' 1999 erotic treatise on masculinity as a lot of you are, or as would typically make sense, given the film's notable focus on hard half-naked male bodies swinging around in hypnotic unison. But that doesn't mean I can argue with the shadowy visage of actor Grégoire Colin's bared, slick torso. I bought this disc even though I don't love the movie just because of the cover!

Jacques Deray's La Piscine -- I could have used any Criterion cover that has Alain Delon on it (his jawline on the Purple Noon cover could create a cult all on its own) but, even if a bit hetero to my linking, half-naked Alain & Romy Schneider clenched up in ecstacy is about  as hot and sweaty as these things get. Let's not get in the way of their erotic lifestyle!

Gus Van Sant's My Own Private Idaho -- Two of the most beautiful and sensitive movie stars on my early teen years at the height of their beauty and sensitivity, rocking hustler ennui while strapped to one another on the back of a motorcycle -- you can't see that the motorocycle is there in the cover image but you can probably feel it, humming between your thighs all the same. And if not, well, they sure are on top of each other huh? 

Andrew Haigh's Weekend -- Seeing actor Chris New working his way down actor Tom Cullen's naked body again this rumpled mid-coitus snapshot image slams you right back there into the middle of this 2011 masterpiece of intimacy from Haigh and you realize -- oh right that's where I have wanted to be all this time. Back in bed with those two!

Carl Franklin's Devil in a Blue Dress -- Sometimes all it takes is peak Denzel Washington in a white tank top, what can I say?

-----------------------------------------

Runners-up: Joyce Chopra's Smooth Talk, Yukio Mishima's Patriotism, Paul Schrader's The Comfort of Strangers, Alfonso Cuaron's Y Tu Mama Tambien, Wong Kar Wai's In the Mood For Love, Stephen Frears' My Beautiful Laundrette

-----------------------------------------

What would be your picks for Criterion's horniest covers?

Happy Pride From Criterion!

June is Pride Month and Criterion is hitting a home run right off the bat with their June 2024 slate of announcements -- Rainer Werner Fassbinder's final film Querelle, a surreal Jean Genet adaptation starring a sizzling hot Brad Davis that has been a real pain in the ass to get for years (out of print et cetera) is entering the collection on June 11th! We've posted a million and one times about this movie here at MNPP, it's been one of our faves since it was first introduced to us in a college class on queer cinema -- I'm a little sad they're not releasing it in 4K (just regular blu) but I will not complain! It will just be nice to replace my ancient DVD! But that's not the only gay goodness they've got in store for the month...

... as they're also dropping the Wachowski's 1996 lesbian noir masterpiece Bound! And this one IS getting the 4K treatment! If you've never seen Bound before... well don't even wait for the June 18th release date. Watch Bound tonight! You will not be disappointed. It remains my favorite Wachowski movie, and it was their first! But the hits don't stop there...

... as they've also slated Barry Jenkins seriously underappreciated 2021 masterpiece of a miniseries The Underground Railroad. I guess because the world felt like it was falling apart (not that that feeling has stopped) when this was airing it really felt like it didn't get enough attention at the time -- maybe it was also the fact that it was on Amazon Prime and lord knows the black hole that is streaming does the legacy of art no favors. But this is the best thing Jenkins has done to date and I say that as a person who felt Moonlight deserved Best Picture. Just an astonishing accomplishment, not to be missed. 

The rest of their June slate ain't no slouch -- David Lynch's 1986 masterpiece Blue Velvet is getting the 4K upgrade for one. This is probably my favorite Lynch movie? It's nigh impossible to choose given his filmography but it's the one I keep coming back to the most often anyway. And I cannot wait to see how it looks in 4K. Also getting a 4K upgrade is Terry Gilliam's Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. And then there's the one movie of the June bunch I am unfamliar with -- Emilio Fernandez's 1951 film Victims of Sin, which sounds like a Mexican noir melodrama? I'm in. Once I finish watching Querelle for the 50,000th time anyway...

Everything You Ever Need To Know About Life...

 ... you can learn from:

Gentleman Jim (1942)

Jim: Do you know what I'd do with you if you were my girl? 

I'd just put you over my knee and give you a good spanking.

Happy birthday to iconically eye-patched director Raoul Walsh

who was born 137 years ago today! Fassbinder was a big fan!

Quote of the Day

"... what I took from Fassbinder for this film was beauty. Meaning, I wasn’t making realistic cinema, I was making iconic cinema. So I thought of the woman’s face, the man’s body, the costumes, the spaces as opportunities for visual impact. So we were looking at Beware of a Holy Whore, but mostly for wardrobe. ... the color of the sweaters is incredible. And I think that in certain kinds of cinema, and Fassbinder more than almost anyone else, what lingers with you is the impact of color and bodies. ... For me, pain in cinema is great pleasure because it’s not my own. ... Like Splendor in the Grass, the most painful movie ever made, is the most beautiful movie ever made."

Interview Magazine spoke to Passages director Ira Sachs and his love for Fassbinder came up and I feel foolish now, that I don't recall thinking of Fassbinder at all when I saw Passages earlier this year. (Here is my Sundance review of the movie, which just hit theaters this past weekend.) It seems very obvious here in retrospect! I had considered going to see the movie a third time (I watched it twice at Sundance) over the weekend but didn't make it, so my memory is admittedly vague now, but recognition of that influence still walked straight up to me and slapped me across my face with its obviousness anyway. Anyway check out the entire chat, Sachs is very smart and very smart about film specifically and it's always a pleasure to see what he's got to say. And he also repeats last week's news that he's making a movie about gay photographer Peter Hujar starring Ben Whishaw next! Very exciting, that.

Everything You Ever Need To Know About Life...

 ... you can learn from:

Mother Küsters Goes to Heaven (1975)

Emma Küsters: Everybody's out for something.

Once you realize that, everything is simple.

Writer director and MNPP fave (the last part being the most important, natch) Rainer Werner Fassbinder was born on this day in the year 1945. In all seriousness we sure do like him! Even though he was, as the kids say, problematic. We're all fucking problematic -- but not all of us can turn our bullshit into The Bitter Tears of Petra von Kant. Point Rainer. Have any of you seen Mother Küsters before? It's been awhile for me but I remember loving it very much, with it containing one of his greatest roles for Ali: Fear of the Soul star Brigitte Mira. She plays a housewife and mother who becomes politically radicalized. I feel like this movie used to be kind of tough to get a good copy of, but that changed last year when Arrow included it in their third boxed set of RWF movies. So go see it, is my point. And happy Fassbinder Day!

5 Off My Head - Holiday Heavy Hitters

Per usual I did nothing over the break but watch movie upon movie upon movie. (I also binged the final season of His Dark Materials and the full run of Fleischman is in Trouble -- the latter is astonishing and is deeply recommended; it's the best thing I watched over break, period.) But what else am I supposed to do, leave the house? Interact with people? Please. Who you talkin' to? Anyway you can as ever keep track of my watching pursuits by following me on my Letterboxd, but because I'm banging my head against the wall today trying to get myself back into the state of writing mood, let's make a list! Those are fucking easy. 

The 5 Best First-Watch Movies

I Watched Over My Winter Vacation

Return to Seoul (2022) -- I hate that I don't have the time or the place to write a proper review for this one because it deserves all of that effort -- maybe if/when I get to my "Best of 2022" list we'll be talking it properly. Just know it's very much worth seeing out, and it's literally mind-blowing that this is the first performance from actress Park Ji-Min, who gives one of the great performances of the year here. I think this is still being rolled out? It's not streaming anywhere yet? So find it when you can. Maybe once it hits streaming I will write more. A real rewarding little marvel of a character piece.

Water Drops on Burning Rocks (2000) -- This is one I always felt ashamed to admit I'd never seen when the subject came up, but that shame grew into a panic when Francois Ozon's Peter Von Kant (reviewed here) came out earlier this year -- knowing that Ozon's very first film was also deeply entrenched in Fassbinder-dom (it was based on an un-produced play by RWF) I knew I'd best hop on it already before I'd dashed all my reputation to pieces. You can see chunks of other finished Fassbinder products herein -- it especially made me think of Fox and His Friends and In a Year of Thirteen Moons, although it's far less devastating than either of those movies. There's a lightness and a broadness to this that's definitely more Ozon's than it is Rainer's, but as ever the place where those two minds meet is an utter delight to me.

10 Rillington Place (1971) -- A truly fucked up true-crime serial killer story about the British murderer John Christie, who strangled a bunch of people and buried them in the walls and back-yard of his flat. Directed by Richard Fleischer, the man behind Red Sonja and Soylent Green, this movie in now way shies away from the awfulness of its story and vibe, especially in its phenomenally unsettling lead performance by Sir Richard Attenborough as Christie -- I will never ever be able to watch Jurassic Park the same way again.

Be My Cat: A Film For Anne (2014) -- I really wanted to watch a found footage horror film that I'd never seen before a couple of days ago, so I googled around and saw this movie, which I had never even heard of before, on a list of best ones. Thankfully it is on Tubi (sidenote: literally everything is on Tubi) and holy f'ing hell y'all this movie is insane. I knew the basic premise going in but am loathe to give it away if you'd prefer to watch something unspoiled, and I think this would reward that instinct. So just trust me -- if you're ever looking for a new spin on found-footage and are cool with staring into the abyss of wackadoodle obsession, have I got a thing for you. 

Dot Com For Murder (2002) -- Make no mistake, this movie is absolutely fucking awful. Just wildly inept on every level. And that is of course the appeal -- I have no doubt that's why Arrow is putting out a fancy blu-ray of it on February 7th (pick up your copy right here!) and that's what finally put this gem before me, as I was sent a screener. Of course the Gaylords of Darkness, the interweb's premiere nonsense podcast, have been hyping this movie for years now -- I'm happy to say they were right to obsess. It's ecstatic trash. Up there in the pantheon of so-bad-they're-greats. Get drunk, get very very drunk, and enjoy ye nude internet fingers for yourself!

---------------------------------

What did you watch and love over the holidays?

Put Away Those Bitter Tears

My review of François Ozon's playful re-do of Rainer Werner Fassbinder's The Bitter Tears of Petra Von Kant, titled Peter Von Kant, went up at Pajiba over the weekend -- click here if you missed it. If you only know him from this movie you might not recognize actor Stefan Crepon as he is photographed above because in PVT he's got a gigantic mustache and is very mannered in his hilarious spin...

... on the assistant role (which was played by Irm Hermann in the original film). He also walks away with the entire damn picture, if you ask me. And I don't say that lightly -- Denis Ménochet is terrific in the lead role and Khalil Ben Gharbia (photographed alongside Stefan below) is incredibly sexy in the role of Ménochet's wanton and cruel love interest. But I am Team Karl forever.

The Bitter Tears of September

Finally some news on one of 2022's most anticipated movies of yours truly -- François Ozon's ode to Rainer Werner Fassbinder called Peter Von Kant is getting released here in the US on September 2nd! And we've got a trailer and a big batch of images to share too. I've already talked about this movie a bunch before here on the site, which isn't a surprise given my affection for Ozon and my obsession with Fassbinder. This is my peanut butter meeting chocolate moment! (And if you missed the Warhol-inspired poster I really recommend you check that out.) 

Peter Von Kant, borrowing its title and apparently much of its plot from Fassbinder's classic queer play and film The Bitter Tears of Petra von Kant, stars the great Denis Ménochet as the titular Peter, who here is a man (gasp) and a Fassbinderian film director. From what I gather it's an attempt to look at the director himself through the lens of one of his most self-critical works. I can't say, I haven't seen it! And I haven't read any reviews because I haven't seen it. I'm keeping myself as fresh as I can be until then. I'm not even going to watch this trailer, but maybe you will:

The film will be released in several cities on September 2nd -- namely New York  at the IFC Center, Los Angeles at Laemmle Royal, as well as theaters in San Francisco, Chicago and Seattle. And then it will branch out from there as these art-house movies have a habit of doing. If you'd like to stare at more images from the movie, including more looks at Denis' co-stars Isabelle Adjani, Hannah Schygulla, Khalil Gharbia, Stéphane Crépon, Aminthe Audiard, plus a second Warhol-flavored poster, then you can go ahead and hit the jump right now...

Everything You Ever Need To Know About Life...

 ... you can learn from:

The Tenant (1976)

Stella: Why don't you take your tie off?

You look like you're choking to death.

Trelkovsky: I found a tooth in my

apartment. It was in a hole.

I love the constant streams of non-sequiturs in The Tenant, don't you? I've seen that movie half a dozen times at this point and it still manages to disorient me with every view. Anyway a happy 67th birthday to Isabelle Adjani today! I know she works plenty but I feel like I myself haven't seen her in a movie in awhile, so I'm pretty excited to see her in François Ozon's next one, the Fassbinder-riffing Peter Von Kant. I mean I'd be excited to see Ozon riffing on Fassbinder no matter what but Isabelle being there's a plus! Here's an image of an album cover (via) involving Isabelle's character: 

Boys Licking Boys

Whoops I saw this over the weekend, last weekend, and then forgot to post it come Monday -- the first poster for François Ozon's forthcoming Fassbinder-riff called Peter Von Kant has arrived, itself a very obvious riff on Andy Warhol's famous poster art for Querelle, which I'll share down below in case somebody's never seen it before. PVK stars hot French bear Denis Ménochet, Isabelle Adjani, and actual legendary Fassbinder collaborator Hanna Schygulla, and is being sold as a sort of gay-male version of RWF's film The Bitter Tears of Petra von Kant, just with Ménochet playing a version of Fassbinder himself? I know people have seen and have reviewed the film already since it premiered at the Berlin Film Fest back in February but I have avoided all of that, I just don't want to know until it's sitting in front of me. We need to have things to look forward to! 

Flux Imminent

The first poster for Peter Strickland's Flux Gourmet has been released (via Indiewire) -- this comes on the heels of the first trailer, which I shared with you on Monday. Strickland, one of my most beloved weirdo auteurs currently working, has previously gifted us with the movies Berberian Sound Studio, The Duke of Burgundy, and In Fabric, all MNPP faves, and this one will hopefully take its place in the pantheon alongside those titles when it hits deez streets later this summer. The film's premiering in Berlin today so those lucky bastards who are at that fest will presumably be dropping reviews soon -- I will try not to read any of them so I can go into the film clear-brained, but I can promise nothing. I also thought I'd do that with Francois Ozon's Fassbinder-riff Peter von Kant, which premiered yesterday there, and I ended up spending all afternoon looking up everything about it... 

Some photos from Berlin of dreamboat Denis Menochet with Ozon and co-star Khalil Ben Gharbia (who plays the Hanna Schygulla role) (also apparently Schygulla is IN THIS and I just want to die, I WANT TO DIE, why can't I see this NOWWWWWWW) pic.twitter.com/MvoY4JVRP3

— Jason Adams (@JAMNPP) February 10, 2022

Everything You Ever Need To Know About Life...

 ... you can learn from:

Beware of a Holy Whore (1971)

Journalist: What kind of movie is it? 

Jeff: It's a film about brutality. 

What else would one make a movie about?

Rainer Werner Fassbinder's wacky making-of-a-movie epic Beware of a Holy Whore came out 50 years ago today! Now I've only seen this movie once and it's been awhile so my word, per usual, means shit, but I always think of this film as kind of an outlier amongst RWF's movies --  it feels shambolic and loose, focused on a bunch of people relationships and not just one or two like he usually does. It's much more about just capturing a scene and an atmosphere -- namely what it was like to be on one of his sets -- than any of his other films, and as such I recommend it over the recent Fassbinder bio-pic, which tried to capture the same thing but didn't quite land. I think I liked the bio-pic a little more than most people did but compared with Holy Whore there's really no comparison -- why watch an actress wearing a Hanna Schygulla wig when Hanna Schygulla is right there?!? Anyway maybe I'll re-watch this one tonight...

Gotta Get Ulrike Ottinger

Heads up on a new obsession o' mine -- if you've got Criterion Channel you need to check out Ulrike Ottinger's 1979 film Ticket of No Return, which they've got streaming this month as part of the director Richard Linklater's picks. And yes if you know about my ambivalence towards the films of Linklater then you might understand it when I say him putting this movie in front of me is the greatest thing he's ever done. Thanks, Richard! Starring frequent Ottinger collaborator Tabea Blumenschein in a nearly wordless performance the film follows a woman who goes to Berlin to do nothing but drink herself to death -- imagine Leaving Las Vegas directed by Douglas Sirk, or as I called it on Twitter, "Tati Meets Fassbinder shot by Guy Bourdin." 

It is so my shit! So it will probably be your shit. This was my very first Ottinger film -- the Metrograph theater here in NYC had planned a big retrospective of her films in March 2020 where she was going to be here and everything and then, well, March 2020 happened. They did end up streaming them virtually that fall but I missed it because I have no idea, I was probably curled up in the corner of my apartment crying -- it was 2020. Anyway I'm now furious I missed out on this, especially because her movies are basically impossible to see. They aren't available on home video unless you order them from Ottinger's website (thx Ross) but I warn you they're outrageously expensive. 

Which is a damned shame, given how immediately and entirely infatuated I found myself with Ticket of No Return. Oh and my Fassbinder mention above isn't just because both filmmakers are German -- there are a slew of overlapping collaborators, including Peer Raben doing the music and actors like Volker Spengler, Eddie Constantine, and Kurt Raab popping up. There's also just a vibe -- a big vibe -- that they share. Queer and depressive and fabulous all at once. I'm in love. Release a boxed-set, Criterion! I gotta get my hands on Freak Orlando ASAP. Any Ottinger fans out there?

Going Gay All of a Sudden

I feel like me telling anyone who visits this site that there are a giant pile of queer movies on the Criterion Channel right now is pointless -- anybody coming to this site already knows this. But maybe I am incorrect -- it's not like that's uncommon! -- and so I tell you, here and now, whether you know this already or not, there is a giant pile of queer movies on the Criterion Channel right now. This link here is a good place to start (Teorema and Cruising and Poison, oh my!) but they've also got a collection of Jeffrey Friedman and Rob Epstein's films (including their wildly moving and effective doc on Harvey Milk) and a collection of Dirk Bogarde films (Fassbinder's Despair anybody?) and a collection of films directed by Mitchell Leisen (on that note I really recommend this piece on him at The Film Experience)... actually you know what, they have a page on their site for this, right here. I don't have to link to these separately. Everything from Wong Kar-wai's Happy Together to Gregg Araki's The Living End to James Bidgood's Pink Narcissus, to Maurice to BPM to Fox and His Friends and Querelle to Weekend to Mishima; really I would be living on the Criterion Channel right now if it wasn't for Tribeca happening. 

Rainer Werner Fassbinder died on this day in 1982 pic.twitter.com/UTTui1jokf

— Jason Adams (@JAMNPP) June 10, 2021

Speaking of Tribeca, though -- please do stay tuned for my first sputtering bits of coverage of that Film Fest, now ongoing, which should go up online starting at some point in the next couple of days. Yes perhaps even over the weekend, even though I don't normally write on the weekends. And it's a three-day Summer Weekend for me, at that! Wild and crazy stuff! Yeah we'll see how it goes. But it'll mostly at The Film Experience and Pajiba, although I'll try to remember to link to all of it from here too. Bye!

A sailor's life for me... pic.twitter.com/JakKXH52e1

— Jason Adams (@JAMNPP) June 10, 2021

Pic of the Day

I don't think I knew that American Psycho and I Shot Andy Warhol director and genius Mary Harron was making Dalíland, a movie about painter and bestached bon vivant Salvador Dalí's later years, but there's the proof! (Edit: I did know, and here's an old post about it.)  Deadline's showing off our first look at Ben Kingsley in the lead role but even more importantly the extremely talented former Fassbinder-muse Barbara Sukowa in the role of Dalí''s wife Gala. Here's a picture of the real-life pair:

I'd say that's pretty spot-on, ehh? The person you see on the left side of the photo up top is Andreja Pejić playing Dali's muse, the model Amanda Lear -- it's kind of weirding me out how much she looks like Harron-regular Cara Seymour -- right? If you'd told me that was Cara Seymour I'd have believed you. 

Looking through IMDb it doesn't look like Cara is in this one though, which makes me a little sad. There are other reasons to perk up, though -- playing the young Salvador Dalí in flashbacks is Ezra Miller, which ought to be colorful, I imagine. Also Rupert Graves is in this, playing Dali's so-called "right hand man" Captain Moore -- I'll always take the opportunity to stare at my beloved Scudder! Here's how Deadline describes the plot:

"The movie tells the story of the later years of the strange and fascinating marriage between the iconic Spanish painter and his domineering wife, Gala, as their seemingly unshakable bond begins to stress and fracture. Set in New York and Spain in 1973, the story is told through the eyes of James, a young assistant keen to make his name in the art world, who helps the eccen­tric and mercurial Dalí prepare for a big gallery show."

Which brings us to the apparent leading man of the film, the dude playing this young assistant named "James" -- the actor is named Christopher Briney and he's basically a total newcomer, film-wise; here's him:

LOL that photo made me laugh, I had to use it -- it's swiped off of his Instagram over here. I'll add a couple more professional photos (via) down below. He looks very young! But there's your lead. And I'm sure Mary Harron chose well. But I'm mainly watching this movie for Mary Harron and for Barbara Sukowa, I am...