The Curse - new A24 Fielder/Safdie/Stone scripted TV comedy due in the autumn

[Tiggles]

Not really forgotten.

The Curse was approved very early in 2020, and seemed to have its ideas fully formed that year. To me, both it and The Rehearsal feel like different (if linked) responses NFY, rather than being a single evolutionary line.

[Led Souptin]

I also still can't really get past seeing Nathan  fielder as anything other than Nathan fielder from nathan for you. I know its sounds a bit mean and stranger things have happened, but I'm having trouble suspending my disbelief that Emma Stone's character and fielder would be together.

Edit: I guess their strange relationship is a theme that they're exploring in the show.... I think this needs a couple more eps to see where this goes

[sevendaughters]

where are we watching this? am I going to have to commit a CRIME? WOULD YOU WANT ME TO DO THAT WOULD YOU

[cacciaguida]

where are we watching this? am I going to have to commit a CRIME? WOULD YOU WANT ME TO DO THAT WOULD YOU

Paramount Plus via Amazon Prime - Free trial that lapses into £6.99 a month

I'll pay 6.99 for 4.5 episodes of anything Nathan Fielder does

[cacciaguida]

And just to reiterate what has been said before...

Spoiler alert

That sex scene is really quite something

[close]

[bobloblaw]

Paramount Plus via Amazon Prime - Free trial that lapses into £6.99 a month

I'll pay 6.99 for 4.5 episodes of anything Nathan Fielder does

I seem to get it for free with Apple somehow, if that helps

[Small Man Big Horse]

Hmmm, I can't say I enjoyed the first episode, there were parts I liked (the conversation with the father, Nathan being a dick and taking the money back, the weirdness at the atm) but if Fielder wasn't in it I don't think I'd have made it to the end of the episode, and right now I'm only going to stick with it because of his involvement.

[fucking ponderous]

I quite liked it. The parts that strayed away from the on the nose reality tv/rich people stuff were probably the best. Not to be annoying but this sort of rich person satire being delivered through a celebrity as big as Stone gets on my nerves a bit. She was very good though and I'm excited to see Fielder act more, or at least act differently than he did before.

Spoiler alert

Was he really pissing on camera?

[close]

[bobloblaw]

I quite liked it. The parts that strayed away from the on the nose reality tv/rich people stuff were probably the best. Not to be annoying but this sort of rich person satire being delivered through a celebrity as big as Stone gets on my nerves a bit. She was very good though and I'm excited to see Fielder act more, or at least act differently than he did before.

Spoiler alert

Was he really pissing on camera?

[close]

Spoiler alert

his face wasn't in the same frame. Stunt cock, surely?

[close]

[fucking ponderous]

Spoiler alert

I have not gone back to check but I am 99% sure it pans straight up from his cock in the mirror to his face in the mirror.

[close]

[fucking ponderous]

Spoiler alert

Okay they are in the same shot but in my opinion it does not look like a real penis.

[close]

[bobloblaw]

Spoiler alert

I have not gone back to check but I am 99% sure it pans straight up from his cock in the mirror to his face in the mirror.

[close]

Spoiler alert

If you can't see the cock and face in the same frame they could probably have disguised a cut. Prob easier to use a stunt cock though.

[close]

[selectivememory]

Feel like it would be a very Nathan Fielder thing, to

Spoiler alert

have a neurosis about having a small cock, and to explore that by showing it to the world and having it be an apparently major plot point for his character in his new comedy drama series.

[close]

Quite enjoyed that. Can very much relate to what @Tiggles said upthread about having to recalibrate their cringe guard to Fielder level, as Nathan For You is for me simultaneously one of the greatest TV shows ever made and also an absolute ordeal to sit through at times. I'm glad this is all apparently scripted though, as at least I don't have to worry about these excruciating interactions being real.

I like Emma Stone a lot, excellent casting, and I think Benny Safdie is always good and quite different every time I see him in something. And yeah, I thought Fielder was really good too. Was able to invest in his character as someone quite separate from his NFY/The Rehearsal persona, which I was worried about. Interested to see where it's going to go.

[Ant Farm Keyboard]

Spoiler alert

Okay they are in the same shot but in my opinion it does not look like a real penis.

[close]

Spoiler alert

Prosthetics are now very common. And if pissing is involved for such a shot, it's definitely a prosthetic as there could be multiple takes.
Fake cocks have actually become a mini industry in Hollywood in the last decade, and are now very much common place in shows such as Euphoria or Minx.

https://www.fastcompany.com/3049594/what-hollywoods-prosthetic-penis-genius-can-teach-you-about-ahem-growing-y

https://www.allure.com/story/how-prosthetic-pensises-get-made-movies-tv

[close]

[Tiggles]

The strike's definitely over.

Fielder and Stone on Jimmy Kimmel. I think Nathan managed to 99% of it before momentarily cracking.

[selectivememory]

Ha. His appearances on the late night shows are always great.

[Bobloblawslawbomb]

Ha. His appearances on the late night shows are always great.

I love that one where he brought in Susan Sarandon as a 'back-up'

[Led Souptin]

Just watched episode 2 and decided I really can't be arsed with this.

Will check back here at the end of the series but so far there's nothing keeping me hooked at all

[merri]

I'm hoping something will happen that goes beyond awkwardness and discomfort, but E2 felt like a bit of a slog.

[wrec]

I liked the Safdies' recent films but The Rehearsal put me off Nathan's schtick. Am I likely to be into this?

[backdrifter]

Yeah Ep2 was a bit of a bore. I'm sure this will be great overall though.

[bobloblaw]

good moments but not enough to connect them or sustain interest. The curse itself took a backseat entirely.

[cromby]

Can't say this or The Rehearsal really captured my interested, worried Fielder's projects may be diminishing returns.

[Perfect Fried Chicken]

For me this is all in the mix, and I'm very much enjoying watching Nathan Fielder's neuroses dropped into the grubby, stoner neon-nihilism of the Safdies. Not a lot of mention upthread of the Safdie influence, and its detachment and archness may be what's putting people off, if compared with, say, Nathan for You. But, as someone else pointed out upthread, The Rehearsal has come out since that, which is very odd and special in itself, and I'm hoping this is going to be the same.

[sevendaughters]

Finally saw the first two episodes. A mixed bag compared to how out-of-the-box great The Rehearsal was, but I appreciate it is trying something different.

I liked the overt anti-landlordism and the various enigmas the show is sowing, presumably to reap later. The general thrust is interesting to me and the scenes with Fielder and Stone are just a minefield of masked and hidden emotions that is catnip to me. The show is aiming for complexity and Fielder has earned my trust.

I am less in favour of the pace; not that I don't like slow shows. I just didn't feel that the extended scenes with Safdie and the woman, or Stone and the Pueblo chief really developed anything by using time as they did.

The little insert of the shit dating show that Safdie's character made really made laugh, and I sense there's going to be more based around footage recontextualising what we have seen and making it deeper, more interesting, and hopefully funnier.

Cautiously optimistic.

[neov1974]

just checking in here feels like the "wait for whole series" strategy may be worthwhile
lots of stuff is like that to me, old tv "do it week by week" just isn't the best medium for much

[selectivememory]

Enjoying this quite a lot now, three episodes in, though it's definitely not a comfortable watch at all. But I think I'm starting to get a handle on what they're doing with the show. Definitely think that Safdie needs to be considered an equal in the partnership with Fielder here, as this really has a distinctive tone that isn't in Nathan's other projects, and this doesn't feel a million miles away from something like Uncut Gems in that regard.

Really thought that final scene, where Stone and Fielder try to recreate a candid, funny moment for social media, which then devolves into a very real fight, was excellent. Think Nathan's doing a pretty good job with the old acting. Not in Stone's league, but he's holding his own in his scenes with her, and that fight felt very authentic to me.

Hoping to see more of Safdie's character. Very intrigued by the direction they've taken him after the opening episode, where he seemed at first to be the most reprehensible of the lot.

[Better Midlands]

Definitely think that Safdie needs to be considered an equal in the partnership with Fielder here, as this really has a distinctive tone that isn't in Nathan's other projects, and this doesn't feel a million miles away from something like Uncut Gems in that regard.

Yeah I agree, I do like that Safdie style - UG is great and Good Time also.

I was checking out the soundtrack as there was a track I really liked (Classroom) in the last episode and saw that the whole OST was listed as executively produced by Daniel Lopatin and music credited to John Medeski (a veteran of New York's 1990s avant-garde jazz scene who I hadn't heard of).

[Ant Farm Keyboard]

Medeski, Martin & Wood are quite famous within jazz circles, and they have made a few crossover appearances. They were Iggy Pop's backing band on a couple of tracks from Avenue B and on some live shows from the same time.

[Tiggles]

That fight was incredibly (intentionally) painful to watch, the episode bookended by grim critiques of Asher's character, from strangers and from his own wife.

So many good/ awful moments I don't know where to start. I'm starting to get very curious about Dougie. I get that he's in a painful place, want to see what his next move is as he shares some of that pain around.