SXSWorld
Issue link: https://sxsw.uberflip.com/i/81866
Breakout Performances Highlight Th ese SXSW Films by Allison Willmore Caught Inside director Adam Blaiklock never doubted that Ben Oxenbould was the perfect choice for his villain: "I never considered anyone else for the role." Oxenbould plays Bull, an aging cinema. But the bold acting that brings these projects to life deserves its own attention. Here are four contenders for breakout performances among showcasing fi lms, in roles that include frightening surfers, travelers caught up in the emotional disintegration of others, actors struggling with the burdens of their craft, and best frenemies. Th ough the Australian actor is best known for his comedic work, A s the festival approaches 18 years of surfacing innovative work from emerging directors, SXSW Film has earned its reputation as one of the country's mightiest showcases of essential indie Marilyn Monroe and Carmen Miranda as part of the character's liveli- hood, co-wrote the screenplay with her director and husband, Gustavo Pizzi. Th e two folded in incidents based on their own personal experi- ences, along with those of friends and family, and acutely capture the emotional ups and downs of the industry. "For actors, things must happen fast," says Pizzi. "Getting old without a solid career is one of the biggest fears." For Teles, that career is looking bright. a celebrity impersonator between auditions and endures countless day-to- day humiliations and heartbreaks in pursuit of her art. Th e luminous Teles, who dons costumes to play screen divas like Caught Inside Riscado pick, Enter the Void, in which Olly Alexander appeared as a young expat whose betrayal of a friend leads to shocking violence. Th is new fi lm, directed by Alison Bagnall (the writer of Buff alo '66), is a fairytalesque adventure in which a heartbroken young wife (Greta Gerwig) fi nds Alexander's unnamed British backpacker huddled in a lighthouse near her off -season beach town and brings him with her on her breakdown. Bagnall fi rst encountered Alexander when looking for actors for another fi lm that didn't make it into production. "I wanted to cast him on the basis of his picture alone," she says. "He just doesn't seem real. He has this Dickensian quality." She wrote Th e Dish & Th e Spoon for her two leads after seeing them improvise a scene together, liking their dynamic, in which the younger Alexander seemed the more vulnerable party: "I felt like it would be compelling to watch him get hurt by her." While we all like to imagine that talent is all you need to get ahead, the surf legend whose trip to some remote islands known for their waves goes sour when he begins competing with a fellow traveler for the atten- tion of the group's fl irtatious single woman. When he's turned down, Bull turns the surfi ng charter-to- paradise adventure into a nightmare. "Bull has anger management issues coupled with a very strict point of view," explains Blaiklock, who adds that it was crucial for the character to remain humanized, for audiences to be able to see his point of view. "We feel empathy for Bull even though we don't agree with how he's handling the situation." He credits this balance to Oxenbould's deep understanding of the character. "Giving Ben ownership of Bull was fantastic. We trusted each other and it became a simple process of mustering the beast." Th e Dish & Th e Spoon is quite a change of pace from last year's festival equal importance luck and persistence can have in establishing a successful performing career is at the heart of the Brazilian fi lm Riscado. Karine Teles plays an aspiring actor named Bianca, who poignantly works odd jobs as 46 SXSW ORLD / M ARCH F ILM- I A 201 1 Silver Bullets The Dish and the Spoon two fi lms in which she stars in this year's lineup. Cast in a werewolf fl ick, her character Claire is torn between her director and her boyfriend Ethan, a fi lmmaker himself. Director Joe Swanberg, who also plays Ethan, notes that the fi lm was Kate Lyn Sheil, like Teles, plays an actor in Silver Bullets, one of the Sheil is Genevieve, a woman whose jealousy and insecurity destroy her close friendship with Robin, played by the director. Takal and her fi ancé Lawrence Michael Levine, who produced and also appears in the fi lm, were roommates with Sheil in Brooklyn, a closeness that Takal suggests comes through on screen. "It was important that the intimacy we devel- oped living together enabled us to take chances on set, and explore such uncomfortable and dark feelings." ■ For screening information for these and other SXSW fi lms, check out SXSW. com or get SXSW GO, the SXSW2011 mobile app, at sxsw.com/mobile shot over two-and-a-half years, throughout which Sheil "was integral in shaping the character through the many diff erent transformations." He even credits her with the fi nal shot, "which was totally her idea that she brought to me." In the second half of her SXSW double-feature, Sophia Takal's Green,