Eddie Alcazar On ‘Divinity’, His Steven Soderbergh-Backed Sci-Fi Horror; ‘Anatomy Of A Fall’ Lands In Theaters – Specialty Preview

deadline.com:

Two experimental films executive produced by Steven Soderbergh — Eddie Alcazar’s Divinity and Godfrey Reggio’s Once Within A Time – join Neon’s anticipated Anatomy Of A Fall, Cannes Palme d’Or winner, in theaters today, a bit of counter-programming on a weekend dominated by Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour.

Divinity, in a dark and creepy future populated by bodybuilders hooked on an elixir for eternal life, “was always made for the theater,” said Alcazar. “But it’s kind of a roll of the dice of what a distributor wants to do with it.” Utopia, which acquired the black-and-white romp — set mostly in a mansion on a desert that looks like the moon — after its Sundance premiere (see Deadline review), opens Divinity at Regal Union Square in NYC, expanding to Los Angeles next week, with a national rollout on 11/3.

Opening weekend Q&As with Alcazar, Soderbergh, star Stephen Dorff and DJ Muggs. Muggs’ soundtrack (with Dean Hurley) is central to the otherworldly story of twins from space (Jason Genao, Moises Arias) who land on earth to punish the scientist (Dorff) behind the droppers of liquid Divinity that is destroying humankind.

Also stars Bella Thorne, Jaxxon Pierce, Karrueche Tran. Low-budget horror (Skinamarink, Terrifier 2) is one genre that can surprise at the box office. “Hopefully, people go to see  it, and then it just stays out there,” said Alcazar, who directed The Vandal, a short executive produced by Darren Aronofsky that premiered at Cannes in 2021.