Nathan Fielder and Benny Safdie’s TV Show ‘The Curse’ Makes History at New York Film Festival: ‘Everything About It Screams Cinema to Me’
variety.comAnna Tingley Up until Thursday night, New York Film Festival had never once featured a TV show on its annual premiere lineup, so when Benny Safdie approached NYFF artistic director Dennis Lim with a new series he created alongside Nathan Fielder, the likelihood that it would get a big-screen premiere was low.
But Lim gave it a chance, and after he finished the fifth episode he knew he had to figure out how to make something work. “[Benny] was like, ‘Why don’t you take a look and see what you think?'” Lim recalled at the series’ NYFF world premiere at Lincoln Center’s Alice Tully Hall on Thursday night, where Safdie and Fielder were in attendance. “So he sent me three episodes, I watched them right away and I said, ‘I need to see more.’ By the time I got to Episode 5 or 6, I called Benny and said ‘We need to figure out how to make this work.'” “This is one of the most exciting things I’ve seen this year,” Lim continued, just before the lights dimmed for its 8:30 p.m.
showing. “Everything about ‘The Curse‘ screams cinema to me.” The A24 and Showtime series is a satirical take on house-flipping and home improvement shows found on cable TV.
Fielder and Stone play a newly married couple, Asher and Whitney — likely inspired by Chip and Joanna Gaines of HGTV’s “Fixer-Upper” — who are the hosts of a house-flipping TV show.
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