PDF File

You are cordially invited to join
Brit Marling and Zal Batmanglij
for a special screening of Fox Searchlight Pictures’
SOUND OF MY VOICE
A film by Zal Batmanglij
Screenplay by Zal Batmanglij and Brit Marling
starring
Brit Marling Christopher Denham Nicole Vicius Avery Pohl
Presented by
GU CCI
Sunday, April 22nd, 2012
7:00pm - Screening and Q&A
MoMA
11 West 53rd Street btw 5th & 6th Avenues
9:00pm - Party
ELECTRIC ROOM at Dream Downtown Hotel
355 West 16th Street btw 8th & 9th Avenues
(enter through loading dock to left of Dream hotel entrance)
In SOUND OF MY VOICE, Peter (Christopher Denham) and Lorna (Nicole Vicius), a
couple and documentary filmmaking team, infiltrate a mysterious group led by an
enigmatic young woman named Maggie (Brit Marling). Intent on exposing her as a
charlatan and freeing the followers from her grip, Peter and Lorna start to question
their objective and each other as they unravel the secrets of Maggie's underworld.
Runtime 86 minutes
In theaters April 27, 2012
Brit Marling
Patricia Clarkson
Rebecca Dayan
Zal Batmanglij
Christopher Denham
Heather Matarazzo
Tracy Antonopoulos
Sophie Auster
Randy Harrison
Antonio Campos
Tom Lipinski
Duncan Sheik
John Cameron Mitchell
Ryan Fleck
Phillip Spaeth
Vampire weekend- Ezra Koenig, Tom Tomson, Rostam Batmanglij
Stephen Baldwin
Christopher Abbott
Sean Durkin, Rebecca Dayan
Christopher Denham, Brit Marling
Zal & Rostam Batmanglij
Brit Marling, Mike Cahill
Christopher Denham, Brit Marling, Zal Batmanglij
The Next Wave Of ‘It’thCelebrities
By: Mike Vilensky/Tuesday, April 24 2012
"In five years she's going to be everywhere," proclaimed one party-goer at the Electric
Room Sunday evening, while the blonde, skinny actress Brit Marling walked by.
Along with director Zal Batmanglij and co-star Christopher Denham, Ms. Marling, who
has previously appeared in "Another Earth," was celebrating a sneak screening of
"Sound of My Voice," held at the Museum of Modern Art earlier that evening.
Ms. Marling stars in the film, which she also co-wrote, as a cult leader who is at times
ominous and chill-inducing, like the villain in a thriller; at other times, charming and selfassured, like the popular girl in a teen movie. When her character isn't forcing her
followers to vomit or kidnap, she's singing Cranberries songs in the basement of her
cult's Los Angeles headquarters and flirting shamelessly with her disciples.
"I kept thinking life is going to go by really fast," Ms. Marling said, of turning down a job
at Goldman Sachs GS +0.65% to write and star in movies. "I've got to throw myself into
this."
The party was comprised of many creative characters who will likely "be everywhere" in
half a decade—themselves a cult-like crew or co-stars of a buddy-comedy.
Mr. Denham, a New York theater actor who plays the male lead in "Sound of My Voice,"
said the cast and crew, all friends prior to the film, share similar sensibilities. "It's my cup
of tea," he said of the movie, which was bought by Fox Searchlight after screening at
Sundance. "I would like it even if I weren't in it."
Mr. Batmanglij, the tall and dapper director, received hugs from agents and producers.
He is the older brother of Vampire Weekend keyboardist and songwriter Rostam
Batmanglij, who, at the party, was playing samples of his new songs on his cell-phone.
"I think my brother would admit that he's learned a few things from me, and I've learned
a few things from him," the younger Mr. Batmanglij said, before Stephen Baldwin came
by to introduce himself. "Like any two brothers we've had rocky moments, but our
relationship has gotten closer and closer." When Mr. Batmanglij lit up a cigarette inside
the Electric Room, the elder Batmanglij smiled and noted, "He's a rock star."
Christopher Abbott, an actor on Lena Dunham's buzzy series "Girls," was also in
attendance at the party. Posing for photographers, Mr. Abott did not seem to mind
missing his own series, which airs on Sunday evenings.
In his uniform of Dunhill solid-color attire, Sean Durkin, the celebrated young filmmaker
behind "Martha Marcy May Marlene," swung by to congratulate his colleagues. Mr.
Durkin said that, while working on his film—also ominous and also about a cult—he had
no idea that Mr. Batmanglij was working on his own cult movie, though the two
filmmakers share an agent in David Flynn.
"There's a natural desire to belong to something," Mr. Durkin said. "Cults are an
extreme way to explore that."
Mr. Flynn was there, too, presiding over his roster of breaking talent.
The agent's advice for aspiring filmmakers?
"More money doesn't make a better movie," he said. "Artists need constriction."
Gucci and The Peggy Siegal Co Present A Screening of
‘Sound of My Voice
rd
By: Alexandria Symonds/Monday, April 23 2012
When talking about director Zal Batmanglij's debut feature, Sound of My Voice, it's hard
to avoid drawing the comparison between working on an independent film and
becoming a member of a cult; and at last night's Peggy Siegal Company screening of
the film in New York, presented by Gucci, the film's director and stars were happy to do
just that. The film stars Brit Marling as Maggie, a charismatic and mysterious cult leader
in southern California, and Christopher Denham and Nicole Vicius as a couple who
infiltrate the cult intending—originally, at least—to make a documentary about it, but
who end up much more deeply involved than they could have imagined.
"Probably... making independent film?" Denham laughed when we asked him whether
he drew on any in-too-deep experiences in his own life. "In a group situation like this, it
really did feel like it was a family and everyone was really contributing in a way that
wasn't because of monetary reasons. You do feel like you're going to go a little farther
than you would normally."
Working on this film in particular may have felt even more like an initiation for Denham
and Vicius than most, considering how far the working relationship between Marling and
Batmanglij goes back. The pair, who also wrote the film together, became friends (along
with director Mike Cahill, who directed Marling in Another Earth) at Georgetown, a
decade ago. "Brit and Zal definitely had their own little lexicon, and shorthand with each
other," Denham confirmed with a laugh. "They really did take me in, and now I feel
proud to be part of this little tribe-cult thing."
Others who gathered post-screening at The Electric Room at the Dream Downtown,
swilling champagne rather than Kool-Aid, included directors Sean Durkin, Antonio
Campos, and Ryan Fleck; Vampire Weekenders Ezra Koenig and Rostam Batmanglij
(Zal's brother), and actors Patricia Clarkson, Heather Matarazzo, and Stephen Baldwin.
Baldwin may be on a spiritual journey of his own, these days; he was carrying a book he
informed us was "written by a Christian pastor, emphasizing the importance of
multicultural communities coming together in faith," and generously offered to send us a
copy.
Sightings . . .
Artist William Wegman walking his three Weimaraners on Seventh Avenue . . .
“Shame” star Michael Fassbender on a bench on Hudson Street practicing lines . . .
Sonic Youth rocker Thurston Moore strolling on East 12th Street with an attractive
brunette . . . Patriots owner Robert Kraft lunching at Harry Cipriani . . . Vampire
Weekend at an Electric Room party for Zal Batmanglij’s “Sound of My Voice” . . Kellan
Lutz and pals at Ainsworth Prime at MSG for Wednesday’s Knicks game.
ZAL BATMANGLIJ IS COMMUNITYMINDED
ABOVE: ZAL BATMANGLIJ ON THE SET OF SOUND OF MY VOICE. IMAGE COURTESY OF FOX
SEARCHLIGHT
For a first feature, Zal Batmanglij's Sound of My Voice shows remarkable confidence.
Batmanglij trusts his audience enough to leave multiple significant plot points
completely open to interpretation. The film stars Brit Marling as Maggie, a young woman
in southern California who claims to be a time-traveler from the year 2054 and who has
developed a small but fanatical cult of followers, along with Christopher Denham and
Nicole Vicius as Peter and Lorna, a couple who infiltrate the cult hoping to make a
documentary film about it and expose Maggie as a fraud. As the story goes on, the
skeptics both onscreen and in the audience become unsettled—Peter and Lorna
become more deeply involved in Maggie's tribe than they ever intended, and we are left
wondering whether Maggie herself is a con woman or a truth-teller.
After the Peggy Siegal Company premiere of the film this week, presented by Gucci, we
caught up with Batmanglij to discuss darkness and light, unexpected moments of
humor, and what he's still discovering about his own film.
ALEXANDRIA SYMONDS: I saw the movie twice, actually.
ZAL BATMANGLIJ: How did it play the second time?
SYMONDS: It was great! The second time, knowing what was going to happen and
being able to see how it was constructed, I really appreciated that.
BATMANGLIJ: I just sat and watched it for the first time in a couple months, and I loved
it too. I mean, I appreciate it. I like the line in which she says, "I'm not going to be there,"
or whatever, you know, she's leaving. She knows she's leaving. I didn't even get that.
SYMONDS: Yeah! There was one thing I hadn't actually caught the first time around—in
the first scene in the cult, when the little boy goes into the room to give blood.
BATMANGLIJ: Yeah, he does. You know what, though...
SYMONDS: I completely passed over it the first time.
BATMANGLIJ: It was so expensive. Kids are so expensive, because you have to have a
set teacher. You can only have them for one day. But no one ever notices that, thank
you for noticing.
SYMONDS: One thing that was super-different between the two screenings that I saw
was that people laughed a lot tonight. At the critics' screening that I saw, people
laughed at one scene, because it's...
BATMANGLIJ: ...funny. But they didn't laugh at other things. I know.
SYMONDS: They weren't laughing a lot at scene transitions or anything like that.
BATMANGLIJ: I know. It was funny tonight, but I liked it! I realized that it's a really weird
movie, so people are laughing because they're very uncomfortable a lot of the time.
SYMONDS: Like the scenes with James Urbaniak. He's so great—did you know him
from before this?
BATMANGLIJ: No, but I told him that this was a trilogy, and that the dad character is
very important later on.
SYMONDS: I interviewed Brit when Another Earth came out, and she mentioned that
you and she and Mike had originally had a project that was a series of short films, sort
of along the same themes, and then Another Earth came out of that. WasSound of My
Voice a part of that, too?
BATMANGLIJ: Sound of My Voice had been written beforeAnother Earth.
SYMONDS: There are some similar themes.
BATMANGLIJ: There are. But that's because we spent 10 years coming of age
together, so you have that same stew we made together.
SYMONDS: Did you feel like you had to induct Nicole and Chris into this relationship
that you all had together already?
BATMANGLIJ: No. I really believe that if you have a good idea of a good movie, you are
just a digger. Brit and I had shoveled, digging out the movie. Chris and Nicole picked up
shovels, and they were so serious about digging, and they were digging harder than we
were, so we had to dig hard. And then Brit digs even harder, and then the sound guy
digs, and then the cinematographer digs, and at the end, you have this movie, and it
doesn't belong to anyone. We just unearthed it. That's what it really feels like. When it
feels like it belongs to someone, it's just not very good.
SYMONDS: Do you feel like you're not a self-styled auteur kind of person? You don't
want to do that?
BATMANGLIJ: I don't fight in the contract for, like, a Zal Batmanglij film. I'm not against
anyone who does that, but it's like, it's not that kind of medium. I wouldn't be a novelist
and tell the same story. I like how collaborative and cult-like filmmaking is. It's really
family-oriented, tribe-oriented.
SYMONDS: With the very short shoot time—you said you had 18 days. I think in life,
super-short, very intense experiences often end up meaning more than when you spend
three months with someone on an eight-hour-a-day basis.
BATMANGLIJ: Yeah, I agree.
SYMONDS: Did you feel that way about this?
BATMANGLIJ: One hundred percent. I think we didn't think about it too much. That was
the beauty of making this movie. We just had to make a movie. We didn't expect
Sundance, we didn't expect Fox Searchlight, we didn't expect any of this. We just had to
make to a movie, and we didn't have any time, or the luxury to think about it. We were
like working at a factory. We just had to make our sweaters, you know? It's our job in
life. I was very rewarded.
SYMONDS: You mentioned in the Q&A that you didn't joke around on set a lot. That
makes total sense to me—it seems like if you had, then it would have been a different
movie. There are moments of comedy in it, but it doesn't seem like the kind of movie
where you could have been relaxed and comfortable enough at any point to have inside
jokes.
BATMANGLIJ: It's a very dark movie, too. It's about the darkness, I think. And then
about finding the light.
SYMONDS: That final scene really is—it's literally in darkness, and then the light comes
in.
BATMANGLIJ: Exactly! Literally. I always think that Sound of My Voice is a movie about
the crumbs in Hansel and Gretel. You know, those crumbs. It's about finding your way
out of the claustrophobia and alienation of modern life.
SYMONDS: Can I ask about the La Brea Tar Pits? That scene with Chris and the little
girl, in front of that mounted wall of fossils, is so great. The light is so amazing in that
hallway.
BATMANGLIJ: I actually didn't connect with that image as much as I connected with the
black-and-white photo from 1906 of the guys digging. But my DP loved that image, of
the image you like, the fossil wall. So, I honored her. And that is the collaborative
experience of making movies.
Last Night’s Parties
By: Yumi Matsuo/Monday, April 23rd 2012
Where: MoMA and Electric Room
Who was there: Guests included Brit Marling, Christopher Denham, Zal Batmanglij,
Christopher Abbott, Sophie Auster, Stephen Baldwin, Patricia Clarkson, Rebecca
Dayan, Randy Harrison, Tom Lipinski, Heather Matarazzo, Phillip Spaeth, Mike Cahill,
Antonio Campos, Sean Durkin, Ryan Fleck, John Cameron Mitchell, Tracy
Antonopoulos, Dree Hemingway, Sophia Lie, Anja Rubik, Antony Todd, Rostam
Batmanglij, Ezra Koenig, Chris Tomson, and Duncan Sheik.
Sound of My
Voice’ Premiere
rd
Monday, April 23 2012
The cast of the upcoming psychological drama "Sound of My Voice" gathered at the
MoMA on Sunday to celebrate the film's release with the help of Patricia Clarkson,
Duncan Sheik and Stephen Baldwin. Directed by Zal Batmanglij, the movie focuses on
two documentary filmmakers who prepare to investigate the secret world of a
mysterious cult, but find themselves potentially brainwashed soon after.
"Sound of My Voice" proves to be a truly collaborative effort, as it was also co-written by
the film's leading lady, Brit Marling. As for the movie's score, musical credits go to
Batmaglij's brother and member of Vampire Weekend, Rostam Batmanglij.
See photos of the premiere at after party, which was held at the Electric Room,
below:
Sound of My Voice’ Is
This Year’s Best Thriller
th
By: Chloe Melas/Tuesday, April 24 2012
HollywoodLife.com attended the premiere of Fox Searchlight Pictures’ new film and it’s
phenomenal — it’ll leave you on the edge of your seat the entire time! Read on to find
out why!
Do you need a really good movie for you and your beau but not the typical chick flick? I
saw such a great movie at the MoMA on a rainy NYC night and I never expected to be
completely gripped for 85 minutes. The Peggy Siegal Company hosted the NYC
screening of Sound Of My Voice along with Gucci and it fabulous — I’ll tell you why.
The film written by Zal Batmanglij and Brit Marling is about a journalist who decides to
go undercover in a cult with a hidden camera. The guy’s name is Peter [Christopher
Denham], and he along with his girlfriend Lorna [Nicole Vicius], try to expose this
corrupt leader who lives outside of LA in the basement of a middle class home.
When you picture a cult leader you probably think of some creepy old man trying to get
everyone to drink the red punch, right? Well much to my surprise, it was a gorgeous girl
named Maggie [Marling] who had the entire theater mesmerized.
Maggie claims that she’s from the future, 2054 and she’s come back to bring others
back with her. Her story at first sounds insane but then you start to really believe her
and even Peter and his girlfriend Lorna start to struggle with separating their perceived
reality with what Maggie is saying. Whether it’s watching the soon-to-be cult members
throw up in unison, or eat a worm while listening to this gorgeous twenty something tell
them magical stories of their future lives — you start to question your own life.
But when Maggie asks for Peter to bring her an 8-year-old girl named Abigail Pritchett
[Avery Pohl] that’s when the movie takes a turn. You won’t believe what happens and
the film will leave you with a million questions.
There was a Q&A after the film with Marling and Batmanglij and they refused to give the
audience straight answers which makes me want to watch this film again! The cast and
other A-listers headed to the Dream Downtown’s Electric Room to discuss the film
further and it left everyone buzzing.
You must see The Sound of My Voice when it hits theaters April 27.
Spotted…
th
By: Michelle Ruiz/Tuesday, April 24 2012
Indie “it girl” Britt Marling (pictured), Vampire Weekend’s Rostam Batmanglij and the
director of her new flick “Sound of My Voice” Zal Batmanglij partying into the wee hours
at the Gucci-hosted post-premiere soiree at Electric Room in New York ... Florence
Welch of Florence and the Machine cuddling with boyfriend James Nesbitt at MSN’s
after-party at the Marquee Boombox in Las Vegas ... Sarah Gilbert of “The Talk” and
girlfriend Linda Perry indulging in a PDA session at the Los Angeles GLAAD Media
Awards at the Westin Bonaventure Hotel ... Cesar “The Dog Whisperer” Milan waiting
for a flight at LAX with a four-legged friend ...
Gucci hosts a special screening of Fox Searchlight’s ‘Sound
of My Voice
th
By: Shaina Moskowitz/Wednesday, April 25 2012
Examiner.com was on the red carpet for a special screening of Fox Searchlight's 'Sound
of My Voice' at the MoMA hosted by Gucci. The film hits theaters this Friday, April 27th.
In Sound of My Voice, Peter (Christopher Denham) and Lorna (Nicole Vicius), a couple
and documentary filmmaking team, infiltrate a mysterious group led by an enigmatic
young woman named Maggie (Brit Marling). Intent on exposing her as a charlatan and
freeing the followers from her grip, Peter and Lorna start to question their objective and
each other as they unravel the secrets of Maggie's underworld.
We had the opportunity to speak with Brit Marling, Christopher Denham and director Zal
Batmanglij. Other guests included actors Christopher Abbott, Sophie Auster, Stephen
Baldwin, Patricia Clarkson, Rebecca Dayan, Randy Harrison, Tom Lipinski, Heather
Matarazzo and Phillip Spaeth, filmmakers Mike Cahill, Antonio Campos, Sean Durkin,
Ryan Fleck and John Cameron Mitchell, fashionistas Tracy Antonopoulos, Dree
Hemingway, Sophia Lie, Anja Rubik and Antony Todd and last but not least Vampire
Weekend’s Rostam Batmanglij (who scored the film and is the director's brother), Ezra
Koenig and Chris Tomson and Duncan Sheik. The after-party was held at ELECTRIC
ROOM at Dream Downtown Hotel.
Q: How did you get involved with the project?
Christopher Denham: Sure Zal and Brit and I have a bunch of mutual friends and we
just felt like it was a good fit and we had met socially, and had been looking for
something to work on together and then came together with this one. Sound of My
Voice is a psychological thriller. I think at the end of the day I like to call it science
fiction in the suburbs where you take these very metaphysical themes and put them in a
very real gritty world.
Q: Is it like cinema verité?
Christopher Denham: It is a little bit, yes, but then you know using a lot of the themes
that you'd see in a bigger budget movie: time-travel, cults and all these things and then
putting it in a very gritty...sort of world.
Q: Tell me a little bit about your character?
Christopher Denham: I play Peter who's a documentary filmmaker who infiltrates the
cult along with his girlfriend Lorna and kind of gets a little caught up, in over his head.
Q: Do you have anything in common with your character?
Christopher Denham: Well I think we both shared a kind of skepticism. I think the film is
ultimately about faith and whether or not you're willing to take the leap and to believe in
something bigger than yourself, something magical. And that's kind of Peter’s
trajectory, is coming to possibly believe in something that seems impossible.
Q: Describe your character.
Brit Marling: My character, her name is Maggie and she's… well you don't know if she’s
the most clever con artist that you've ever encountered or if she's actually a time
traveler living in the basement of a house in the San Fernando Valley. So she's a bit of
a paradox you know. On one hand she's ethereal and sort of seems maybe like she
might be extraordinary, and on the other hand she seems like she maybe the most
craziest person you've ever met.
Q: And what was it like collaborating with Zal?
Brit Marling: Oh, wonderful! We have an amazing writing relationship. We've been
working together for years now. It's also amazing to write with a director because his
tone is so specific and as you’re writing, he's thinking and feeling out how he's going to
visualize it and make it real, and then of course it's wonderful. We're sort of very
collaborative in that phase, the writing phase, and then he directs and I act and we sort
of take a break from each other because my world becomes very micro at that point as
an actress and Zal has to think of everything. I don’t know how he does it but it's a
beautiful collaboration.
Q: What inspired the film?
Zal Batmanglij: I had a dream about getting my hands bound and my eyes blindfolded
and wearing a hospital gown and being led into a basement. And so I told Brit the next
day and she started riffing off that, then I started riffing off what she was riffing off of,
and we riffed all the way to the end of the movie...it's kind of like an anxiety dream, not
quite a nightmare.
Q: What was your vision creatively going into the project?
Zal Batmanglij: Claustrophobia and questioning what you believe, you know, meditation
on beliefs.
Q: What do you hope people take from the fillm:
Zal Batmanglij: I hope that they have a ‘what the fuck’ experience and that they have a
good time in the theater.
Director Zal Batmanglij, Brit Marling and Christopher Denham attend the 'Sound Of My Voice' premiere at
Museum of Modern Art
Video: 'Sound Of My Voice' Trailer
Sound of My Voice Review and Red Carpet Interviews
By: Alex DiGiovanna/Wednesday, April 25th 2012
Earlier this week I was invited to attend a special NY screening of Fox Searchlight’s
upcoming Sundance hit, Sound of My Voice, where I covered the red carpet, screened
the film and got to attend the after party at the Electric Room allowing me the
opportunity to briefly talk with Brit about a proper reaction to the film (I’ll explain this
later).
Sound of My Voice was directed and co-written by Zal Batmanglij and stars Brit Marling
(Another Earth), who co-wrote the feature as well. The film follows a journalist, Peter
Aitken (Christopher Denham), and his girlfriend Lorna (Nicole Vicius), who infiltrate a
cult that worships a woman claiming to be from the future in hopes of obtaining footage
for a documentary. The more time they spend in the cult, the further they are pulled in,
which not only threatens their relationship but possibly even their lives.
It’s hard to find films these days that challenge the viewer and that make the cinematic
experience somewhat of an effort, requiring audiences to continually think as the movie
progresses and to meet the filmmakers halfway. Brit and Zal give the audience enough
information to understand what’s going on but leave information out so that you can
interpret the scenes yourself. This is what makes Sound of My Voice such an intriguing
and captivating feature despite its rather slow pace; you have to decide if Maggie is for
real or if she is a con artist.
Though it is a drama, the film is also pretty funny at times. To quote Zal, there is
“laughter amongst the dread” and this becomes truly evident when Maggie sings a song
that was very popular in the future, which I won’t spoil. Another instance is when we
realize that Maggie “isn’t a saint,” she’s simply from the future and has bad habits just
like we do. The scenes provide a serious amount of relief as there are three moments
in the film that WILL make you squirm as you can start to feel the tension slowly begin
to rise.
If you are looking for pure entertainment then this isn’t the film for you as you’ll be
required to think a little bit, but the payoff is both wonderful and frustrating. The ending
will leave you extremely puzzled and your brain may hurt for a bit because the finale
can be interpreted in two distinct ways. SPOILER The first way is to believe that she is
actually from the future and what Peter witnessed validates that prospect. The second
way is to believe that the entire thing was a con and that everybody involved, including
the Justice Department and the kid, were in on it from the get go. This is where my brief
conversation where Brit comes into play. She said I should go the romantic route and
think positively, so I’m bound to settle on the first theory. END SPOILER
Overall, Sound of My Voice was one of the few slow burning dramas I’ve truly enjoyed
over the past year or two. I liked it more than Another Earth and found its ambiguity and
“no excess” style refreshing. It’s an intelligent film that’s elevated by its unique story,
solid directing and wonderful performances from its leads. To sum it all up, it’s an
unsettling indie drama with subtle sci-fi elements that most people should take the time
to see.
Rating: A slow burning, eerie and thought provoking sci-fi-ish drama that’ll keep you
thinking long after the credits roll (7/10)
As mentioned earlier, I covered the red carpet (or black tile) before the screening where
I had the opportunity to briefly interview the filmmakers who discuss the film and their
upcoming projects all with the massive Gucci step and repeat behind them. Check it all
out in the video below!