This weekend, NEON dumped Duke Johnson’s “The Actor,” starring Andre Holland, into 23 theaters — it made just $20k. That’s $878 per screen. Usually, when a film is released theatrically in such a limited amount of screens, all signs point towards the studio having purposely done the contractually obligated minimum.
Much to the surprise of many, “The Actor” only received its release date less than four weeks ago. A trailer was unveiled soon after. The film, based on the best-selling novel, “Memory,” by Donald E. Westlake, is the story of an amnesiac man in 1950s Ohio who wakes up with no memory of who he is. He then attempts to trace back his identity in New York to figure out his own mystery, along the way he strikes up a romance with a mysterious woman (Gemma Chan).
“The Actor,” which stars Andre Holland and Gemma Chan, wrapped production back in April 2023. The fact that Neon has decided to skip festivals, and quickly dump this one in March was not a good sign in terms of film’s potential quality. Yet, the film is not being outight panned by critics — it currently stands at 78% on Rotten Tomatoes.
Johnson wrote and co-directed, with Charlie Kaufman, the darkly fantastic, animated treat “Anomalisa,” released in 2015. It was his feature-directing debut. Johnson actually specializes in stop-motion animation, which is why Kaufman sought his help with “Anomalisa,” and “The Actor” is his first ever live-action project.