Netflix Sets All-Star Quarantine Anthology Film with Pablo Larraín, Kristen Stewart, and More
Zack Sharf
Before Pablo Larraín and Kristen Stewart team up for their Princess Diana biographical drama “Spencer,” the two will be lending their directing talents to Netflix’s short film anthology collection “Homemade.” The “Jackie” and “Neruda” filmmaker is behind the Netflix project alongside his brother, Juan de Dios Larraín, and Lorenzo Mieli, CEO of the Fremantle-backed company The Apartment. Variety first reported the news. “Homemade” is set to feature 17 short films helmed by directors from all around the world, including Larraín, Paolo Sorrentino, Ladj Ly, Naomi Kawase, Sebastián Lelio, Ana Lily Amirpour, Kristen Stewart, and Maggie Gyllenhaal.
Each film in the “Homemade” anthology was made in quarantine using only the equipment each filmmaker had at his or her disposal. In the case of Larraín’s short film, that means using the Zoom app to create a conversation-based movie. Plot details for each film are under wraps, although Larraín told Variety that viewers should be prepared to be wowed by Gyllenhaal’s short. “It will surprise the whole world,” he said, adding, “All shorts have something [special] but Maggie’s is very particular.” Gyllenhaal’s short arrives ahead of her anticipated feature directorial debut, “The Lost Daughter.”
“For once in our careers, this wasn’t about money, agencies, lawyers or the Hollywood structure,” Juan de Dios Larrain said about “Homemade” in a statement. “This was a simple idea of [conveying] one message in five to seven minutes, and the idea was to give that message without any pressure; it was totally open. We asked only for [each film’s] rating to be general, and not only for older audiences.”
Pablo Larraín added that “Homemade” is about “adversity, and how we are all from different countries, cultures and circumstances, but for a very unique moment of humanity, we’re all sharing very similar circumstances in different contexts.”
“Each director has done a completely different thing,” Netflix’s director of original films Teresa Moneo said. “We have put them together thematically. Some were very clearly personal stories and some were more narrative or fantastical or funny. We tried to give them some kind of organization…so they’ve been arranged thematically.”
For Stewart, her “Homemade” short film marks a follow-up to her directorial debut, “Come Swim.” Sources tell IndieWire there are already numerous offers for Larraín and Stewart’s Princess Diana film, which is being presented to the industry at the Marché du Film this week. The short film anthology will be released before production on that project starts next year.
“Handmade” debuts June 30 on Netflix. The full list of short films and their directors are listed below, courtesy of Variety.
• Ladj Ly (“Les Misérables”) – short filmed in Clichy Montfermeil (France)
• Paolo Sorrentino (“The Great Beauty,” “The New Pope”) – short filmed in Rome (Italy)
• Rachel Morrison (“Black Panther,” “Mudbound”) – short filmed in Los Angeles (U.S.)
• Pablo Larraín (“El Club,” “Jackie”) – short filmed in Santiago (Chile)
• Rungano Nyoni (“Kuuntele: I am not a witch”) – short filmed in Lisbon (Portugal)
• Natalia Beristáin (“She does not want to sleep alone”) – short filmed in Mexico City (Mexico)
• Sebastian Schipper (“Victoria,” “Roads”) – short filmed in Berlin (Germany)
• Naomi Kawase (“True Mothers,” “Sweet Bean”) – short filmed in Nara (Japan)
• David Mackenzie (“Hell or High Water,” “Outlaw King”) – short filmed in Glasgow (Scotland)
• Maggie Gyllenhaal (“The Kindergarten Teacher,” “The Honourable Woman”) – short filmed in Vermont (U.S.)
• Nadine Labaki & Khaled Mouzanar (“Caramel,” “Capernaum”) – short filmed in Beirut (Lebanon)
• Antonio Campos (“The Devil All The Time”) – short filmed in Springs, New York City (U.S.)
• Johnny Ma (“Old Stone,” “To live to sing”) – short filmed in San Sebastian del Oeste, Jalisco (Mexico)
• Kristen Stewart (“Clouds of Sils Maria,” “Come Swim”) – short filmed in Los Angeles (U.S.)
• Gurinder Chadha (“Bend It Like Beckham,” “Blinded by the Light”) – short filmed in London (U.K.)
• Sebastián Lelio (“Gloria Bell,” “A Fantastic Woman”) – short filmed in Santiago (Chile)
• Ana Lily Amirpour (“A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night,” “The Bad Batch”) – short filmed in Los Angeles (U.S.)
