(L–R) Stephanie Suganami, Tatanka Means, John Malkovich, Ayo Edebiri, and Juliette Lewis attend the premiere of “Opus” at Eccles Theater in Park City. (Photo by George Pimentell/Shutterstock for Sundance Film Festival)
By Jordan Crucchiola
Eccles Theater is packed and buzzing for the world premiere of A24’s next wild genre ride, Opus, and the stage is awash with high-profile talent and writer-director Mark Anthony Green is introducing the crowd to his first feature film. Ayo Edebiri, John Malkovich, Murray Bartlett, and Juliette Lewis join fellow cast members and producers as the audience roars for them.
“Is everyone ready for the world premiere of Opus?,” asks senior manager of programming Adam Montgomery as the crowd answers with cheers. “We are incredibly excited to have this film in our program this year. You know, it’s not necessarily a traditional horror film that you might think of in Midnight, but the director and writer, Mark Anthony Green, has written his own brand of self-referential culty pop horror, and it’s an insanely thrilling fun ride.”
After the audience quiets down, Green tells the audience, “When I started writing this film six years ago, this was the biggest goal, for y’all to be here in this room.” He then thanks the Sundance Film Festival, its programmers, and its volunteers for making this January 27 premiere such a special moment. “This film festival always prioritizes and celebrates filmmakers that look like me — women filmmakers, queer filmmakers, freaks that want to do weird things.”
Opus is a movie that knows we love a celebrity obsession. Our main character is Ariel (Edebiri), and she’s running in place at a low-level editing job for a magazine called J. Her editor Stan (Bartlett) thinks she has promise, but he also has no problem passing her good ideas off to other writers with bigger name recognition. When a mega-star pop icon resurfaces after having gone off-the-grid years ago, Ariel and Stan get invitations delivered to J’s office for an exclusive listening party at his desert compound in Utah. The icon is the mononymous Moretti (Malkovich), who dominated the ’90s with chart-topping hit songs and is now about to release his 18th studio album to a world of adoring fans.
Joining Ariel and Stan is a small cohort of other media figures, including a TV personality played by Lewis, who are generally ready to drink the proverbial Kool-Aid and give in to a weekend of fawning over Moretti and enjoying concierge treatment from his dutiful followers. Along with Moretti, they are all “Levelists,” adhering to the teachings of an obscure doctrine that Ariel seems to be the only one interested enough to ask questions about. But when you’re in an isolated desert location presided over by a megalomaniac pop star, who’s living in an echo chamber of his most devoted believers, and they’re all practicing the same fringe pseudo-religion, asking questions is probably going to lead you to some disturbing answers.
Opus is a movie that will keep audiences talking after. They’ll be left reeling from some truly horrific visuals, and will not soon forget the stellar turn from a bizarre and alluring Malkovich. Special praise must also be given to brief appearances by Tony Hale as Moretti’s long-haired publicist named Soledad, who can’t stop referring to people as “my babies.” Lewis — in her second film premiering at the Festival after By Design — gives a characteristically magnetic performance as the gossip reporter, and the ever-ascendent Edebiri proves once again that she is a leading woman capable of carrying a film. In Opus’ most harrowing scenes, she brings a captivating range to Ariel’s moments of crisis. When Green introduces her prior to the screening, the filmmaker brings Edebiri out by saying, “It’s just my opinion, but I think she’s gonna go down as one of the greatest to ever do it.”
Audiences will also see another extremely impressive pair of names in the Opus credits: music legend Nile Rogers and 21st century pop mastermind The-Dream, both of whom Green says he pursued relentlessly until they said yes. There are several original songs in the film, composed for the fictional Moretti, and Malkovich really did record four full tracks in the studio with Rogers and The-Dream. “There was a moment where they were in the studio with Beyoncé, and then in the studio with John [Malkovich]. And then in the studio with Beyoncé, and then in the studio with John, working on these songs,” says Green. “That process was really, really fun.” The writer-director credits A24 with being incredibly supportive producers who helped “unlock the budget” for additional elements like original song creation, and for giving his film team “every resource they could to do this. I’m just immensely grateful, and I know how special of an experience that is.”
So if there’s one thing the audience can take from this Opus premiere, it’s to follow Green’s example and never give up on your dream project until you get the yes. And if there is a second lesson, it’s probably to never follow the cult disciples in the desert to a second location.
