The Playlist

Watch: John Hawkes Nervously Meets His Sex Surrogate In New Clip From 'The Sessions'

By Simon Dang
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August 28, 2012 11:39 AM
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2 Comments

News

After the debut of a hearty and warm trailer for Ben Lewin's "The Sessions," we now have a new clip from the Sundance sensation, which stars John Hawkes as real-life figure Mark O'Brien, a man afflicted by polio who was confined to an iron lung for the most of his life, who embarks on a journey to lose his virginity.

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Watch: Warm & Funny Trailer For 'The Sessions' Starring John Hawkes (Formerly Known As 'The Surrogate')

By Kevin Jagernauth
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June 28, 2012 3:48 PM
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2 Comments

News

On the face of it, a movie about a 38-year-old man crippled by polio who seeks a chance to lose his virginity doesn't exactly seem like the stuff of comedy or even feel-good drama. But premiering earlier this year at the Sundance Film Festival to strong reviews, with whispers of Oscar, it looks like "The Sessions" (formerly known as "The Surrogate") accomplishes just that.

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Fox Searchlight Hands John Hawkes Led Sundance Sensation 'The Surrogate' New Title & October 26th Release

By Simon Dang
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May 21, 2012 9:40 AM
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3 Comments

News

Park City has been birth place of several award-season runs in recent years with "Precious" in 2009, "Winter's Bone" in 2010 or "Martha Marcy May Marlene" last year all coming into the Oscar conversaton a year after their premieres. This year, the water was a little murkier with no definitive picture leaping out of the pack though, along Benh Zeitlin's "Beasts Of The Southern Wild" and Ben Lewin's drama "The Surrogate" starring Sundance favorite John Hawkes seem to be the most likely candidates.

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John Hawkes & Peter Bogdanovich Lead Cast Of Indie Thriller 'Too Late'

By Marta Corato
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May 7, 2012 6:25 PM
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1 Comment

News

Oscar nominated actor John Hawkes and certified legend Peter Bogdanovich are set to the lead the ensemble of the indie drama "Too Late." The "Martha Marcy May Marlene" star will play the part of a private investigator who is hired to find a missing woman with whom he has a troubled relationship.

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John Hawkes Turned Down Role Of The Governor On 'The Walking Dead' Because He Didn't Want To Sell Out

By Kevin Jagernauth
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April 19, 2012 1:04 PM
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8 Comments

Television

You might recall that back in February, it was reported that the folks behind the AMC horror series "The Walking Dead" wanted John Hawkes for the role of the Governor, a tyrant of a survivor town the lead characters stumble across. Well phone calls were made, and maybe a dinner was bought, but Hawkes turned down the role, and he explains that he just couldn't do a show with commercials in it. Or something.

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Could Bill Murray & Keira Knightley Be Oscar Winners? We Prematurely Predict Best Actor & Actress At The 2013 Academy Awards

By Oliver Lyttelton
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March 2, 2012 11:58 AM
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86 Comments

Features

At the Academy Awards, Best Picture might be the big prize, but the ones that both the winners and the audience have the most emotional connection to tend to be the acting prizes. Seeing a beloved star, or a fresh-faced newcomer, finally pick up a statue more often than not ends up leading the mainstream media coverage; it's always more moving than some producer's acceptance speech.

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John Hawkes Wanted For 'The Walking Dead'; Kevin Bacon Faces A Serial Killer For Kevin Williamson & More

By Simon Dang
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February 5, 2012 8:49 AM
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1 Comment

Television

We'll try to dance around spoilers but the finale of the second season of "Boardwalk Empire" was shocking not only in terms of storyline but also with the fact they tore out the heart of the show, or at least what/who we thought was being developed as such. We're fascinated to see where the show goes from here, but at the very least, it looks like they'll be gaining one great character actor.

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John Hawkes & Mos Def To Star In Prequel To 'Jackie Brown' Playing A Young De Niro & Samuel L. Jackson

By Edward Davis
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February 1, 2012 7:05 PM
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9 Comments

News

Here's your big, "wow," or "huh" of the day, depending on your thoughts on prequels of fairly beloved films. "Winter's Bone" and "Martha Marcy May Marlene" star John Hawkes and Yasiin Bey (aka rapper turned actor Mos Def) are going to be starring in a "Jackie Brown" prequel playing the younger versions of Robert De Niro and Samuel L. Jackson's characters respectively.

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Sundance Review: Life, And Lust, Find A Way In Well-Performed But Standard-Issue 'The Surrogate'

By James Rocchi
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January 25, 2012 8:52 PM
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0 Comments

Reviews

Inspired by the life and writings of Mark O'Brien -- a polio-stricken but determined journalist and poet confined to an iron lung since age six -- "The Surrogate" offers a less comprehensive look at O'Brien's life than Jessica Yu's excellent documentary "Breathing Lessons," but instead focuses on a small sliver of O'Brien's life and living. In 1988, O'Brien, then 38, made a decision to explore his own sexuality -- despite his paralysis - in part inspired by his own research into a story on sex and disability. Unsure about his ability to forge a relationship -- and concerned, as he puts it to his Catholic Priest and confessor, that he's "approaching his use-by date," O'Brien looks into hiring a sex surrogate. The surrogate, Cheryl Cohen Greene, explains that she's not a prostitute, but a therapist -- she and Mark will have six sessions, and then terminate their relationship. It sounds complex. It gets more so.

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Fox Searchlight Land Buzzworthy Sundance Drama 'The Surrogate' With John Hawkes & Helen Hunt

By Oliver Lyttelton
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January 24, 2012 10:45 AM
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1 Comment

News

This year's Oscar nominations are something of an anomaly as for the first time in a while, there's no Sundance breakout among them. The expansion of the possible nominees two years back meant that the field had room for films like "Precious," "An Education," "The Kids Are All Right" and "Winter's Bone," movies that would have previously fallen by the wayside. Whereas the new system of a flexible number of nominees means that Sundance fare gets shut out of the big prize from now on (the only film anywhere near close was "Martha Marcy May Marlene," and that wouldn't have made even a field of ten this year) remains to be seen, but one film already seems to have emerged out of Park City as a potential 2013 awards hopeful.

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