The singer stars in the upcoming Safdie brothers' film Uncut Gems alongside Adam Sandler, which tells the story of a high-end New York City jewelry store owner and dealer named Howard Ratner. Directed by Benny Safdie, Josh Safdie. “His albums are very conceptual, and he was making basically scores for movies that didn’t exist. Adele Hosting ‘Saturday Night Live’ Next Week With Musical Guest H.E.R. And he was excited to share the project with his fans, teasing the official trailer's premiere on Twitter last week. Watch Sandler and The Weeknd's intense fight in the trailer below. The movie takes place in and out of the diamond district, as Sandler’s shady jeweler character intersects with real people in the worlds of basketball and hip-hop, with no small amount of scamming and increasingly high stakes. Variety and the Flying V logos are trademarks of Variety Media, LLC. The Weeknd is coming to the big screen!. With his debts mounting and angry collectors closing in, a fast-talking New York City jeweler risks everything in hope of staying afloat and alive. The fight appears to take place backstage after The Weeknd gives a performance. Ratner (played by Sandler) has some affluent clientele and finds himself struggling to pay his debts after some high-stake gambles. The Weeknd told the Uncut Gems directors that he was a “relentless punk” in 2012, Josh Safdie told Variety last year, explaining the origin of the wig. 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So when we met on ‘Good Time,’ after he saw the way we were using a lot of Debussey on our film prior to that, he was like, ‘Oh let’s get deep together,’ and we’ve become very close friends.”. It was a very difficult thing to do, because we like to show violence in wide-ish shots so that you can actually see people falling to the floor and stuff.”. He's joined by basketball star Kevin Garnett, as well as Get Out's Lakeith Stanfield, Frozen's Idina Menzel and newcomer Julia Fox. Josh and Benny Safdie’s Uncut Gems, now on Netflix, is a unique time capsule of 2012: NBA legend Kevin Garnett is in the Eastern Conference Semifinals, iPhone messaging has those pesky green text bubbles, and Canadian R&B singer The Weeknd (Abel Tesfaye) is an unknown artist on the precipice of blowing up.. (“Uncut Gems” is also showing at the Toronto International Film Festival this week, well in advance of its December wide release.) But even as a cameo, his quickie acting debut is, like the rest of the movie, kind of a riot. Required fields are marked *. “Because he’s a great singer and has a very vulnerable voice and sounds sweet and everyone loves him, I wasn’t expecting him to have such strong arms and big shoulders. “I think he wanted to be in the moment. The Weeknd is one of many sources of stress in the desperate life of Howard Ratner (Sandler): The singer is trying to steal Howard’s girlfriend Julia (Julia Fox, the film’s breakout star). Like, one of his favorite filmmakers is (David) Cronenberg, and that makes sense, because he’s from Toronto. Lipton, better known in electronic circles as Oneohtrix Point Never, did the score for the Safdies’ previous film, “Good Time,” as well. “He just opens his mouth, and it’s like, ‘That’s inside of you? Much was made of the fact that Abel Tesfaye’s name showed up in the cast list for “Uncut Gems,” the latest film from the brother director team Josh and Benny Safdie. Then, we became friends after he saw Good Time, he really liked that film a lot, then we just became friends, which was awesome. Read Next: One Direction’s Louis Tomlinson Takes Big Loss on Hollywood Hills Mansion, Tom Petty’s Daughter, Adria, on the Excavation of ‘Wildflowers’: ‘It Feels the Closest to Who He Really Was’, Beastie Boys License a Song for an Ad for First Time Ever, for Joe Biden Spot Focused on Live Music Shutdown, Variety Selects 50 Philanthropic Organizations with Showbiz Chops, Brian Wilson Disavows Trump’s Beach Boys Benefit in California (EXCLUSIVE), ‘Avengers’ Cast Assembles for Joe Biden Fundraiser, ‘The Vow’: What Happened to Keith Raniere, Allison Mack and Other Key Figures, ‘The Vow’: What the Finale’s Surprise Twist Means for Season 2, Bruce Willis Stars in Commercial for ‘Die Hard’ Car Batteries, Vishal Bhardwaj Sets up Agatha Christie Indian Film Franchise (EXCLUSIVE). The singer is also lending his voice to the film and has a song that can be heard throughout the Uncut Gems trailer. … We had to make a thick foam version of the floor in this nightclub that was the size of the whole floor. Of course the floor is zigzag black and white. 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He’ll hit me up and be like, ‘Have you ever seen this one?’ I’m like, ‘How the hell do you know this, Abel? What Does It Take To Reopen A Hotel During The Pandemic? So we were like, ‘Oh, okay, we’ll write that into the movie.’ And we had to make his hair again, because he so iconically shaved his head — well, not shaved it, but cut it all off for his huge mega-album, ‘Starboy.’ And now, with his new album, he’s kind of going with a new thing. The Weeknd in "Uncut Gems"Photo Courtesy of A24 The lighting also helped determine The Weeknd's camo jacket to perform "The Morning," from his … He has a desire for the silver screen —he really, really, really cherishes that. Rather than being set in present day New York, Benny and Josh Safdie's film takes place in 2012, and the script integrates the real life events of two of its cast members: former NBA star Kevin Garnett and singer The Weeknd. You can just feel it bleeding out of the screen.”, “And he’s got an angel’s voice,” says Josh. The Adam Sandler crime drama, a hit in Telluride and Toronto, has "real cinephile" the Weeknd singing — and fighting — in "punk"-ier 2012. “Still to be determined,” the Safdies repeat. In the film, Howard becomes to threatened by  The Weeknd that the two get in a late-night scuffle. Entertainment Television, LLC A Division of NBCUniversal. It was heavily choreographed, but still, none of that stuff is easy. The Safdies are no strangers to casting non-actors and musicians: Ariel Pink appears briefly in Heaven Knows What, and electronic musician Daniel Lopatin, aka Oneohtrix Point Never, has soundtracked their last two features, Good Time and Uncut Gems. “He was very specific about the kind of character he wanted to play,” says Benny Sadie. From the looks of it, Uncut Gems was shot before the singer debuted his shocking new haircut as he's still rocking his signature hairstyle. The Weeknd isn't the only surprising A-lister in the film's cast. Your email address will not be published. The actual score for “Uncut Gems,” by Daniel Lopatin, is also an attention-getter. Uncut Gems, directed by the Safdie brothers, is now streaming on Netflix. Before we met him, I remember we did a table read where ASAP Ferg was there, and it was a character named Privilege. This is the first time that the "Starboy" singer has stepped in front of the camera. “Everybody wanted to get into it, really get down and dirty with us. Specifically, some of the actors in the film come from different backgrounds than most thespians: Kevin Garnett is an NBA legend, and The Weeknd is a music superstar. All rights reserved. “Every time I read ‘The Weeknd’ I thought, ‘Is The Weeknd really going to do this?'”. Josh and Benny Safdie’s Uncut Gems, now on Netflix, is a unique time capsule of 2012: NBA legend Kevin Garnett is in the Eastern Conference Semifinals, iPhone messaging has those pesky green text bubbles, and Canadian R&B singer The Weeknd (Abel Tesfaye) is an unknown artist on the precipice of blowing up.