When I walked out of my screening of Sasquatch Sunset at Sundance 2024, one of the first things I said to myself was, “How does this movie exist? I’m so thrilled it exists!” 

Directed by Nathan and David Zellner, Sasquatch Sunset is a slice of life film that lets viewers walk alongside a family of Sasquatches for a period of time. Those days include the simplest elements of their everyday routines, downright absurd behavior and big laughs, and also some dire fights for survival. The film’s Sasquatch family is played by Nathan Zellner, Christophe Zajac-Denek, Riley Keough and Jesse Eisenberg, all covered head to toe in Sasquatch prosthetics. If not for pre-release marketing and interviews, you’d never know it was them behind all that make-up.

Sasquatch Sunset feels like one big performance and storytelling playground. The Zellners built a wholly new reality for their Sasquatch family, hid two of Hollywood’s most recognizable actors behind pounds of Sasquatch make-up and prosthetics, and then let the whole team swing for the fences in pursuit of making mythological creatures feel real — and that they do. 

Sasquatch Sunset is a hugely atmospheric and textured filmmaking feat that turns legend into reality. Hopes are high that moviegoers will want to embark on this delightfully unusual adventure when the film hits select theaters on April 12th and then expands nationwide on April 19th, but there’s no denying that the project was a filmmaking risk. In an industry packed with wide-appeal franchises and more traditional stories about, well, human beings, who’d dare to make a feature film where its most famous faces are completely hidden, there’s no traditional dialogue, and loads of absurd behavior? Jesse Eisenberg would.

#jesseeisenberg #interview #sxsw #actor #nowyouseeme

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