Vol.
XXXIII
Jan 26, 2025
[THE MAIN EVENT]
Former GQ Style Guy Mark Anthony Green is bringing his elevated editorial taste to cinema. His horror-comedy, Opus, starring Ayo Edebiri and John Malkovich, debuts at Sundance on Monday. Prior to its premiere, Green gave insight on his "pulpy, visceral, fun ride."
UpRising: How and when did you come up with the story for Opus?
Mark Anthony Green: When is way easier than the how. I started writing this five years ago. My approach to filmmaking is there's a pot of things that I want to say about the world—"I believe this, there's too much of this, there's not enough of that"—and then there's a pot of visual worlds that I want to see and play around with. If ever there's two that pair well together, then I think there's a film in it. With Opus, I felt there was this extremely pulpy, visceral, very fun ride to this point, and we pulled it off.
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[ONE Q, ONE A]
Q: You won a Tony and Golden Globe for your portrayal of a gay, Black character named Belize in Angels in America. What did that role mean to you?
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A: I was a kid who grew up spending more time in locker rooms playing football and lacrosse than dressing rooms. And the locker room space at that time, and even now, is not necessarily a time that welcomes a character like Belize.
