Royalty Hightower

The Fits

Interview by James Patrick Herman  Photographs by Jeff Vespa

Where are you from?

Cincinnati.

How does it feel to be a Sundance sensation?

I was raised to think I was a star. Because if you don’t, then who will? But it still feels weird. Now everyone is going to know who I am. But before, I was just a regular person. This film has gone so far, so fast — and much further than I thought it would go.

What’s the buzz about your movie?

It’s about a tomboy who boxes, but all of a sudden she sees a dance team and she wants to start dancing. Her big brother tells her: “Try it. What have you got to lose?”

Tell me about your character.

Toni asks lots of questions. This is her first time trying to be a dancer. She is scared and confused. She’s trying to find who she is. She’s trying to find the person inside of her. She’s trying to find out: Who’s Toni?

Describe the Sundance selfie of your dreams?

I will definitely bring my selfie stick. I want to take one in the snow at the premiere.

What will you pack for Park City?

A coat, boots, cute headband and fur hat.

How do you plan to spend your free time at the festival?

Doing something fun. I have never been somewhere mountainous with snow everywhere. You can do a lot of cool things: Make snow angels, go tubing. You can do anything you want. You’re free!

What do you think of Robert Redford?

I want to thank him for starting the film festival.

Fashion Credits:

Stylist   Avo Yermagyan   Makeup   Gina Ribisi    Hair   Jayson Medina 

Look 1: Few Moda coat, Opening Ceremony top, DL1961 denim, Alepel shoes

Look 2: Alice + Olivia top and skirt

Look 3: Fendi dress

Ben Schnetzer

Goat

Interview by James Patrick Herman  Photographs by Jeff Vespa

Where are you from? 

New York. The one characteristic that has stuck with me? How fast I walk. And how frustrated I get by how slow people tend to walk when I am in other places.

Are you a Sundance virgin? 

I am a Sundance virgin. I am really amped about it. Sundance is an American independent film institution and it feels like a rite of passage.

How does it feel to be a Sundance sensation?

In this context, it feels flattering and humbling and lovely. I just hope the film speaks to people.

What’s the buzz about your movie?

The fact that Nick Jonas is in it. We play brothers. So basically, I am the fourth Jonas Brother.

Tell me about your character.

I am a college student who is pledging my brother’s fraternity. He is a young guy who is searching for something that a lot of young men find themselves searching for at his age — late teens, early twenties. And he is doing so in the face of really difficult circumstances. I don’t want to give too much away, but he discovers that identifying yourself is not always aconscious decision. It’s not always a choice. A lot of times what we do is what defines us as a person rather than how we want to be seen — or who we want to be seen as — if that makes any sense.

Why is it called Goat?

Um, you’ll have to see the movie to find out.

Is there a literal goat in the movie?

Maybe.

Is it about beastiality? Sex with goats?

It could be. I have to plead the fifth on this one.

Killer Films does have a reputation for edgy cinema.

Yes, they do. And it is edgy.

What was your first acting experience?

I did the play Oliver when I was eleven. And that is when I fell in love with acting — and was totally bewitched with being on stage and performing in front of an audience. I played the artful dodger. He artfully dodges stuff. And he is the head of a pick-pocket gang.

Did you ever have a normal job?

I was a camp counselor all through high school. And I iced cupcakes at the Magnolia Bakery in New York for eight months because I took a gap year after high school. I was auditioning and taking acting classes in the city.

Describe the Sundance selfie of your dreams.

Funny hats and snow would have to be involved. I think the coolest thing about this festival is that actors I have grown up admiring will also be there. So a selfie with any willing participant whose movies I grew up watching — in funny hats, in the snow — would be the ideal Sundance selfie. Robert Redford would be amazing.

What do you think of Robert Redford?

Oh, God. Major influence! Huge fan. Sneakers is my personal favorite of his films. But I also love All the President’s Men, Ordinary People, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, The Sting, The Natural. I mean, he is the dude.

Instagram + Twitter : @BenSchnetzer

Fashion Credits:

Stylist   Avo Yermagyan   Grooming   Kim Verbeck

Look 1: Simon Miller t-shirt, Diesel denim and shoes

Look 2: Ann Demeulemeester suit and t-shirt

Look 3: Richard Chai jacket and shirt

Kate Lyn Sheil

Kate Plays Christine + The Girlfriend Experience

Interview by James Patrick Herman  Photographs by Jeff Vespa

Where are you from?

I am from New Jersey.

Do you consider yourself to be a Jersey girl?

Sure. I went to the Jersey Shore every summer and spent a lot of the time at the mall. All of those things are completely fair assessments of my formative years. Both my parents have Jersey accents; I don’t know why mine fell by the wayside.

Are you a Sundance virgin? 

I am not. I have been to Sundance three times: First in 2009 for a short film called Knife Point. Then, in 2012, I went for a movie called The Comedy and also that same year for VHS, a horror anthology. And in 2014, I had a small role in Listen Up Philip, but I wanted to go and support the director, who is an old friend.

So how does it feel to be a Sundance sensation in 2016?

It is a flattering title to have bestowed upon me. I can’t honestly say that I am comfortable with that label, though — I guess it’s hard for me to find a connection to the word “sensation.” But it is lovely and I’ll take it.

What’s the buzz about your movie?

Interestingly, our film is one of two playing at Sundance that is about Christine Chubbuck. There is a narrative film about her as well. My film is a documentary/narrative hybrid. There hasn’t been much exploration into Christine’s story since the mid-seventies, so the fact that there are two movies about this woman coming out in 2016 is notable. The film blurs the line between documentary and fiction. I am acting throughout the entire film; I play myself preparing to play the role of Christine. She was a news anchor in Sarasota, Florida, who committed suicide live on air in 1974: She shot herself in the head. Network was loosely based on her. Our movie focuses on the fact that so few people are familiar with her story, and yet there is this wildly popular film that essentially drew on her story.

How would you describe your character in one sentence?

On the one hand, I could say I am playing a version of myself. But I could also say my character is someone who is searching — and beginning to find the search for meaning in her life to be futile.

I have to assume that you relate to your character.

Her frustration — and her desire — to be seen and heard is something that is imminently relatable. Also, her position as a woman trying to get ahead in a male-dominated workplace.

What was your first acting experience?

It was a play that I did in the fourth grade. We were learning about Greek mythology and it was sort of a mash-up of a lot of different stories. I played Medea as a 9-year-old girl. That was pretty fun.

Describe your ideal Sundance selfie.

I would go for a fun selfie, probably just looking down Main Street. I don’t take myself too seriously.

What is your favorite Robert Redford film?

All the President’s Men. I just love that story. I also like procedural things: People walking quickly down hallways and throwing folders on desks and typing furiously. I enjoy Redford’s presence — he simultaneously seems like a movie star but also slips into a very human, believable character.

Instagram + Twitter : @KateLynSheil

Fashion Credits:

Stylist   Avo Yermagyan   Makeup   Gina Ribisi    Hair   Jayson Medina 

Look 1: Billy Reid dress

Look 2: Few Moda turtleneck sweater, Gemy Maalouf skirt

Look 3: Maje dress, SJP by Sarah Jessica Parker shoes

Luca Calvani

Meet the other man from The Man from U.N.C.L.E.

Interview by James Patrick Herman  Photography by Jeff Vespa

You’re from Tuscany. What is the most Italian thing about you?

I talk with my hands a lot — that’s the most distinctive thing.

Describe your character in The Man from U.N.C.L.E.

He’s a rich motherfucker. And a trophy husband: He thinks that he is the brains of the operation, but he’s actually just the walking wallet. Elizabeth [Debicki] and I play the villain couple. She doesn’t have a lot of patience for my bullshit but she’s like, “At least he’s good looking.” It’s always fun to play bad guys, especially these two — they’re like the evil Beckhams.

You famously won the Italian version of Survivor. How did you do it?

I survived on an island for eight and a half weeks on a diet of coconut and fish. There was definitely a lot of acting involved.

All fish and no pasta?

Once we won a challenge and they fed us lasagna.

What was your first job?

Driving my dad’s truck around northern Italy to deliver textiles. It had no stereo, so I would sing to keep myself awake.

What do you consider to be your big break?

At this point, The Man from U.N.C.L.E. feels like a game changer — it has changed the trajectory of my career.

 I first noticed you in that classic episode of Sex and the City when Carrie Bradshaw attempts to model, trips in her stilettos and ends up as “runway roadkill.”

Alan Cumming and I played fashion designers. We called ourselves Dolce and Gabbana even though we didn’t resemble them at all. I was the one of the few men on Sex and the City who: A.) Does not sleep with Samantha; and B.) Does not get naked.

Ironically, you used to model for Giorgio Armani.

He’s the guy who gave me a shot on the runway. I was nineteen at the time, and I remember meeting this icon, this legend. That year, he was turning 60. This year, he turned 80, so it was exactly 20 years ago.

What kind of advice does Mr. Armani give his models before the show?

I was the youngest one — and the only Italian. He told me: “Be proud and walk with confidence. You’re Italian.” Then he slapped me. I have been walking with confidence ever since.

The third time’s the charm, as they say. For the past two years, we have been previewing Sundance’s best and brightest talent—and future Hollywood stars—such as John Boyega, Jonathan Groff and Jenny Slate, so we’ve gotten the hang of it by now. Having launched amidst all the festival buzz in 2012, Verge’s annual party has now become one of Park City’s hottest tickets of the week.

“We’re all about discovering new talent, and Sundance is the best place in the world for that,” says Verge’s CEO and Creative Director, Jeff Vespa, who has been photographing famous faces at the festival for the past 20 years. “I’m always looking out for interesting, breakout performances, so for me, Sundance is our main event.”

The lucky seven featured this year includes a mix of newcomers as well as actors with a few films under their belt. (In the case of The Grand Budapest Hotel’s Tony Revolori, his credits include that Golden Globe-winning movie.) All of them, however, have one thing in common: They are Sundance virgins. “Just as Sundance puts a premium on premiering movies, Verge celebrates these gifted newcomers on their introduction to the film festival,” says Jeff.

That said, the assembled actors and actresses were already familiar with one another. “A lot of them had worked together before or had mutual friends in common, including past Verge cover stars,” Jeff points out. The sense of excitement and camaraderie in the studio proved to be infectious during the photo shoots; there was no trace of the competitive attitudes that one might expect from young people who audition for the same movie roles. “They all became fast friends in the end, which is awesome because they will be working together more and more as they grow up together in this business,” says Jeff.

Needless to say, we look forward to working with them all in the future, too.

James Patrick Herman

Editorial Director