The Everything Published on 23/08/2018
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A FILM WRITTEN & DIRECTED BY HUMBERTO LEON
KENZO presents “The Everything”, a new film written and directed by Humberto Leon. This is the directorial debut by the accomplished creative director and features KENZO’s Fall-Winter 2018 collections & KENZO – La Collection Memento N°3. Leon is co-creative director of KENZO alongside long-time collaborator Carol Lim.
This is the Fall 2018 installment of a series of campaign films the French fashion house has produced with a different writer/director. Previously KENZO has worked with Gregg Araki, Sean Baker, Carrie Brownstein, Kahlil Joseph, Natasha Lyonne and most recently Ana-Lily Amirpour for her work “YO! MY SAINT!” a video for musician Karen O. The house also collaborated with Spike Jonze for ‘My Mutant Brain’ a commercial for the KENZO World perfume. The films have, along the way, been recipients of multiple international awards.
It’s tough to be a teenager. Romance issues. Budding sexuality. Unfortunate haircuts. And don’t forget the perpetual angst and striving to be cool. These issues are all present in “The Everything”, but it’s a particularly arduous period for the sibling characters in the film. They also must deal with burgeoning superpowers – and ones that aren’t particularly useful.
“The Everything” is the Fall 2018 instalment of the seasonal campaign films that have become a defining component of KENZO – following outings by such directors as Gregg Araki, Sean Baker, Ana Lily Amirpour, Kahlil Joseph, Natasha Lyonne and Carrie Brownstein. Since 2011, co-creative directors, Carol Lim & Humberto Leon have been at the helm of the near 50-year-old French fashion house. This is a particularly personal endeavor for Leon, as it is his behind-the-camera debut. He served as both director and screenwriter, a daunting workload. The film is rife with references and characters close to Humberto’s life and heart. There are cameos from multiple family members and friends, such as director Spike Jonze, and was partly filmed in his hometown of Rosemead, California.
Superstar Milla Jovovich plays the harried matriarch, ‘Georgie’, of the extended paranormal clan. The cast is rounded out by Hollywood heavy hitters Regina Hall and Jay Ellis along with talents Alexandra Shipp, Kodi Smit-McPhee, Sasha Frolova and introducing Zsela & Leo Reilly. The film is redolent of iconic 80s and 90s teen flicks that shaped Humberto’s upbringing. The film reaches its crescendo (as many quintessential teen films do) at homecoming. Luckily, mom was chaperoning the dance and has some skills of her own.
“I’ve always been fascinated by dumb, useless super powers,” explains Leon. “I looked at all their powers almost as the kind of qualities that you get as a human being, whether it’s a big forehead or big ears. I wanted the moral to be that you should accept what you have.”
Carol has fond memories of seeing her partner in action on set. “He was uncompromising but open to listening to the crew and the team,” she says. “Usually we work side by side, with this, it was a different relationship. I don’t want to say I was a confidante, but was definitely less stressful for me! With the amount of characters and complexity of the script, there was a lot to capture.”
And the first-time director delivered. “I really wanted to give the audience something to feel,” he says. “With “The Everything” I think that the viewer can actually walk away with something.”
BEHIND THE SCENES
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THE TEASERS
THE CAMPAIGN POSTERS
The campaign imagery was shot by photographer Ethan James Green
THE CHARACTERS
The backstage imagery was shot by photographer Roman Koval.
GEORGIE
Milla Jovovich is perhaps best known in the world of fashion as a muse to legendary photographer Peter Lindberg, and as the leading actress in the Resident Evil blockbuster franchise series. She has over 40 film credits to date including her work in Sir Richard Attenborough’s “Chaplin” opposite Robert Downey Jr., Wim Wender’s “Million Dollar Hotel”, “Stone” opposite Robert De Niro, “Zoolander” with Ben Stiller & “The Fifth Element” with Bruce Willis.
STEVEN
Jay Ellis is a LA-based actor, writer and producer. He can be seen as ‘Lawrence’ on HBO’s critically-acclaimed comedy series INSECURE, created by Issa Rae and Larry Wilmore. The show has been nominated for an NAACP Image Award in the category of “Outstanding Comedy Series” in 2017 and 2018. Jay most recently won a 2018 NAACP Image Award in the category of “Outstanding Supporting Actor” in a Comedy Series. Production on Season 3 of the series begins in March. Jay also starred as ‘Bryce “Blue” Westbrook’ on the hit BET series THE GAME from 2013-2015. Jay served as the National Black HIV/AIDS Awareness Day Spokesman. He was requested by the Obama administration to speak and moderate a panel at the White House for the final My Brother’s Keeper summit.
MIMI
Regina Hall began her acting career in the late 1990’s while simultaneously earning a master’s degree from New York University.
Hall will next be seen as the star of Magnolia Pictures Support the Girls, out August 24th. Later this fall, Hall will be in Fox 2000’s The Hate U Give opposite Amandla Stenberg, out October 19th. Hall is currently in production for Universal’s Little opposite Issa Rae, which also marks her production debut as an executive producer. She is also set to return to television on Showtime’s “Black Monday” opposite Don Cheadle.
ROSE
Alexandra Shipp is best known for her role as the iconic mohawked super heroine ‘Storm’ in Twentieth Century Fox’s X-MEN: APOCALYPSE. She plays a younger version of ‘Storm’ (originally played by Halle Berry). Determined to make the mutant character her own, she delivers a new spin on ‘Storm,’ which many media outlets boasted her as the “breakout” star of the lm. Alexandra will be reprising the role of ‘Storm’ in the next feature X-MEN: DARK PHOENIX, set to release February 14, 2019.
BOBBY
KODI first came to prominence in 2007 when he won an Australian Film Institute (AFI) award for ‘Best Young Actor’ for his work in ROMULUS, MY FATHER. He followed his outstanding performance with another in 2009 when he received a Broadcast Critics Nomination for ‘Best Young Actor’ and a 2010 AFI Nomination for ‘Best International Actor’ for his work in John Hillcoat’s THE ROAD opposite Viggo Mortensen, Charlize Theron and Robert Duvall. In 2010, KODI received a Critics Choice Nomination for ‘Best Young Actor’ when he starred alongside Chloe Grace Moretz and Richard Jenkins in Matt Reeves’ LET ME IN.
SHELLY
New York native Sasha Frolova has intertwined acting and photography to establish a presence on screen and in print. Her work has debuted for King Kong Magazine alongside iconic photographers like David Lachapelle and an editorial for Marc Jacobs. Her previous collections Busts, 2016 and Nana, 2015, premiered with accompanying essays and were picked up by media like Paper Magazine, Refinery29 and The Huffington Post. She also works in fashion in front of the camera, most recently in Autumn De Wilde’s short film series Postman Dreams for Prada opposite Elijah Wood.
FRANKIE
Ekaterina Samsonov is a Russian-American actress and model best known for her performance in the critically acclaimed film “You Were Never Really Here.” Starring opposite Joaquin Phoenix for esteemed filmmaker Lynne Ramsay, she played ‘Nina,’ a Senator’s daughter caught up in a prostitution ring. Other credits include films “Wonderstruck” and “The Ticket,” and an episode of the Amazon series “Mozart in the Jungle.” Ekaterina began modeling at age 2 and has worked with such companies as DKNY, J. Crew, Gap, and H&M. She is currently attending high school and resides with her family on the East Coast.
SHOE CLERK
Siddharth (Sid) Dhananjay was recently cast to star opposite Vin Diesel in the upcoming from Sony Pictures, which centers on a man who witnesses his wife’s murder shortly before being killed himself. Sid is best known for his role as ‘Jheri AKA Jheromeo’ in Patti Cake$, the breakout hit from the 2017 Sundance Film Festival. Director Geremy Jasper discovered Sid on WorldstarHipHop, where he parodied rap videos under the pseudonym ‘Dhananjay the First’. The film was his first since graduating college.
THE PRINCIPAL
Academy Award winning filmmaker (must always start with a grandiose descriptor), Spike Jonze crosses boundaries between many mediums: feature films (Her, Being John Malkovich, Where the Wild Things Are – it’s always cool to leave one out, and not the one you’d expect), television (co-creator of Jackass, co-creator and co-chairman of Viceland, producer of Emmy-nominated show Gaycation), acting (Three Kings, Moneyball, The Wolf of Wall Street, Annie Hall), music videos (mostly in the 90s... he’s really old), choreography (he’ll be the first to remind you that he personally won MTV Best Choreography awards for Fatboy Slim’s “Praise You” and “Weapon of Choice”)...
SNEAKER BOY
My name is Leo Reilly. […] I’m 20 and I grew up in Silverlake which is in LA. I’m currently in college studying fashion. I do photography, record music with my friends, make short films, and make clothes. I never really had TV or video games growing up so my brother and I would make films and do more hands-on creative stuff which I feel really helped to shape me as a person. I had an unbelievable time working with Kenzo on this project and I can’t wait to see what the future has in store.
SNEAKER GIRL
Zsela is a singer-songwriter and NY native. She is currently working on her debut EP, to be released Fall 2018.