Twin Directors Make Big-Screen Debut With 'Kin,' Starring James Franco
*By Amanda Weston*
The twins Josh and Jonathan Baker's evident passion helped them land established stars and newcomers with big potential for their first major film project.
The film ["Kin"](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ac5wrM2uYbk) is marketed as "a pulse-pounding crime thriller with a sci-fi twist," that tells the story of two brothers on the run from criminals and "otherworldly soldiers" armed with a mysterious weapon. The cast includes Hollywood veterans Dennis Quaid, James Franco, and Zoë Kravitz, and the young actor Myles Truitt in his first feature film role.
"If you've got something cool, people want to work on something cool," Josh said an interview Friday on Cheddar. "So I think we had something that felt a little fresh and a little different, and it was amazing that you put it in front of these people and they are interested."
The co-directors said the film was a collaborative process ー with each other and the actors. Though they didn't have as much feature-film experience as their cast, the brothers had no problem giving direction.
"I'd also say the more professional the actor is, the more they're kind of like 'look, just tell me what you guys want and we'll figure it out together,'" said Josh. "So someone like Dennis? Easy to work with."
Finding new faces was a process. For one of the main characters of the film, Eli, producers considered about 200 young actors before casting Truitt. He had an emotional maturity that is hard to find in child actors, Josh said, adding they were "lucky" to find him.
"He had a real subtlety about him, and a lot of it is observed through his eyes without dialogue, which he was great at," said Jonathan.
As streaming platforms like Amazon Prime Video and Netflix become more popular destinations for features than movie screens, Jonathan said he was honored their film would play in a cinema. "Kin" will be in theaters Aug. 31, including some IMAX theaters.
Josh said he felt lucky "Kin" would get a theatrical release because so many small and medium films are being phased out of theaters for big-budget blockbuster fare.
"This is built for people that love sophisticated, character-driven storytelling," said Jonathan. "This is a sci-fi, but it's also a lot of other things. There's a real intimacy to that. It's not a giant blockbuster. I think people that are dying for something a little more unique, a little different, will love this."
For full interview, [click here] (https://cms.cheddar.com/videos/VmlkZW8tMjIyNjM=).
Jared C. Bass, senior director for Higher Education at the Center for American Progress, joins Cheddar News to discuss how schools are navigating the Omicron variant.
Sarah Kate Ellis, president and CEO of the advocacy group GLAAD, joined Cheddar to discuss the organization's Accelerating Acceptance report that examines how welcoming the general public is toward members of the LGBTQ+ community. Ellis noted that while visibility and representation is up in media, video games, and on social media, it has conversely opened the door for increased targeted harassment on the street, particularly for transgender and gender non-conforming people. "I go to the school board meetings, I hear the homophobia and the transphobia in-person, in real-time, and so, we're seeing that more and more at the local level across the country," Ellis said. "And we're going to see that play out in the midterm elections, especially the local elections."
Steve Patton, EY Americas Mobility Sector Leader, joins Cheddar News to discuss what can be done to speed up the adoption of EVs, and how infrastructure can be scaled up to support this transition.
New York Attorney General Letitia James is ramping up a civil investigation into The Trump Organization. The AG's office has subpoenaed Ivanka Trump and Donald Trump Jr. They have refused to comply with the subpoenas. Bradley Moss, national security attorney, joins Cheddar News to discuss the next steps in this investigation.
Colorado Gov. Jared Polis has officially reduced the 110-year prison sentence of truck driver Rogel Aguilera-Mederos to 10 years, calling the initial lengthy sentence “unjust.” Dan Gilleon, constitutional attorney at Gilleon Law Firm APC, joined Cheddar to discuss more.
LG announced its latest cooking appliances including its ThinQ Recipe service. The app allows people to choose from up to 10,000 recipes and have the ingredients delivered to their doorstep. LG Electronics executive Brandt Varner joins Cheddar News to talk about the products.
Former Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams was sworn in as the newest Mayor of New York City. Adams is now expected to work on a number of issues such as crime and coronavirus. Erin Durkin,, reporter at PoliticoNY, joins Cheddar News to discuss more.
The six-month trial of Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes has come to an end with the former tech startup star found guilty of four out of 11 counts of fraud. Michael S. Weinstein, Esq, chair of the white collar criminal defense practice at Cole Schotz, and former Department of Justice trial attorney, joined Cheddar News Wrap to discuss what happens next for the former mogul. "Do I think it's going to be more than five or seven years? Probably yes. I think that's probably a fair range at this point," he said about her potential prison sentence.
We are just one day away from what has been called the most influential tech event in the world. CES 2022 will officially kick off on Wednesday in Las Vegas, but the annual tech summit is being impacted by COVID-19, like so many other recent events. The Consumer Technology Association originally planned for a hybrid event to take place from January 5-8, with some in-person events and some virtual; however, a few big-name companies announced they will not be attending in-person, so the CTA decided to shorten the event by one day, with it now ending on Friday. Consumer electronics senior analyst Will Greenwald joins Cheddar News' Closing Bell to discuss.
