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Unpacking ‘Henry Johnson’: Mamet Returns With a high-profile Broadway revival of Glengarry Glen Ross currently underway, we’re once again reminded of David Mamet’s singular ear for dialogue- the same talent that earned him a Pulitzer Prize for this very play. While his sharp, staccato writing has long been celebrated on stage and screen, Mamet’s work behind the camera has drawn more divided opinions. His latest film, 'Henry Johnson', is an intimate ensemble piece starring Shia Labeouf, Evan Jonigkeit, Chris Bauer, and Dominic Hoffman. After premiering at the Aero Theatre in Los Angeles last May, the film is now available to rent through its official website. As the old T-shirt gag goes, “But what I really want to do is direct.” Mamet’s career has followed that familiar arc: from acclaimed playwright to Hollywood screenwriter- penning Oscar-recognized scripts like 'The Verdict'- to director,...

Unpacking ‘Henry Johnson’: Mamet Returns With a high-profile Broadway revival of Glengarry Glen Ross currently underway, we’re once again reminded of David Mamet’s singular ear for dialogue- the same talent that earned him a Pulitzer Prize for this very play. While his sharp, staccato writing has long been celebrated on stage and screen, Mamet’s work behind the camera has drawn more divided opinions. His latest film, 'Henry Johnson', is an intimate ensemble piece starring Shia Labeouf, Evan Jonigkeit, Chris Bauer, and Dominic Hoffman. After premiering at the Aero Theatre in Los Angeles last May, the film is now available to rent through its official website. As the old T-shirt gag goes, “But what I really want to do is direct.” Mamet’s career has followed that familiar arc: from acclaimed playwright to Hollywood screenwriter- penning Oscar-recognized scripts like 'The Verdict'- to director,...

Plot: Henry Johnson follows the title character as he navigates his search for a moral center after an act of compassion upends his life. Looking to authority figures he encounters along the way — including his eventual cellmate, Gene — Henry’s journey leads him down a road of manipulation and ethical uncertainty. The film is an exploration of power, justice, and the consequences of letting others choose your path for you.

Review: David Mamet is a name that has become synonymous with masterful writing. A playwright and filmmaker for over fifty years, Mamet’s works have become required reading in performing arts programs nationwide. Having written films including Glengarry Glen Ross, Ronin, and Hannibal, Mamet’s directorial projects have been no less influential. While my favorite is 1997’s The Spanish Prisoner starring Steve Martin, Mamet has helmed many movies based on his plays and original scriptwork. It has been twelve years...

Henry Johnson unfolds as David Mamet’s screen adaptation of his 2023 play, marking his return to feature filmmaking after an eighteen‑year absence. Mamet wears both writer’s and director’s hats, coaxing from the stage-bound material a pulse that feels almost cinematic. At the center stands Evan Jonigkeit, whose measured stillness anchors each confrontation, joined by Chris Bauer’s razor‑sharp lawyer‑interrogator, Shia Labeouf’s magnetic prison philosopher, and Dominic Hoffman’s weary guard.

The film’s architecture is spare: four two‑character scenes set in an office, a cell and a library, stitched together by silent ellipses that swallow days or weeks. Conversation becomes currency, each line a probe deeper into Henry’s moral core. What begins as a simple workplace favor unravels into an interrogation that propels him behind bars, then into the tangled politics of confinement, and finally into a hostage‑standoff that tests the limits of trust.

Each week we highlight the noteworthy titles that have recently hit streaming platforms in the United States. Check out this week’s selections below and past round-ups here.

The Ballad of Wallis Island (James Griffiths)

You know when you hear a song and it transports you back to an era or a memory or a moment? It’s this involuntary mental reflex that can be marvelous, painful, or some combination of the two; all intensified by the emotion of the music that triggers it. This familiar phenomenon provides the backbeat for The Ballad of Wallis Island, a comedy that envelops you in its charm while plucking a serenade on your heartstrings. The film itself is an evocation of a memory for writers/stars Tim Key & Tom Basden and director James Griffiths––a feature shot in eighteen days based on a short film they made eighteen years ago. – Kent W. (full...

In September 2023, months into both the actors’ and writers’ strikes, something of a “happening” took shape at Venice Beach’s Electric Lodge, a multidisciplinary arts and community center that hosts everything from taekwondo classes to live performances. For a few weeks, the venue also played home to something increasingly rare: a new play from David Mamet.

Over the years, the controversial Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright has drawn ire for both his political leanings and the content of his work, both on stage and screen. The play, titled “Henry Johnson,” was viewed by some as a reaction to those reactions, by others as a timeless parable. Set across four scenes, the film (and play) follows Jonigkeit’s Henry, whose life is upended after he participates in a heinous crime, is sent to jail for his misdeeds, and struggles to find meaning in all of it.

No matter the takeaway, the play was a hit,...

While David Mamet is celebrated for the potent lucidity of his dialogue and his clear-eyed portrayals of deceit and manipulation, successful film adaptations of his writing also tend to benefit from some kind of conventional genre glaze. Homicide, his most assured work as a director, staged its complex exploration of identity and racial resentment as a tight, propulsive crime thriller, while James Foley helped make an entertaining hustle-culture drama from Glengarry Glen Ross’s precise dissection of capitalism and masculinity.

With Henry Johnson, no such formal leavening is present. This is the first film that Mamet has directed based on one of his own plays since 1994’s Oleanna, and it’s similarly straightforward in terms of translating the material’s elaborate plot machinations to the screen. The eponymous character (Evan Jonigkeit) is an employee at an unspecified corporate business whose job is threatened when he decides to carry out a...

Shia Labeouf has signed on to star in a movie loosely based around violence at the infamous Angola Prison. God of the Rodeocomes from producer Ridley Scott. The casting follows Labeouf last appearing on the big screen in 2024's Megalopolis, the Francis Ford Coppola-directed flop.

The Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skullactor will lead God of the Rodeo as prison inmate Buckkey, who is serving a life sentence in the real-life Angola Prison (also known as the Louisiana State Penitentiary). Angola earned the reputation as the"Alcatraz of the South" due to numerous violent clashes between inmates and guards since its founding in the 1840s as a slave plantation.

Shia Labeouf Stars in New Prison Drama

In the film, Buckkey sees a chance to redeem himself by pursuing the prison's rodeo training for inmates. However, Buckkey and his fellow inmates discover that they are being trained...

Exclusive: Shia Labeouf is set to star in God of the Rodeo, with Giannina Scott producing through her Cara Films banner and Ridley Scott and Michael Pruss producing through Scott Free Films. The crime thriller was written and directed by Rosalind Ross and is based on the reporting of Daniel Bergner inside the deadliest prison in the American South.

Set against the brutal backdrop of Louisiana’s Angola Prison in 1967, God of the Rodeo tells the story of Buckkey, a hardened inmate serving a life sentence who finds a glimmer of redemption in an unlikely opportunity: the prison’s first-ever inmate rodeo. As Buckkey and his fellow inmates prepare for a last grasp at glory, they’re confronted with the reality that the rodeo is nothing more than a gladiatorial showcase — a grueling fight for survival designed to satiate the public’s bloodlust and fulfill the warden’s delusion of godliness.

The abyss stares back––that’s the overwhelming feeling of David Mamet’s new film Henry Johnson. It’s based on his play of the same name from 2023, and with both that date and Mamet’s recent public persona, one would probably have some assumptions about this story’s political bent. Watching the film, you’re reminded that we can come to some kind of mutual understanding with those on the other side.

Comprising essentially four scenes in three locations, Henry Johnson has theatrical origins that are always clear but never distracting. The titular character is portrayed by Evan Jonigkeit––Mamet’s real-life son-in-law, who, wearing similar glasses, suggests something of an onscreen avatar that might be revealing of the theater world tough guy’s actual persona. Across the film, Henry is put through three confrontations: a boss (Chris Bauer), a cellmate (Shia Labeouf), and a prison guard (Dominic Hoffman...

"All the cards are in the deck, it just depends on how you cut 'em." An official trailer has arrived online for the new feature film written and directed by acclaimed writer David Mamet, arriving to watch starting in May this summer. Henry Johnson is a feature film version of the 2023 play of the same name also written by David Mamet, featuring the same cast playing their roles again. This hasn't popped up at any festivals, it's going out to a small number of theaters - you can ask to show it in your area on the official site. Henry Johnson is a drama set in prison that follows the title character as he navigates his search for a moral center, after an act of compassion upends his life. Looking to authority figures he encounters along the way, Henry’s journey leads him down a road of manipulation and ethical uncertainty.

Gold Derby's top news stories for April 16, 2025.

Lindsay Lohan to star in Hulu drama from This Is Us showrunners

Lindsay Lohan, the once-embattled Mean Girls star, is continuing her comeback with her first starring TV role. She'll star in and executive-produce Count My Lies, a Hulu drama series from former This Is Us showrunners Isaac Aptaker and Elizabeth Berger based on a novel by Sophie Stava. Lohan will play Violet, a woman with a seemingly perfect life and a lot of secrets. Here's the logline: “When compulsive liar Sloane Caraway fibs her way into a nanny position for the gorgeous and charismatic Violet and Jay Lockhart, it seems she’s finally landed her dream job. But little does Sloane know, she’s just entered a household brimming with secrets that are about to explode — with potentially catastrophic consequences for all.”

Olivia Colman and Benedict Cumberbatch go to war in...

Pulitzer Prize-winning filmmaker David Mamet comes out of a 10-year hibernation today with a trailer for his upcoming thriller Henry Johnson. The prison drama finds Shia Labeouf and Evan Jonigkeit turning up the heat inside a hostage situation.

Here’s the official synopsis for Henry Johnson courtesy of the project’s production company 1993:

Written and Directed by Pulitzer Prize winner David Mamet, Henry Johnson follows the title character (Jonigkeit) as he navigates his search for a moral center, after an act of compassion upends his life. Looking to authority figures he encounters along the way — including his eventual cellmate, Gene (Labeouf) — Henry’s journey leads him down a road of manipulation and ethical uncertainty. The film is an exploration of power, justice and the consequences of letting others choose your path for you.

In David Mamet’s Henry Johnson trailer, Henry (Evan Jonigkeit) forms a unique friendship with Gene...

Despite going off the Maga deep end, David Mamet is very much still in the cultural consciousness. As a revival of Glengarry Glen Ross lights up Broadway, his script for a JFK assassination movie is in the works with Barry Levinson directing (though it recently hit a snag), and now he’s releasing his first theatrical directorial effort since 2008’s Redbelt.

Henry Johnson, starring Evan Jonigkeit, Shia Labeouf, Chris Bauer, and Dominic Hoffman, is Mamet’s adaptation of his acclaimed 2023 play of the same name, with the full cast reprising their stage roles on-screen. Ahead of a self-released theatrical run beginning on May 9 at LA’s Aero Theatre, simultaneous with rental directly through the film’s website, the first trailer and poster have arrived.

Here’s the synopsis: “Written and Directed by Pulitzer Prize winner David Mamet, Henry Johnson follows the title character (Jonigkeit) as he navigates his search for a moral center,...

Two years after staging his newest play, David Mamet is returning to the big screen with a brand-new cinematic adaptation of the work. “Henry Johnson,” Mamet’s first film since his 2013 Al Pacino-starring Phil Spector TV movie, reunites the full original cast from the stage version, including Shia Labeouf, Evan Jonigkeit, Chris Bauer, and Dominic Hoffman. The film’s first trailer, an IndieWire exclusive available below, hints at the acidic drama to come.

Per the film’s official synopsis, “Henry Johnson” is “a drama that follows the title character (Jonigkeit) as he navigates his search for a moral center, after an act of compassion upends his life. Looking to authority figures he encounters along the way — including his eventual cellmate, Gene (Labeouf) —Henry’s journey leads him down a road of manipulation and ethical uncertainty.”

When the play was first mounted at Venice, California’s Electric Lodge in October...

David Mamet will release “Henry Johnson,” a prison drama that marks his first film in over a decade, this spring. Production wrapped recently on the film, which stars Shia Labeouf and is an adaptation of Mamet’s 2023 play of the same name.

In addition to Labeouf, who starred in the show when it was mounted at the Electric Lodge venue in Venice, Calif., the rest of the play’s cast will reprise their stage roles on-screen. They include Evan Jonigkeit (“The Night House”), Chris Bauer (“True Blood”), and Dominic Hoffman (“Suits: LA”).

“Henry Johnson” will be released independently in partnership with production company 1993. Starting on May 9, the movie will be available to rent directly through the film’s website. It will also get a simultaneous theatrical run at the Aero Theatre in Los Angeles. Mamet said in a statement, “If you only see one film this year… you should get out more.

Updated, 11:26 Am: Shia Labeouf’s stage debut in David Mamet’s Henry Johnson has extended its run by two weeks at The Electric Lodge in Venice, CA. The sold-out limited engagement opened September 1 and was set to run through September 24 and now will play through October 7.

Labeouf shared the news on X/Twitter. “Overjoyed to be involved in ‘Henry Johnson!’ The dedication of my dance partners is inspiring. The play is starting to pull us now. Due to popular demand, the dates have been extended to 10/7.”

Overjoyed to be involved in “Henry Johnson!”

The dedication of my dance partners is inspiring. The play is starting to pull us now.

Due to popular demand, the dates have been extended to 10/7https://t.co/6CU3CH1Dz7

— Shia Labeouf (@thecampaignbook) September 11, 2023

Previous, August 18: Shia Labeouf will make his stage debut in Pulitzer Prize winner David Mamet’s world premiere play,...

Shia Labeouf’s stage debut in the world premiere of David Mamet’s Henry Johnson is extending its run.

The play, directed by The L Word: Generation Q showrunner Marja-Lewis Ryan, will now close on Oct. 7 — two weeks after its original four-week run was expected to conclude on Sept. 24 — at The Electric Lodge in Venice, California.

In a statement posted to X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, Labeouf shared that he was “overjoyed to be involved” in the production. “The dedication of my dance partners is inspiring. The play is starting to pull us now,” he added.

The play follows “the plight of a man after an act of compassion upends his life,” according to the production.

“I am incredibly grateful to have the opportunity to work with David Mamet. His talent and creativity are unparalleled, and it is truly an honor to collaborate with arguably our greatest living playwright,...

Stars: Andrea Londo, Shawn Ashmore, Jane Badler, Michael Berry Jr., Elizabeth Cappuccino, Dominic Hoffman, Lorenzo Antonucci, Marc Senter, Madeleine Coghlan, Jackie Dallas, Samuel Davis | Written by Kent Harper | Directed by Adam Stilwell

For his freshman film director Adam Stilwell (The Triangle) teams up with writer Kent Harper, who co-wrote the brilliant Surveillance with director Jenifer Lynch back in 2008, for The Voices. A film that feels like something we’ve seen a million times before but one that, ultimately, is something completely unexpected.

A psychological horror, The Voices tells the story of Sara who wakes up to find herself in bed, with vague recollections of her situation and her life. She’s told by her husband Nick that he found her in the bathtub having tried to commit suicide following her problems dealing with the death of her parents. Nick insists that Sara rest up and heal, both mentally and physically,...

The ubiquity of technology and the inherent paranoia and dangers which come along with it have provided Hollywood with a fecund ground for horror movies and thrillers in particular.

We spoke to the cast and writer/director of this new screen-based missing persons thriller Seaching, told using CCTV, mobile and laptop screens. A sensation at Sundance the film stars John Cho, Will & Grace’s Debra Messing, Joseph Lee, Michelle La, Dominic Hoffman and Connor McRaith. It was written by Sev Ohanian and the film’s director Aneesh Chaganty.

Searching is released in the UK on the 31st of August, 2018, the wonderful DaniElle DeLaite is our interviewer – here’s how she got on looking for answers with the cast of Searching.

Searching Cast Interviews

Plot:

After David Kim (John Cho)’s 16-year-old daughter goes missing, a local investigation is opened and a detective is assigned to the case. But 37 hours...

Recently, CBS served up the new, official synopsis/spoilers for their upcoming "Hawaii Five-o" episode 9 of season 6. The episode is entitled, "Hana Keaka" is Hawaiian for "Charade," and it turns out that we're going to see some pretty interesting stuff go down as Five-0's latest investigation has Danny going undercover as a college professor, and more! In the new,9th episode press release: Five-0 Goes Back To School When A College Professor Is Killed And Danny Goes Undercover As His Replacement, On "Hawaii Five-0," Friday, Nov. 20. Press release number 2: Five-0 will go back to school when a college professor is killed and Danny will go undercover as his replacement. Guest stars feature: Taylor Wily (Kamekona), Andrew Lawrence (Eric Russo), Kekoa Kekumano (Nahele Huikala), Julie Benz (Inspector Abby Dunn), Micah J.K. Ramos (Brandon Aquino), Chelsea Ricketts (Casey Lehrer), James Duval (Kaili Huikala), Dominic Hoffman (Dean Andrew Letoa), Anela...

Recently, CBS delivered the new,official synopsis/spoilers for their upcoming "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation" episode 14 of season 15. The episode is entitled, "Merchants Of Menace," and it turns out that we're going to see some interesting stuff go down when the CSI teams visits a macabre murder memorabilia convention for their latest investigation, and more. In the new, 14th episode press release: The CSI team is going to investigate a homicide at a convention for people who collect macabre murder memorabilia. Press release number 2: The CSI team will investigate a homicide at a convention for people who collect macabre murder memorabilia. Guest stars feature: Larry Mitchell (Officer Mitchell), Skyler Stone (Alex Friel), Mekenna Melvin (Nora Waters), Dominic Hoffman (Roy Narvick), Greg Evigan (Bruce Waters), Rob Estes (Todd Spanna), Richard Harmon (Kyle Jessup/Second Geek), Cj Hoff (Pasty Geek), Joseph Buttler (Random Collector #1), Nate Shelkey (Random Collector #2), Bobby Campo (Damon...

In David Mamet's Race, two veteran criminal lawyers, the white Jack Lawson (Chris Bauer of True Blood and The Wire) and the black Henry Brown (Dominic Hoffman), banter and badger in the playwright's patented patois. They show professional perspicacity about a legal process predicated not on justice, but on trial by combat between competing self-interests and prejudices. The two characters debate on whether or not to accept as a client Charles Strickland (Jonno Roberts), an obtuse billionaire charged with the rape of a black woman who has just fired his previous high-powered lawyer. They bounce their ideas off their

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Mer: "Ew." Cristina: "I hate his face." Gah, Sandra Oh hasn't even officially left Grey's Anatomy yet and we already miss Cristina (Sandra Oh) and Meredith's (Ellen Pompeo) friendship, especially after getting another taste of their classic banter in this exclusive sneak peek from Thursday's episode, "Everything I Do, Nothing Seems to Turn Out Right." In the exclusive video above, Mer and Cristina indulge in some waffles and witticisms while talking about finding a replacement. No, not Cristina's, but Dr. Russell's (Dominic Hoffman), which Mer thinks is punishment from a certain hot red-headed doc... Hm...is Owen (Kevin McKidd) secretly punishing...

We’re starting to get some pieces to the puzzle that when put together will finally reveal what happened to the survivors of Grey’s Anatomy’s harrowing Season 8 finale. This particular piece is a bit of casting news for one of the doctors that will be treating Meredith, Derek and the rest when they are finally rescued. And rescued they will be; we’ve know for some time now that the Season 9 premiere would pick up two to three months after the survivors are rescued, showing them back in their usual lives, though things won’t be entirely normal. Episode 2, however, will flashback to that wild mountainside where we will inevitably meet Adina Porter’s character.

As reported by TV Guide, Porter, who has spent some time working the HBO circuit by appearing in True Blood and The Newsroom, would be playing Dr. Ramsey of Bloise Hospital, which is...

Adina Porter is set to scrub in on Boise Hospital ... er, Grey's Anatomy.

The True Blood and Newsroom star will appear in the second episode, which features a flashback to how the doctors were rescued after the plane crash (see star Ellen Pompeo's interview for more on this subject).

Grey's Anatomy Season 9 picks up months after the crash, then flashes back to the immediate aftermath the following week. Porter will play Dr. Ramsey, the Boise Hospital doctor that treats the survivors after the crash.

Porter played Tara's mom on True Blood and Kendra James, booker for "News Night" on Newsroom.

Porter joins previously cast Grey's Anatomy guest stars, including Tina Majorino, Gaius Charles, Camilla Luddington, Dominic Hoffman and newcomer Tessa Ferrer, all of whom will appear in Seattle on Season 9.

Dominic Hoffman will scrub in for at least one episode of Grey's Anatomy Season 9.

 Grey's Anatomy Season 9 Promo

The actor, who has not appeared on TV since a 2009 stint on The Mentalist, will portray a doctor at Seattle Grace, TV Guide confirms. Little else is known about his role at this time.

Hoffman is one of a number of already-announced guest/recurring Season 9 stars, a list that also includes: Tina Majorino, Gaius Charles, Camilla Luddington and Tessa Ferrer.

Grey's Anatomy returns Thursday, September 27 at 9/8c on ABC.