Look At Me Teaser Chris Rock Confronts Javier Bardem

The 16-minute film stars Rock as a gala organizer who tries to rein in a stubborn drummer (Javier Bardem) ahead of the on-stage performance. Tap dancer Savion Glover also stars. “Look at Me” premieres Out of Competition at Venice. Director Potter originally conceived the concept of the film as a short story to be featured in her 2020 film “The Roads Not Taken,” starring Bardem as a writer in the early stages of dementia. “Look at Me” was filmed in 2019 over the course of five days in London and New York. The short film is produced by Christopher Sheppard. “When I got into the cutting room, I saw how dynamic these titans of the entertainment world are together, their volatile, fiery on-screen relationship offset by the rhythms of the brilliant tap dancer Savion Glover,” Potter told Deadline in a statement accompanying the trailer. “The destiny of the story was clear: it had nothing to do with the other project. It had to become a short film, a fast-moving portrait of conflict and love. The result is ‘Look at Me.’”

The premiere of “Look at Me” also marks the 30th anniversary of Potter’s groundbreaking Academy Award-nominated feature “Orlando,” the gender-bending Virginia Woolf adaptation starring Tilda Swinton, in competition at the 1992 Venice Film Festival. “Look at Me” will be released by Bleecker Street in the U.S. after its Venice premiere, with screenings at the Metrograph in New York alongside Potter’s “Orlando” as well as an awards-qualifying run at a Laemmle Theatre in Los Angeles. The film will also be made available on the Bleecker Street app in early 2023 as part of a collection of shorts by filmmakers Joe Penna, Riley Stearns, Gavin Hood, and Alex Huston-Fischer. Potter mused, “I am thankful to Bleecker Street for taking short films seriously and am thrilled that they will be bringing ‘Look at Me’ to audiences in cinemas and online at a time when its themes feel so urgent.” Bankside Films, based in the U.K., will handle international sales on the short film. Check out the first look at “Look at Me” below.