The New York Film Festival has not featured a world premiere as one of its three galas since Joel Coen’s “The Tragedy of Macbeth” opened the 2021 edition of the festival almost four years ago. That will change in 2025 as Bradley Cooper’s new dramedy, “Is This Thing On?” has been selected to close the festival. It joins the previously announced opening night film, Luca Guadagnino’s “After the Hunt,” and Jim Jarmusch’s “Father Mother Sister Brother,” the centerpiece selection. “Is This Thing On?” will also be what used to be known in the business as a “wet print,” as it only completed filming this past April.
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This is Cooper’s third directorial effort after 2016’s “A Star is Born” and 2023’s “Maestro.” Both films were nominated for Best Picture and earned a combined 15 Oscar nominations. A recipient of 12 individual nominations so far, Cooper also earned two as a producer of Todd Phillips’ “Joker” and Guillermo del Toro’s “Nightmare Alley.” Cooper will have a supporting role in “Is Thing On?” He recently cameoed in James Gunn’s “Superman” as the Man of Steel’s long-lost father, Jor-El.
Cooper said of the selection, “We are honored and humbled to premiere our film at the New York Film Festival. Earlier this year, we had the wonderful opportunity to shoot this story all throughout the city, so it’s very exciting to debut it on the closing evening of the festival. NYC injects an energy into every aspect of filmmaking that just can’t be replicated. I have attended many premieres at NYFF over the years, and to have the support and belief in our film from Dennis Lim and his team is an enormous thing for us. Thank you! On behalf of Will, Laura, and the entire cast and crew—we can’t wait!”
In a statement, Lim, Artistic Director of the New York Film Festival, noted, “We are thrilled to close the festival with Bradley Cooper’s delightful third feature. ‘Is This Thing On?’ is a film of many dimensions and surprises: a fond tribute to New York City’s comedy scene, a sensitive study of midlife discontent, and a modern-day comedy of remarriage, pitch-perfect in its balance of humor and feeling.”
The festival described the film as featuring a pair of “galvanizing, deeply honest performances, Will Arnett and Laura Dern play Alex and Tess Novak, whose marriage has reached an impasse. With amicable sorrow, the couple – parents of two young boys – mutually agree to split up. Yet in director Bradley Cooper’s keenly observed comic drama, their separation leads to unpredictable midlife self-reckonings, most dramatically in Alex’s wild career pivot to become a confessional stand-up comedian in New York City’s West Village, where he finds new direction and camaraderie. This seemingly outlandish scenario—in a script by Cooper, Arnett, and Mark Chappell inspired by the true story of British comedian John Bishop—is never played for easy laughs, while Cooper uses his penchant for naturalism to give the actors space to find their complicated centers. In his beautifully lived-in third feature following ‘A Star Is Born’ and ‘Maestro’ (NYFF61), Cooper confirms his dexterity for representing the complexities of human relationships, constructing a film that is both lacerating and sweet-souled, funny and tender. ‘Is This Thing On?’ features a stacked, stellar supporting cast, including Andra Day, Christine Ebersole, Ciarán Hinds, Sean Hayes, Peyton Manning, and Amy Sedaris, as well as charming assistance from New York stand-up standbys such as Chloe Radcliffe, Reggie Conquest, and Jordan Jensen, supplying the film its downtown authenticity.”
As an actor, Arnett is a five-time Emmy Award nominee (he has two additional nominations as a producer of “Bojack Horseman“) and is a SAG Award nominee in the Comedy Ensemble category for “Arrested Development.” While his film and television comedy credits are long and varied (the voice of Batman in “The Lego Movie” franchise, “30 Rock,” “Blades of Glory”), he’s rarely had the opportunity to demonstrate his dramatic talents. He’s also part of the triumvirate that created and hosts the popular podcast “Smartless.”
A star of legendary films such as David Lynch’s “Blue Velvet” and “Wild at Heart,” as well as Steven Spielberg’s “Jurassic Park,” Laura Dern won an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her acclaimed performance in Noah Baumbach’s “Marriage Story” in 2020. She was also nominated for Martha Coolidge’s “Rambling Rose” and Jean-Marc Vallée’s “Wild.” She reunited with Vallée for HBO’s “Big Little Lies,” which earned her a Primetime Emmy Award. She also appears in Baumbach’s “Jay Kelly” opposite George Clooney, which will debut at the 2025 Venice Film Festival. She also stars in the Apple TV+ series “Palm Royale,” which will return for a second season in 2026.
Searchlight Pictures has not yet set a release date for “Is This Thing On?”, but it’s expected to have at least an initial limited release in December. The movie gives Searchlight a second awards season contender after Hikari‘s crowd-pleaser, “Rental Family,” which will have its world premiere at the 2025 Toronto Film Festival in September. The studio also navigated a similar quick production turnaround for James Mangold’s “A Complete Unknown” last year. That Bob Dylan biopic earned eight Oscar nominations, including Best Picture and $140.7 million at the worldwide box office.
The 2025 New York Film Festival runs from Sept. 26 – Oct. 13
Editor-at-Large Gregory Ellwood is one of the entertainment industry's most respected journalists and critics. Based in Los Angeles, he's the only current awards expert who previously worked on Oscar campaigns at a major movie studio. Over the years, he has written for the LA Times, Variety, The Hollywood Reporter, and Vox, among others. He also co-founded the entertainment news site HitFix, which spawned a legion of influential Emmy and WGA Award-winning alumni.
