"...the SPOOKIEST woman on TV..."?
Click here to read NPR's story on GAIL CRONAUER in
THE VAST OF NIGHT on Amazon Prime!
Critics are raving about Gail’s performance as MABEL BLANCHE.
… a long, immersive and heartbreaking monologue given by town resident Mabel Blanche (Gail Cronauer) that is simply one for the books.
Greg Srisavasdi, DeepestDream.com
Mabel (Gail Cronauer) shares her harrowing story with a raw honesty that will have even the most impatient viewer enraptured…
Kimberley Elizabeth, nofspodcast.com
Two of the strongest performances are given by Gail Cronauer and Bruce Davis, both playing characters who call into Everett’s show, and both capable of holding you rapt with their voices alone.
Justin Chang, Los Angeles Times
…the enigmatic Mabel Blanche (Gale Cronauer – terrific)…
The Guardian - Mark Kermode
But the show-stealer is Gail Cronauer, who, despite limited screen time, delivers a brilliant monologue.
Gopinath Rajendran - New India Express
[Sierra] McCormick …has about a 10-minute scene … that is astonishing. But That isn’t the most jaw-dropping performance on view. That honor belongs to Cronauer as Mabel, delivering a riveting monologue in one extended scene that you simply cannot turn away from. Her performance is exactly why they created the supporting acting category, small but unforgettable, and if this movie gets seen by the actors branch of the Academy — and by all means, I hope it does — she is deserving of a Best Supporting Actress nomination. I can’t think of another one thus far in 2020 who tops what she does in this film. Another shout-out, while we are at it to the inventive cinematography from M.I. Littin-Menz. Everyone involved in this sharp indie deserves applause.
Pete Hammond, deadline.com
Thinking Outside the Longbox (podcast)-Gail talks about TVON, acting and more!
Gail Cronauer, The Vast of Night & Michael Chekhov Technique (Interview)
@gailcronauer #gailcronauer
Director Andrew Patterson talks with ComingSoon
CS: There are some big leaps that you make, too, in terms of who you cast. Not just the leads, but Gail [Cronauer] and Bruce [Davis]. With the power of their voice and very subtle performances, they need to hold people’s attention for an extended amount of time. How did you make the leaps to pick these people?
PATTERSON: …They were virtually built for these roles. I didn’t know Gail before the movie. She came in through an open call and just crushed the audition and pretty much had it before she walked out of the room….
CS: Yeah, and you definitely lucked out with Gail in the sense that she’s not a name even as a character actor, really, but she’s worked with some heavyweight people. She worked with Altman, she worked with Richard Linklater, all those people. But if you had miscast it it would have been brutal because they’re responsible for holding so much of the audience’s attention.
PATTERSON: I won’t miscast…
More thoughts...
Gail Cronauer and Bruce Davis, in particular, own the movie for 10 minutes each as they share their personal history…
Kailee Andrews - https://cinemacy.com/the-vast-of-night-review/
Nonetheless, protagonists Fay and Everett, charismatic as they are, are surrogates for the stories of Billy and Mabel, a black man and unmarried mother, respectively. Those character traits, like everything else, are not incidental. They are there to highlight how those living in the most marginalized and denigrated communities are people who live their almost suffocating truths every single day, and only when someone is willing to listen to them, and more importantly, willing to believe them can they finally, finally breathe. While both characters share stories of alien abduction and extraterrestrial transmissions, it is clear from the acting, the writing, and the staging that there is more there than just the surface content. Billy wants recognition for his service, recognitions he has long been denied by dint of his skin color. Mabel wants justice and vindication for the disappearance of her son, a crime she is widely suspected of having committed on account of her having a child out of wedlock.
AND…
A "deep dive" synopsis that is GREAT FUN and (spoiler alert!) — explains the end!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CRICiygCxcQ