TV Talk: Pittsburgh native’s Zachary Quinto film gets Sundance screening; gorgeous ‘Gilded Age’ debuts

Most viewers first got to know Pittsburgh native Zachary Quinto as the sinister Sylar on NBC’s “Heroes.” He plays another dark, complex character in “Chaperone,” a 16-minute short film written/directed by Pittsburgh native Sam Max that’s now streaming through Jan. 30 as part of the virtual Sundance Film Festival.

Max — not the name they grew up with but a professional name they go by — grew up in Regent Square before relocating to O’Hara.

Max, who identifies as non-binary, acknowledges the film’s logline is purposefully vague: An unnamed figure, Chaperone (Quinto), picks up a younger man, Client (Russell Kahn), and they drive to a rental house where their relationship becomes clearer. The film’s content may be disturbing to some viewers.

“I want to set people up to really engage with the mystery and the unknown of the film and feel surprised by it,” Max said, explaining the story came together at the beginning of the pandemic in March 2020. “I was feeling a lot of isolation and I was thinking about the heaviness of the moment and also thinking about being surrounded by death.”

Max was involved in choir and musicals at Fox Chapel High School (class of 2013) and studied acting at the University of Evansville in Indiana. But by Max’s senior year of college, their interest shifted to directing.

After college, while staying with Max’s mother — Pam Rosen Keen, CEO of Pittsburgh’s Children’s Home Lemieux Family Center — Max wrote a play that served as a calling card to the entertainment industry.

“I was taught when it comes to my career, just follow the path of least resistance,” Max said of the shift to writing/directing.

Max, who is based in New York, was first introduced to Quinto pre-pandemic as the pair developed a script for a potential TV series. That project got put on the backburner by the pandemic, but Max sent Quinto the “Chaperone” script, which Quinto agreed to film over five days last summer in New Jersey. Max said “Chaperone” is one of 50 short films chosen to play in the Sundance Film Festival from 10,000 submissions.

Max said visually, “Chaperone” is informed by their Pittsburgh upbringing.

“The way the natural environment interacts with the industrial environment in Pittsburgh is still something that’s really informative to me in how I think about writing the environments that I’m interested in,” Max said. “I still continue to feel inspired by Western Pennsylvania and the Rust Belt qualities of the place.”

“Chaperone” is included (along with a Q&A about the film) in Sundance’s $50 Explorer Pass that can be purchased online at the Sundance website.

“Chaperone” isn’t the only project with a Pittsburgh tie at Sundance: The Dakota Johnson film “Cha Cha Real Smooth,” filmed in Pittsburgh last summer, largely at Pittsburgh Mills, will have its premiere at the festival — online screening tickets are sold out — and is expected to sell to a distributor, per The Hollywood Reporter.

‘The Gilded Age’

Four years after it was ordered to series by NBC and later shifted to HBO, writer/creator Julian Fellowes’ “Downton Abbey” follow-up “The Gilded Age” finally debuts. It was worth the wait.

Premiering at 9 p.m. Monday on HBO and HBO Max, this lush costume drama will feel familiar to “Downton” fans, but new characters, situations and locations set it apart.

“Downton” was all about upstairs/downstairs, an element retained in HBO’s show, but “The Gilded Age” primarily focuses on the theme of old money versus new.

In 1882, young Marian Brook (Louisa Jacobson, Meryl Streep’s daughter) travels from Doylestown, Pa. — somehow via the Strasburg Railroad? — to New York after the death of her father. She moves in with her old money aunts, imperious Agnes van Rhijn (Baranski) and sweet Ada Brook (Cynthia Nixon, playing against type). Marian quickly gets instruction on those she can associate with.

“We only receive the old people in this home, not the new,” Agnes says. “Never the new!”

Of course, that proves difficult when the new money Russells build a mansion across the street. George Russell (Morgan Spector, “The Plot Against America”) is a ruthless railroad baron and his wife, scheming Bertha (the excellent Carrie Coon, “The Leftovers”), desperately wants to be accepted into the old money crowd led by Mrs. Astor (Donna Murphy).

Worry not, “Downton” fans, the show’s HBO home does not mean “Gilded Age” is awash in profanity or graphic sex. One character bares her breasts in episode four, but otherwise “Gilded Age” could just as easily be on PBS but probably benefits visually — the enormous sets! the gorgeous costumes! — by having an HBO budget.

A top reason to tune in is for the presence of multiple Broadway stars, first and foremost Baranski (“The Good Fight”), back in grand dame mode as Agnes. Surely the pitch to her was something like, “You get all the best lines, like Maggie Smith, but with more screen time!”

In the first five episodes made available for review, Agnes’ dialogue is awash in zingers. Her most resonant line for viewers in 2022? “I am not concerned with facts, not if they interfere with my beliefs.”

“Gilded Age” differentiates itself from “Downton” with the story of Peggy Scott (2014 Carnegie Mellon University grad Denee Benton; I’ll have more on her later this month), a young Black woman who comes to the aid of Marian early in the series and ends up working for Agnes. The show acknowledges and addresses racism of the period in New York polite society. “Gilded Age” makes Peggy a character with agency. She has her own story about her career ambitions and conflicts with her family (Audra McDonald of “The Good Fight” plays Peggy’s mom).

“The Gilded Age” is easily the best new series of 2022 and sets a high bar for shows that will follow.

‘Archive 81’ hits No. 1

Netflix’s filmed-in-Pittsburgh supernatural thriller “Archive 81” premiered Jan. 14 and zoomed to No. 4 the next day and by Jan. 18 the show was No. 1 on Netflix’s “Top 10 in the U.S. Today” list on the streaming service’s homepage.

No word yet on a second-season renewal but it seems likely.

Channel surfing

Will Forte hosts this weekend’s “Saturday Night Live” with musical guest Maneskin; Willem Dafoe hosts Jan. 29 with Katy Perry. … Paramount+ renewed “Star Trek: Discovery” for a fifth season and the upcoming “Star Trek: Strange New Worlds” (May 5) for a second. Season two of “Star Trek: Picard” premieres March 3. “Star Trek: Lower Decks” returns this summer for a third season and has been renewed for a fourth season. … NBC canceled “Ellen’s Game of Games” after four seasons; CBS will end “Bull” after the current sixth season. … Season one of filmed-in-Pittsburgh “American Rust” is out on DVD Tuesday; still no word on if it will be renewed for a second season. … Patrick Lackey, an assistant professor from New Wilmington, Lawrence County, will compete tonight on Jeopardy!” (7 p.m., WPXI-TV).