#love ben aldridge and jonathan groff together

[the-gaymer-guy]

KNOCK AT THE CABIN (2023) dir. M. Night Shyamalan

[jgroffdaily]

Knock at the Cabin reviews - part 1

The Atlantic

Shyamalan’s adoration for the dads and their sweetly introverted daughter is evidenced by scenes of genuine tenderness, and Groff’s performance is especially moving. 

Chicago Sun-Times

Ben Aldridge and Jonathan Groff are lovely and powerfully good together; it was a wise idea for Shyamalan to drop in a few flashbacks here and there so we can see the strength of the union between Andrew and Eric. 

Far Out Magazine

Groff delivers effortless emotional class

Los Angeles Times

The best thing about the movie is surely its casual foregrounding of two gay parents in a way that feels significant yet unfussy, empathetic yet matter-of-fact. Aldridge and Groff are especially good at showing complementary angles of a couple — Eric the instinctive peacemaker, Andrew the impulsive, fiercely protective hothead — who are clearly stronger for their differences of personality, and united by their unwavering love for their child.

Bloody Disgusting

Groff and Aldridge convey an extensive history between their characters and a depth of unwavering love.

Digital Spy

Jonathan Groff and Ben Aldridge's Eric and Andrew are painted with similarly broad strokes — Andrew is the pragmatist and Eric the believer — but their chemistry overcomes the thin characterisation. It's also refreshing to see a mainstream thriller with a gay couple in the lead roles there's nothing big made of their relationship.

Tribune News Service

There are no better actors to play the main trio than Ben Aldridge, Jonathan Groff and Dave Bautista, who tear into these challenging roles with an emotional and technical rigor.

Firstshowing.net

Not far behind him is Groff (also seen in The Matrix Resurrections recently). I've never particularly been a fan of the actor, but the greatest accumulation of emotions are found in his character. Gradually, Eric tries to interpret, judge, and decide what to do amid so much chaos. Following this character arc through Groff's facial expressions becomes simultaneously frightening and captivating. His counterpart, played by Aldridge, takes on a more protective, aggressive role, forming an interesting balance between two characters who react distinctively to a stressful situation.

Yahoo Australia

As protective father Ben, Aldridge explores love in its most desperate form while Groff’s Eric possesses an almost beatific sense of emotional clarity.

[jgroffdaily]

Knock at the Cabin reviews - part 2

ABC News

Groff, so great as singer ("Spring Awakening," "Hamilton") and actor ("Mindhunter," "Looking"), is superb as Eric and speaks movingly to Shyamalan's theme about the necessity of faith in times of crisis.

New York Post

Groff and Aldridge make a believably agonized couple who struggle to protect their daughter and strategize how to survive. Groff is such an innocent, positive presence, and it’s funny how he keeps winding up in all these messed-up projects: “Mindhunter,” “The Matrix Resurrections” and now the poor guy’s tied up to a chair in PA.

Discussingfilm.net

In the end, this is really Jonathan Groff and Ben Aldridge’s show though. The leading duo endlessly captivates as their on-screen love is tested by destiny. Along with the charming newfound talent in Kristen Cui, they capture the realness of a found family who must make an unthinkable choice to survive. 

Empire

Groff and Aldridge’s rising panic is palpable, fuelling the suffocating tension, which mounts almost without respite over the course of 100 agonising minutes

Looper

It sure helps that he's got one of the better casts he's assembled in his later years, with Bautista so perfectly suited to the complex part of Leonard, and Groff so endearing as a weakened man coming to grips with the sacrifice he must make.

Entertainment Weekly

What's left is a handful of earnest, affecting performances — Bautista as the gentle giant, Groff as an essentially good man grappling with incomprehensible choices 

NextBestPicture

Aldridge and Groff are easy to root for, sharing a deeply lived-in bond within a relationship that clearly hasn’t always been easy.

The Queer Review

Jonathan Groff has an inherent sweetness to him which helps to sell his character’s shifting point of view. I bought him as this somewhat square daddy whose people pleasing tendencies give way to being open to perhaps the more unbelievable information hurled at them. Groff gets extra points for not spitting all over his co-stars, something he’s famous for doing on stage, during the obligatory singing in the car scene.

Inverse.com

But if there’s anyone to hold a candle to Bautista, it’s Jonathan Groff and Ben Aldridge as Eric and Andrew, whose stubborn resistance to the strangers’ awful demands is only superseded by their unflagging loyalty to each other and Wen. Unlike the four strangers, Eric and Andrew are given the benefit of a character arc, with flashbacks to their lives together interwoven throughout the movie. It helps the two feel like the most fleshed-out and intensely human of Shyamalan characters, an achievement aided by the fact that Groff and Aldridge seem to have sidestepped the “awkward dialogue” requirements of his films.

Creative Loafing Tampa Bay

The cast is impeccable, with Tampa resident Dave Bautista and Jonathan Groff in particular leading the charge.

Den of Geek

Jonathan Groff provides a softer, more malleable counterpart, and the two men share enough chemistry that watching them slowly get pulled in different directions becomes a little heartbreaking.

[jgroffdaily]

Excerpts from an interview with Abby Quinn:

Given what happens in that living room, was there a heaviness to the set? Or did people keep things as light as possible given the dark material?

Well, after the premiere, I woke up the next morning feeling just a little down, and I didn’t know why. It was such an incredible night and I got to see everyone. But then I realized that it was because the premiere marked the end of this chapter and this film. So I was getting emotional just thinking about how much I love these people and the incredible times that we had together. So when I think back on the film, I rarely remember the heaviness of it. I just think about the incredible times we shared and the conversations we had and the trips we took together. I also remember our movie nights and the singing we did amidst the intensity of filming.

So in retrospect, I remember those times, but during the filming, yes, everyone was very committed in the cabin. No one was breaking character out of respect for each other. We didn’t want to take one another out of that place because sometimes it’s hard to access those feelings. That also means that we felt really comfortable with one another and trusted one another because it’s embarrassing to be that vulnerable. So we would do that on set, and then immediately off-set, we would go back into our mode of loving each other.

On filming emotional scenes

As an actor, I used to think that in order to be really emotional or dark in a certain scene, I would have to only listen to sad music or isolate myself completely, but I actually did the opposite on the day that we filmed. I ate lunch with Jon [Groff] and Ben [Aldridge] and Nikki [Amuka-Bird], and we were just outside, lying in the grass and having an incredible time. So, because there was so much love and friendship in my life that day, it almost made it easier for me to access that emotional side of myself.

Decades from now, when you’re reminiscing next to a crackling fireplace, what day on Knock at the Cabin will you recall first?

I’m going to cry again. (Laughs.) We always had the choice to leave the cabin itself and go to our room to hang out and take a breather. But I just remember this one day where we all just decided to hang out in an unspoken way. So I just remember sitting next to Dave [Bautista] and Nikki on the couch for 30 minutes, and we were just debriefing about the weekend. And then Jonathan, Ben, Kristen and Rupert [Grint] were in their own corner by the table. So everyone just decided to stay in this cabin together and talk even though we didn’t have to.

And off set, Ben and Jonathan and I took a road trip one weekend and stayed in a place near where Jonathan grew up. So it was this much-needed weekend away in the country, and it was just a beautiful trip. I actually thought about it today. We played a bunch of board games and ran out into the fields. So that’s going to be one of my fireplace memories.

[jgroffdaily]

We’re thrilled to see “King George” and “Arsehole Guy” in one movie together. And we find it truly telling that both of you could also trace your roots in theater and religion. Were you hired because of that? And for a more obvious question: If it were you, how would you address Eric and Andrew’s Solomonic dilemma?

Jonathan: It’s funny because Night told me when we met at the audition that he came to see “Hamilton,” and he wrote my name down on a piece of paper. Who knows if he’s really telling the truth, because he can really tell some tall tales (laughs). So I think that’s what got me in the room.

But he didn’t talk about the half-Mennonite side of my family and my religious upbringing. What he did talk a lot about was what he wanted from the movie. He then asked me to do my best at delivering the kind of performance he had seen in his mind—and that sums up the process with him. But I do think he picked the right people for all seven of us, truly.

As far as the dilemma in concerned, I want to think I would choose to save humanity. But I have to be in the moment to be able to honestly tell you the truth. I don’t know if I could kill my partner. Also, I have to really see those planes falling from the sky.

Ben: ... My background will always be a part of me and is so ingrained into how I interpret a lot of what I do as an actor. But Night is not so focused on that. What he’s focused on is you understanding your assignment (laughs) and fulfilling his brief.

And when it comes to making the choice, same as Jonathan. I’d like to think that I would choose humanity over a loved one.