Details
Union:
Not designated
Area of media:
Feature Film
Network:
Paid?:
Yes
Deadline:
Nov 2, 2026
Shooting starts:
Apr 1, 2027 Tentative shoot dates
Shooting finishes:
May 31, 2027 Tentative shoot dates
Shooting locations:
Mexico City
Cities for response:
New York, Los Angeles, Madrid, Barcelona, Mexico City, Buenos Aires, Santiago de Chile, Monterrey, Guadalajara, Tijuana
Comments
Art & Beauty is a film about a world in eternal transition. It follows a group of people facing the questions that shape a life: friendship, desire, ambition, pain, and growth.
We are building a family as close as the one on screen. Our set will be small and intimate, and our approach simple: to present this world, not represent it. Through image, art, and wardrobe, we are shaping a visual language all our own, one in which to see Mexico City anew. Every stage, from preproduction through the shoot, is protected so there is room to explore, to risk, to discover.
From the beginning, our director has said this is a film of people and places. Our cast is its heart. We want actors who will be true creative collaborators and an essential part of the family we are making.
Director and Writer’s Bio:
Gabriel and Rebecca met as undergrads at Harvard and have been friends for over a decade. After school, Rebecca was a Marshall scholar, and went on to found the magazine The Drift which she currently runs. Her essays and criticism have appeared in Harper’s, the New Yorker, The New York Times, The Paris Review, and elsewhere. Her debut novel, Archival Research, is forthcoming from Norton.
Gabriel is currently a writer on STEWIE, an upcoming spinoff on FAMILY GUY. He was previously a writer on Ryan Murphy’s THE SHARDS and has also been involved as a strategist for Harmony Korine’s EDGLRD since founding and contributed to both features the company has released so far. He sold a television pilot to 20th Century Fox in 2023.
Casting Notes: The ages and nationalities listed are intended as creative guidelines and may be adapted throughout the casting process. Although the film shoots in Mexico, most dialogue is in English.
We are building a family as close as the one on screen. Our set will be small and intimate, and our approach simple: to present this world, not represent it. Through image, art, and wardrobe, we are shaping a visual language all our own, one in which to see Mexico City anew. Every stage, from preproduction through the shoot, is protected so there is room to explore, to risk, to discover.
From the beginning, our director has said this is a film of people and places. Our cast is its heart. We want actors who will be true creative collaborators and an essential part of the family we are making.
Director and Writer’s Bio:
Gabriel and Rebecca met as undergrads at Harvard and have been friends for over a decade. After school, Rebecca was a Marshall scholar, and went on to found the magazine The Drift which she currently runs. Her essays and criticism have appeared in Harper’s, the New Yorker, The New York Times, The Paris Review, and elsewhere. Her debut novel, Archival Research, is forthcoming from Norton.
Gabriel is currently a writer on STEWIE, an upcoming spinoff on FAMILY GUY. He was previously a writer on Ryan Murphy’s THE SHARDS and has also been involved as a strategist for Harmony Korine’s EDGLRD since founding and contributed to both features the company has released so far. He sold a television pilot to 20th Century Fox in 2023.
Casting Notes: The ages and nationalities listed are intended as creative guidelines and may be adapted throughout the casting process. Although the film shoots in Mexico, most dialogue is in English.
Storyline
Art & Beauty is a dialogue-heavy comedy set in current day Mexico City. Failing American TV writer Danny Koch (pronounced "Cotch"), mistaken for a Koch scion by his Argentinian artist acquaintance, finds himself embroiled in expat high society—where extravagant meals, hard partying, and frank conversations about privilege, money, art, feminism, and the new right are the norm. He tries on the new role, makes some faulty assumptions of his own, and maybe even finds love.
Roles
| Role type | Role | Gender & Age range |
| Lead | Danny | Male 28 - 35 Years old |
Description Intelligent, neurotic, funny, and deeply self-conscious, Danny is a Jewish TV writer from Los Angeles who after losing his job, takes an impulsive vacation to Mexico City hoping to pursue the novel he believes he is meant to write. He is genuinely curious and well-read, but his insecurity often manifests as awkwardness, defensiveness, or an eagerness to prove himself. He has a natural warmth and an ability to connect with people, even when his need to be liked gets the better of him.Over the course of the story, Danny becomes increasingly aware of the gap between the person he wants to be and the person he actually is. He has always believed that his lack of family wealth has forced him into safer, more commercial work in television. But as he becomes immersed in Mateo's world, he begins to question whether money is really what has held him back or whether he simply lacks the courage, conviction, or talent to write the great novel he believes he is capable of. Speaks native English. | ||
| Role type | Role | Gender & Age range |
| Lead | Alice | Female 27 - 34 Years old |
Description Beautiful, intelligent, sophisticated, and quietly funny, Alice is an American academic living in Mexico City. She has a dry, observant quality and a complicated relationship with the privilege she was born into. She is academically driven and genuinely curious, while also being somewhat detached and self-protective.Alice is drawn to people who embody qualities she feels she lacks, and her relationships often become a way of imagining a different version of herself. Her arc involves confronting that tendency and beginning to recognize how much of her identity she has defined in relation to the people around her. Speaks native English. | ||
| Role type | Role | Gender & Age range |
| Lead | Mateo | Male |
Description Charismatic, handsome, stylish, and effortlessly social, Mateo is an Argentinian artist who has made Mexico City his home. He is deeply embedded in the city's sophisticated international art world and moves easily among artists, gallery owners, models, and other creatives. He is articulate, passionate, and genuinely committed to the idea that art should have meaning beyond commerce, even as he is very aware of the business surrounding his work.Mateo is warm, affectionate, and generous with people he likes, but he can also be self-involved and somewhat performative. He has a strong sense of who he believes himself to be and takes pride in living according to his artistic ideals. His friendship with Danny and relationship with Alice reveal both the sincerity behind that persona and the contradictions within it. Open to other nationalities. Speaks fluent English & Spanish. | ||
| Role type | Role | Gender & Age range |
| Large Principal | Guillermo | Male 28 - 36 Years old |
Description Cultured, witty, and highly self-aware, Guillermo is a sophisticated Mexican who has deliberately cultivated an almost trans-Atlantic persona, complete with a British accent and mannerisms inspired by Brideshead Revisited. He is socially polished and comfortable among the international elite, but also perceptive enough to recognize the absurdity of the world he inhabits. Guillermo is welcoming and genuinely kind beneath his affected exterior. His friendship with Danny reveals a more grounded side of him, as he understands that everyone in this social circle is, to some degree, performing a version of themselves. He ultimately becomes one of the people who most clearly sees Danny for who he actually is.Speaks fluent English with a British accent & Spanish. | ||
| Role type | Role | Gender & Age range |
| Small Principal | Trevor | Male 29 - 36 Years old |
Description Thoughtful, earnest, and quietly confident, Trevor is Alice's ex-boyfriend and works at the U.S. Embassy in Mexico City. He is a committed liberal who genuinely believes in public service, even when the details of his job don't sound particularly glamorous. He is hardworking and sincere, with a straightforward quality that contrasts sharply with the more performative people around him.Trevor represents a different kind of ambition from the rest of the group: less concerned with status or image and more invested in doing something he considers meaningful. His history with Alice suggests a relationship built on genuine affection, but also one in which she felt compelled to measure herself against his sense of purpose. Speaks native English. | ||
| Role type | Role | Gender & Age range |
| Small Principal | Isabella | Female 20 - 25 Years old |
Description Young, striking, and somewhat enigmatic, Isabella is a British woman from an extremely privileged, aristocratic family who has chosen to live very differently from where she comes from. She works as a line cook at Máximo and shares an apartment with six roommates, embracing a much more modest lifestyle despite her family's connections and wealth. Isabella is dry, detached, and unconcerned with explaining herself. She has a rebellious streak and seems to enjoy the freedom of constructing an identity separate from her background. Her refusal to explain her political opinions only adds to her sense of mystery and self-possession. Speaks native English / British accent. | ||
| Role type | Role | Gender & Age range |
| Small Principal | Johann | Male 30 - 38 Years old |
Description Intellectual, opinionated, and provocatively contrarian, Johann is a German expatriate who is deeply invested in politics, history, and questions of Western power. He has strong, often reactionary opinions and enjoys challenging the liberal assumptions of the people around him, particularly the Americans.Johann is confident in his worldview and rarely backs down from an argument, even when his ideas become deliberately provocative. He brings an outsider's perspective to the group's conversations and seems to take genuine pleasure in pushing everyone else to defend what they believe. Speaks fluent English. | ||
| Role type | Role | Gender & Age range |
| Small Principal | Fernanda | Female 28 - 35 Years old |
Description Sharp, ambitious, and entrepreneurial, Fernanda runs a towel company built around traditional Mexican textiles, which she frames as a way of reconnecting with her Mexican roots. She is socially confident and quick-witted, with a dry and sometimes bitchy sense of humor. She is also deeply engaged with the group's conversations about relationships, feminism, privilege, and modern adulthood.Fernanda is comfortable occupying the space between genuine ambition and the absurd privilege of her social circle. She takes herself and her business seriously, but the world around her often makes that ambition feel both sincere and ridiculous. Her unexpected success becomes one more example of how easily this group can turn privilege into an unconventional version of success. Speaks fluent English & Spanish | ||
| Role type | Role | Gender & Age range |
| Bit Part | Avi | Male |
Description Charming, impulsive, and hedonistic, Avi is an Israeli man, Isabella's quasi-boyfriend, and part of the same privileged international circle surrounding Mateo. He is casual about everything from drugs to relationships and seems to move through life with very little concern for consequences. He has an easygoing, social quality and is always ready for the next party.Avi represents the more reckless, pleasure-seeking side of this world. He is not particularly interested in examining himself or the contradictions around him; he simply enjoys the lifestyle and the freedom it affords him. Speaks fluent English. | ||
| Role type | Role | Gender & Age range |
| Bit Part | Oscar | Male 40 - 48 Years old |
Description Warm, outgoing, and commercially savvy, Oscar co-runs one of Mexico City's most prestigious galleries with Marco. He has a friendly, slightly patronizing manner and an easy familiarity with the artists and collectors who make up their world.Oscar understands the art world as both a cultural institution and a business. He is genuinely enthusiastic about Mateo's work, but is equally comfortable talking about its financial value, revealing how closely art and commerce are intertwined in his world. Speaks fluent English. | ||
| Role type | Role | Gender & Age range |
| Bit Part | Pepe | Male 38 - 48 Years old |
Description A mysterious figure who exists mostly through the stories people tell about him, Pepe has a legendary reputation in Mexico City's social scene. Guillermo describes him as an exceptionally desirable lover, with women supposedly flying in from Europe specifically to see him and leaving the next day.Pepe's reputation is part of the mythology of this social circle: larger than life, sexually glamorous, and almost impossible to separate from the exaggerated stories people tell about him. Speaks Spanish, sings in English. | ||