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Polly Draper and Natsuko Ohama are co-starring alongside Philip Ettinger, Daniel Diemer and Oscar winner J.K. Simmons in upcoming indie film “Little Brother,” written and directed by Sheridan O’Donnell.

The film follows Jake (Diemer) as he drives his older brother Pete (Ettinger) home for a family intervention after his most recent suicide attempt. While on the drive, the two brothers struggle to come to terms with the past, while trying to survive and cope with the present.

Draper plays Gail Duffy, mother of Jake and Pete and wife to the brothers’ demanding father Warren Duffy, played by J.K. Simmons. Ohama plays Mary, a farm owner who Pete and Jake meet in Idaho along their journey.

“Little Brother” is inspired by a close friend of O’Donnell’s, who took his own life — with the film aiming to destigmatize and push conversations surrounding mental health and suicide.

Draper is known...

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Spooky season will soon be in session at L.A.’s Center Theatre Group.

The nonprofit theater company has set Constance Wu, Finn Wittrock, Anna Camp and Adam Rothenberg to star in 2:22 — A Ghost Story, a four-person play described as an “intriguing, funny and scary supernatural thriller.” Previews at Ctg’s Ahmanson Theatre begin Oct. 29 with an official opening set for Nov. 4. The play will then run through Dec. 4.

Written by Danny Robins and directed by Matthew Dunster, A Ghost Story follows Jenny (Wu) who believes her new home is haunted while her husband Sam (Wittrock) isn’t having any of it. They argue with their first dinner guests, an old friend Lauren (Camp) and her new partner Ben (Rothenberg), and after a conversation about beliefs and skepticism, the foursome make a pact to stay up until 2:22 a.m. to know for sure.

When director Jan de Bont set about casting the various faces and secondary characters that populated bus #2525 in his 1994 actioner "Speed," it was very important to him that they reflect the multicultural identity of Los Angeles. Not only that, but he wanted there to be a heavy dose of realism in his choices, actors who seemed to be people you could look over on a morning commute and see reading the paper, sipping coffee, gazing out the window and starting their day. On the occasion of the film's 20th anniversary, I thought it would be interesting to track down as many of those actors as possible and tell the story of "Speed" from their perspective. It was a gargantuan task. While a number of them have remained in the industry in some way, many have moved on to other careers. But their individual stories are nevertheless as fascinating as the...