Naman Shrestha
With Glenn Ciano occupying the director’s chair, Lifetime’s ‘Acting Coach Nightmare’ is a mystery thriller movie that mainly focuses on Lisa and her ambitious teenage daughter Sienna. Even after losing her husband several years ago, Lisa has been able to build a successful career for herself and has found love again in her longtime boyfriend Mark. Moreover, her daughter Sienna also seems to be doing great in her life but it all changes when the teenager tells Lisa that she wants to become an actress. Sienna manages to convince her mother to sign her up for her dream acting class so that she can fulfill her dreams.
As Sienna regularly attends the classes, she begins to become distant from Lisa while falling under the spell of her suspicious Hollywood acting coach named Max. Lisa is afraid that Max might be grooming Sienna for a dangerous Hollywood cult. So, Lisa sets off on a mission to break Max’s spell on her daughter before the time runs out. Starring Samaire Armstrong, Cameron Jebo, Neela Jolene, and Erik von Detten, the thriller film deals with certain realistic aspects of the Hollywood industry and how people can be deceiving in the film industry as well as other areas of life.
Acting Coach Nightmare is Not Inspired by a True Story
Even though there is a dark side of Hollywood in real life, which is highlighted in ‘Acting Coach Nightmare,’ the Lifetime movie is not particularly inspired by a true event. Over the years, many of you might have heard about different kinds of scandals associated with the Hollywood industry — sexual assault, cut-throat business deals, mind-control programming, drug and alcohol usage, and many more. Out of these, the Samaire Armstrong starrer focuses on the involvement of cults in the industry, similar to what HBO’s ‘The Idol’ explores.
Created by Sam Levinson, Abel “The Weeknd” Tesfaye, and Reza Fahim, The Idol revolves around a female pop idol named Jocelyn who gets involved with a nightclub owner and cult leader — Tedros (portrayed by Abel). As Jocelyn gets closer to him, a game of manipulation and spell unravels, just like what happens with Sienna in ‘Acting Coach Nightmare.’ You are likely to find a few parallels between the characters of Jocelyn and Sienna as both of them get cast under the spell of a cult leader — Tedros in the case of Jocelyn and Max in the case of Sienna.
The screenwriters of ‘Acting Coach Nightmare’ — Kendall Anlian and Michael Varrati — combined their excellent penmanship and experience in the industry to conjure up a gripping yet realistic screenplay for the film. Considering all the above-mentioned factors, we can come to the conclusion that the Lifetime thriller might consist of real-life elements but it doesn’t change the fact that it is not rooted in reality.
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