Festival Predictions

2017 Sundance Film Festival Predictions: Michael Mayer’s The Seagull

Published on November 28, 2016

A premium title for the acquisitions side of Sundance, Michael Mayer has been absent from feature films since
his first pair A Home at the End of the World (2004) and Flicka (2006). The Tony-winning Michael Mayer (Spring Awakening, American Idiot and Hedwig And The Angry Inch) moved back into the book to film adaptation with a Chekhov classic. The Seagull went into production this past July with a cast that includes Annette Bening, Saoirse Ronan, Corey Stoll, Elisabeth Moss, Brian Dennehy and Mare Winningham.

Gist: The Seagull centers on the romantic and artistic clashes between fading actress Irina Arkadina; fresh-faced ingénue Nina Zarechnaya; famous writer Boris Trigorin, Irina’s lover; and failing playwright Konstantin Treplyov, Irina’s son who is in love with Nina. All four come up against one another while visiting a country estate owned by Irina’s brother.

Production Co./Producers: Tom Hulce (A Home at the End of the World), Robert Salerno (Nocturnal Animals), Leslie Urdang (The Family Fang).

Prediction: Premieres category.

U.S. Distributor: Rights Available. WME and CAA (domestic). K5 (international)

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Eric Lavallée

Eric Lavallée is the founder, CEO, editor-in-chief, film journalist and critic at IONCINEMA.com (founded in 2000). Eric is a regular at Sundance, Cannes and TIFF. He has a BFA in Film Studies at the Mel Hoppenheim School of Cinema. In 2013 he served as a Narrative Competition Jury Member at the SXSW Film Festival. He was an associate producer on Mark Jackson's This Teacher (2018 LA Film Festival, 2018 BFI London). In 2022 he served as a New Flesh Comp for Best First Feature at the 2022 Fantasia Intl. Film Festival. Current top films for 2022 include Tár (Todd Field), All That Breathes (Shaunak Sen), Aftersun (Charlotte Wells).