Festival Predictions

2018 Sundance Film Festival Predictions: Jason Reitman’s Tully

Published on November 17, 2017

Stamped with an April 20th release date via the Focus Features folks (they picked it up last May), there is no reason to premiere early, but while we normally associate him with TIFF, Jason Reitman has been an off and on regular at Sundance since debuting his short, Operation in 98. He showcased Thank You for Smoking and more recently, preemed the short Roast Battle (2016), but Tully could be a mutual, great fit for Sundance. Having just wrapped his eighth feature film (The Front Runner) last week, this Diablo Cody scripted dramedy on being a mom started filming in September of 2016 in Vancouver, and once again sees Young Adult‘s Charlize Theron (she appears to have added some Monster like pounds for the part) in the fold. Mackenzie Davis and Sundance regulars Mark Duplass and Ron Livingston are also onboard.

Gist: Theron plays Marlo, a mother of three including a newborn who is gifted a night nanny (Mackenzie Davis) by her brother (Mark Duplass). Hesitant to the extravagance at first, Marlo comes to form a unique bond with the thoughtful, surprising and sometimes challenging young nanny named Tully.

Production Co./Producers: Bron Studio‘s Aaron L. Gilbert (My Abandonment); Right of Way Films’ Reitman and Helen Estabrook; Cody and Mason Novick (Sunny); and Denver and Delilah Productions’ Theron, A.J. Dix, and Beth Kono (Gringo)

Prediction: Three fest arm wrestling match with SXSW and Tribeca to host the premiere.

U.S. Distributor: Focus Features

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).