SPC Searches for ‘Darling Companion’

Sony Pictures Classics knows their market well. Loaded with a cast of actors who were ripe back in the 70’s (Keaton, Kline, Shepard, Wiest and Richard Jenkins whose career really took off in the last decade), SPC have picked up Lawrence Kasdan’s Darling Companion and have set it for their 2012 slate. We initially thought the ensemble drama would preem at this year’s TIFF,  but has its currently still in post, we’re now beginning to think that unless they adopt a “Kids Are All Right” model (preem at Sundance, issue middle of the summer) then we might only be seeing this in 12 months from now. 

Gist: This is the story of a woman who loves her dog more than her husband. And then her husband loses the dog. On a wintry day, Beth (Keaton) saves a bedraggled lost dog from the side of the freeway. Struggling with her distracted, self-involved husband Joseph (Kline) and an empty nest at home, Beth forms a special bond with the rescued animal. When Joseph loses the dog after a wedding at their vacation home in the Rockies, the distraught Beth enlists the help of the few remaining guests and a mysterious young woman (Zurer) in a frantic search.

Worth Noting: Sort of like the Cassavetes clan, the Kasdans are a filmmaking family in their own right. Meg Co-wrote with her husband Lawrence. Son Jake last directed Bad Teacher. Son Jon’s directorial debut was In the Land of Women.

Do We Care?: We’re big on what projects Likely Story producer Anthony Bregman takes on, and if this is good on paper (sounds more or less like a mix between Estes’ The Details and Margot at the Wedding) then we can see tons of ink being spilled on how this is “The Big Chill” for a whole new era. We certainly wouldn’t mind that.