Festival Predictions

2017 Sundance Film Festival Predictions: Brett Haley’s The Hero

Published on November 25, 2016

Looks like Woody isn’t the only cowboy picking up dust. In terms of Sundance good fortune, Brett Haley‘s sophomore feature, I’ll See You In My Dreams (2015) didn’t go unnoticed in Park City and it had a healthy afterlife with great indie box office numbers during its theatrical release. Reteaming with Sam Elliott and adding Laura Prepon, Nick Offerman, Krysten Ritter and Katharine Ross, filming wrapped up last July, so this drama is far from being an ace in the hole.

Gist: Written by Marc Basch and Haley, this centers on a movie star Lee Hayden (Elliott), whose career high as a Western film icon is now several decades in the past. Today he makes his living doing voice-overs, and spends most of his spare time smoking weed or hanging out with his pal (Offerman). When Lee receives life-changing news, he decides that he needs to prove his worth: he wants to reprise his celebrated role of The Hero, in a sequel to the beloved Western of the same name. He also wants to reconnect with his ex-wife (Ross) and estranged daughter (Ritter), but he’s not sure how to do it. Then he meets a stand-up comic (Prepon) on a journey of her own and begins to question the very meaning of success.

Production Co./Producers: Sam Bisbee (Other People), Houston King (Results), Erik Rommesmo (It Follows).

Prediction: Premieres category.

U.S. Distributor: Rights Available. TBD (domestic). TBD (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).