Annual Top Films Lists

Top 100 Most Anticipated Films of 2013: #61. Fredrik Bond’s The Necessary Death of Charlie Countryman

Published on January 12, 2013

The Necessary Death of Charlie Countryman

Director: Fredrik Bond
Writer(s): Matt Drake
Producer(s): Albert Berger, Craig J. Flores, William Horberg, Ron Yerxa
U.S. Distributor: Rights Available
Cast: Shia LaBeouf, Aubrey Plaza, Rupert Grint, Evan Rachel Wood, Mads Mikkelsen, Til Schweiger, Melissa Leo

Fredrik Bond has been making “short” movies for the past decade as an award-winning commercials director (view some here) and luck would have it that he gets to work from a top tier 2007 Blacklist Screenplay and a solid ensemble with the likes of Shia LaBeouf (who reportedly dropped acid for some scenes), Aubrey Plaza, Rupert Grint, Evan Rachel Wood, Mads Mikkelsen, Til Schweiger and Melissa Leo.

Gist: Charlie Countryman (LaBeouf) is just a normal guy until he meets and falls in love with Gabi (Wood), a Hungarian girl after he sits next to her father on a plane that resulted in his death. But Gabi is married to Nigel (Mikkelsen), a violent and mentally unstable crime boss with a gang of thugs at his disposal. Armed with little more than his wit and naïve charm, Charlie endures one bruising beat down after another to woo Gabi and keep her out of harm’s way. Finally his exploits of blind valor create such a mess that he’s left with only one way out; to save the girl of his dreams – he has to die.

Release Date: Sundance Film Festival showing in the Premieres section – should receive an influx of high-bidders and see the day theatrically later in the year.

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).