Annual Top Films Lists

Top 50 Most Anticipated American Independent Films of 2019: #43. Jay Roach’s Fair and Balanced

Published on January 23, 2019

Fair and Balanced

In a project that will carry a heavier price tag than Trumbo (read review), while we normally don’t associate him with American indie, Jay Roach moved into his 11th feature film this past August with Fair and Balanced – a project that at the onset had Annapurna as a possible partner before the budget moved into an uncomfortable zone. Charlize Theron, Nicole Kidman and Margot Robbie butt heads in what still remains a man’s world with a project that has the fall film festival circuit written all over. Production began in late September.

Gist: Written by Charles Randolph, the film centers around the stories of various female Fox News personnel and their altercations with founder Roger Ailes.

Release Date/Prediction: Annapurna Pictures, Focus both passed with Lionsgate landing the pic in post-production. Look for it to be a showy awards campaign item in the fall.

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).