Festival Predictions

2014 Sundance Film Festival Predictions: John Slattery’s God’s Pocket

Published on November 19, 2013

He traded on-set education on Mad Men and then cornered this project almost a decade earlier when he picked it up as a read, actor-turned-director John Slattery was smart in grabbing a stellar cinematographer in Lance Acord to play dp and producer, and asked some favors from acting peer excellence in Phillip Seymour Hoffman, Richard Jenkins, Christina Hendricks, John Turturro, and Caleb Landry Jones. Production took place this summer.

Gist: Based on the novel by Peter Dexter, scripted by Alex Metcalf and Slattery, this is set in a blue-collar neighborhood of God’s Pocket, where the lead character tries to cover up his stepson’s death in a construction accident. When a local columnist comes sniffing around for the truth, things go from bad to worse.

Production Co./Producers: Park Pictures’ Sam Bisbee, Jackie Kelman Bisbee and Lance Acord in association with Cooper’s Town’s Emily Ziff and Philip Seymour Hoffman and Shoestring Pictures’ John Slattery.

Prediction: Fest insiders from Tribeca all the way to TIFF will be circling the pic if it doesn’t end up breaking into Sundance’s Premieres category.

U.S. Distributor: Rights Available

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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).