Festival Predictions

2015 Sundance Film Festival Predictions: Andrew Renzi’s Franny

Published on November 12, 2014

Moving from producer hat-wearing days (Afterschool, Two Gates of Sleep) to firmly stippling Park City with a metaphysical, deeply humane and serene portraits The Fort (2012) and Karaoke! (2013), Andrew Renzi saddled into feature filmmaking earlier this year with dual projects, the birth of Fishtail, the docu 16mm set in Montana and narrated by Harry Dean Stanton was the first to push out (’14 Tribeca/ Karlovy Vary), while his narrative feature debut appears to be close to going into labor. Production on the 2013 January Screenwriters Lab Franny began last October, with Richard Gere, Dakota Fanning and Theo James balancing on a tightrope act. On the tech side we find cinematographer Joe Anderson (Simon Killer), plus a Danny Bensi and Saunder Jurriaans signed score (Enemy).

Gist: Gere will play a fun-loving, hedonistic philanthropist who works his way into the lives of a newlywed couple (Dakota Fanning, Theo James) to recapture the life he once had.

Production Co./Producers: Treehouse Pictures’ Justin Nappi and Kevin Turen (99 Homes), TideRock Media’s Thomas B Fore and Jason Michael Berman (Little Accidents), Big Shoes Media’s Jay Schuminsky.

Prediction: U.S. Dramatic Competition or Premieres category

U.S. Distributor: Rights Available. WME & CAA (domestic). QED Int. (international)

[related]2015 Sundance Film Festival Predictions[/related]

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).