While TIFF has become film premiere terrain for his last director outings (the horribly timed post 9/11 released The Grey Zone and 2009’s Leaves of Grass), Tim Blake Nelson could be deemed as a return customer in Sundance folklore. His stacked resume at Sundance includes his first three premiered and/or workshopped outings (includes his short Kansas), and he is rooted at the Institute, being a Creative Advisor in the Directors Lab on four separate occasions. Employing the mapped out ensemble narrative strategy for his fifth feature film, the multi-tasker called upon a team of fellow thesps in Gretchen Mol, Corey Stoll, Michael Kenneth Williams, Jessica Hecht, Hannah Marks, Glenn Close, Scott Cohen, Sam Waterston and team captain Kristen Stewart (see pap pic above) for Anesthesia. Production on the New York City set drama began late last year, so despite turning into James Franco’s muse (five straight feature films) he could have had ample time to fit this into the future line-up. Among the tech folk we have Cinematographer Christina Voros (also right hand man to Franco in several features – most recently As I Lay Dying) and Editor Mako Kamitsuna (Pariah).
Gist: This follows the disparate stories of New Yorkers whose lives come together after the violent mugging of a Columbia University philosophy professor (Sam Waterston).
Production Co./Producers: Hello Please’s Julie Buck, Josh Hetzler, Christopher Scott and Nelson
Prediction: Premieres category.
U.S. Distributor: Rights Available. TBD (domestic). TBD (international)
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