Focus Commences TIFF Shopping with ‘Beginners’

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Apparently I’m not the only one to think highly of Mike Mills’ Beginners — Focus Features was the winner among a five distributor horse race and will agree to a significant P&A to help push the film. Pic will be released in 2011 – my guess is another festival release to help promote the rom dramedy in other territories, and then they’ll have to strategically place the film during a mid year release — perhaps the same date as The Kids Are All Right. Mills’ highly personal film received its world premiere fairly early in the festival (here’s opening night coverage), so this means negotiations lasted for close to a week. 

Ewan McGregor plays a young man rocked by two announcements from his elderly father (Christopher Plummer)…one, that he has terminal cancer, and two, that he’s coming out of the closet. The second narrative sees McGregor hook up with Laurent – the manner in which these characters meet will make audiences melt.

Eric Lavallée
Eric Lavalléehttps://www.ericlavallee.com
Eric Lavallée is the founder, CEO, editor-in-chief, film journalist, and critic at IONCINEMA.com, established in 2000. A regular at Sundance, Cannes, and Venice, Eric holds a BFA in film studies from the Mel Hoppenheim School of Cinema. In 2013, he served on the narrative competition jury at the SXSW Film Festival. He was an associate producer on Mark Jackson’s "This Teacher" (2018 LA Film Festival, 2018 BFI London). He is a Golden Globes Voter, member of the ICS (International Cinephile Society), FIPRESCI and AQCC (Association québécoise des critiques de cinéma).

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