It was flying so low on my radar that I wasn’t even aware that the production was completed. Today Fox Searchlight Pictures announces that it has pegged a December 14th date for Jason Reitman’s sophomore feature as a director in Juno. Why are we looking forward to this film? We thought that Thank You for Smoking had some great moments (so did the folks at Fox Searchlight who quickly signed up the director for a 2nd project and third: Bonzai Shadowhands) and we very much like the diminutive yet powerful actress Ellen Page.
Scripted by Diablo Cody, this sees is a whip-smart teen (Ellen Page) confronting an unplanned pregnancy by her classmate Bleeker (Michael Cera). With the help of her hot best friend Leah (Olivia Thirlby), Juno finds her unborn child a “perfect” set of parents: an affluent suburban couple, Mark and Vanessa (Jason Bateman and Jennifer Garner), longing to adopt. Luckily, Juno has the total support of her parents (J.K. Simmons and Allison Janney) as she faces some tough decisions, flirts with adulthood and ultimately figures out where she belongs.
Fox Searchlight had a gap to fill between September 29th’s release of The Darjeeling Limited and the holiday release of The Savages. I’m still wondering what will happen with Kenneth Lonergan’s Margaret. If FS decides to stick to the second weke of December it will be challenged not by the holiday and studio fair (Alvin and the Chipmunks, I Am Legend, Perfect Christmas, and Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story) but De Palma’s Redacted and FFCoppola’s Youth Without Youth.
