EXCLUSIVE: Magnolia Pictures has set a theatrical release of April 4 for Michael Shannon’s feature directorial debut, the drama Eric Larue about two parents, who in the aftermath of a shocking crime at the hands of their son, seek solace in rival religious congregations.
Shannon assembled a platinum class cast here in Judy Greer, Alexander Skarsgård, Alison Pill, Tracy Letts, Paul Sparks, and Annie Parisse for the pic based on Brett Neveu’s 2002 play.
Eric Larue made its world premiere at Tribeca Festival. Magnolia has North American rights.
Greer plays Janice, who is coping with the fallout after her son murders three of his high school classmates. Struggling and moving through life as if in a haze, she is unable to let go of her anger and frustration. While her husband, played by Skarsgård, has found refuge at a new church, Janice finds it hard to seek solace in her faith despite her pastor’s pleas to heal her wounds by meeting with the mothers of her son’s victims.
“I can’t believe my unbelievable good fortune to have Magnolia, a company I have admired for many years, distributing my first feature as a director,” Shannon tells Deadline. “Eric LaRue is as meaningful to me as any work I’ve done as an actor, and my intention was to make a film that perhaps could offer healing of some sort around an issue that has confounded us as a country for quite a long time. That issue being gun violence in schools and the infinite ripple effect it has on our society.”
Eric Larue is a Caliwood Pictures, A Big Indie and Brace Cove Production. Pic was produced by Sarah Green (The Bikeriders), Karl Hartman (Being the Ricardos), and Jina Panebianco (Famous). Shannon’s frequent collaborator Jeff Nichols is an EP, as are R. Wesley Sierk, John D. Straley, Joseph Panebianco, Declan Baldwin, Byron Wetzel, and Meghan Schumacher.
The deal for the movie was negotiated by Range Select and CAA Media Finance on behalf of the filmmakers.
Here’s the poster:
