“Shirley” is continuing its Sundance hot streak. Following its Special Jury Award for Auteur Filmmaking win and the stigma-shattering portrait taken of breastmilk-pumping director Josephine Decker, the film has been acquired by Neon. The distributor has picked up North American rights to the Shirley Jackson biopic, Variety confirms.
No word on a release date just yet.
Written by Sarah Gubbins, “Shirley” sees the eponymous “Lottery” author (Elisabeth Moss) and her husband (Michael Stuhlbarg) taking in a young couple (Odessa Young and Logan Lerman) as tenants. The film is “about how madness and creativity can entwine so deeply that you stop being able to tell the difference between your characters, your friends, and yourself,” Decker told us.
“I was newly obsessed with Shirley Jackson’s writing when I got the call that there was a script about Shirley that I could pitch on,” Decker said when we asked why she was drawn to the film. “Shirley’s stories are extremely structured, but also often descend into dreams … Shirley writes about consciousness; her descent into her characters’ psychologies always ends up leading the reader down new strange corridors. She walks you daringly into doubt – which is beautiful.” The filmmaker added, “I am obsessed with the mind and how it is a constantly fickle, ever-changing guide that fools you into believing that the reality you are living in is one you didn’t create yourself. Shirley is clearly obsessed with the same.”
“Shirley” is also set to screen at the 2020 Berlinale, taking place February 20-March 1.
Decker’s other credits include “Madeline’s Madeline,” “Flames,” “Thou Wast Mild and Lovely,” and “Butter on the Latch.” Next, she’ll helm the film adaptation of Jandy Nelson’s YA novel “The Sky Is Everywhere” for Apple and A24.
While at Sundance, Decker attended a press event while pumping, and had her photograph taken in Variety’s studio while doing so. “It’s funny because it felt very organic at the time,” she said. “We were running from one press thing to the next and I was thinking, ‘When am I going to pump today? When am I ever going to pump?’ After I started pumping, they needed me back [for press], but I was two minutes into pumping and I needed 20 more.” Then it hit her: “‘Wait a second, I’m making a movie about women emancipating themselves in the early 20th century!’” Why couldn’t she pump while doing her job?
Other Sundance pics that have snagged distribution include Radha Blank’s “The 40-Year-Old Version” (Netflix), Amy Ziering and Kirby Dick’s “On the Record” (HBO Max), the Elyse Steinberg-co-directed “The Fight” (Magnolia Pictures), Fernanda Valadez’s “Identifying Features” (Kino Lorber), and Heidi Ewing’s “I Carry You With Me” (Sony).
