“About Ray” is now “Three Generations.” The film, which has been on the shelf since September 2015, will be released May 19, 2017, The Hollywood Reporter writes.
Directed by Gaby Dellal and written by Dellal and Nikole Beckwith, “Three Generations” centers on Ray (Elle Fanning), a young trans man. It also stars Naomi Watts as Ray’s mother and Susan Sarandon as his grandmother. The film’s new name suggests that TWC will market the film as more of an intergenerational family drama than a movie solely tracing a trans teen’s experience. What’s odd is that the film’s new title isn’t actually new. When the project was first announced, it was titled “Three Generations.” It then became “About Ray.” And now it’s “Three Generations” once again.
This news comes almost a year and a half since The Weinstein Company (TWC) pulled “Three Generations” from its release schedule, THR reports. TWC pulled the film only a few days before its original release date, September 18, 2015. “The move raised eyebrows given that the company had aggressively pursued the film and bought it for $6 million at the Cannes market in May 2015,” the source notes.
The company originally claimed that they were delaying its release so “Three Generations” could have an Oscars-qualifying run in theaters. That plan never came to fruition.
As THR details, “Three Generations’” new release date will see it compete with “Alien: Covenant,” “Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Long Haul,” and “Everything, Everything.”
While the exact reason for the film’s delayed release is not known, it’s probably related in some way to the controversy Dellal and the film sparked in summer 2015. Like “The Danish Girl,” “Three Generations” has received criticism for casting a cis actor to play a trans character. Dellal also came under fire when she used female pronouns to describe Ray and repeatedly referred to the character as a girl in an interview with Refinery29.
Hopefully, TWC will stick with “Three Generations’” new release date and audiences will be able to evaluate the film themselves.
Dellal has previously directed episodes of “Leaving,” and the features “Angels Crest,” “On a Clear Day,” and “The Ride.”
You can catch Fanning as Julie in “20th Century Women,” currently in theaters. The actress will also appear Sofia Coppola’s “The Beguiled,”
“How to Talk to Girls at Parties,” and Haifaa Al-Mansour’s “Mary Shelley” (previously titled “A Storm in the Stars”). Watts stars in the upcoming “The Glass Castle” and will portray Gertrude in “Ophelia.” Sarandon will play Bette Davis in FX’s upcoming “Feud,” a limited series about the legendary rivalry between Davis and Joan Crawford, who is being portrayed by Jessica Lange.
