“I’m full of memories. I’m full of regrets. I’m full of hope,” says Shirley Henderson in an exclusive new trailer for “Never Steady, Never Still.” The “Happy Valley” actress plays Judy, a woman who has lived with Parkinson’s disease for nearly two decades. She’s coping with the recent loss of her husband and caregiver, and all of the complications that arise in her daily life due to his absence.
Clearly feeling a sense of obligation to care for his mother, Judy’s teen son (Théodore Pellerin, “It’s Only the End of the World”) offers to stick around home rather than pursuing work on a drilling rig. “You gotta live your life,” she tells him, giving her blessing for him to move.
“‘Never Steady, Never Still’ is a film that explores the gap between what we need from each other and what we’re able to give,” writer-director Kathleen Hepburn told us. She explained, “I couldn’t escape this story because it is one that has permeated my life. My mother was diagnosed with Parkinson’s about 24 years ago, when I was only nine, so the disease has been an ever-present reality in my world for almost as long as I can remember.”
The drama marks Hepburn’s feature debut. It’s an expansion of her 2015 short of the same name.
“Never Steady, Never Still” made its world premiere at the 2017 Toronto International Film Festival and opens in New York on June 22.
