One of the best-reviewed and most talked about films out of Sundance 2018 has found a home. HBO Films secured the rights to Laura Dern-starrer “The Tale.” Variety broke the news.
Written and directed by Jennifer Fox, the sexual abuse drama sees Dern playing a documentary filmmaker and professor who is forced to reexamine her past “relationship” with her coach. “It’s based on what happened to me at 13, and how I processed it as ‘love’ up until I was in my 40s,” Fox told us in a soon-to-be-published interview. “I like to call it a film memoir.” The story is told from the Fox’s perspective as an adult (Dern) and as a child (Isabelle Nelisse).
“The Tale” has, of course, been linked to the #MeToo movement, but as Fox explained to us, she “began to write this script 10 years ago, way ahead of the curve for this issue, and … was told no one would support a film on this subject. I was committed to a very deep telling of the story that had never been done before,” she said. “Everyone who joined the project are heroes in my mind, as against all odds, they believed it was important to bring out this story long before the culture was caught up to it last year.”
The movie is set to premiere on HBO and will be eligible for Emmys. According to The Hollywood Reporter, the premium cable network shelled out $7 million for “The Tale.”
Mynette Louie, Regina K. Scully, Simone Pero, Laura Rister, Reka Posta, and Lynda Weinman are among the project’s producers.
“It has always been my intent to find an engaged distribution partner who deeply understands the wide reach of the project, not just as a film, but also for the impact it can have on a larger global conversation,” Fox said in a statement. “In a world in which stories like mine have often been pushed into the darkness, no one has been better at shining a light on storytelling and important social issues than HBO. I am overjoyed to be able to take ‘The Tale’ out into the world with such a vibrant and engaged team.”
Elizabeth Debicki, Frances Conroy, Ellen Burstyn, Jason Ritter, and Common compose “The Tale’s” supporting cast.
Fox’s previous credits include “Flying: Confessions of a Free Woman” and “Beirut: The Last Home Movie.”
