“I feel like myself with you,” says Hildy Good (Sigourney Weaver) in the new trailer for “The Good House.” “Usually I only feel like myself when I have a drink in my hand.”
She’s speaking to Frank Getchell (Kevin Kline), an old high-school flame she has recently rekindled a romance with. From a woman who explains that “in my mind, wine is not really drinking” the sentiment clearly means a lot.
In the film, which is based on the best-selling novel by Ann Leary, Hildy is a wry New England realtor who had a stint in rehab after her ex-husband left her for a man. Nowadays, she lives a compartmentalized life, spending time with her daughters and grandkids, making a new friend, and trying to keep her business afloat. But reuniting with Frank begins to reignite some long-buried family secrets and emotions.
Maya Forbes, who co-directed the film with her husband Wally Wolodarsky, explained to us in an interview that she was drawn to make “The Good House” because “it was a chance to tell the story of an older woman who has agency, who is a fighter, who is funny, who has demons. There comes a time in one’s life where you realize that some of the qualities that have powered you through might now be holding you back and I’m very interested in that inflection point.”
Previously, Forbes directed “The Polka King,” which she co-wrote with Wolodarsky, and wrote and directed family drama “Infinitely Polar Bear.”
Weaver earned Oscar nominations for “Aliens,” “Working Girl,” and “Gorillas in the Mist: The Story of Dian Fossey” — the latter two in the same year, in the Best Supporting Actress and Best Lead Actress categories, respectively. Her most recent credits include a guest appearance playing herself in the hit French show “Call My Agent!,” and a return to playing Fossey for National Geographic’s miniseries “Dian Fossey: Secrets in the Mist.”
“The Good House” will be in theaters September 30. Forbes penned the script with Wolodarsky and Thomas Bezucha.