The C&I reader favorite is the star attraction in “The Hero.”
Sam Elliott recently reunited with I’ll See You in My Dreams director Brett Haley for The Hero, an independently produced drama, and there’s an early sign that their latest collaboration must be something special: Much like their previous effort, the new movie has been chosen to premiere at Robert Redford’s Sundance Film Festival.
Lauren Prepon (Orange Is the New Black), Nick Offerman (Parks and Recreation), Krysten Ritter (Jessica Jones), and Katharine Ross (aka Mrs. Sam Elliott) costar in The Hero, one of 16 indie features announced Thursday for the festival’s prestigious U.S. Dramatic Competition. Previous winners of the grand jury prize in this category include Whiplash, Beasts of the Southern Wild, Winter’s Bone, and The Birth of a Nation.
Elliott stars as Lee, a former western movie icon who’s living a comfortable life long after his Hollywood heyday while dividing his time between doing voiceover gigs, hanging out with his best buddy (Offerman), and smoking copious amounts of weed. But after receiving some life-changing news, Lee is driven to re-examine his past — and, maybe, to repeat his signature role in a sequel to The Hero, the most popular of all his westerns. He also wants to reconnect with his ex-wife (Ross) and estranged daughter (Ritter), but he can’t quite figure out how to do it. Further complications arise when he meets and befriends a stand-up comic (Prepon) on her own journey of self-discovery.
The 2017 Sundance Film Festival will be held January 19 – 29 in Park City, Utah.