Director Florian Zeller has seen plenty of awards attention for his latest film The Father, which is in contention for Oscars this year. He's now locked down his follow-up, The Son, which will star Hugh Jackman and Laura Dern.
Adapted once again from a Zeller play by the director and co-writer Christopher Hampton, The Son focuses on Peter (Jackman) as his busy life with new partner Emma and their baby is thrown into disarray when his ex-wife Kate (Dern) turns up with their teenage son, Nicholas.
The young man is troubled, distant and angry, playing truant from school for months. Peter strives to be a better father, searching to help his son with those intimate and instinctive moments of family happiness. But the weight of Nicholas’ condition sets the family on a dangerous course...
"The Son is a deeply human story which, I believe, connects us all; I hope audiences will be profoundly moved by this family’s journey," says Zeller. "Both Hugh and Laura naturally convey great warmth, compassion, and vulnerability, inviting our audience to embrace and feel every moment. The story is set in a vibrant and very much alive New York, an important character. The movie should make us call family and friends to tell them that they are wholly loved and not alone."
See-Saw Films and Film4 are stumping up the money to help get the film made, and it should shoot this year.