Annette Bening is generated serious Oscar talk for her performance in Mike Mills’ upcoming dramedy 20th Century Women. The film held its world premiere at the New York Film Festival, where the movie (and especially Bening) earned warm early praise. Capitalizing on such, 20th Century Women is now slated to screen at the upcoming AFI Film Festival, which will also include hold tribute for the four-time Oscar nominated actress. The tribute will include a conversation with Bening, followed a screening of the film – which also stars Greta Gerwig, Elle Fanning, Billy Crudup and newcomer Lucas Jade Zumann – on November 16th.
20th Century Women follows a single mother Dorothea (Bening) attempting to forge a respectable path for her adolescent son in late 1970s California. While political and social ennui dominates the culture, she – with the aid of free-spirited punk artist (Gerwig) and a rebellious teenager (Fanning) – attempts to raise her son right. Mills, who last directed Beginners, wrote and directed the movie which A24 Films will release on Christmas Day.
While the full line-up of the 2016 AFI Film Festival has yet to be officially unveiled, 20th Century Women joins a few fascinating titles already announced. Paul Verhoeven’s upcoming provocative drama Elle – which caused quite stir at the 2016 Cannes Film Festival – will also play the festival, along with a tribute for the film’s star Isabelle Huppert, who herself is already generating awards heat. Also on the docket is the world premiere of Taylor Hackford’s The Comedian starring Robert De Niro, a film which was recently acquired by Sony Pictures Classics and which will have an awards qualifying run sometime in December.
The opening night selection for AFI will be Rules Don’t Apply, Warren Beatty’s long-gestating bio-of-sorts of Howard Hughes. Beatty (who wrote, directed, produced and appears in the title) is famously married to Annette Bening, who appears in Rules Don’t Apply, so this year’s AFI Film Festival looks to be quite the family affair.
The 2016 AFI Film Festival runs from November 10th-17th in Hollywood.
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