Fresh off the success of Gillian Robespierre’s comedy, Obvious Child, the bold Gaby Hoffmann now stars as a lesbian in a horror film, Lyle. This Stewart Thorndike film is streaming free online, starting August 4th.
Lyle has been labeled a “lesbian Rosemary’s Baby,” and first premiered at The Los Angeles LGTB Outfest. Here, Hoffmann received the Grand Jury Prize for Best Actress. The film portrays a pregnant Leah’s (Hoffmann) manic experience, after she moves into a new place with her wife, June (Ingrid Jungermann) and daughter, Lyle (Eleanor Hopkins). After her first child dies, Leah’s mind retreats into a dark fantasy world.
Originally a child star in Lesli Linka Glatter’s Now and Then (1995), Nora Ephron’s Sleepless in Seattle (1993), and Phil Alden Robinson’s Field of Dreams (1989), Hoffmann is making a powerful comeback. With her recent roles in the Sundance winners Obvious Child and Crystal Fairy & the Magical Cactus, she has become a leading force of independent cinema. Hoffmann also has utilized her comedic gifts in the HBO television show, Girl. Up next for her are Tom O’Brien’s Manhattan Romance and Jean-Marc Vallee’s Wild.
In an interview with The Guardian, Hoffmann talked about working in low budget films:
“What I prefer is good writing and smart people,” Hoffmann said. “Wherever that is found, and that is found all over the place in terms of budget, that’s where I tend to want to be.”
Lyle is Thorndike’s directorial debut, and took only five days to shoot. It will stream in an effort to raise funding for Thorndike’s next of three female-driven horror films. The second of the trilogy, The Putney School is about a haunted TED talk. Thorndike is a friend of Hoffmann’s and wrote the character of Leah specifically for her.
Catch Hoffmann in her first horror film, when Lyle streams next week for free.
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