Hugh Jackman and Laura Dern to star in The Son, a follow-up to Oscar-nominated The Father
After garnering a heck of a lot of attention this awards season for The Father, starring Olivia Colman and Anthony Hopkins, director Florian Zeller is moving full steam ahead on a follow-up film.
Hugh Jackman and Laura Dern are set to star in The Son, EW has learned. Like The Father, this movie will be adapted by Zeller and his screenwriting partner Christopher Hampton from one of Zeller’s three stage plays about family, which also includes The Mother.
The Son will follow Peter (Jackman), whose life with Emma and their baby are jolted by the arrival of his ex-wife Kate (Dern) and their troubled teenage son, Nicholas. Peter tries to be a better father to Nicholas and understand what he’s going through, but his son’s condition will set the family on a journey that tests their bonds.
“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,” Zeller said in a statement. “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.”
If critics and voting bodies take as quickly to The Son as they did to The Father, then this’ll mark another major success for Zeller.
The Father received four Golden Globe nominations and six Oscar nominations. Hopkins won a BAFTA acting award for his performance as Anthony, an elderly man suffering from dementia who refuses any and all assistance from his daughter (Colman). Zeller and Hampton’s screenplay also won a BAFTA in the adaptation category.
Oscar-winning producers Iain Canning and Emile Sherman (The King’s Speech) are on board to develop The Son with See-Saw Films. CAA Media Finance and Cross City Films are currently repping U.S. rights to the film, while Cross City Films works on international sales with Embankment.
