Cannes Market: Julianne Moore and Natalie Portman to star in ‘May December’ for Todd Haynes

Rocket Science to Launch International Sales at the Virtual Cannes Market

Rocket Science announced today that Academy Award winners Natalie Portman (Thor: Love and Thunder, Black Swan) and Julianne Moore (Still Alice, Far from Heaven) will star in May December for Academy Award nominated director Todd Haynes (Carol, Far from Heaven). The screenplay was written by Samy Burch (with story by Burch and Alex Mechanik). Rocket Science is handling international sales beginning at the Virtual Cannes Market. UTA Independent Film Group and CAA Media Finance are representing the U.S rights.

Jessica Elbaum and Will Ferrell of Gloria Sanchez Productions (Hustlers, Booksmart, Barb and Star Go to Vista Del Mar) and Christine Vachon (Shirley, Dark Waters) and Pam Koffler (Dark Waters, Colette) of Killer Films will produce alongside Portman and Sophie Mas under their MountainA banner. Principal photography is scheduled to commence next year.

Synopsis: Twenty years after their notorious tabloid romance gripped the nation, Gracie Atherton-Yu and her husband Joe (twenty-three years her junior) brace themselves for their twins to graduate from high school. When Hollywood actress Elizabeth Berry comes to spend time with the family to better understand Gracie, who she will be playing in a film, family dynamics unravel under the pressure of the outside gaze. Joe, never having processed what happened in his youth, starts to confront the reality of life as an empty-nester at 36. And as Elizabeth and Gracie study each other, the similarities and differences between the two women begin to ebb and flow. Set in picturesque and comfortable Camden, Maine, May December is an exploration of truth, storytelling, and the difficulties (or impossibility) of fully understanding another person.

“What so appealed to me about Samy Burch’s exceptional script was how it navigated potentially volatile subject matter with a kind of observational patience that allowed the characters in the story to be explored with uncommon subtlety,” said director Todd Haynes.

Haynes’s documentary, The Velvet Underground will have its premiere as part of the Official Selection at the Cannes Film Festival next month.  Portman, who won an Academy Award for her performance in Black Swan, recently wrapped principal photography on Marvel Studios/Disney’s Thor: Love and Thunder for director Taika Waititi. Moore won an Academy Award for her performance in Still Alice and will next star in Universal Pictures’ Dear Evan Hansen which will be released this fall. May December will see Moore and Haynes reunite for the sixth time, following previous collaborations including Far from Heaven, which was nominated for four Academy Awards including Best Actress and Best Original Screenplay.

Haynes is represented by CAA and Cinetic Media; Portman is represented by CAA and Agence Adequat; Moore by WME and Management 360; Burch is represented by Grandview; and Elbaum, Ferrell and Gloria Sanchez are represented by UTA, Mosaic and attorneys Jackoway Austen Tyerman Wertheimer Mandelbaum Morris Bernstein Trattner & Klein.

Rocket Science’s Cannes slate includes Sean Penn’s Flag Day which screens in Official Competition and Eva Husson’s Mothering Sunday which screens in the Premiere Section. Recently announced projects include: Zach Braff’s A Good Person starring Florence Pugh and Morgan Freeman; Robbie Williams biopic Better Man from director Michael Gracey; Sophia Banks’ Black Site starring Jason Clarke, Michelle Monaghan and Jai Courtney; and Oliver Hermanus’ Living starring Bill Nighy and Aimee Lou Wood.

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Erik Anderson

Erik Anderson is the founder/owner and Editor-in-Chief of AwardsWatch and has always loved all things Oscar, having watched the Academy Awards since he was in single digits; making lists, rankings and predictions throughout the show. This led him down the path to obsessing about awards. Much later, he found himself in film school and the film forums of GoldDerby, and then migrated over to the former Oscarwatch (now AwardsDaily), before breaking off to create AwardsWatch in 2013.

He is a Rotten Tomatoes-approved critic, accredited by the Cannes Film Festival, Telluride Film Festival, Toronto International Film Festival and more, is a member of the International Cinephile Society (ICS), The Society of LGBTQ Entertainment Critics (GALECA), Hollywood Critics Association (HCA) and the International Press Academy. Among his many achieved goals with AwardsWatch, he has given a platform to underrepresented writers and critics and supplied them with access to film festivals and the industry and calls the Bay Area his home where he lives with his husband and son.

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