Mark Wahlberg walks a lonely road for his gay son in trailer for ‘Joe Bell’

Joe Bell tells the intimate and emotional true story of an Oregonian father (Academy Award nominee Mark Wahlberg) who pays tribute to his gay teenage son Jadin, embarking on a self-reflective walk across America to speak his heart to heartland citizens about the real and terrifying costs of bullying.

After a name change (it was previously Good Joe Bell) and a studio change the film landed at Roadside Attractions with a summer release date. The movie is directed by Reinaldo Marcus Green (Monsters and Men and the forthcoming King Richard) from an original screenplay by Diana Ossana and Larry McMurtry, the Academy Award winning writing team from Brokeback Mountain. It also stars Connie Britton, Gary Sinise and newcomer Reid Miller, who received accolades after the film’s 2020 Toronto Film Film Festival debut. It features an original song from 12-time Academy Award-nominated songwriter Diane Warren.

TIFF Review: The deeply earnest ‘Good Joe Bell’ is a story of self-redemption

The film is produced by Daniela Taplin Lundberg, Riva Marker, Eva Maria Daniels, Cary Fukunaga, Ryan Ahrens, Mark Wahlberg and Stephen Levinson. Executive producers are Jill Ahrens, Ben Renzo, Derrick Brooks, Paris Kassidokostas-Latsis, Terry Dougas, Jean-Luc De Fanti, Jake Gyllenhaal, Diana Ossana, Larry McMurtry, Peter Pastorelli, and Uwe R. Feuersenger. The movie is a co-production between Argent Pictures, Endeavor Content, Hercules Film Fund, Rhea Films, Stay Gold Features, Nine Stories Productions, VisionChaos, Parliament of Owls and Wahlberg/Levinson.

Roadside Attractions will release Joe Bell only in theaters July 23rd, 2021.

Photo: Quantrell D. Colbert / Roadside Attractions

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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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