Director Alexander Payne hasn’t made a film since his Oscar award winning film, Sideways came out back in 2004. His new project is called The Descendants and it stars George Clooney, Judy Greer, Matthew Lillard, Shailene Woodley, Robert Forster and Beau Bridges. It is about a man who tries to reconnect with his children after his wife suffers a boating accident.
Fox Searchlight released has launched a website called Who Is He, where the first clip can be viewed. After watching it, I’m not quite sure what to think of The Descendants just yet. Judging by the clip I’d say that it will have a very strange tone that will balance the comedy and tragedy in a different fashion. I have yet to see the highly praised Sideways, so I will be going into The Descendants blind without knowing much about Payne’s directing style and without being able to compare the two films.
The Descendants opens December 16th, 2011. We’ve attached the official synopsis below:
From Alexander Payne, the creator of the Oscar-winning SIDEWAYS, set in Hawaii, THE DESCENDANTS is a sometimes humorous, sometimes tragic journey for Matt King (George Clooney) an indifferent husband and father of two girls, who is forced to re-examine his past and embrace his future when his wife suffers a boating accident off of Waikiki. The event leads to a rapprochement with his young daughters while Matt wrestles with a decision to sell the family’s land handed down from Hawaiian royalty and missionaries.
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