Hot off the press! As they still say…we’ve got the exciting news that Magnolia Pictures and Paramount Pictures have collaborated to bring Joe Swanberg’s HAPPY CHRISTMAS to cinemas after its debut at the Sundance Film Festival that begins today!
Swanberg is the talented writer and director behind DRINKING BUDDIES, a film that’s shortly due for Home Entertainment release over here in the UK in March and is a clever and original comedy-drama that impressed me greatly. His new film here, HAPPY CHRISTMAS, also has a stunning cast in the form of Anna Kendrick, Melanie Lynskey, Mark Webber, Lena Dunham and Swanberg himself.
In the film Anna Kendrick plays Jenny, an irresponsible 20-something who comes to Chicago to live with her older brother Jeff (Swanberg), a young filmmaker living a happy existence with his novelist wife Kelly (Lynskey) and their two-year-old son. Jenny’s arrival shakes up their quiet domesticity as she and her friend Carson (Dunham) instigate an evolution in Kelly’s life and career. Meanwhile, Jenny strikes up a rocky relationship with the family’s baby sitter-cum-pot dealer (Webber).
This is the delectable Kendrick’s second collaboration with Joe Swanberg following DRINKING BUDDIES and like that film, Swanberg’s unique improvisational techniques are also present in HAPPY CHRISTMAS, which is great news as far as I’m concerned. The director had this to say:
“I’m excited to continue my relationship with the innovative people at Magnolia and to start a new relationship with Paramount. Happy Christmas is a personal and important film for me and I can’t imagine better partners to help connect it with audiences around the world.”
Magnolia President Eamonn Bowles added:
“We’re thrilled to be in business with Joe again on this lovely gem of a film. Joe’s skill with actors is formidable, and this terrific cast gives wonderful performances all around.”
HAPPY CHRISTMAS is currently looking at a summer 2014 release via Magnolia Pictures and we’ll bring you UK news as we get it and, oh yeah, here’s another image from the film.
