IFC Films has acquired director Robin Swicord’s Wakefield. Swicord, who was nominated for an Academy Award for her work as screenwriter on David Fincher’s The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, helms the feature starring Bryan Cranston (Breaking Bad, Power Rangers) and Jennifer Garner (Dallas Buyers Club, 13 Going On 30). The film was screened at the Telluride Film Festival and Toronto International Film Festivals last fall. IFC Films has set a theatrical release date of May 19, 2017 and a VOD release date of May 26, 2017. The film also stars Jason O’Mara and Beverly D’Angelo. Producers are Julie Lynn, Bonnie Curtis, Wendy Federman ,Elliot Webb and Carl Moellenberg.
Official Synopsis
In Robin Swicord’s adaptation of E.L. Doctorow’s short story, successful suburbanite commuter Howard Wakefield (Bryan Cranston) takes a perverse detour from family life: He vanishes without a trace. Hidden in the attic of his carriage house garage, surviving by scavenging at night, Howard secretly observes the lives of his wife (Jennifer Garner) and children and neighbors. WAKEFIELD becomes a fraught meditation on marriage and identity, as Howard slowly realizes that he has not in fact left his family, he has left himself.
Wakefield is produced by Julie Lynn, Bonnie Curtis, Wendy Federman and Carl Moellenberg. The story is based on E.L. Doctrow short story. Doctrow has been called one of the most important American novelists of the 20th century. He wrote three collections of short fiction, though you can read Wakefield on its own on The New Yorker if you’d like to check out the source material.
