“The Death and Life of John F. Donovan,” takes place in the early 2000s and centers on the tribulations of an American TV star in his late twenties (Harington) and his correspondence with Rupert Turner, a young actor-to-be living with his mother in England. Their lives take dramatic turns when the existence of their pen pal relationship is publicly exposed, eliciting the most ill-founded assumptions, and sending Donovan in a vertical downfall. A decade later, the young actor recollects his relationship with his past idol over the course of an interview.
The film’s lengthy production may have wrapped back in the spring of 2017, but Dolan has been cautious about letting this one get past post-production before it’s good and ready. With an initial cut that was reportedly four hours long, the filmmaker’s ruthless process of trimming the runtime down involved cutting Jessica Chastain’s villainous role out of the picture entirely.
Though Chastain didn’t make the final cut, the film doesn’t lack for familiar names. The cast includes Kit Harington, Natalie Portman, Susan Sarandon, Jared Keeso, Kathy Bates, Jacob Tremblay, Ben Schnetzer, Thandie Newton, Amara Karan, Chris Zylka, Emily Hampshire, Michael Gambon, Dakota Taylor, Sarah Gadon, Ari Millen, and Leni Parker. Dolan and Jacob Tierney wrote the script, and Entertainment One are distributing.
The time elapsed between the respective premieres of “The Death and Life of John F. Donovan” and 2016’s poorly received “It’s Only the End of the World” amounts to the longest period we’ve ever had to wait for a new Xavier Dolan film, and it looks like the director is going all in with his English-language debut.
“The Death and Life of John F. Donovan” premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival last year, and you can read our review here. No U.S. date has been set yet, but the film comes out March 13 in France.
