“ ‘Serena’ was a fluke, really,” Bradley Cooper said in an interview last month. “Jennifer [Lawrence] was attached to it when we were doing ‘Silver Linings.’ And then I looked at it, and I knew Susanne [Bier], and it was, ‘Why don’t we just do this together?’ " Well, that fluke has turned into quite the controversial, long-delayed film, one that some have called a mess that “makes no sense,” while others have stood by it (including Magnolia, the film’s distributor). But there’s no denying the fact that “Serena” was completed almost two years ago and director Susanne Bier has shot and finished two entire film since (“Love Is All You Need” and “A Second Chance”).
“Serena” is a Depression-era drama about newlyweds running a timber business in North Carolina, which is complicated when the wife cannot bear children. Cooper plays the husband, Lawrence the wife.
“[Doing a period film] was part of my fascination, although I was very anxious to work with [Bier], who is one of the world’s outstanding filmmakers,” Cooper said in the same interview. “I also wanted to learn to ride a horse, which I needed to do for the film. It sounds like an odd reason, but as an actor you’re constantly looking for different kinds of experiences like that.”
“Serena” makes its worldwide premiere at the London Film Festival in October. Magnolia will release the film in the first quarter of 2015, which likely means a January or February release, possibly a NY/LA limited release with a day-to-date VOD release. New photos of the film have arrived which also show the full talent of the film. Beyond Cooper and Lawrence, the film also features Toby Cooper, Rhys Ifans, Sam Reid, Sean Harris and actors like Kim Bodnia (who made a splash in Jon Stewart‘s "Rosewater" recently), Swedish actor David Dencik (Fincher’s “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo”) and Romanian actress Anna Ularu. Check out the photos below.
