More than a year after it debuted during the fall film festival circuit of 2018, and more than two years after it finished filming, film fans in the US are just about a month away from being able to watch Xavier Dolan’s troubled film, “The Death and Life of John F. Donovan.” And as seen in the new trailer, ‘John F. Donovan’ tells the story of a young actor that had a pen pal relationship with a now-deceased TV star, and how the letters that were sent impacted their lives in major ways.
The film stars Kit Harington, Natalie Portman, Jacob Tremblay, Susan Sarandon, Kathy Bates, Thandie Newton, Ben Schnetzer, Emily Hampshire, and Sarah Gadon. As has been mentioned, ‘Donovan’ was written and directed by Dolan, and the film has sat on the shelf for quite some time before finally getting released. We originally saw the film back at the 2018 Toronto International Film Festival. Previously, the film was in post-production for over a year, as Dolan reportedly fought with producers over the finished product.
READ MORE: Xavier Dolan’s ‘The Death and Life of John F. Donovan’ [TIFF Review]
In our review, we said, “It’s become abundantly clear that Xavier Dolan has the passion, and much of the skill set, of a noteworthy director. It’s also become clear that if he wants to fulfill that promise, he has to start working with a better screenwriter than Xavier Dolan.”
“The Death and Life of John F. Donovan” arrives in select theaters, Digital, and On-Demand on December 13.
Here’s the synopsis:
A decade after the death of an American TV star, a young actor reminisces about the written correspondence he once shared with the former, as well as the impact those letters had on both their lives.