After pushing the release back 5 months – which might have had something to do with Annapurna and MGM’s joint resurrection of the legendary United Artists – Richard Linklater’s upcoming “Where’d You Go, Bernadette,” starring Cate Blanchett, has unveiled its second trailer, being positioned for both awards and an audience. Like the original UA, Annapurna is a taste and talent forward production company, and no doubt, fingers are crossed that ‘Bernadette’ has strong enough market appeal to be a box office hit and an Oscar contender.
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The first trailer was released just before Christmas. Linklater’s newest creative venture is adapted from a novel of the same name by Maria Semple – which the director co-wrote with Holly Gent, Vincent Palmo Jr., Michael H. Weber, Scott Neustadter and Semple.
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Here’s the synopsis:
Bernadette Fox is a Seattle woman who had it all. When she unexpectedly disappears, her husband and daughter set off on an exciting adventure to solve the mystery of where she might have gone.
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There comes a time in an acclaimed artist’s career when it seems like people start to scrutinize every project. Sometimes it comes early, like the divided reactions to Jordan Peele’s sophomore feature. Other times, it’s mid-career. Martin Scorsese’s “The King of Comedy” was virtually dismissed as his “Raging Bull” follow-up, and is now widely regarded as a major accomplishment.
It could be argued that Richard Linklater has fallen into the same category; after the achievements of “Boyhood” and ‘The Before Trilogy’, audiences have grown less responsive to his later works. He released “Everybody Wants Some!!” a spiritual successor to 70’s set classic, “Dazed and Confused”, then “Last Flag Flying,“ an unofficial pseudo-sequel to the “The Last Detail”(1973) – both written by Darryl Ponicsan – comparatively, they seemed to disappoint the film community by and large.
While ‘Last Flag’ is no masterpiece or anything, it’s a humbling little movie that was unjustly written off. Hopefully, Linklater finds greater success with his latest literary adaptation. If reactions end up lukewarm again, maybe he should go back to writing original screenplays. His upcoming feature also stars Billy Crudup (playing Cate Blanchett’s husband), Kristen Wiig, Judy Greer, Laurence Fishburne, and newcomer Emma Nelson as Bee, Bernadette’s daughter.
“Where’d You Go, Bernadette” is set to be released on August 9.