Casey Affleck has returned to directing with his third feature film, “Company.” The news was first tipped to Variety, which is now reporting on the project. This could very well indicate that Affleck’s film has been selected for the Venice Film Festival, which is set to announce its lineup tomorrow.
The gothic mystery, which wrapped production earlier this year in Whistler, Canada, features a notable ensemble cast including Nick Nolte, Adelaide Clemens, Ben Mendelsohn, Scoot McNairy, Emily Alyn Lind, and Caylee Cowan.
Written and directed by Affleck, the film unfolds on a winter night in 1975, when a mysterious woman named Evelyn unexpectedly arrives at a holiday gathering and shares the story of Tom, an aging hermit who once rescued a stranded actress during a Colorado blizzard decades earlier. As the actress passes the time by telling another story—about a farming couple who shelter a troubled drifter amid a wave of frontier murders—the film weaves together multiple generations of secrets and trauma.
“Company” marks Affleck’s third feature as a director, following the 2010 Joaquin Phoenix-starring mockumentary “I’m Still Here” and 2019’s “Light of My Life,” which had its world premiere at the Berlin Film Festival. He is, of course, the Oscar-winning star of “Manchester by the Sea.”
John Malkovich is set to star in a production of “The Music Critic” in Israel next year, just 24 hours after entering the best actor race for his “Wild Horse Nine” performance. I gather he won’t be getting Mark Ruffalo’s vote.