Review The Death & Life of John F. Donovan (2018)

[Doctor Omega]

Your thoughts on this movie......

A decade after the death of an American TV star, a young actor reminisces the written correspondence he shared with him, as well as the impact those letters had on both their lives.

 

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Chastain Cut From Xavier Dolan’s New Film





In a lengthy multi-part letter on his Instagram account, filmmaker Xavier Dolan has revealed that he has had to cut Jessica Chastain’s role entirely out of his new film “The Death and Life of John F. Donovan” which marks his first English-language effort.

Set initially in the 1990s, the story stars Kit Harington as late 20-something heartthrob John Donovan on an American teen drama who finds himself getting into a pen pal relationship with a young British kid (Jacob Tremblay) living with a single mother (Natalie Portman) who aspires to be an actor.

Chastain played a gossip magazine’s editor-in-chief who exposes the relationship in a way that its wildly misinterpreted and destroys the heartthrob’s career and ultimately life. Over a decade later, when the heartthrob dies, the grown-up pre-teen reflects on events.

The “Mommy,” “Laurence Anyways” and “Tom at the Farm” helmer says the film’s first cut came in at around four hours and in the process of ‘finding’ the film in the editing room cutting that down, Chastain’s role of essentially a ‘villain’ had to go.

“What you need to hear from me is Jessica Chastain’s character, after what was a long period of reflection, had to be cut from the film. It was an extremely difficult decision to make. I feel, toward Jessica, a sincere love, and a great admiration. The decision was editorial and narrative, in that it has nothing to do with a performance, and everything to do with a character, and the compatibility of its storyline.

This ‘villain’ subplot, albeit funny and entertaining, didn’t feel like it belonged to the rest of the story, which ended up not being on heroes or their nemesis, but rather on childhood, and its dreams. There is, in this film, a conversation on show business, yes, but it was in the family dynamics – and, once again, in mothers and sons relationships – that the heart of this film resided.”

Susan Sarandon, Kathy Bates, Thandie Newton and Michael Gambon co-star in the film which is expected to be released later this year.

 

[Doctor Omega]

The Death & Life of John F. Donovan
Director: Xavier Dolan (“Mommy,” “Laurence Anyways”)
Cast: Kit Harington, Ben Schnetzer, Natalie Portman, Jessica Chastain, Susan Sarandon
Details: Quebecios wunderkind Xavier Dolan tries his hand at his first English language effort with “The Death and Life of John F. Donovan”. A large part of the film is set ten years prior when a gossip magazine publishes the pen pal correspondence between an 11-year-old British boy and a CW-esque twenty-something American male TV star. Misinterpretation of the innocent relationship leads to the actor’s life spiralling into suicide. Ten years on, the boy turned man reflects on the impact it had on his life.

The unapologetically brash Dolan had a great run culminating in “Mommy,” but his most recent and personal film “It’s Only the End of the World” was met with a polarised and sometimes brutal reaction which he found difficult to handle. With this being shot directly after, it will be interesting to see what (if any) impact it will have on his often go for broke style.

 

[Doctor Omega]

Quebecios wunderkind Xavier Dolan’s first English language effort deals with the fallout from when a gossip magazine publishes the pen pal correspondence between an eleven-year-old British boy and a CW-esque twenty-something American male TV star. Misinterpretation of the innocent relationship leads to the actor’s life spiralling into suicide. Ten years on, the boy turned man reflects on the impact it had on his life. Taking a long time to complete, the film finally unfurled at Toronto and received universally negative reviews with the project dubbed easily his worst to date. Even so, it’ll be worth a look.

 

[Doctor Omega]

Trailer: Xavier Dolan’s “John F. Donovan”





French filmmaking wunderkind Xavier Dolan (“Mommy,” “Tom at the Farm”) finally returns to our screens with his English-language debut “The Death and Life of John F. Donovan” and the first trailer for it is out.

The story is set in the early 2000s and centers on the tribulations of an American TV star in his late twenties (Kit Harington) and his correspondence with Rupert Turner (Jacob Tremblay), an eleven-year-old 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.

Boasting an astonishing cast including Natalie Portman, Thandie Newton, Susan Sarandon, Kathy Bates, Ben Schnetzer, Michael Gambon and Sarah Gadon, the film famously hit some production issues and delays with the initial cut coming in at four hours.

Dolan then ruthlessly trimmed down the film, in the process cutting Jessica Chastain’s villainous role out of the picture entirely. Screened at Toronto last year to some nasty reviews, the film is now finally hitting cinemas in Franch in March and hopefully elsewhere later in the year.

 

[Doctor Omega]

The Death & Life of John F. Donovan (2018) ⭐ 6.1 | Drama

2h 3m | R

www.imdb.com

 

[Doctor Omega]

THE DEATH AND LIFE OF JOHN F. DONOVAN Cast and Crew Q&A | TIFF 2018

Xavier Dolan’s highly anticipated drama about a young man’s calculated reassessment of his infamous, and ultimately disastrous, childhood correspondence with an American television star features an all-star cast, including Kit Harington, Natalie Portman, Susan Sarandon, Kathy Bates, Thandie Newton, Jacob Tremblay, and Ben Schnetzer.