Indie filmmaker Lynn Shelton is extremely prolific, but it’s been three years since her last feature film, “Laggies,” the diverting Apatow-ian look at arrested development through a female perspective (Keira Knightley starred).
So, where’s she been in all this time? Extremely busy actually, directing multiple episodes of “Master Of None,” “Maron,” “Fresh Off The Boat,” “Good Place,” “New Girl,” “The Mindy Project,” Judd Apatow’s Netflix show “Love,” “Casual,” “GLOW,” and the recent Marc Maron stand-up special for Netflix. OK, so maybe we shouldn’t ask where she’s been.
Somewhere within all that TV work she had time to bust out the script for her latest film, “Outside In,” a collaboration with Jay Duplass from “Transparent,” but also an old friend from their nascent mumblecore days (she directed Mark Duplass in “Humpday” and “Your Sister’s Sister”). But Shelton knew Jay Duplass as a producer and writer who wasn’t an actor initially until Amazon’s “Transparent,” a performance that made a lasting impression on her.
“I’ve loved Jay since the first day I met him as a fellow filmmaker through his brother Mark,” she told the Playlist over email yesterday. “Jay is just this radiant, wide open, sweet-souled human being. Then, seemingly out of the blue, he started acting. As soon as I saw him as an actor in ‘Transparent,’ I became obsessed with finding an opportunity to direct him.”
She then pitched him the idea, character and scenario for her latest film, “Outside In,” which makes its debut at the Toronto International Film Festival today. Duplass was in, she developed the story for a year and then they eventually co-wrote the screenplay together.
READ MORE: ‘Transparent’ Season 4 Trailer: The Pfeffermans Take a Spiritual & Political Journey
“That turned out to be a great collaboration — we both brought great stuff to the narrative and balanced each other’s ideas out in good ways,” she explained. We are also both very strong-minded so it wasn’t always the easiest process, but I could not be happier with how the story and the film turned out.”
“Outside In” centers on an ex-con (Duplass) struggling to readjust to life in his small town and while doing so, he forms an intense bond with his former high-school teacher (Edie Falco). Here’s the official synopsis:
After serving 20 years for a crime that spun far out of his control, 38-year-old Chris (Jay Duplass) is granted an early release thanks in large part to the tireless advocacy of Carol (Edie Falco), his former high-school teacher. As he struggles to adapt to the outside world, the digital age, and the challenges of finding employment as an ex-con, Chris confesses his romantic love for Carol — a love that, given her marital status, Carol cannot reciprocate. Or can she? Carol longs for something her husband no longer provides. Meanwhile, Carol’s daughter Hilde (Kaitlyn Dever) befriends Chris, finding in this awkward, tormented older guy a kindred spirit able to see her for who she believes she really is.
The drama also co-stars Kaitlyn Dever (the co-star of “Laggies”) and Ben Schwartz. What does Shelton want you to take away from the film? What’s the picture hoping to express? That’s not really her remit she explained.
“I don’t usually think of how I want an audience to feel when they walk out of a theatre after seeing one of my films. That’s not an end goal for me,” she said. “[However], when I hear someone say they went out for dinner after seeing a film and had a four hour long conversation about it with their friends, or were still thinking about it days later — that is a measure of a good film in my book.”
Oh, and indie music fans should note, artist Andrew Bird wrote the score which is a nice bonus. There’s no release date on the picture yet, but in a nice vote of confidence, The Orchard acquired the rights to the film before the TIFF even began. Check out the new photos below.
