Here is the first poster for Tim Blake Nelson’s stoner-dramedy “Leaves Of Grass,” starring the likes of Edward Norton, Edward Norton, Keri Russell, Richard Dreyfuss, Melanie Lynskey, Susan Sarandon and Blake Nelson himself.
The film centers on an Ivy League professor (Norton) who is lured back to his Oklahoma hometown, where his twin brother (again, Norton), a small-time pot grower, has concocted a scheme to take down a local drug lord (Dreyfuss).
We saw the film at TIFF last year and described it as a “pot comedy, family identity drama, anti-semitism commentary, violent drug thriller and intolerance parable with deep philosophical themes” that was “a complex, very well-written philosophical Greek tragedy that was at times unexpectedly hyper violent, at times hilarious and also involved a love story.” Simply put, brace yourself, it’s more than just a light comedy.
But perhaps it’s that complexity that has led to the film’s downfall. Originally set for a Christmas Day release last year (or so it said on Myspace anyhow), the film has either been delayed or had the smallest of theatrical releases ever. Box Office Mojo doesn’t even have any recollection of the film.
The project is also already up for pre-order on DVD at Amazon via First Look Pictures (their biggest release in recent years was “Bad Lieutenant: Port of New Orleans” which was never on more than 35 screens at one time if we recall correctly — currently it’s on 28 across the U.S.). Could this actually be going straight-to-DVD? The April 20th DVD release date pretty much leaves no turn-around time so it sounds like a real possibility — which is tragic for a project with such talented actors involved and a performance by Norton we found remarkable (you won’t find much reference to it on the First Look Pictures site either). Norton even signed on as a producer to help the film gain financial backing for friend Blake Nelson, his “Incredible Hulk” co-star.
So, is this actually the video store poster? Or maybe a DVD cover? Either way, it’ll be a damn shame for a film of this caliber to end up rotting away on video store shelves with next to no exposure. Admittedly, it’s a bit weird, like five films rolled into one and many of the TIFF audience we saw it with had no clue what to make of it — it’s not really a mainstream film. But certainly it deserves a much better fate than this.