As you may have heard, the Sundance Film Festival is in full swing and buzz is already starting to swell for a few films. One of those films is Tom McCarthy’s “Win Win.” McCarthy is no stranger to Sundance, his films “The Station Agent” and “The Visitor” both received their debuts at the fest before going on to win awards and critical acclaim. They also featured breakout leading performances from perpetual supporting players Peter Dinklage and Richard Jenkins. McCarthy is also a skilled actor himself, who you might remember from “Michael Clayton”, “Meet The Parents” and HBO’s “The Wire.” He’s also got a story credit on the Pixar flim “Up,” so he probably made you cry at some point and you didn’t even realize it.
His latest film “Win Win,” which had its Park City premiere yesterday, stars Paul Giamatti as an attorney and volunteer high school wrestling coach forced to look after a client’s errant grandson. The supporting cast includes Melanie Lynskey, Amy Ryan, Jeffrey Tambor and Bobby Cannavale among others and indie rockers The National contributed a new song to the film. Early word on the film is good and Fox Searchlight has already pegged the film for a March 25th release. MTV Movies recently premiered a clip from the film (which you can watch below) featuring Giamatti and Cannavale. Though it’s hard to gain much from a 51 second clip, the footage seems to jibe with what we’ve been hearing which is that it’s a bit lighter than McCarthys previous work but just as human.
The LA Times described it as a “buddy comedy/family drama/high-school sports movie” and recently spoke with the writer/director about the film and though the film may venture into more comedic territory it’s never at the expense of reality. “I would almost rather risk being boring as a writer than feel I’m manipulating an audience. For 98% of our lives, we have boringness or stillness, and you can allow some of that in the movie,” said McCarthy. Producer on the film Michael London said that working with a perfectionist like McCarthy is “painful” but “exhilarating because he gets to a place most directors never get to.”
If you’re not in Park City this week, the film will be released by Fox Searchlight on March 25th. –Cory Everett