The Surrogate

Sundance Hit THE SURROGATE Gets a Release Date and New Title

by Matt Goldberg    Posted: May 21st, 2012 at 7:39 am

One of the best-received films at this year’s Sundance Film Festival was The Surrogate.  The movie stars John Hawkes as writer and poet Mark O’Brien, whose body was ravaged by polio when he was a child and stuck him in an iron lung for the rest of his life.  However, he still wanted to have sex and intimacy, and so he found a sexual surrogate (Helen Hunt) to help him learn how maintain an erection, have prolonged sexual intercourse, etc.  Click here to read my positive review.

Fox Searchlight has announced that they will release the film on October 26th, but it will now be called Six Sessions, which refers to the number of sessions the surrogate has with O’Brien.  I can understand the change since the word “surrogate” is usually associated with pregnancy.  The movie will serve as a nice bit of limited-release counter-programming against the wide release films Alex Cross, Fun Size, Of Men and Mavericks, and Silent Hill: Revelations 3D [Box Office Mojo].

John Hawkes Talks THE SURROGATE, LINCOLN, Working with Daniel Day-Lewis, and More at Sundance

by Steve 'Frosty' Weintraub    Posted: February 4th, 2012 at 10:23 am

Led by a truly remarkable performance by John Hawkes, writer-director Ben Lewin‘s The Surrogate blew me away at this year’s Sundance Film Festival.  The film’s based on the true story of Mark O’Brien, a 36-year-old poet and journalist with an iron lung, who decides that he no longer wants to be a virgin.  With the help of his priest (William H. Macy) and a professional sex surrogate (Helen Hunt), we follow his amazing journey.  Trust me, The Surrogates is great on so many levels (which explains why there was a bidding war; Fox Searchlight won), and it’s definitely going to be a contender at the 2013 Academy Awards.  For more on the film, here’s Matt’s review.

Shortly after seeing the film, I sat down with John Hawkes for an extended interview.  We talked about being at Sundance, how he prepared for The Surrogate, the responsibility of playing a real person, his preference between a few takes or a lot, and so much more.  In addition, since Hawkes just worked with Steven Spielberg on Lincoln, he talked about how Tony Kushner‘s screenplay drew him to the project and what it was like to work with Daniel Day-Lewis.  Hit the jump to watch.

William H. Macy Talks THE SURROGATE and SHAMELESS Season 2 at Sundance 2012

by Steve 'Frosty' Weintraub    Posted: February 3rd, 2012 at 9:50 am

Led by a truly remarkable performance by John Hawkes, writer-director Ben Lewin‘s The Surrogate blew me away at this year’s Sundance Film Festival.  The film’s based on the true story of Mark O’Brien, a 36-year-old poet and journalist with an iron lung, who decides that he no longer wants to be a virgin.  With the help of his priest (William H. Macy) and a professional sex surrogate (Helen Hunt), we follow on his amazing journey.  Trust me, The Surrogates is great on so many levels (which explains why there was a bidding war; Fox Searchlight won), and it’s definitely going to be a contender at the 2013 Academy Awards.  For more on the film, here’s Matt’s review.

Shortly after seeing the film, I sat down with William H. Macy for an extended interview.  We talked about being at Sundance, his reaction to seeing the film with an audience for the first time, how he prepared for The Surrogate, his philosophy as an actor, karaoke, and a lot more.  In addition, with Macy currently starring on the hit Showtime series Shameless, we talked about what’s coming up on the second season, how he wrote the sixth episode, the writers room, how the second season is completely different than the BBC version, and what do people always want to talk to him about when they meet him.  Hit the jump to watch.

Sundance 2012: Matt’s Review Scorecard and Wrap-Up

by Matt Goldberg    Posted: January 31st, 2012 at 12:39 pm

Like I did last year, I had a great time at the Sundance Film Festival.  It’s tough to complain about weather conditions or getting around when you have the privilege to watch and discover new movies all day.  Even better, plenty of Sundance 2012 films turned out to be pretty damn good.  For me, there weren’t any quite as excellent as Martha Marcy May Marlene or Project Nim from last year, but those movies set an incredibly high bar.  Many of my peers felt they saw something truly special with Beasts of the Southern Wild and I can understand the love even if it didn’t hit me with as much emotional impact.  Most of my peers also loved Liberal Arts and Sleepwalk With Me, and I’m sorry I missed those.  But all in all, the festival ran as smoothly as last year, the volunteers (especially those in the press tent) were awesome, and it’s always a joy to hang out with people from other movie websites.

Hit the jump for my festival scorecard where you can see an organized list of my ratings for the movies I saw (although I highly encourage you to read the full review rather than just glance at a letter).  While this is my wrap-up, Steve will be posting his Sundance interviews throughout the week so keep an eye out for those.

Sundance 2012 Awards Winners Include BEASTS OF THE SOUTHERN WILD, THE SURROGATE, SLEEPWALK WITH ME, and THE HOUSE I LIVE IN

by Brendan Bettinger    Posted: January 28th, 2012 at 9:20 pm

If you have followed our Sundance coverage over the last week and a half, you know how massive the festival can feel from afar.  These are the movies that will fill arthouses over the next year, so perhaps the best place for those who could not make it to Park City to start is at the end, with the announcement of the awards.  In terms of the major awards, the Grand Jury Prizes went to  Beasts of the Southern Wild (Dramatic), The House I Live In (in the Documentary category), Violeta Went to Heaven (World Dramatic), and The Law in These Parts (World Documentary).  Beasts of the Southern Wild, the consensus critical darling, also won for cinematography and a producers’ award.  Thankfully Fox Searchlight made a deal to bring Beasts to a theater near you soon.

The Audience Awards went to The Surrogate (Dramatic), The Invisible War (Documentary), Valley of Saints (World Dramatic), and Searching for Sugar Man (World Documentary).  The cast of The Surrogates—led by John Hawkes, Helen Hunt, and William H. Macy—doubled up with the Jury Prize for Ensemble Acting.  Fox Searchlight also picked up The Surrogates.  Love that studio.  Hit the jump for the press release with the expansive list of award winners.

Sundance 2012: THE SURROGATE Review

by Matt Goldberg    Posted: January 26th, 2012 at 4:17 pm

In the movies, pretty adults are supposed to have sex.  The male lead and the female lead need to be our idealized selves in an ideal relationship and they need to have attractive people sex.  But in the real world, people find a way to fall in love and get it on even if they don’t have chiseled abs or amazing breasts.  And then there are those people where, due to their physique, we wonder if sex is even an option and we’re sure that thought has crossed their minds as well.  And no matter our physique, we’ve all probably wondered if we’ll ever find love.  Those thoughts—of finding love and sex—crossed the mind of writer and poet Mark O’Brien.  At the age of six, O’Brien’s body was ravaged by polio and he was placed in an iron lung, which he could only leave for a few hours at a time.  As John entered his 40s, he still hadn’t had sex or found love, and in Ben Lewin‘s The Surrogate—a movie based on O’Brien’s real experiences—he searches for both.  The Surrogate comes right up to the line of being painfully sentimental and mawkish, but strong direction and amazing lead performances make the film inspirational, funny, and genuinely heartwarming.

Sundance 2012: Fox Searchlight Picks Up THE SURROGATE; Sony Pictures Classics Acquires CELESTE AND JESSE FOREVER

by Adam Chitwood    Posted: January 24th, 2012 at 10:44 am

Two of the more high profile films featured at this year’s Sundance Film Festival have now secured distribution. Fox Searchlight will handle the drama The Surrogate, while Sony Pictures Classics has picked up the comedy Celeste and Jesse Forever. The Surrogate is quickly becoming one of the more crowd-pleasing pics at the fest, picking up a considerable amount of buzz with each screening. The film stars John Hawkes as a paraplegic polio victim who sets out to find a sex surrogate (Helen Hunt) wiling to take his virginity. Fox Searchlight acquired worldwide rights to the flick, which also stars William H. Macy.

Additionally, Sony Pictures Classics has acquired distribution rights to Celeste and Jesse Forever. Co-written by and starring Rashida Jones, the film centers on a couple that decides to break up. The impressive cast is rounded out by Andy Samberg, Emma Roberts, and Elijah Wood. Hit the jump to read the full press release regarding both acquisitions, and click here to read Matt’s review of the Celeste and Jesse Forever.

2012 Sundance Film Festival In-Competition Line-Up Announced

by Matt Goldberg    Posted: November 30th, 2011 at 1:35 pm

I had a blast at this year’s Sundance Film Festival and I can’t wait to go again next year.  Today, Sundance announced their In-Competition line-ups for 2012 and already I’m trying to plan out how I’m going to see all of them (which is impossible, but it’s nice to dream).  The U.S. Dramatic Competition features For Ellen, Nobody Walks, Safety Not Guaranteed, Smashed, and more.  There are also some interesting-sounding films in the U.S. Documentary Competition including Finding North, The Invisible War, and The Other Dream Team.

Hit the jump to check out the full press release, which includes the in-competition line-ups for U.S. Dramatic Competition, U.S. Documentary Competition, World Cinema Dramatic Competition, and World Cinema Documentary Competition.  The 2012 Sundance Film Festival runs from January 19 – 29th.

Helen Hunt Joins John Hawkes in THE SURROGATE

by Adam Chitwood    Posted: April 27th, 2011 at 3:21 pm

Academy Award Winner Helen Hunt has joined the cast of the indie drama The Surrogate. Recent Oscar nominee John Hawkes is set to play the role of Mark O’Brien in the film based on a true story. O’Brien was “a paraplegic polio victim who lived most of his life in an iron lung, paralyzed from the neck down.” Hawkes’ character sets out to find a sex surrogate willing to take his virginity, and Variety reports that Hunt will take on the role of his surrogate. Rhea Pearlman also has a role in the film.

Hunt’s character struggles with her own life, coming to terms with explaining her profession to her 12-year-old son. Ben Lewin wrote and will direct the period flick set in the 1980’s. Lewin himself is a polio survivor.

Halle Berry Could Use a SURROGATE

by Matt Goldberg    Posted: June 1st, 2009 at 12:20 pm

Anyone wondering when Halle Berry might get a resurgence since winning an Oscar eight years ago?  Does anyone even want to her have a resurgence?  I mean, she really only had that one good performance and since then she’s been subjecting us to “Gothika”, “Catwoman”, “Perfect Stranger”, and “Things We Lost in the Fire”.

But she continues on and she’s joined up with Paul Verhoven’s “The Surrogate” which is about a couple desperate to have a child who find themselves in an unbearable position when they find out the surrogate they hired to carry their baby is insane.  So it’s “Baby Mama” without the laughs.  But I have faith in Verhoven and the role of the surrogate could be a really juicy part for Berry and perhaps validate her Oscar win as opposed to its current status as a fluke.

Except THR is saying she’s playing the role of the wife who wants to have a child.  Great.  I predict a really loud, surface performance and she will probably be the one to kill the surrogate because crazy bitches who threaten the lives of children have to die.  Oh, but the baby lives because the surrogate will have already given birth.  Good thing we dodged that conflict.

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