A great panel just wrapped up at the Queer Lounge featuring the creative talent behind Savage Grace, which focuses on a notorious true-life murder about a domineering mom (played unabashedly by Julianne Moore) and her gay son (Eddie Redmayne).
Director Tom Kalin returned to Sundance with this film 16 years after his debut feature Swoon helped define the 'New Queer Cinema' movement of the early '90s. Also in attendance was the remarkable exec producer Christine Vachon, writer Howard Rodman and producer Katie Roumel. Interestingly, this film, based on the book by the same name, took the last 16 years to get to the screen, making it the longest film in development for Vachon's Killer Films. The producer told the crowd in attendance that one of their next films, based on the rise and fall of Halston, is their second-longest in development.
English actor Eddie Redmayne (above left) was able to briefly join the panel and says his freckles helped him nail the casting for his role as Tony. Not only does he look remarkably like the real-life Tony, he also resembles screen-mom Moore. "There have only been two things I've read that have really spoken to me where I knew I had to play the part," says Eddie. One was Edward Albee's play The Goat, the other was Savage Grace. The actor went on to note that in The Goat he slept with his father and in Savage Grace he slept with his mother.
Writer Howard Rodman gave a surprise gift to Tom Kalin at the panel. A vintage 1991 workout video on VHS (remember that?) in unwrapped mint condition. He wasn't giving Kalin a subtle hint; the video was called The Savage Grace Workout. And the review blurb on the video: "Hot. Hot. Hot."
Just like Kalin and company's Savage Grace.
The cast and crew tell us how they got involved with the film:
Screenwriter Howard Rodman tells us the plot of Savage Grace:
