BroadwayWorld.com broke the news first in a report on December 17 about the latest additions to the 2018 Sundance Film Festival. In the line-up: the world premiere of Hereditary, the first feature by well-known short film director Ari Aster, starring Gabriel Byrne, Toni Collette, and Alex Wolff!

Remember this? Alex played Max, Paul’s youngest son, in the third season of In Treatment.

Now Alex is all grown up and we know what brought them together again!

The film premieres January 21 as part of the Midnight section and screens four more times at the festival.

Sundance Film Festival ’18 provided the following at their website:

Synopsis

The Graham family starts to unravel following the death of their reclusive grandmother. Even after she’s gone, the matriarch still casts a dark shadow over the family, especially her loner teenage granddaughter, Charlie, whom she always had an unusual fascination with. As an overwhelming terror takes over their household, their peaceful existence is ripped apart, forcing their mother to explore a darker realm in order to escape the unfortunate fate they’ve inherited.

Background

The feature-film debut of writer/director Ari Aster captivates the audience with a delicate and deliberate take on domestic turmoil, and it’s filled with haunting manifestations. Aster’s script ratchets up a feeling of delirious dread as the family members isolate themselves, only furthering their descent into madness. While consistently surprising in its twists and turns, this is a horror story firmly grounded within the desperate emotions of its compelling lead performances. Among a talented cast including Toni Collette, Gabriel Byrne, Alex Wolff, and Ann Dowd, the real standout is the menacing performance from young Broadway actress Milly Shapiro.

Promotional image for Hereditary

Inspiration

Director Ari Aster has shared a group of images he calls “Hereditary Inspiration” on Pinterest. This is an intriguing–and often macabre–collection of photos, models, and artwork. Beware! Some images should not be viewed late at night, when you are all alone at home, and the winter wind is howling outside your window, and your dogs are maniacally barking at some hopefully imaginary intruder… Yikes!

Interview with Toni Collette at Yahoo

Is there any role that’s still on your wish list? A Bond villain, something like that?
I’m never good at this question, because really, things are sent to me and it either makes sense or it doesn’t. I just think characters are more complex than that, and it’s hard to say, “I want to play a character like that.” However, last summer I did play a manipulative bitch and I’ve never done that before, and it was really fun! There was so much to play with.

And recently, I filmed a movie that really was the hardest job of my life, this [horror] film called Hereditary with a writer-director called Ari Aster. Gabriel Byrne played my husband, and it’s an intense one. It surprised me every day. I think if I’d really contemplated it any more before I started, I might have just run the other way, because every day was just so much more full-on than I even anticipated. So I just had to take it one step at a time. But in a perverse way it was really satisfying, even though it was like twisting myself inside out.

Read the complete interview.

More information is available at the Hereditary page at IMDB.

Many thanks to Angelle for the heads up on this new project. What a nice way to start the New Year! heart

Stay tuned for more news about this new film!

5 Comments

  1. Thanks Stella. Random find really. Sounds like a scary one. Love Toni and Gabriel together! And Alex too!

    • I hesitated to use the word “horror,” but that is what this is, it seems: a horror film. I usually don’t watch these anymore, but I will make an exception in this case! Thanks again for being such a good Byrneholics detective! <3

  2. Verónica

    Well, honest I don’t like “horror” movies. I am in the same line with you Stella.
    Here the only motive of being interested in this movie is, of course, Gabriel.
    I can’t understand why lately Gabriel is working in this kind of movies, because “Lies we Tell” and “In the Cloud” are not the kind of movies we are used to see him either.
    All these not means I am not anxious to watch them soon :-)

    • I love that he is branching out and doing new things. Except for horror. ;-) He is outside his comfort zone, but that has been true for awhile now (Vikings. Endless Night. The 33. Louder Than Bombs. No Pay, Nudity). I am so intrigued to see Mad To Be Normal, Lies We Tell, An L. A. Minute, and now In The Cloud. He keeps us guessing, and that is great! <3

  3. Bernardita Ossa Rojas

    Good luck for Gabriel Byrne in this New film. I respect and admire him for his great talent and kindness.

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