The feature film SHIRLEY will be released on June 5 via NEON (Parasite). The production is directed by Josephine Decker from a screenplay by Sarah Gubbins, based on the book by Susan Scarf Merrell.
"Shirley Jackson was a wildly unorthodox human and storyteller," stated director Josephine Decker, who received a special jury award at the 2020 Sundance Film Festival for Auteur Filmmaking. "Encountering her work was like finding a map towards becoming the kind of artist I would like to be. Daring. Intimate. Structured yet dreamlike."
Renowned horror writer Shirley Jackson is on the precipice of writing her masterpiece when the arrival of newlyweds upends her meticulous routine and heightens tensions in her already tempestuous relationship with her philandering husband. The middle-aged couple, prone to ruthless barbs and copious afternoon cocktails, begins to toy mercilessly with the naïve young couple at their door.
For a full list of local partners streaming the film, visit https://neonrated.com/virtual-cinema. The film will also be available on Apple TV, Amazon, Google Play, FandangoNow, Vudu, DIRECTV, DISH and longtime NEON partner Hulu. A special screening is scheduled for June 4 at 8:45pm at Overlook Drive-In, a family-owned 750-car DRIVE-IN located at 126 Degarmo Road,(Between Routes 44 & 55), Poughkeepsie, NY 12603.
The film features actors Elizabeth Moss (The French Dispatch, The Handmaid’s Tale), Odessa Young (The Stand, Assassination Nation), Michael Stuhlbarg (A Serious Man, The Shape of Water), and Logan Lerman (Indignation, Fury). Indie powerhouse Killer Films and the Los Angeles Media Fund produced. Producer credits include Christine Vachon, David Hinojosa, Sue Naegle, Sarah Gubbins, Jeffrey Soros, Simon Horsman, and Elisabeth Moss. Executive Producers credited include Martin Scorsese, Allison Rose Carter, Lisa Tager, and Cher Hawrysh.
Production on SHIRLEY took place during the summer of 2018, and included ten scouting days, twenty four production days at ten locations, including the Captain Joseph Allen Home in Catskill, the Delaware & Ulster Railroad in Arkville, Sam's Point in Cragsmoor, the Mohican Trading Post in Leeds, the Reed General Store in Coxsackie, the Unification Theological Seminary in Barrytown, Vassar College in Poughkeepsie, and Woodstock Film Studios. The Film Center in Woodstock was rented for production design. A thousand room nights were rented at local lodging establishments. More than 250 extras were hired and thirty local crew members, including Amy Hutchings Casting and Timothy Bruno.
"Working in the Hudson Valley affords both an incredible variety of locations and many knowledgable crew members,” commented co-producer and production supervisor Jon Read. “It's always worth our while." Other regional projects Read has worked on, includeThe Mountain, Diane, A Vigilante, and Francine.
"It was an amazing experience watching the hair, makeup and wardrobe departments transform the background actors from 2018 into college girls from 1948," remembers Hutchings. "The challenge was finding girls with no piercings, tattoos, or hair with highlights -- indeed, styles have changed. Every detail was meticulous. The outcome was phenomenal. Period films are such fun."
“It was a pleasure working with a great art department team to create period sets and props for Shirley’s intimate world,” said construction coordinator Timothy Bruno. “We have a lot of very talented crew members in the region and for Shirley, we got to work out of The Film Center and Woodstock Film Studios, which made work super convenient.”
Other recent distribution highlights that feature films and TV shows produced in the Hudson Valley, include SWALLOW (March 6 via IFC Films), THE PLOT AGAINST AMERICA (HBO), UPLOAD (May 1 via Amazon Prime), BILLIONS (May 3 via Showtime), DRIVEWAYS (May 7 via Film Rise), and I KNOW THIS MUCH IS TRUE (May 10 via HBO). Release dates for THE UNDOING (HBO) and A QUIET PLACE 2 (Paramount) were postponed from spring to fall 2020.
Since 2000, the Hudson Valley Film Commission has worked on over 500 FILM & TV productions to refer and help secure local crew, cast, locations, vendors, post production facilities, and more! The results have created thousands of jobs, education & training opportunities, regional promotion & marketing, and over $250 million in regional economic development.
SELECT Hudson Valley productions include:
To stream regional films, visit hudsonvalleyfilmcommission.org/streamfest
Werewolves Within • Things Heard and Seen • Billions • Monsterland • Audrey • The Plot Against America • Silent Retreat • Black Bear • Lapsis • Foxhole • The Undoing • I Know This Much Is True • Save Yourselves • I’m Thinking of Ending Things • Scare Me • Can You Keep a Secret? • Panic • High Maintenance • Driveways • Shirley • The Dead Don't Die • Avengers: Endgame • The Irishman • The Climb* • Swallow • Skin • The Mountain • A Quiet Place • Fabled • Then Came You • Furlough • A Vigilante • Nancy • Diane • The Miseducation of Cameron Post • La Devotee by Panic at the Disco! • It Comes at Night • Super Dark Times • The Seagull • HAPPYish • The Ticket • Growing Up Smith • Cold in July • Katie Fforde Films • True Story • The Sisterhood of Night • The Better Angels • We Are What We Are • The Bourne Legacy • Frances Ha • Our Idiot Brother • First Winter • The Last Keepers • Francine • Peace, Love, & Misunderstanding • Martha Marcy May Marlene • Higher Ground • Rocksteady • Bitter Feast • Stake Land • Man on Wire • Taking Woodstock • American Gangster • Michael Clayton • The Human Footprint • The Night Listener • Stephanie Daley • War of the Worlds • Down to the Bone • Personal Velocity