Julianne Nicholson is a treasure. She’s one of those actors that wherever she shows up, no matter the role or the project, you know it’s going to be worth your time. Even when she was on Law & Order, in a role that seemed totally unfit for her, it worked out for the better. She’s such a great supporting player that we don’t often get movies built for her, but Janet Planet looks like the opportunity to see Nicholson get the much-deserved spotlight.
Marking the feature directorial debut of playwright Annie Baker, Janet Planet stars Nicholson alongside Zoe Ziegler in the ’90s-set story of an imaginative 11-year-old girl and the complex relationship she has with her mother.
Also in the cast are Elias Koteas, Sophie Okonedo, and Will Patton.
The film debuted at Telluride last year, and was acquired by A24 who plan to release it on June 21st.
SYNOPSIS: “In rural Western Massachusetts, 11-year-old Lacy spends the summer of 1991 at home, enthralled by her own imagination and the attention of her mother, Janet. As the months pass, three visitors enter their orbit, all captivated by Janet and her spellbinding nature. In her solitary moments, Lacy inhabits an inner world so extraordinarily detailed that it begins to seep into the outside world. Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Annie Baker captures a child’s experience of time passing and the ineffability of a daughter falling out of love with her mother in this singularly sublime film debut.”
