Stage and screen actor Michael Shannon will make his feature film directorial debut with an adaptation of Brett Nevue's play Eric Larue.
The story—created in response to the 1999 Columbine High School shooting—follows Janice, the mother of a 17-year-old boy Eric who shot and killed three of his classmates. As Eric Larue continues, Janis meets the mothers of the other boys and pays a visit to her son behind bars. Nevue will also be writing the script for the movie.
"Eric Larue has so much to say about our country, about the way we try to deal with the trauma of living here, which is so insidious because it does not present itself overtly in concrete terms most of the time," says Shannon. "When I read the screenplay, I immediately knew I had to direct it. I saw it. I heard it. I could feel it. And I wanted to make sure that it received just the right touch in all its aspects, because at the end of the day, it is an extraordinarily delicate thing."
Eric Larue debuted at Chicago's A Red Orchid Theatre in 2002, where Shannon is a founding member. The Tony nominee and the playwright are long-time collaborators, having worked together on the world premiere of Neveu's Traitor, which Shannon directed.
Shannon's prior Broadway credits include Grace, Long Day's Journey into Night, and Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune. His recent screen roles include starring in the ensemble cast of Hulu's Nine Perfect Strangers, as well as the movies Knives Out and The Current War.
The movie was originally set to film in Arkansa but has moved to Wilmington, North Carolina, following the state's response to the Supreme Court’s overturn of Roe v. Wade.
The drama will be produced by Sarah Green from Brace Cove Productions, Karl Hartman from Big Indie Pictures, and Jina Panebianco from CaliWood Pictures. Executive producers include Jeff Nichols, R. Wesley Sierk III, Byron Wetzel, Meghan Schumacher, Declan Baldwin, and John D. Straley.
