Nicole Kidman & Jason Bateman taking The Family Fang to Toronto

I shared the news that Nicole Kidman had acquired The Family Fang four years ago, in the fall of 2011. It was one of my first posts here on Chapter1-Take1. Then there was nothing, not a speck of news, until last July when I shared an image of Kidman, with newly darkened hair, getting out of a van, to start shooting. The news then was that Kidman was so impressed by Jason Bateman's directorial 'Bad Words' debut, she'd hired him to co-star and direct. The adaptation of Kevin Wilson's 2011 novel was written by David Lindsay-Abaire, the playwright behind both the play and the film, Rabbit Hole. 

Now, the film's been wrapped up and it's ready to present to the public so we're getting our first official look with the image above, of Kidman and Bateman, the Fang siblings, walking hand in hand across a grassy field. I can't imagine what would compel my brother and I to hold hands but like the True Detective song says, never mind. The Family Fang will make its debut at Toronto's International Film Festival this fall:

After an unlikely accident, a pair of grown siblings (Nicole Kidman and director-star Jason Bateman) are compelled to move back in with their eccentric parents (Christopher Walken and Maryann Plunkett), professional practical jokers whose lifetime of public interventions have alienated their children.

Watch for the official trailer which should be coming soon. If you've been putting it off like I have, it's time to read the book.

Same goes for The Martian which will make its' debut at TIFF too. That's the adaptation of the Andy Weir sci-fi best seller about an astronaut left for dead on Mars who, as star Matt Damon says in the film, is going to have to 'science the shit' out of this and find a way back to earth.


Carter Burwell, a fave of the Coen Brothers and whose music can be heard in Mr. Holmes currently in theaters, wrote the score. Here's his composition, Bella's Lullaby from Twilight.