THE HOUSEWIFE
Director: Ben Shirinian
Screenwriter: Alyssa Hill
Logline: The year is 1964. A very proper Hermine (Naomi Watts) and her hardworking husband Russel (Luke Evans) enjoy a seemingly normal life in New York City — until the fateful day Hermine meets The New York Times journalist Joseph Lelyveld (Tye Sheridan). Following a tip from a Holocaust survivor, Joseph is investigating the possibility that Russel might be a Nazi in hiding. As his inquiry deepens — and his exchanges with Hermine become increasingly intimate — Joseph discovers a series of revelations far stranger and more complicated than he could have imagined.
Sales agent: Neon, Neon International and CAA
Panelists: Ben Shirinian, Naomi Watts, Tye Sheridan, Luke Evans, Michael Imperioli
First screening: Saturday, Sept 12 at the Scotiabank Theatre Toronto
Key quote: “There was a lot of fear going into it,” Naomi Watts explained. “And I’m always interested in moving through fear. This is my villain era, this is the most extreme kind for me to come near and that said, the duality of playing a upstanding citizen, neighborly, good wife with the juxtaposition of this past she feels is erased but it’s not it’s clearly still living within her… She’s unrepentant until the end and that’s horrific playing that as an actor with that mindset. But it was a challenge worth confronting because we must remember stories like this about how hate rises and how it can live every close to us.” Explaining her research process of looking into where does the root of evil steam from Watts continued, “Man is the most dangerous animal. Most animals will kill for food or territory but when the mind is involved and that sophisticated way and when it’s given permission [to subjugate] it can be really dangerous. “
Watch the video above.
The Deadline Studio at TIFF is hosted at Bisha Hoteland presented by Volvo, Columbia, Patrón and Schwarzkopf.