Last night I headed over to Culver City for the opening night of the LA Film Festival and the Book of Henry premiere. Book of Henry has been screenwriter, Gregg Hurwitz’s, passion project for the past 18 years. He began writing this story when he was 24 years old. He says there is no personal story to this movie but it is a story that many people, especially mothers will connect with. Book of Henry is about a single mother, Susan Carpenter (Naomi Watts), living in a suburban town with her two sons Peter and Henry (Jacob Trembley and Jaeden Lieberher)working as a waitress in a diner. Susan works alongside a family friend Sheila (Sarah Silverman) who delivers lines with a punch. Susan discovers a scheme in her son’s book to rescue the young girl Christina (Maddie Ziegler) who lives next door from the hands of her abusive stepfather. The scheme is elaborate and thrilling and Susan is very much in the center of it.
The cast is young and talented. This is a feature film debut for Maddie Ziegler at 14 years of age, who is most well known for being a dancer. While interviewing Ziegler she said what struck her about her character Christina is that her character is different than her. She stated the “The character I play is so fragile which is so not like me.”
Other fun tidbits from the red carpet included:
Jacob Trembley talking about how he asked Director Colin Treverrow about what will happening in next Star Wars movie. Colin Treverrow’s response was that we will never meet someone more tight-lipped about Star Wars than him and then he chuckled saying that Jacob was not able to wear him down throughout the filming of Book of Henry
Naomi Watts was absent from the red carpet and premiere due to the fact that she is currently filming in Budapest but sent a video message prior to the film starting.
Book of Henry is a must watch movie for any parent out there. Out in theaters tomorrow, June 16th! What a great way to kick off the LA Film Festival!
