Molly Shannon began her career making people laugh on Saturday Night Live but it’s her dramatic role in the Sundance release, Other People that’s earning her major award buzz. Shannon stars as mom and cancer patient Joanne, whose son moves back home to care for her. David (Jesse Plemons) is said son, a struggling comedy writer who is going through a breakup when he moves back home with his parents.
“My mom passed away in September 2009 and I wrote the first draft of this in the summer of 2012,” SNL writer Chris Kelly whose real life inspired the film told IndieWire. “It didn’t just happen and instantly I was like, ‘I’m going to write a movie about this.’ It was when I decided I wanted to try to write a feature. I wanted to write something I felt I could do in a truthful way.”
Other People is directed by Kelly and co-stars Bradley Whitford (The West Wing), Zach Woods (Ghostbusters), Maude Apatow (This is 40), and Retta (Girlfriends’ Guide to Divorce). The film was nominated for the Grand Jury Prize at the 2016 Sundance Film Festival.
It opens in theaters on September 9.
