Before she returns for the second season of Big Little Lies, Laura Dern is set to star in the TV drama mystery film The Tale for HBO. Set for a premiere date of Saturday, May 26, 2018 at 10 PM EST, the film is written and directed by documentary filmmaker Jennifer Fox (Beirut) in her first narrative feature that is based on her own true story. HBO has also released a teaser trailer and a batch of photos from the film. Check them out below…
Dern appears as Jennifer’s onscreen proxy, described as a fearless, 50-ish documentary filmmaker who is interrupted while on location by agitated voicemail messages from her mother (Ellen Burstyn), who sounds really upset after discovering a decades-old story Jennifer wrote at age 13, detailing how her horseback riding instructor (Elizabeth Debicki) and running coach (Jason Ritter) allegedly conspired to deflower her. However, Jennifer’s memory of that “relationship” was apparently a “thing of beauty,” highlighting The Tale’s theme of how memories can embellish and preserve hurtful experiences from our youth. The project offers contradictory perspectives on Fox’s memories and those experiences as Fox sits down with her friend, Martin (Common), to read through the short story she wrote as a 13-year-old, flashing back to those memories as she tries to investigate her own memories of the past.
Also starring in The Tale is Isabelle Nélisse (The Strain), Elizabeth Debicki (The Man From UNCLE), Jason Ritter (Another Period), Frances Conroy (American Horror Story), John Heard (Living Among Us), Common (John Wick: Chapter 2) and Ellen Burstyn (House of Cards).
The Tale will premiere May 26th, 2018.
Photo Credits: HBO