“Heidecker’s Swanson is wired like Robert De Niro’s Travis Bickle in Taxi Driver, swapping violence for wisecracks.” – Hollywood.com
Tribeca Film announced today that it has acquired all North American rights to The Comedy, director Rick Alverson’s provocative character study, which is already one of the most talked about films since it bowed at the 2012 Sundance Film Festival. The film, which Variety called “compulsively fascinating,” and Film Threat noted as “one of the most wildly inappropriate and pitch black comedies I’ve ever seen” also played South by Southwest and is set for BAMcinemaFEST this June, will be released in October 2012. Jagjaguwar, the prominent independent music label known for artists such as Bon Iver and Sharon Van Etten, produced The Comedy in conjunction with Greyshack Films and Larry Fessenden’s Glass Eye Pix, along with Mike S. Ryan and Brent Kunkle producing. Rough House Pictures, the Production Company of Danny McBride, David Gordon Green, Jody Hill, and Matt Reilly attached themselves to the film during Sundance.
About the film:
On the cusp of inheriting his father’s estate, Swanson (Tim Heidecker, “Tim & Eric Awesome Show, Great Job!”) is a man with unlimited options. An aging hipster in Brooklyn, he spends his days in aimless recreation with like-minded friends (“Tim & Eric” co-star Eric Wareheim, LCD Soundsystem frontman James Murphy and comedian Gregg Turkington a.k.a.“Neil Hamburger”) in games of comic irreverence and mock sincerity. As Swanson grows restless of the safety a sheltered life offers him, he tests the limits of acceptable behavior, pushing the envelope in every way he can. Heidecker’s deadpan delivery cleverly masks a deep desire for connection and sense in the modern world. The Comedy wears its name on its sleeve, but director Rick Alverson’s powerful and provocative character study touches a darkness behind the humor that resonates with viewers long after the story ends.
