Reposted from our friends over on Amityville Now
Rumors and speculation about The Congress has been floating around the ethertubes for quite a while. Now we’ll all get a chance to see it as it premieres in L.A. and New York on Friday and everywhere else in a couple of week. Hell of a cast: Robin Wright, Harvey Keitel, John Hamm, Paul Giamatti, Danny Huston, and all from the mind of BAFTA Award-winner Ari Folman.
The plot summary will make your head spin. “More than two decades after catapulting to stardom with The Princess Bride, an aging actress (Robin Wright, playing a version of herself) decides to take her final job: preserving her digital likeness for a future Hollywood. Through a deal brokered by her loyal, longtime agent (Harvey Keitel) and the head of Miramount Studios (Danny Huston), her alias will be controlled by the studio, and will star in any film they want with no restrictions. In return, she receives healthy compensation so she can care for her ailing son and her digitized character will stay forever young. Twenty years later, under the creative vision of the studio’s head animator (Jon Hamm), Wright’s digital double rises to immortal stardom. With her contract expiring, she is invited to take part in “The Congress” convention as she makes her comeback straight into the world of future fantasy cinema.
The trailer shows us tantalizing bits: an artful mash-up of the “real” and the “fantastic,” whatever the hell that means, some gorgeous production design and lots of age make-up (actors love to dress up, don’t they?). It’s pretty intriguing—a next generation Truman Show meets a good version of The Cloud Atlas, with a little bit of Terry Gilliam and Ralph Bakshi. Check it out:
