By Ray Pride Pride@moviecitynews.com

RACHEL DRATCH, WENDY MONIZ AND TREVOR ST. JOHN TOPLINE THE CASTING ANNOUNCEMENT FOR PATRICK WANG’S SOPHOMORE FEATURE; THE GRIEF OF OTHERS

Posted Tuesday, February 18th, 2014 - Comments Off on RACHEL DRATCH, WENDY MONIZ AND TREVOR ST. JOHN TOPLINE THE CASTING ANNOUNCEMENT FOR PATRICK WANG’S SOPHOMORE FEATURE; THE GRIEF OF OTHERS
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Filmmaker’s Second Feature Follows Critically Acclaimed In the Family

Companion iBook “Post Script: The Making of the Film, The Grief of Others”

Available Now on iTunes Coincides with Announcement

New York, NY – February 18, 2014 – Director Patrick Wang and Vanishing Angle today announced that Rachel Dratch, Wendy Moniz and Trevor St. John are among the cast members set for their upcoming feature film The Grief of Others.  Based on the acclaimed novel by Leah Hager Cohen (New York Times notable book, finalist for the Dayton Literary Peace Prize), the film is set to commence production in April 2014 in Nyack, New York.  The Grief of Others is the sophomore effort from Patrick Wang whose first film is the critically acclaimed In the Family,which he wrote and directed. The Grief Of Others isproduced by Jim Cummings, Erich Lochner, Matt Miller and Ben Wiessner and based on a screenplay by Wang.

In addition to Rachel Dratch (Saturday Night Live), Wendy Moniz (Betrayal, The Guardian), and Trevor St. John (One Life to Live, In the Family), additional key cast members includeOona Laurence, who won a Tony Award for her role as Matilda in Matilda the Musical, Jeremy Shinder who appeared in the international tour of The Addams Family, Sonya Harum who appeared in Gossip Girl and Blue Bloods, and Mike Faist who appeared on Broadway in Newsies.

“We could not be more thrilled to secure the strong cast that this project deserves,” commented director Patrick Wang.  “Leah Hager Cohen’s novel is a powerful story of how unexpected generosity and human connections help us navigate loss and grief. The tremendous talent and sensitivities of this cast will breathe life into these characters on the screen with the same gorgeous detail we find on the page.”

The Grief of Others is the much-anticipated second feature film from director Patrick Wang.  His first feature film In the Family was one of 2011’s most critically-acclaimed independent films, appearing on over 50 year end best-of lists and lauded by Roger Ebert as “an indie masterpiece”.  The film enjoyed an extensive theatrical run andwas also nominated for the 2012 Independent Spirit Award for Best First Feature.

The Grief of Others follows the family of Ricky and John Ryrie who suffer a devastating loss: the death of a baby just fifty-seven hours after his birth. Without words to express their grief, the parents try to return to their previous lives and struggle to regain a semblance of normalcy for themselves and their two children Paul and Biscuit.  Yet in the aftermath of the baby’s death, long-suppressed uncertainties about their relationship come roiling to the surface and a dreadful secret emerges with reverberations that reach far into their past and threaten their future.

Trevor St. John plays John Ryrie, Wendy Moniz plays Ricky Ryrie, and Oona Laurence and Jeremy Shinder play their children Biscuit and Paul.  Sonya Harum appears as Jessica Safransky and Mike Faist plays Gordie Joiner.  In a dramatic turn, Rachel Dratch appears as Madeleine Berkowitz, a colleague of John’s.

Readers will have the opportunity to watch the production of The Grief of Others unfold in a first of its kind interactive, multimedia iBook from director Patrick Wang and author David Chien entitled”Post Script: The Making of the Film, The Grief of Others”.  A unique, curated journey through the creative decision-making process, it is available now on the iTunes Bookstore (http://tinyurl.com/p2bmdap) and will be continuously updated as the film progresses.

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It shows how out of it I was in trying to be in it, acknowledging that I was out of it to myself, and then thinking, “Okay, how do I stop being out of it? Well, I get some legitimate illogical narrative ideas” — some novel, you know?

So I decided on three writers that I might be able to option their material and get some producer, or myself as producer, and then get some writer to do a screenplay on it, and maybe make a movie.

And so the three projects were “Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep,” “Naked Lunch” and a collection of Bukowski. Which, in 1975, forget it — I mean, that was nuts. Hollywood would not touch any of that, but I was looking for something commercial, and I thought that all of these things were coming.

There would be no Blade Runner if there was no Ray Bradbury. I couldn’t find Philip K. Dick. His agent didn’t even know where he was. And so I gave up.

I was walking down the street and I ran into Bradbury — he directed a play that I was going to do as an actor, so we know each other, but he yelled “hi” — and I’d forgot who he was.

So at my girlfriend Barbara Hershey’s urging — I was with her at that moment — she said, “Talk to him! That guy really wants to talk to you,” and I said “No, fuck him,” and keep walking.

But then I did, and then I realized who it was, and I thought, “Wait, he’s in that realm, maybe he knows Philip K. Dick.” I said, “You know a guy named—” “Yeah, sure — you want his phone number?”

My friend paid my rent for a year while I wrote, because it turned out we couldn’t get a writer. My friends kept on me about, well, if you can’t get a writer, then you write.”
~ Hampton Fancher

“That was the most disappointing thing to me in how this thing was played. Is that I’m on the phone with you now, after all that’s been said, and the fundamental distinction between what James is dealing with in these other cases is not actually brought to the fore. The fundamental difference is that James Franco didn’t seek to use his position to have sex with anyone. There’s not a case of that. He wasn’t using his position or status to try to solicit a sexual favor from anyone. If he had — if that were what the accusation involved — the show would not have gone on. We would have folded up shop and we would have not completed the show. Because then it would have been the same as Harvey Weinstein, or Les Moonves, or any of these cases that are fundamental to this new paradigm. Did you not notice that? Why did you not notice that? Is that not something notable to say, journalistically? Because nobody could find the voice to say it. I’m not just being rhetorical. Why is it that you and the other critics, none of you could find the voice to say, “You know, it’s not this, it’s that”? Because — let me go on and speak further to this. If you go back to the L.A. Times piece, that’s what it lacked. That’s what they were not able to deliver. The one example in the five that involved an issue of a sexual act was between James and a woman he was dating, who he was not working with. There was no professional dynamic in any capacity.

~ David Simon