‘American Fiction’ Pushes Theatrical Release to December

Michaela Zee
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After winning Toronto International Film Festival’s people’s choice award, “American Fiction” has pushed back its limited release to Dec. 15 and will expand in theaters on Dec. 22.

MGM announced Wednesday that Cord Jefferson’s feature directorial debut, which was originally set for a Nov. 3 limited opening and would expand on Nov. 10 and 17, has now been moved to December in order to take advantage of the holiday play period.

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The satirical dramedy, starring Jeffrey Wright, met with rave reviews out of Toronto and received the festival’s people’s choice award on Sept. 17, bolstering its Oscar chances. Previous winners of the prize such as “Green Book,” “12 Years a Slave” and “Nomadland” went on to be named best picture at the Academy Awards.

Variety film critic Peter Debruge wrote in his review, “First published in 2001 (the year after Spike Lee’s confrontational satire came out), Percival Everett’s novel ‘Erasure’ had fangs. Jefferson files them down — not necessarily a bad thing, since the accomplished TV writer (who worked as a story editor on “Master of None” and “Watchmen”) sets out to prove that audiences will embrace a more nuanced look at Black identity. His greatest ally in this is no less an actor than Jeffrey Wright, whose understated performance here ranks among his best.”

Based on Percival Everett’s 2001 novel “Erasure,” “American Fiction” is a scathing satire on the treatment of Black stories in the publishing industry. Along with Wright, the film stars Tracee Ellis Ross, Erika Alexander, Leslie Uggams, Sterling K. Brown, Myra Lucretia Taylor, John Ortiz, Issa Rae and Adam Brody.

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