Jennifer Lawrence's 'Serena' Has a Release Date – but the Movie Seems to Be a Mess
The saga of Serena continues! Magnolia Pictures has picked up U.S. rights to the long-delayed drama that stars Jennifer Lawrence and Bradley Cooper, and is reportedly eyeing a release date in early 2015. Oh, but there’s more. According to The Hollywood Reporter, Magnolia became the “default distributor” of the movie — which was financed by a sister company — after several other studios rejected it. And the (alleged) reason for their rejection is that Serena is kind of a mess.
Related: Searching for Serena, the Missing Movie Starring Jennifer Lawrence and Bradley Cooper
“The film was so edited, it made no sense,” one buyer told THR. Another called Serena’s performances “uneven, particularly Lawrence’s [descent into madness].” Director Susanne Bier — whose 2010 Danish drama In a Better World won a best foreign-language film Oscar — reportedly showed buyers three different cuts of the Depression-era drama, at three different private screenings, but from the sound of it, none of these versions managed to impress.
At this point, it’s been two-and-a-half years since the movie was shot. Based on the popular Ron Rush novel about a timber baron and his wife, Serena was filmed in early 2012, right on the heels of Silver Linings Playbook. When the David O. Russell film was released, Cooper and Lawrence became Hollywood’s hottest pairing – but Serena lingered in post-production. Lawrence won an Oscar, she and Cooper went on to make American Hustle, and still, no sign of Serena. The movie all but vanished until this August, when producers announced a U.K. release date of October 24. At that point, Serena still had no U.S. distribution. Only this week did Magnolia confirm that they’d acquired the film.
Even after all this, it’s hard to believe that Serena could be that bad. The director is an Oscar winner, the novel has a compelling story, and the stars have proven chemistry. Besides, who wouldn’t want to see Jennifer Lawrence “descend into madness,” as THR has promises? The movie’s newly-unveiled taglines, alas, won’t boost any confidence: “Love has its price,” “Love at any cost” and “Some loves can never let you go,” sound more like slogans from a jewelry-store commercial than the herald of an Oscar contender.
Photo: 2929 Productions
