Taste, timeliness are tricky with Iran picture
NEW YORK (Hollywood Reporter) - With tumult roiling the streets of Tehran, the filmmakers behind Iranian martyrdom drama "The Stoning of Soraya M." find themselves in a rare spot, with a new release seemingly ripped straight from the headlines.
But as distributor Roadside Attractions readies a platform rollout this weekend, it must attempt to capitalize on that interest without appearing to overlap it.
"This is a story that everyone thinks they can see on the news, but they really can't," Roadside president Howard Cohen said. "Our job is to make sure people know that."
The picture centers on a journalist (James Caviezel) and his discovery of a story about an Iranian woman stoned to death in 1986 because of presumed infidelity. The milieu of Cyrus Nowrasteh's film is highly specific, but producer Stephen McEveety notes a strong parallel with current events.
"Anyone watching television can see this is about a certain kind of religious fascism that was present 20 years ago and is present now," he said. "If you Google the subject, you'll see stonings are still going on today."
In another eerie parallel, the fatal shooting of another young Iranian woman, Neda Agha-Soltan, has become the symbol of the postelection uprising in Iran as the video of her tragic death has been seen by millions worldwide.
"Soraya" premiered in September at the Toronto International Film Festival, where it earned moderately good reviews and universal citation for its gritty martyrdom aspects. (McEveety also produced "The Passion of the Christ," and the pictures share thematic concerns as well as Caviezel.)
Despite that response and the film's pedigree -- it also stars Oscar nominee Shohreh Aghdashloo -- the road to release has not always been clear. No one picked up "Soraya" at Toronto (Roadside bought it about four months ago), and there were debates about the ideal release date.
Some desired to bow "Soraya" in conjunction with the Iranian elections but not before, so as not to appear to be jumping into the political fray. Others recommended that Roadside not wander into the thicket of summer tentpoles.
"There were a lot of naysayers who said, 'You can't release a movie like this outside the fall,'" Cohen said. "We felt the election made it the right time."
Still, no one could have counted on the extreme timeliness, with signs of a violent crackdown in Iran echoing the religion-fueled violence "Soraya" depicts under Ayatollah Khomeini.
Roadside will release the film this weekend on 30 screens, a fairly aggressive play for a serious picture in June. It will widen to 75 screens during the following two weeks.
The company also booked Aghdashloo on a wide range of TV shows, where she can promote the film (slightly) and talk about the situation in Iran (heavily), and staged a massively popular panel this past weekend at the Los Angeles Film Festival to build awareness.
Roadside also is targeting the Iranian diaspora, hoping a core audience will be galvanized to theaters.
Nonetheless, the film's principals acknowledge the element of chance for a difficult, topical film.
"I'd like to say that I'm a really good producer in orchestrating all this," McEveety said wryly. "But all you can do is make a film you feel strongly about and hope everything else falls into place."
(Editing by Dean Gooodman at Reuters)
