One of the biggest surprises coming out of Sundance was the next independent feature starring John Hawkes. Coming off an Oscar nomination for Winter’s Bone and an excellent turn in Martha Marcy May Marlene, the actor continued to shine with what will clearly be a potential awards heavyweight this season with The Surrogate. Fox Searchlight quickly picked up the film, along with the other Park City hit Beasts of the Southern Wild, and now their awards plan is coming into focus with a release date and title change.
In an attempt to seemingly (and smartly) distance itself from the Bruce Willis action trainwreck Surrogates, the studio has switched titles to the more friendly and safe Six Sessions. This new title refers to the number of sessions that sex surrogate Cheryl Greene (Helen Hunt) undergoes with polio-stricken Mark O’Brien (Hawkes), in the film from writer/director Ben Lewin. While it’s certainly a plain choice, it does set up the key element of the film, as this number is is a strict guideline set by Greene, as to not get emotionally wrapped up with abundant sessions.
Searchlight also announced the release date, as they will bow the film in limited theaters on October 26th, 2012, a prime Oscar-friendly slot where it has little competition with big studio fare like Alex Cross, Fun Size, Of Men and Mavericks and Silent Hill: Revelation 3D. For more on the film, which made our top list of Sundance titles, check out our full review. [BoxOfficeMojo via @williambgoss]
What do you think of the title switch?