Ten Thousand Saints

Ten Thousand Saints
File:Ten Thousand Saints Poster.jpg Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Shari Springer Berman Robert Pulcini
Produced by	Anne Carey Amy Nauioka Trudie Styler Celine Rattray Luca Borghese Datari Turner
Written by	Shari Springer Berman Robert Pulcini
Based on	Ten Thousand Saints by Eleanor Henderson
Starring	Asa Butterfield Hailee Steinfeld Ethan Hawke Avan Jogia Emile Hirsch Emily Mortimer
Distributed by	Screen Media Films
Release dates	January 23, 2015 (2015-01-23) (Sundance) August 14, 2015 (2015-08-14)
Running time	113 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English

Ten Thousand Saints is a 2015 American drama film written and directed by Shari Springer Berman and Robert Pulcini. It is based on the novel of the same name by Eleanor Henderson. The film stars Asa Butterfield as Jude Keffy-Horn, the protagonist of the story. The film premiered at the 2015 Sundance Film Festival on January 23, 2015.

The film was released in a limited release and through video on demand on August 14, 2015 by Screen Media Films.

Plot

Sixteen-year-old Jude Keffy-Horn (Asa Butterfield) is living in Vermont with his adoptive mother Harriet (Julianne Nicholson) and adoptive sister Prudence (Nadia Alexander). In December 1987, Jude and his best friend, Teddy (Avan Jogia), spend their time doing drugs and dreaming about moving to New York City to escape their small home town. Jude’s father, Les (Ethan Hawke), lives in New York City where he sells drugs. Les' girlfriend Diane (Emily Mortimer) has a daughter Eliza (Hailee Steinfeld) who buses to Vermont for New Year's Eve. Teddy and Jude meet Eliza at the bus station and take her to a New Year's Eve party. Jude is beat up outside the party, while Teddy and Eliza talk, do drugs, and have sex in a locked bathroom. Teddy asks Eliza to find his straight edge brother in New York City and check on him. Eliza heads back to NYC on the bus while Teddy and Jude head home, stopping to huff Freon. When Harriet awakens she finds Jude unconscious and Teddy dead.

Eliza finds Teddy’s half-brother in Alphabet City, Johnny (Emile Hirsch), and discovers he is straight edge and Krishna. She tells him to call home because Teddy is worried. When he calls, his drug addict mom answers and tells him about Teddy's death.

Eliza discovers she's pregnant with Teddy's baby, and when she tells Johnny and Jude, they decide to keep it a secret. Johnny eventually proposes that they tell her parents that the baby is his and that they get married. They borrow Les' van, and take Eliza to stay with Harriet while Johnny's band goes on tour with Jude as the new guitar player when Rooster, the original guitar player, quits. They come back from tour, and Johnny goes back to New York City, leaving Eliza feeling abandoned. Jude and Eliza start a relationship.

Jude and Eliza take a bus back to New York where they plan to raise the baby. Johnny tells Eliza that he's been in communication with Teddy's biological father, and that he wants the baby to be given to Teddy's father. Eliza is outraged and runs out of the apartment into the middle of the Tompkins Square Park Riots, where she goes into labor. She chooses to give the baby up for adoption. As the film ends, Johnny throws Teddy’s ashes into the river with Rooster, while Jude narrates from ten years later about how Eliza is in Brooklyn starting her own family and how he too is going to be a father.

Cast

• Asa Butterfield as Jude Keffy-Horn, a teenage boy who is trying to reconnect with his father in 1988 Manhattan after his best friend Teddy dies of a drug overdose. He befriends Teddy's brother who is straight edge and in a hardcore punk–style band.
• Avan Jogia as Teddy, Jude's friend who dies due to drug overdose. He is the father of Eliza's child
• Hailee Steinfeld as Eliza, a 17-year-old girl who is pregnant with Teddy's child and is Jude's love interest. Her mother Di is dating Jude's father Les
• Ethan Hawke as Les, Jude's father and a drug dealer, who is trying to reconnect with his son
• Emile Hirsch as Johnny, Teddy's straight edge half-brother and tattoo artist who finds kinship with Jude after he moves to Manhattan
• Julianne Nicholson as Harriet, Jude's adoptive mother from Vermont
• Emily Mortimer as Di, a ballet dancer, Eliza's mother, Les' girlfriend
• Nadia Alexander as Prudence, Jude's sister from Vermont

Production

Shari Springer Berman and Robert Pulcini became interested in adapting the novel after Berman read it. She remarked, "I read the book and I loved how human the characters were and how flawed, yet well-meaning, they were, which I think is a very truthful thing about most people. I loved that era in New York. I thought it was such an exciting time for me, so there was a personal connection. It was this time when New York was really scruffy and dangerous, and there was crime, violence, crack, and AIDS – a lot of very horrible things, but also excitement and creative opportunity. You could be an artist and live in Manhattan in a squat and pay no rent. It seems inconceivable right now." In addition, Berman also was interested in the parenting aspect of the story, adding, "One of the things in the book that’s so interesting – and I had friends like this – are people who were raised by parents who were hippies and didn’t give them a lot of rules and boundaries. The question is, how do you rebel against the people who invented rebellion? [Laughs] Because youth is about rebelling. I think there’s an element of that in straight edge, which became very popular around that time with young people who were rebelling against what they thought was screwing up their parents. There was something seductive and rebellious about being sober and not being promiscuous [Laughs]."

Hailee Steinfeld was announced to be in talks for the role of Eliza in October 2013, and was cast in December of that year. Asa Butterfield and Ethan Hawke were cast earlier before Steinfeld. Emile Hirsch, Julianne Nicholson, Emily Mortimer and Nadia Alexander were cast in early 2014. Avan Jogia was cast as Teddy in early February 2014. Filming started in New York City on January 27, 2014 and ended on March 3, 2014.

They started shooting additional scenes that included a pregnant Eliza on May 1, 2014 until mid May of that same year.

Release

The film had its world premiere at the Sundance Film Festival on January 23, 2015. Shortly after it was announced, Screen Media Films had acquired all distribution rights to the film. The film went on to premiere at the Provincetown International Film Festival on June 17, 2015. The film was released on August 14, 2015 in a limited release and through video on demand.

Reception

The movie has a score of 64% on Metacritic, indicating generally favorable reviews.

External links

• Ten Thousand Saints on Facebook
• Ten Thousand Saints at IMDb