A profound and stirring drama, The Father (2019) received 4 Golden Globe nominations including Best Picture Drama, Best Actor-Motion Picture Drama (Anthony Hopkins), Best Supporting Actress – Motion Picture (Olivia Colman), and Best Screenplay Motion Picture (Christopher Hampton and Florian Zeller). Just three years after his sensational debut on the silver screen, writer and director Florian Zeller and his writing companion, Christopher Hampton, are back with a new film, The Son, in competition in the 79^th Venice International Film Festival. It is based on Zeller’s 2018 play, “Le Fils,” on which the two writers were working on an on-screen adaptation while campaigning for their first award season.

The Son opens with a visit from his ex-wife (5-time Golden Globe winner Laura Dern) to Peter (multi-Golden Globe nominee and winner, Hugh Jackman), a father who has remarried and has a younger son. The older son, Nicholas, has been suffering from deteriorating health caused by mental difficulties. Peter, who has moved into a new life with Beth (Vanessa Kirby, nominated 2021 Golden Globe for Best Actress – Motion Picture Drama, Pieces of a Woman), worries that his son has suffered because of his selfish parenting and attempts to take the troubled kid in and try his best to make a life for him. But even that new life finds Nicholas struggling.

Like The Father, The Son also closes the story by leaving a poignant aftertaste in the audience’s consciousness. For Jackman, reading the play The Son evoked feelings of fear and longing simultaneously. “It was a feeling like a fire in my gut. It was a compulsion. You rarely get it as an actor, where you feel that the part is right for you at this point in your life and you just must play it. The scary part is, that you may not get the part, and I will admit, I emailed Florian (Zeller). I said, ‘I don’t know if you’re dancing with anybody else. I’m not the type of person to cut in on a dance, but if you’re not, I would love to play the part and I’d love to speak to you.’ And he e-mailed me back, and we spoke very soon after,” Jackman recalled at the press conference. Soon after their e-meeting, they moved to Zoom meetings. Zeller had no intention of making any decisions at this meeting, but eight minutes into the conversation, he had made up his mind. Zeller’s decision was based on his firm trust in Jackman. “I felt something very strong about the reason why Hugh was connected to that story, and I had the feeling that he has the availability to do what I wanted to do so much, and to explore these very emotional territories in a very honest and humble way. And it was the best decision ever because from that moment on, it was such a joyful, truthful, and intense journey that we have shared.”

It was an unexpected pleasure to have Sir Anthony Hopkins back in Zeller’s film. Jackman admits his excitement. “I remember Florian calling me to say that Sir Anthony Hopkins was going to be playing my father. The scene is so beautiful and so pivotal, I think, in the movie; because for so much of the movie, my character, Peter, he’s focusing on his role as a father; and as an audience, I think, it reminds us of all that we’re all sons and we’re all daughters, no matter how old we are, and we are informed by our past as much by the present. And so that scene was so beautifully written, and I was mainly excited, incredibly excited, and of course a little nervous. I mean, he’s a Titan for me. He’s one of those actors I’ve looked up to for many, many, many years. And to be on set with him is inspiring because he has the curiosity and the work ethic of someone who’s straight out of drama school. I mean, Florian told me that he was emailing him almost every day with questions. He said, “I got almost as many emails for this as I did on The Father, where he’s in every scene.” So, it was a great joy, he’s full of life and childlike and a beautiful man.”

When premiered in Palazzo del Cinema in Lido, this beautiful heartbreaking drama earned a ten-minute standing ovation. The Son will open in selected theatres in NY and LA on November 11: as The Son follows in its father’s footsteps, expectations are rising for the awards season.