Obvious Child
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Euro-Pudding and Look Books: Takeaways from Day One at IFP’s Filmmaker Conference
After sitting through the majority of the New Narratives presentations on day one of the Filmmaker Conference at IFP Film Week, my brain is almost too awash with content to compile anything but a listicle. From conversations with cinematographers like Reed Morano and producers like Mynette Louie to an Obvious Child case study and Kevin B. Lee’s mini-keynote, here is a handful of the major takeaways I gleaned from yesterday’s Conference. 1. For co-productions, don’t assume hiring local crew is the cheapest option. Arriving to the Icelandic set of Land Ho!, producers Mynette Louie and Sara Murphy realized they were sharing ground with a slightly larger production: Christopher Nolan’s Interstellar. […]
by Sarah Salovaara on Sep 15, 2014 -
You Have To Laugh
The first words of Obvious Child are heard over black. Effervescent stand-up comedian Donna Stern (the pitch-perfect Jenny Slate) appears in flashes, lording over her audience as she addresses the myth of clean underwear in graphic detail. If it wasn’t already apparent from the mere premise of her Sundance breakout, director Gillian Robespierre knows how to make a first impression. A romantic comedy that upends all that the genre holds dear, Obvious Child, based on Robespierre’s 2009 short, is an irreverent, hilarious and touching examination of a woman’s brash misstep and her hesitant navigation through its domino-like ramifications. Impregnated during […]
by Sarah Salovaara on Apr 28, 2014 -
Trailer Watch: Obvious Child
Ahead of its June 6 release, A24 has released the trailer to yet another potential hitmaker in their arsenal: Gillian Robespierre’s Obvious Child. I interviewed Robespierre about the film for our upcoming Spring issue, which upends the traditional romantic comedy route of boy meets girl by wedging an abortion into the mix. Jenny Slate stars as Donna Stern, a comedian whose pathological on-stage oversharing is momentarily stunted when she finds herself pregnant by a one night stand. Surrounded by a winsome ensemble — including Gaby Hoffman and Gabe Liedman — Donna juggles her misstep and budding relationship with Max (Jake Lacy) […]
by Sarah Salovaara on Apr 15, 2014 -
Women of Sundance: Obvious Child
Gillian Robespierre, Elisabeth Holm and Jenny Slate are highly skilled comedians who are prone to self-deprecation and the bawdiest of humor that will make even the most sexually liberated feel prude. When I went to Robespierre’s apartment to take their photo, however, it was not a time for gag humor with kitschy props (condoms were, for example, off limits). Their film, Obvious Child, written and directed by Robespierre, produced by Holm and starring Slate, is both bold in its humor and also its intent: to make a comedy that talks about real issues that women face – something usually saved for […]
by Danielle Lurie on Jan 19, 2014 -
Five Questions with Obvious Child Director Gillian Robespierre
For her debut feature, director Gillian Robespierre has done the somewhat unlikely and crafted a warm, winning, genuinely funny romantic comedy that, oh yeah, is centered around an abortion. The story of Donna (the always charming Jenny Slate), a young comedian who, after a bad breakup and an alcohol-fueled one-night stand, finds herself pregnant, Obvious Child offers a refreshingly frank, true-to-life portrait of a woman dealing with an impending abortion. But the film is a lot more than just a comedy built around a hot-button issue – it’s an earnest, lived-in, and warm rom-com about navigating one’s aimless 20s, and […]
by Jane Schoenbrun on Jan 17, 2014 -
IFW: MEETING JUNKIE
Hi. My name is Gillian Robespierre. I’m a writer/director attending the 2011 IFP Emerging Narrative project forum with my script Obvious Child. It’s a romantic comedy with an abortion. Yes, it’s a comedy. I just got home from three crazy days of m-f’ing meetings. I’m hopped up on caffeine and adrenaline. I won a grant, thank you Rooftop! And a picture of me meeting with Sundance Institute’s Rachel Chanoff made it into the Filmmaker Magazine Blog! It looks like Rachel is telling my fortune. I hope she sees a puffy Northface jacket in my future to wear at Sundance. I […]
by Gillian Robespierre on Sep 26, 2011 -
SEE YOU YESTERDAY: MORE IFW SNAPSHOTS
We’re halfway through Independent Film Week, and time has started to play tricks. Days seem to stretch on forever, but at the same time, hours go by like minutes. Today I accidentally said to someone, “I’ll see you yesterday.” Here are some more snapshots of Film Week in action: The creative forces behind IFP’s 2011 Narrative and Documentary Lab projects share the stage at the end of Tuesday night’s Lab Showcase at the Walter Reade Theater. Writer/Director Gillian Robespierre discusses her screenplay Obvious Child with the Sundance Institute’s Rachel Chanoff. Writer/Director Harrison Witt (Sister Sarah) helps actor […]
by Jane Schoenbrun on Sep 21, 2011 -
IFW: “OBVIOUS CHILD”
Hi! My name is Gillian Robespierre. I’m a writer-director and so thrilled to be attending the 2011 IFP Emerging Narrative project forum with my script Obvious Child. It’s a romantic comedy about a young woman living in Brooklyn who has just had her heart broken, and after a spontaneous one-night stand, finds that she’s pregnant. She decides to get an abortion and move on with her life. Yes, it’s a comedy! Obvious Child was originally a short film I directed and co-wrote with Anna Bean and Karen Maine. After years of watching films that featured unplanned pregnancies ending in childbirth […]
by Gillian Robespierre on Sep 19, 2011
