Hugh Jackman has some family problems in the drama The Son. The 2022 new movie, which hails from the Oscar-winning filmmaker behind 2020’s The Father, is a star-studded affair with names like Laura Dern, Vanessa Kirby and Anthony Hopkins joining Jackman.
Here is everything that we know about The Son, from when it is coming out to its cast to the first footage available from the movie.
When is The Son release date?
Sony Pictures Classics released The Son in the US on January 20. The UK release date is February 10.
There are no details on when the movie is going to be made available for streaming or digital on-demand.
What is the plot of The Son?
Here is the official synopsis for The Son from Sony Pictures Classics:
"A drama that follows a family as it struggles to reunite after falling apart. The Son centers on Peter, whose hectic life with his infant and new partner Beth is upended when his ex-wife Kate appears with their son Nicholas, who is now a teenager. The young man has been missing from school for months and is troubled, distant and angry. Peter strives to take care of Nicholas as he would have liked his own father to have taken care of him while juggling work, his and Beth's new son and the offer of his dream position in Washington. However, by reaching for the past to correct its mistakes, he loses sight of how to hold onto the Nicholas in the present."
Florian Zeller and Christopher Hampton co-wrote the screenplay, based on Zeller’s own stage play of the same name.
Who is in The Son cast?
Hugh Jackman stars in The Son as Peter. The Australian actor is best known for playing Wolverine in the X-Men franchise, but he has hung up his adamantium claws. While playing a superhero has made up a lot of Jackman’s time on screen, he has also starred in movies like The Prestige, Les Miserables (for which he received an Oscar nomination), Prisoners and, most recently, Reminiscence.
Jackman has already received two nominations for this lead performance, one from the Golden Globes and the other from the Satellite Awards.
The leading ladies for The Son are Laura Dern as Peter’s ex-wife, Kate, and Vanessa Kirby as his new partner, Beth. Dern is an Oscar-winner for 2019’s Marriage Story, but she is also well-known for Big Little Lies, Enlightened and Jurassic Park, reprising her iconic role of Ellie Sattler in the latter with 2022’s Jurassic World: Dominion. Kirby meanwhile, is fresh off an Oscar nomination for 2020’s Pieces of a Woman, but is probably best known for her roles in Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw, Mission: Impossible — Fallout and playing Princess Margaret in the first few seasons of The Crown.
The titular son in the movie is being played by relative newcomer Zen McGrath. The young actor’s credits include the 2014 movie Aloft, the TV miniseries Dig, Red Dog: True Blue and the TV series Utopia.
The final big piece of The Son cast is Anthony Hopkins, reuniting with Zeller after winning an Oscar for Best Actor in their previous movie, The Father. Hopkins is of course a screen legend, famous for roles in The Silence of the Lambs, MCU’s Thor movies and Westworld, but he continues to work for a seventh decade on screen, with another 2022 movie, Armageddon Time, on his plate.
Is there a The Son trailer?
An official trailer for The Son has arrived, showcasing this likely gut-punch of a movie and emotional turns from Hugh Jackman, Laura Dern, Vanessa Kirby and newcomer Zen McGrath. Watch the trailer (as well as the previously released teaser trailer) below:
The Son reviews — what the critics are saying
The Son has screened and critics were not overly fond of the movie, save for Hugh Jackman's performance.
The Son is scoring a 29% on Rotten Tomatoes and a slightly better 45 on Metacritic. Take a look at what some of the critics who have seen the movie are saying:
The reason to see THE SON is the father, or Hugh Jackman's wrenching performance in that role. My @THR review of Florian Zeller's drama, premiering in the #Venezia79 competitionhttps://t.co/xxvMIBHIcGSeptember 7, 2022
The Total Film review of Florian Zeller's follow-up to The Father #TheSon https://t.co/rwZE4dlW8LSeptember 7, 2022
THE SON: Florian Zeller's follow-up to "The Father" is turgid and emotionally pornographic. Hugh Jackman is great, but the last 20 minutes of this thing make for the most sadistic movie ending since Antichrist, only much less fun. hard pass.my review: https://t.co/guA2glNV2V pic.twitter.com/ZSr3cHmPmwSeptember 7, 2022
The Son director Florian Zeller
Florian Zeller is relatively new to most movie fans, but his entrance onto the scene was a massive statement of his talent.
Zeller has a background in the theater and in writing some French big screen and TV movies, but prior to The Son his lone feature directing credit was for 2020’s The Father (he is also credited with an episode of the French TV docuseries Empreintes).
The Father, which you can watch on Starz or with a Starz premium subscription on streaming services like Hulu or Prime Video, was one of the best reviewed movies of 2020 and was nominated for six Oscars, winning two — one for the previously mentioned Anthony Hopkins and another for Best Adapted Screenplay for Zeller and Hampton.
At this time, Zeller does not have another movie project lined up, per IMDb.
