EXCLUSIVE: Bob Nelson, the Oscar-nominated Nebraska scribe, has assembled a strong cast for his directorial debut, The Confirmation. The Knick‘s Clive Owen, St. Vincent revelation Jaeden Lieberher and Maria Bello star with Patton Oswalt, Tim Blake Nelson, Robert Forster, Matthew Modine and Stephen Tobolowsky. The film is just getting underway in Canada, a co-production between Bungalow Media + Entertainment and Great Point Media. Todd Hoffman is producing with Nelson; Robert Halmi Jr, Jim Reeve and Robert Friedman are exec producers.
The Confirmation begins with 8-year-old Anthony (Lieberher) and his estranged father (Owen) spending two days together for the first time in forever, as the boy’s mom (Bello) and new husband (Modine) head off to a religious retreat. Their mutual unease is exacerbated when the father’s truck breaks down, his landlord locks him out of his house, and the toolbox that provides his living gets stolen. As they search for the stolen tools with help from an odd neighbor (Oswalt), the father and son begin to establish a connection.After waiting a decade for Alexander Payne to direct his first feature script Nebraska, Nelson watched this film take the fast lane by comparison, helped in that effort by longtime rep Hoffman. He partners with Friedman and Kim in Bungalow, a new company that develops, produces and distributes content, and manages writers and directors through its Storied Media Group banner. Production is being overseen in Canada by Lighthouse Pictures.Nelson is repped by WME, Storied Media Group and attorney Bob Myman. Owen, Lieberher, Bello and Oswalt are repped by CAA, and WME and CAA are repping domestic rights together.
