''The Benefactor'' (originally titled ''Franny'') is a 2015 American

drama film In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. Drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular super-g ...

written and directed by Andrew Renzi. Starring

Richard Gere Richard Tiffany Gere ( ; born August 31, 1949) is an American actor. He began in films in the 1970s, playing a supporting role in '' Looking for Mr. Goodbar'' (1977) and a starring role in ''Days of Heaven'' (1978). He came to prominence with ...

Dakota Fanning Hannah Dakota Fanning (born February 23, 1994) is an American actress. She rose to prominence at the age of seven for her performance as Lucy Dawson in the drama film ''I Am Sam'' (2001), for which she received a Screen Actors Guild Award nomina ...

Theo James Theo is a given name and a hypocorism. Greek origin Many names beginning with the root "Theo-" derive from the Ancient Greek word ''theos'' (''θεός''), which means god, for example: *Feminine names: Thea, Theodora, Theodosia, Theophania, ...

, and

Clarke Peters Peter Clarke (born April 7, 1952), known professionally as Clarke Peters, is an American-British actor, writer, and director. He is best known for his roles as Lester Freamon in the television series ''The Wire'' (2002–2008) and Albert Lambrea ...

, the film premiered at the

Tribeca Film Festival The Tribeca Festival is an annual film festival organized by TriBeCa Productions, Tribeca Productions. It takes place each spring in New York City, showcasing a diverse selection of film, episodic, talks, music, games, art, and immersive progra ...

on April 17, 2015. It was released in the United States on January 15, 2016, in a

limited release __FORCETOC__ Limited theatrical release is a film distribution strategy of releasing a new film in a few theaters across a country, typically art house theaters in major metropolitan markets. Since 1994, a limited theatrical release in the Unite ...

and through

video on demand Video on demand (VOD) is a media distribution system that allows users to access videos without a traditional video playback device and the constraints of a typical static broadcasting schedule. In the 20th century, broadcasting in the form of o ...

Samuel Goldwyn Films Samuel Goldwyn Films is an American film company that licenses, releases and distributes art-house, independent and foreign films. It was founded by Samuel Goldwyn Jr., the son of the Hollywood business magnate/mogul, Samuel Goldwyn. The curre ...

Synopsis

A wealthy man (Richard Gere) feels responsible for the deaths of two married friends, leading him to ingratiate himself into the lives of their daughter (Dakota Fanning) and her husband (Theo James). But their friendship takes a dark turn when he grows obsessed with the couple.

Cast

as Francis "Franny" Watts *

as Olivia *

as Luke *

as Dr. Romano *

Brian Anthony Wilson Brian Anthony Wilson (born February 22, 1960) is an American film and television actor. He first appeared in the 1997 film '' The Postman'' as Woody. Wilson was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the la ...

as Jesse *

Dylan Baker Dylan Baker (born October 7, 1959) is an American actor. He gained recognition for his roles in the films such as ''Planes, Trains and Automobiles'' (1987), ''Happiness'' (1998), '' Thirteen Days'' (2000), ''Road to Perdition'' (2002), ''Spider-M ...

as Bobby *

Cheryl Hines Cheryl Ruth Hines (born September 21, 1965) is an American actress and director, best known for playing the role of Larry David's wife, Cheryl, on HBO's ''Curb Your Enthusiasm'', for which she has been nominated for two Emmy Awards. She also sta ...

as Mia * Dennisha Pratt as Sharon * Lyssa Roberts as Molly * Roy James Wilson as Charlie *

Tibor Feldman Tibor Feldman (born April 25, 1947) is an American actor, having played roles in movies, television shows, television commercials, and stage plays. He has appeared in television dramas including: '' Law & Order'', ''Conviction'', ''The Sopranos ...

as Dr. Sam * Matthew and Michael Daisher as Toby

Production

Andrew Renzi developed the script at the 2013 Sundance Screenwriters Lab. In August 2013, it was announced that it would be produced by Treehouse Pictures, TideRock Media, and Big Shoes Media, with

cast to portray the role of Franny, and Andrew Renzi directing. Treehouse Pictures had produced Gere's 2012 film ''

Arbitrage In economics and finance, arbitrage (, ) is the practice of taking advantage of a difference in prices in two or more markets; striking a combination of matching deals to capitalise on the difference, the profit being the difference between the ...

''. In September 2013, it was announced that

and

had joined, portraying the roles of Olivia and Luke respectively.

Principal photography Principal photography is the phase of producing a film or television show in which the bulk of shooting takes place, as distinct from the phases of pre-production and post-production. Personnel Besides the main film personnel, such as actor ...

began on October 21, 2013, in

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

Release

''The Benefactor'' premiered at the

on April 17, 2015. On May 1, 2015,

acquired U.S distribution rights. It went onto screen at the

Champs-Élysées Film Festival The Champs-Élysées Film Festival is a film festival that takes place annually in Paris, France. The festival consists of French and American feature-length films and short films. There are competitive films that may be eligible for several awar ...

on June 13, 2015. The film was released in Italy on December 23, 2015, under its original name ''Franny''. It was released in the United States on January 15, 2016, in a

and through

Critical reception

The film received negative reviews from critics. On

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...

it achieves a score of 25%, an average rating of 4.2/10, sampled from 52 reviews. The consensus states: "''The Benefactor'' has Richard Gere and Dakota Fanning, but no clear idea of what to do with either of them, resulting in a drama that never comes anywhere near its intriguing potential."

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...

, gives a rating of 39 out of 100, based on 16 reviews, indicating "generally unfavorable reviews".

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Benefactor 2015 films 2015 drama films American drama films Films shot in Philadelphia Samuel Goldwyn Films films 2010s English-language films 2010s American films