''Rebel in the Rye'' is a 2017 American

biographical A biography, or simply bio, is a detailed description of a person's life. It involves more than just the basic facts like education, work, relationships, and death; it portrays a person's experience of these life events. Unlike a profile or ...

drama Drama is the specific mode of fiction represented in performance: a play, opera, mime, ballet, etc., performed in a theatre, or on radio or television.Elam (1980, 98). Considered as a genre of poetry in general, the dramatic mode has been ...

film directed and written by

Danny Strong Daniel William Strong (born June 6, 1974) is an American actor, film and television writer, director, and producer. As an actor, Strong is best known for his roles as Jonathan Levinson in ''Buffy the Vampire Slayer'' and Doyle McMaster in ''Gilmo ...

. It is based on the book ''J. D. Salinger: A Life'' by Kenneth Slawenski, about the life of writer

J. D. Salinger Jerome David Salinger (; January 1, 1919 January 27, 2010) was an American author best known for his 1951 novel ''The Catcher in the Rye''. Salinger got his start in 1940, before serving in World War II, by publishing several short stories in '' ...

during and after

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. The film stars

Nicholas Hoult Nicholas Caradoc Hoult (born 7 December 1989) is an English actor. His List of roles and awards of Nicholas Hoult, body of work includes supporting work in big-budget mainstream productions and starring roles in Independent film, independent p ...

Zoey Deutch Zoey Francis Chaya Thompson Deutch ( ; born November 10, 1994) is an American actress. She is daughter of director Howard Deutch and actress-director Lea Thompson. She gained recognition for her roles in the film '' Everybody Wants Some!!'', t ...

Kevin Spacey Kevin Spacey Fowler (born July 26, 1959) is an American actor. He began his career as a stage actor during the 1980s, obtaining supporting roles before gaining a leading man status in film and television. Spacey has received various accolades ...

Sarah Paulson Sarah Catharine Paulson (born December 17, 1974) is an American actress. She began her acting career in New York City stage productions before starring in the short-lived television series '' American Gothic'' (1995–1996) and '' Jack & Jill' ...

, Brian d'Arcy James,

Victor Garber Victor Joseph Garber (born March 16, 1949) is a Canadian-American actor and singer. Known for his work in film, television, and theatre, he has been nominated for three Gemini Awards, four Tony Awards, and six Primetime Emmy Awards. He has also ...

Hope Davis Hope Davis is an American actress. She is known for her performances on stage and screen earning various awards and nominations including a Tony Award nomination, as well two Primetime Emmy Awards, and two Golden Globe Award nominations. She ...

, and

Lucy Boynton Lucy Boynton (born January 17, 1994) is a British-American actress. Raised in London, she made her professional debut as the young Beatrix Potter in '' Miss Potter'' (2006). She starred in television productions '' Ballet Shoes'' (2007), '' Sens ...

. The film had its world premiere at the

Sundance Film Festival The Sundance Film Festival (formerly Utah/US Film Festival, then US Film and Video Festival) is an annual film festival organized by the Sundance Institute. It is the largest independent film festival in the United States, with more than 46,66 ...

on January 24, 2017, and was released by

IFC Films IFC Films is an American film production and distribution company based in New York. It is an offshoot of IFC owned by AMC Networks. It distributes mainly independent films under its own name, select foreign films and documentaries under its S ...

on September 8, 2017.

Premise

The life of author

from his youth to the

era, including his romantic life and the publication of his debut novel ''

The Catcher in the Rye ''The Catcher in the Rye'' is an American novel by J. D. Salinger that was partially published in serial form from 1945–46 before being novelized in 1951. Originally intended for adults, it is often read by adolescents for its themes of angst ...

''.

Cast

, an American author *

Oona O'Neill Oona O'Neill, Lady Chaplin (14 May 1925 – 27 September 1991) was an actress who was the daughter of Irish-American playwright Eugene O'Neill and English-born writer Agnes Boulton, and the fourth and last wife of English actor and film-maker Ch ...

, the daughter of playwright

Eugene O'Neill Eugene Gladstone O'Neill (October 16, 1888 – November 27, 1953) was an American playwright and Nobel laureate in literature. His poetically titled plays were among the first to introduce into the U.S. the drama techniques of realism, earlier ...

and the romantic partner of the young Salinger. *

Whit Burnett Whit Burnett (August 14, 1899 – April 22, 1973) was an American writer and educator who founded and edited the literary magazine '' Story''. In the 1940s, ''Story'' was an important magazine in that it published the first or early works of many w ...

, a lecturer at

Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...

, editor of the ''Story'' magazine, and a mentor of the young Salinger. *

as Dorothy Olding, the loyal agent who supported the young Salinger throughout his career. * Brian d'Arcy James as Giroux *

as Sol Salinger, Salinger’s father. *

as Miriam Salinger, Salinger’s mother. *

as Claire Douglas *

James Urbaniak James Christian Urbaniak (born September 17, 1963) is an American character actor. He is best known for his roles as Simon Grim in three Hal Hartley films: '' Henry Fool'' (1997), '' Fay Grim'' (2006) and '' Ned Rifle'' (2014), Robert Crumb in ...

as Gus Lobrano * Adam Busch as Nigel Bench *

Jefferson Mays Lewis Jefferson Mays (born June 8, 1965) is an American actor. He is the recipient of numerous accolades, including a Tony Award, a Helen Hayes Award, a Lucille Lortel Award, two Drama Desk Awards, two Outer Critics Circle Awards and three Ob ...

as William Maxwell * Bernard White as Swami Nikhilananda

Production

On April 29, 2014, it was announced that screenwriter-actor

would make his directorial debut with biographical film ''Salinger's War'', based on the non-fiction book ''J. D. Salinger: A Life'' by Kenneth Slawenski, about the life of young author

during the early 1940s. Strong bought the book with his own money and adapted the film's script, which Black Label Media would finance, while Molly Smith, Trent Luckinbill, and

Thad Luckinbill Thaddeus Rowe Luckinbill (born April 24, 1975) is an American actor and producer best known for playing J.T. Hellstrom on the CBS soap opera ''The Young and the Restless'', from August 1999 to November 2010. He reprised the role of J.T. in Dece ...

would produce the film along with

Bruce Cohen Bruce L. Cohen (born September 23, 1961) is a film, television, and theater producer. Biography Cohen was born to a Jewish family and raised in Falls Church, Virginia. On August 31, 2015,

was cast in the biopic to play Salinger, and the film was re-titled as ''Rebel in the Rye''. On January 19, 2016,

joined the film to play

, a lecturer at

, editor of the ''Story'' magazine, and a mentor of the young Salinger. On February 12, 2016,

Laura Dern Laura Elizabeth Dern (born February 10, 1967) is an American actress. She is the recipient of numerous accolades, including an Academy Award, a Primetime Emmy Award, a BAFTA Award, and five Golden Globe Awards. Born to actor Bruce Dern and ac ...

, Brian d'Arcy James, and

signed on to star in the film for unspecified roles. On March 9, 2016,

joined the film to play the playwright

's daughter

, who had a relationship with Salinger, and following her,

also joined the film on next day to portray the role of Salinger's father, Sol Salinger. On April 7, 2016,

joined the film for an unspecified role, and following her

was cast to play Dorothy Olding, the loyal agent who supported the young Salinger throughout his career. In May 2016, it was revealed that

had been cast as Gus Lobrano.

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 ...

on the film began on April 26, 2016 in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

Bear McCreary Bear McCreary (born February 17, 1979) is an American musician and composer of film, television, and video game scores based in Los Angeles, California. His work includes the scores of the television series ''Battlestar Galactica'' (2004), ''Age ...

composed the film's score.

Release

The film had its world premiere at the

2017 Sundance Film Festival The 2017 Sundance Film Festival took place from January 19 to January 29, 2017. The first lineup of competition films was announced November 30, 2016. Awards The following awards were presented: * Grand Jury Prize: Dramatic – ''I Don't Feel at ...

on January 24, 2017. Shortly after,

acquired distribution rights to the film. It was theatrically released on September 8, 2017.

Reception

Box office

''Rebel in the Rye'' had a limited release in four theaters in its first week which was expanded to 45 more screens in second week. In its first week of release, the film made $44,280 (an average of $11,070), and in its second week, it grossed $101,118 in the 49 theaters, with a cumulative total of $154,326.

Critical response

On review aggregation website

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 ...

, the film has an approval rating of 29% based on 89 reviews, and an average rating of 5.2/10. The site's critics consensus reads: "''Rebel in the Rye'' attempts to dramatize J.D. Salinger's life and creative process, but falters with a lack of dramatic impetus or a cohesive thesis about the reclusive author." On

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 ...

, which assigns a normalized rating to reviews, the film has a weighted average score 46 out of 100, based on 30 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".

Jordan Hoffman Jordan Hoffman is an American freelance film critic and former actor, director, and producer. He is best known for his work with ''New York Daily News'', ''The Guardian'', Film.com, ''Vanity Fair (magazine), Vanity Fair'', ''ScreenCrush'', and ...

of ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

'' gave three stars out of five, saying, "J. D. Salinger drama catches attention but sinks into cliche".

References

External links

* * {{Danny Strong 2017 films 2017 biographical drama films 2017 directorial debut films 2017 drama films American biographical drama films Biographical films about writers Black Label Media films Films based on non-fiction books Films scored by Bear McCreary Films set in the 1940s Films set in New York City Films shot in New York City Films with screenplays by Danny Strong IFC Films films J. D. Salinger World War II films based on actual events 2010s English-language films Films produced by Bruce Cohen 2010s American films