Ned Rifle

Ned Rifle (2015)

Henry’s and Fay's son Ned sets out to find and kill his father for destroying his mother's life. But his aims are frustrated by the troublesome Susan, whose connection to Henry predates even his arrival in the lives of the Grim family.

Date of release
2015-04-01
TMDB
5.8 / 10 (58)
Runtime
1h 25m
Genres
Drama
Director
Hal Hartley
Collection
Henry Fool Collection

Casting

Interesting facts

Ned Rifle is a 2014 American drama film written and directed by Hal Hartley. It is the third and final film in a trilogy following characters introduced in Hartley's 1997 film Henry Fool and 2006 sequel Fay Grim. Ned Rifle stars Liam Aiken as the title character, reprising his role from the other two films, as well as Aubrey Plaza, Parker Posey, James Urbaniak, and Thomas Jay Ryan.

Production

Like Henry Fool (1997) and Fay Grim (2006), Ned Rifle was directed, written, co-produced and composed by Hal Hartley. While promoting Fay Grim in 2007, Hartley mentioned the possibility for a third film, hinting that Aiken's character Ned would be the story's focus. Hartley started writing Ned Rifle around 2012, and finished the script in two weeks.

The storyline is done on a smaller scale compared to Fay Grim, more in line with Henry Fool. This was done in part because of a small budget, and also because Hartley did not want to make another big-production project. He wanted the storyline to be simpler and more linear than Fay Grim.

In May 2013, Fortissimo Films acquired the global sales rights for the film at the 2013 Cannes Film Festival. On November 6, 2013, Hartley launched a fundraising campaign to produce the film through Kickstarter, seeking a total of $384,000 and offering various incentives to those who donated $1 or more. The main cast, as well as some crew members, appeared in several videos promoting the campaign.

Liam Aiken, Parker Posey, James Urbaniak, and Thomas Jay Ryan reprise their roles from the first two films. In addition, Martin Donovan, Karen Sillas, Robert John Burke, and Bill Sage had worked with Hartley on his other previous films.

Casting for the character of Susan took months, with 60 to 70 women auditioning for the part, some of whom would later get other roles in the film. Gemma Arterton was reportedly attached at one point. In March 2014, it was announced that Aubrey Plaza joined the cast, playing the role of Susan. Hartley cast Plaza after seeing her prior acting performances, including Parks and Recreation.

Read on Wikipedia · Text from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. Data from Wikidata.

Recommended