New Photo: George Clooney & Shailene Woodley In Alexander Payne’s ‘The Descendants’


Alright, this image was up on the TIFF website a week ago, then removed and now back up on EW as part of their Fall Movie Preview, got that?

We have seen the poster and trailer for Alexander Payne‘s latest bittersweet dramedy, “The Descendants,” but now we have our second official still image (first one can be seen here). It’s of George Clooney next to his daughter played by Shailene Woodley. The film also stars Beau Bridges, Judy Greer and Matthew Lillard.

The TIFF website says, “George Clooney plays the leader of a storied Hawaiian family as they are forced to decide what to do with their last, vast parcel of land. At the same time he learns a secret about his critically ill wife. From the director of ‘Sideways.’”

Here’s the TIFF press release info on Payne’s film: From Alexander Payne, the creator of the Oscar-winning “Sideways,” set in Hawaii, “The Descendants” is a sometimes humorous, sometimes tragic journey for Matt King (George Clooney), an indifferent husband and father of two girls, who is forced to re-examine his past and embrace his future when his wife suffers a boating accident off of Waikiki. The event leads to a rapprochement with his young daughters while Matt wrestles with a decision to sell the family’s land handed down from Hawaiian royalty and missionaries.

What’s it like? Well it aims for that just-right balance between drama and comedy that the director is so fond of. ”As I always say,” Payne quipped to EW, ”tone wasn’t built in a day.”

It’s 115 minutes long and there’s no word on who wrote the original music yet, but we assume a good guess would be Rolfe Kent who scored all of Payne’s last three films. Fox Searchlight has slated the film for a Thanksgiving, November 23rd release to gets its limited roll-out going. We can’t wait. You’ll see reviews from some of us at TIFF 2011, but we wouldn’t be surprised if this film hits Telluride first since Payne seems to have a relationship with that Colorado-set fest.

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