Joel Edgerton is ready to make his directorial debut with The Gift, which will be released by STX Entertainment and Blumhouse Production on July 31st, 2015. Edgerton will also star and write his directorial debut which is being labelled a psychological thriller. The Gift will also feature Jason Bateman and Rebecca Hall. Here’s the official synopsis provided us:
Can you really go through life having never wronged anyone? Even if you are unaware of how, or when, and even who you may have wronged…chances are there is someone out there who won’t ever forget it…or you.
Simon (Jason Bateman) and Robyn (Rebecca Hall) are a young married couple whose life is going just as planned until a chance encounter with an acquaintance from Simon’s high school sends their world into a harrowing tailspin. Simon doesn’t recognize Gordo (Joel Edgerton) at first, but after a seemingly coincidental series of encounters proves troubling, a horrifying secret from their past is uncovered after nearly 20 years. As Robyn learns the unsettling truth about what happened between Simon and Gordo, she starts to question: how well do we really know the people closest to us, and are past bygones ever really bygones?
Aside from Whiplash, I can’t say that I’ve actively enjoyed any of the films released by Blumhouse Productions, though The Boy Next Door was kind of a wonderful piece of trash. But one thing Blumhouse does excel at is releasing movies that will turn a profit within their first day of release. The Blumhouse way of making inexpensive genre films has provided Edgerton an opportunity to prove himself as a filmmaker, and that’s why I have great respect for what Blumhouse does even if the results aren’t always there. To be clear, Edgerton’s The Gift has nothing to do with Sam Raimi‘s 2000 film of the same name.
