Billy Lynn is a 19-year-old Army specialist fighting in Iraq. After he and his comrades barely survive a tense battle that receives broad news coverage, they are celebrated as heroes and brought back home by the Department of Defense. In the United States, they go on a promotional tour across the country which ends in a spectacular halftime show at a Thanksgiving Day football game. There, Lynn recounts the tragic memories of the war and losing his sergeant in a firefight.
Two-time Academy Award winner Ang Lee brings his extraordinary vision to Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk, based on the widely-acclaimed, bestselling novel. The film is told from the point of view of 19-year-old private Billy Lynn (newcomer Joe Alwyn) who, along with his fellow soldiers in Bravo Squad, becomes a hero after a harrowing Iraq battle and is brought home temporarily for a victory tour. Through flashbacks, culminating at the spectacular halftime show of the Thanksgiving Day football game, the film reveals what really happened to the squad – contrasting the realities of the war with America’s perceptions.
The film also stars Kristen Stewart, Chris Tucker, Garrett Hedlund, with Vin Diesel, and Steve Martin. Lee used new technology, shooting at an ultra-high frame rate for the first time in film history, to create an immersive digital experience helping him dramatize war in a way never seen before. Ang Lee directed and produced the film, from a screenplay by Jean-Christophe.
Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk is a British-American-Chinese war drama film directed by Ang Lee and written by Jean-Christophe Castelli, based on the novel of the same name by Ben Fountain. The film stars Joe Alwyn, Kristen Stewart, Garrett Hedlund, Vin Diesel, Steve Martin and Chris Tucker. Principal photography began in early April 2015 in Georgia. The film is a co-production between the United States, the United Kingdom and China.
The film had its world premiere at the 54th New York Film Festival on October 14, 2016 and is scheduled to be released in the United States on November 11, 2016 in 3D by TriStar Pictures.
Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk
Directed by: Ang Lee
Starring: Kristen Stewart, Vin Diesel, Joe Alwyn, Garrett Hedlund, Steve Martin, Chris Tucker, Makenzie Leigh, Deirdre Lovejoy, Kimberly Battista, Kellie Pickler
Screenplay by: Jean-Christophe Castelli
Production Design by: Mark Friedberg
Cinematography by: John Toll
Film Editing by: Tim Squyres
Costume Design by: Joseph G. Aulisi
Set Decoration by: Elizabeth Keenan
Music by: Jeff Danna, Mychael Danna
MPAA Rating: R for language throughout, some war violence, sexual content, and brief drug use.
Studio: TriStar Pictures
Release Date: November 11, 2016
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