Seberg is inspired by real events about the French New Wave darling and Breathless star, Jean Seberg, who in the late 1960s was targeted by Hoover’s FBI, because of her political and romantic involvement with civil rights activist Hakim Jamal.
Seberg is a 2019 political thriller film directed by Benedict Andrews, from a screenplay by Joe Shrapnel and Anna Waterhouse. It stars Kristen Stewart, Jack O’Connell, Anthony Mackie, Margaret Qualley, Colm Meaney, Zazie Beetz and Vince Vaughn. It had its world premiere at the Venice Film Festival on August 30, 2019. It is scheduled to be released on December 13, 2019, by Amazon Studios.
Director’s Statament
I discovered Jean Seberg when my high-school French teacher screened À bout de souffle for our class. I was blown away. I never forgot her amazing, effervescent performance. She redefined what presence and truth meant onscreen.
I’m fascinated by Jean’s contradictions, by her combination of fierce independence and emotional openness, her loneliness and her naiveté, her idealism and lust for life. Under the ruthless gaze of the FBI, the threads of Jean’s life come apart. Like the character of St. Joan whom she played for Otto Preminger, Jean passes through the fire. Surviving breakdown and loss, she transforms volatility into hard-won grace.
About Jean Seberg
Jean Dorothy Seberg November 13, 1938 – August 30, 1979) was an American actress who lived half her life in France. Her performance in Jean-Luc Godard’s 1960 film Breathless immortalized her as an icon of French New Wave cinema.
She appeared in 34 films in Hollywood and in Europe, including Saint Joan, Bonjour Tristesse, Lilith, The Mouse That Roared, Moment to Moment, A Fine Madness, Paint Your Wagon, Airport, Macho Callahan, and Gang War in Naples. She was also one of the best-known targets of the COINTELPRO project. Her targeting was a well-documented retaliation for her support of the Black Panther Party in the 1960s.
Seberg died at the age of 40 in Paris, with police ruling her death a probable suicide.[1] Romain Gary, Seberg’s second husband, called a press conference shortly after her death where he publicly blamed the FBI’s campaign against Seberg for her deteriorating mental health. Gary claimed that Seberg “became psychotic” after the media reported a false story that the FBI planted about her becoming pregnant with a Black Panther’s child in 1970. Romain Gary stated that Seberg had attempted suicide on numerous anniversaries of the child’s death, August 25.
Seberg (2019)
Directed by: Benedict Andrews
Starring: Kristen Stewart, Jack O’Connell, Margaret Qualley, Zazie Beetz, Yvan Attal, Stephen Root, Colm Meaney, Vince Vaughn, Anthony Mackie, Jade Pettyjohn, Grantham Coleman, James Jordan
Screenplay by: Joe Shrapnel, Anna Waterhouse
Production Design by: Jahmin Assa
Cinematography by: Rachel Morrison
Film Editing by: Pamela Martin
Costume Design by: Michael Wilkinson
Set Decoration by: Christy McIrwin
Art Direction by: Justin Allen
Music by: Jed Kurzel
MPAA Rating: None.
Distributed by: Amazon Studios
Release Date: December 13, 2019
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