Director Jennifer Fox and the starry cast of her Sundance movie “The Tale” believe the moment is right for her disturbing drama child sexual abuse.
“When we started to produce this script, which was five years ago, I mean we were way out on a limb,” director Jennifer Fox told TheWrap’s Beatrice Verhoeven in Sundance.
“Now with the MeToo movement, we are so blessed to be coming out at a moment when people can actually take this story and begin to grapple with the truth about child sexual abuse.”
Common and the cast of the chilling sexual abuse drama “The Tale” talked about how to break the culture of silence.
“The Tale” stars Laura Dern and Isabelle Nelisse as Jennifer, a successful woman who hides a secret told in flashbacks: At the age of 13, she was repeatedly raped by her running coach, played by Jason Ritter.
When Jennifer’s mother (Ellen Burstyn) confronts her daughter after discovering the abuse, Jennifer must come to terms with the past and the people who she trusted in, but may have turned a blind eye to her suffering.
For Common, who plays the grown-up Jennifer’s fiancé, said hopes the film will serve as a call to action for filmgoers.
“What you see in this film helps you understand child sexual abuse in another way and it really moves you to go and do something,” the actor and rapper said. “And when art has that power…it just moves and shifts the paradigm.”
Dern and Common were among those who spoke out against abuse at Saturday’s “Respect Rally,” an event that kicked off Sundance with several speeches pushing for women’s rights and showing solidarity with the Women’s March protests happening in cities across North America.
See more remarks from Common and director Jennifer Fox in the clip above.