Phyllis Nagy directed the film that made its premiere at Sundance
Roadside Attractions has scooped up the U.S. rights to “Call Jane,” the period piece abortion drama that stars Elizabeth Banks and made its premiere at the Sundance Film Festival this year. Phyllis Nagy (“Carol”) directed the film that also stars Sigourney Weaver, and Roadside is planning a theatrical release for the film this fall. “Call Jane” is set in Chicago in 1968 and follows a suburban housewife named Joy who has a life-threatening heart condition as a result of her pregnancy and finds an all-male medical establishment is unwilling to assist in her abortion. Her journey for a solution leads her to two women who are committed to women’s health and have the dream of giving all women access to abortions, and together they form an underground abortion service for women that puts every aspect of her own life on the line. The film is based on a true story, and the story of the underground network of female abortionists was also told in another documentary film that played at Sundance, “The Janes.” But TheWrap’s critic out of Sundance praised Nagy’s direction in finding a smart narrative hook to the drama, writing, “what makes Nagy’s dramatization the perfect complement to testimony-driven non-fiction told from the inside is that it’s artfully crafted from Hayley Schore’s and Roshan Sethi’s screenplay to be a journey from the outside in, showing how reality can necessitate a personal and political awakening.
