On Thursday, the first trailer for Causeway, an upcoming drama starring Jennifer Lawrence and Brian Tyree Henry, premiered on Apple TV+, marking the company’s first foray into the Oscar race. The streaming service had a fantastic year, launching critically acclaimed episodes like Pachinko and Severance and distributing the Academy Award-winning film CODA. Lawrence, who first gained attention with her Oscar-nominated performance in 2010’s Winter’s Bone (directed by Debra Granik), returns to her native California for Causeway. After that, she went on to feature as the main character in the Hunger Games film series and other significant films directed by acclaimed directors.
The Academy Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role went to her for her portrayal of a grieving widow in David O. Russell’s Silver Linings Playbook. She is one of the most celebrated (and well-compensated) actresses of her period, having been nominated for four awards. After delivering standout performances in critically acclaimed films like Widows, If Beale Street Could Talk, and Atlanta, Henry is amassing an impressive résumé of his own.
Lynsey, played by Lawrence, is an Afghan combat veteran who suffers devastating brain damage in an IED explosion and comes home to the United States in the film Causeway.
Her tight relationship with her mother (played by Linda Emond) hinders her recuperation, but she bonds with a local guy named James (Henry), who is hiding his own pain from the world. The film centres on Lynsey and James’s blossoming friendship and is characterised as a “quiet yet tragic, and eventually inspiring, drama about coming to grips and going forward.” The clip gives off a somewhat gloomy vibe, showing Lynsey actually struggling to get back on her feet after a bad breakup.
In addition, we see touching glimpses of their developing friendship and a hint at what may be bothering James. Lawrence was recently seen in the Netflix comedy Don’t Look Up, in which she co-starred with Leonardo DiCaprio and other A-list actors and was directed by Adam McKay. When Causeway debuted at TIFF, critics praised the film, particularly for the work of its primary actors. Lila Neugebauer, a Broadway veteran whose credits include The Waverly Gallery, Maid, and The Last Thing He Told Me, makes her directorial debut with this film, which also features script work by Ottessa Moshfegh, Luke Goebel, and Elizabeth Sanders. Lawrence Ciarrocchi and Justine Ciarrocchi are the film’s producers.
Producers Christopher J. Surgent, Kirk Michael Fellows, Patricia Clarkson, Sophia Lin, Jacob Jaffke, and Neugebauer. On November 4, both the theatrical version of Causeway and the Apple TV+ version will debut.
Synopsis
Oscar-winner Jennifer Lawrence stars as Lynsey, a military engineer who suffers disabling brain damage while serving in Afghanistan and returns home to the United States in the new drama Causeway, directed by Lila Neugebauer. A talkative but sensitive caregiver helps her through the painful and tedious process of relearning how to walk and how to use her memories (Jayne Houdyshell). But when she returns to New Orleans, she is confronted with childhood memories that are even more painful and formative than the ones she experienced during her duty. All Lynsey wants to do is get back to work as an engineer, but she has to stay with her mother (Linda Emond), with whom she has a strained relationship.
Due to her doctor’s (Stephen McKinley Henderson) scepticism, she takes a job cleaning pools to support herself while she waits. James Aucoin (Brian Tyree Henry), an employee at the auto repair company, lends her a ride home after her truck breaks down. The two gradually come to rely on one another for comfort and support. It turns out that James is hiding his own history of trauma from himself as well. The modest yet tragic and eventually inspiring narrative of these two broken souls’ growing relationship is at the centre and heart of Neugebauer’s debut film.