Media 8 Entertainment announced today that its theatrical feature film “Monster” has received major acclaim from leading US film critics Roger Ebert and Richard Roeper, on their nationally syndicated television show ‘Ebert & Roeper.'
Ebert and Roeper gave the film, which stars Charlize Theron and Christina Ricci and was written and directed by Patty Jenkins, a rating of “Two Thumbs Way Up.” Ebert and Roeper praised the breakthrough performance of star Charlize Theron, who portrays real-life serial killer Aileen Wuornos in the film. Said Ebert of the film, “I was mesmerized by what was happening on that screen. What happens in this movie is almost beyond describing. The performance by Charlize Theron is one of the best performances in the history of the cinema… If this movie doesn't win the Oscar then they might as well retire the award because this is the performance of the year.” Said Roeper, “In a performance that goes far beyond weight gain and makeup tricks, Charlize Theron deserves an Academy Award. She presents Wuornos as fearsome and vicious, but she also manages to humanize this monster. We see the sadness and the desperation that haunts this woman. This is an amazing, powerful piece of raw acting.” Ebert and Roeper also voiced significant praise for the work of first-time writer/ director Patty Jenkins. “ I think Theron's performance and the direction by Patty Jenkins are a great and brave act of empathy—an exercise of their humanity,” said Ebert.
The recent positive critical review from Ebert & Roeper adds another resounding affirmation to the growing accolades the film has just begun to receive as the award season begins. As previously announced on Friday, Theron won the National Board of Review's “Breakthrough Performance by an Actress Award.” In addition, “Monster” received three IFP Independent Spirit Award nominations in the categories of Best Actress (Charlize Theron), and Best First Feature film and Best First Screenplay for writer/director Patty Jenkins.
The film was fully financed and co-produced by MDP Filmproduktions GmbH , a wholly owned subsidiary of MDP Worldwide Entertainment, Inc. and VIP Medienfonds. “Monster” will be theatrically released in the United States on December 24th (New York) and December 26th (Los Angeles) and will have a widely expanded theatrical release throughout the U.S. over the weeks following.
“Monster” is the shocking and moving true-life story of Aileen Wuornos portrayed by Charlize Theron, a prostitute executed last year in Florida after being convicted of murdering six men. While Wuornos confessed to the six murders, including a policeman, she claimed to have killed only in self-defense, resisting violent assaults while working as a prostitute. Bravely burrowing beneath the tabloid headlines about America's first female serial killer—and the media's sordid designation of Wuornos as an unrepentant monster—in the midst of the horrors and pathologies, first-time writer-director Patty Jenkins unearths an unlikely love story between two misfits.
Press contact: David Gaynes, Sr. V.P. Publicity (310) 226-8300 |
