Back Roads (2018 film)

Back Roads is a 2018 American drama film directed by Alex Pettyfer, in his directorial debut. The screenplay by Tawni O'Dell and Adrian Lyne was adapted from the best selling novel of the same name by Tawni O'Dell. Starring Alex Pettyfer, Jennifer Morrison, Nicola Peltz, Robert Patrick and Juliette Lewis, the film centers on a young man stuck in the Pennsylvania backwoods caring for his three younger sisters after his mother is arrested for murdering his father. It premiered at the 2018 Tribeca Film Festival and was released in selected theaters in the United States on December 7, 2018, by Samuel Goldwyn Films, and will also be released on video on demand and digital.

Back Roads
Theatrical poster
Directed byAlex Pettyfer
Produced byMichael Ohoven
Craig Robinson
Alex Pettyfer
Ashley Mansour
Jake Seal
Dan Spilo
Written byTawni O'Dell
Adrian Lyne
Based onBack Roads
by Tawni O'Dell
StarringAlex Pettyfer
Jennifer Morrison
Nicola Peltz
Chiara Aurelia
Hala Finley
June Carry
Robert Patrick
Juliette Lewis
Music byJohn Hunter
CinematographyJarin Blaschke
Edited byKant Pan
Production
company
Upturn Productions
Infinity Films
Back Roads Production Ltd
Distributed bySamuel Goldwyn Films
Release date
Running time
101 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish

Plot

After his mother (Juliette Lewis) is imprisoned for killing his abusive father, Harley Altmyer (Alex Pettyfer) is left to care for his three younger sisters in rural Pennsylvania. Harley forgoes his college education, working dead-end jobs to pay the bills and raise his siblings, including his rebellious, promiscuous and sexually-maniacally-abusive 16-year-old sister, Amber (Nicola Peltz). Scarred by his past, Harley becomes infatuated with Callie Mercer (Jennifer Morrison), the older married woman who lives nearby. Things take a dangerous turn when they embark on an affair and shocking family secrets soon begin to emerge. As Harley's life spirals out of control, unspoken truths leading to a devastating conclusion come to the surface and threaten to consume him.

Cast

Production

Development

In Back Roads, British actor Alex Pettyfer, (Magic Mike, Elvis & Nixon, The Strange Ones) makes his directorial debut, realizing a dream to direct and make the 1999 New York Times bestselling novel by author Tawni O’Dell into a film. He also plays the lead character of Harley, in a cast that includes Jennifer Morrison, Nicola Peltz, Chiara Aurelia, Hala Finley, June Carryl, with Robert Patrick and Juliette Lewis.

The project has long compelled Pettyfer’s interest. Nearly a decade ago, when the film was originally announced as an Adrian Lyne production, the actor auditioned for the role of Harley. “Unfortunately, it didn’t work out,” says Pettyfer, who was 18 or 19 at the time. But Pettyfer never lost hope for the movie. As his professional ambitions evolved, the possibility of making it a reality emerged with the formation of Upturn Productions, LLC.

“Pettyfer and his producing partner Craig Robinson setup Upturn Productions in 2015 with the intent of securing literary works that could be made into film or television. Their first project secured was based on the life of Colombian drug lord, Griselda Blanco, which they developed with LBI Entertainment’s Julie Yorn and Patrick Walmsley, and secured a co-production with Jennifer Lopez and her producing partner Elaine Goldsmith-Thomas at Nuyorican Productions. The feature film project was picked up by HBO with Terence Winter attached to write and executive produce with Jennifer Lopez. Upturn went on to secure its next co-production with producer Michael Ohoven (The Human Stain, The Final Cut, Push, and Capote), who had controlled the rights to Back Roads for over ten years. After numerous attempts to secure a top tier director for the film in 2016, with Pettyfer as the lead, Robinson went back to his financiers of the film and convinced them to give Pettyfer an opportunity to direct Back Roads as his first film.

Pettyfer and Robinson hadn’t taken on the project with the expectation of Pettyfer directing, it was more to control the content Upturn wanted to produce with Pettyfer as a lead. “I always approached it as an actor,” he says. “As an actor, it’s a rich piece of material. Never in my right mind would I ever think that I would get the opportunity to direct a film, ever. So, really, me coming back to it, I knew it was an important piece of material to talk about, and we as actors are always looking for a challenge, so to me I was coming back to get the project made.”

Every producer knows the challenge of pulling together funds for an independent feature film, let alone funding a film for a first-time director who is also self-directing in a starring role. Yet, Robinson secured Pettyfer’s directorial foothold on several grounds. Firstly, the financiers were willing to agree to the condition of reducing their risk and budget, which equated to a limited twenty-three day shooting schedule. Secondly, they stipulated that Pettyfer would be bolstered in his endeavor by a support network of Upturn and Infinity’s team of professionals, including producer Michael Ohoven and writer/producer Ashley Mansour.

Filming

Working with cinematographer Jarin Blaschke (I Believe in Unicorns, The Witch), Pettyfer made use of locations in the southern Louisiana town of St. Francisville to stand in for a rural Pennsylvania that feels like a closed-off shadow world. “You don’t know the era or where you are,” Pettyfer says. “I kind of set it in the early ‘90s.” Only one clock is witnessed, and no cell phones. “There’s only a pay phone, and you begin feeling more and more closed in. In the beginning, there are opening shots of landscape, but then it becomes darker and more confined.”

Given the story’s lurid undertow, Pettyfer was mindful of overplaying the material, encouraging the film’s audience to key in on its psychological complexity and feel compassion for characters whose inner and outer lives have been twisted up by tragic circumstances dangerously larger than themselves.

“The key behind the film I wanted to make was a much more subtle film and that was my take from the beginning,” Pettyfer says. “I wanted it to be an exploration of emotion and an exploration of family drama, rather than an exploration into this kind of sexual dark romance. If Adrian Lyne had made the film, he would have made a completely different film. Not necessarily better or worse, just a different film. I could have gone down that avenue but I wanted to create something different.”

Release

The film premiered at Tribeca on April 20, 2018.[1] On August 16, 2018, Samuel Goldwyn Films acquired distribution rights to the film for North America.[2] The film will be released on December 7, 2018 in selected theaters in the United States, video on demand and digital, by Samuel Goldwyn Films.

Critical reception

Back Roads received mixed reviews from critics. As of August 2020, 55% of the 29 reviews compiled on Rotten Tomatoes are positive, with an average rating of 5.61/10. The website's critics consensus reads: "Uneven yet ultimately intriguing, Back Roads serves as a memorable calling card for star and debuting director Alex Pettyfer's talent behind the camera."[3]

Accolades

Win for Best Feature

References
  1. Lang, Brent (2018-04-23). "Alex Pettyfer Opens Up About Celebrity and Directing His Sexy Drama 'Back Roads'". Variety. Retrieved 2018-11-07.
  2. N'Duka, Amanda (2018-08-16). "Alex Pettyfer's Directorial Debut Film 'Back Roads' Lands At Samuel Goldwyn". Deadline. Retrieved 2018-11-06.
  3. "Back Roads (2018)". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved August 17, 2020.
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