Joe Swanberg makes history when the South by Southwest Film Festival premieres his fourth feature in a row ? “Nights and Weekends” — March 9.
He won’t have much time to promote it, however, because he goes into production in April on his fifth and biggest feature “Save the Date,” with Of Montreal frontman Kevin Barnes appearing in the film and contributing music.
In “Nights and Weekends,” Swanberg co-stars and shares writing, directing and editing credits with Greta Gerwig, who starred in Swanberg’s 2007 IFC release “Hannah Takes The Stairs.”
Gerwig and Swanberg play a long-distance couple splitting time between Chicago and New York, whose relationship is strained by a pregnancy scare.
“It’s a pretty unpleasant relationship, that’s going to be more demanding on an audience,” Swanberg said. “?Hannah’ wasn’t a laugh riot, but it had quite a bit of comedy. This is a dramatic and heavy movie from the get-go.”
In light of this tonal shift for Swanberg, producer Anish Savjani is focusing on the European festival circuit to promote “Nights and Weekends” following the South by Southwest premiere. The film also features Jay Duplass (“Baghead”) and IFP/Chicago executive director Elizabeth Donius. “Her baby daughter Alice in it, too,” Swanberg said.
“Nights and Weekends” represents a few firsts for Swanberg. He’s acted in his own and others’ films, but this is his first starring role. And it’s his first film with a DP: Mathhias Grunsky, who shot Andrew Bujalski’s first two features.
