Annette Bening-Starrer ‘20th Century Women’ Lands At A24

A24 has acquired U.S. rights to 20th Century Women, the Mike Mills-directed film that stars Annette Bening, Greta Gerwig, Elle Fanning, Billy Crudup and neophyte Lucas Jade Zumann. Mills, best known for Beginners, wrote the script and the picture is produced and financed by Annapurna Pictures’ Megan Ellison, Archer Gray’s Anne Carey, and Youree Henley.

A24 will release in fourth quarter this year. The film focuses on three women in Santa Barbara in 1979 who set out to teach the teen son of one of them how to be a man. They’ve got different sensibilities forged by the era they grew up in, and attempt to teach him everything from love to sexual freedom. Zumann plays the teen. UTA brokered the film deal for Annapurna, and reps Mills.

The distributor, coming off The Witch, Room and Ex Machina, has The Lobster and Swiss Army Man, with American Honey coming later this year.

Said A24 in a statement: “Mike Mills has written and directed a deeply moving, transcendent vision about the people we love and our place in the world. With truly unforgettable performances and a meticulous sense of time and place, 20th Century Women is an iconic mother-son story that we know will resonate strongly with wide audiences.”

Said Mills: “From a filmmakers’ perspective, it’s a dream come true to work with both Annapurna and now A24, especially with a film that is in many ways a portrait to the real women who raised me. Everyone at A24 has been rooting for this film for a long time, which means the world to me, and I’ve always admired how brave, smart and innovative they are about bringing their films to the world – finding diverse new audiences for films that don’t follow the rules.”