The One I Love, a film written by Justin Lader (Film B.F.A. ’06), will premiere at the 30th annual Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah.
The quirky comedy stars Mark Duplass and Elisabeth Moss as a troubled couple, while Ted Danson plays the therapist urging them to take a getaway in an attempt to save their unraveling marriage. Instead, they find themselves in a dizzying spin of experiences that are more surreal than romantic.
The One I Love is Justin Lader’s first feature film and is helmed by first-time feature director Charlie McDowell. Previously, Lader wrote the short film Bye Bye Benjamin also directed by McDowell and starring Danson.
Lader humorously describes himself as a “thriving writer/struggling waiter,” despite his recent success in the film industry. During the 2012 Florida Film Festival, Lader served on the Enzian Theater’s panel, “The Agony and the Ecstasy of the Screenwriter in Today’s Hollywood.” He described his start in front of the camera, admitting with brutal honesty that he wasn’t any good as an actor. He was, however, able to convince his acting teacher to let him rewrite the scene from “Hamlet,” which to his surprise was well received.
According to Lader, “The rest is history.”
He entered UCF’s Film B.F.A. program and went on to write screenplays like Fighting Jacob, Bottom Floor, and Errand Boys.
This year at the Sundance Festival, 118 feature-length films will be released, culled from 12,218 submissions. The unofficial release date for The One I Love is January 21, 2014. For more information, see the Sundance film page.