Romeo and Juliet in a sterile sci-fi dystopian world? This is how Drake Doremus’ “Equals” has been described in some circles, albeit maybe a bit glibly. Still, Doremus, the excellent indie filmmaker behind “Breathe In,” and “Like Crazy,” has a deep affinity for making woozy romance pictures, and so “Equals” intrigues. Plus there’s the cast that stars Kristen Stewart and Nicholas Hoult, plus Guy Pearce, Jacki Weaver, and also features Kate Lyn Sheil and Toby Huss.
“Equals” premiered in Venice to mixed reviews, including ours, but tastemaking studio A24 bought the film last year and they have a good track record of buying misunderstood pictures like “The Rover” (though maybe not the greatest example because that film tanked at the box-office, but it’s really good!). We digress. Here’s the synopsis that was released in Venice last year:
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SILAS (Hoult) lives in a future society called The Collective. The inhabitants of this modern world are a new breed of humans called Equals. Equals are peaceful, calm, fair, and polite. Life in The Collective is perfect; there is no greed, no poverty, no violence, and no emotion. The Equals go through life perfectly serene, disturbed by nothing. But a new disease is threatening everyone: SOS, or Switched-On-Syndrome, is activating in its victims everything they thought they’d escaped: depression, sensitivity, fear, love. Once a person is overtaken with SOS, they are sent away to The Den, and never seen again. Nobody says it, but everyone knows: The Den is where people go to die.When Silas is infected, he becomes an outcast, but he notices one person who seems to understand what he’s going through. NIA (Stewart) has feelings, but she seems to be able to hide them. Only Silas has noticed that she’s different. When he confronts her, they discover a connection that quickly takes over everything. They feel love and intimacy for the first time in their lives. They try to stay away from each other, because the risk of detection is too great, but the pain of being apart is even worse than the pain of living in secret. The only way for them to insure their survival is to escape. But who will help them? Where will they go? With their feelings overtaking them and their love visible to anyone they meet, how can they possibly escape undetected?
A clip from the film was released during Venice and in the director’s statement Doremus asked a simple, but interesting rhetorical question. “What would happen if we lived in a world in which love does not exist anymore?” The answer to that is coming further to light with the release of the film’s first U.S. trailer.
While there’s no release date for the film yet, A24 acquired the film for North America last year and the movie’s Facebook page says the film will arrive sometime this summer. Check out the new poster and watch the new trailer below.
Kristen Stewart is a huge turn off, I don\’t know how she gets cast in anything, she can\’t attract an audience to save her life. Equals looks like a retread of Equilibrium, with a repellent actress in the lead. Skip it.
I guess we will see "sometime later this year," if Doremus is right or if the trades who reported the deal with DirectTV are right. My money is on the trades. In any case, it\’s another $16 million film that will never see a dime of profit, just like Stewart\’s other indies: Sils Maris, Camp X Ray, Anesthesia, Welcome to the Rileys, The Runaways. She has a history of being unable to attract an audience for her indies. Even Lionsgate\’s American Ultra bombed, despite a big promo campaign.
@DEARKSTAN – the director was asked by a fan on twitter if the film would go directly to tv first and drake responded saying that it would be in theatres first:- Drake Doremus @drakedoremus 16 Oct 2015
No. #EQUALS will most certainly be in THEATERS first:)
So another film tailored to Kristen Stewart\’s emotional constipation. Hooray. Too bad we can bet film reviewers will praise her like she\’s doing something \’very difficult and far removed from how she always is\’ and won\’t admit that she\’s just doing the same old tired crap in a different setting. And no, the director didn\’t say anything. You mean the producer, but he\’s misinformed. It\’s going straight to DirectTV for a month before it can appear in any theater, that\’s the deal that was spelled out in the trades at the time. Look it up.
The director said it would hit theaters first which these deals do sometimes do. Don\’t lose sleep over it.
This looks truly dreadful.
Actually, under the terms of the deal that A24 has with Direct TV for the films it acquires jointly, it will be hitting Direct TV for a 30 day run BEFORE theaters Other films that have been distributed under this deal – such as Charlize Theron\’s Dark Places or Jake Gyllenhaal\’s Enemy – have basically gotten about a week or two in a few theaters after the Direct run
The best this wannbe perfume ad can hope for is a week in LA and NY at the same time it hits DirectTV. It won\’t see wide distribution and with such bad reviews, I doubt it will even make it into the art houses. It\’s snooze-worthy, so boring. @Maria\’s comment is amusing. Stewart\’s fans are so desperate to see Nic Hoult show any kind of interest in her. Too bad he passed on joining her PR scheme. She\’s been playing for the other team for a couple of years now.
It\’d be interesting if someone ever argued the other side of the emotions = good argument.
Sorry for the typos above – should have read – As was reported by Variety and Indiewire on oct 16 2015 "the deal for the film was made with DirectTV, which will first debut the picture, before it opens in select theaters." None of the other films that have been acquired under this partnership have seen much in the way of theatrical distribution.
Your story neglect to mention that A24 acquired Equals jointly with Direct TV, and as was reported by The deal for the film was made with DirectTV, which will first debut the picture, before it opens in select theaters via its distribution pact with indie label A24.
Awesome trailer. Kristen and Nicholas both rocked showing emotion when needed and pocket fave when no emotion required. They are such a cute romantic couple onscreen and a cute pal couple off screen (not referring to friends with benefit). I hope I\’ll get to see this film in theaters soon.