Christine, Antonio Campos' new movie from a script by Craig Shilowich may be the Room of the current season: an indie film that breaks out onto the main awards stage. A riveting portrait based on the disturbing, true story of Christine Chubbuck, a newsroom reporter in 1974 Sarasota, Florida, the movie stars Rebecca Hall in a career-defining role, with a superb supporting cast including Tracy Letts as newsroom boss, Michael C. Hall as a colleague, J. Smith-Cameron as Christine's mother, and Hall's real life partner Morgan Spector as her doctor. Alina Cho, who spent time on television before landing in publishing, hosted a recent screening, admitted that she benefitted from not knowing the movie's climax, but for those who may remember the shocking headlines, I will cut to the chase: fed up with the newsroom imperative to find more and more shocking stories, and battling some mental illness, Christine took her life on air.
For her Oscar-worthy performance, Rebecca Hall said inspiration came from her understanding of Christine Chubbuck as a woman who, fighting mental issues and job stress, was struggling to live. Shot in Savannah, Georgia, in 29 days, the television studio built in a low-budget warehouse, the movie will resonate with fans of '70's music for its soundtrack featuring Bob Denver, the Carpenters, and, in one light-hearted moment, the Mary Tyler Moore Show theme music. Others will nod in recognition of how ignorant we were of mental health issues. On the day of shooting that outrageous scene, Hall said her body reacted to holding the gun. Splattered in red, she was unable to shower it off on the no frills set, and drove away covered in blood
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