Nine Days 2020

Movie · 124 min · English · January 27, 2020

Directed by Edson OdaWritten by Edson Oda

Starring Winston Duke, Zazie Beetz, Benedict Wong, Tony Hale, Bill Skarsgård

Nine Days is a 2020 American fantasy drama film written and directed by Edson Oda in his feature debut. The movie features an ensemble cast including Winston Duke, Zazie Beetz, Benedict Wong, Tony Hale, Bill Skarsgård, David Rysdahl, and Arianna Ortiz. In the story, Will (Duke) lives in isolation within a house in the pre-existence, working alongside his assistant Kyo (Wong). His role involves interviewing souls who are about to be born and monitoring their lives on Earth. When one of the souls he previously selected dies unexpectedly, Will feels deeply affected and begins questioning life's purpose as new souls arrive for evaluation.

In 2017, the Sundance Institute chose Oda to join its annual screenwriting lab in Utah. The character of Will draws from Oda’s uncle who died by suicide when Oda was 12 years old. Securing funding for the project was challenging. After several specialty distributors rejected the proposal, producers formed a group of executive producers, including Spike Jonze, to secure the $10 million budget. Nine Days was filmed in under a month in Utah, using locations such as a warehouse in West Valley City and an exterior set built at the Bonneville Salt Flats. Principal photography concluded during the summer of 2019. Post-production work involved editing by Michael Taylor and Jeff Betancourt, with the musical score composed by Antônio Pinto.

Nine Days made its debut on January 27, 2020 at the Sundance Film Festival, where Oda earned the Waldo Salt Screenwriting Award in the U.S. Dramatic Competition. Due to delays caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, the film opened in select theaters on July 30, 2021, followed by a nationwide release on August 6 through Sony Pictures Classics. Critics responded positively to the film, and it garnered multiple awards and nominations for Oda’s direction, Pinto’s score, and the performances of Duke and Beetz.

Trailer

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Cast

Crew

Director: Edson Oda
Writer: Edson Oda
Producer: Jason Michael Berman, Mette-Marie Kongsved, Matthew Linder, Laura Tunstall, Datari Turner
Cinematography: Wyatt Garfield
Editing: Michael Taylor, Boogeyman 2
Music: Antônio Pinto

Details

Production: Juniper Productions, MACRO Media, Mandalay Pictures, Mansa Productions, Nowhere, The Space Program
Distributor: Sony Pictures Classics
Budget: $10 million
Box office: $969,204

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