Iconic indie director Alan Rudolph’s “Ray Meets Helen” finds leads

PanARMENIAN.Net - Lesley Ann Warren and Keith Carradine will star in the drama “Ray Meets Helen” with iconic indie director Alan Rudolph helming from his own script, Variety has learned exclusively.

Etchie Stroh is producing through his Moonstone Entertainment banner. The project re-teams Stroh with Rudolph, who collaborated on 1997’s “Afterglow,” starring Julie Christie and Nick Nolte.

Additionally, Rudolph worked with Warren and Carradine in 1984’s “Choose Me,” which established Rudolph as a major voice in independent film. Warren will also serve as producer along with Steven J. Wolfe (“500 Days of Summer”), who produced “Twin Falls Idaho” with Stroh.

“Ray Meets Helen” is due to begin shooting in late spring. Moonstone will start selling international territories at the Berlin Film Festival.

The characters in “Ray Meets Helen” are stalled in mid-life, beset by profound material challenges and haunted by their failed potential in happier times. Each undergo a reversal of fortune, affording them unanticipated opportunities at self re-invention. So when their paths eventually cross, each is beguiled by the other’s altered persona — while unexpectedly falling for each other’s true selves as they are gradually revealed.

“Making this film with these friends feels very much like good chance, which the story is conveniently about,” Rudolph said.

Stroh said, “I’m glad to reunite with Alan. It brings back memories of ‘Afterglow’: one of the highlights of my producing and distribution career. [I’m] Looking forward to a repeat experience.”

Rudolph’s other credits include “Breakfast of Champions,” “Mrs. Parker and the Vicious Circle,” “Equinox,” “Trouble in Mind” and “The Moderns,” which also starred Carradine.

“Working on material like this with the incredible talent attached is what excites me the most about producing,” Wolfe said.

Carradine appears as the president in the CBS series “Madam Secretary.” Warren starred in the USA show “In Plain Sight.”