George Clooney, Judy Greer, Beau Bridges, Matthew Lillard, Robert Forster, Shailene Woodley, Mary Birdsong, Nick Krause and Amara Miller Lead Cast. Fox Searchlight Pictures’ Presidents Stephen Gilula and Nancy Utley announced today that principal photography for THE DESCENDANTS will begin March 15 on the islands of Oahu and Kauai in Hawaii. The film stars Academy Award® winner George Clooney, Judy Greer, Beau Bridges, Matthew Lillard, Robert Forster, Shailene Woodley, Mary Birdsong, Nick Krause and Amara Miller. Alexander Payne (ELECTION, SIDEWAYS) is directing with the screenplay adapted by Nat Faxon & Jim Rash and Alexander Payne from the debut novel of acclaimed writer Kaui Hart Hemmings. From the creator of the Oscar®-winning SIDEWAYS, set in Hawaii, THE DESCENDANTS is a sometimes humorous, sometimes poignant journey for Matt King (George Clooney) an indifferent husband and father of two girls, who is forced to re-examine his past and embrace his future when his wife suffers a boating accident off of Waikiki. The event leads to a rapprochement with his young daughters while Matt wrestles with a decision to sell the family’s land handed down from Hawaiian royalty and missionaries. The film will be released by Fox Searchlight Pictures and is being produced by Ad Hominem’s Jim Burke, Alexander Payne, and Jim Taylor. Claudia Lewis, President of Production and Matthew Greenfield, Senior Vice President of Production are overseeing the project. Payne remarked, “I feel very lucky to have found this project. The characters, the story and the strong sense of place really spoke to me.” “The Descendants is a well-observed, very human story that has a graceful balance of humor and deep emotion,” said Jim Burke. “We’re very excited to have assembled this amazing cast and to be working on the adaptation of Kaui’s novel.” “Ad Hominem has a knack for finding projects that are both idiosyncratic and true to human nature,” said Utley and Gilula. “We’re looking forward to seeing their unique vision for this story come to life.”
