Watch the first trailer for Louis C.K.'s Woody-esque comedy 'I Love You, Daddy' (exclusive)
Louis C.K. has established a very distinct brand of humor over the course of his long showbiz career (including his meteoric rise up the comedy ranks in recent years). His standup has always been steeped in observational comedy, but with hot takes so brutally honest and frank they cut right through any clichés or superficialities.
Like his long-running sitcom, Louie, I Love You, Daddy — the first feature film C.K. has helmed since the 2001 cult classic Pootie Tang — fleshes out that style for longer-form storytelling.
Yet as you probably gauge from the film’s first trailer (watch exclusively above), C.K. here is channeling the work of another comedian turned filmmaker, Woody Allen, and particularly Allen’s 1979 classic, Manhattan. The influence is clear in everything from the lush black-and-white cinematography to the jazz-infused soundtrack to the central setting itself.
Writer-director C.K. stars as a successful New York television writer who rekindles a relationship with his teenage daughter (Chlo? Grace Moretz) but is then horrified when she falls for the aging filmmaker (John Malkovich) he’s long idolized. (In another connection, early reviews have speculated that Malkovich’s character is based on Allen, with whom C.K. worked on Blue Jasmine.)
Shot “in secret” just months before premiering at the Toronto International Film Festival, I Love You, Daddy also stars Rose Byrne, Charlie Day, Edie Falco, and Helen Hunt.
I Love You, Daddy opens Nov. 17.
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