''Freeheld'' is a 2015 American

drama film In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. The drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular ...

directed by Peter Sollett and written by

Ron Nyswaner Ronald L. Nyswaner (born October 5, 1956) is an American screenwriter and film director. He is a Peabody Award winner, and has been nominated for numerous awards including an Academy Award, BAFTA Award, and two Primetime Emmy Awards. He is know ...

. The film stars

Julianne Moore Julie Anne Smith (born December 3, 1960), known professionally as Julianne Moore, is an American actress and children's author. Prolific in film since the early 1990s, she is known for her portrayals of emotionally troubled women in independent ...

Elliot Page Elliot Page (formerly Ellen Page; born February 21, 1987) is a Canadian actor, producer, and activist. He is known for his leading roles across Canadian and American film and television, and for his outspoken work as an activist for LGBTQ righ ...

Michael Shannon Michael Corbett Shannon (born August 7, 1974) is an American actor. Shannon received two Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor nominations, for '' Revolutionary Road'' (2008), and '' Nocturnal Animals'' (2016). He received Screen Actors Guil ...

Steve Carell Steven John Carell (; born August 16, 1962) is an American actor and comedian. He starred as Michael Scott in the NBC sitcom ''The Office'' (2005–2011, 2013), and also worked at several points as a producer, executive producer, writer, a ...

, and Luke Grimes. It is based on the 2007 documentary short film of the same name about police officer Laurel Hester's fight against the

Ocean County, New Jersey Ocean County is a List of counties in New Jersey, county located in the U.S. state of New Jersey and the southernmost county in the New York metropolitan area. The county borders the Atlantic Ocean on the east and in terms of total area is the ...

Board of Chosen Freeholders In New Jersey, a Board of County Commissioners (until 2020 named the Board of Chosen Freeholders) is the elected county-wide government board in each of the state's 21 counties. In the five counties that have an elected county executive, the ...

to allow her pension benefits to be transferred to her domestic partner after being diagnosed with terminal cancer.

Plot

The film is based on the true story of Laurel Hester, a police officer in

. The story narrates the difficulties faced by a

lesbian A lesbian is a homosexual woman or girl. The word is also used for women in relation to their sexual identity or sexual behavior, regardless of sexual orientation, or as an adjective to characterize or associate nouns with female homosexu ...

police

detective A detective is an investigator, usually a member of a law enforcement agency. They often collect information to solve crimes by talking to witnesses and informants, collecting physical evidence, or searching records in databases. This leads the ...

and her domestic partner, Stacie Andree. Following her diagnosis with terminal

lung cancer Lung cancer, also known as lung carcinoma, is a malignant tumor that begins in the lung. Lung cancer is caused by genetic damage to the DNA of cells in the airways, often caused by cigarette smoking or inhaling damaging chemicals. Damaged ...

in 2005, Hester repeatedly appealed to the county's

board of chosen freeholders In New Jersey, a Board of County Commissioners (until 2020 named the Board of Chosen Freeholders) is the elected county-wide government board in each of the state's 21 counties. In the five counties that have an elected county executive, the ...

to have her pension benefits passed on to her domestic partner; she was eventually successful.

Cast

as Laurel Hester, a New Jersey police detective who is diagnosed with terminal cancer *

as Stacie Andree, a car mechanic and Hester's domestic partner *

as Dane Wells, Hester's supportive police partner *

as Steven Goldstein, founder and then-Chair of Garden State Equality * Luke Grimes as Todd Belkin, Hester's closeted gay colleague *

Josh Charles Joshua Aaron Charles (born September 15, 1971) is an American film, television, and theater actor. He is best known for the roles of Dan Rydell on '' Sports Night, '' Will Gardner on '' The Good Wife'', which earned him two Primetime Emmy Awar ...

as Bryan Kelder, a member of the Ocean County board of chosen freeholders and a lawyer * Mary Birdsong as Carol Andree, Stacie's mother * Kelly Deadmon as Lynda Hester D'Orio, Laurel's sister * Gabriel Luna as Quesada * Anthony DeSando as Toohey * Skipp Sudduth as Chief Reynolds * William Sadler as Peter Santucci * Dennis Boutsikaris as Pat Gerrity *

Adam LeFevre Adam LeFevre (born August 11, 1950) is an American character actor, poet, and playwright who works in cinema, television, theater and commercials. Biography LeFevre was born in Albany, New York, the son of Helen (née Rhodes), a hospital patient ...

as Don Bennett * Traci Hovel as Hannah

Production

Development

Screenwriter

announced his intention in 2010 to write a feature-length adaptation of Cynthia Wade's 2007 Oscar-winning short film ''Freeheld'', a documentary about New Jersey police officer Laurel Hester's fight against the

to pass on her pension benefits to her domestic partner, Stacie Andree, after being diagnosed with terminal cancer. At that time,

had already agreed to star as Andree; he stated in 2014 that he had been involved in the project's development for almost six years. He first became involved after two of the film's producers,

Stacey Sher Stacey Sher (born November 30, 1962) is an American film producer. Early life and education Sher was born to a Jewish family in New York City and raised in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. She attended the University of Southern California, where sh ...

and

Michael Shamberg Michael Shamberg (born March 22, 1944) is an American film producer and former Time–Life correspondent. Life and career His credits include '' Erin Brockovich'', ''A Fish Called Wanda'', '' Garden State'', ''Gattaca'', ''Pulp Fiction'' and ...

, sent him a copy of Wade's documentary and asked if he was interested in starring in an adaptation, an offer which he accepted "right away".

Catherine Hardwicke Catherine Hardwicke is an American film director, production designer, and screenwriter. Her directorial work includes '' Thirteen'' (2003), which she co-wrote with Nikki Reed, the film's co-star, '' Lords of Dogtown'' (2005), '' The Nativity ...

was attached to the project as director early in its development but later withdrew. Shortly after the film's financing was secured in August 2012, Peter Sollett signed on to replace Hardwicke as director.

was cast as Hester in February 2014. Zach Galifianakis was cast as Steven Goldstein, the founder and then-Chair of Garden State Equality, but was later replaced by

. Andree consulted with Page, Sollett and Nyswaner about the making of the film.

Filming

Although the film is set in New Jersey, it was filmed in

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York New York may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * ...

due to its more generous tax incentives for filmmakers. Filming began in October 2014 in

Queens Queens is the largest by area of the Boroughs of New York City, five boroughs of New York City, coextensive with Queens County, in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York. Located near the western end of Long Island, it is bordered by the ...

. In late October, a scene that was supposed to be filmed at Salesian High School, a Catholic boys' school in

New Rochelle, New York New Rochelle ( ; in ) is a Political subdivisions of New York State#City, city in Westchester County, New York, Westchester County, New York (state), New York, United States. It is a suburb of New York City, located approximately from Midtow ...

, had to be relocated after the school's principal reversed his decision to allow the crew to film on the school campus. The shoot was later relocated to the city hall of

Rye, New York Rye is a city in Westchester County, New York, United States, within the New York metropolitan area, New York City metropolitan area. It received its charter as a city in 1942, making it the most recent such charter in the state. Its area of ...

, which stood in for the Ocean County Administration Building in a scene where Hester and Andree apply for domestic partnership. Another scene, in which Hester lies ill in a hospital room, was filmed in the community center of

Greenburgh, New York Greenburgh is a Administrative divisions of New York#Town, town in western Westchester County, New York, Westchester County, New York (state), New York. The population was 95,397 at the time of the 2020 census. The town consists of 6 villages and ...

, while the town board room of

North Hempstead, New York North Hempstead (officially known as the Town of North Hempstead) is one of three towns in Nassau County, on Long Island, in New York, United States. The population was 237,639 at the time of the 2020 census. It is the 7th largest city or town ...

stood in for the Ocean County Board of Freeholders' chambers.

Soundtrack

The soundtrack was composed by

Hans Zimmer Hans Florian Zimmer (; born 12 September 1957) is a German film score composer and music producer. He has won two Academy Awards, a BAFTA Award, five Grammy Awards, and has been nominated for three Primetime Emmy Awards, Emmy Awards and a Tony ...

Johnny Marr John Martin Marr (Birth name#Maiden and married names, né Maher; born 31 October 1963) is a musician, songwriter and singer. He first achieved fame as the guitarist and co-songwriter of the Smiths, who were active from 1982 to 1987. He has sinc ...

. It was released at WaterTower Music &

iTunes iTunes is a media player, media library, and mobile device management (MDM) utility developed by Apple. It is used to purchase, play, download and organize digital multimedia on personal computers running the macOS and Windows operating s ...

and includes the following tracks. #"On The Case" #"Can I Have Your Number?" #"House Hunting" #"Can't Leave Her" #"The Decision" #"Justice" #"Remembering"

Release

In February 2015,

Lionsgate Lions Gate, Lion Gate or similar terms may refer to: Gates *Lion Gate at Mycenae in Greece *Lion Gate, one of the entrances to the ancient Hittite city of Hattusa, now in Turkey *Lion Gate, one of the entrances to the gardens of Hampton Court Pala ...

acquired distribution rights to the film. It received a

limited release __FORCETOC__ Limited theatrical release is a film distribution strategy of releasing a new film in a few cinemas across a country, typically art house theaters in major metropolitan markets. Since 1994, a limited theatrical release in the Unite ...

on October 2, 2015.

Reception

''Freeheld'' received mixed reviews from critics.

Review aggregator A review aggregator is a system that collects reviews and ratings of products and services, such as films, books, video games, music, software, hardware, or cars. This system then stores the reviews to be used for supporting a website where user ...

website

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review aggregator, review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee ...

reports a 49% rating based on 136 reviews, with an average rating of 5.62/10. The consensus states: "''Freeheld'' certainly means well, but its cardboard characters and by-the-numbers drama undermine its noble intentions." On

Metacritic Metacritic is an American website that aggregates reviews of films, television shows, music albums, video games, and formerly books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created ...

, the film has a 50 out of 100 rating based on 30 critics, indicating "mixed or average" reviews.

Notes

References

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Freeheld 2015 films 2015 independent films 2015 drama films 2015 LGBTQ-related films American drama films American LGBTQ-related films 2010s English-language films Films scored by Johnny Marr Films scored by Hans Zimmer Films about cancer Films directed by Peter Sollett Films with screenplays by Ron Nyswaner Films produced by Elliot Page Films set in New Jersey Films shot in New York (state) Films shot in New York City 2010s LGBTQ-related drama films LGBTQ-related films based on actual events Lesbian-related films Summit Entertainment films 2010s American films English-language independent films