Written and directed by Rachel Lambert, starring Chris Pine, Jenny Slate, Abby Ryder Forston, Sam Waterston, and Katey Sagal. Pine also served as producer on the romantic comedy-drama.
Carousel is a film about love, change, and second chances that is sure to evoke both laughter. The film centers on a divorced doctor, Noah (Chris Pine), living a carefully constructed life, caring for his anxious daughter (Abby Ryder Forston) and his family’s medical practice. After learning that his ex-girlfriend from high school has returned to town, the two reconnect and reflect on dissimilar lives as they question whether love is worth pursuing despite the odds.
The film was one of the first premieres at the festival on the first day of the last Sundance in Park City, UT, as the festival will move to Boulder, CO, in 2027. As the members of the production assembled to celebrate their work on this touching story.
Lead star Pine spoke about tapping into the emotional core required to play Noah. He stated that it wasn’t a big leap for him despite the differences in his and his character’s own lives.
“It’s strange that I think it’s one of those odd things. It’s like here is a guy who is like a Midwest doctor, he’s a single father of a teenage kid. I’m not a single father, don’t live Midwest… Certainly don’t have a private practice in medicine. But I do understand someone who is afraid, and I understand someone who’s scared of intimacy. I understand being in a family, whose all up in the business, and wanting to find your solitude and trying to protect your solitude while also wanting to connect.”
Pine continued, “So I think what’s interesting about the film is that while people in it may not look like you, while the people in it may not be doing anything remotely to what you’re doing. The fundamentals in it and the tendons… It reminds us that we’re not alone.”
Forston talked about how she connected with her character Maya, Pine’s daughter in the film.
“Maya is a very anxious person, which I can relate to. She is a high school student who learns to find her voice… Not unlike me, finding my own voice through acting. She finds it through debate, which was really fun to learn how to do. I connect with her a lot… It’s a character that keeps me up at night.
One of the film’s themes is about change, which the seventeen-year-old actress shared that the film taught her a lot about. “I think the film taught me that change is constant. It’s one of the only things that we can rely on. In life, things will always change… And yeah, second chances, we all need them, and if you get one, take it,” Forston said.
Fernando “Fern” Legadoé talked about how he helped the writer-director Lambert tell the story through the clothing of the characters.
“See, it was definitely a collab with Rachel [Lambert]. Working with creators is definitely, I try to create as a costume designer, a safe space to let them communicate their vision. And then just taking that and trying to find the emotions, the arcs, the opportunities of how to use textures, how to use colors, how to re-blend the characters. And for me, I always call it like a map for all the characters.”
He continued, “I always kind of like pick palettes and then kind of see how that journey goes. And a movie like this, which is emotionally driven. So I think I try to be inspired by that, and it would be like tap in. And then, as a costume designer, another important part is collaborating with talent.”
Legadoé presented himself as a stylistic resource for the cast, “I always tell them I’m a tool for you to tap into that character. So for me, taking pieces of how people feel and emotion, how do they wear the clothes.”
The film is still currently seeking distribution.
