Sidney Hall (film)

Sidney Hall is an American drama film directed and co-written by Shawn Christensen. The film stars Logan Lerman, Elle Fanning, Kyle Chandler, Michelle Monaghan, Nathan Lane and Margaret Qualley.

Principal photography of Sidney Hall began in late April 2016. The film premiered at the Sundance Film Festival on January 25, 2017.

A young novelist, Sidney Hall, writes a generation-defining book that makes him world-famous. This sets him on a downward spiral that destroys him, as he is depicted from the ages of eighteen, twenty-four and thirty.

While touring alongside The Killers in the United States with his band, Stellastarr in 2004, Shawn Christensen wrote a number of short stories that he shared with his friend, Paul Wesley. Following Wesley's recommendation, Christensen collaborated with his best friend and roommate, Jason Dolan, to compile the stories into a spec script called Sidney Hall. The inspiration for the screenplay was that the duo mused about the differences in life between the ages of eighteen and when they would turn thirty. They initially considered to make the titular character into an influential rock musician, but decided to go with the route of him being an author, when they realized the expectations of creating new music that could realistically be considered groundbreaking. Wesley received the completed draft of the screenplay, which he described in an interview as, "one of the most beautiful things [he] ever read in [his] life". Wesley presented the screenplay to William Morris Endeavor, which signed both Christensen and Dolan. The screenplay for Sidney Hall was first reported to have been acquired through a discretionary fund by Scott Free Productions in 2008.Joe Russo was to direct, Michael Costigan was to be the producer, Ridley Scott and Tony Scott were to be the executive producers and Jim Sturgess was to play the titular character.