Harry Dean Stanton may be gone, but in addition to his illustrious career of quintessentially American roles, he's left behind one more new movie: Lucky.
Stanton, who died September 15, 2017, leave behind quite a legacy. He was a prolific actor for well over six decades, appearing in Alien, Repo Man, Inland Empire, Paris, Texas and so, so much more. He was last seen in Twin Peaks: The Return, reprising a supporting but essential role from Fire Walk With Me. He was also the star of a well-regarded deleted scene from The Avengers.
Aside from Peaks, the actor had pretty much retired, but he does have one final movie on the way that will now serve as his final work.
Lucky - Harry Dean Stanton's Final Film
Lucky isn't just a supporting role for Stanton, but a major leading position. His last performance will be in a character piece directed by fellow famed character actor John Carroll Lynch that follows a nonagenarian atheist living in a middle America desert town facing up to his mortality. Stanton's ex-cowboy Lucky is the core of the film, a lifelong smoker - not dissimilar to Stanton himself - who is shaken to pursue something greater after an accident. He searches for enlightenment against the backdrop of the desolate town, interacting and learning from the various residents.
Director Lynch will be familiar to movie fans for his acting roles - he played Arthur Leigh Allen in Zodiac, Norm Gunderson in Fargo, Twisty the Clown in American Horror Story, and a whole host of other classics. Lucky is his directorial debut, filmed last year, and in addition to Stanton, it stars director-and-sometimes-actor David Lynch (no relation to John), Ron Livingston, Ed Begley Jr. and Tom Skerritt.
When Is Lucky Out?
Lucky first premiered at this year's South By Southwest 2017 and has since appeared at several major film festivals around the country (and some further afield). It's set for US release later this month on September 29, and Canada on October 6. It will also play as part of the Journey strand at this year's London Film Festival next month.
Lucky Has 100% on Rotten Tomatoes
Thanks to doing the rounds on the festival circuit, there's already reviews out there for Lucky - and they're good. The film has a 100% on Rotten Tomatoes with an 8/10 scoring, albeit from just six critics. Regardless, by all accounts the film feels like a cap to Stanton's career. Now that it's releasing posthumously, it will surely be even more powerful: the actor was very vocal about his mortality in his later years, so to see him tackling it so honestly head-on will make for some interesting viewing.
The Trailer
You can watch the trailer for Lucky, above, which gives a taste of the performance, tone and reviews.
And, finally, the official Twitter account for the film tweeted out a lovely dedication to its star, which you can read below.
pic.twitter.com/9eMbfBt5Za— LuckyFilm2017 (@LuckyFilm2017) September 15, 2017