The Wrap
The ”˜Hillary’ Strategy: Inside Female Wall St Thriller ”˜Equity’s’ Perfectly Timed Rollout
By Mikey Glazer on June 9, 2016 @ 8:09 pm
Before they even made the film, co-producers and co-stars Sarah Megan Thomas and Alysia Reiner wanted the film to debut during the height of the Clinton campaign news cycle – they got their wish
The filmmakers behind female-driven Wall St. thriller “Equity” are jubilant about this week’s presidential nomination news.
“When we had the idea [for “Equity”], before we hired a writer, before we hired our director – our [Megan Thomas and Reiner] dream was for it to premiere when Hillary [Clinton] was running,” co-producer and co-star Alysia Reiner (“Orange is the New Black“) told The Party Report at the L.A. Film Festival screening on Wednesday night.
The day after Hillary Clinton presumably locked up the Democratic nomination on Super Tuesday to become the first woman to head a major national party ticket, and on the eve of receiving President Obama’s endorsement, the film touched down at the Arclight in Culver City, California.
Co-star Anna Gunn, director Meera Menon and Sony Pictures Classics President Tom Bernard reiterated a long-simmering marketing strategy of launching the film at the same time they predicted that Clinton would steer the national conversation to women in leadership positions.
“It’s completely come to fruition,” Menon said of the vision Reiner and Megan Thomas laid out to her in the spring of 2015.
“What they [foresaw] is exactly what has happened,” she continued. “The film found distribution and is going to be released at a moment in our culture where we need to be talking about what we see and think when we see women in positions of leadership. They couldn’t have been more prescient.”
As for Reiner, “I’m living my dream,” she said.
As TheWrap has previously reported, “Equity” centers on senior investment banker Naomi Bishop (Gunn), who thrives in the fierce world of big money dealings. When a controversial IPO threatens her fragile balance of power and confidentiality, Naomi finds herself entangled in a web of politics and deception.
Sony Pictures Classics acquired the film this past January at Sundance. It will be released on July 29 in Los Angeles and New York.
