TIFF 2023 Bound: Director Maggie Betts’ The Burial starring Jamie Foxx, Tommy Lee Jones, Jurnee Smollett, Mamoudou Athie
Among the films announced today that will have its World Premiere at the 2023 Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) is director Maggie Betts’ The Burial, which stars Jamie Foxx, Tommy Lee Jones, Jurnee Smollett, Mamoudou Athie, Bill Camp, Dorian Missick, Amanda Warren, Pamela Reed, Jim Klock and Alan Ruck. The film is scheduled to be released by Amazon Studios.
Based on the New Yorker article by Jonathan Harr, The Burial follows charismatic personal injury lawyer Willie E. Gary (Foxx), famous for his impressive track record and loudly unconventional approach, who decides to help a funeral home owner (Tommy Lee Jones) save his family business from a predatory corporate behemoth. In a move to bring emotional resonance to a dry contract law case, the lawyer digs up an unexpected and complex web of race, power and oppression that forces everyone to examine long-buried prejudices they didn’t know they had.
Maggie Betts is directing from a script by Doug Wright. Bobby Shriver is producing for Bobby Shriver Inc., with Double Nickel Entertainment’s Adam Richman and Jenette Kahn, Foxx and his producing partner Datari Turner, and Maven Pictures’ Trudie Styler and Celine Rattray.