Films about a character dealing with some kind of condition seems the stuff of Oscar. Though that all depends on the type. Daniel Day-Lewis championed cerebral palsy with his portrayal of Christy Brown in My Left Foot. Dustin Hoffman won critical acclaim for his work in Rain Man playing a man with autism. Those were deserving Oscar winners. With cancer you have good examples in Terms of Endearment and Wit. But you also poor ones like Sweet November and Funny People.
This fall, Summit Entertainment is releasing 50/50, a new comedy from Jonathan Levine (The Wackness), about a relatively healthy man (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) who is diagnosed with cancer and has to deal with it. The movie has undergone some changes since it was first announced for development. Then star James McAvoy had to drop out for personal reasons (could it be he didn’t want to shave his head?) and the movie went from the working title I’m With Cancer to instead be titled 50/50. In addition to Gordon-Levitt, the film also stars Seth Rogen, Anna Kendrick, Bryce Dallas Howard, Anjelica Huston and Philip Baker Hall.
Plot summary: Adam (Gordon-Levitt) is a 27-year-old writer of radio programs who is diagnosed with a rare form of spinal cancer. With the help of his best friend (Rogen), his mother (Huston), and a young therapist (Kendrick) at the cancer center, Adam learns what and who the most important things in his life are.
Summit Entertainment will release 50/50 in theaters on September 30th.