Inheritance (2020 film)
Inheritance | |
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Directed by | Vaughn Stein |
Written by | Matthew Kennedy |
Produced by |
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Starring | |
Cinematography | Michael Merriman |
Edited by | Kristi Shimek |
Music by | Marlon Espino |
Production companies |
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Distributed by | |
Release date |
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Running time | 111 minutes[1] |
Country | United States |
Language | English |
Inheritance is 2020 American thriller film directed by Vaughn Stein from a screenplay by Matthew Kennedy. The film stars Lily Collins, Simon Pegg, Connie Nielsen, Chace Crawford and Patrick Warburton.
Inheritance was released on May 22, 2020, by Vertical Entertainment and received generally negative reviews from critics.
Plot
In 2008, Archer Monroe (Patrick Warburton), the patriarch of a wealthy and powerful political family in New York City, passes away suddenly.
Archer's estate is divided among his family: Catherine (Connie Nielsen), his wife; William (Chace Crawford), his son, a politician running for reelection; and Lauren (Lily Collins), his daughter, a Manhattan District Attorney. Privately, the family attorney Harold Thewlis (Michael Beach) gives Lauren a message from her father that leads her to a secret bunker beneath the family property, where she finds a stranger (Simon Pegg) being held in captivity. The man identifies himself as Morgan Warner and says he's been held prisoner for thirty years.
While Morgan is sleeping, Lauren takes a sample of his fingerprints and sends them for identification. Morgan claims he was once a friend and business partner of Archer's, until one night when they were driving drunk and ended up killing a pedestrian. At Archer's insistence, they covered up the crime before Archer took Morgan prisoner to stop him exposing the murder. In the intervening years, Archer treated Morgan like a confessor and admitted many of his secrets.
Morgan directs Lauren to where the pedestrian's body is buried. Lauren also follows Morgan's clues and finds Archer's longtime mistress, with whom he had a son, as well as evidence that Archer paid bribes to get his children elected to public office. Lauren is eventually convinced to set Morgan free, and directs Harold to set up an offshore bank account and charter a private jet so Morgan can disappear.
Lauren's fingerprints come back with a match and the file is sent to the Monroe house. Catherine finds the file and is terrified by the sight of Morgan, whom she identifies as "Carson" and calls an "evil man". Lauren also discovers that Harold has been murdered, and by the time she returns to the Monroe house, Carson has abducted Catherine and taken her to the bunker.
Carson subdues Lauren and it's revealed that thirty years ago, Carson drugged and raped Catherine, and Archer was taking Carson somewhere to kill him when they ran down the pedestrian; furthermore, Carson was responsible for Archer's death, using poison Archer had intended to use on him.
Lauren fights back and, in their struggle, Carson claims he is really Lauren's biological father before Catherine seizes his gun and shoots him dead. Together, Lauren and Catherine pour gasoline throughout the bunker and set it alight, destroying all evidence of Carson's captivity.
Cast
- Lily Collins as Lauren Monroe
- Simon Pegg as Morgan Warner / Carson Thomas
- Connie Nielsen as Catherine Monroe
- Chace Crawford as William Monroe
- Patrick Warburton as Archer Monroe
- Marque Richardson as Scott
- Michael Beach as Harold Thewlis
- Joe Herrera as Det. Emilio Sanchez
- Lucas Alexander Ayoub as Eddie Parker
- Christina DeRosa as Sofia Fiore
- Katie Callaway as Reporter 1
- Grae Marino as Jackie
Production
In November 2018, it was announced Simon Pegg and Kate Mara had joined the cast of the film, with Vaughn Stein directing from a screenplay by Matthew Kennedy. Richard B. Lewis, David Wulf, Dan Reardon and Santosh Govindaraju will produce the film, under their Southpaw Entertainment, WulfPak Productions and Convergent Media banners, respectively.[2] From January to March 2019, Connie Nielsen, Chace Crawford and Patrick Warburton joined the cast of the film,[3][4] while Lily Collins joined to replace Mara.[5] In April 2019, Marque Richardson joined the cast of the film.[6]
Principal photography began in February 2019 in Birmingham, Alabama.[7]
Release
It was scheduled to have its world premiere at the Tribeca Film Festival on April 20, 2020.[8][9] However, the festival was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.[10] Vertical Entertainment and DirecTV Cinema acquired distribution rights to the film and set it for a May 22, 2020 release.[11]
Critical reception
Inheritance holds a 25% approval rating on review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, based on 52 reviews, with a weighted average of 4.31/10. The site's critics consensus reads: "A would-be thriller that waits far too long to embrace the daffy potential of its bizarre premise, this Inheritance should be steadfastly refused."[12] On Metacritic, the film holds a rating of 31 out of 100, based on 16 critics, indicating "generally unfavorable reviews".[13]
References
- ^ "Inheritance (2020)". The Numbers. Retrieved March 22, 2020.
- ^ Ritman, Alex (November 1, 2018). "Kate Mara, Simon Pegg Tapped for Thriller 'Inheritance' (Exclusive)". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved March 4, 2019.
- ^ van der Bijil, Hanno (January 22, 2019). "Thriller movie to be filmed in Birmingham". bizjournals.com. Retrieved March 4, 2019.
- ^ Kit, Borys (March 25, 2019). "Chace Crawford Joins Lily Collins in Thriller 'Inheritance'". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved April 5, 2019.
- ^ Hipes, Patrick (February 6, 2019). "Lily Collins Is Joining Simon Pegg In Thriller 'Inheritance' – EFM". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved March 4, 2019.
- ^ N'Duka, Amanda (April 17, 2019). "Marque Richardson Joins Simon Pegg & Lily Collins In 'Inheritance'". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved April 17, 2019.
- ^ "'Inheritance' filming in Birmingham this month with Kate Mara, Simon Pegg". Al.com. February 5, 2019. Retrieved March 4, 2019.
- ^ Goldsmith, Jill (March 3, 2020). "Tribeca Sets Feature Lineup Of Films For 2020 Fest". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved March 3, 2020.
- ^ "Inheritance". Tribeca Film Festival. Retrieved March 6, 2020.
- ^ Beresford, Tribly; Lewis, Hilary (March 12, 2020). "Tribeca Film Festival Postponed Amid Coronavirus Fears". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved March 12, 2020.
- ^ Hipes, Patrick (March 5, 2020). "Lily Collins-Simon Pegg Thriller 'Inheritance' Acquired By Vertical & DirecTV Ahead Of Tribeca Premiere". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved March 5, 2020.
- ^ "Inheritance (2020)". Rotten Tomatoes. Fandango Media. Retrieved August 1, 2020.
- ^ "Inheritance Reviews". Metacritic. Retrieved June 27, 2020.