‘John Cranko’ Director on His Biopic of the Famed Choreographer, Starring Sam Riley, as Trailer Debuts Ahead of Market Premiere at AFM (EXCLUSIVE)
variety.comLeo Barraclough International Features Editor On Wednesday, world sales agency Beta Cinema hosts the market premiere of “John Cranko,” starring Sam Riley, at the American Film Market in Las Vegas.
Variety speaks to the director Joachim A. Lang ahead of the screening and debuts the film’s international trailer (below). The film, based on true events, follows in the footsteps of John Cranko as he arrives in Stuttgart in 1960 to be guest choreographer at the German city’s ballet company.
A South African by birth, he had previously worked in London, but his tenure at the Sadler’s Wells Ballet had been jeopardized after he was prosecuted for committing a “homosexual act” in a public place, which at that time was outlawed in the U.K.
The film follows Cranko as he is made director of the Stuttgart ballet company and fights to revolutionize the art, culminating in a triumphant visit to New York, after which Time magazine commented, “He may, in fact, be ballet’s finest storyteller.” It also looks at the darker, tormented aspects of his life, such as his debilitating bouts of depression, outbursts of anger, his chronic sense of loneliness and abandonment, abuse of alcohol and suicide attempts.
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