Franny
They've been friends ever since college, the eccentric philanthropist Franny (Richard Gere) and Mia and Bobby, a happy couple. They work and relax together, e.g. planning the construction of a new children's hospital. The trio has an accident during a car ride; Mia and Bobby are killed, orphaning their daughter, Olivia, who her wealthy uncle affectionately calls Poodles. Only Franny survives. Five years later, the forgotten Mr. Moneybags gets a call from the past. In Renzi's film, the eponymous character is a starting point for building a portrait of a lonely man who lost everything he held dear in an accident. His fortune, connections and acquaintances bring him no joy. Daily life is stagnation defined by addiction to powerful painkillers. Olivia and her new family are Franny's last chance to get back to reality. „Variety's" Ben Kenigsberg writes,[t]he movie ends in a more conventional place than the one where it begins, yet it still marks a surprising and graceful first fiction feature for writer-director Andrew Renzi.
Andrew Renzi
(b. 1984, Washington, D.C.) He holds a Literary Arts degree from Brown University. He's worked for numerous production companies such as Sony Pictures and American Empirical Pictures. Renzi has produced and directed music videos for Magnetic Zeros, Mobb Deep and Blondfire. He has also worked with Mickey Rourke as an assistant on two projects: Wild Horses and The Welshman. Renzi's two shorts, The Fort and Karaoke! premiered at Sundance in 2012 and 2013, respectively. Franny is his feature-length debut, the script for which Renzi developed during Sundance Screenwriters Lab (2013).
Selected filmography
2007 Bloom (short)
2011 The Fort (short)
2013 Karaoke! (short)
2014 Fishtail (doc.)
2015 Franny
