The Big Picture
Fans can finally set a date on their calendars to catch Ewan McGregor and his daughter Clara McGregor in Emma Westenberg’s Bleeding Love. Vertical will be handling the film’s distribution in the U.S. and, according to Deadline, the studio plans on releasing the drama on February 16, 2024. Along with starring opposite her father, Clara McGregor also co-penned the original story alongside Vera Bulder and Ruby Caster, with the latter writing the script. Celebrating its world premiere during this year’s South by Southwest festivities, the production is the feature-length directorial debut from Westenberg, whose name has previously been attached to the series Dollface as well as music videos by artists including Janelle Monáe.
When your dad is one of the most talented actors in the world, why not invest in his help to play your on-screen parent as well? With art imitating life, Bleeding Love (formerly known as You Sing Loud, I Sing Louder) follows a young woman (Clara McGregor) who turns to her estranged father (Ewan McGregor) after a traumatic event befalls her. Hoping to reconnect with one another, they go on a road trip to Santa Fe, New Mexico, putting everything out on the table and – for the first time in their lives – addressing their strained relationship. As they travel from state to state, they’ll cross paths with a smattering of different personalities from all walks of life who will teach them more about the world beyond their own.
Along with starring, Clara McGregor also serves as a producer with her writing partner, Bulder, as well as Mason Plotts, Christine Vachon, Mark Amin, Cami Winikoff, and Greg Lauritano. Likewise, Ewan McGregor backs the project as an executive producer, adding his name to the list with Westenberg, Tyler Boehm, and Brent Morris. 2024 will be a fun year for heartfelt road trip films packed with eccentric characters and events as the year will also see the arrival of Ethan Coen’s Drive-Away Dolls.
All in the Family
This isn’t the first time the McGregor family has paired up to work on a project together. While speaking with Collider’s Maggie Lovitt at the recent San Francisco Fan Expo, Ewan McGregor gushed about being given the opportunity to appear alongside both Clara and his other daughter, Esther McGregor, who was featured in the Disney+ series Obi-Wan Kenobi. Referring to both experiences as “the most extraordinary thing,” Ewan McGregor was nothing less than a proud papa as he reflected on his on-set memories, commenting, “To get to see them working professionally and holding their own and taking a role and making their own out of it was really, really lovely.” Explaining more about Bleeding Love, McGregor continued,
The film with Clara was a whole feature film, and we play father and daughter in it, and Clara worked with the writer and … she isn’t credited as the writer because there was a re-writer, but she developed the whole story, and it was very much based around our relationship – my eldest daughter Clara and I – through a difficult period in our relationship and through a difficult period in her life personally, and she wrote this amazing story about a father and a daughter who aren’t us, but they are us at the same time.
As of right now, no trailer for Bleeding Love has been released, but stay tuned to Collider for more information and see it in theaters across the U.S. when it arrives on February 16, 2024. You can check out Westenberg’s directorial skills in the music video for Janelle Monáe’s “PYNK” below.
