‘My Salinger Year’ Trailer: Margaret Qualley Crosses The Line For A Literary Legend

There’s an entire sub-genre of coming-of-age films that use Catcher in the Rye author J.D. Salinger as a catalyst. Whether the writer appears in the movie at all, he’s come to symbolize the freedom and responsibility that comes in the transition to adulthood. And that definitely appears to be a central theme in My Salinger Year, which stars Margaret Qualley as an aspiring writer who comes to work for the reclusive author.

Joining Qualley in the 1990s-set film are Sigourney Weaver, Douglas Booth, Colm Feore, Brian F. O’Byrne, and Yanic Truesdale.  Philippe Falardeau wrote and directed the film, adapting from Joanna Rakoff’s memoir. Falardeau previously directed Chuck, The Good Lie, and earned accolades for Monsieur Lazhar in 2011.

My Salinger Year opens March 5th courtesy of IFC Films.

New York in the 90s: After leaving graduate school to pursue her dream of becoming a writer, Joanna (Margaret Qualley) gets hired as an assistant to Margaret (Sigourney Weaver), the stoic and old-fashioned literary agent of J. D. Salinger. Fluctuating between poverty and glamour, she spends her days in a plush, wood-paneled office – where dictaphones and typewriters still reign and agents doze off after three-martini lunches – and her nights in a sink-less Brooklyn apartment with her socialist boyfriend. Joanna’s main task is processing Salinger’s voluminous fan mail, but as she reads the heart-wrenching letters from around the world, she becomes reluctant to send the agency’s impersonal standard letter and impulsively begins personalizing the responses. The results are both humorous and moving, as Joanna, while using the great writer’s voice, begins to discover her own.

 

Travis Hopson
Travis Hopson has been reviewing movies before he even knew there was such a thing. Having grown up on a combination of bad '80s movies, pro wrestling, comic books, and hip-hop, Travis is uniquely positioned to geek out on just about everything under the sun. A vampire who walks during the day and refuses to sleep, Travis is the co-creator and lead writer for Punch Drunk Critics. He is also a contributor to Good Morning Washington, WBAL Morning News, and WETA Around Town. In the five minutes a day he's not working, Travis is also a voice actor, podcaster, and Twitch gamer. Travis is a voting member of the Critics Choice Association (CCA), Washington DC Area Film Critics Association (WAFCA), and Late Night programmer for the Lakefront Film Festival.