Bart Freundlich's 'Wolves' Opens Friday, March 3

Montauk filmmaker, Bart Freundlich—husband of Oscar-winner Julianne Moore—has a new film, Wolves, opening this Friday, March 3.

The film  tells the story of 18-year-old Anthony (Taylor John Smith), a top basketball player on his  player on his Manhattan high school’s team with a bright future ahead of him, but first he needs to get out from under the thumb of his difficult father (Boardwalk Empire‘s Michael Shannon), a hard-drinking writer with a gambling addiction that threatens to derail their lives. Anthony, who’s captain of his team, has a girlfriend (Zazie Beetz) and a shot at a scholarship to play basketball at Cornell, but to protect his future, and his mother’s (Carla Gugino), he must step out from his father’s very dark shadow.

Freundlich, who wrote and directed the film, explained in a recent New York Times interview that he’s played basketball two or three times a week for the last 20 years. This love for the game, which the 47-year-old told the Times is about being around men and turning his mind off, helped inform the film. He also enjoys playing with his teenage son, who plays Division I basketball for Davidson, where he is a freshman.

In addition to Wolves, Freundlich’s directing credits include The Myth of Fingerprints, Catch That Kid and The Rebound, among others.