The first episode of Netflix's upcoming
Armistead Maupin's Tales of the City will open the 2019 San
Francisco International Film Festival.
According to The
Hollywood Reporter, the festival will kick off at the Castro
Theater on April 10.
Attending a post-screening Q&A will
be showrunner, writer, and executive producer Lauren Morelli,
director and executive producer Alan Poul, and star and executive
producer Laura Linney. Armistead Maupin is also expected to attend.
Netflix's 10-episode limited series
will be set in present day San Francisco as Mary Ann Singleton
(played by Laura Linney) returns to the boarding house run by Anna
Madrigal (Olympia Dukakis) at 28 Barbary Lane. The premise appears
to follow Maupin's eighth novel in the series, Mary Ann in Autumn.
“Like nothing before it, Armistead
Maupin’s series of Tales of the City books defined the
values and unique worldview of San Francisco and the Bay Area,”
SFFILM executive director Noah Cowan said in a statement. “We are
thrilled that this new take on his original vision, the remarkable
result of a collaboration between Lauren Morelli and Alan Poul, that
incredible cast, and our friends at Netflix, can be introduced to the
world for the first time in the place that originally gave it life.
It’s going to be one hell of a ‘coming home’ party!”
The first three novels in Maupin's
Tales of the City series have been adapted into television
miniseries starring Dukakis and Linney. Both are returning to
reprise their roles. Joining the cast are Ellen Page, Caldwell
Tidicue (Bob the Drag Queen), Murray Bartlett, Matthew Risch, Paul
Gross, Daniela Vega, and Jen Richards.