Rooney Mara must have wondered what happened to “Tanner Hall.” I know I did. I saw this film, made by Tatiana von Furstenberg and Francesca Gregorini, at the 2009 Toronto Film Festival in a special screening. Since then, Mara has starred in “The Social Network” as Jesse Eisenberg‘s girlfriend (in that wonderfully written opening scene) and is set to appear as “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo.”
Now, at long last, “Tanner Hall” has been set for release. The date is September 9th–two years after the Toronto screening. That screening was quite the event since Gregorini’s mother is Barbara Bach, the wife of Ringo Starr. George Harrison‘s wife, Olivia, even came in for that showing, along with Bach’s sister Marjorie who is married to Eagle guitarist Joe Walsh. Tatiana, of course, is the charming daughter of designer Diane von Furstenberg. Her husband, media mogul Barry Diller, also came to Toronto. This film was made so long ago that it played the Gen Art Film Festival in April 2010 and Rooney won the Stargazer Award.
Anchor Bay is doing the releasing; let’s hope they do a good job and don’t give up too soon. “Tanner Hall” has a lot of potential with young girls–it’s set in a girls’ school and is a little gem. September 9th seems like a month too late to release it, though, as kids will be focused on getting back to their ABC’s. But heck, at least it’s coming to theaters. I wonder if the young girls it’s targeted for will track down the racy European ad campaign for “Tattoo.” But we have to cut Rooney some slack–when “Tanner Hall” was first shown, her tattoos were still iron-on decals.
PS Tom Everett Scott has a nice turn in this film. And Imitation of Christ designer Tara Subkoff is featured as well!
