Details Revealed About Under-The-Radar Daily Wire Project ‘Confession’ Starring Rob Lowe, James Franco, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Nick Nolte & More — SkimNews
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- Confession is written by Daily Wire co-founder Ben Shapiro and directed by Czech filmmaker Václav Marhoul, whose 2019 Holocaust drama The Painted Bird drew attention on the festival circuit.
- The film's ensemble pairs Rob Lowe as a disillusioned former literature professor with James Franco as his brilliant, brutal former student, alongside Jennifer Jason Leigh, Kodi Smit-McPhee, Nick Nolte, Richard Brake, Emile Hirsch, Brad Dourif, and Dean Norris.
- Set in Stalin's 1938 Moscow, the story unfolds almost entirely inside Lubyanka Prison, where Alexei (Lowe) is charged with conspiring with his dissident priest and forced to choose between betrayal and conscience.
- Confession will world premiere at the Warsaw Film Festival on October 15, then open in 100 U.S. theaters for one night on November 11 — the same day it debuts on The Daily Wire's streaming platform.
- The project was shot entirely on 35mm film at Santa Clarita Studios, with cinematography by Peter Menzies Jr. and makeup/prosthetics by Oscar-winner Jeff Dawn.
- The Daily Wire's previous films Run Hide Fight: Infidels and Pawn Shop both drew criticism and temporary shutdowns over subject matter, yet Confession marks the outlet's highest-profile cast to date.
Why it matters: The Daily Wire's pivot to feature filmmaking gains its highest-profile cast yet with Confession, pairing Shapiro's script with art-house credibility via Marhoul. The simultaneous 100-theater one-night run and streaming premiere on November 11 gives the conservative outlet a theatrical footprint while pushing subscribers directly to its own platform.
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