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New York has a habit of turning its most idiosyncratic figures into full-blown institutions, but this might be the most delightfully niche tribute yet.
A film festival dedicated entirely to Wallace Shawn is landing on the Lower East Side next month, Gothamist has reported, and it’s exactly what it sounds like. Titled “Wallace Shawn: The Master Builder,” the series kicks off on May 8 at Metrograph, running through May 22 with a lineup that stretches beyond the actor’s most meme-able roles.
Shawn, now 82, has spent decades bouncing between worlds: beloved character actor, playwright, essayist and occasional leading man. There’s Clueless, where he plays the perpetually exasperated Mr. Hall, and yes, there’s The Princess Bride, the source of that immortal one-word catchphrase. But the real draw here is everything in between.
“There are many, many roads that could lead one to Wallace Shawn,” wrote series curators John Early and Lucas Kane, “but behind this extraordinary range lies Wally’s perhaps ‘truer’ self: that of a playwright.”
That idea shapes the lineup. There’s Vanya on 42nd Street, where Shawn takes center stage in a Chekhov adaptation, and A Master Builder, his 2013 reworking of Ibsen that gives the festival its name. There’s also the rarely seen Marie and Bruce, starring Julianne Moore and Matthew Broderick, which never received a proper theatrical release and is being screened here with special permission.
The idea reportedly came together during rehearsals for Shawn’s latest play, with collaborators (including Early) diving deep into his filmography and realizing just how much ground it covers. The end program treats Shawn less like a quirky supporting player and more like a singular creative force who’s been hiding in plain sight.
For his part, Shawn seems both amused and genuinely moved by the attention. After decades of being a familiar face whom audiences recognized but didn’t always fully place, he’s now getting something closer to a retrospective moment. Not bad for someone who didn’t even start acting until his mid-30s.
“I only wish that some of the people who had less respect for me could be brought back to life,” Shawn told Gothamist, “and forced to attend a series at the Metrograph.”
Tickets and the full schedule are up now on Metrograph’s site.